HIS3E06

RECENT PERSPECTIVES
ON SOCIAL HISTORY OF
MEDIEVAL KERALA
III SEMESTER
ELECTIVE COURSE
(HIS3 E06)
M.A. HISTORY
(2019-Admission Onwards)
UNIVERSITY OF CALICUT,
School of Distance Education,
Calicut University P.O.
Malappuram - 673 635 Kerala.
190512
2
School of Distance Education
UNIVERSITY OF CALICUT
Study Material
THIRD SEMESTER
M.A. HISTORY
(2019 Admission onwards)
ELECTIVE COURSE: HIS3 E06
RECENT PERSPECTIVES ON SOCIAL

HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL KERALA
Prepared by:
Sri. Rahul M Ramesh,
Research Scholar, Dept. of History,
University of Calicut.
Scrutinized by:
Sri. Sajith Kumar K.M,

Assistant Professor,
Dept. of History, Govt. College Madappally,
Vadakara, Kozhikkode.
DISCLAIMER
“The author shall be solely responsible for the
content and views expressed in this book”
Recent Perspectives on Social History of Medieval Kerala 2

CONTENTS
Module I - 5
Module II - 22
Module III - 65
Module IV - 108


Module I
Writing Social History-Perspectives and
Method
Historiography and Pioneers in Social History Approaches
Social history is history of society done in social scientific

perspective often made out to be contradistinction to political
history. In Kerala, early attempts of writing social history are a
part of colonial anthropology rather than of history. It began as
community and caste studies. Works by Charles Metcalf, Henry
Maine, Thomas Munroe, William Logan and Fawcett are
examples of this. As specific portraits of the caste or community
of the region, these works dealt with what are the socially and
culturally unique points about their subjects and their
surroundings, in terms of the physical feature, racial composition,
kinship system, linguistic identity and village economy. It was a
necessity for the colonial administrators to know the life and
people to administer. William Logan’s Malabar is something
more than a manual as it depicted the social life of the people.
K.P.Padmanabha Menon
K.P.Padmanabha Menon(1858-1919) was regarded by
most of the historians as the first modern historian of Kerala. He
inaugurated an era of modern historical writing through his works
the History of Kerala and Kochirajyacharitram. Raghava Varier
and Rajan Gurukkal regarded him as the first modern historian of
Kerala.His father P.Sangunni Menon, the former Dewan Peshkar
of Tiruvitamkur was the author of A History of

Travancore.Padmanabha Menon was educated at Cherthala

district School, Ernakulam Maharaja’s High School,
Thiruvananthapuarm Maharajas High School, and Madras
Presidency College. He took his B.L Degree in 1884 and later
became a successful lawyer.
Padmanbha Menon was appoionted as a member of the
Marumakkathayam Committee ofTiruvitamkur in 1908. Menon
as a member of the committee examined the constitution and
history of the matrilineal joint family system among the Nairs, the
warrior caste of Medieval Kerala. His experiences as a member
of a matrilineal joint family induced him to study deeply about
the matrilineal joint family system. Menon in his report discusses
the origin of marumakkathayam quoting the travelers from Abdur
Razak to Buchanan and sociologists like Morgan, Maine and
Westermark.
Menon made enormous contributions to modern historical
writing in Kerala. While Logan and other manual writers treated
the Keralolpatti as an important source book Menon dismisses it
in a few paragraphs. He distinguishes between the contemporary
and later sources on one hand and primary and secondary sources
on the other. Unlike many other scholaras Menon accepted that
Tamil was the literary and official language of early Kerala. His
persistence in collecting material is already clear in his treatment
of problems in Kerala history like the Perumal problem, the
customs and traditions of different communities and the role of
temples in social life. His attempts were resulted in the discovery
of new sources on Kerala history.He exhibited a respectful and
curious approach to contemporary sources and suspicious but
imaginative approach to tradition. In fact, Menon provided the
starting point to Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai, a teacher at the
Department of Malayalam, University College.

Kochirajya charitram: Padmanabha Menon had published his

two volume work Kochirajyacharitram in 1912 and 1914
respectively. In the preface of the work he clarifies that he wrote
this work to satisfy the long felt need of a history of the Kochi
state, dealing with more elaborately than was possible in state
manuals. M.G.S.Narayanan regarded Kochirajyacharitram as the
masterpiece of Padmanabha Menon. Menon borrowed some facts
from C.Achutha Menon, the author of the Cochin State Manual
inorder to start his work. Kochirajyacharitram was printed at
Bharathavilasam Press, Trissur. This work was divided in to two
parts.
The first part is dealing with the early history of Kochi.
The second and the third part gave information regarding the
history of Kochi under the Portuguese and Dutch power. The
fourth part is a survey of the history of Kochi under the British
rule. The first volume of the work was dedicated to his mother
Parvathi Amma and the second volume to his father Sangunni
Menon.Kochirajyacharitram provides a detailed picture of the
socio-economic and political history of Kochi. He tried to analyze
the sources of Kerala history in the initial chapters. He refused to
accept the Parasurama legend andnot spend many pages to
describe it. It was the first attempt to write the history of the Dutch
and Portuguese era in a new perspective.
History of Kerala: Padmanabha Menon presented the historical
facts of the land known to him in the form of descriptive notes
attached to the correspondence of Bishop Canter Vissher’s letters.
However, when these notes published (1924-37) the editor called
it a History of Kerala.
Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai
The works of Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai is dealing with the
different aspects of Kerala history like the formation of

Malayalam language, cultural history, political-social and

economic history of Kerala. His notable works including
Sahityamalika, Keralabhashayude Vikasaparinamangal,
Sahityacharitrasangraham, Bhashayum Sahithyavum
Noottandukalil. Anchum Aarum Noottandile Keralam.
Charithrathinte Paschathalathil,Annathe Keralam, Chera
Samrajyam ompathum pathum Noottandil, Chila Kerala
Charitraprashnangal, keralacharithrathile Iruladanja Eedukal,
Janmi Sambradayam Keralathil and Unnuneelisandesham
Charitradrishtiyilude.
Elamkulam was the first historian, who reconstructed the
history of Kerala beyond the 9th century. He made a finding that
Kerala is part of the early Tamilakam.Elamkulam wrote the
medieval history of Kerala by using and linking the inscriptional
and literary evidences. He presented a chronological list of the
Chera rulers. He explains how the outside Aryans came to Kerala
and dominated its original inhabitants. Elamkulam argued that the
Aryans snatched the properties of the people of Kerala. The
Aryan Brahmanas introduced a temple-centered life style for the
medieval Kerala society by replacing the Dravida gods in the
Sangam age. According to him the temples in the structure what
we see today is established in Kerala by 750CE and the Aryan
Brahmanas made use of the temples to expel Jainism and
Buddhism , which had an influence on local people from the
mainstream of Kerala society. They converted Jain and Buddhist
temples into Hindu temples .They had taken away the land under
the ownership of the local people by making it as the Devaswam
and later converted it to as their private property in the form of
the Brahmasvam.
Elamkulam argued that there was a hundred year long
between the Cheras and Cholas in the 11th century. Elamkulam
added that by using the opportunities provided by the war the

Namboodiris gained prominence in politics and complete

ownership on the land. They made temple properties as their
private property and made the Nairs as cavers in the war. They
made use of the Parasurama epic to justify the Namboodiri
landlordism. Elamkulam had an opinion that the namboodiri
landlordism took its complete form in the 13th century.
Elamkulam made use of the literary evidences to throw light on
the social life of Kerala after the decline of the Perumal rule.
Elamkulam argued that the Aryan Brahmanas destroyed the
egalitarian social structure existed during the Sangam age and
introduced the caste system based on untouchabilty in its place.
He also put forwarded some arguments about the formation of
agrarian society in Kerala. Elamkulam identified the importance
of merchant guilds like the anchuvannam and manigramam in the
social and economic life in medieval Kerala. He says that the
development of architecture, sculpture, art, literature and
education is associated with the medieval temples.
According to Elamkulam after the decline of the Perumal
rule a social structure, which was completely dominated by the
Namboodiris emerged in Kerala. He regarded this as an age of
Namboodiri landlordism. He made use of the evidences in the
medieval Manipravala texts to present his arguments about this
period. He traced the origin of marumakkathayam, Janmi system
and Devadasi system in this age. Elamkulam arrived in a
conclusion by analyzing inscriptional and literary evidences that
there is a close link between the social life and the language of
the people of a particular region.
P.K.Balakrishnan
P.K.Balakrishnan (1926-1991) is a journalist, historian
and writer. He was born at Edavanakkadu in Ernakulam. He got
imprisonment for participating in the Quit India Movement, when
he was studying in the college. He was one of the most famous
journalists of Kerala. His notable works including Chandu

Menon:Oru Padanam, Kavyakala Kumaranasaniloode ,
Narayana Guru, Tipu Sultan:Jeevacharitram, Jathi
Vyavashithiyum Keralacharitravum.
In 1983, he published his Jativyavasthithiyum
Keralacharitravum by dedicating it to Sahodaran Ayyapan. The
content of the book is the social history of Kerala from the
emergence of the agrarian villages. In this work Balakrishnan
followed K.P.Padmanabha Menon’s methodology in his
approach to social historical facts and D.D.Kosambi’s
methodology in his approach to history.This work covers the
social history of Kerala up to the period 1850-1890. According to
him, in that period a desirable change took place in Kerala
society. He claimed that he is in an attempt to write the real
history of Kerala by abandoning the methodology of writing the
history of Kerala based on the old Brahmanical texts like
Keralamahathmyam and Jathimahathmyam. He discusses
elaborately in his work about topics like agrarian economy, caste
system, monarchy and the origin of Malayalam language in his
work.
Balakrishnan argued that , even though , Elamkulam
Kunjan Pillai followed the method of social history introduced by
Padmanabha Menon, the formation of a unified and separate
Kerala state demanded the writing of a single history of Kerala,
which resulted in the work A Survey of Kerala History, written by
A.Sreedhara Menon. Balakrishnan criticized Sreedhara Menon
for making a feeling that Kerala had a rich cultural heritage and a
prosperous past. Balakrishnan had an opinion that there were no
big empires, state or civilizations in Kerala and a rich economy
and resources to support this. He added that the economy in
Kerala grew by depending solely on the hard work of the Pulayar
or Cerumar, the cultivating class of Kerala. Balakrishnan argued

that the local rulers were failed in effectively utilizing the

possibilities of foreign trade based on spices. He says that in the
past Kerala was a poor country and it was the caste system
responsible for this situation. Caste system was introduced in
Kerala by the namboodiris, who came to Kerala through
Karnataka. The namboodiris converted the different tribal
communities in Kerala as the castes with separate customs and
life style of their own and blended them to the village
communities. Balakrishnan viewed Manipravalam as a turning
point in the evolution of Malayalam language and proudly
narrates the role of Ezhuthachan.He in his work with 32 chapters
handled a variety of topics like the history of the coconut and
paddy cultivation in Kerala, formation of the village
communities, the history of roads, canals and forests, formation
of the Malayalam language, Malayali family structure, matriliny
and landlord-tenant relations etc.
Scientific Approaches
According to Rajan Gurukkal following the path of
Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai with more methodological clarity
M.G.S.Narayanan strengthened the chronological foundations of
social history of Kerala with the help of new evidences and
reinterpretations. M.G.S.Narayanan was the first to demonstrate
in the historiography of Kerala the primacy of socio-economic
structure as the determinat factor of the political power. Kesavan
Veluthat contributed to the socio-economic historiography by
specifically focusing on the Brahmana settlements, the temple
centered institutional composition and socio-economic power
structure.
From the mid-1960s the historiography of South India
began to take a new diversion with the writings of Burton Stein
and his fellow researchers. The writings of M.G.S.Narayanan and
Kesavan Veluthat was inspired by the ‘segmentary state model
‘and the idea of the ‘peasant-brahmana alliance’ by Burton Stein.

Their works on the bhakti ideology and temple culture in Kerala
was influenced by the works of R.Chempakalakshmi.
M.R.Raghava varier wrote articles and works on the cultural
history of Kerala, foreign trade, medieval polity and the formation
of a separate Kerala identity. Rajan Gurukkal made an attempt to
analyze the social formations of early South India in a work in the
same name.He along with Raghava Varier wrote the history of
Kerala in two volumes and a volume of the cultural history of
Kerala. He in his latest work is reinterpreting the Indo-Roman
trade.
K.N.Ganesh
K.N.Ganesh completed his studies from Vivekananda
College, Chennai and Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
His major publications include Keralathinte Innalekal(1990),
Irapidiyanamarude Lokam(1994), Kunjan Nambiar:Vakkum
Samoohavum, Pradesika Charitra Rachana Oru Kaipusthakam
(1997), Kerala Samooha Padanangal(2004), Culture and
Modernity inKerala(2004, edited work), Kerala Samooham Innu
Nale(2008), Locality and Culture in KeralaHistory:The Case of
Tirurangadi(2010), Exercises on Modern Kerala History(2013,
edited work), Prakrithiyum Manushyanum(2014) and Reflections
on Pre-Modern Kerala(2016).
K,N, Ganesh published his Keralathinte Innalekal in 1990
at the age of 36. He made use of a number of new sources to write
this work.This work was a detailed survey of Kerala history from
the ancient period to the period when the first Communist
government was came into power in Kerala and dismissed after
two years. Ganesh criticized the early works on Kerala history
which celebrated empires and glory of kings. According to him
the details of the social life of the people of Kerala is always
neglected by the historians, who wrote these works. Ganesh in
this work discussed elaborately about caste system, gender,

agrarian system, trade and the social life of the people in his
works. He published essays on the topics like agrarian system,
medieval trade, medieval Kerala polity and society, temple
culture, Malayalam literature, medieval urban culture etc.
Social History Approaches to Gender, Caste and Religion in
Kerala
In the 1960s some efforts were made to understand the
historical background of the land-tenures and social relations by
linking it with the caste and communities in Kerala.Social
anthropological works dealing with the Nair community by
Cathleen Gough and John P.Mencher had depicted some aspects
of the social life of the Nairs. Kathleen Gough’s works were
focused on the changing kinship usages among the Nairs, their
ancestoral worship, institutional marriage and matrilineal kinship.
John P.Mencher’s studies gave particular emphasis on the family
organization and ritual beliefs among the Nairs of North Malabar.
L.A.Krishna Iyer published his two volumes of Social history of
Kerala in 1968. Though this work is about the social history of
the whole Kerala his focus is on the ancient peoples and their
cultures as reconstructed ethnographically out of the studies of
the pre-Dravidians and Dravidian speaking hill tribes,
communities, and castes of the plains.
As interested more in kinship and marriage or the caste
and community anthropologists were least interested in probing
to the depth of historical process. They regarded the medieval
Kerala society had a Nair dominated structure with several
landlords enjoying a higher status. In the late seventies social
anthropological studies took a different turn, when Robin Jeffrey
published his work on the decline of the Nair dominance in 1976.
By probing deeply into the causes for the decline of the Nair
dominance , he attempted to write the social history of the 19th
th
and the early 20 century Tiruvitamkur.K.S.Mathew’s study
about the society in medieval Malabar is an example of a plain
ideographic narrative recounting customs and practices of Kerala
as alluded to in the Northern ballads.
Several works by women historians like G.Arunima,
Praveena Kodoth, J.Devika,Meera Velayudhan, saradamanee and
Susan Thomas are dealing with the different aspects of family
structure , gender and property rights.Meera Velayudhan
interviewed a number women in Kerala related to left politics.
She published a number of articles on the political participation
of women in the age of political awakening in Malabar and about
the participation of women in the social and political movements.
G.Arunima’s study is about the transformation of Matriliny in
Colonial Malabar. Praveena Kodoth’s research is focused on the
property rights of women and matriliny. Saradamanee published
works on the transformation of matriliny in colonial Tiruvitamkur
and about the system of caste slavery in Kerala.A significant
study of social anthropology of modern Kerala is that of Philippos
Osella and Carolina Osella on the Ezhava community.
Social History and Indian Historiography
From the beginning of the 20th century, the nationalist and
the Marxist historians showed interest to write on several aspects
of the social life of the people of India. Muhammad Habib, the
first modern Indian Muslim to study a subject pertaining to
medieval Muslim India in his work Urban and rural revolution
in Northern India explained the way that the Gharian Turks
replaced the Thakurs as the governing class and then enfranchised
the Indian city workers, who had been obliged to live outside the
city walls by the caste Hindus. K.M Ashraf in his work Life and
conditions of the people of Hindustan 1200-1500(1935), deals
with the status, habits and standard of life of different classes of
people in the area of the Delhi sultanate, although it leaves out
matters like administration, army, land revenue, transport,

literature and religion. Sardar K.M Panikkar’sA survey of Indian
history (1947) which was a popular favourite appearing nine
times in print in seven years is not a survey of political or dynastic
history but aimed at portraying the life of the people. A.R Desai
in his Social background of Indian Nationalism documents the
changes that have occurred in the Indian society during the
colonial rule and how it contributed to the development of Indian
nationalism. This book is dealing with the development of
nationalism up to the Second World War.
D.D Kosambi’s writings and the beginning of the Marxist
school of Indian historiography was a major development in the
writing of social history in India. He, in his works threw light on
the several aspects of social life of the people in the pre-colonial
India. Kosambi by publishing his work Myth and Reality proved
that interpreation of myths is essential to any study of early
cultures. He discussed elaborately about the origin of caste
system in India, in his most notable work An introduction to the
study of Indian history’ (1956). He identified the social and
economic factors behind the rise of Jainism and Buddhism in
India.
R.S. Sharma in his work Sudras in Ancient India (1958)
examines the relationship of the lower social order with the means
of production and with higher orders from the Vedic age to the
end of the Gupta period. He depended mainly on literary sources
to explain the life of Sudras in ancient India. Sharma in his work
of Indian feudalism (1966) linked the origin of feudalism in India
in the land grants system of Early Medieval India. He in his
another work Urban decay in India (1987) made use of the
archaeological evidences regarding the origin and growth of
feudalism in India.

RomilaThapar published her Ancient Indian Social

History in 1978. In this work she is dealing with the ancient
Indian social life from early times to the end of the first
millennium CE. It is a collection thirteen essays.The essays
‘Society and Law in the Hindu and BuddhistTradition’ is a kind
of parallel, comparative study of Hindu and Buddhist socio-
religious systems. The essay ‘Ethics, Religion and Social
Protest’in the first millennium BC in Northern India’, viewed the
ethics and religion of Buddhism as a form of social protest also.
The essay ‘Social mobility in Ancient India with special reference
to Elite Groups’ questions the assumption that society in India
remained in a more or less frozen condition throughout the period
between 1000 BCE and 1000 CE. In the work From Lineage to
State (1984), she traces the origin of the state system in the Ganga
valley to the transition from a lineage mode of agrarian
production to a peasant economy of private holdings and
increasing urbanization.
Though Bipan Chandra’s work was concentrated on the
economic history of Colonial India, some of the works written by
him like Communalism in Modern India and his several other
essays are dealing with the social life of the people in Colonial
India. Irfan Habib in his famous work the Agrarian system of
Mughal India’identified that the principle contradiction in the
medieval Indian social formation lay between the centralized
ruling class (the state) and the revenue appropriating class in
Mughal India. His Essays on Indian History, a collection of
essays on medieval Indian History including the studies which
covers different aspects of Medieval Indian social life like the
caste systems, agrarian system and ordinary life of the peasants.
A series titled subaltern studies started its publication
from 1982 as Ranajit Guha as the editor and this series has
introduced an almost new genre of history writing on Modern

India. The Subaltern studies are collections of monographs on

diverse, inter connected topics. Their one theme is the insurgency
of the lower classes. The essays in the different volume of the
Subaltern studies covered different aspects of the social life of
those essay belonged to different branches of social history like
gender history, environmental history, history of famine, working
class history, peasant history etc.
Sumit Sarkar, a renowned historian specialized in Modern
Indian history published his Writing Social History in 1997. It
was a collection of essays including an essay criticising the
subaltern studies and another one on the relevance of E.P
Thompson. Other important essays in this work are dealing with
Indian Renaissance and Social life in the Calcutta city. Gender
history as a branch of history developed in India in the 1980’s and
1990’s, through the writings of Uma Chakravarthi, Tanika Sarkar,
and Suvira Jaiswal etc. K.N Panikkar’s writings on the social and
cultural aspects of anti-colonial resistance in India and
Ramachandra Guha’s studies about Environmental history and
Social history sports in India were other major developments.
Problems in the Dominant Historiography of Kerala
The most serious limitation of pre-modern Kerala history
is that it is dealing only with the social and cultural life of the elite
sections of the society including the namboodiris, naduvazhis and
other upper caste people depended on them. Inscriptions and
literary works were the major sources of study of the pre-modern
Kerala society and culture. These sources are only dealing with
the life of the elite sections of Kerala society.
All the historians specialized in pre-modern history
including M.G.S,Narayanan and Kesavan Veluthat have admitted
that the non-availability of sources to study about the class of
actual tillers of Kerala is a major limitation of the historiography

of Kerala. It is impossible to reconstruct the history of the non-

brahmana landless peasants of Kerala by using the temple
centered inscriptions and literary works written by the Brahmanas
and other upper caste people. This limitation compelled the
historians of Kerala to keep apart the history of the landless
peasants from their writings.
But several attempts were made to write the history of the
landless peasants of Kerala. This task was undertaken by several
scholars, which led to the emergence of new style of history
writing in Kerala. T.H.P.Chentharassery, the biographer of
Ayyankali through his work Keralacharithrathile
Avaganikkapetta Eedukal attempted to give a new dimension to
the writing of Kerala history. This was an attempt to write the
history of the people like pulayas, who were avoided by the main
stream historians. He is not a trained and professional
historian.P.K.Balakrishnan’s work on the caste system in Kerala
is an inspiration to these attempts. They made use of the oral
tradition, ethnographical evidences, and the clues in inscriptions
and literary works, which were neglected by the historians.
K.K.Kochu in his work Keralacharitravum
Samooharoopeekaranavum analyzed the process of social
formation from the migration in pre-historic age to the 12th
century CE. Kochu in his autobiography Dalitan attempted to
trace the historical roots of the Pulayas, the major cultivating
class of Kerala. Aju.K.Narayanan in his work shows Buddhist
knowledge survived in Kerala parallel to the Brahmanical
knowledge by using the evidences in local knowledge. One of the
other notable development is the doctoral thesis of
K,S,Madhavan. This is about the evolution of agrarian society in
Kerala from the Sangam age to 1300CE. He studied the links
between the agrarian expansion and caste system in Kerala. A
detailed history of the bonded labourers like al and atiyar were

included in this study. Many other dalit writers like Pradeepan

Pambirikunnu and Sunny M Kapikkadu, who were not historians
by profession, criticized the dominant historiography of
Kerala.Rajan Gurukkal argued that the significant gap in the
social history of Kerala relates to the process between the close
of the chiefdom level society and the consolidation of the agrarian
social formation.
Social History perspective
Social history means “the history of society or more
precisely of social structures, process and trends.” G.M.
Trevalyan in his English Social Historydefines social history “as
the history of a people with politics left out”. Social history is a
branch of history, which is very close to economic history. Fabian
socialistsand liberal-radical intellectuls took a prominent part in
shaping the subject in Britain between the late nineteenth century
and the Second World War. Arnold Toynbee’s efforts in
projecting the harsh effects of industrialization on the lower
classes were continued by J.L and Barbara Hammond in their
works, The Village Labourer’ (1911), The Town Labourer (1917)
and The skilled labourer (1919). These were the attempts to study
the industrial revolution in terms of its impact on the working
classes. Toynbee and the Hammonds concluded that change into
mechanised production had only harmed the working class. The
village labourer analysed the changes in rural England from the
sixteenth to the twentieth century and accused the landlord’s
classes and the policies which destroyed the pre-industrial village.
The TownLabourer took a pessimistic view of the social
consequences in the growing urban area. Elie Halevy’s work The
English People in 1815 is another important effort in social
history. The writings of R.H Tawaney, Sidney and Beatrice

Webb, Eileen Power and H.N Brailsford shaped the growing

identity of this branch of history. G.D.H Cole and Raymond
postgate’s ‘The Common People’ (1938) is an important work in
this direction.
An attempt was made by G.M Trevelyan to write a
complete social history of England through his work English
Social History (1944). The work was published during the Second
World War period. According to Trevelyan social history does
not merely provide the required link between economic and
political history. Its scope is that it is dealing with the daily life of
inhabitants of the land in past ages, which includes the human as
well as the economic relation of different classes to one another,
the character of family and household life, the condition of labour
and leisure, the attitude of man to nature, the culture of each age.
Trevelyan defined social history and its scope in his work and
presented a detailed social history of England from the 14th
century to the second half of the Victorian England. E.P.
Thompson, a New Left historian published his work The Making
of the English Working Class in 1963. The work concentrates on
the life of artisan and working class society in its formative years
1780 to 1832. By this work Thompson added a humanist element
to social history and he made great effort to recreate the life
experience of the working class, which made the work an
influential one.
The New social history’n the UK weas quickly emerged
as one of the dominant styles of historiography there and as well
as in the US and Canada. This new movement history is depended
upon the writing of the Annales school. Jurgen Kocka, a German
social historian finds two meanings to social history: at the
simplest level, it was the subdivision of historiography that
focused on social structures and process. In that regards, it stood
in construct to political or economic history. The second was
broader and the Germans called it Gesselschaftsgeschichte. It is

the history of an entire society from a social-historical viewpoint
the social science History Association was formed in 1976 to
bring together scholars from numerous disciplines interested in
social history.
Apart from England social history started to dominate the
historiography in other countries. In Germany Karl Lamprecht’s
through volumes on the cultural development of the German
people represented a kind of social history. In France, March
Bloch’s Original characters of French History (1931) tried to
explore the intrinsic relationship between man’s physical setting
and his social institutions, while his FeudalSociety (1939-40) is
an attempt to understand medieval European society has few
equals and no superior. He founded the Journal Annals of
Economic and Social History along with Lucien Febvre. In
England Eric Hobsbawm, and Asa Briggs made new attempts to
write on the different aspects of English social life.
Ethnic history, Labour history, Women history, Gender
history, History of family, History of peasants, History of
Education, Urban history, Rural history, History of religion etc.
are different branches of social history in which a number of
works produced.

Module II
Social World of Early Medieval Kerala
Environment
According to Raghava Varier and Rajan Gurukkal, due to
the ecological differences from the rest of the Tamilakam, the
process of transformation of the social system in Kerala involved
certain unique features. Extensive forests, large catchments,
numerous micro watersheds, many natural aquatic network of
rivers and streams, and well-drenched aquifers constituting wet
plains , thickly -vegetated large marshes and isolated swamps
surrounded by undulating lateritic midland terrains merging with
hillocks and low-lying fluvio-marine land forms make the
landscape of Kerala a major ecological distinction. When other
regions of South India always suffered with a scarcity of water
Kerala has a wet-rice landscape ecosystem with excess of water,
Thus, when irrigation became a major problem for the people of
all other regions in South India, the management of excess was
always the problem of the people of Kerala since the beginning
of agrarian settlements in the land of Kerala.
Kerala is an agro-climatic zone with relatively heavy
rainfall due to the South West and North East monsoon winds. It
was probably the 7th and 8th centuries CE that human adaptation
to the water-saturated and waterlogged landscape occurred
through the making of paddy fields by draining the water and
reclaiming the productive soil. This change was occurred due to
the spread of Brahmana settlements in the river valleys in Kerala.
These settlements were concentrated in areas of wet-rice
landscape eco types adjacent to the red soil terraces and between
the forested hill tracts and the waterlogged lowlands. The

expansion of plough agriculture to lowlands that were marshy and
waterlogged needed variety of factors such as fairly evolved
technology of water management, knowledge of seasons,
specialized social division of labour , effective institution for the
realization of labour and a dominant class for the coercive
mobilization of massive labour. Wetlands in Kerala reclaimed
through draining off the water from marshes through canals and
distributaries.
Life Activities and Social Life
According to RajanGurukkal and RaghavaVarier the
process of the social formation in Kerala was not basically
different from what it was the in the rest of Tamilakam. The
material process, production relation and the transformation in the
socio-political structures during the period were same. But
institutional aspects of the transformation Kerala had certain
unique feature due to the ecological differences of Kerala from
the rest of the South India. There is a lot of ecological difference
between the agro-climatic zones of Kerala and rest of Tamilakam
in terms of seasons, rainfall, permeability, landscape, soil
structure and so on.
The most striking difference about the wet rice landscape
eco-system is the excess of water in the case of Kerala and its
scarcity in the case of the other region of South India. This factor
created a difference in the nature of cultivation and labour process
required in Kerala and other regions of Tamilakam. When the
major problem of agrarian society in the other regions of South
India was management of scarcity of water through irrigation the
management of excess water is the central problem in Kerala.
This kind of ecological differences resulted in regional difference
in the material process of nature which means difference in
technology.
The nature of agrarian expansion in Kerala was different

from the rest of the Tamilakam. The Brahmana households settled
along the red soil fringes of the alluvial eco-system, using the clan
labour drawn from the neighbourhood was the major factor
responsible agrarian expansion in Kerala. There was difference in
the origin and pattern of Brahman settlements in Kerala. Unlike
elsewhere in Tamilakam they got organised into village not under
the patronage of rulers and their land grants. The spread of
Brahman household and their clustering into settlement was a
complex process of a variety of simultaneous developments. The
formation of a full time work-force out of the clannish people,
reclamation of waterlogged and marshy low-lands into paddy
fields and evaluation of a pattern of human settlement as
determined by the local service requirements were the major
developments of all the developments. The reclamation of paddy
field was the most significant development. The reclamation of
water logged and marshy plains surrounded by hill and red soil
terraces was enormously labour intensive. The process included
laborious tasks like the construction of numerous big and small
canals to drain the water. Thus, a large mobilization of collective
labour took place for the productive preparation of the lowlands.
The knowledge about water, soil and landscape and the
technology of water management along with an elaborate division
of labour into specialised arts and crafts was essential for this task.
Institutional support, leadership and ideology were also
necessary. Brahmanas as a community prosseessing the essential
knowledge, technology, ideology and institutional device and
cultural powers of social control became a dominant group.
The birth of paddy fields along the low-land ecosystem
and the socio-economic and cultural process in Kerala
corresponding to it was a long period starting from the 6th to 8th
centuries C.E. The socio-economic transformation was supported
the emergence of a new state. The paddy economy of Kerala was
formed by the 8th century CE. The wetland eco fields and the
human settlementswere integrated into it.
The integration of work force into occupation groups of

hereditary specialisation with agrarian settlements involved the
process of the construction of Kammalar(the artisans and
craftsmen) and atiyalar(the subjected tillers) out of the clans. The
transformation of kin-labour to non-in labour was the first major
change. The transformation of clans into castes implies simple
clannish settlements into structured agrarian villages. A millet-
dominated economy was transformed into a paddy-dominated
economy. Gurukkal and Varier also argued that was a
transformation of the use value based exchange into exchange
value based exchange.
The Brahman settlements were spread throughout Kerala
in the 7 -8th centuries along with the process of the integration of
th
the workforce and reclamation of wetlands. The temple

inscriptions appearing from the 9thshow that the temple-centred
Brahman settlements had become well established by the
beginning of the 9th century with extensive control over the fertile
tracts of Kerala. Village became the basic unit of production that
was organized the economy of paddy cultivation and hence the
basic unit of habitation consisting of the various functionaries,
who were essential for the settlement like landholders,
intermediaries, artisans, craftsman society was led to the
transformation of chiefdom into monarchy, more precisely the
formation of the Chera state.
People and Material culture
The birth of paddy fields along the lowland ecosystem and
the corresponding socio-economic cultural process in Kerala
seems to have covered a fairly long period, probably starting from
6th to the 8th centuries CE. The archaeological evidences for a
relatively developed material culture slowly starts forth coming
in the form of monolithic shrines and isolated sculptures is were
there. This socio-economic process was strengthened by the
emergence of centralised monarchy in the form of Cera state.

According to RagavaVarier and RajanGurukkal the absence of
fairly developed sedentary life based on agrarian economy shows
that the period closes to the 8th century was the period of material
and socio-cultural preparation for the development of the paddy
economy. The paddy economy was able to develop the socio-
political and cultural condition of its domination only by that
period. Thus Gurukkal and Varier had argued that the
stabilisation of the new social formation in Kerala was completed
by the end of the 8th century.
The human made water channel of this period is indicating
the institutional devices for the effective mobilization of the work
force. There was a long process of integration of work-force into
occupation groups of hereditary specialisation with agrarian
settlements. This process involved virtually the construction of
kammalar (the artisans and craftsman) and atiyalar (the subjected
tillers) out of the clans, so the formation of
kammalacceries(settlement of artisans and craftsman) as
appeared to the village of wet-rice agriculture was the main
feature of the emerging settlement pattern.
Gurukkal and Varier argued that the social structure of
early Tamilakam was a collection of mutually-conflicting
economies and the plough based wet-rice agriculture notified its
presence in an initial form in the Sangam age itself. They added
that material process and socio-political process in Kerala and rest
of Tamilakam were more or less same. There was an absence of
royal land grants to Brahmanas in Kerala unlike the rest of
Tamilakam. The origin legend of Kerala which tells the story of
the creation of the land of Kerala by Parasurama with his axe is a
clear indication of the direct acquisition of arable land by
Brahmanas without an obligation to anybody. They established
their household along the red oil fringes of the alluvial eco system
using clan labour in the neighbourhood.

The individual Brahmana households were transformed

into corporate village settlements. For this process they made use
of the ritual charisma, social command, legitimacy structure of
control, institutional devices, and the various systems of
knowledge and technologies of management and succeeded in
coercing the massive labour of the clans for the conversion of the
wetland eco system of Kerala into paddy fields. Specialised
division of labour, its crystallisation into hereditary occupation
and their non-economic coercive modes of social realisation were
the main characteristics.
The inscriptions of the Perumals of Mahodayapuram
show that along with the grants of land, the rulers make provision
in the character for the artisans and craftsman essential for the
new settlement. The artisans and craftsman were known as
ainkammalar. The artisans and craftsman attached to the
settlement produced goods locally both for exchange and
agricultural production. The artisans and craftsman did not own
their raw materials in certain cases. For instance, the potters had
to take the clay with the landlord’s permission. Similarly, the
blacksmiths had to depend on landlords for extracting iron ore
and the goldsmiths made ornaments only with gold and silver
given by the land lords or merchants.
The rulers and chieftains showed interest in acquiring
gold because it was regarded as a symbol of high status and
ranking. Gold was the most important object of gift too. The main
source of the gold was the long distance traders who acquired
them mainly in the form of dinaras and dirhams. The exchange
rate of gold and land was much higher in Kerala than in
contemporary Tamilnadu.
According to K.N Ganesh the expansion of agrarian
society in Kerala demanded more iron tools for tilling the soil.
The nails made of wood or iron was an essential thing for the
making of plough. Other tools and implements like sickles and

the tools for beating the grains were also needed. The Chera rulers
were depended upon the blacksmith for getting iron weapon to
fight wars.
Multiple Economies
According to K.S.Madhavan the multiple economies that
existed in the Sangam age also continued in the early medieval
Kerala. In a multiple economy the inhabitants of different zones
have multiple modes of occupation pattern in a diverse
environment. The wetland agriculture in the river valleys
represented a group of settler cultivators involved in paddy
cultivation. The mixed crop cultivation mostly in the laterite
region also sustained various group of settlers. Pepper, cardamom
and cinnamon were cultivated in the forest adjacent to settled
areas. The punam cultivation in the forested areas also included
millets and mountain paddy. Thus, there existed multiple
economies in the region, which sustained different group of
people in various livelihood practices.
The surplus of agricultural production was not sufficient
to support the Chera state. Since income from agriculture
contributed the major portion of revenue in the Chera economy
under the Perumals of Mahodayapuram, the need of additional
revenue from other sources induced the Perumals to welcome the
traders of different regions to Kerala. Naturally, there was
immense scope and absolute necessity for the trading factor in the
economy and the polity of Kerala. The Perumals extracted their
revenue from different sources to support the state and the people
and there existed multiple economies. Kesavan Veluthat argued
that the fiscal foundation of the Perumal state went beyond
prestations, plunder or other arbitrary exactions. There are
references to the payment of several dues on an impersonal basis,
which were collected with a regular periodicity and at fixed rates.
The Syrian Christian copperplates and the Jewish

copperplates referring to a large number of dues, the incidence of
which may have fallen on the urban population. These include for
example a toll on vehicles and boats coming into and going out
of the market place, cesses on weighing and measurement fees on
taking goods into and out of the town dues for roofing and
building houses of more than one storey.
The most important collection made from the agrarian
villages was the attaikkol (annual tax) or rakshabhega (protection
fee) attaittirai is described as due to the nilal or the police force.
A short record from Panthalayani Kollam shows that attaikkol
was fixed at the rate of one sixth of the total produce, an indication
that the dharmasastra rule was followed in this regard. Much of
the information from the Brahmanical temple inscription related
to the remissions given by the state. There is a reference to
another due called arantai collected from agrarian villages as the
term means literarlly misery, historians regarded it as a kind of
‘war tax’. It was clear that this tax was collected from places far
away from the capital and also that it went to the king.
Another item of revenue was fines. Fines imposed on
defaulters are a source income for the state. In most cases the term
muttukil muttiratti (twice as much in the event of default) could
be used to denote the fine. In most of the case these fines were
went to temple. But the inscriptions like the Valappalli
copperplate gave information regarding a few cases where the
fine was shared by the authorities of the temple, the locality lord
and the king.
Local bodies carried out many of the governmental
functions under the Perumals. Two kinds of them are mentioned
in the records: the rural corporations with an agrarian nature and
urban corporations with their interest in trade. M.G.S Narayanan
has pointed out that the Perumals allowed the village assemblies
and temple committees of Aryan settlements which were rural
agrarian corporations in character and the urban guilds and

corporations to enjoy partial autonomy and take part in local
administration. Assemblies of Brahmanas known as various as
the ur, urar, uralar, sabha etc. were units of the local
administration in the Cera kingdom. Their concern was mainly
management of their land owned as either devasvam (gods
properties) or brahmasvam (brahmanas properties). The bodies
consisting the heads of those Brahmana households with their
membership ranging between ten and twenty five. These
Brahmana assemblies had overwhelming command over the local
population. The chera state made use of these in a consummate
manner. It identified and enlisted these bodies as its agents for the
administration of revenue and justice. There are many instances
where the bodies collected the share of the king or the land from
the cultivators. In several other cases, the king gave remission to
the bodies from the payment of the dues. Inscriptions from
Trikodittanam, Perunnaa temple, Tirkunnapula temple and
Pullur- Kotavalam gave information regarding many instances
where the tax amount was shared between the king and the temple
and about the remission provided by the king to the temples and
Brahman village assemblies.
Two sets of copperplates, the Tarsappalli and the Jewish
copperplates provides the details of the autonomous trading
corporations, who controlled the urban centres. Mar Sapir Iso,
who built the church of Tarsa was also the founder of the town or
the trading centre, the nagaram of Kurukkeni Kollam. The
nagaram enjoyed relative autonomy in the urban centres. Two
trading guilds Anchuvannam and Manigramam are described as
the Karalar (tenants) of the town. They managed the affairs of the
nagaram. The palliyar (men of the church) collected different
dues from within the settlement. The Anchuvannam and
Manigramam were exempted from paying several taxes and were
also associated in the work of fixing the duties and prices of
commodities entering the marketplace. They were the custodians

of the dues collected everyday. All these show that the state
maintained autonomous urban corporations and made use of it in
the business of government.
Temples of Kerala, which was landed magnate from the
beginning also developed into a storehouse of gold and precious
jewels in the early medieval Kerala. The important item of the
temple properties was land especially agrarian land the early
medieval economy of Kerala was a temple centred one. The
Brahmanas, who controlled the temple lands, were not cultivators
by themselves and therefore, they redistributed the land to the
karalar and the karalar to kutikal. The lands endowed were
leased out to the karalar, who were responsible to pay
pattam(land dues) to the temples. The medieval Kerala temples
had accumulated large amount of gold as endowments and fines.
The production of food grains involved kudi and the al
(enslaved or bonded labourers), artisans and craftmen attached
the settlement produced most goods locally. The artisans and
craftsmen attached to the village settlements were known as
ainkammalar. Apart from cultivators these non cultivating groups
also contributed their own share to the economy.
According to M. G. S Narayanan revenue from trade
centers was a major source of income for the Perumals. The
Jewish copperplate says that Joseph Rabban was exempted from
the collection of ulku (customs duty). M.G.S. listed the names of
different sources of revenue from trade centres like Alkasu (the
payment made by the owners of the slaves), pakutam (the cess on
vehicles, both on land and water), Tulakkuli (weighing fee),
niraikkuli( measuring fee), talaikkanam and enikkanam (fetter
and ladder fee), manaimeyppan kollum irai (a tax payable at the
time of renewing the thatches of houses), etc. Attaikal and arantai
two types of taxes collected from the Aryan villages.
Social Spaces and Social Divisions

The inscriptional evidences give a clear idea of the
Perumal territory. According to an early medieval text the king of
Mahodayapuram ruled Kerala-visaya, ‘the land of Kerala.’
KesavanVeluthat had argued that Kerala became a separate
geographical unit with more or less definite boundaries and that
unit became the state by the ninth century. The Cera king called
himself Mahodayapuraparameswara, the ‘supreme lord of the city
of Mahodaya’. The newly rising agrarian settlements on the
fertile river valleys must have contributed to the process of
urbanization of Mahodayapuram.
The city of Mahodayapuram, which situated in the middle
of prosperous agrarian settlement controlled by the Brahmanical
groups, the new town had essentially a Brahmanical character.
There are not too many details available about the urban complex
of Mahodayapuram. Sankaranarayana, the court astronomer and
author of the commentary of Laghubhaskariya, calls the town a
senamukha, which is a type of town defined by textbooks of
architecture such as Mayamata and Kamikagama. The town was
fortified.
M.G.S. Narayanan’s work gave information regarding the
structure of society in the Perumal period. His arguments and
observations about the nature of society under the Peumal rule
was based on the facts provided by the epigraphic records, being
mostly records of Brahmin village settlements and West Asian or
native trade centres, which throw light on social and economic
conditions than on political and administrative history. The Aryan
Brahman settlers in the country dominated the socio-political set
up by making use of the caste system. M.G.S admitted that the
chief defect of the material used by him that it deals mainly with
the Brahmin settlement and trade centres and only indirectly or
infrequently refer to conditions outside them and keeping the
native Dravidian part of the society practically out of the picture.

One of the most important factors in social organisation

of the Perumal period was the rise and growth of a large number
of Aryan Brahman settlements. The Keralolpatti mentions 32
Brahmin settlements in Kerala sprung up during the post-Sangam
period and Parasurama as their patron deity and Ahichathra as
their ancestral place. Brahmans enjoyed land as
Brahmakstara(the land where Brahmans ruled instead of
Kshatriya). In each Tara(ward) to supervise. Temples were the
centre of life in these settlements.
The Brahman settlements of this period were scattered
along the many fertile river-valleys between the Western Ghats
and the Arabian Sea and they occupied land most suitable for rice
cultivation. The Brahman settlers were largely interested in
cultivation in the fields and plantations of the plains with assured
water supply round the year. The temple acted as an agent in the
process of accumulating landed property for the Brahman
settlements. The Thiruvalla Copper Platesof the 11th century gave
a clear picture about the large extent of property owned by the
Brahmin assembly of a single village on behalf of the temple. The
Brahman settlement of Tiruvalla supported a large number of
employees like priest, musicians, dancers, accountants, cleaners
etc. and the Pattar(Bhattar-professors) and cattar(chatra-pupils)
of the salai. Besides these a large number of tenant’s dependent
on the temple land which were leased out for cultivation.
The position and influence of Aryan Brahmin settlement
were also responsible for the emergence of traditional type of
caste system in Kerala. The local people who were useful to the
Brahmin as rulers and officers, commanders and soldiers of the
army and skilled workers were absorbed into the new society on
which the Aryan pattern of caste system was imposed. The Cera
king of Makotai in the Perumal period is represented as
Kshatriyas of solar race. Some of the feudatories of the Perumal

had a Kshatriya status and the suffix Varma in their inscriptions.

At the same time other feudatories were designated as Samantas
considered themselves higher than the Nair. There were a number
of people like the Potuval, Variar, Patarar, Cakiar, Nambiyar
and Nangiyar and Uvvaccar or Kottikal were mentioned in the
Cera inscriptions. The Keralolpatt icalls them the Antharala
(intermediary) caste and says that they are either degraded
Brahmans or the upgraded Sudras. They followed a vegetarian
diet and Sanskrit culture.
M.G.S pointed out that the category of Vaisyas are absent
in Kerala. The term Cetti is rarely mentioned in the inscription
not as a caste name but as a title. The most important of the newly
emergent caste groups in Kerala after the establishment of the
Aryan Brahman settlements were the Nairs. According to M.G.S
the Nairs were not a separate tribe or race but a section of the
native Dravidian people, which was made what it was a
combination of two factors, i.e. Military profession and
Namboothiri matrimonial alliances facilitated by the matrilineal
system of inheritance.
There were some title holders like PerumTaccan,
PerumTattan, Acar ietc. who were mentioned in connection with
temples. Taccan, Tattan,Acari are terms usually employed in
Kerala for the Kammalar or artisans classes. The rulers
nominated some of the people belonging to the artisan’s classes
as the royal architects with the title Perum Tattan or
PerumTaccan (Great architect) with the right to use the kings
name. These people were not admitted to the Brahmanical Hindu
temples but they were given special privileges for their services
to the temple. There was a ‘Rajasimha Perum Taccan’ who
received a ‘purayidam’ (house and compound) from the Koyil
Adhikarikal, probably as reward for some work in the temple.

Several other caste groups which are known as sub castes

in Kerala society are mentioned in the inscription of the Perumal
period. The Syrian Christian Plates of Kollam refers to the
transfer of families to the Church of Tarsa built by Mar Sapir Iso
in that place. Four families of Ilavar with one family of Vannar
were transferred to the Church in the 5th year of Stanu Ravi. These
people were settled on Church land as tenant’s subjects of the
church authorities. The Ilava rwere permitted to bring their
business and the Vannan also permitted to do his work in the
bazar and the fort. Ilavas were toddy tappers by profession.
The second set of the Syrian plates refers to more families,
two families of Vaniar(oil pressers), one family of Taccar,
carpenters or smiths and four families of Vellalar, who were
transferred to the Church. Vellalar might be the Karalar or
tenants of the land. all the lower class of the people who have no
proprietorship of land settled on somebody’s land as their
bondsmen. Kollurmatham Plates says that four families of
Vellainata and vaniyar were settled within the limit of Brahman
gramas in order to ensure the supply of oil and ghee necessary
burning lamps in temples. The lowest section of the people who
were agrestic serfs like Pulayar, Parayar etc. were hold to the
land.
In the Perumal period West Asian colonies were
established in the chief port cities like Kollam and Kodungallur.
Mar Sapir Iso founded the trading corporation (nagaram) of
Kollam and recruited Anchuvannam and Manigramam as the
members of it. He also built the Tharisappalli (church of Tursa).
Similarly, Joseph Rubban of Muyirikode (Kodungallor) received
a charter from Bhaskara Ravi recognising him and his
descendants as the captains of Anchuvannam. Anchuvannam and
Manigramam were West Asian trade corporations of Jews and
Christians from Syria or Persia. They flourished mostly in Kerala
and occasionally on the East coast and rarely in interior also. The
Anchuvannama nd Manigramamhad their own Talaiyar(head

man). The Syrian Christian communities have its legends about
St. Thomas, the Apostle, being the founder of their colonies. The
Jews of Kochi claimed that their ancestors came to Kodungallur
after the destruction of the second temple of Jeruselam by the
Romans in 70 C.E.
Non-Brahmana villages: Urand Kutis
A non-Brahmana village (ur) was traditionally held by the
ruling lineages including the local chieftains and its land was
known as Cerikkal or the rulers land. In most of the cases these
villages were red soil tracts with small fields that required
migration. The village created through the land grants of the
Tharisappalli Copperplates of 849 C.E is an example. This land
grand regarded Vellalar as categories of tenants (Karalar) who
made use of the subjected tillers(alatiyar) to plough their field.
But the plate do not call the land granted Cerikkal and the land
was probably belonged to the chieftain of Venatu. The Tirunelli
Copper plate of 1005 CE refers a large land-grant by Kurumporai,
the local chieftain of Kurumporainatu, giving his Kilkattipula
Cerikkal to the Tirunelli temple. It is clear from the Copper Plate
that the Vellalar along with other functionaries like the
ainkutikammalar constituted the village. Landlords were the
heads of a non-Brahmana village. It is uncertain that if the
Vellalar were the land lords. But the inscriptions of Tamilnadu
identifies an Ur as both the village headed by the
Vellalarlandlords(vellan-vakai) and their assembly.
Some inscriptions from Kerala refer to ur as the village
assembly of the non-Brahmana and sabha as that of Brahmana
landlords. It is unclear that weather the natuvalis or Vellalar were
landlords in such villages. The Triparangode inscription of 944
CE gave information regarding unanimous decision taken by
urpattar(bhattas of village) alkoil(natuvalis) and potuval(the

mediator of the temple). UrpattarobviouslyBrahmanas and here

members of the sabha are mentioned independent of others. In
the Trikoditanam inscription of 1050 CE, decisions are taken
jointly by the urar, paritaiyar(the temple executive) and
sabhaiyar. It is always uncertain that whether the non-Brahmana
village was merged by an assembly of its landlords or by the
natuvalis. Even village had more or less the same pattern of
settlement as regards its functionaries who sometimes varied
depending upon the nature of the main economic-commercial
centres.
Epigraphs refer to some non-Brahmana settlement in
addition to the 32 brahman settlements. The rulers of Venatu
owned a non-Brahmana settlement on the sea shore of
Kurakkenikkollam. Later in 849 CE, it was granted to a foreign
merchant named Mar Sapir Iso to meet the daily expense of the
Christian church, which was established by him. These were
many other instances of Cerikkal lands of the local ruling families
occupied by non-Brahmana groups. Thus, two types agrarian
settlements in early medieval Kerala, the Brahmana and the non-
Brahmana settlements. There are two sub types under the non-
Brahmin settlements: the Cerikkal settlement and the merchant
community settlement. Clear felling of the forests and bringing
more land under cultivation was an ongoing process in the Cera
period and continued in the post Cera period.
The settlements maintain dispersed pattern and unique
form of spatial organization and occupational structure. Essential
occupation groups, which attached to each village settlement,
gave it a self-sufficient entity. When a new settlement was created
the services of artisans and craftsman were ensured by attaching
to it. For example the Tharissappalli Copper Plates of 849 CE

contain provision for attaching occupational families like

Ilavar(toddy tappers), Vannar(washermen), Taccar(carpenters)
and Vaniyar(oil mongers ) to the donated land. The
KollurMatham plates of 1189 CE refers to the practice of
attaching oil mongers, potters, washer man etc. to the settlements.
Kuti
Each plot of land located in a settlement needed required
permanent workers of its own and this led to the
institutionalisation of the system attaching tillers to the land.
Among these attached tillers Pulayars constituted the main group.
Through the implementation of caste system and untouchability
the servitude and immobility of Pulaya swere ensured.
Inscriptions like Tarisappally Copper Plates and Trikkakkara
temple and Thiruvalla Copper plate mentions of Pulayas as
attached tillers. Various other functionaries directly and indirectly
required for agriculture became hereditary occupation groups
who were accommodated under the caste system and these groups
were attached to the village. Each settlement was formed as part
of the village. The inscriptions including Tarisappalli Copper
Plates, Viraragava Copper Plates and the Kollur Matam Copper
Plates gave information regarding the formation of settlements.
Each settlement had its own tillers and cultivators attached to the
land and artisans and craftsman (ainkammalar) besides other
functionaries like washer man, physician and astrologers.
The various artisans and craftsmen who were the settlers
in the land had the right to occupy their household premise. This
level of right of occupants(kutis) was called kutimai. The
Chembra inscription mentions Kuttithala as an area where the
kutis lived. It states that the landlord should not divide the
Kuttithala, implying that it is the Kutimakkals hereditary right of
occupancy in land. The subjected tillers like Pulayar called

atiyalar, who is in a servile state called atiyaymai was also a part
of an agrarian settlement.
Natus and Utayavars
The Perumal territory was divided into several parts
known as ‘natu’(district) in the inscriptions. The term was in
general use in South India to denote such units. It was the Tamil
counter part of the Sanskrit term rashtrafound in North India and
Deccan. According to M.G.S Narayanan it is impossible to fix the
number of natus precisely because in the lifespan of the Perumal
kingdom, some new natus were created and others eliminated. So
that the total number natuswere different at different times.
The governors of districts are usually called Natu
Utayavar(owner of the district) in the Cera inscriptions. The
boundaries of the districts are not clearly mentioned anywhere
and it is difficult know its size. But most of the natus of the
Perumal rule have been continued with the same name even in the
modern period and some of them became more powerful after the
decline of the Perumals. These rulers claimed that they possess
their territory at the time of his departure of the last Perumal. This
claim was made in the Keralolpatti also.
By analysing the institution of Munnurruvar, Annurruvar,
Elunurruvar etc. attached to different districts indicate the
comparative size and resources of a district. For example,
Nanrulainatu .had an organisation called had an organization
called Munnurruvar(The three hundred) and Kurumporainatu had
one called Elunrruvar.( The seven hundred). The governors of
natus belonged to the Kshathriya, Samanta and Nair
communities. Some natus followed the system of hereditary
governorship and others had their governers nominated from time
to time and they were usually recruited from aristocratic families.

M.G.S. Narayan has listed different natus with its early history,
headquarters, ruling families and ethnic composition of the
people in the district by using various sources including
inscriptions.
Kolattunatu: this was the Northern most natu in the Perumal
kingdom and was an independent territory for a long period since
the Sangam age. The Musaka Vamsa Kavya of Atula, composed
in the court of Srikanta in the beginning of 11th century is dealing
with the Mushaka dynasty. Rulers of the Mushaka dynasty had
controlled the area belonged to the Kolattunadu till a Mushaka
ruler surrendering and accepting a feudatory status under the Cera
king. This feudatory relationship had been continued.
Puraikilarnatu: the natu located to the south of Kolattunatu which
may the same as medieval Puranatu or Kottayam principality.
This name was mentioned as ‘Puraikilarnadu ’ in the records of
the Cera period. Unniyaccicaritam of the 14th century designates
the ruler as ‘Purakilar Thangal’.
Kurumporainatu: this natu is lying to the South and South East of
Puraikilarnatu known by the same name till modern times.
Ramavalanatu: the name of this natu was mentioned in a record
of about 11th century from Tiuimannur temple near Kozhikode.
Kaniyapalli Yakkon, Cellan and Paliyattu Kannan Kantan .are
mentioned as the rulers there. According to M.G. S the modern
place name of Ramanattukara., South of Kozhikode is reminder
of such a natu which was disappeared after the Cera period and
a large part of the kingdom .was absorbed in to the neighbouring
Kolattunatu.
Eralanatu. This natu was lay to the South of Ramavalnatu and was
very prominent in the records of the Sangam age. The rulers of
Eralanatu are mentioned in several records as Eralanatu
Utaiyavar(the lord of Eralanatu). Manavepela Manaviya, the
ruler of Eralanatu was one of the witnesses in the Jewish Copper

Plates. The Kollam-Rameswaram records of the last Cera king
Rama Varma Kulasekhara mentions Manavikrama, the ruler of
Eralanatu was the first among the samantas during the Chera-
Chola war.
Valluvanatu: this was the South and South-East of Eralanatu. It is
regarded as Vallabharashtram in a Cola records of 959 C.E and
the ruler is called Rajashekhra. A certain Rayiran Cattan,
governor of Valluvanatu was a witness in the Jewish Copper
Plate. Some stone inscription of Cera period from the Cokiram
temple show that the area included in Valluvantu Territory. The
mention of Valluvanatu in a 9th century records of Irinjalakuda
temple show that the territory of Valluvanatu extended to the
South to the neighbourhood of the capital city of Makotai.
Nedumporayurnatu: this natu lay to the East of Valluvanatu on
the banks of Bharathapuzha. The records which mentions that this
natu are found in Nedumporiyur temple. Governors belonging to
different families such as Manalmuruttu Yakkan Kota, Kota Ravi,
Pannitturutti, Polan Kumaran and Mangalattu Kumaran Ravi
appeared as governors in inscriptions.
Nedumkalainatu: this was a small territorial unit with the Cera
kingdom. The name of this district mentioned in a Chola
inscription as the home district of one of the Malayali officer
Rajaditya. The full name of the Malayali officer was
Nedumkalainattu Isnimangalattu .Manavallian Kannan.
Isnimangalam was one among the 32 Brahman settlements.
Kalkkarinatu: this was a small natu located around the Vishnu
temple of Thirukkalkkarai which was the centre of Tiruvonam
Celebration from early times. Pannitturuthi Yakkon Kunrappolan
Kannan Porayah and Panirturutti Polan Kumaran are mentioned
as governors here.

Vempalanatu: this lay to the South of Kalkarinatu along the banks

of the Vempalanattu Kayal, i.e, the backwaters bearing this name.
Kota Ravi ruled this natu in the 17th year of Cera king Kota Ravi
and Kota Cirikantan ruled at the time of the Jewish Copper plates.
Ravi Cirikantan is mentioned as governor of this natu in the
Tiruvalla Copper plates.
Kilmalainatu: this natu was located on the Eastern high ranges as
indicated by the name which mean the Easten hill territory.
Karikode near Thodupuzha was the headquarters of this natu.
Trikkodithanam temple inscription of the 11th century identified
Kantan Kumaran alias Mulavakkon as the ruler of this natu. An
undated record of Thrikkakara mention Atikal Maluvakkonar as
the governor of this natu.
Munnunatu: this shall be a small natu in the same neighbourhood
but its actual location is not identified. Records referring to this
natu kept in the temples of Perunna and Tiruvalla Adiyan, Kota
and Rama Kota Varman are mentioned as governors of
Munnunadu.
Nanrulainatu: this natu was located between Vempalanatu and
Venatu in the extreme South Kerala. Govarthana Marthanda, the
Governor of Venatu was simultaneously appointed as the
governor of Nanrulainatu also in 14th year of Bhaskara Ravi
Manukuladithya.
Venatu: this was a large district with it headquarters at Kollam.
In the 9th century Ayyan Atikal and Rama Tiruvadikal are
mentioned as the governor of Venatu. Kurakkeni Kollam, the
headquarters of Venatu was developed into a big harbour city.
Venadu had a strategic importance as it was located to the
boarders the Pandyan Kingdom. Srivallavan Kota Varma and
Govarthana Marthanda and Kumaran Udayavarman where the
other important governors of Venatu.

Historians from Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai to M.G.S

Narayan took natus as mere administrative units. But they are
units of social life in Medieval Kerala. Historians like K.N.
Ganesh, Raghava Varier and Rajan Gurukkal considered the same
aspect of the natus. Natus were witnessed for the growth of an
agrarian economy, formation of caste system, the proliferation of
Brahmin settlements and the spread of different religious beliefs.
Gender Relations
According to K.N.Ganesh the archaeological evidences
didn’t give enough evidences about the gender relations and roles
inearly Kerala in the Megalithic age and in the so called Sangam
age of the Tamil heroic songs. Most of the studies done on the
gender roles in colonial Kerala had given importance to the topics
like matrilineal system and sexual freedom. Megalithic remains
including virakals(heroic stones) for the men died battlefield and
sati stones for women died who sacrificed their life in relation to
the same battle. The descriptions of wars in the Tamil heroic
poems gave information regarding the participation of women in
tribal battles and also in the victory celebrations after the battle.
In the Sangam age women were part of the process of distribution
and redistribution and no strict rules were imposed on female
sexuality and sexual relation. But the indications of changes in
this situation became visible by the end of the Sangam age. Two
changes were important. The first one is that polygamy became
common among the tribal chiefs. The next thing is that several
restrictions were imposed on the life of widows.
Patinenkizhkanakku , a post-Sangam text provides many
examples of the beginning of a male dominated society. These
text states that a wife should be loyal to her husband and her space
should be limited within the house.
The socio-economic changes took place in Kerala after

the Sangam age had strengthened the male dominated social
system. But a section of the upper caste people like the Nairs
followed matrilineal form of succession in the medieval period.
The castes like brahamana adopted patrilineal form of succession.
Evidences on the existence of the property right through female
line is absent in the Sangam texts. Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai
argued that patriliny was existed in Kerala up to the 11th century
and the rulers of Kerala were patrilineal till this period.
Elamkulam traced the origin of matriliny in Keralain the hundred
year long Chera-Chola war in the 11th century. But Elamkulam
failed to prove without doubt that patriliny was the dominant form
of succession in Kerala in the period before the 11th
century.M.G.S.Narayanan argued that matriliny was prevailed
among the later Cheras.
Elamkulam found that the namboodiri Brahmans who
involved in sexual relation with Kerala women were responsible
for the emergence of matriliny in Kerala. The political and social
instability created by the Chera-Chola war and the respectable
position of the namboodiris were the factors induced the families
of Kerala to involve in marital alliances with the namboodiris.
The transformation from a tribal society to a feudal society also
made changes in gender roles. The emergence of an agrarian
society gave birth to the idea of private property. There were
attempts to bring agricultural land technologies under the control
of men. Major portion of the agricultural land were under the
control of temples and brahmanas. Brahmana men controlled the
administrative aspects of the temples and only the brahmana men
had the right to work as priests in temples. Women were
appointed as only sweepers and dancers in the medieval temples.
Most of the new occupations emerged in the feudal social order
were monopolized by men.

The kuruvazhcha and koima rights in the medieval period

maintained the male line, in which men had an upperhand. Even
though, there were references to some women like mother of
Srivallabhan Kota of Venad and Kotha Marthanda’s sister and
Cirutanangacci gave donation to the temples. None of them had
the koima right.
Rights and privileges in the naduvazhi swarupams were
transferred through male line. Even though, women had the right
on the property of the swarupams , they had no political power.
Land, political power, temples, privileges and occupation were
transferred through men in medieval Kerala. But the
avakasangal(rights) in some of the small medieval temples were
decided through female line. There were evidences about rights
and privileges through female line in medieval documents. The
position of the nangyar in temple arts is through female line in
medieval documents. The rights in the households of the heroines
in the Manipravalam texts were transferred through female line.
Even though, the swarupams adopted a matrilineal form of
succession , the political power were in the hands of the male
members of the swarupam. In the matrilineal joint families, the
eldest male member known as the karanavar is responsible for
managing the properties. This rights directly transferred to his
nephew.
A type of the devadasi system in Tamilnadu prevailed also
in medieval Kerala. The devadasis or temple dancers in Kerala
were known as tevaticci and kuttacci and their life is depicted in
the medieval Manipravala kavyas.
Chiefly Powers
Kerala became a single political unit under the rule of the
Perumals of Mahodayapuram, who ruled the country from 800CE
to 1122CE as Makotai or Mahodayapuram as their headquarters.

According to M.G.S. Narayanan the state in this period does a

loose federation of naduvazhikal or nadudayavarkal (chiefs of
localities) owe allegiance to the Cera king called Perumal who
lived in the headquarters at Makotai. Brahmans migrated to
Kerala and established 32 Brahman settlements on the Westcoast
and they interacted with the existing chieftains of different
localities. Brahmans always maintained a friendly relation with
the nadu chiefs and the newcomers arrived and settled with the
active support of the chiefs. The Brahman management conferred
kshatriya status on some local chiefs like those of Kolathunadu,
Poraikilnadu, Kurumporainad, Venad etc. M.G.S. Narayanan
argued that there existed a Brahmin- chieftain alliance under the
Perumals.
The Brahmana landlords allowed their younger sons in the
family to consort with the women of the ruling families. The
traditional matrilineal order of succession among the natives must
have made this arrangement convenient to both sides and made
all the ruling chiefs as the sons of Brahmans. M.G.S. had pointed
out that there was an alliance between Brahmana oligarchs and
local kshatriya or samanta chiefs against the tenants and serfs
whom they controlled and exploited. The Cera kings and the
chiefs of the Perumal period are highly sanskritised producing
Alvars and Nayanars and other patrons of temples. The Perumals
used highly sanskritised names and title and caste suffixes like
‘varma’ and the Sanskrit terms like adhikari, prakriti etc. the
actual authority of the perumal was restricted to the capital and
the four adjacent settlements. The naduvazhi ruled in the
respective nadu territories. M.G.S Narayanan regarded the
perumal state was a feudal state with weak centre.
The Cera perumal of Makotai was recognized as the
sovereign of kerala. He claimed the titles of Mahodayapuram
Paramesvara and Keraladhinatha (the supreme lord of

Mahadayapura and the over lord of Kerala). But he was not the
ruler of the entire Kerala and he ruled over only the walled city or
Makotai and exercised certain rights over the natu units which
owed allegiance to him. The close collaboration between the king
and the Brahmanical oligarchy which possessed the best
cultivable paddy lands is clear from the inspirational records. The
king himself often presided over the meetings of the Brahmanical
temple council . The leaders of the four Brahman gramas around
the capital were given the right of management of through an
organization of nalutali or four temples so that they can live close
to the Perumal and help himwith the council and support in
administration
The last Perumal Rama Kulasekhara, held an assembly at
the Panankavil Kovilakam at Kollam, where Nalutali, Ayiram and
the samanthas assembled at the end of the war with the chola-
pandya king. In this assembly of dignitaries and feudatory chiefs
the perumal publicly offered prayascitta (atonement) for “having
offened theAriyar ” i.e. Brahmanas. This is the earliest instance
of a royal prayascitta by the king in Kerala and this practice was
followed by many another local rulers in later times. This is an
incident which indicating the subjection of royal power to
Brahmin power. M.G.S.Narayanan arrives at a conclusion that the
Cera perumals were controlled by the well organized Brahmin
community of uralar in Kerala. The Keralolpatti chroniicle gave
a clear picture of the Brahman ascendancy in Kerala. The
hereditary managers of the four temples of capital were expected
to function as the Perumals councilors on behalf of the 32
Brahman settlements in Kerala.
There is no trace of a central bureaucracy under the
Perumals. The Perumals were represented in some of the nadu
courts and temple councils by a council called Koyil Adhikarikal
or Al Koyil. The Koyil Adhikarikal, who was a member of the

royal family acted as a link between the central government and

the local government for collection of revenue.
The Keralolpatti gaves details of nalutali which included
meltali, kiltali, nediyatali and cingapuramtali. These were the
four chief temples of the capital and belonged to the four
Brahman settlements which surrounded the capital- Mulikkulam,
Airanikkulam, Paravur and Irinjalakuda respectively. These
gramas or settlements nominated two of their members each to
manage their temple. The managers of the four temples called
Tali Adhikarikal and they formed the perumals council to help
him in administration. Since the four gramas were the leaders of
the 32 original Brahman settlements, they represented the
Brahmanas of Kerala. The king and the nalu tali i.e, the Tali
Adhikarikal from the four temples, met at Nediya Tali to assist
the perumal to decide on important matters and these temple
officials had an important voice, atleast in matters related to
temples and temple properties in Kerala.
The Nalu Tali was intended to advice the Perumal
primarily in matters relating to the religious institutions like the
temple. There was a legal code known as the Mulikkalam
Kaccam, or agreement of Mulikkalam (one among the four
gramas associated with these temples) acquired a Kerala- wide
authority.
The defence of the king and the city entrusted to a group
of warriors known as ‘Ayiram’ or the ‘Thousand’. It was a group
consisting mainly Nair members, organized on a hereditary basis
meeting in the premises of the Bhagawati temple and supervising
the affairs of the temple. This famous Bhadrakali temple was
located near the entrance of the capital. Like the hundred groups
of the nadu units, the ayiram was the executive army of the
Perumal at the centre. They defended him and implemented his
orders in war and peace.
The territory of the perumal kingdom was divided into

several parts known as natu (district) each of them was placed
under the control of a governor known as the Natu Utaiyavar or
Natuvalumavar. The Mushakas of Kolattunatu with their large
territory and ancient claims must have a special place among the
governors of districts. They have the right to perform the
ceremony of abhisheka or coronation. The mushaka king Valabha
II is said to have conquered several islands of the ocean and these
may be identified as the laccadives. The Mushakavamsakavya
written in the 11th century by Atula, the court poet of Srikanta, the
Mushaka king gave information regarding the history of Mushaka
dynasty of the Mushakaparvatha from the time of its mythical
founder Ramaghata Mushaka. The Mushakaparvata is the kavya
is same as Elimalai near Kannur. Later the Mushaka kings
accepted the feudatory status under the Perumals of
Mahodayapuram. The earliest headquarters of the Mushakas were
Elimalai in Kannur. Later on the city of Kollam was built at the
mouth of the river prathana. Valabha II, a Mushaka king of the
close of 10th century is said to have built two cities- Marahi
(Matayi) and Valabhapattana (Valarpattanam or Baliapattam).
Venatu was another prominent natu under the Perumals, which
included the major portions of the former Ay kingdom, which was
famous for the king Vikramaditya Varaguna (883 CE to 912 CE).
The direct administration of the Perumal was limited to
the capital city and the four adjoining villages. They allowed
village committees and temple committees to enjoy autonomy in
their villages and the merchant corporations to manage the affairs
in the urban centres. The Brahmana settlements were controlled
by a Brahman assembly known variously as the Ur, Urar, Uralar,
Sabha etc. The urban centres were managed by trading
corporations known as nagaram.

Migration
According M.G.S. Narayanan the location of the Tamil
South on the Western seaboard, at the centre of the international
highway of sea borne trade connecting the East and West made it
a meeting point of many worlds and different races and creeds.
Early Sangam age was a casteless tribal community vertically
divided into topography and occupation. The first Aryan pioneers
who were peeped into the South were mostly agriculturalists
motivated by the possibility of virgin lands and traders who risked
everything for money and few missionaries with a motive to
spread the Vedic culture. More and more Aryans migrated to the
South under Chandragupta Maurya and the Buddhist missionary
activity organized by Asoka. Sangam works mention the early
Brahmin migrants with great respect as teachers, councillors and
ambassadors of king as the makers of new codes of conduct and
the imparters of high philosophy and literature.
A large scale migration of the Brahmanas took place only
after the decline of Sangam age when these new immigrants
established 32 settlements exclusively for Brahmanas in different
places in Kerala. These settlements were patronised by local
rulers. The tolerant character of the non-prophetic religious
enabled the peaceful co-existence of Hinduism, Buddhism and
Jainism in Kerala as in other parts of India. The famous Buddhist
Vihara of Srimulavasam near Ambalappuzha was patronised by
the king of Kolattunatu, Kodungallur and Aynadu who were all
supporters of Brahmanical religion. Vikrama Rama and Valabha
kings of Kolatunatu repaired the Buddhist shrine in the 10th and
11th centuries. Vijayaraga, Cera king of Kodungallur at the close
of the 9th century appointed a special officer to keep its property.
The Jain temples of Tirukkanavay, Thiruvannur, Kinalur and
Kallil existed in the heart of the Hindu Kingdom of the Ceras. The
pilgrimage points of Poyilil hill and cape camorin were held

sacred by the Hindu and the Mahayana Buddhist alike. The

Cilappathikaram composed by the Cera prince Ilanko Adikal,
bears witness to the continuous dialogue between different
religions took place here. Atula, the court poet of the Mushaka
king Srikanta tells that many religions co-existed in the country
ruled by Srikanta. The Ezhava people came to settle in Kerala
from Ceylon in large numbers and many of them were toddy
tapers. Some of them were Chekavans or fighters depicted in the
famous Northern ballads. A complicating factor in Kerala social
pattern was introduced by the presence of small communities of
Israelite and Syrian origin. The coming of Jews to Kerala was a
result of the destruction Jerusalem in 78 C.E. There were
epigraphic evidences of a Jewish settlement called Anchuvananm
in Kollam city by the middle of the 9th century. The Christian
church of Tarsa built and endowed by Mar Sapir Iso was jointly
protected by Jewish Corporation Anchuvannam and the Syrian
corporation Manigramam. The Christian tradition attributed the
arrival of Christianity to the St. Thomas legend. By about the 9th
century, Christianity had sent its root deep into the soil of Kerala.
While the Muslim entered Northern India as hostile
invaders , they came to Kerala as friendly merchants and
ambassadors of Arab culture. The advent of Islam was took place
in Kerala at the close of the Chera period in the 12th century. The
story about the conversion of last Chera Perumal to Islam is a part
of both Hindu and Muslim traditional chronicles. To M.G.S.
Narayanan this must be taken place at the beginning of 12th
century, not in the 9th century as the Perumal rule had been
continued till the 12th century. Madayi, Valapattanam,
Pudupattanam, Kozhikode Panthalayini, Kodungallur and
Kollam developed as Muslim settlements in the middle ages. The
Samutiri of Kozhikode had well patronised the Muslim traders
and it is a major factor behind the success of Kozhikode as a
prosperous city.
The migration wave to Kerala has a direct link with trade,

especially to foreign trade.Most of the religions entered to Kerala
as part of the trade. Foreign traders belonged to different religions
came and settled in different parts of the country.
Trans-marine Spaces and Blue Economy in Early Medieval
Kerala
Generally there are two seasonal harvests of paddy, one in
the month of kanni (August- September) and other in the month
of makaram (December –January) each leaving four months as
the duration of cultivation. An additional harvest was possible in
certain areas with enough water, while in dry areas short of water
and low-lying wetlands with excess water only one harvest was
possible. In all areas the labourers should be available throughout
an year for one function or the other such as ploughing, sowing,
transplanting, seeding, weeding, harvesting and threshing. This
had give rise to various specialized arts and crafts. Each plot
needed permanent workers of its own and this led to the
institutionalization of the system by attaching tillers to the land.
The pulayas constituted the main group of permanent culitivators
who were transacted along with the land as mentioned in certain
inscriptions like the Tarisappalli copper plates of Kollam, the
Trikkakkara temple and the Trivalla copperplates. Various other
functionaries directly or indirectly required for agriculture
became hereditary occupation groups accommodated under the
caste system.
The stone and copper plate inscriptions of the 9th, 10th and
th
11 century clearly show that the 32 traditional Brahman
settlements in Kerala from Payyanur and Cellur (modern
Taliparambu ) in the north to Tiruvalla in the south had already
being established by that time.The proliferation of Brahman
settlements signified the institutional and organizational growth
and expansion of wet land agriculture in Kerala. Clear felling of
the forest and reclaiming land for cultivation was an ongoing

practice in the Cera period which continued in the post Cera
period also.
The availability of water in almost all fields irrespective
of the attitude of the land also helped the development of
individual occupation and cultivation of small plots of lands.
From the ninth century onwards the names of purayidams, house
sites owned or occupied by individuals were mentioned in the
inscriptions. Spatial organization and occupational structure of
the settlements indicate interesting aspects of life in villages.
Some details about the occupational groups of village settlements
are provided by medieval land grants. The Tarisapalli plates of
the year 849 CE show that the necessary occupational families
like Ilavas (toddy tappers), vanar (washermen), taccan
(carpenters) and vaniyar (oil mengers) were handed over to the
donee along with the land. Cultivation of paddy was the major
economic activity because it was the chief food of the people
Kerala. Commercial crops like coconut, arecanut and pepper were
also cultivated along with paddy. Different fruit trees like mango,
jack, tamarind etc. and vegetable items like onion, brinjal and
yam were also cultivated. Plantain of different type were another
major item of cultivation.
An agrarian village of those times was relatively self
sufficient settlement of people with various specialized
occupation groups of hereditary character. These occupation
groups were attached to the settlement of village. Tarisappalli
copper plates mention carpenters, washerman and other workers
granted along with the land to the church.
In an agrarian economy of that type existed in the early
medieval Kerala commodity production and market could always
be in an underdeveloped stage. The ainkammalar produced
artifacts not only for the landlords but also for exchange at fairs.
But organized commodity production with fixed price for the

commodities and independent exchange centers had not coming
into existence. Markets did not exist and there were only periodic
fairs at certain conventional points of exchange held in the
country side. These exchange centers were seasonal and periodic
fairs were merchants from different places met. The contacts with
the Roman Empire were come to an end completely by the end of
the sixth century CE. But the Arabs, Jews and Chinese sustained
due to improved networks and contacts.
The main social products were agricultural implements,
household utensils, pottery, clothes, ornaments, salt, oil, jaggery,
ghee etc. Of these goods salt was the only essential non–local item
that had to reach to the people through mercantile circulation.
Most goods were produced locally by the artisans and craftmen
attached to the settlement. As cotton was not cultivated in Kerala,
the cotton thread had to be imported from outside. The weavers
of Kerala settled in streets of their own, but there is no mention
on weavers streets in the inscriptions of the perumal period.
Tarisappalli copper plates mention oil mongers (vaniyar), who
were supplying oil to the church as the only fuel for lamps. Oil
was an essential item of all religious institutions including temple.
Oil was extracted from gingelly and coconut.
Long distance traders like Arabs, Jews, Persian and the
Chinese were reaching the coast of Kerala during the period
mainly in search of spices. The trade with the Romans came to
end with the decline of the Roman empire. But the Arabs, Jews
and Persians were able to revive the exchange relations after a gap
of three to four centuries. They were joined with Chinese traders.
During the period of the Perumals the seat of the rulers was
Muyirikode (the highshore of Muciri), Kotankolur
(Mahodayapuram). In the inscription of the ninth and tenth
centuries CE, there is evidence of the presence of long distance

merchant bodies such as Anchuvannam (an association of Jewish

traders), Manigramam (an association of Syrian Christian
traders), Valanciyar (an organization of long distance overland
traders) and Nanadesikal (the name of an organization of long
distance overland traders from various regions). It was during this
period that several new trade centres developed, the oldest among
that was Kurakkeni Kollam or Pantalayani Kollam, which is
distinct from the southern Kollam. The Tarissapalli copperplates
had a reference to a foreign merchants-cum- market at Kollam
founded by Maruvan Sapir Iso, a Syrian Christian merchant
leader. Similarly, the Jewish copper plate of Bhaskara Ravi
Varma dated 1000 CE identified Muyirikode as the site of the
palace and there existed a market at Kotunkollur
(Mahodayapuram).
The Tarisapalli and Jewish plates grant the conventional
72 rights and privileges of a local ruler to the two merchant
leaders, Sapir Iso and Joseph Rabban. This means the merchant
leaders were made rulers of the markets of Kollam and
Kotunkolur. The ports and coastal markets in Kerala during the
ninth and tenth centuries CE were controlled by the merchant
bodies called Anchuvannam and Manigramam.
But the Arabs had an upper hand in the maritime trade
through the Arabian sea. Several accounts of Arab travels throw
light on the trade carried out by the Arabs and Chinese with
Kollam. The ninth century CE account by Sulaiman, an Arab
trader mentions that the Chinese had trade relations with Malabar
and Kollam was the favoured part of call for Chinese ships. The
accounts by Abu Said and Ibh Khordadbeh also supported the
opinion of Sulaiman. Arab accounts mention Malibar (Malabar)
as the land of pepper which covered the whole of the western
coast. The Arabs involved in the trade of the other spices like
cardamom, ginger, cinnamon, cedar and sandalwood herbs, silk
and porcelain too.

The Arabs succeeded in monopolizing the trade between

Kerala and the Persian coast. From the seventh to the eleventh
centuries CE the gold dinar remained as the medium of exchange
in overseas trade. Aydhab on the coast of the red sea was the
terminal point of this sea route from where half of the ships sailed
to the seaboards of Gujarat and Malabar. In the accounts of
Chinese travels of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries CE the
ports of Kollam and Makotai (Mahodayapuram) are mentioned.
It was the foreign merchant bodies that carried on the exchange
of goods and controlled the ports and marts. Local merchants
acted only as cargo suppliers and middlemen. Cattan Vatukan and
Iravi Cattan mentioned in the Talekat inscription and the
manigramattar – namely, Kota kumaran, kumaran kota, nakan
kannan, and kantun kumaran – mentioned in the Bhaskarapuram
inscription were probably such merchant middlemen.
Some of the Tamil inscriptions of the eleventh and twelfth
centuries CE contain references to merchants from Kotunkalur,
obviously pointing to commercial importance of the place. An
undated inscription from Irinjalakuda, probably belonging to the
period of Bhaskara Ravi Varman, refers to the remaining of
patinjayirrupotta as Bhaskarapuram and its turning into a market.
Trade centres in places like Eramam and Pantalayini Kollam were
located in geographically strategic places. Exchange centres may
have existed in the premises of all important temples, which were
themselves major consumer institution. The manipravalam work
called Anantapura varnanam describes the Cala market near the
Padmanabha swami temple.
Some of the inscriptions of Kerala mention various other
merchant bodies such as, nanadesikal, patinen-bhumi-tisai-
ayiratti-annurruvarandvalanciyar, whose domain extended all
over south India. The Valanciyar organization appears in the
Juma Masjid inscription at Pantalayini Kollam of the period of

Bhaskara Ravi. Since the local governments of the time were

incapable of providing security throughout the route, the
merchant bodies had to keep their own warriors with them.
Sources of the period show gradual monetization of
contemporary exchanges. Inscriptions mention dinara, kasu, and
pazhamkasu as terms of referring to money by way of gold coins.
dinara is well known as a roman coin in the earlier period. Earlier
scholars have arrived at an equation of 1 dinara= 1
pazhamkasu=3 kalanju of gold. Dinara is multi-purpose money
and as a means of exchange it could be used as a general
equivalent. Valappalli copper plates of Rajashekhara Perumal
dated to c. 832CE is the first inscription that mentions dinara.
Scholars have observed that kasu was struck in gold, silver and
copper in different period. Kasu figures as early as 849 CE in the
context of a price making market at Kollam in the form of a fixed
amount of toll to be collected from the in-coming and out-going
vehicles and boats. Each cart coming to and going out of the
angati had to pay eight kasu, while each boat, big and small, had
to pay four kasus.
Several records from the ninth to twelfth centuries refer to
a gold paddy ratio which remained steady indifferent parts of
Kerala. The Valapalli inscription dated to the twelfth regnal year
of Rajasekhara (832 CE) mentions that a fine of 100 dinara to be
imposed in those who obstruct the daily offerings in the temple of
Tiruvarruvai. There is a sharp decrease in the use of coin money
towards the end of tenth century and the use of gold as means
exchange from the tenth century CE. A gold paddy ratio of 1
kalanju of gold=20 paras of paddy remained unchanged for quite
a long period from airanikkalam (869 CE) in the north to Kollur
mathom( 1189CE) as clearly shown by the inscriptional records.
A couple of port towns (pattanams) and markets (angatis)
or the early historical period- Muciri and Kollam had been
continued to the Perumal period. New ports towns like Kurukkeni
Kollam, Pantalayani Kollam near Kozhikode and Madayi near
Payyanur came up. Kurukkeni Kollam with a fortified angadi was

the most famous among the towns. Another important feature of
a port town was the presence of multicultural communities like
Jews, Christians and Muslims. Association with religious centres
was a feature of the local markets. There were local markets
located in the middle tract of the agrarian settlement like
Bhaskarapuram, Talekat and Kutavur.
Buddhists
The Mushaka Vamsa Kavyastated that several religions
harmoniously co-existed in the Musaka country, like wild beasts
who forgot their mutual conflict in the vicinity of a holy asrama.
According to M.G.S Nrayanan this statement was applicable to
the whole Kerala during this period and the statement also reflects
an attitude of religious tolerance and the fact that the same ruler
often patronised institutions of different religion and
sects.K.Sugathan had an opinion that it was not Hinduism but
Budhism and Jainism , which were popularised first among the
people of Kerala. He added that the brahmana migration to the
early Tamilakam was began only after the arrival the Budhists to
the country.But Budhism was started to disappear from Kerala
when Hinduism took root in the society .He identified the
emergence of caste system as the reason for the decline of
Budhism in Kerala.
The edicts of Asoka had reference to the land of
Keralaputra among the southern frontier kingdoms(pratyata) of
the Mauryan empire where he sent his missionaries. This thing
was also supported by the certain references in sangam literature.
Budhism had many followers in Ceylon which had close contact
with..the coastal areas of the Cera kingdom. There were evidence
in the Cilappatikaram and Manimekalai about the flourishing of
both Buddhism and Jainism in the Cera country in pre-Makotai
period also.

Five Buddha images had been discovered from certain

villages of Karumadi, Bharanikavu,.Mavelikkara, Pallikkal and
Marudurkulangara.On the basis of architectural features, it is
assumed that these belonged to 8th-9th centuries. All these located
in the Alappuzha- Kottayam region which was considered as a
strong pocket of Buddhisam in Kerala. Epigraphic and literary
evidence indicates the existence of a famous Buddhist vihara in
this region. The Paliyam Copper plates of the Ay king
Vikramaditya Varaguna(9th century) begins with threeslokas in
praise Saudhodani, Dharmasangha and Avalokitesvara. It refers
to the gift of certain lands in the Ay country to the deity of
Tirumulavatam.In the light of the discovery of various Buddha
type images from Alappuzha district it is suggested that the old
Vihara of Srimulavasa was located somewhere near
Trikkunnappula. A village named Srimulavatam still exists near
Trikkunnappula on the sea cost from where a Budha type image
has been recovered from the sea. The Musakavamsa Kavya tells
about the threat to Srimulavasa from the sea. The poem praised
the Musaka king Vikrama Rama (10th century C.E) who saved the
famous Srimulavasa Vihara from the attack of the sea. Fouscher
had discovered an image of Avalokitesvara from Gandhara with
an inscription that says that it represented Srimulavasa,
Lokanatha from Dakshinapatha.
Srimulavasa was identified as the present village of
Srimulavatam located near Trikkunnappula. It was a Mahayana
centre and Avalokitesvara has its chief deity. The Ay kings and
Mushaka kings patronised the institution. The name of this vihara
had reached even in Gandhara. The member of Trikkunnappula
sat in the Perumals council along with the representatives of the
four chief Hindu temples. It was in a flourishing condition from
the 9th to 11th century, and after that some of the buildings were
swallowed by the sea. There was a Brahmin comedian who
embraced Buddhism and rejected it after sometime in the stage
version of Bhagavadajjukam used by the Cakyars of Kerala for

Kutiyattam.In this work Sounadaliya, a poor Brahmin joins a
Buddhist monastery to escape from starvation. His profession was
to visit several places and to attend the funeral feast
(pindasadhya). By hearing that Pallimar(Buddhist) gave free
food he agreed to convert to Buddhism. Then the work describes
the different steps and ceremonies performed during the
conversion to Buddhism. However, when the Brahmin learnt
quickly that there is only one meal a day for him. He cursed the
Pallimar of low birth and came out of their group. He uses the
word tolattu Cerumi makkal(son of the Ceruma slave or the cattle
shed for the Buddhist monks)to abuse them.. M.G.S. Narayanan
had an opinion that this work was composed in the Cera period
to suit the reformed Sanskrit theatre of Kutiyattam. This work
also pointing towards a society where conversion to Buddhism
and reconversion to Hinduism was very common.
The cult of Sasta or Ayyappan was familiar to Kerala in
this period as well as Tulu and Cola countries and Ceylon. The
resemblance it has with Buddha is striking. The title of Sasta is
applied to Ayyappan and Buddha alike. According to M.G.S
Narayanan the emphasis ‘Swami’, the non-Brahmin character of
worship and the location of the great Sasta temples in the eastern
high ranges indicates a close connection between Buddhism and
the Hindu cult of Hariharaputhra and Ayyappan. Sasta or
Ayyappan is a Hinduised form of Buddha. But M.G.S pointed
out certain thing which prevents scholars from accepting such a
position. Ayyappan unlike Buddha was hunter or warrior and the
husband of two female deities. The image also was different in its
appearance. It is possible in some casses the Buddha figures and
shines were later converted into the centers of Ayyappa cult and
taken by Hindu population. But these similarities are about the
influence of Buddhism on the development of Ayyappa cult in
Kerala. There is a legend of Pallivana Perunal, found in some
version of the Keralolpatti, according to which a king of Kerala

became a Buddhist after listening to their argument and was
compelled by the Brahmins to relinquish .the throne. It is
suggested that the ‘Pallivanavar’ of the Nilamperur and Kilirur
nearby were most probably the representations of Budha. Kutira
found in the rural temple festivals of Alleppey and Kottayam
is a representation of the car festivals of the Budhists. The term
‘Palli’ usually applied to non-Vedic religious institutions was
part of large number of village names in Kerala and some of these
were Buddhist countries. Ilavar from Ceylon could also
represented a Buddhist element in population.
M.G.S. Narayan formulated his argument about the idea
of cultural symbiosis in Kerala on the basis of peaceful co-
existence of different religions like Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam
Christianity and Judaism in Kerala. Aju. K. Narayanan in his
study is dealing with how the Buddhist tradition in Kerala was
transmitted through local knowledge.
Jains
The most authentic study about Jainism in Kerala is by
M.R.Raghava Varier.All of the Jain temples in Kerala were
concentrated in the places near the South Indian states of
Karnataka and Tamilnadu. The Madura region in Tamilnadu is
well known as an old centre of Jainism. Shravanabalgola in
Karnataka was another major Jain centre. According to Raghava
Varier the Jain centrers in Kerala didn’t have a history older than
8th-9th centuries.
One of the major Jain centers in Medieval Kerala was
Thiruchanathmala , located near Kuzhithura in the Tiruvitamkur
region. A cave temple along with some Tirtankara-yakshi idols
engraved on the wall and few inscriptions are found there. This
region maintained close contacts with some of the major Jain

centers in South India. Thiruchanathumala itself was a major

pilgrimage and study centre of Jainism. Students even from
faraway places came here, where both male and female saints
were taught. These early Jain centers had close contacts with the
merchants. Another major Jain centre in medieval Kerala was the
cave temple near Perumpavoor in Ernakulam district. We didn’t
get any inscriptions from here. Parsvanatha and Mahavira are the
chief deities here and an idol of Yaksi also found.
Raghava Varier located a number of Jain centers in
Palakkad district.Material remains of Jainism were found in the
places like Jainmedu, located near the Palakkad town,
Iswarankotta in Kongadu and Paruvassery in the Palakkad-
Trissur road. There was a well preserved Jain temple at
Jainamedu. All these Jain centers are closely linked with the
major trade- cultural routes in South India. Kinalur, near
Balussery in Kozhikode is an old Jain centre. An inscription in
Vattezhuthu was found there.
Wayanad is a famous centre of Jainism even from the
beginning of medieval period. Material remains of Jainism were
found in the places like Kalpatta, Bathery and Panamaram. An
inscription got from Pulpalli mention that a group of merchants
known as the Nalpattennayiravar allotted a piece of land to a
lamp dedicated to Yaksa. Kabani, a feudatory of Kaveri River
originates from Wayanad hills and wayanad always maintained
trade links with Karnataka. A Jain temple was located near
Valiyangadi in Kozhikode. This temple is managed by the North
Indian Svethamabaras. The Kallil temple was also dominated by
the Svetambara tradition. But all other medieval Jain temples in
Kerala were belonged to the Digambara sect of Jainism.
According to Varier all the medieval Jain centers were
located near the local trade centers known as angadis. These
centers were in touch with medieval trade guilds. Though, the Jain
temples followed the same architectural style of the brahmana

temples, they always maintained a separate identity. Later, most
of the important Jain temples in Kerala were converted as Hindu
temples. The Cave temple in Tiruchanathumala and the Kallil
temple became Bhagawati temples. Raghava Varier argued that
the similarities between the style worship in Hindu and Jain
temples made it easy to change the shape of Jain temples in to that
of Hindu temples.
Brahmanas
According to the Keralolpatti, the traditional chronicle of
the brahamanas, Parasurama created the land of Kerala by
moving the sea to settle down the brahmanas. The legend also
tells that the Brahmans were migrated to Kerala at their own will
without any invitation or the patronage of any local kings. There
were different opinions about the native place of the brahmanas,
who settled in Kerala. According to the tradition they came from
Ahichatra, most probably Aryavarta of the Gangetic region.
There was a chance that these brahmanas were migrated to Kerala
through Tamilnadu. The thirteen brahmanical temples of Kerala
were among the 108 divyadesams of Tamilnadu, and integral to
the Tamil bhakti movement. Some historians had a different
opinion that the ancestors of the Malayali brahmanas, who were
known as the namboodiris were migrated to Kerala from
Karnataka. They linked Ahichatra to Aihole of Karnataka and
suggested that the migration took place through the Tulu region.
They noticed certain similarities between the Brahmans of
Karnataka and Kerala. The presence of some old Kannada usages
in the inscriptional language (old Malayalam) supports this view.
The Keralolpatti tradition provides information about 64
brahmana villages established by Parasurama, 32 were in Tulu
region and 32 in Kerala. Kesavan Veluthat has identified 32

brahmana settlements in Kerala starting from Payyanur in the

North and ending with Nirmanna in the South. The following are
the 32 brahman settlements identified Veluthat: Payyanur,
Perumchellur, Alathur, Karanthol, Chokiram, Panniyur,
Karikkatu, Isanimangalam, Trissivaperur, Peruvannam,
Chamunda, Iringadikudal, Avattiputhur, Paravur, Airanikkulam,
Mulikkalam, Kulavur, Atavur, Chenganad, Ilibhyam, Uliyannur,
Kazhuthanad, Ettumanur, Kumaranellur, Kitannur, Katamartuku,
Tiruvalla, Aranmula, Chenganur, Kaviyur, Venmani and
Nirmanna. Veluthat was succeeded in his attempts to identify all
of these settlements. 17 of these settlements were mentioned in
the temple inscriptions belonging to the same village. 4 of these
settlements were mentioned in the temple inscriptions of other
villages.3 settlements were mentioned in contemporary literary
works. But there were no evidence except the tradition to identify
7 brahmana settlements.
Brahmana settlements had located in the agro-climatic
areas suitable for paddy cultivation. Thus, brahmana settlements
were absent in the region between the settlements of
Perumchellur (Taliparamba) and Karikkad as this region is not
suitable for paddy cultivation due to the tidal salination. So it is
evident that the proximity of river and the nature of soil were the
chief factors which attracted the brahmans to live in a particular
region.
Brahmanas brought with them the knowledge of irrigation
and astronomical knowledge with them and introduced it in the
agriculture. The coming of brahamnas was a turning point in the
history of Kerala as the fundamental changes in the social life and
the political structure of early medieval Kerala like the expansion
of agrarian society, state formation, social stratification, the
emergence of temple centered villages and the matrilineal system
were its consequences.
Module III
Social Life in Later Medieval Kerala
Land- Labour
The traditional land system in Kerala has been called
Janmi-Kudiyan-Sampradayam or Janmam-kanam-maryda.
These terms generally denote landlord- tenant relations, but an
explanation of their nature depend on the interpretation of the
terms Janmi, Kudiyan and Maryadai. The term Janmi means a
person with Janmam right (hereditary right or birth right, the term
literally means birth) on the land. This right on the land is
autonomous which does not imply any service or dues that he has
to pay an overlord for maintaining his right. A person acquires
Janmam right on the land from predecessor who held the land.
The Janmi loses his right only if he transfer or sells his land, and
the new owner has to pay rent or dues because he does not come
to own the land as birth right. A Janmi could offer service to an
overlord, the temple or the chief as an act of homage for political
or economic reasons.
The growth of the janmam right has been traced back to
the formation of a stratified agrarian society between the ninth
and twelfth centuries during the later Cera period. Agrarian
settlements formed and the Brahmins established hereditary
rights over the wet lands. Rulers and naduvazhis made land grants
and other allotments as permanent rights to temples and Brahmins
which made them bigger landlords during the tenth and eleventh
centuries. But Kesavan Veluthat pointed out that there was an
absence of the typical danasasanas prefaced with the usual
prasastis found in the records of other parts of the country.
According to Veluthat, the formation of the chera kingdom in the

beginning or the ninth century was itself a major economic
transformation as it led to the opening up of river valleys and
clearing of land in other ways for purposes of agriculture.
Land held by Janmis was cultivated by large and small
tenants. By the twelfth century, gradation of rights over lands had
emerged, with the naduvazhi chief at top, followed by uralar
(land owners and temple trustees), karalar (tenants and
intermediary landlords), kudiyar (settled tenants cultivators), and
the adiyar (slave labourers) at the bottom. Legal codes (kaccams)
were created to sustain the authority of the land owners over the
tenants and servile classes. Epigraphical records of the early
medieval Kerala show that temples owned vast areas of land.
Nambudiri Brahmins and chiefs owned lands as janmam as the
rights as they hold were inherited from their predecessors by
matrilineal or patrilineal forms of succession.
Growth of the Janmam right also resulted in the growth of
new supportive institutions like kaccams. But kaccam, which
were codified regulations instituted by temple managements was
declined after the twelfth century. The different strata of
producers which had been formed during the later Cera period
were transformed to a class of leaseholders (pattakkar) who held
lands from the janmi on the basis of payment of a share of the
produce as pattam or varam. With the growth of Janmam tenure
along with the privileges associated with it, the settled cultivators
in various regions become tenants paying rent or service to the
Janmi. Kudiyar became a common term for different types of
leaseholders. Adiyar (or al) still remained bonded slaves attached
to the soil in food crop producing areas. The lands owned by the
temples, Brahmans and Naduvazhi chiefs were known as
Devaswam,Brahmaswam and Cherikkal lands respectively.

According to Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai, during the period

of the most of the eleventh century, described by Pillai as the
‘Hundred Years War’ between the Ceras and the Colas, destroyed
the democratic and egalitarian character of Kerala society and
polity. The ‘Hundred years of war led to a concentration of the
huge landed properties in the hands of the few Brahmana
landlords giving birth to a peculiar pattern of land tenure in Kerala
known as the Janmi system translated as ‘landlordism’.
The temple inscriptions of early medieval Kerala
demonstrate the Brahmanical character of the temple centred
agrarian corporations of that period. According to the
Keralolpatti tradition Parasurama created the land and donated it
Brahmanas. Kesavan Veluthat had an opinion that the clues in the
Keralolpatti tradition could not be ignored when dealing with the
structure of land relations in Kerala. The Keralolpatti says that
ardhabrahmanas or arms bearing brahmanas, who were
exempted from studying the Vedas were given land.
Vedabrahmanas or the brahmanas studying the Vedas got land
donated from the ardhabrahmanas. Sudra cultivators were
brought from different places and settled there and given several
rights. The tenants were allowed a lower share (kilaykkuru) while
the Brahmans got the upper share (melaykkuru). The tenants were
bestowed with the kanam right while the Brahmanas granted
themselves the janmam right. Keralolpatti defines the system of
kanam and janmam in this way. Velluthat clarified that it is not
his argument that this account in the Keralolpatti is describing the
way in which the land tenurial patterns had their origin in Kerala.
A two tier arrangement with the janmam a superior right vested
in the Brahmana lords and the kanam in the hands of tenant
cultivators immediately below them is clearly mentioned in the
Keralolpatti.

A major portion of the land where rice was cultivated was

controlled by the temple–centred Brahmana settlements which
included both the devasvam and the brahmasvam lands. The
brahmasvam which literally means the ‘property of Brahmana’
was individually held by Brahmana households. The title they had
over such land is described as attiperu. There are other instances
where institution and individuals received land and other
privileges as vituperu. The term peru which literally means birth.
The land of members of the ruling family or other private
individuals kept under the control of temples known as kilitu,
amounting to some kind of subordinate leasehold. There is
another kind of tenure called itaiyitu, an intermediary leasehold.
The rights of the karalar were known as karanmaiand the rights
of the occupants of kuti was known as the kutimai rights.
The post –cera period witnessed its elaboration and the
addiction of further nuances in the graded hierarchy with greater
land use and the diversification of crops in that period. Donald R.
David junior in his study about his legal practices of medieval
Kerala touched upon the land tenures in medieval Kerala. He
argued that the terms attiperu and janmam are technically
synonymous. Itaiyitu or kilitu in the Cera records were created
and given to intermediaries often in return for a loan or security,
the interest of which was adjusted against the proceeds of the
land, something of an unsufructuary mortage. The terms used
most frequently in the post-cera documents are veppu, orri and
panayam.
Records of the Cera kingdom show that there were the
labourers who worked in the land and were transferred along with
land when transactions took place. The labourers are described
variously as al, atiyar etc. The nature of land relations had marked
a change in post Cera period. From the fourteenth or the fifteenth
century the rights of the janmi over the land was expressed by

kiliyakkam and the obligations of the tenants were determined by

maryadai. Unlike kaccams in the early medieval period,
maryadai had no standardized form applicable to the entire
Kerala. Disputes about the application of maryadai were settled
by local eminent persons called natuvar or naluper. The
localisation of landrights and obligations based on the maryadai
could be expressed by the use of the terms kilmaryadai,
nattumaryadai, desamaryadaisanketamaryadi etc.
The localized traditions were clearly the result of
decentralization of politico-economic power after the decline of
Cera kingdom, when different parts of Kerala came into the hands
of naduvazhi swarupams.
By the seventeenth century, cultivation was extended to
the Western Ghats also. This form of expansion indicated that
new sections of population became agricultural producers and
new janmam rights were established. The geography of Kerala
with its hill slopes lead to the emergence of independent isolated
settlements emerging and growing into self centered units of
authority followed their own kiliyakkam and maryadai. A major
portion of land in late medieval Kerala was held by large
matrilineal joint families
The growth of cash economy was visible from the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries itself with the expansion of
foreign trade. The number of mortgages had been considerably
increased from the fifteenth and sixteenth century. Lands were
being in mortgage from one to twelve years on payment of a
certain amount in cash or kind as artham, on the condition that
the interest on the artham was deducted from the rent paid.
Money was pledged with land as security (panayam). Direct
money lending (kadamvaypa) with interest paid in cash or kind
from land nerpalisa was also common.

If a land is brought under paddy cultivation, or a new tree

planted, the land would be treated as kulikkanam. Kulikkanam is
a kind of holding, where a reduction of rent from one third to one
fourth was given a naduvakkur or kilikkur, which would cover the
expenditure for the gestation period who the trees are growing or
the ground prepared for food crop cultivation.The expansion of
the kulikkanam tenure is related with the thrust towards expansion
of garden crops. Growing overseas trade from the fifteenth
century and the fight between various naduvazhi chiefs for
establishing their nights over the available territories were the
factors which led to the expansion of the land tenure system in
late medieval Kerala.
Production-Exchange
Malabar coast one of the major centres of the Indian
Ocean trade during the medieval period. Malabar, along with
Coromandal and Ceylon, linked trade from the Red sea and
Persian Gulf to the Chinese coast. The trade reaches its peak
during 13th and 14th centuries then was transformed under the
impact of the European companies.
The trade networks on the Malabar Coast were of three
types: local trade, long distance overland trade and long distance
overseas trade. Several factors like one or more resources regions,
processes of local exchange through land, rivers and sea, ports of
trade and mechanism of exchange including the use of money and
credit were essential for the conduct of trade.
The inscriptions from the later Chera or Perumal period
gave details regarding production and trade. Documents show
that pepper, ginger, cardamom, tamarind, akil and salt were
exchanged in local market centres (angadis).Spices and forest
products were also imported through major ports of trade such as
Pantalayani, Kodungallur and Kollam. Overland trade included

textiles, metals and other implements. Merchant corporations

such as Tisai Ayiruttu Ainurruvar,Valanjiyyar and
Nalpattennayiravar conducted this trade. Anjuvannamand
Manigramamare mentioned in the port of trade in Malabar.
11th century marked the beginning of a major expansion
in the Indian Ocean trade. Development of the Indian Ocean
Network resulted in the more frequent visit of shisps in the port
of trade in the Malabar Coast, both from West Asia and South
East Asia. The geographical features of the Malabar Coast
enabled the merchants to use coast as an effective stopover and
the merchants also gathered the spices and forest product from
Malabar. This process of trade enabled the disbursement of
pepper and other spices into the Red sea and the Mediterranian
and the same process also ensured that wares from different parts
such as gold, copper, silver, horse, silk, aromatics, bronze,
ceramic and cotton textiles reached in Kerala.
The expansion of overseas trade resulted in the growth of
a number of ports. The list of ports given by the Arab geographer
and merchants including Ezhimala, Madai, Valapattanam,
Dharmadam, Puttupanam, Panthalayani, Kozhikode, Beypore,
Ponnani, Kdungallur, Kochi, Purakkad, Kayamkulam and
Kollam demonstrate this growth. The growth of ports also
implied that vessels sailing from East and West found numerous
centres to anchor their vessels and conduct their trade.
The proximity of production region including the Western
Ghats to the sea and the presence of a number of rivers also
facilitated the transport of gods to nearby port. The growth of port
also implied that local products including spices and forest
produce could be brought a number of coastal centres for
exchange instead of a central emporium.

Among the cash crops pepper was the most demanded

item for the foreigners as many of the foreigners regarded
Malabar as a pepper country for a long time. The Arab enjoyed
monopoly of pepper trade in Malabar. Arab merchants like
Yaqut-al-Hamawi(12th century), Al Quazwini(13th century),
Muhammad al-Idris(12th century) mention about the cultivation
of pepper in Malabar. The Venetian traveller Marco Polo(1254-
1324 CE) recorded in his accounts about the cultivation of pepper
and ginger. Durate Barbosa (16th century) a Portuguese traveller
speaks about different types of ginger cultivated in different parts
of Kerala. Turmeric was an extensively cultivated crop in the
garden land mainly for household consumption. Coconut and
arecanut trees dominated the garden land and constituted a source
of regular income of the several natus. Chinese account reveals
that the cultivation of arecanut was extensive in Kerala. Forest
area was full of other resources as well. The forest areas provided
timber, sappan wood or canella, aloe, sandal wood etc.
Evidence regarding various angadisindicates the linkages
between the production zone and trade networks. Literary text
refers to several agnadis such as Thazhakkavu in Wayanad,
Kariyanad near Thiruvalla, Ayyanchithira in Valluvanatu,
Kadattururuthi,Mathilakam and so on. It has been argued that
there were four different kind of trading centres: rural exchange
nodes, periodic fair, interior markets and small bazars and the big
emporium of foreign trade. According to K.N Ganesh the pattern
of exchange process is basically three kinds. One was local, often
without the use of money conducted by the producers themselves.
The second was the higgle-haggle trade found in the literary texts.
The third was the most organised trade with the use of money, in
which itinerant and foreign merchants or their middle men
participated. The coastal communities, who depended on fishing
and the production of salt, coconut, coir products and toddy also
depended on the exchange of their products with paddy. The
medieval temples were major consumers of local products as well

as the goods brought through foreign trade. Some ports like
Kannur was specialised in some of the imports like horses, which
were transported to other parts of South India. The entire coast is
linked to the resource regions and market centres, such as
Valapattanam and Kannuur (Valapattanam river) Puttupanam
(Kuttiadi river) Pantalayani (Korapuzha), Kozhikode and
Beypore(Chaliyar), Ponnani (Bharathapuzha), Kodungallur and
Kochi(Periyar and Vembanad lake), Kayamkulam(Pamba) and
Kollam(Kallada river and Ashtamudi lake).
For a fairly long period, navigation in the Arabian Sea was
along the coast. Malabar is referred to by all the Arab writers as
country of pepper. Ibin Battuta calls the country as Malaybar and
states that it is a pepper country. Large amount of spices including
pepper, ginger, cardamom, cinnabar and malabathuram,
spikenard etc. ere exported from the ports of Malabar to the Arab
countries.
RagavaVarier’s study threw light on the history of
Chinese trade relations with Kerala and he explained how
influential they were in the economy, technology and culture.
Varier made use of the remains of Chinese travelogue written by
the travellers like Mahuan, who accompanied Cheng-Ho during
his expedition in Malabar.
The expansion of trade resulted in the growth of coinage
in Medieval Kerala. The naduvazhis of Kerala like thenaduvazhis
of Kozhikode, Kochi and Venad introduced gold coin, but they
were limited in circulation. There are also references to
Kammattam(mint) from the 15th century. The merchant-
middlemen engaged in local and overland trade made use of the
locally minted coins such as panam. In short, the coast of Malabar
became a part of the large global network of the oceanic trade.

Labour Activities and Multiple Economies

According to K. N. Ganesh in the late medieval Kerala
changes in the agrarian economy were taking place when the
forest areas were cleared and used for agriculture, particularly
along the coast. By the 17th century cultivation was extended to
the Western Ghats also. This process was the result of the rise of
the naduvazhi svarupams. Expansion particularly took place on
land growing garden crops like coconut and pepper. Coconut
spread in the sandy soil, which was extremely suited for the crops.
Pepper along with other spices and fruit bearing trees were grown
in parambus and thottams (garden) on the coast and the interior.
This form of agricultural expansion indicates that the new
sections of the population were becoming agricultural producers,
new chiefs were developing in interior areas, and new janmam
rights were established. Apart from the Brahmanas, non-brahman
chiefs and land owners increased their importance. The
geography of Kerala, with its hill slopes, terrace and valleys
indicates the agrarian expansion with several independent,
isolated settlements as self contained units followed their own
localized pattern of land rights. Fertile regions with more
resources attracted the attention of rival chiefs which led to
frequent quarrels. This gave rise to a military class, which was
maintained by the agriculture produce of the area. Land was held
by large matrilineal joint families.
Another feature was the growth of cash economy, which
was visible from the fourteenth and the fifteenth century itself.
The big natus and their natuvazhis like the ruler of Venatu and
the Samuthiri of Kozhikode were supported by the income
obtained from trade. Market centres and ports of trade remained
autonomous. Numerous ports like Valapattanam, Puttupattanam,
Pantalayani, Kozhikode, Chaliyam, Kozhi, Purakkad and Kollam
developed. These ports were visited by Arabs, Syrian Christians
and the Chinese. Arabs controlled the trade in Kozhikode and

Kannur. Kozhikode was placed under the supervision of the
Muslim merchant ‘Shah Bandar Koya’. The ports of trade of
Kollam was separated from the control of the chiefs of Venatu
and controlled by traders themselves. Market centres or angadi
developed in the interior, particularly close to the temple. Some
of them were Kadatturuthi, Kayamkulam, Mattam, Sreeparvatam,
Thiruvananthapuram etc. These angadis were visited by
merchants as well as local people to sell their goods. While
Samutiri made use of the port of Calicut to involve in trading
relations with the western world and Arab countries. Kollam or
Kurakkeni Kollam, where Venatu had its headquarters, continued
to be a prosperous centre of trade.
Evidence from food crop regions during the post –
perumal period showed that cultivators of the food crop regions
generally belonged to the group called Nairs. They were formed
an important group within the village community. The existence
of interrelated power centers such as the swarupams, Brahmana
temple, village communities and trading centers was also a
feature of the medieval Kerala under the rule of the naduvazhi
swarupams. There were mention of social groups like ilavar,
vellan, pulayan, chaliyan, and groups of kammalar. These groups
emerged on the basis of the expanding agrarian relations and trade
network particularly along the coastal region. Various references
to occupations with reference to expanding agrarian society like
thachan, kollan, thattan, Chaliyan, vaniyan, kusavan, ilavan,
pulayan, parayan, channan and several other groups were made.
The coastal people like parutavar, mukkuvar and araiyar
occupied separate Turas.
Medieval Kerala inscriptions mention a division of
settlement space into vayal (paddy field), karai or
karaipurayadam (upland or house site) and kadu (forest). Instead
of living huddled in a street like other IndiansMalayali prefers
privacy of his own. Compounds.Paddy fields gradually became
poyil or elevated grounds which merge onto parambu uplands and

hill slopes. The hills and hillocks gradually descend down to the
parambu uplands and hill-slopes.
According to Raghava Varier a study of the settlement
registers of the ten villages reveals that the basic constant element
of the village community consisted of kollan (blacksmith), asari
(carpenter), musari (bronzesmith), tattan (goldsmith), velan
(folk- medicine man/midwife) vannan (washermen or ritual
dancer), panan (traditional singer of the songs /umbrella maker),
veluthedan (washermen of upper jatis), chaliyan (weaver),
chakkalan (oil presser), tiyan (toddy tapper) and the agricultural
groups of pulayan, parayan and kanakkan.
All the medieval nadus were agrarianand the paddy fields
dominated the central nadus, which is also the region with large
number of watercourses. The paddy fields in central Kerala lands
included 67 terms noting kari lands, that are kayal or estuarine
lands in the Vembanad lake. Interestingly, forms donating forest
lands (kadu) are also maximum in the Central Kerala nadus. In
the northern Kerala nadus terms donating paddy fields (vayal,
nilam, aria etc.) are almost equal showing relatively higher
distribution of garden lands. None of the nadus are exclusively
paddy areas, and had included numerous land terms showing a
wide variation in land use and cultivation.
People’s Life in Early Medieval Kerala
Kerala as an entity distinct from the rest of the south India
had acquired its socio-cultural identity at the beginning of the
ninth century. The earliest reference to Kerala as a separate
geographical entity with the use of that name is found in the
Avantisundarakatha of Dandin. This work belongs to eighth
century and the author was a Sanskrit poet from the Pallava
capital in Kanci. Kesavan Veluthat argued that Kerala came to be

defined as a geographical unit with definite boundaries, and the

territory also became the territory of a political unit by the ninth
century.
It was under the Perumals of Mahodayapuram that Kerala
was united as a single political unit for the first time, during the
eighth to twelfth centuries. During the period from the fourth to
the eighth century, there are references in literature to gifts of land
to fighters and Brahmanas. The fighters or the priest scholars did
not cultivate the land by themselves. They made use of the labour
from outside the kin groups, which resulted in the erosion of the
old system. Following the emergence of a stratified society that
resulted from the opening up of the river valleys for cultivation,
society with a graded hierarchy and with a state established.
A large number of Brahmana settlements were established
on the lower reaches of the more fertile river valleys of Kerala by
the ninth century. These Brahmana settlements that were found
around temples in the river valleys. The Brahmanas possessed
vast estates of land both as their individual property
(brahmasvam) and as collective property in the name of the
temple (devasvam).
By the close of the eighth century, vast areas of land had
brought under plough for the cultivation of paddy and a
considerable number of the tribals were transformed into peasants
in an agrarian society. This created surplus in production and
through its unequal distribution a stratified society came into
existence. Brahmanas as the administrators of the temples had
immense influence on the economy and society and they enjoyed
certain economic privileges. Thus, Brahmanical ideas and
institutions such as the Agamaic religion, jati and
varnasramadharmawere accepted by the society. Kerala has all
the features necessary as a precondition for the formation of the

state: the production of considerable agrarian surplus, stratified

society and acceptance of a hegemonic ideology.
The very first epigraphic record from the plains of Kerala
is a copperplate related to a place called Valapalli near Tiruvalla
in the south. Tiruvalla was one of the major Brahman settlements
and Valapalli was its subsidiary. The document dated in the
twelfth reginal year of Rajasekhara (820 CE), who is identified as
the founder of the cera kingdom of Mahodayapuram. The very
first record from Kerala related with the presence of the state is
Brahmanical in character.
The perumal had a council of Brahmana advisors known
as the nalutali. This council was present in important meetings of
the king. Kesavan Veluthat had an opinion that the Brahmanical
groups emerged as powerful with a strong sense of all Kerala
identity. The members of the council nalutali were the
representatives from four important Brahmana villages in the
neighbourhood. This council was present when the ‘war council’
met or an important decision such as the remission of tax was
taken. Decisions taken in one of these villages, mulikkalam
regarding the nature of conduct for the Brahmana members of the
village committees had the privilege of setting the standard code
of conduct, which followed by the entire Kerala.
In all probability the temple of Kali, for which the town is
famous today, existed in the capital city apart from these four big
Brahmanical temples of the nalutali. Members of the important
Nair caste with their military power managed the affairs of this
temple through their body called onnu kure ayiram (the “thousand
minus one”), the ayiram (the thousand) was a body of the ceru
kings bodyguards, his ‘companions of honor’. The real power in
the state have been exercised by the chiefs at the local levels, the
corporate bodies in agrarian villages, and trading groups in the
urban centres.
The inscriptions from Kerala of this period have a peculiar

feature. Most of the documents are related to agrarian villages
centered on temples and managed by Brahmana groups and
evidences of a strong non- Brahmana peasantry as it in the rest of
south India in this period is missing here. The Brahmanical
groups controlled most of the rice-producing land. The owned
property as both devasvam and brahmasvam, and managed the
affairs of the ur (the village). These groups, also known as the
urar (those of the village) met regularly in the temples and
decides on important affairs such as the management of the
landed property, assignment of revenue, policing, law and order
etc. Each ur or sabha as it was otherwise known, consisting of a
handful brahmana landowners of the village, functional as a
corporate groups and decided things in meetings. Members
attended the meetings without fail and decisions were unanimous.
Any abrogation of the decision was punished according to the
provision the dharmasastras. Defaulters were ostracized and
expelled from the territory of village and their properties were
confiscated and added to the ‘god’s property.
A body called nagaram controlled urban trading centres.
They had the same autonomy as the agrarian villages. These
nagarams were often controlled by guilds like Ancuvannam,
Manigramam etc. These bodies enjoyed considerable privileges
in administrative matters. Arabs, Jews, and Christian traders had
influence on the urban centres. The port towns such as Kollam or
Kodungallur functioned as centres of international trade and it
was through these port cities religions like Judaism, Christianity
and Islam entered this land.
The presence of the state as visible in the inscriptions
points to the existence of differentiation and stratification in
society. Wetland agriculture in paddy had spread widely with the
opening up of river valleys and the widespread use of iron

technology. The process of agrarian expansion including the

clearing of forests in certain areas, the leveling of undulating
terrains in certain others, and the draining of waterlogged fields.
Records show that temples possessed huge estates of land
producing rice.
The primary producers were the labourers, who were tied
to the lands they worked. There were references to the bonded
labourers such as al, al atiyar etc. Grants or other transaction of
land mention the transfer al labourers, both male and female
along with such transactions.The most visible section of
population in the records consisted of those who placed in the
middle of the economic and social hierarchy. They included
numerous tenants of the vast land owned by the temples. A
section of people was there to provide various services in the
temple such as garland– making, musical services, cleaning etc.
were placed slightly above the tenants as they were doing ‘clean’
jobs and their proximity to the temple and the Brahmanas. Those
who were engaged in artisanal activities such as the different
varieties of smiths, carpenters, washermen etc. were placed lower
on the scale. Native traders were rarely mentioned in inscriptions.
Jati was a tool for the Brahmanical owning groups to
assert their superiority. By using the principles of the
varnashramadharma, they imposed the Brahmanical world view
and provided legitimacy to the differentiation of society. This is
one of the peculiar features of Kerala society where, unlike other
parts of south India, Brahmanical dominance was accepted. The
result was the spread of agamic religion. Temples dedicated to
Brahmanical deities such as Siva and Vishnu had come up with
fabulous amount of wealth. The Cera rulers themselves were two
leaders of the Tamil bhakti movement. Many of the sacred centers
of Tamil bhakti movement were located on the west coast.

Religions of west Asian origin such as Judaism,

Christianity and Islam arrived in the coastal towns of Kerala. The
church of Tarsa, was refered to as tevar (deva). The sacred oil
lamp was an important offering to deva as in the case of the
Brahmanical temples. The Christian groups were confined
themselves to the coastal towns and remained traders. Far-
reaching charges in the economy, society and polity of Kerala
were taking place by the first quarter of the twelfth century due to
further expansion of plough agriculture.
The area around the old capital of Mahodayapuram was
still under the control of the same family of the Perumals. The
medieval Manipravala kavyas and the Sanskrit literature
described the Ceraman Perumal as the raja. A whole new island
known as the Puduvaippu (the ‘new formation’) was thrown up
to the south and new base of power came up gradually around the
newly opened Koccali.
Dominance of Temples and Brahmanas
The Brahmanical temple structure of North India date
barely beyond the fourth century C.E while their counterpart in
Southern India date to the Seventh.Huge temples were built in
South India during the last three centuries of the millennium.
Some of these were adaptations of early Jain and Buddhist
monuments. According to Rjan Gurukkal the emergence of
structural temples and the formation of an agrarian society was
based on which formed due to the proliferation of Brahmana
Villages all over South India.
Temples acted as the institutional means of co-ordination
of landed household into the corporate body. Temples emerged
as the nerve-centre of agrarian settlements. According to K.N.
Ganesh temples were the hinterland headquarters of agrarian
society in Medieval Kerala. Each of the 32 Brahmana Settlements

of Kerala was organized around a temple central to it known as

Gramakshethra or a village temple. Members of these villages
considerered the deity consecrated in the village temple as their
patron deity.The inscription kept at these temples were the major
source of information of the Brahman settlements in Kerala.
Kesavan Veluthat compared medieval Kerala temple with the
church in Medieval Europe.
The temples were managed by corporations of those who
formed these settlements or their more notable representatives. A
large number of Kerala inscriptions from the ninth century
onwards records transaction of the temple-centred Brahmana
settlements. From a study of these inscriptions it is clear that the
great body of village administration was constituted by this
Brahman population. This body was called the Ur or Uralar
meaning literary, the village inhabitants and the owners and
proprietors of the village respectively. The term Uralar is even
now in use Kerala to denote trustees of temples and temple
properties and most of them are Brahmanas. The inscriptions
reveal that the administration of temple affairs was carried out by
the Urar and all the Brahmana inhabitants were members of this
assembly and the common property of the temple was virtually
their property. Other terms like the Tali, Tali Adhikarikal,
Taliyar, Sabha, Sabhaiyarretc. are also used to denote the Urar.
The Ur and Sabha in Kerala were one and same.
An executive committee called the Paratai, Paritai,
Parataiyar(Parishad in Sankrist) is there to look into the day-to-
day affairs of the temple. The members of his committee were
chosen among from the Uralar and they were always property
owning Brahmans. Introduction to Paruthi these were committee
called Kanams ( Sankrist-gana) to look into the matters of some
specific temporary endowments. Officers called Potuval and
Variyan are also known.Potuval is general secretary and are of

two types Akappotuaval and Purapotuaval. The duties of

Akappotuval are related with the internal affairs of the temple and
Purappotuval looked after the external affairs of the temple
related to land and other items of property. Variyan was the
accountant in charge of revenue. Certain proceedings regarding
the functioning of the temple committee were also in existence.
The most commonly known code is the Mulikkalam Kaccam,
Kothivayirveli Kaccam, Kaitavarattu Kaccam, Tavaranur
Kaccam and Sankaramangalattu Kaccam.
The temple properties were constituted largely by gifts of
land and gold from rulers, chieftains and other well-to-do men or
society. These gifts were received by the Uralar and paratiyar on
behalf of the temples and were owned collaterally by them. The
land received was leased out for cultivation. The income from the
properties owned by the temples was allocated to the day to day
affairs of the temples. Expenses of the daily rituals and several
festivals of temple were met and the functionaries of the temple
from the priest down to the sweeper were paid by this income.
The practice of granting land as salary for the temple servant is
shown by documents. This type of land came to be known as
Jivitam or Viruthi.
Kesavan Veluthat in his case study of the 630-line long
Thiruvalla Copper Plate Inscription of the 12th century C.E
reveals that temples processed fabulous extend of land. People
even from distant places including Ceylon had made donations to
the temple. In addition to land, the temple possessed wealth in the
form of gold. The temple used to grant loans and acted as a bank.
In some cases, the right to collect taxes from certain Villages was
the privilege of the temple and often the power of the temple
committee was placed above the authority of the king and
feudatories. The temple looked into public utility such unit
service as education, banking and hospital. Temples had certain
daily and seasonal ceremonies.

The lands under the control of the temple were leased out
to the Karalar who was responsible to pay Pattam(land dues). An
official called ‘Pattumuluvan’ collected the land dues on behalf
of the temple corporation. The important source of income of
temple was the landdues paid by the Karalar. The right of the
Karalar over the temple land was known ‘Karnamai’, which was
hereditary. The temple was discharging a land redistributive
function through it gave away only subordinate rights like
‘Karanmai’ and ‘Kudimai’ (occupation night) to the Karalar and
Kutikal(the artisans and craftsmen) respectively, while it retained
the ‘Uranmai’ (property right) in the hand of the members of the
Sabha. According to Rajan Gurukkal ‘the temple standardized the
inter commodity exchange rates. Certain records refer to a stable
gold paddy exchange ratio. Gurukkal added that the temple
emerged as the site of economic transaction in the hinterland.
The non-Brahmin functionaries of temples became a
separate caste came to be known as the Ambalavasikal(temple
servants). The male dancers of the temple were known as
‘Cakkaimar’, who performed koottu(dance-drama). The female
dancers known as ‘Nangaimar’ or ‘Thevidichikal’. kottikal was
the term used for the drummers. In addition to the employees
associated with daily rituals of the temple, there were few artisans
and craftsmen(Kammalar), Vannar(washerman), Vaniyar(oil
monger) and Pulayar and Cerumar (actual tillers) who were part
of a temple-centred society. Temple was a cultural centre too.
There are separate art form like Koottu and Kootiyattam came to
be known as temple arts. In the post Chera period the territory
around the temple developed in to what came to be known as
sanketam, a somewhat judicial political territory. The sanketam
enjoyed unlimited political power within its territory independent
of the local chieftain.

Political Structure of Natus and Swarupams

The rule of the Perumals of Mahodayapuram came to an
end by the beginning of the 12th century. Thereafter a fragmented
polity consists of several nadus and swarupams had been
emerged in Kerala in place of the centralised nadus under the
Perumals. Different naduvazhis under the Perumals became
independent by controlling their own specific
territory.K.N.Ganesh has argued that along with the
disappearance of the Perumals many factors that sustained the
political power of the Perumals also declined and the most
important among them was the disappearance of the legal
procedure codes like the Mulikkulam Kaccam and the institutions
like the Nalu Tali. According to M.R. Ragava Varier, swarupams
had gained prominence after two centuries from the
disappearance of the Perumal rule.
Each nadus are known for the name of the locality, where
the joint family of the naduvazhi originally situated. This original
location of the joint family was known as the swarupams. Some
of the nadus under the perumal rule with a swarupam became
independent in the medieval period. For example, the Samuthiri
of Kozhikode was known for the Nediyirippu Swarupam. The
other important swrupams were Perumbadappu(Kochi), Kolathiri
(Chirakkal), Porlathiri(Kadathanad), Tarur(Palakkad), Arangottu
(Valluvnad), Thrippappur, Ciravaand Desinganadu(Venad). The
swarupams were joint families and they had followed the
matrilineal system of inheritance. The form of succession existed
in swarupamswas known as ‘Kuruvazhcha.’. In this system, the
‘Muthakur’(The senior most male member of the matrilineal joint
family) became the ruler. The other members were known as
Ilamkur (Junior one). The senior most person among the junior
members would became the ruler after the death of the existing

ruler. Gradation was existed among the Junior members as each

of them had their own right and privileges.
According to Ragava Varier and Rajan Gurukkal the
emergence of natus was considered by historians as a result of the
disintegration of the Perumal rule but the historians must relook
into this argument as the process of economic growth facilitated
the development of the autonomous natus. According to the
Keralolpatti tradition the entire Perumal kingdom (160 katam.of
land), located between Putupattinam in the North and Kanneri in
the South was divided among the seventeen natus of which
Kolathunatu, Venatu, Perumpadappu, Kurumporainatu, Polanatu,
Valluvanatu and Eranatu were the major ones.
Among the natusVenatuwas the most powerful natu in
terms of wealth, resourcefullness and long history. The
headquarters of the ruling joint family was Kilperur near
Kilimanur. Later, a branch of the joint family settled in Tripapur
near Thiruvananthapuram which was growing into an important
trading centre. The main sources of income of the rulers of Venatu
were land dues from land lords, taxes on trade goods, tolls from
trade routes and customary dues. Within a period of two centuries
the ruling families splitted into three lineages: Thripappur, Cirava
and Desinganadu. The kingdom of Venatu had been located
between Kollam in the north and Tirunelveli in the south. Kollam
town was very prosperous.
After the disintegration of the Perumal kingdom Venatu
became independent and Ramavarma Kulasekhara was the first
ruler of independent Venatu. The rulers of Venatu had continued
to use the title Kulasekhara to indicate their descent from the
Perumals of Mahodayapuram. There were a few inscriptional
references like the caturvedimangalam inscription (1161 C.E)
which mentions the names like Vira Kerala Varma (12th century)
and his successors Viraravi Varma (12th century), who ruled
Venatu as the subordinate of the Pandyan king Maravarman

Srivallabha.Literary sources and inscriptional evidences gave
information regarding a number of kings of Venatu including
Aditya Varma, Udaya Marthanda Varma, Virarama Varma,
Virarama Kerala Varma, Ravi Kerala Varma, Padmanabha
Marthanda Varma and Ravi Varma Kulasekhara. Kandiyur
inscription tells that at least eight natus, north of Venatu were
under the influence of the king of Venatu.
The Pandyas started to dominate the southern part of
Venatu during the second half of the thirteenth century. Kota
Marthanda Varma was the ruler of Venatu during Sundara
Pandya’s invasion. Kota Marthanda Varma’s successor,
Ravivarma Kulashekhara was the first Venatu king who ascended
the throne through the matrilineal forms of succession. Vira
Kerala Marthanda Varma, Sree Vira Udaya Marthanda, Sree
Veera Kerala Varma, Rama Varma, Unni Kerala Varma, Udaya
Marthanda Varma and Viraravi Varma were some rulers of
Venatu till the 16th century. Ma Huan Mentioned about the
coinage of the Venatu King, which included gold coin weighing
one fen(5.75 grains) each.
The descendants Eralanatutayavar, whose name was
mentioned in the Jewish plates of Bhaskara Ravi Varma of 1000
C.E became independent after the decline of the Perumal
kingdom and came to be known as the Samutiris of
Kozhikode.The Keralolpatti shows that they managed to attach
to their kinddom the areas of Polanadu with Kozhikode as its
capital and Valluvanatu with its centres at Ayiranazhi,
Katannamanna, Mankta and Aripara . The Eranatu chieftain of
Nediyirippu known as the Eratis defeated the Vellattiris of
Valluvanatu and Porlarthiris of Polanatu in the Northwest.
Through these conquests, they extended their control over
Kozhikode, a place rich in spices and to Pantalayani Kollam, the

main natural port famous for spice overseas trade. The major
share of the revenue of the early Nediyirippu Swarupam came
from spice and salt trade. Other sources of revenue were
ankam(duel), cunkam(toll), ela(fee for owing unclaimed cattle),
kala(service charge, Vali (route tax), pila(fine) and Changatha
mukam nokku(providential gifts). Eratis snatched Valluvanatu
and became the patron of Mamankam, a festival celebrated once
in a twelve years at Thirunavaya on the banks of Bharathapuzha.
It was a fair attracted merchants even from very distant places.
The Arab-Chinese accounts provide a clear documentary
evidence about their political control, which extended up to
Arukkuti in the south and Pudupattinamin the North.
The Samutiris had been maintained a strong contingent of
warriors, who were well trained in martial arts or Kalari. These
warriors were known as lokar who were posted in different
partsof the territory. Nediyirippu chronicles regarded them as
Padinjarrumuri lokar, vadakkum lokars etc. In addition to the
lokar, there were guards called Kaval Cangatam for the
maintenance of internal peace and security. Samuthiris minted
coins in the royal kammattam.
The prosperity of the city of Kozhikode was one of the
important factor behind the success of the Nediyirippu
Swarupam. The Eratis acquired the title of Samutiri (Swamisree,
Swami meaning king and Sree being the honorary suffix) through
wealth, power and rituals and strategies of legitimacy.
Documentation was an important feature of the Nediyirippu
swarupam..Everyday events were documented as items of
expenditure and the sources of income constituting the basics of
revenue administration.
Mamankam was a big fair at Tirunavaya on the banks of
the Bharathapuzha river where merchants even from faraway
places came together to exchange goods. Due to the economic
significance of the fair and the strategic importance of the site,

Samutiri captured Tirunavaya from its traditional owner, the chief
of Vellattiri and annexed it to the kingdom of Kozhikode. After
that the Valluvand chief started sending warriors as caver (suicide
squads) to kill the Samutiris. These warriors rushed to the king
who was seated on the special platform(nilapaduthara) and will
make a suicidal attempt to behead theSamutiri. According to
William Logan the last Mamankam was conducted in 1755 and
stopped after the conquest of Kozhikode by Mysore.
Administration of justice
Administration of justice and punishment continued to be
based on local customs. Codified laws in the earlier period like
the Mulikalam Kacham had been disappeared. Another change
was the introduction of ordeals based on water, poison and fire.
The most common was the ordeal of dipping finger in boiling oil.
If the finger of the accused burnt, the accusation against him
would be confirmed. Sucindram in Kanyakumari,
Kalarivathukkal in Kolathiri’s domain, Lokanarkavu in
Kadathanad Raja’s domain and the Thiruvalayanatu Kavu in
Samutiri’s domain were famous for the conduct of the five
ordeals.
Ankam was the most common method used for the
resolution of a conflict. It was a form conflict resolution that
involved fight between hired fighters unto death. The person
involved in a dispute could hire a fighter known as Cekavar by
giving him a good amount of money. The dispute was settled in
favour of the owner of the fighter, who won the fight. Usually a
fight will end in the death one of the fighters. The Puthooram
Pattukal in the Vadakkam pattukal depict the life of Cekavars and
the way of settling a dispute through Ankam.

Ordeals as a means of producing evidences in legal

matters are mentioned in several sources or different periods.
Accounts of foreign travellers contains several description of
ordeals that the authors witnessed or collected from information.
Stone or copper plate inscription and archival records mentions
ordeal performances. Elamkulam refers to various type of ordeals
in Kerala during the period. There were six documents on
Viralmukku Ordeal in the srivalayanadu temple in the suburbs of
Kozhikode. There are accounts of income and expenditure of the
viralmukku rituals in the temples of Valayanatu, Lokanarkavu,
Kudalikavu etc.
The Dharmasasthra texts and legal texts of the later
period refer to the other forms of ordeals such as
Jalapariksha(ordeal by water), agnipariksha(ordeal by fire),
visapariksha(ordeal by poison) etc. In some cases, the accused
was refused to perform the ordeal.When one Kumkamma of
Kappally family in Kadathanatu was refused to perform the
ordeal of Agnipariksha and the authorities were forced to settle
the issue by realising an amount of fire.
Social Stratification and hierarchy
The earliest evidence of social formation in Kerala was in
the Tamil region in the period between 300 BCE to 300 CE here
South India was remained as a single cultural zone regarded as
Tamilakam. It was a semi-tribal system combining multiple forms
of subsistence such as hunting and food gathering, animal
husbandry, primitive cultivation, plough agriculture and primitive
commodity production. Plough agriculture was the superior
form of production in terms of technology and productivity.
Through it was more or less self-locked system while functionig
it generated a series of contradictions, which according to Rajan
Gurukkal acted as the transforming force.

As per the clues from the early Sangam poems there was
not a system of relations based on caste. But it was not a complete
egalitarian society without any differentiation but the
differentiation was of a flexible nature. Brahmana enjoyed the
highest social status by distancing from other people as purest.
The heroic Tamil poems refer to both Brahmanas and gods as
uyarntor.Tholkapiam describes the Tamilan counterpart of the
Varna system consisting of antanar, aracar, vanikar and Velalar
as the four Varnas. In the Sangam age the term kuti denote
ssettlement of the Tutiyar(people with a kind of drum called tuti
as macro-religious symbol), Panar(people composing and
singing bardic poems), Paraiyar(people with kind of drum parai
as their macro religious symbol) and Katambar(people with the
Katambu trees as their symbol). Tamil Anthologies mention
clannish groups that had clan ties like the primitive cultivator
Itaiyar(cattle rearers), Valayar and Minavar( fisherman),
Paratavar and Umanar ( salt manufactures and distributors) and
Ulavar (plough agriculturalists). All the forms of production were
based on kinship ties of the agnatic or official type, which were
submerged division and specialisation. Though these were certain
specialists in arts and crafts such as taccar (Carpenters) and
Kollar (blacksmith) and there is a nothing to show that they
constituted themselves as groups out side clan ties. There was
nothing leading to the break up of kinship.
Regular plunder raids and booty redistribution among
people outside the clan ties too were causing economic
differentiation. Sometimes the booty included productive lands
and their redistribution among people outside the clan caused the
disintegration of kinship as the base of production. Productive
land was given away to Brahmans who were entitled to share
booty as a reward for performing rituals, composing eulogies to
chieftains and functioning as preceptors. It gives rise to a new
system of production relation transcending the framework of
kinship. The Brahmana household signified the new system of

production relation. It involved a new kind of relation between
Brahmanas and the tillers who were non-cultivating land holders
and cultivating landless people respectively. It was a relation
involving two objectivily antagonistic classes. According to
Rajan Gurukkal, the concept of Jati system must have existed in
the localities of Brahmana household during the days of the
anthologies , but the number of Brahman household in Tamilkam
was not large enough for the Jati system to characterise the
society. The social formation in the period of the anthologies had
undergone a total crisis during the fourth and fifth centuries of the
Christian era, which was a logical culmination of the
contradictions in the formation of accentuated .by more extensive
predatory marches, migrations and the entailing .disintegration of
the kinship ties in the production. Another important feature of
this development was emergence of large Brahmana villages,
which means the virtual extensive of the new system of
production relation to a large society and the emergence of the
Jati system as a new development.
During the Seventh, Eighth and Ninth centuries the
Brahmadeya or Brahmana villages proliferated all over
Tamilakam as a result of royal land grants to Brahmanas. The
expansion of immigrated agriculture as well as of the new system
of relations was the out-come of the dissolving semi-tribal system
and the formation of new social relation and new forms of society
based on a Brahmana headed agrarian economy. Brahmana were
proprietors of land but their often leased their lands s to a group
of the people, who emerged as a class of intermediaries between
the Brahmanas and peasants. The hierarchy of entitlement to the
surplus had provided the real foundation of the Brahmana-headed
agrarian society of Kerala. A basic feature of this system was the
separation between the primary producers and the full time non-
producing functionaries like administrators and warriors who
were extracted the lion share or surplus through their managerial

and protective functions. The groups, who enjoyed a higher share
of surplus, distanced themselves from the people who directly
involved in cultivation.
Brahmana villages became temple centred as temple
acting as the headquarters of the agrarian villages. Temples were
biggest land owners and the most important custodian of wealth.
The period from the eight to twelfth century saw the proliferation
and consolidation of temple centred agrarian village by
Brahmans. The establishment of these early settlements must
have taken place during the Seventh and Eigth century. The
waterlogged and marshy landscape ecosystem of Kerala
necessitated extensive mobilisation of hard labour for reclamation
of agrarian fields. The labours were recruited from the clan
families living along the red soil hill-slopes besides the marshy
wetlands, who cultivated millet and highland paddy. They were
attached to the land on payment basis under the institution of
bonded labour, probably enabled by the persuation of their
headman by the Brahmanas who were already recognized for
their scholarship, tradition and charishma. Vedic, epic, puranic
and sastraic ideas and institutions were effective devices of social
control and domination and part of ideological coercion used by
Brahmanas. Brahmana laid the foundation of a stratified society
based on objective antagonism between the landlords and tillers.
The 32 Brahman villages became well established in the
fertile tracts suited for paddy cultivation by the period. A temple
cantered Brahman village had its required functionaries around it.
Once settled they became attached and obligated to the villages,
that is to the landlords. All the functionaries enjoyed one or other
types of rights over the village land and the intermediaries
enjoyed the Karanmai(tenancy) while the artisans and craftsmen
had the Kutiyaymai(occupancy)

The temple centred nature of society and economy led to

the formation groups, classes and castes attached to the temple.
Through its control over land it maintained landed intermediaries,
lease holders, artisans, craftsmen and tillers into a society that can
be called a temple society. Rich agamic specialist among the
Brahmanas emerged as a separate group called Thanthrikal. The
landlords among the Brahmanas were known as Adhya and others
called Asya.Potuval and Varier are two important categories
among the temple castes. Potuval was the secretary of the temple
and Varier was the member of temple committees(Variams). The
drummers in temple were known were known as Kottikal or
Uvaccakkal and their modern caste name was Marar. Cakkiyars
are the male dancers and Nangyars are the female dancers. The
temple castes were generally regarded as the Anatarala Jati, caste
between the Brahmanas and other non-Brahmanas.
Most of the temple lands and the individual Brahmana
holding were leased out to the Kararlar, who were non-
Brahmanas. The Nairs are the most dominant among them. The
relation of the women of this caste with the Brahmanas through a
peculiar marital institution called Sambandhma. There were
certain divisions among the Nairs according to this status. The
ruling aristocracy differentiated themselves from the rest of the
Nairs by adopting a Kshathriya titles like Varma. A few others on
the basis of land control through high military position
differentiated themselves as Panikkar, yet another group
distinguished themselves Menon, who acquired high ritual status
through their association with the Brahmana landlords as the
latters accountants.
In the same manner, artisans and craftsman also became
caste groups. Inscriptions refer to groups such as
Taccaar(Carpenters), Kollar(Blacksmith), Kalavaniyar(Potters),
Vaniyar(Oil mongers) and Vannar(Washermen). They enjoyed

occupancy right over village land at the base of the temple society
was the actual tillers who constituted the most servile group and
their only privilege was Ataiyma (servility). They were attached
to lands and were transacted with lands.
The Syrian Christian Copper Plates of the 9th century
mention the grant of certain caste groups like Illavar(toddy
tappers), Taccar, Vellalar( agricultural people) and Vannar to the
Tarsa church.It may be said that the Kerala society witnessed the
formation of caste groups all over the agrarian region during the
Ninth and Tenth centuries.
The highest right in land was kings’s suzerainty (Koima),
the holders of the Brahmana land (Brahmasam) and temple land
(Devaswam) enjoyed autonomous right of the landlords. Below
the ownership of landlords was leaseholders right (Karanmai),
while the artisans and craft people were entitled to occupy the
land (Kutiyaymai) by way of reward for their service to the
settlement. At the base were the tillers attached to a land, a people
of bonded servitude and immobility. As people of hereditary
occupation, they began to be called by the name of their
vocations. These occupation names subsequently became caste
names, a process indicating their transformation into endogamous
caste.
It was the Brahmana household economy, required a
permanent association of full-time function specific families and
hence involved relations cutting across kinship. This led to the
formation of hereditary occupation groups. Hereditary occupation
groups gave rise to occupations labelled, who later turned to
endogamous castes. Formation of castes acquired greater
dimension in the wake of agrarian expansion through the
establishment of Brahmadeya and Devadanas. Caste became an
institutional manifestation in a hierarchically structured agrarian
society.
Caste and Gender

According to Uma Chakarabarti caste and gender are
interlinked. The most important feature of the Brahmanical
Hinduism based on the Varnashramadharma system is that it
always treats woman unequally. Kerala was known as
Pennarasunadu in the 19th century. Kerala got this name as
majority of the upper caste people in Kerala followed matrilineal
form of succession, in which women had the property right.
M.R,Raghava Varier wrote a book under the title
Ammavazhikeralam. But J.Devika had an opinion that to denote
Kerala in this name is a wrong thing, because majority of the
people of Kerala are not matrilineal.
There were no common laws, restrictions and practices
applicable for the women in Kerala. A woman born in a particular
caste is forced to live according to the rules applicable for the
women belong to that community. Man and woman of each caste
had its own gender rules. The namboodiri concept of ‘ideal
woman’is not applicable to the Nair and ambalavasi women. The
pativrata concept is imposed on brahmana women indirectly by
the most widely read texts in medieval Kerala like the puranas
and Lingacarita. But at the same time, the namboodiris argued
that the pativrata concept is not applicable to all women. The
Keralamahathmya says that the Nair and ambalavasi are not
responsible to be chaste. They were allowed to follow polyandry.
In the medieval Kerala society women belong to each
caste had their own rules and ways for leading their daily life.
Namboodiri brahmanas, who followed patriliny imposed strict
restrictions on the life of the namboodiri women. Even though,
the Nair women enjoyed more freedom than the
namboodiriwomen , their freedom was regulated according to the
rules of caste hierarchy. For instance, if a Nair woman had sexual
relation with a low caste man, she would be expelled from the

caste. The custom known as mannapedi pulapedi is intended to

restrict the sexual freedom of the Nair women.Medieval foreign
travelers were mentioned about this system. The matters of a
matrilineal Nair joint family are managed by the eldest male
member of the family known as the karanavar.
But women of the untouchable low castes enjoyed almost
the same rights enjoyed by their men. The untouchable women
belonging to the cultivating class were free to work in the field
with their men. Unlike the upper caste women, they had the
opportunities to do different occupations. The rules about the way
to behave to their men found among the upper caste communities
are not prevailed among them. But historian should search for and
to locate new sources to recollect the facts about the social life of
the lower caste women in medieval Kerala.
Caste Slavery
According to Sanal Mohan ‘caste slavery’ is the term used
by him in the meaning of a unique form of social oppression and
exploitation that existed in Kerala since the early medieval
period, which included transactions of untouchable men, women
and children. From 9th century CE to 19th century the term ‘slave
castes’ used to denote dalits in several records. Kesavan Veluthat
argued that in the records from Kerala, although there is no
reference to visti or its Tamil form vetti, the practice of corvee
(forced labour) was widely prevalent.
The primary producers in the land in the early medeieval
Kerala were the labourers. There are references in the documents
to labourers being tied to the land they worked. When ownership
or the superior rights over a piece of land changed hands the
ownership over the labourers also transferred along with it. There
were references to bonded labourers such as al, al atiyar etc.
Grants or other transactions of land mention the transfer of al
labourers, both male and female along with such transactions. The
sections of the bonded labourers in the society are often identified
by the names of ethnic groups to which they belonged, names

such as pulayar, which denoted the castes of agrestic labourers in
later times.
Bonded labourers who were called al provided the
required agricultural labour for both food and cash crops. In the
epigraphical sources, the al labourers are always attached to the
arable lands and are also transferred along with the land. These
landless labourers, who were tied with the land, were the main
source of agricultural labour. Theoretically they had no right over
what they produced but the minimum requirements for life for
them were by provided by the owner or holder of the land to
which they were attached. The al workers received some other
articles such as grains and vegetables in addition to the usual food,
clothing etc. The al groups consisted of pulayas, parayas,
kanakkas, ezhavas and cannar who were engaged in various types
of hard manual labour. The labourers known as alatiyar, who had
been placed at the lowest rung of the caste hierarchy were the
most subjected group almost like slaves and addressed as pulayar
in several inscriptions.
Pulayas were the major slave caste of Kerala. They were
treated as untouchables. The total number of pulayas in
Tiruvitamkur is 98,766 in 1854, it was 187,812 in Malabar in
1856. P.K. Balakrishnan had an opinion that the total number of
pulayas before the 19th century was not more than three lakhs. P.
K. Balakrishnan added that those limited number of pulayas had
cultivated atleast two third of the total agricultural land in Kerala.
According to M.G.S. Narayanan the lowest section of the
people in the caste hierarchy were pulayar. M.G.S. Narayanan
regarded them as agrestic slaves. He added that there were some
medieval records which show that pulayar, cerumar etc. were
bought and sold as slaves and often transferred with or without
land from one owner to another as part of a transaction. The
names of land and pulayar were mentioned together as the

peruvayalbhumi and pulayar,vettikkarikkattu bhumi and pulayar,
and kannamangalattu vayalkarai and pulayar being donated for
the conduct of certain routine expenses in Trikkakkara temple.
Similarly, a piece of bhumi (land) and al (slaves) were
surrendered to Uliyanur temple. The plot of Kataipanangatu and
al were surrendered to Tiruvakkiram and Kulaikkattu bhumi and
al were placed as kilitu at Tiruvalla temple. The system of
assigning pairs of slaves along with land to each one uralar in
Brahman settlements is mentioned in the Kilimanur record of
1168CE.
Alkasu is mentioned as a source of royal income in the
Syrian plates. The Chera ruler exempted Anchuvannam and
Manigramam from this payment also. Alkasu was a payment
made by the owners of atimai (slave). A large number of slaves
were employed as labourers in the market place. This payment
called ‘atimaikku alkasu’ may be the same as ‘atimappanam’
which formed as a source of income of the medieval kings of
Kerala.
The identity of the slaves was closely bound up with the
land. They were described as ‘being held precisely under the
same, tenures and terms as the land itself’. It was a product of the
absolute control superior castes over the untouchable castes.
Slaves of all castes were held as entirely impure and compelled
to keep a stipulated distance from their superiors.
Socio -spatial Exclusion
The distribution of the Brahmana villages in Kerala shows
that they are invariably in the agro-climatic areas suited for paddy
which was the chief economic resource of the period. It is notable
that the region between Perumcellur (Taliparamba) and Karikkad
(Malappuram) which is not ideal for paddy cultivation due to the

tidal salination of even the upstream, had not attracted the

Brahmanas. All the traditional Brahmana villages are therefore
situated on the fertile river banks of the Periyar and Perar rivers.
George Kurien in his population studies argued that a high
rate of correlation between agricultural practices and linguistic
and cultural distribution existed in Kerala. The disbursed
settlements in Kerala are different from the nucleated villages of
Tamilnadu, Karnataka and Andhra. According to Eric J. Miller
instead of living huddled in a street like so many other Indians
Malayali prefers the privacy of his own fenced compound at a
distance from his neighbors. For Eric J Miller, this pattern is due
to several causes like geographical features, nature of terrain,
availability of water and climatic conditions. Paddy fields
gradually became poyil or elevated ground, which merge on to
the parambu uplands and hill-slopes. The hills and hillocks
gradually descend down to the lying fields. Availability of water
in almost all areas at a maximum depth of five or six meters in
another natural facility which resulted in the proliferation of
dispersed settlements. Each habitational site in a medieval Kerala
village is surrounded by a compound where articles like coconut,
areca nut, betel leaves, ginger, pepper etc. was grown.
Availability of water in every field made it possible for
every household to have own sources of water and therefore the
so- called untouchable or polluting sections could live in the
neighbourhood of ‘pure’ section without polluting the most
important source of water. Outside Kerala the untouchable
section of society were accommodated far away from the ‘village’
but in Kerala they are found within the villages. According to M.
R. Raghava Varier some medieval village settlements remained
without change from the tenth to the nineteenth century.
In a village community, there were several components
including different types of owners, holders of different
enjoyment rights, rulers, and their retainers and so on. There were
certain occupational groups of artisanal sections, skilled workers
and menial servants found in every settlement, big and small, and
their permanent occurrence indicates that they are essential
elements in a village community.
Place names indicating the presence of a community as it
inhabitants have a common pattern. Each item is composed of two
component parts of a generic and specific, the specific indicates
the name of caste and the generic shows the type of the site. Place
names like Asarikandi and Asaritodika (asari means carpenter,
kandi means a portion of a compound and todika means a
compound adjacent to a house) are examples. Agricultural groups
representing the section of untouchables were present in every
medieval villages. These agricultural groups are generally
accomadated in the settlements in places which were adjacent to
the cultivable fields though they are settled rarely in other parts
also. The agricultural groups were known in inscriptions as al or
pulayan.
One of the other widely distributed occupational group
that of kollan (blacksmith) which clearly indicates the extensive
use of iron implements in the settlements. They are found in
Kerala villages residing in separate compounds. In the royal seats
like Kodungallur, there were extensive areas set apart for settling
blacksmiths. The carpenters were considered to be an essential
element of village community and their availability was ensured
when a new settlement was established at Kollam by the venad
rulers in 849 CE, as shown by the Tarisapalli plates.
The Tattan (gold smith) and musari (bronze smith) are not
found in all villages. Pattern of distribution of these communities
in the villages show that they tend to cluster in villages, where
wealthy sections resided. Goldsmiths and bronze smiths are
skilled workers in expensive luxury items. Therefore their
services are more required by a wealthy section of society. There

was a presence of more Tiya / ilava (toddy tappers) on the coastal
villages where coconut plantation is found in abundance.
The household of weavers are found scattered in
compounds earlier but later they tended to form a linear form of
grouping in the teruie., street within the settlements. One of the
widely distributed service groups is the oil-presser (vaniya),
whose residential compounds are indicated by chakku meaning
an oil press. Washermen are distributed in all villages. The
washermen with high social status are called veluthedan and those
with low social status as vannan. It was the duty of the vannan to
perform ritual dance in non- brahmanical kavu temples. kaniyans,
who were the local astrologers with acquaintance in the
calendrical wisdom and astrological prediction. Most of the
communities in a medieval Kerala village were landless and
residing in the compounds owned by royal families, local
chieftains, and aristocratic families of the village or religious
institutions.
Malabar Society under Hyder Ali and Tipu
The military might of Mysore under Hyder Ali and Tipu
Sultan was a constant threat to the Swarupams of Kerala as they
can easily reach in to north Malabar from Mysore or breach the
southern boundary from Thirunelveli. Hyder’s and Tipu’s interest
on Malabar could be viewed in the background of the prolonged
rivalry between Mysore and the Marathas. Hyder Ali invaded
Malabar in the intervals took between the Mysore- Maratha
fights. The factional fight between the local rulers of Malabar was
the major factor responsible for the Mysorean invasion in
Malabar. In 1756-57 Samuthiri attacked Palakkad. Komi Achan,
the head of the Palakkad ruling family asked for the help of
Mysore. In return Mysore demanded an annuity of 12,000 panam,
which he agreed. At the instructions of the Raja of Mysore, Hyder
Ali, who was the faujudar of Dindigal dispatched a large battalion

under Makhdum Ali to Palakkad. To avoid a fight with the
Mysorean army Samutiri entered into peace with the Mysore ruler
by agreeing to pay a lumspsum of 12 lakh trupees to Mysore.
Hyder’s and Tipu’s Campaign
The Raja of Mysore was enraged when the Samuthiri was
failed to pay the promised sum. Meanwhile,, Hyder Ali deposed
the raja of Mysore and became the ruler of Mysore in 1761. Hyder
demanded for the money from Samuthiri. When samuthiri refused
his demand , Hyder led his army to Malabar. Samuthiri’s each
and every attempt to prevent Hyder’s army from reaching
Kozhikode was failed. His army reached Kozhikode and camped
outside the south-eastern corner of the Kovilakam. The area
where Hyder army were halted is still known as Palayam(military
camp). Samuthiri who, had no other options pleaded for
conciliation. Hyder Ali demanded ten million gold coins. The
Samutiri did not have the resources to raise that money. On 27
April 1765, the Samuthiri shut himself in the armoury and burnt
it killing himself and destroying the palace completely. After this
Hyder Ali stationed two of his people at Kozhikode- Raza Ali, to
take care of the military oppressions and Mathanna to collect tax.
Hyder withdrew to Coimbatore via Palakkad. All along the way
local people revolted against Hyder Ali’s military march and he
suppressed all these uprisings because of which he had to bear
heavy losses. In 1766, he led his army in a counter-offensive
against the Nair troops at Puthiyangati of Vettathunatu. When the
1766 battle was over and the situation eased, members of the
Kizhakke .Kovilakam returned. Arakkal and Chirakkal dynasties
sided with Hyder Ali. In 1773, a large battalion led jointly by
Sayyid Sahib, Hyder Ali’s favourite commander and Srinivasa
Rao , a powerful commander of Mysore came via Thamarassery

pass. They looted and plundered the region they captured. Thus,
many parts of Malabar came into the possession of Mysore.
In 1776, Hyder made more attempts to invade Venatu.
Some years earlier, he had plans to attack Venatu but did not
materialise. During his march to Venatu, Thrissur and Kotunkolur
Kovilakam surrendered before him and Kochi Kovilakam bought
peace and subsidiary status with four lakh rupees and ten
elephants. But Hyder Ali had to give up his plans to invade
Venatu as the Dutch and the English resisted the progress of his
army. The French offered him help but it was in vain.
This incident provoked Hyder and he turned against the
Dutch and English. In 1782, while countering the forces of the
English major Abington, Hyder Ali’s military leader Sardar Khan
was fatally injured, taken prisoner and died shortly afterwards.
With that several the territories captured by Sardar Khan,
including Palakkad, Dharmadam, Mahe and Nettur came under
the control of the English East India company. In Kerala, Mysore
retained just one piece of territory called Palakattusseri.
Makhdum Ali, led the regiment stationed at Palakkattussery to
Chavakkad. After capturing Chavakkad he moved to Kozhikode.
The English regiment led by Abington and Colonel Humberstone
marched from Talassery to Kozhikode to help the Samuthiri.
Makhdum Ali, was forced to return to Ponnani. Hyder Ali, had
entrusted the regiment at Palakkattusseri to his son Tipu Sultan.
Hyder died on 7 December 1782 and Tipu became the ruler of
Mysore.
Tipu continued the military raids of the Mysore army in
Malabar. Tipu’s officers camped in Malabar to estimate and to
impose revenue and collect taxes. But the people of Malabar
never paid the taxes because they didn’t accept Hyder Ali and
Tipu Sultan as their lawful rulers. There were other problem too.
Tipu as an able administrator identified the need of a well-
established system of revenue administration in Malabar. He

made arrangements to measure the land, to classify it according
to the type, to assess the yield and to impose proportionate taxes.
Land lords who had apprehensions about the new land tenure
system obstructed and under their instigation many settlers and
peasants put up resistance. But Tipu suppressed their resistance
and there were a few instances of religious conversion as well.
Fearing Tipu’s attack members of the royal house of Chirakkal,
Kurumporainatu, Parappanatu, Nilampur, Kavilumppara and
landlords and commoners fled to the southernterritories of Kerala.
One regiment of Tipu’s army under the commands of
Srinivasarayar marched north from Palakkad through Mankavu
and Cheruppullassery to Kozhikode. The new Samuthiri sought
help from the French outpost at Mahe. Comte de Prath, the officer
in charge at Mahe decided to help the Samuthiri. But the French
government, who were in alliance with Tipu Sultan recalled
Comte de Prath. Meanwhile, the financial crisis of the 1770’s
compelled the English to end the war with Tipu and they started
negotiations with Tipu Sultan and when it was progressing, the
English attempted to destroy Tipus military camp.
Arakkal family of north Malabar was a close ally of
Mysore. Tipu set free Arakkal Beevi, who was subjugated and
imprisoned by English force under General Macleod in 1782. On
14 November 1783 colonel Fullerton subdued Palakkattussery
and captured the fort and gave it to the Samuthiri. But Tipu’s
force defeated Samuthiri and recaptured the fort within a few
days. In 1785, the Kadathanadu Porlathiri, Godavarma
surrendered Wayanad to Tipu.
In 1788, Tipu Sultan invaded Iravainatu and subjugated
Kurungott Nair. By 1789, the entire territories in North Malabar
came under Tipu’s control. Tipu made a failed attempt to conquer
Venatu and was successful in capturing one of bastions of Venatu,
the Nedungotta. Tipu turned his attention to Kozhikode and the

city and its surroundings were burnt down. The English
recaptured Kozhikode in December 1790. Colonel James
Hurtely’s regiment defeated Tipu’s army at Thirurangadi and the
same was repeated by Robert Abercromby at Kannur. The
English blocked French ships at Mangalapuram and the land
movement of the army and the supply to Mysore, which greatly
weakened the military strength of Mysore. In 1792, with the
signing of the treaty of Seringapattanam, the dominance of
Mysore over Malabar ended and Malabar was transferred to the
English.
The Consequences of Tipu’s Campaign
Tipu’s military raids affected the social and economic life
of the people of Kerala especially of the people of Malabar. His
raids resulted in heavy losses of life and property. Territorial
chieftains and landlords were looted and killed. Granthavaris at
several palaces make direct references to incidents of religious
conversion and the destruction of the temple property. They
mention that Tipu’s troops under Sardar Ahamad in 1790 and
under Saikatpatty Sardar in 1791 ransacked Etattara, Koliyati
desam, Tirumangalattukottadesam, Ganapativattam,Kitanganattu
desam Wayanad, Pulppally,, Puthati etc. Men were taken
prisoners or killed, cattle were captured and grains including
seeds were looted. Some places including Wayanad and the
surrounding localities were set on fire.
During Tipu’s time Malabar was a collection of different
independent territories such as Kurumporainatu, Vettattunatu,
Chirakkal and Arakkal. The native state didn’t have strong ruler,
centralised administration, law and well established system of
revenue administration. According to the feudalistic and
hereditary Zamindari system prevailed in Malabarthe produce
from the land was the birth right of the upper caste people.
Besides the share from the produce, the landlords demanded

many other levies of different type in cash and kind from the
peasants. The concept of taxation was absent in Malabar and there
were no proper documentation for these taxes. Tipu attempted to
setup an official revenue collection machinasry in Malabar.
Tipu sultan supressed and eliminated many of the local
landlords and rulers. Many of the landlords and Zamindars fled
to Venatu during his campaign. Tipu also tried to eliminate the
Nair regiments which were loyal to their lords. Tipu want to
supress the Nair militia to facilitate his dominant role in Malabar.
Thus he abolished matriliny and polygamy among the Nairs. He
ordered the lower caste people not to salute or respect the Nairs.
Nairs were converted to Islam in a large scale. Tipu abolished the
birth right of landlords in the land. He assessed land interms of
fertility crop-yield and levied proportionate tax and ensured
regular collection of taxes.
In order to improve trade, he made arrangements for the
protection of ports and markets.He posted armed men in all ports
in order to ensure peace and order in transaction. He made some
structural reinforcement with wharfs and dockyards at Ponnani
and Beypore. He made Feroke as a good market. He built many
road inking resource centres with port and markets. He
constructed the main route connecting Malabar with Mysore
through the Wayand pass for the movement of his soldiers. Most
roads were built for commercial and defensive purpose. Tipu
made the sale of coconut, pepper, sandal wood, teak etc. as the
state monopoly.

Module IV
Social History Perspectives of Selected Themes in
Medieval Kerala
Social stratification and Development of Castes in Medieval

Kerala
The nature and structure of caste system in Kerala is very
unique and different from the caste system existed in other
regions of India. This uniqueness was starting from its origin and
grew in every stages of its development and gradually reached in
a full-fledged form. Different generations of historians from
K.P.Padmanabha Menon to K.N.Ganesh maintained different
opinions about the origin and development of caste system in
Kerala.
E.M.S.Namboodiripad (Keralam Malayalikalude
Mathrubhumi): According to him the Aryan Brahmanas
introduced caste system in Kerala. But he added that caste system
in its initial form was existed in Kerala even before the arrival of
the Aryans.The Namboodiris divided the society in Kerala into
different castes related to different occupations. They imposed on
the people of Kerala the caste hierarchy by placing the Brahmanas
at the top.
M.G.S.Narayanan (Perumals of Kerala): He says that the
origin of caste system and its hierarchy is due to the influence of
the Aryan Brahmana settlements. This process was started in the
post-Sangam period by the arrival of the Brahmanas and their
belief in caste superiority and purity.

K.P.Padmanabha Menon(History of Kerala): He found the origin

of caste in occupation not in varna system.He classified the entire
Kerala society on the basis of caste. He considered the Nair as a
dominant caste and Ceruma as the lower caste.
K.N.Ganesh(Keralathinte Innalekal):His work basically
focuses on the labour groups in the Sangam literature when
discussing about the origin of caste system. He identified the
origin of caste system as part of resource mobilization, production
and distribution. The first evidence of social division depicted in
the Sangam works is Tinai. Tinai was not only a geographical
division but also a form of division of labour. He argued that the
process of the formation of caste system in Kerala had been
completed in the Cera period.Caste system was emerged in the
nadus and its emergence was linked with the growth of the
concept of private property. After the disintegration of clan based
society there emerged new labour groups. For Example, the
Ilavas became a major caste with the expansion of coconut
cultivation. The service of vanias, community of the oil pressers
became essential in a society without electricity. Weavers became
the separate chaliya caste and other castes linked with occupation
like thachan , kollan, thattan and kusavan came into
existence.Caste and occupation is linked together and caste based
occupations are hereditary and it was unable to move from one
occupation to another.
K.Damodaran(Keralacharitram): According to
Damodaran there were only clans and tribes existed in the
Sangam period. In the Sangam age, options were there for the
people to shift from one occupation to another. Elamkulam
argued that if a vedan or kuravan in the Sangam age would go to
the Mullai region and selects the occupation of the idayar, they
will also become idayar. Damodaran argued that caste system
was emerged in Kerala in medieval period. Some of the

occupational groups and the tribes of the Sangam age became

castes in the same name. He opposed the argument that caste
system was emerged in Kerala because the Brahmanas introduced
the varna system to the society. According to him the castes like
the Namboodiris, Nairs and Ezhavas were not migrants. He
arrives in a conclusion that caste system had its origin in
feudalism.
Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai and A.Sreedhara Menon: They
also focused on the establishment of Brahman settlements in
Kerala as the cause for the emergence of caste system.
P.K.Gopalakrishnan(Keralathinte Samskarikacharitram):
According to him the influence and the involvement of
Brahamanas in politics in the last decades of the 8th century
became the chief factor which led to the development of caste
system.
Rajan Gurukkal and Raghava Varier( Cultural History of
Kerala): They identified the origin of caste system in clan. The
linked its origin with the Brahmana households. The
disintegration of clan-kin ties became almost total along with the
growth of an agrarian society. Formation of the agrarian society
was led to the emergence of a stratified society and division
labour through specialization. Later the clan identity disappeared
and substituted by jati. Clan names were turned into caste names.
Matriliny and Patriliny
There were two different forms of succession for lineage
and property prevailed in medieval Kerala: Patriliny
(Makkathaym) and Matriliny (Marumakkathayam). According to
the Keralolpatti tradition Parasurama asked the Aryan Brahmana
settlers of Kerala to adopt Matriliny for the atonement of his
matricidal sin. But among the 32 Brahman villages of Kerala only
the inhabitants of the Brahmana settlement in Payyanur, the
northernmost Brahmana village of Kerala adopted matrilineal

form of succession. Other Namboodiris of Kerala followed
Makkathayam, which means the descent and the inheritance of
property were traced through males. In a Namboothiri family only
the elder son was permitted to marry from their own community
and the younger members involved in a loose relation with the
women of the matrilineal castes and this system was known as
sambandham. The sons of the elder brother in a namboodiri
family could inherit his father’s property, while the children of
his younger brothers born from Sambandham with a women of
matrilineal caste didn’t have any claims on their father’s property.
A unique system of inheritance existed in medieval Kerala
was marumakkathayam, which literally means the order of
inheritance of the household (taravad) property by
Marumakkal(sisters children) -a matrilineal system of
inheritance. Several castes including Ambalavasis followed the
system but it was predominant among the Nair community. The
most important feature of matriliny is taravad system or Joint
Family. The members of matrilineal family live in a common
residence known as taravad.karanavar, the eldest male member
of matrilineal family was the manager of the property of the joint
family. Children from a matrilineal joint family can’t inherit their
father’s property.
There were different opinions among the historians about
the origin and development of matriliny in Kerala. Inscriptional
evidences show that this system had been existed in Kerala from
11th century. P.T Srinivasa Iyengar hold the view that
marumakkathayam was unknown to Kerala hill the 10th century
C.E. K.P. Padhmanabha Menon had an opinion that
marumakkathayam system was not existed in Kerala till the 13th
century and it was came into being in the 14th century due to some
compelling circumstances. Friar Jordanaus Severic (early 14th

century) was the first foreign traveller, who mentioned about

Marumakkathayam in Kerala. Elamkulam accepted Srinivasa
Iyengar’s view about the period but, he also supported the
argument of Padmanabha Menon about the certain compelling
circumstances.
Elamkulam Kunjanpillai identified certain compelling
circumstances behind the birth of matrilineal system in Kerala.
He linked it with the 100 year long Chola- Chera war in the 11th
century C.E. He argued that the war created many socio -
economic changes like the political and religious dominance of
the Namboodiris, their rise to as landlords and the formation of
suicide squads or cavers in the Chola-Chera war was the
compelling situation which led to the transition from the
patrilineal system to matrilineal system in Kerala. But M.G.S
Narayanan found this view as exaggerated. He argued that the
rulers of Mahodayapuram were matrilineal at least from the ninth
century and that some of the other local rulers in Kerala like the
Mushakas accepted matrinily under their influence.
Some non-Hindu communities in Kerala were followed
matrilineal system. The Mappilas of North Kerala including the
members of the Arakkal royal house and the Keyis of Tellichery
and Koyas of Kozhikode followed matriliny. There are few
Musilms in the Mayyanad and Paravur areas of South Kerala,
who were matrilineal.
The literary works, folk songs and some travel accounts
of Medieval Kerala had frequent references on matrilineal
system. Sheikh Zainuddin made some interesting observations
about this system in his work Tuhfat-ul-Mujahidin. Many of the
Vadakkanpattukal(Northern ballads) including tales about
different aspect of matrilineal system among the Nair and the
Thiyya community. Medieval travellers like Burbosa have

recorded many interesting facts about marumakkathayam in their

travel accounts.
K.P. Padmanabha Menon had an opinion and he
expressed it in his Marumakkathayam Committee Report that this
system had its origin in the 14th century. His observation based on
an observation in the account of Friar Jordanus and he traces a
late origin to it. Elamkulam attributed the prolonged Chera-Chola
war (100 years of war) in the 11th century as the major factor
which behind the origin the matrilineal system as male members
were in the battle field for a long period or died there. M.G.S.
Narayanan says that Marumakkathyam existed among the same
communities like the Nairs and Kshathriyas even during the 9th
century . But Elamkulam states that the Chera kings followed
patrilineal form of succession. M.G.S Narayanan made use of
inscriptional evidences to which Elamkulam had no access. He
ascribes an earlier origin to matriliny. He identified that
matrilinity was prevailed among the Perumal as a form of
succession from the 9th century itself. The ruler Stanu Ravi was
succeeded by vijayarayadeva, who was the son-in-law and
nephew of the former . The Parthivapuram inscription of the 10th
century insc refers to the cowherds followed matrilinity. Another
10th century inscription refers to one Valiyakumaran Iyakkam
who gave some gift to the temple. His mother and mother’s sister
are mentioned in this inscription. Thiruvalla Copper Plates of the
11th century mention matrilineal succession prevailed among
certain families near Thiruvalla. The Jewish Copper Plates
mention about marumakkal (nieces and nephews) of Joseph
Rubban. According to Varier and Gurukkal matrilineal systems
had its origin in the formation of an agrarian society in Kerala.
With the expansion of agriculture, there emerged the concept of
private property which necessitated to create certain rules and
practices to inherit the property.

Heroines in Manipravala Kavyas

Manipravalam(literally ruby-and –coral) was a style of
poetry, which had been developed as an amalgam of Malayalam
and Sanskrit as a ‘new language’ used for literary production in
Kerala from the thirteenth-fourteenth centuries. This particular
style was also used for writing scientific treatises on science and
medicine. Some of the Manipravalam works during the 13th to the
15th centuries were composed by poets at the instance of the royal
patrons and the devadasis.According to Lilatilakam , a 14th
century work on the grammar, poetics and rhetoric of
Manipravala defines ‘Manipravalam as a blend of bhasa and
Sanskrit.The term bhasa is used to indicate ‘the language of
Kerala (Keralabhasa)’.
Kesavan Veluthat identified certain common features for
all Manipravala Kavyas like its urban life world and the influence
of the Sanskrit works including the Kamasutra and the
Natyasastra on it. The prominent characters in the
Manipravalaworks were the ganikas(public women),the cetis(
servant maids), the nagarakas(men-about towns), the
vitas(libertines), the lampatas(the profligate) and so on. The
celestial apsaras,gandharvas, caranas , siddhas,yakshas,
kinnaras and vidhyadharas appears frequently in the Manipravala
works. The Manipravala works were generally classified into two
as the champus and the sandeshakavyas.
The Champus
(1)Unniyaccicaritam:Unniyacchicaritam( The story of
Unniyacci) is a champukavya set in the northern parts of
Kerala(present day Kannur and wayanad districts). It is the love
story of Unniyacci, who lives in the town of Kollam, the capital
of Purakilarnatu and a gandharva youth, who came to earth to win
the love of unniyacci. The gandharva youth saw Unniyacci during

a temple festival. He was helped by a catta( a brahmana student)

to trace Unniyacci. The Gandharva youth had decided to meet
Unniyacci at her house and he proceeds to her house along with
the catta. Thus, the main portion of the work is dealing with
description of the places and persons noticed by gandharva
during his journey.
(2)Unniyaticaritam: Unniyadicaritam is the story of unniati,
daughter of the ruler of otanatu( Central Tiruvitamkur) and a
danseuse called Kuttatti of the Cherukara house. She was actually
a gandharava woman born on earth due to a curse fell on her.
(3) Unniccirutevicaritam: This story was set in Poyilam, a place
in the beautiful brahmana grama of Cokiram(in the present day
Malappuram district). The heroine Unniccirutevi was lived there.
Indra visited unniccirutevi’s house by hearing a poem composed
by a poet about her.
The Sandeshakavyas
The saneshakavyas in the Manipravala literature were
composed in the style and structure of Meghasandesha.
(1) Unnuneelisandesham: This poem has two parts: The
purvasandsesha and uttarasandesha.The theme of this poem was
the separation of the hero from his lover and a message sent by
him to his lover through a messanger.The hero was kidnapped by
a yaksi, when he was sleeping with his lover and she dropped him
at Thiruvananthapuram. He met Adityavarman, the prince of
Trippappur there and requested him to take his message to his
lover, who was in Kadatturutti. The poem had a detailed
description of the places located between Thiruvananthapuram
and Kadatturutti.
(2)Kokasandesham: The hero is sitting with his heroine in
Desinnanatur was separated in a dream as a celestial

being(khacara) kidnapped him and dropped him on the banks of

a tank. He sent a message to his lover through a chakravaka bird.
The route from Trippannotu in Malappuram district to the
destination is described with all details.
Other Kavyas
(1)Chandrotsavam:It is a sargabandha of five cantos set in the
background of a moon festival.
(2)Vaisikatantram: It is a collection of verses about advice from
a veteran courtesan to her daughter in the craft of prostitution.
(3)Padyaratnam: It is a collection of several short kavyas about
courtesans containing one, two, eleven etc..verses about
individual heroines. The largest of this collection consists 50
verses.
(4) Anantapuravarnanam: It is a description of the city of
Thiruvananthapuram with its famous temple.
The Manipravala works is the most dependable literary
source to study medieval Kerala society and culture. Evidences in
the Manipravala literature indicates a high level of trade and
urbanization during this period. These texts consists of detailed
description of towns and market places. Unnuneelisandesham
states that Kollam is a town putting even Indra into shame. There
are elaborate description of the market of Tirumarutur in
Unniyaccicharitam of Kantiyur in Unniyaticaritam of Ayyancira
in Unniccirutevicaritam and of various towns
inUnnuneelisandesham. The Manipravala works also gave
information regarding the Arab-Chinese trade in Medieval
Kerala. The Manipravalam works describes other aspects of the
towns such as the royal places, temples, other residential
mansions, the roads, gardens and tanks. The herpines in the

Maniprvala kavyas were well educated and well versed in music,

dance, painting, story telling and games like chess.
The life of the heroines of the Manipravalam works was
an area of interest of many historians dealing with the medieval
Kerala history. Historians starting from Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai
studied the structure and historicity of the Manipravalam works
in detail. Elamkulam’s works like Keralabhashayude
Vikasaparinamangal, Unnuneelisanesham Charitradrishtiyil
were dealing with several aspects of the Manipravalam
works.Most of the historians used it as ony aq source to study the
life of the devadasis(temple dancers). Kesavan Veluthat criticized
the historian who interpreted the Manipravalam works as a real
expression of the cultural and moral decay of kerala. The reason
behind this interpretation is that most of the heroines in the
manipravala works are devadasis, who had been worked as
prostitutes in medieval Kerala. Veluthat argued that these works
should be used as a source material to study and analyze the social
and cultural life of Kerala.
Brahmanical Patriarchy and Gender Positions
Caste hierarchy and gender hierarchy are the organising
principles of the Brahmanical social order and are closely
interconnected. The term ‘Brahmanical Patriarchy’ was
popularised in the academic circles by Uma Chakravarti. Her
studies about Brahmanical patriarchy were focused on the
relationship between caste and gender and how the upper caste
men were made use of the tools of Brahmanical patriarchy and
subordinated and sexually controlled their women to maintain
patriliny and caste purity.
The Namboothiri Brahmins had been placed at the top of
the medieval social order as they were the dominant caste and the
landlords. They had developed an elaborated set of customary

rituals, which guided their relations with other castes and

communities. Most of these practices were centred around the
patriarchal Namboothiri illam, the residence of the Namboodiri
Brahmanas. The ritual functions of the household was regulated
by the rules set by the Dharmasasthra text and some other local
text composed by the Nambudiri Brahmanas. These ritual texts
were written by the dwijas(twice-born) for the dwija. It should be
noted that the category of dwija never included Brahmana
women, who shared the household. One of the major religious
observances by the Brahmana is the votive rites known as the
vratas.Persons competent to perform vratas are both men and
women. But any of the Smritis didn’t mention the independent
observance of vratas by the Brahmana women. The
Sankarasmriti never mention anything regarding the vratas to be
observed by Brahmin women.
Namboodiris followed patrilineal type of inheritance and
their household was patriarchal. The Namboothiri woman is
called antharjanam, the name itself indicates the meaning ‘people
inside’. According to the custom prevailed among the
Namboodiris only the elder son was allowed for an endogamous
marriage (called Veli) and all other used to have
Sambhandham(conjugal relation) with other caste women. The
elder brother can conduct more than one Veli up to three. This
system had created various problem like increase in the number
of widows and aged unmarried women, the decline in the
population of the Namboodiris and internal problems within the
household due to co-wife rivalry. Younger girls were married by
aged Namboodiris which resulted in unhealthy children and early
widowhood. An Antharjanam was strictly controlled by the tools
of patriarchy throughout her entire lifespan. The birth of female
child(penkidavu) is not very much welcomed as the birth of an
unni(boy). Unnis are allowed to wear gold ornaments from their
childhood but girls were denied that right and were allowed only
brass/bronze bangles. Piercing the ear called “Karnabhedham” is

a function and is compulsory for all girls and Koradu is fixed into
a hole in order to grow it. The girls wear a small loin cloth known
as a Ettukonaam till the girls attain puberty . After the primary
years they wear a small mundu that reaches the knee. When they
go out, they use Puthappum Kudayum(Umbrella and blanket) to
cover the upper part of the body and face. All these differences
were maintained to denote the caste superiority and thus a
differences from other women maintained and their mobility was
restricted to the temples and relative houses.
Girls were educated at home and unlike boys not sent to
Othupalli for Vedic educations. But they were taught to recite
Puranas orally and the storiesof Seetha, Seelavathi, Savithri etc.
they were also taught to count numbers and seeing time by
measuring shadows, seeing Puchangam to find out auspicious
days Vratas days.
Sankarasmritidenies book education to women making
her a complete home bird, through the rules as mother and wife.
Her ruole is limited to keep her husband happy and bringing up
the children. A Brahman woman was sexually controlled by
Pativrata concept. Brahmanical patriarchy kept the Nambuthiris
women different from other upper caste women through her
limited mobility, lack of education, her space inside the
household, her inferiority to man and Pativratha concept.
Social Divisions as Reflected in Medieval Texts and Oral
Tradition
Localisation of culture and formation of regional identity
were prominent in the works of art and literature during the 14th
and 15th century CE. These works belonged to various literary
genres such as poetry, commentaries, plays, tantric texts,
astronomy and mathematics. A number of works were written in

Sanskrit and Manipravalam. Ramacaritam by Ciraman, who was

probably a member of Venatu ruling family was written in the
13th century CE. Ullur.S. Parameswara Iyer identified him as
Viramarthanda or Manikanta, the ruler of Tiruvitamkur from
1195 to 1208 CE. Ramacaritam narrates the events in yudhakanta
of the Ramayana. This work abandoned the Sanskrit meters and
adopted Malayalam meters, which marks the shift from Sanskrit
poetic tradition to regional narrative tradition.
The poets of Kannassa family at Niranam( also called
Niranam poets)-Madhava, sankara an their nephew Rama(14th to
15th century CE) wrote several works including the Malayalam
versions of Bhagawat Gita and Mahabharata. These works were
the liberation of Malayalam from Manipravalam and the work
Brahmandapuranam represents an early style of writing literary
works in prose. The Niranam poets adopted a distinct meter for
their composition, which subsequently became popular in the
tullal poems.
Thunchathu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan (16th century CE) of
Trikandiyur near Tirur continued in the tradition of the Niranam
poets, enriching the Malayalam literature. Puthussery
Ramachandran has shown a direct relation between Rama
Panikkar’s Ramayanam and Ezhuthassan’s Adhyathma
Ramayanam, though the latter followed a different meter
.Ezhuthachan was the first great Maalayalam poet, who
popularized the kilipattu (parrot song ) method of storytelling. He
made major contribution through the standardization of alphabet
and popularized the cult of bhakti.
Cherusseri, a courtier of Udayavarman Kolathiri, the ruler
of Kolattunadu (15th century CE) wrote Krishnagatha, which
became a turning point in the development of Malayalam
language. Although ,Krishnagatha followed the same tradition of
Ramayanam and Bhagawatgita in the selection of themes, it
adopted a new style of writing. Kalakkath Kunchan Nambiar (18th

century) was another great poet , who popularized and devised
tullal. Nambiar wrote his popular tullal songs and other works by
selecting puranic themes but adopted a distinct style of
presentation noted for their distinct touch of humour and
satire.Nambiar wrote his tullal songs for the performance of
ottantullal, a typical temple art of Kerala. Nambiar composed
more than forty thullal songs on puranic themes and they belong
to three types:ottan, sitankan and parayan. The most important
of his tullals are Syamanthakam, Ghoshayatra, Kiratam,
Santhanagopalam, Kartavirarjulavijayam, Bakavadham,
Tripuradahanam, and Sabhapravesham.He criticized the social
evils in late medieval Kerala society.
Oral Tradition
Vadakkan Pattukal or Northern ballads were associated
with the medieval agrarian system and feudal society .It is related
with the Katattanad region in North Malabar.These songs are
orally circulated among the people of North Malabar.According
to M.C.Appunni Nambiar, the compiler of Northern ballads ,
these songs should be called as kadattanadan pattukal , because
they were in circulation only among the people of the Kadattanad
region and dealing exclusively with the life of the people of this
particular region. Appunni Nambiar classifies the enire Northern
ballads into three categories:Putturam Pattukal, Thocholipattukal
and ottapattukal.
Puthuram pattukal: These stories are dealing with the story of the
Putturam household, a family famous for the cekavars or fighters.
According to Chelanattu Achutha Menon Putturam songs had
more than thousand year’s old.But Ullur had an opinion that these
songs were composed in the 13th century or in a period close to
that. It was age when the disputes in villages had been resolved
by elected and influential local assemblies like taraand
tarakoottam. The disputes, which were not settled even by the

involvement of these assemblies and the local chiefs, had been
settled by ankam, a sword fight between two cekavars. Each
person involved in a dispute can hire a cekavan, who will fight
for him. The fight will end in the death of a cekavan. The dispute
will be settled in favour of the owner of the cekavan, who won
the fight. The cekavars were members of the influential Ezhava
families and they received many titles, rights and privileges from
the local chiefs. The occupied the position of the masters in kalari
and provided training in martial arts.Main characters in the
Putturam songs were Putturam Kannappa cekavar, his son
Aaromal cekavar, his daughter Unniarcha, his nephew Chanthu
and Unniarcha’s son Aaromalunni. The disputes between the
local chiefs, love, feud, betrayal and revenge were the themes in
this songs.
Thacholi Pattukal: These songs represents a period, when things
were decided by the use of physical power. The period to which
Thacholipattukal is dealing with was an age dominated by the
naduvazhis and samanta lords under them, who had enjoyed
limitless power in the territories under them. Conflicts between
these local feudal lords were very common. Some of these feudal
lords were as powerful as to question even the authority of the
naduvazhis. Most of these local feudal chiefs were the Nairs
excelled in martial arts known as kalari and Otenan was one
among them.There were a proliferation of kalaris in late medieval
Kerala and to take training in kalaris became compulsory for all
Nairs. The Nairs have the responsibility to conduct the war. Some
of the Nair warriors , who were experts in martial arts like otenan
started to control even the naduvazhi.
According to Chelanatt Achutha Menon the period of
Otenan is not beyond four to five centuries. He had an opinion
that Otenan was born in Malayalam year 759.for Appunni

Nambiar when comparing the content of the Thacholi songs with

the existing social system in Kerala Tacholipattukal is not older
than four years. Othenan’s birthplace was Meppayil near
Vadakara and he was the son of Puthupanam Vazhunnavar. Koma
Kurup was his elder brother. Thacholi songs are dealing with the
life of Otenan’s son Ambadi and his nephews Kunjikelu and
Chanthu. According to the tradition Otenan was died at the age of
32.
Ottapattukal: These songs usually have a single theme. The songs
like the song of Kunhicheran,Ramathalimele Kunhipachan and
Ponnammayum Kadalumkara naduvazhiyum were included in
this category. These songs gave information regarding medieval
legal system, caste oppression and the beginning of the British
rule in Malabar.
The peasant community was responsible for popularizing
these songs. Northern ballads had an unknown authorship. The
composers of Northern ballads made use of the same style,
composition and metaphors of their predecessors.Raghava Varier
shows how some common words and numbers are repeating in
every songs.Northern ballads are dealing with several regions of
North Malabar , which included in the present day Kozhikode,
Kannur and Waynad districts. According to Varier these songs
were sung by peasants when they were tilling the soil. He added
that a unique style was followed when composing the Northern
ballads. Varier says that a common style was adopted for
composing folk songs all over the world. Heroic tales were the
main theme of Northern ballads and there was a fight or ankam in
every song. William Logan made an attempt to collect the
Northern ballads he included it in his Manual as the appendix.
Several others like Chelanttu Achutha Menon, S.K.Nair,
M.C.Appunni Nambiar and K.Sreekumar collected and compiled

Northern ballads. Raghava Varier wrote a book entitled

Vadakkanpattukalude Paniyala.
Pattukal became a unique writing style in the age of the
naduvazhi swarupams.In the heydays of the Nediyirippu
Swarupam ,kilipattuemerged as a branch of poetry. The song
Mamankam Kilipattu gave information regarding the period of
Samutiri.
Tekkan Pattukal or Southern ballads were songs in
circulation in the Tirvitamkur region. Iravikuttipillaipattu and
Valiya Tampi Kunju Tampi Katha were examples of Southern
ballads.
Ideology and Knowledge in Medieval Society
Ideology is a collection of ideas and beliefs that distort
and hide the truth about the conditions of human existence. It
justifies the exploitative social relations, inequalities and
domination. Ideology helped the local rulers to justify their rule
and to overcome their weaknesses. For this purpose they used
high sounding titles and qualifications. The Venatu Kings made
use of the titles like Kulasekhara Caravarti, Venatumankonta
Bhutalaviran, Samgramadhiran, Dharmanganathan, Manne
Sultan etc. The Nediyirippu adopted different titles such as
Sailabdhiswaran, Samutiri, Manavikraman, Puntura-kon etc.
Kolathiri took titles such as Karipat Unnitiri, Udayavarman
Kolathiri and Vadakkan Perumal. Ancient rituals like
tulapurushadanam (gift of gold equals to men’s weight) and
hiranyagarbham(golden womb) continued to be performed by the
rulers.
It was during the time of the naduvazhi swarupams the
ideology of devotion( bhakti) became more popular. The cult of
devotion induced the people to accept the contradictions in the
social system and to bear the miseries as the decision of god. In
the same period, Malayalam became an independent language ,

which was clearly distinguished from the Cola-Pandya languages
was an effort inspired by regional identity. A popular oral culture
had been developed parallel to the written tradition. Oral songs
praising the local heroes was circulated among the people.
Vadakkan Pattukal(Northern ballads ) and Tekkan
Pattukal(Southern ballads ) were best examples. Oral tradition
had regional variations. Thottampattukal was a part of the oral
tradition existed in the late medieval period. It was sung during
the performances of some of the local art forms like Teyyam and
Tira. These songs depict the life of subaltern classes and their
resistance.
Expansion of Knowledge
In the case of Kerala, further expansion of the agrarian
system paved way for the growth of material culture but without
any new technology, because of the opening up of new areas of
agriculture and accumulation of increased surplus. Technological
development metallurgy was essential for the growth of an
agrarian system. There were three communities of artisans related
to metallurgy-blacksmith, coppersmith and goldsmith. Families
specialized in the craft of making bronze emerged as an
endogamous caste called the musari. New families engaged in
metal crafts at places like Aranmula and Atakkaputhur became
experts in manufacturing high-tin bronze mirrors. Literary works
of the period gave information regarding gold and silver
ornaments, metal works and iron implements kept for sale in
markets.
A branch of knowledge that developed was astronomy.
Like other places, two systems of astronomical calculations,
theoretical and practical were spread in Kerala. Practical system
of astronomy means methods and devices used for reckoning.
Making of calendar is an example of a practical system of
astronomy. Estimation of the value of pi or formulation of

theorems for higher trigonometric functions is a few examples of
theoretical astronomical knowledge. Mathematics knowledge
was essential for measurement of seasons. With the expansion of
agriculture and trade the knowledge of arithmetic became
necessary for merchants, landlords and astrologers. These
changes were resulted in the codification of arithmetical
knowledge.
Another branch of knowledge was medicine. Many
medical books in Sanskrit were produced during this period.
Medical works also began to be written in Malayalam. Literary
works of this period mention about physician such as Alathur
Nambi. In village settlements families of Mannan, Velan and
Panan represents the little tradition of popular healthcare in
villages.
Several works of K.V.Sharma and the work by George
Gevarghese Joseph is dealing with the history of the Kerala
school of Astronomy and Mathematics. Madhava of
Sangamagrama of Irinjalakuda(c.1340-1425 CE) made
remarkable contributions to mathematics and astronomy by
developing infinite series approximations, which detailed in his
work Venuaroham ,which was a development of the inferential
items in Aryabhatiyam. After G.W.Leibniz (1646-1716 CE) had
published his notation and differential method after Madhava, the
power series in the initial series of calculus came to be known as
the Madhava-Leibniz Series. By using the ideas provided by
Madhava new scholars like Paramesvaran(1360-1425CE), and
his sons Damodara(1390-1470CE) and Govinda(1380-1460 CE),
Puthumana Somayaji( 1410-1490 CE), Nilakanta Somayaji(
1444-1544CE), Jyestadeva(1500-1610CE), Mahisamangalam
Narayana( 1540-1610 CE), and Melpattur Narayana
Bhattatiri(1559-1645CE) made further contributions to Kerala
School of Astronomy and Mathematics.

The knowledge of eclipses was essential for the

performances of certain sacrifices and rituals in medieval Kerala.
Thus, the rulers started to patronize astronomers and promoted
them to produce predictive knowledge about planetary positions
and movements. Puthumana Somayaji well known for his
Karanapadhati that has contributed in improving Madhava’s
series was a prominent scholar in astronomy. He wrote
Grahanastakam Grahanaganitam , exclusively on eclipses.
Nilakanta Somayaji in his work Thanthrasangraha has devoted
two chapters almost entirely to discuss various trigonometric
techniques and algebraic means of reckoning on the incidence of
the eclipse.
Paramesvaran wrote a treatise called Dragganita , a
mathematical model of astronomy. He wrote commentaries on
Mahabhaskariya,Aryabhatiya and Lilavati of Bhaskara II. He
propounded a mean value theorem and he is regarded as the first
mathematician to provide a radius of a circle with an inscribed
cyclic quadrilateral. Nilakanta Somayaji in his Tantasamgraha
gave special attention for the expansion of the Sine-Cosine series
of Madhava. This work is composed in eight chapters and 432
slokas in Sanskrit, generally on the epicyclical and eccentric
models of planetary motion. His other important works were
Yuktidipika and Grahapariksakrama and Sidhantadarpana. His
masterpiece, Aryabhatiyabhasya provides a heliocentric model of
the solar system and many results calculus.
Jyostadeva’s Yuktibhasa, a Malayalam text was the
world’s first book on calculus. Yukthibhasa is his bhasya of
Thanthrasangraha. He introduced a convergent infinite process
capable of attributing the value of pi to arbitrary accuracy.
Another significance of the text is that it was written in
Malayalam and the replacement of poetic genre by prose.
Astronomical knowledge is transmitted through the gurukula

system. But the astronomical knowledge was limited to the

Namboodiris. Even the people of other upper castes access to
astronomical knowledge is limited. But there were chances for
non-namboodiris with an upper caste status can approach a
Namboodiri teacher. For example Sankara Varier , an astronomer
was a student of Nilakanta.
Literacy and Communication in Medieval Kerala
KesavanVeluthat in one of his essays made an attempt to
examine the ways in which pre-modern Kerala stored and
communicated information. In that study he is dealing with the
inscriptions of early Medieval Kerala- their appearance and
disappearance, features, function and implications and about the
way in which these patterns have a relevance for the society
produced them. According to Veluthat the real beginning of
writing within Kerala is with Valappalli Copper Plates assigned
to the early part of the 9th century CE. The inscriptions from the
ninth century onwards announces the presence of the state. These
inscriptions dated in the regnal years of the Cera rulers are fond
throughout Kerala from Kasargod district in the North to
Thiruvananthapuram district in the South.
The inscriptions dating from the period of the Cera
kingdom, a little over fifty in number are largely located in
Brahmanical temple and executed on stone or forming part of the
structure on the plinth, door frame etc. and a few of them are
copper plates. Most of the Copper Plates from Kerala are
documents recording the proceeding of village assemblies and
local bodies with only two records the Syrian Christian Copper
Plates and the Jewish plates are an exception. Another Copper
Plates record, the Paliyam Copper Plates recording a grant to a
Buddhist Vihara. Most of the inscriptions mentions the names and
regnal year of the kings. The information in these inscriptions is
of a public nature.
The script of these records except Paliyam Copper Plates,

which was written in Nagri, is vatteluttu with an occasional use
of Grantha characters to represent Sanskrit or Sankristic words.
Most of the inscriptions kept in temple controlled by the
Brahmanas. The Perumal of Mahodayapuram had its connection
with the Tamil speaking region than with the other parts of the
West coast. Some Chera rulers had frequent contacts with the
Tamil Brahmin Saints. So the Chera rules made use of the
Vatteluttu script to compose their inscriptions the earlier forms of
which are seen in the Tamil-speaking regions, particularly in the
neighbouring Pandya territory. The identity of the scribes used
to compose inscriptions were mostly gold smiths and this thing
was revealed by their signatures. Literacy was a special skill,
cultivated by professional groups.
The early epigraphists and historians, who published and

used these documents, were working under the assumption that it
was Tamil. The text did not conform to the grammar and structure
of Tamil language, they explained such ‘inconsistencies’ as a
deviation ‘Malainattu Valakkam’(the practice of the hill country).
Most of these records are dated in the regnal years of the ruling
Cera king. Different eras such as the Saka era, Kali era and in just
two cases the Kollamera is used to date these inscriptions.
These are royal orders among these inscriptions with the

sole exception of the Jewish Copper Plates. Most of the records
document the resolution of local bodies, particularly committees
of Brahman land owners managing affairs of temples. Many of

these inscriptions related to transactions of land. There was an

absence of inscriptions about the non-Brahmana Villages in this
period. The age of inscriptions came to an end with the end of the
Perumal rule. An alternative practice of storing information
regarding governmental business and property transactions of a
major nature begin in what is known as the granthavari or palm
leaf documents. There were Matilakam Grantavari of the rulers
of Venatu and the Kolikkotan Granthavari for the Samuthiris of
Kozhikode. There were similar archives of the palm leaf
documents for the big temples such as Irinjalakuda, Peruvannam,
Kumaranellur etc.

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RECENT PERSPECTIVES

ELECTIVE COURSE: HIS3 E06

RECENT PERSPECTIVES ON SOCIAL

Sri. Sajith Kumar K.M,

Recent Perspectives on Social History of Medieval Kerala 2

Recent Perspectives on Social History of Medieval Kerala 3

Recent Perspectives on Social History of Medieval Kerala 4

Historiography and Pioneers in Social History Approaches

Social history is history of society done in social scientific

Recent Perspectives on Social History of Medieval Kerala 5

Travancore.Padmanabha Menon was educated at Cherthala

Recent Perspectives on Social History of Medieval Kerala 6

Kochirajya charitram: Padmanabha Menon had published his

Recent Perspectives on Social History of Medieval Kerala 7

Malayalam language, cultural history, political-social and

Recent Perspectives on Social History of Medieval Kerala 8

Namboodiris gained prominence in politics and complete

journalists of Kerala. His notable works including Chandu

Recent Perspectives on Social History of Medieval Kerala 10

that the local rulers were failed in effectively utilizing the

‘and the idea of the ‘peasant-brahmana alliance’ by Burton Stein.

this work discussed elaborately about caste system, gender,

matters like administration, army, land revenue, transport,

Recent Perspectives on Social History of Medieval Kerala 15

RomilaThapar published her Ancient Indian Social

Recent Perspectives on Social History of Medieval Kerala 16

India. The Subaltern studies are collections of monographs on

Recent Perspectives on Social History of Medieval Kerala 17

of Kerala. It is impossible to reconstruct the history of the non-

Recent Perspectives on Social History of Medieval Kerala 18

included in this study. Many other dalit writers like Pradeepan

Recent Perspectives on Social History of Medieval Kerala 19

Webb, Eileen Power and H.N Brailsford shaped the growing

broader and the Germans called it Gesselschaftsgeschichte. It is

Recent Perspectives on Social History of Medieval Kerala 21

the forested hill tracts and the waterlogged lowlands. The

The nature of agrarian expansion in Kerala was different

The integration of work force into occupation groups of

the workforce and reclamation of wetlands. The temple

emergence of centralised monarchy in the form of Cera state.

Recent Perspectives on Social History of Medieval Kerala 26

The individual Brahmana households were transformed

making of plough. Other tools and implements like sickles and

The Syrian Christian copperplates and the Jewish

agrarian corporations in character and the urban guilds and

commodities entering the marketplace. They were the custodians

Social Spaces and Social Divisions

Recent Perspectives on Social History of Medieval Kerala 32

One of the most important factors in social organisation

Recent Perspectives on Social History of Medieval Kerala 33

had a Kshatriya status and the suffix Varma in their inscriptions.

Recent Perspectives on Social History of Medieval Kerala 34

Several other caste groups which are known as sub castes

Anchuvannama nd Manigramamhad their own Talaiyar(head

Recent Perspectives on Social History of Medieval Kerala 36

mediator of the temple). UrpattarobviouslyBrahmanas and here

Recent Perspectives on Social History of Medieval Kerala 37

contain provision for attaching occupational families like

occupancy in land. The subjected tillers like Pulayar called