Primary Producing Groups in Early and Early

Medieval Kerala: Production Process and

Historical Roots of Transition to
Castes (300-1300 CE)

Thesis
Submitted to the University of Calicut
for the award of the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
IN HISTORY

K.S. MADHAVAN

DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY
UNIVERSITY OF CALICUT
2012
 Acknowledgements
I express my sincere gratitude to those who have helped me in the completion
of the thesis. Professor K.N. Ganesh, my supervisor was constant support
and encouragement for me at various stages of my research. I thank him
gratefully for all his valuable suggestions. My friends Dr. Muhammadali T,
Department of History, Farook College and Dr. Burton Cleetus, Assistant
Professor, Department of History, University of Calicut have gone through
the draft copies and made necessary corrections. Prof. K.P. Velayudhan, my
teacher and colleague, with his insightful comments, inspired me at various
stages of this research. It is also an occasion to extend my sincere thanks to
the staff of Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi, JNU,
Archeological Survey of India, New Delhi, ASI Mysore, and History
Department Library, University of Calicut. Special thanks to Professor
Asokan Mundon, Head of the Department of History. Thanks are due to my
colleagues and friends in the Department of History who helped me at various
stages of this study. I extend my thanks to Prof. Prathibha, Department of
English, University of Calicut who spent her valuable time correcting my
grammar and punctuations. I also express my sincere thanks to UGC for
awarding me a research fellowship

I am indebted to Shithor P.R., O.P. Ravindran, Dr. M.B. Manoj and

Lukhmanual Hakheem who encouraged me in completing this work. I would
like to thank Jaya whose support was a constant source of inspiration. I also
thank with love and affections my Roshan. I thank all members of Bina
Photostat, Villunniyal.

I also recollect with gratitude the help rendered by those who have
been involved in the completion of the thesis.

K.S. Madhavan
 CONTENTS

Page No.

Introduction 1-63
Chapter I Land, Labour and Production Process in Early and 64-206
Early Medieval Kerala

Chapter II Agriculture Production and the Location of the 207-324

Primary Producers

Chapter III Production Process and the Formation of Agrarian 325-379

Hierarchy

Chapter IV Production Process and the Historical Roots of 380-486

Transition to Castes

Conclusion 487-507
Glossary i-iv

Bibliography i-xiv

Maps
 ABBREVIATIONS

Adharam - A Journal for Kerala Archaeology and History

AN - Akananuru
ARSE - Annual Reports of South Indian Epigraphy
EPW - Economic and Political Weekly
IHR - Indian Historical Review
JP - Journal of Peasant Studies.
KSP - Kerala Society Papers.
PN - Purananuru
PIHC - Proceedings of Indian History Congress
PP - Patittupattu
PTP - Pattupattu
RRIB - Ramavarma Research Institute Bulletin, Thrissur
SII - South Indian Inscriptions
TAS - Travancore Archaeological Series
 Introduction

K.S. Madhavan “Primary producing groups in early and early medieval Kerala:
Production process and historical roots of transition to castes (300-1300 CE)”
Thesis. Department of History , University of Calicut, 2012
 Introduction

Historical narratives on early and early medieval Kerala mostly focus on the
wetland agriculture region. Paddy cultivation became the important form of
agrarian activity and paddy is the major form of agrarian surplus. The wetland
paddy cultivation has been given prime importance in the social formation
process in such studies. The formation of the stratified society leading to the
emergence of the state was conceptualized on the basis of the surplus
generated exclusively from the wetland paddy cultivation.1 However,
comparatively large area of multi crops cultivation in the laterite region,
including the land spaces called parambu and forested areas, in which variety
of mixed crops, spices and forest produce generated; do not get attention in
such histories. The way in which the resources produced in the mixed crops
areas and the realization of labour and forms of appropriation of multi culture
products leading to the process of stratification have not been studied
properly.

Another significant issue is the problem of mono causal explanation

given to the formation of wetland paddy agriculture in the mid land of
Kerala.2 Such narratives give undue importance to the origin and development
of Brahman settlements as a linear process and argue that Brahman
settlements are the only agency which made changes in the economy and
society and evolved socio-economic structures and cultural developments in
the society.3 The arguments are centered on the temple centered Brahman

1
K N Ganesh,State formation in Kerala;A Critical Overview, [ICHR, Bangalore,
2010],pp.24-26.
2
M G S Narayanan has argued that Brahman settlements scattered along the many fertile
river valleys between the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea and the Brahmans
occupied the lands most suitable for rice cultivation. M G S Narayanan, Perumals of
Kerala,[ Calicut, 1996], p.144.
3
Kesavan Veluthat, Brahman Settlements in Kerala, [Calicut University,1978], [see
chapters 3 and 5 ].M G S Narayanan has further added that Brahmin settlers were

1
villages4 which transformed the economy and society, created number of
institutional structures including the political structure of Nāttutayavar and
the Chēra Perumāl.5 The historiographical silence on the existence of
settlements created by the settler cultivators where the cultivating kutis
cultivated the lands has not been given attention to; instead the Brahman
villages are given importance in the production of resources and how thereby
these villages became the nodal agency in the transformation of society and
economy.6

In the historiography of Kerala, Brahman villages have been explained

as the catalyst agency in the transition from tribal clannish society of early
historic period to a settled wetland agrarian society of early medieval times.
The social stratification process leading to the formation of state resulting
from the consolidation of agrarian hierarchy and caste formation was
attributed to the technological and cultural advancement made by the
Brahmans and the temple centered Brahman villages. However, the Brahmans
were made to settle granting the productive villages and donating produces
from the already settled and cultivated ūr settlements of the settler cultivators
and the kutis. Studies concentrating the social formation process in early and
early medieval Kerala have ignored the importance of the settlements of the
settler cultivators and the cultivating kutis. The anteriority of the primordial
settlements that had been developed prior to the emergence of temple centered
Brahman settlements has not been properly studied. The invisibility of the

largely interested in cultivation in the fields and plantations of the plains with assured
water supply round the year, M G S Narayanan, Perumals of Kerala, op.cit., p.144.
4
Ibid,pp.141-149.
5
Ibid, p.149.
6
This is explained in terms of the emergence of the non- kin labour in the agrarian sector
through the interaction between Brahman households and the neighboring clannish folk.
Rajan Gurrukkal and M R Raghava Varier,[eds] ,Cultural History of Kerala,
[Department of Cultural Publications, Government of Kerala,Thiruvananthapuram ,
1999],p.240.

2
settlements other than the Brahman settlements in such studies has led to the
mono causal explanation to the process of socio-economic transition based on
the centrality of one economy concentrating the paddy cultivating Brahman
settlements. However, the settlements other than Brahman settlements were
large in numbers which made impetus to the development of the temple
centered Brahman settlements by way of production of resources and
donation of the share of the surplus to the temple centered Brahman villages.
This process, in fact, has not been given due attention in the historiography of
Kerala.

The cultivating kutis and the households of the settlers made donations
in the form of the share of the produce to the temples to meet the expenses of
the offerings that ensured supply of the surplus to the temple centered
Brahman villages. This further accelerated the process by which the
Nāttutayavar and the ruling lineages that made donations to the temples in the
form of share of the produce from the villages other than Brahman
settlements, a few attippēr grants were also made to the Brahmans and the
temples, and Brahmans were made to settle granting lands in the settlements
created by the settler cultivators and the cultivating kutis. The social
stratification process is often explained in terms of mechanism of labour
realisation and the appropriation of the surplus generated. The villages other
than the Brahman settlements where surplus was generated and from where
the agrarian resources reached the temples and the Nāttutayavar. This process
has not been much visible in epigraphical documents as the historical
contingency of the production of such documents had no intention of making
this visible and this led to the historiographical silence on the process of
surplus generation in such villages.

The historical narratives on the social formation process in early and

early medieval Kerala have, in fact, emphasised the linearity of the historical

3
process giving importance to the centrality of one economy, wetland paddy
economy, in understanding the socio-economic development which resulted
in giving the mono causal explanation i.e., the Brahman settlements are the
nodal agency of historical change as well as the cause and effect of the same
process. This has completely evaded the existence of other economies, the life
activities of the people who subsisted on it and the process of resource
generation in such economies. The process of resource generation and the
modes of appropriation involved in the various economies are also important.

Present study entitled ‘Primary Producing Groups in Early and Early

Medieval Kerala: Production Process and Historical Roots of Transition to
Castes [300- 1300 CE]’ focuses on the social formation process in the
multiple economies in which both parambu cultivation and the forested areas
in the laterite regions and the wetland areas including the estuarine land
spaces and the wetland plains are given importance. The study mainly focus
on the formation of primary producers in relation to land, labour and
production process that developed in the early and early medieval Kerala and
how the agrarian surplus generated primarily because of the labour of the
primary producers in the period under discussion. It tries to locate the ways in
which the production process developed and the transition occurred which led
to the consolidation of agrarian hierarchy and formation of castes.

The Problem:

The kutis were the backbone of the various economies that must have
developed from early historical period and the primary produces began to
develop as part of the expansion of agrarian activities and generation of
surplus in the multiple economies. Those groups who provided labour to the
various labour activities in the midland including the laterite areas called
parambus appeared from the period of the Classical Tamil texts when the wet
land and parambu area began to be cultivated. Āl /Atiyār/ Pulayar appeared to

4
have developed as a particular social and cultural group and referred to in
epigraphical sources from the early medieval period. They are conceptualized
as the primary producers and agriculture production depended on the labour
of these groups. The epigraphical evidences indicate the presence of Āl,
Atiyār, Pulayar Parayar etc, and they are found to have been tied to the lands
on which they did their labour. However, the historical scholarship of Kerala
seems to have hardly problematised these categories. The most pertinent
question is who are the primary producing groups and how did they become
the groups variously termed Āl, Atiyār, Pulayar Parayar etc. How they became
the labouring groups to be designated as the primary producers in the agrarian
system in the early medieval period and what was the historical antecedence
which led to the formation of such groups. What were the ways and means
which made them primary producers or what kind of socio-political and
ideological system subjugated them and incorporated them to the varna jāti
system as untouchables, are to be properly studied.

A study giving importance to the labour process in the production of

agrarian resources in the multiple economies leading to the appropriation of
surplus, consolidation of agrarian hierarchy and the formation of castes would
help us to delineate the complex process of subordination of the primary
producers in the early and early medieval Kerala. The neglect of historicising
the process of the formation of caste in relation to the development of
multiple economies is also responsible for the negligence of problematising
the primary producers in the early and early medieval Kerala. Agrarian
production process and the generation of surplus is the base of the social
formation process in which the social stratification gave way to the
consolidation of production process in instituted manner leading to the
development of the producing and non producing groups in the social system.
The entire edifice of the agrarian system is built on the labour and life
activities of the producing groups consisting of primary producers, the

5
cultivating and occupational groups called kutis. The labour was realized for
the production of surplus which developed a group who engaged in the labour
process as the primary producers and they appeared in generic nomenclatures
in documents whose labour was institutionally realized and they were
attached to the means of production. The significance of the study of the
primary producers is that it would unravel the nuances of the complex process
of the subjugation of the primary producers to a number of overlords and how
they were made part of the jāti hierarchies. No such study has so far been
conducted in the history of pre- colonial Kerala in particular and pre-modern
south India in general. Hence, a study of the origin and development of the
primary producers giving importance to the production operations and the
labour process in the multiple economies in the early and early medieval
Kerala has relevance of its own.

The prime objective of the study is to locate the primary producing

groups in the labour process in the multiple economies. To unravel the
process of the generation of agrarian resources and the labour activities in the
production operations are the other objective of the study. The complex
process of the redistributive process and the formation of number of non
producing social groups developing particular political dominance is also to
be studied. Yet another objective is to know the process in which hereditary
occupational collectives had become particular endogamous groups and how
they had become part of the occupational and service hierarchies. The
ideological system which incorporated the producing groups as subjugated
categories into the varna jāti system is also to be studied as one among the
other objectives of this endeavor.

The social relations which developed on account of the complex

process of production operations involving various forms of labour activities
and diverse modes of appropriation of resources would reveal the way in

6
which multiple forms of power and subjugation strategies evolved in early
medieval period. It also locates the production localities, predominantly the
settlements of the settler cultivators and the cultivating kutis, where agrarian
resources generated from where number of non producing groups and
institutional structures including Nāttutayavars and the temples squeezed out
the resources. It also enables to understand the process of social stratification
that had been developed in the multiple economies leading to the emergence
of a hierarchy based on agrarian power structure that also evolved
corresponding political power structure. It would also reveal the way in which
the production process made impetus to the transition to the formation of
castes and the subjugation of the primary producers under the varna –jātis
system as untouchables.

Historians like Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai,M G S Narayanan, Kesavan

Veluthat and others who wrote extensively on the pre-modern history of
Kerala did not give due attention to the primary producing groups .They came
out with only marginal comments and passing references to these groups in
their studies.7 None of them attempted to give explanation to the origin of
these groups or the ways in which these groups became the primary producers
in the process of production of agrarian surplus and how their labour had been
realised to produce the agrarian surplus. One exemption in this regard is
perhaps Professor Rajan Gurukkal, who has tried to problematise the primary
producers, even though, it was explained in the context of the formation of the
hierarchy that developed in the process of surplus appropriation in the wet
land agriculture in the midland where the Brahman settlements and temple
centered Brahman villages proliferated. However, these historians do not pay
attention to the multiple economies that existed in the region in early and
early medieval period and to the origin and development of settlements other
7
M G S Narayanan considers that the groups called Pulayar or l are agrestic serfs
during the Chēra period, Perumals of Kerala,op. cit., p.154.

7
than Brahman ūrs where the lion share of the agrarian resources generated.
They paid more attention to the wetland paddy agriculture, settlements of the
Brahmans and studied the social formation process concentrating almost
exclusively on wetland paddy area.

Historians paid attention to the Āl / Atiyār/ Pulayar etc only when they
tried to locate the formation of caste groups in Kerala rather than to study the
primary producers who were engaged in the production operations for the
generation of surplus on which the edifice of the economy and society rested
and that process made them primary producing groups in the social form that
came into being. Such historians were in search of caste in history rather than
to problematise the historical process that transformed an already evolved
hierarchical formation into castes and the institutional and ideological
structures that formulated the caste as system of multiple forms of oppression
in terms of gender and class. Some of the studies appear to have focused on
the question of caste as structural phenomena developing within the
institutional structures of the temples wherein the functional arrangement
developed due to the formation of occupational and service hierarchies in the
temple centered society. Some others argued that the dispersed nature of the
village community that existed in the period under discussion developed the
caste system as a functional arrangement within such village communities.
They formulated the structural – functionalist understanding in which the
functional groups or occupational categories are interpreted to have developed
as the fixed and variable entities of an already imagined system of hierarchy
in the early medieval period.

However, the problems lie in the conceptualization of the spatiality in

the multiple economies in which the process of social formation and the
stratification occurred in multiple ways. But the historical scholarship on
early and early medieval Kerala interpreted the social formation process as

8
something which had exclusively happened in the wetland paddy cultivation
region and the centrality of the paddy economy got prominent position in the
analysis of social formation process. Then, the analysis of such narratives
naturally fall in line with the arguments that a great transformation had
occurred in the social form which formed the major institutional structures
like temples and the temple centered Brahman settlements that created
historical transformation of economy and society. The formation of various
social groups has been explained as the product of the structural entities like
temples which exclusively constituted the occupational and service
hierarchies. Therefore, any attempt in problematising the social stratification,
location of the primary producers, castes, social subordination, hierarchy, etc
would revolve in and around the temples and the temple-centered villages, the
analysis would confine to the clutches of structuralism and the structural
functionalism or relativism.

Those who try to develop critical position on the narratives based on

the temple centered villages must transcend the tenets of relativism in
understanding the social transformation process. Therefore, it is necessary to
problematise the agrarian production and the labour process involved in the
multiple economies and importance is to be given ūr settlements and kutis
which appeared in the classical Tamil texts and how it continued to exist
during the early medieval period. Attention should be given to understand the
social stratification process which evolved in the multiple economies and the
ways in which the production and labour process developed in these
economies. The formation of a surplus appropriation mechanism and its
redistribution system are also to be probed. Importance is to be given to the
labour process in which the cultivating kutis, primary producers and the kutis
of the occupational groups are involved. Social stratification process and the
agrarian hierarchy are to be problematised in relation to the ways in which
multiple forms of production operations developed and the various modes of

9
appropriation forms that came into being. The evolving hierarchy engendered
the positional and dispositional forms out of the production process that
developed the historical roots of transition to the castes. Hence, the
understanding of the historiographical scholarship on the formation and
consolidation of hierarchy of castes in Kerala is a starting point.

There are two major strands of approach to the varna – jati system that
existed in pre-modern Kerala. One is the ethnographic understanding of the
caste and another is the view which emphasizes the ideas and values of the
temple centered Brahman villages that created the caste system. Early writers
on Kerala either followed the travelers’ account and the reportage given by
missionaries and merchants or they subscribed to the ethnographic
understanding of caste which was largely influenced by the oriental / colonial
interpretations. William Logan’s position of the varna –jati system is
important because it was the leading administrative ideology. He followed
the oriental colonial position of caste and he partially rejects the Kēralōlpathi
tradition of claim held by the indigenous elites on customary landed
ownership and at the same time he subscribed to the brahmanical perception
of caste represented in Kēralōlpati.8 Missionary discourse on Kerala’s caste
system has a history and early European accounts of Lingschoten and
Vathema was mediated by the brahmanic perception of caste as they were the
informants to these missionaries. These missionaries primitivised the
indigenous people with the European predilections.9 This can also be seen in
the works of French Missionary, Abbe j Dubois.10 The missionary discourse

8
K S Madhavan, Representation of Caste in Pre- Colonial and Colonial Keralam,
[Unpublished M Phil Thesis, University of Calicut,2001],Chapter 3 ‘Colonial Discourse
on Caste’,pp.81-86.William Logan,Malabar[in two volumes] vol.1.[1887] Reprinted,
Charithram Publications, Trivandrum,1981], Section D-Caste and Occupations,pp.135-
182.
9
K S Madhavan, Representation of Caste in Pre- Colonial and Colonial Keralam, op.cit.,
pp.86-87.
10
Abbe j Dubois, Hindu Manners, Custom sand Ceremonies, [AES Reprint, Delhi ,1983]

10
on caste has systematically been started with the establishment of London
Missionary Society [LMS, 1795 C E] and the Church Mission Society [CMS,
1799 C E].

The most important representative of the missionary engagement with

the varna –jati system in Kerala is Samuel Mateer who was an LMS
missionary. The basic premise on which Mateer developed his argument is the
Aryan theory and he argues for the existence of antagonistic Dravidian and
Aryan Brahman groups.11 The Aryan theory became an explanatory mode of
analysis in the administrative ideology and missionary discourse on caste.12
The historians who wrote on Kerala in the beginning of the twentieth century
largely subscribed to the views developed by the administrative ideology and
the missionary discourse on caste which were based on the colonial ethnology
and racial science.13 The leading exponent of the ethnological understanding
of caste is L K Ananthakrishna Ayyar who followed the typical colonial
anthropological position on caste.14 K P Padmanabha Menon largely
subscribed to the views of the medieval travelers, missionaries and on the
colonial anthropologists and developed a synthetic theory of caste
formation.15

Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai can be considered as the pioneer to give a

historical perspective to the origin and growth of the caste system. He viewed

11
K S Madhavan, Representation of Caste in Pre- Colonial and Colonial Keralam, op. cit.,
pp.87-88.
12
Ibid, pp.89-92.
13
Susan Bayly, ‘Caste and ‘Race’ in the Colonial Ethnography of India’ in Peter Robb
[ed],The Concept of Race in South Asia, [OUP Culcuta,1995],pp.165-218. Thomas R
Trautmann, ‘Inventing the History of South India’ in Daut Ali[ed], Invoking the Past,
[OUP, Delhi, 1999], PP. 36-54.
14
L K Ananthakrishna Ayyar,The Cochin Tribes and Castes,[ two volumes,1909 and
1912, Reprinted,Johson Reprint Corporation New York, 1969].
15
K P Padmanabha Menon, History of Kerala, vol .3, [AES Reprint, Delhi, 1984],
Kochirajyacharithram,[1914][,Mathrubhumi,Calicut,1989],Chapter-7,pp.58-74.

11
the Sangam period as a period of castless society.16 The transfer of land to the
Brahmans was one of the consequences of the aryanisation of Kerala starting
from seventh century CE.17 It was during the eleventh C E that the Brahman
centered land system, when the forces unleashed by the Chera –Chola war
helped the brahmanas to acquire vast area of land and became wealthy and
powerful janmis.18 He argued that the fall of the united polity in Kerala under
the Kulasekhara Empire in the later period of the war and rise on its ruins of
innumerable petty principalities helped the Brahmans to extend their sway
further, when they made the caste system and janmi centered land system
more complete.19

The typical example of understanding the caste in terms of the

brahmanical ideology and the temple centered village can be seen in the
works of M G S Narayanan. Aryan- Dravidian binary with functional
relativism can be seen in the works of M G S Narayanan who has argued that
the Dravidian society consisting of Izhavar,Vāniyar,Vannār,Taccar, Tattār,
Vellalar,Pulayar and others were divided on the basis of hereditary profession
and their dependence of Aryan Brahman settlements made the caste system
more rigid.20 The evolution and consolidation of caste system is directed by
the well –organised Aryan Brahmins.21 The hereditary occupations of groups
such as Īzhavar,Vāniyar,Vannār,Taccar, Tattār, Vellālar,Pulayar probably
took place even without the agency or inspiration of the Brahmins and this
type of hereditary occupation provided a powerful impetus to the evolution of

16
Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai, ‘Kēralam Chāturvarnyathinte Pitiyil’, in N Sam[ed],
Elamkulam Kunjan Pillayute Thiranjetutta Kritikal, Vol .1,Historical Works
[International Centre for Kerala Studies , University of Kerala,Thiruvananthapuram] ,
2005], p.241.
17
Ibid.,pp.480 and 511.
18
Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai, ‘Janmisambrathayam Keralathil’, in Elamkulam Kunjan
Pillayute Thiranjetutta Kritikal, op.cit., pp.590-621.
19
Ibid.
20
Ibid., p.155.
21
M G S Narayanan, Perumals of Kerala, op.cit. , p.154.

12
sub castes within the general frame work of caste.22 He formulates a view
that the caste system existed without any tension or conflict and there
prevailed a general atmosphere of harmony and peace23 in the social fabric.
Kesavan Veluthat has argued that the tribal population got transformed into
peasants and other occupational groups into so many jatis.24 The primary
producers were bonded labourers and the surplus labour at their disposal was
expropriated mostly in the form of a labour rent.25

According to Rajan Gurukkal the period between the seventh and ninth
centuries witnessed the proliferation of Brahman villages and expansion of
irrigated agriculture in wetland which integrated the non kin labourers into the
labour process. The functional association of producers, artisans and
craftsmen constituted the social formation of the period. The period from the
eight to the tenth centuries is characterized by the proliferation and
consolidation of temple centered agrarian villages of the Brahmans. The
interaction of landed households into corporate settlements and the formation
of larger agrarian society corresponded to the emergence of temples marked
the expansion of agriculture through Brahman dominance as well as super
imposition of superior land rights of the Brahmans. The temples employed
large number of people in its various services on the basis of a system of
service tenure.26 The nature of rights over the land and the level of
entitlement to the producers determined the strata of the people and aggregate

22
Ibid, p.153. Professor Narayanan has argued that Brahmins created upper castes like
Kshatriyar, Sāmantar,Antarālar, and Nāyar out of the aboriginals according to status
and profession, ibid.,p.155.
23
M G S Narayanan, Cultural Symbiosis in Kerala, [Kerala Historical Society,
Trivandrum, 1972], p.3.
24
Kesavan Veluthat, ‘The Structure of Land-rights and Social Stratification in Early
Medieval South India’, in Vijaykumar Thakur and Asok Anshouman, [eds],Peasants in
Indian History,[ Janaki Prakasan New Delhi,1996],p.326. Kesavan Veluthat, Political
Structure of Early Medieval South India,[ Orient Longman, Delhi, 1993], p.235.
25
Kesavan Veluthat, ‘Medieval Kerala’ in The Early Medieval in South India, [OUP,
Delhi, 2009] 2010], p.256.
26
Rajan Gurukkkal, ‘Formation of Caste Society in Kerala: Historical Antecedents’ in K L
Sharma [ed], Caste and Class in India, [Rawat, publications,Delhi,1998] p.395.

13
designed the social relation of the period. The dominant position of the
Brahmans that was crucial in the operationalisation of jāti hierarchy.27 What is
Brahmanical is not jāti but the notion of hierarchy.28

The amateur scholars have attempted to unravel certain issues involved

in the writings of professional historians who worked on caste formation and
the consolidation of varna-jati system. Scholars like P K Balakrishnan
polemically postulated certain notions in which caste has been understood as
a system of perpetual backwardness and which became a category to
primitivise the economy and society of the early and early medieval Kerala.29
However, the scholars who were concerned over the former untouchables
took a constructive critical engagement with the positions taken by historians,
mostly of Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai, and tried to develop narratives of the
historical past of the Atiyār and the Pulayar of Kerala.30

Since the main concern is to know the way in which hierarchical social
order had been consolidated over the centuries and the primary producing
groups developed, it is necessary to make a critical evaluation of some of the
important theories which focus on how caste has emerged in history and the
historiographical positions on the development of the ideology and practice of
caste system. The social science practices in India gave much emphasise on

27
Rajan Gurukkkal, ‘From Clan and Lineage to Hereditary Occupation and Caste in Early
South India’ in Dev Nathan[ed], From Tribe to Caste, [Indian institute of Advanced
Study, Shimla, 1997], p.216. Rajan Gurukkal, ‘the Formation of Caste Society in
Kerala: Historical Antecedence’ op.cit., pp.393-402.
28
Rajan Gurrukkal and M R Raghava Varier,[eds] Cultural History of
Kerala,op.cit.,p.256.
29
P K Balakrishnan, Jātivyavasthitiyum Kērala Charithravum, [National Book Stall,
Kottayam, 1983].
30
T H P Chentharassery,Kerala Charithrathile Avakanikkappetta Edukal,[Prabhath Book
House,Trivandrum,1970]. Kunnukuzhi S Mani,Polayar Nootandukalil,[
ISHPO,Trivandrum,1989] N K Jose, jāti Vyavasthayilūte Kēralacharithram,[
Hobby Publishers,Vaikom,1993].Atisthana Keralam, [Hobby Publishers,Vaikom,2001]
and Pulayalahala,[Prakasam Publications,Kottayam,1982]. K K Kochu,Kerala
Charithravum Samuharupikaranavum, [the State Institute of
Languages,Kerala,Thiruvananthapuram,2012].

14
functional aspects of the caste including the ideology of the caste system,
namely, on its ritual aspects, to the exclusion of material conditions and
questions of power. This is a consequence of focusing on the brahmanical
view drawn from brahmanical texts.31 It disinclined to engage with the
materialistic interpretations given by historians32 and the counter view of dalit
writers who have provided on the caste system by focusing on the experiential
dimensions of caste based oppression.33 B R Ambedkar’s writings on the
history of Shudras and dalits were not cited in studies of social history;
nevertheless they had an indirect impact.34 However, the theory propounded
by Louis Dumont, that is so much more popular because it follows the

31
K S Madhavan, Internalist Perception of Jati – A Study of Brahmanical Canonical
Literature in Kerala, Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, 62nd Session, Bhopal,
2001, PP.84-97. Debjani Ganguly, ‘The Dark Rock of Indian Tradition: Caste and
Orientalism’ in Caste and the Dalit Life Worlds: Post Colonial Perspectives,[Orient
Longman,Delhi,2005],pp.33-62.
32
D D Kosambi is the pioneer one to provide a general frame work of historical
materialism to study the caste system and describes caste as the class in the primitive
level of production; D D Kosambi, Culture and Civilisation in Ancient India in
Historical outline, D D Kosambi, An Introduction to the Study of Indian History.
Combined Methods in Indology and Other Writings, Compiled, Edited and Introduced
by Brajudalal Chattopadhyya,[OUP,Delhi,2002]. R S Sharma, Sudras in Ancient India,
[Motilal Banarsidas Publishers, Delhi,1958]. Irfan Habib, Caste in Indian History, in
Essays in Indian History: Towards a Marxist Perception, [Tulika Publishers, Delhi,
1995].
33
In contrast, a striking formulation of the caste system provided by Babasaheb B.R.
Ambedkar is perceived from the bottom end up. In Ambedkar’s formulation, caste is a
system of graded inequality in which castes are arranged according to an ascending
scale of reverence and a descending scale of contempt. B R Ambedkar, The
Untouchables: Who were They and Why they Became Untouchables in Babasaheb
Ambedkar: Writings and Speeches,[Compiled by Vasant Moon], Vol.7.[Education
Department, Government of Maharashtra, Bombay, 1990] , pp.233-379. Who were the
Shudras[1946] in Writings and Speeches,Vol.7,pp.5-232. Caste in India: Their
Mechanism, Genesis and Development [1917] in Writings and Speeches,
Vol.1,[Education Department, Government of Maharashtra, Bombay,1989], pp.3-22.
Annihilation of Caste [1944] in Writings and Speeches,Vol.1,pp.23-96.Braj Ranjan
Mani, Debrahmanising History,[Manohar,Delhi,2005].
34
Romila Thapar, Decolonising the Past: Historical Writing in the Times of Sachin – and
Beyond, Economic and Political Weekly, April 2, 2005, p.1444.

15
brahmanical perception of caste as it emphasizes the purity and impurity as
the fundamental governing principle on caste.35

The brahman informants and brahmanic upper castes scribes informed

the early European travelers the social ordering of the people only after
placing themselves in a privileged position in their ideal universe. It was
because of this, the practice of untouchability was conceived as an ideology in
the ideal universe of brahmanical self perception. This brahmanical self
perception about the social realities and material practice of cultural
specificities inverted to represent in their ideal social universe as an
ideological schema. It was this indigenous elite's self perception that was
followed by the early European travelers and subsequently became a frame of
reference in the missionary discourse and the colonial position of caste.36

The colonial position on caste is that the brahmanical self perception

regarding caste hierarchy is inverted to constitute the 'other' in the form of a
stagnant, inflexible hierarchy based on racial differences which enabled to
ossify occupational differentiations.37 It was this position on caste that
became a prism through which the colonial rulers began to see Indians and the
whole Indian society. Caste was seen as representing the worldview of Indian
social and cultural life in a stagnant and degenerated form. The non-ritual,
even non religious elements which always existed in the caste system as part

35
Louis Dumont, Homo Hierarchicus: The Caste System and its Implications, [Mouton,
1970].
36
This representation of caste had to be materialized by the way of colonial modalities of
survey and reportage, systematized through census and ethnographic science. The
investigative and survey modalities of colonial state has to be analysed in this context,
Bernad S Cohn, An Anthropologist Among Historians and Other Essays, [OUP, Delhi,
1987]. Colonialism and Its Forms of Knowledge, [OUP, Delhi, 1997].
37
Susan Bayly, New Cambridge History of India,Vol.4[3],[Cambridge ,1999],p.9.Thomas
R Trautman ,Aryan and the British India, [OUP,Delhi,1997],p.155. Bernad S
Cohn,Colonialism anf its Forms of Knowledge: British in India,[OUP,Delhi,1997],pp.7-
8.Nicholas Dirks ,Caste of Mind,[OUP,Delhi,2002].

16
of labour process and some aspects of inter-caste relations were theoretically
ruled out of the system.38

Louis Dumont's 'Homo Hierarchicus'

The most influential contribution to the study of caste since the end of Second
World War has been Louis Dumont's 'Homo Hierarchicus'. The fundamental
feature of Indian caste system is, according to Dumont, the principle of
hierarchy in the caste system, which is the opposition of the pure and impure.
Superiority and superior purity are identical. Distinction of purity is the
foundation of status. The fundamental characteristic of caste system for
comparison is the hierarchical disjunction between status and power. Dumont
is of opinion that separation, interdependence and hierarchy are the essential
characteristics of caste system. Hierarchy ranks the groups as relatively
superiors or inferior to one another.

Dumont insists that these three principles are reducible to a single true
principle – namely, the opposition of the pure and the impure. He explicitly
states that the fundamental opposition of pure and impure is not the cause of
all the distinctions of caste, but rather that it is their form. It is the idiom
through which Hindus understand their own society. He claims that their
disjunction of power and status is implicit in the hierarchical opposition of
pure and impure.39 Dumont’s theory of caste is an attempt to answer one
question: how and why do Brahmins enjoy a monopoly on the religious
domain? Historically and conceptually, this monopoly is the basis of what
Dumont considers the essential feature of the caste system – the dysfunction

38
The colonial understanding of caste is represented in the works of H H Riley [ the
People of India, London ,1908]D Ibbetson,Punjab Castes, Lahore I916],J H Hutton ,
Caste in India, [Camebridge,1946] and G S Ghurye ,Caste and Class in
India,[Mumbai,1957].
39
Declan Quigley, ‘Dumont’s Theory of Caste’ in the Interpretation of Caste, [OUP,
Delhi, 1999], pp.21-38.

17
between status and power40. For Dumont, the distinguishing feature of caste
society is that status is superior to, and encompasses, power. The principle of
purity and impurity structure the relation between all castes. According to
him, caste is the uniquely Indian expression of a pure form of hierarchy in
which the values of the king, of politics, are subordinated to the purer values
of the priest which alone reflect the social whole.41

European interpretation of traditional India has always tended to

assume that caste is a product of priestly values of purity and impurity. What
Dumont has done is to take this assumption as a premise and build a
systematic theory around it. Dumont demonstrates that he has simultaneously
misunderstood the connection between caste and ritual functions and the
connection between caste and kinship. Purity is a relational concept, not a
substance. Purity is the absence of impurity and this is an entirely relative
matter – in any culture.42

Understanding of caste as an ideological system based on the

principles of purity and pollution, as outlined by Dumont ,in fact, dominated
the discipline of sociology and is completely unsatisfactory to analyse the
historical process of origin and development of caste system, especially to
study those who have been condemned and oppressed in the bottom rungs of
degrading conditions of existence. This theory is totally unmindful of the very
material dimensions of the caste system.43 Caste is not merely the opposition
between pure and impure but at a more fundamental level it incorporates
other kinds of domination and subordination, exploitation and oppression
40
T N Madan,’Louis Dumont and the Study of Society in India’ in Pathways: Approach to
the Study of Society in India,[OUP,Delhi,1994],pp52-84.
41
Suvira Jaiswal,Caste: Origin ,Function and Dimension of Change,[Manohar
,Delhi,2000],pp.35-36.
42
Mary Douglas, Purity and Danger: An Analysis of the Concepts of Pollution and Taboo
[1966, ARK Paperbacks, London], pp.1-6.
43
Umachakravarti, Gendering Caste, op.cit., pp.37-65.

18
based on unequal access to material and cultural resources, multiple forms of
power related to kinship, gender, class etc. This also points out the importance
of the occupational and functional dimension of caste hierarchy. The synthetic
theory of caste provided by Dumont failed to understand the immediate
reality of caste, the diversity of particular jātis with specific characteristics.44

Occupational theories

Colonial state and its apparatus made changes in the economy and society,
introduced various modalities for the continuation of the colonial rule such as
tenurial systems like permanent settlements, systematic land surveys and
resource surveys etc which forced the British to study the occupational
dimension of caste and community life in the society leading to evolve certain
occupational theories of caste.

The colonial ethnologists and anthropologists like John C Nesfield

argued for an occupational theory of caste, Nesfield was of opinion that
occupational class existed prior to the formation of castes. Occupational
groups were existed in all societies in India. He argued that guild had
transformed into caste in a hierarchical order.45 It is important to point out the
interpretation given by Ibbetson to the formation of caste. According to him
caste is social far more than a religious institution, it has no necessary
connection whatever with the Hindu religion. The formation of caste is a
socio- economic and cultural rather than religious phenomena. There are two
principles at work in the formation of caste system, i.e., community of blood
and community of occupation.46 The former is helpful to the understanding

44
Partha Chatterjee, ‘Caste and Subaltern Consciousness’ in Ranajith Guha [ed] Subaltern
Studies: Writings on South Asian History and Society, Vol.6, [OUP, Delhi, 1989, 2005]
pp.169-209.
45
Suvira Jaiswal, Caste: Origin, Function and Dimension of Change, op.cit., p.33.
46
Morton Klass, Caste: The Emergence of the South Asian Social System, op.cit., pp.66-
67.

19
of the development of kinship descent structures and formation clan
endogamy among different occupational groups. And the latter is useful to
develop for the analysis of the formation of hereditary occupation and
gradation among various occupational groups. It is also useful to reveal the
way in which occupational and service hierarchies developed which played
important role in the development and continuation of caste system. He says,
‘the whole basis of diversity of caste is diversity of occupation’, difference of
degree rather than kind, Indian society differs only in degree. ‘Caste is simply
a form of position or rank’. The special circumstances made these
occupational groups in to castes. The principle of community of blood has
become fused with that of occupation.

Emile Senart argues that juxtaposition of superordinated Aryan

restricted communities and subordinated indigenous tribal groups was
responsible for the formation of caste system. He rejects the arguments of
Nesfield and Ibbetson as they had argued that tribe evolved in to guild and
later in to caste.47 Aryan population invaded in to South Asia at a particular
time conquered the indigenous population and materialized themselves as
distinct from the conquered. However, he says that, there is no racial factor in
the population. Here he rejects the position of Risley on racial conquest.
However, he relates primitive nature of the institutions of the indigenous
population with that of the invaded Aryans. However, at the same time, he
does not share the arguments of Ibbetson and Nesfield who traced the
evolution of caste from the indigenous tribal structure. He proposes that it is
the juxtaposition of Aryan and tribal system that is the source of caste, with
the Aryan as the most influential of the two elements. Aryan social
institutions such as the family structure are the source of the caste
exclusiveness.

47
Ibid.,pp.71-72.

20
 Weber has already made that caste is a social rank, occurrence of a
class system exhibiting closed status groups. In a productive engagement with
Weber’s position of Indian caste system, Celetian Bougle, developed certain
arguments in relation to the concepts like repulsion, hereditary, and hereditary
occupation.48 The development of mutually opposed groups, which are
hereditarily specialized and hereditarily arranged are important for the
development of caste system.49

However, Mortan Klass, offers a materialist explanation to the origin

of caste and he makes sense of the inter- disciplinary nature of the problem.
According to him, in prehistoric times, a galaxy of equalitarian endogamous
groups inhabited in south Asian regions. Each group was internally
characterized by full and undifferentiated membership and constituting a
single marriage circle in which prosperity and misfortune was shared by all.
Many of these endogamous societies were composed of equalitarian segments
or class. Initially all of them were at the gathering and hunting stage with no
significant economic specialization or exchange of goods and services. In the
following millennium food production began in favorable ecological zones
with cultivation of rice or hard grain, and plants and animals were
domesticated.50 The new technologies provided these areas with ‘absolute
surplus’ that is, the ability to produce continually more than what was
required for subsistence. This development placed those corporate groups,
who were in possession of cultivable lands in an advantageous position vice
versa those who did not have such land the latter began to exchange their
labour and services for access to cultivable land and crops. Since both the
possessors and non-possessors were structured in egalitarian class, the net

48
Suvira Jaiswal, Caste: Origin, Function and Dimension of Change, op.cit., p.33.
49
Morton Klass, Caste: The Emergence of the South Asian Social System, op.cit., pp.84-
85.
50
Ibid., see chapter 5 ‘The Units of the Caste System’, pp.87-104.

21
work of exchange had a corporate character. Labour and services were
provided not on individual but corporate basis with prosperity and misfortune
being shared equally by all members of the clan. Thus, a hierarchy of
corporate groups developed owing to unequal access and control of economic
resources. This led to a transition from clan to caste.51 According to Klass the
system emerged not in any one specific region but over the entire
subcontinent.52

The marriage circle assembly is the endogamous body with the power
to control the behavior of the membership, characterized by the rule of
endogamy. There must be a unit capable of enforcing such a rule and these are
the smallest endogamous unit. The marriage circle assembly had the specific
legislative judicial and executive body responsible for administering the affair
of marriage circle and for controlling the behavior of the members. The
Indian marriage circle reflects both territoriality and kinship. A marriage
circle on the one hand, a kin group it contains all ‘those with which a given
village considers himself related [by blood, marriage or whatever], and it
contain in principle, all the families with which marital arrangement may be
made by members of that villagers family. This body includes all those too
closely related to be acceptable as marriage partners, all those to whom one is
already related by marriage and all those sufficiently distantly related to be
eligible for marriage. Every household belongs to an endogamous marriage
circle. Every household is a constituent member of marriage circle. Beyond
this body [marriage circle assembly] are not only total strangers who are
therefore not acceptable as marriage partners, but also some who are in fact
perceived as kinsmen. These are the members of the distant marriage circles
of the same caste, who are assumed to be derived from the same origin but

51
Suvira Jaiswal, Caste: Origin, Function and Dimension of Change, op.cit., pp.3-6.
52
Morton Klass, Caste, op.cit., Chapter 6, ‘The Economy of Caste’, pp.105-134.

22
who are too distant in space and too different in behavior to be acceptable in
marriage.53 The geographical distribution of a marriage circle of any
particular caste represented in a given village need not coincide with that of
any other caste of that village. Each marriage circle has its own independent
leadership, set up, rules and regulations. The theories mentioned above would
help us to reveal the problems involved in the constitution of caste hierarchy
and various historiographical positions of the scholars who addressed certain
issues of caste.

Another important observation on caste is made by Cloude

Meillassoux54 who argues that jati emerged within the varna system through
fragmentation as well as the incorporation of tribal communities within a
structure which regulated hierarchy through marriage rules and endogamy,
and privileged heredity or birth in a particular lineage. The use of the term jāti
indicates membership in a particular community. Thus, Varna was extended
to provide the institutional and ideological base for the growth of a wider
society. To quote Meillassoux “contradiction inherent in the coexistence and
development of the rival classes and foreign intrusion and conquest led to the
rise of new status system of jāti deriving from the earlier varna system, and it
was at once ‘more flexible and arbitrary and could be applied to a fragmented
society by any faction of the dominant classes whatever their origin”. He tried
to locate the class into the framework of caste,which enable us to extend this
framework to include gender as well. The notion of impurity was crucial to
the ideology of caste system.

Historiographical Positions on Caste

A host of studies in the discipline of History has attempted to reveal that

formation and development of caste system is historically and culturally
53
Ibid., pp.97-103.
54
Cloude Meillassoux, Are There Caste in India?, Economy and Society, Vol.2,1973.

23
contingent upon the complex process of production and distribution of
material resources and ideological domination in various periods in Indian
history. The studies which are based on the premises of historical materialism
provided a general hypothesis of the formation of caste in which the insights
given by D D Kosambi is significant. According to Kosambi the advance of
agrarian village economy over tribal country is the first great social revolution
in India55. The major historical change in ancient India was not between
dynasties but in the advance of agrarian village settlements over tribal lands,
metamorphosing tribesmen into peasant cultivators.56 The new social
organization that took place in Gangetic basin, which was different from that
of what existed in Harappan culture, gave germination to the caste under
totally different technic of production. The beginning of caste system can be
traced to the formation of a servile group from the ‘dāsās’ and the origin of
caste endogamy are attributed to the process of assimilation of Ayan and Pre-
Aryan in to a single civil society. Therefore, he postulates, ‘caste as class on a
primitive level of production’.57

The entire course of Indian history, Kosambi says, ‘shows tribal

elements being fused into a general society. This is the very foundation of the
most striking Indian social feature, namely the caste’.58 The formation of
servile caste from the defeated dāsa and sūdara tribes led to the development
of new relations of production in Aryan society, this was the origin of the
older northern caste system.59 Transition from tribe or guild to caste means
primarily enrolment of the group on a hierarchical scheme of general society,

55
DD Kosambi, The Basis of Ancient Indian History, in Combined Methods in Indology
and Other Writings, Compiled , Edited and Introduced by Brajudalal
Chattopadhyaya,op.cit.,p.308.
56
Ibid,p.312.
57
D D Kosambi,Culture and Civilisation in Ancient India in Historical outline,p.50.
58
D D Kosambi, An Introduction to the Study of Indian History, p.56.
59
D D Kosambi, Culture and Civilization…………., op. cit., p.50.

24
under Brahman sanction.60 However, in south India caste cum class was
developed under external stimulation of the materially and technologically
superior Aryans and the aborigines of different cultural levels and territories.
Kosambi argues that caste and occupational levels became rigid only in the
stagnant Indian villages with the emergence of feudalism.61 ‘Because of the
caste system’ Kosambi wrote, ‘India had helotage, not slavery…’62 . ‘Caste is
an important reflection of the actual relations of production, particularly at the
time of its formation’.63

Devraj Chanana has studied the development of the slave or dāsas in

different periods in early India.64 However, Chanana does not focus his study
of the slavery in relation to the untouchable castes. He says that it is difficult
to assign the term dasa to any particular varna in society.65 It was in the
Buddhist context that there developed institution of slavery in large scale as
society and state was expanded to evolve multiple forms of subordinations.66
Slavery is vividly described in the Arthasāstra in relation to the economic
conditions that existed in the period.67 Chanana also emphasized the point
that there was no impurity attached to the dāsās since they worked and lived
in close proximity to their masters. It indicates that there existed the marked
differences between the Dāsās and impure castes. Devraj Chanana and R S
Sharma have shown that slaves were employed in large number in the
60
DD Kosambi, The Basis of Ancient Indian History, in Combined Methods in Indology
and Other Writings, op. cit, p.317.
61
Suvira Jaiswal,Caste: Origin ,Function and Dimensions of Change, [Manohar,Delhi,
2000], p.47.
62
D D Kosambi, Marxism and Ancient Indian Culture in Combined Methods in Indology
and Other Writings, op.cit, p.788.
63
D D Kosambi, On the Development of Feudalism in India, in Combined Method in
Indology and Other Writings, op. cit, p.804.
64
Devraj Chanana, Slavery in Ancient India, [People Publishing House, Delhi,
[1960]1990].
65
Differences in the evolution of slavery are due to differences in material and historical
conditions, ibid, p.112.
66
Ibid.,pp.39-63.
67
Ibid.,pp.87-104.

25
production process in certain regions of India in post-Vedic and Mauryan
times. However, Marxist historians in India generally endorse the view that
slaves did not constitute the main basis of production at any stage.68

R S Sharma worked on early and early medieval India with a Marxist

perspective69 and probed caste as being rooted in material conditions closely
allied with the super- structural dimension in politics.70 However; it could not
provide the base for a social class of exploiters. The early Vedic society was
neither fully egalitarian nor class divided.71 It was a ‘small scale non
monetary peasant society’ characterized by unequal distribution of the
produce of land as well as the prominent tribal features.72 The social structure
from the sixth century BCE to the fifth CE is suggested to be a Vaiyas –Sudra
based society in which Vaiyas were peasants and Sudras were artisans and
73
hired labourers. Sharma has studied the origin and development of the
Sudras74 and he stated that the term Sudra was not always used to refer to
conditions of subordination and oppression but also referred to the ruling
elites, especially during early medieval times.75 Attempts have been made to

68
Suvira Jaiswal, Caste: Origin, Function and Dimensions of Change, op.,cit. p.47.
69
Romila Thapar,Ram Sharan Sharma, [1920-20011],Economic and Political
Weekly,Vol.XLV1NO.38,September 17,2011.
70
R S Sharma, Social Changes in Early Medieval India [circa A.D.500-1200, [People
Publishing House, Delhi,1969]. R S Sharma, Material culture and Social Formation
in Ancient India,[1983, Macmillan 1996],pp.23-55.
71
R S Sharma, Mode of Production in Ancient India, in Rethinking India’s Past,
[OUP,Delhi,2009, 2010],p.133. Suvira Jaiswal, Caste: Origin, Function and Dimension
of Change, op. cit., pp.48-49.
72
R S Sharma, The State and Varna Formation in the Mid-Ganga Plains: An Ethno -
archaeological View, [Manohar,Delhi, 1996].
73
R S Sharma, Class Formation and Its Material Basis in the Upper Gangetic Basin [1000-
500 BC]Indian Historical Review,Vol,2:1,July1975,pp.1-5.
74
R S Sharma, Sudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order Down to Circa
A.D. 600,[Motilal Banarsidass Publishersm,Delhi,1958,Third Revised Edition,1990]
75
Aloka Parasher –Sen [Ed] Subordinate and Marginal Groups in Early India, [OUP,
Delhi,2004], Introduction, p.36.

26
study the various aspects of labour and forced labour practice in ancient and
early medieval India.76

Romila Thapar has focused on the changes that took place in the
Gangetic valley for the explanation of formation of a non egalitarian social
order and the origin of caste. Thapar explains the transition of a lineage based
society to the state society in the Gangetic valley.77 She argues that
communities that existed in Vedic period practiced reciprocity and
redistribution and was based on lineage and householding economy. The
lineage distinction appeared in the form of that between rājanya and vis and
in later Vedic times the former had become the senior lineage and the latter
was meant for the junior lineage. Kin- based differences may give rise to class
only in productive economy. The development of these institutions led to the
formation of the state. Thapar held the view that the functional aspects of
castes appear to have been jāti and varna represented the theory of the social
structure. Jāti relationships represented the actual way in which society
functioned. Varna became ‘ritual rank’ whereas jāti was the indication of the
actual status.78

The untouchables and untouchability received prime importance in the

studies of Vivekananda Jha who concentrated in the early north Indian
societies to formulate a general frame work for the study of the origin of
76
P C Jain, Labour in Ancient India: From the Vedic Age up to the Gupta Period, [Sterling
Publishers, New Delhi,1971]G K Rai, Forced Labour in Ancient and Early Medieval
India, Indian Historical Review,Vol.3No.1,July 1976,pp.16-42.
77
Romila Thapar , From Lineage to State: Social Formation in the Mid-first Millennium
BC in the Ganga Valley,[OUP Delhi,1984]. She explains the lineage theory in which
elders enjoy authority and better access to resources at the cost of the juniors because of
their kin based seniority. Thapar also describes the development of householding
economy which means a large , self sufficient households comprising several small
houses , all belonging to the same kin group . The head of the households assumes
power and authority over its members, and also employs labourers not belonging to the
kin.
78
Romila Thapar, Ancient Indian Social History: Some Interpretation, [1978,OUP,
Delhi,1996], pp.36-35.

27
untouchability and the communities of untouchables.79 He has argued that the
notion of pollution had historically been developed at different periods which
incorporated several groups into the category of asprasya.80 He also
highlights the way in which a number of ethnic and occupational groups
became servile groups with the mark of untouchability in their social and
cultural life. These groups are designated as impure and various disabilities
were imposed upon them along with severe punishments. These untouchables
and outcaste social groups developed through the historical evolution of
society from pre-state, state and to the feudal society. Jha is able to develop a
class analysis which enabled him to postulate that untouchability developed
out of the notion of pollution that existed in the pre-Mauryan phase of the
post-Vedic class society in northern India.81 The class relation and the
ideology of varna and jāti developed simultaneously. Budhists addressed the
caste inequality and the disabilities of the outcastes and Candālas with ethical
and moral notions and Budhists treated varna as an ideological framework.
He concluded that both budhism in the sixth century C E and the bhakti
movements in the early medieval times did not succeed in dismantling the
domination of varna ideology and the practice of untouchability.

Suvira Jaiswal has argued that the evolution of caste system cannot be
detached from the emergence of patriarchy, class division and state.82 By the
close of the Later Vedic period the varnas were being clearly distinguished on
the basis of caste organization: hierarchy, inherited occupational

79
Vivekananda Jha, ‘Candala and the Origin of Untouchability’, Indian Historical Review,
Vol.121-2July 1986-January11987, pp.3-36. The Brahmanical prescriptive literature,
Budhist and Jaina literature, and also non Dharmasastric Sanskrit literature are used to
reconstruct the history of untouchability up to the period 1200 CE.
80
Vivekananda Jha, ‘Stages in the History of Untouchables’, Indian Historical Review,
Vol: 2, July1975; ‘The History of Untouchability’, Indian Historical Review, Vol.8:1-2
July1986- January 1987.
81
Vivekananda Jha, ‘Candala and the Origin of Untouchability’, op.cit.,pp.3-16.
82
Suvira Jaiswal, Caste: Origin, Function and Dimensions of Change op.cit., P.6.

28
specialization and endogamy.83 The patriarchy was intrinsic to the process of
stratification in Vedic times and clan endogamy that existed came to be
transformed into an instituted form to regulate and reproduce patriarchy as
well as the hierarchy of social groups.84 Jātis emerged within the varna
system through the fragmentation as well as the incorporation of tribal
communities within a structure which regulated hierarchy through marriage
rules and endogamy, and privileged heredity or birth in a particular lineage,
leading to the use of the term jāti for indicating membership in a particular
community. Thus, varnas were extended to provide the institutional and
ideological base for the growth of a wider society.85

Uma Chakravarti has used the Budhist sources and the texts of the
popular traditions like jātakas to offer a very constructive understanding of
the social stratification process in early India.86 She also locates the cultural
subordination and the economic oppression which had led to the caste
subordination and oppression of the subordinated groups. Budhists texts
reflect the existing conception of high and low prevalent in the area in which
they were located.87 The Budhist categorization or system of social ranking
was based on the principle that those who work for themselves as owners and
producers as high and, whereas those who work for others as low.88 The
manual and non manual works were treated as low and high respectively. The
people who were associated with the low material culture like

83
Ibid., p.12
84
Ibid.,p.9
85
Ibid., P.13.
86
Uma Chakravarti, ‘Towards a Historical Sociology of Stratification in Ancient India’, in
Every Day Lives, Everyday Histories: Beyond the Kings and Brahmanas in ‘Ancient’
India.[Tulika Books, 2006], pp.59-69.
87
Ibid., p.62.
88
Ibid., p.63.

29
Chandāla,Pukkusa,Vena and Nesāda were treated as nīca kula or hīna jātis. It
indicated that jāti and kula appear in the concrete situations.89

Occupational divisions among the people were given more importance

in Budhist literature and kula division was used to indicate the social
stratification. The function that one actually performed provided the basic
identity of the individual.90 Uma Chakravarti categorically assume that varna
divisions constituted purely conceptual scheme that had no application, jāti
was both a conceptual and actual scheme of categories based on ascribed
status.91 Importantly, Buddhist did not subscribe to the views of the
brahmanical dharmasāstra literature as the brahmanical model of depicting
the social stratification failed to explain the political and economic life world
and was distanced from the empirical reality of the time.92 Chakravarti has
argued that the representation of a system of stratification independent of
brahmanical scheme has always existed in India.93 She has attempted to
analyse the bondage and servitude including the servitude of dāsis that had
been developed in relation to the dāsa-karmakāras from the Vedic period to
the period of the Guptas.94

89
Ibid.
90
There was relationship between low kulas,low kamma and low sippa , it is suggested
that the kamma [work]or sippa[craft] that provided identity for the lower orders, ibid
,p.65.
91
Ibid., p.63.
92
Ibid, p.66. The brahmanical framework representing caste failed to provide the social
reality as it failed to accommodate the gahapati in to the brahmanical scheme. The
gahapatis were an economics category, a class, who controlled the land who used the
labour of the dāsa-kammakārās to cultivate the land. Therefore ,gahapatis were
agriculturists who controlled the land and labour, ibid ,p.66
93
Ibid., p.67.
94
Uma Chakravarti, ‘Of Dasas and Karmakaras: Servile Labour in Ancient India’ in Every
Day Lives, Everyday Histories: Beyond the Kings and Brahmanas in ‘Ancient’ India,
op. cit., pp.70-100.

30
 Chakravarti further clarifies the process of both class formation and
caste system from gender perspective95 and she argues that it is difference
between class as a system of production and caste as a system of both
production and reproduction that distinguishes the Indian system of
stratification from other regions and introduces the specific complexities of
the Indian situations. Caste cannot be reproduced without endogamy and it is
for this reason that endogamy has been regarded as a tool for the
manifestation and perpetuation of caste and gender subordination.96 She says
that brahmanical patriarchy is a mechanism to preserve land, women, and
ritual quality within it. The whole of the complex formation of social status,
economic production and social reproduction is contingent on what has been
characterized as ‘brahmanical patriarchy’.97 Brahmanical patriarchy implies
the model of patriarchy outlines in the brahmanical prescriptive texts, to be
enforced by the coercive power of the king, or those who act on behalf of the
king. This set of norms has shaped the ideology of the upper castes in
particular. It continues to be the underpinning of beliefs and practices extant
even today among these castes and is often emulated by the lower castes
especially when seeking upward mobility. The caste system and brahmanical
patriarchy work to the advantage of a very few men at the top of the order,
thus, all others who are complicit in this system only facilitate its
reproduction.

Subscribing to the Kosambian argument in analyzing the social

stratification process, Irfan Habib tried to historicise the jāti-varna system of
the subcontinent and he says that the varnas mentioned in Rig Veda is more a

95
Uma Chakravarti, Gendering Caste Through a Feminist Lens, [Stree, Culcutta,2003,
2005]
96
Ibid.,pp.27-34.
97
Uma Chakravarti, ‘Conceptualising Brahmanical Patriarchy in early India’ in Every
Day Lives, Everyday Histories: Beyond the Kings and Brahmanas in ‘Ancient’ India,
op. cit., pp.138-155, Gendering Caste Through a Feminist Lens, op. cit., pp.34-36.

31
description of social classes than the caste. The hereditary division of labour
and endogamy did not exist in early Vedic period.98 When primitive hunting
and food gathering tribes entered the general society they were subjugated by
the advanced peasant communities and consequently became the lowest jātis.
Those tribes who were excluded from participating in agriculture became a
large reservoir of servile landless labour and available for work to peasants
and landholders. They were the original untouchable castes.99

Caste system operated in two different worlds of labour, caste labour

belonged to a natural economy and the artisan of the town.100 The self
sufficiency of the village sustained the hereditary artisans and the servile
groups. It not only isolated the village but also enlarged its capacity to pool a
larger part of the surplus to the ruling class. The hereditary occupation
enabled the artisanal groups to accumulate the special skill from generation to
generation.101 Being a relatively rigid form of division of labour, caste
system was part of relations of production. It functioned as much ease in a
natural economy as a market oriented one and it was a system of class
exploitation rather than a fabric of imagined purity102. This structure of
hereditary caste labour in villages and in towns, Habib argues, is practically a
continuation from ancient times to the eighteenth century.

Nilakanta Sastri and his students who studied the Pallavas and
Vijayanagara history did not give any constructive attention to the question of
caste, the formation of untouchability and the oppression of marginal caste

98
Irfan Habib, Caste in Indian History, in Essays on Indian History: Towards a Marxist
Perception, [Delhi , 1995],p.165.
99
Ibid.,p.166.
100
Ibid., p.,169.
101
Ibid., p.171.
102
Ibid., p.177.

32
groups.103 Sastri makes only passing comments on the subordinated and
marginal castes in his voluminous work and commented only on slavery and
agrarian labour rather than untouchability and the untouchable castes.104
Describing the economic life of the village C Minakshi makes a passing
reference to the untouchable castes as ‘in the midst of the cultivated lands far
removed from the main village the Pulayas or Parayas lived’.105 She also says
that the Pulayas and Parayas were the lowest in the social order and lived in
paracheri with the condition of little better than that of serfs.106 This kind of
treatment is also made by T V Mahalingam in his study of the Vijayanagar.107
The existence of a hierarchical system of caste division is attested by him108
and he also subscribes to the view, mainly following the information given by
the foreign travelers account, that there existed slavery in Vijayanagara109 and
the rulers of the kingdom upheld the varnāsramadharma.110 However, the
question of caste oppression and the untouchability do not get attention in the
works of Minakshi and Mahalingam.

An important study concerning the economic conditions of South India

from 1000- 1500 C E is done by A Appadorai in which the material basis of
social existence of the people is described.111 The types of village

103
K A Nilakanta Sastri, The Cōlas [First Volume in 1935 and Second Volume in 1937
second Revised Edition in one volume in 1955 and third Reprint, University of Madras,
Madras,2000]. ibid, p.555 and p.567.
104
Ibid., pp.555 and p.567.
105
C Minakshi, Administration and Social Life under the Pallavas, [1938][University of
Madras, 1977],p.159.
106
Ibid., p.200.
107
T V Mahalingam, Administration and Social Life Under Vijayanagar [1940, University
of Madras ,second Revised Edition, 1975].
108
Ibid.,pp.14-30.
109
Ibid.,pp.10-11.
110
Ibid., p.14.
111
A Appadorai, Economic Conditions of Southern India [1000-1500 A D] 2Vols,
[University of Madras ,1936, Reprint, 1990].

33
communities112 existed in different localities in South India and how it
contrasted with the view given by the colonial administrators’ on the Indian
village communities113 are also described in this work. Detailed description of
land tenure system and the agriculture practices of South India are given. The
small tenants and the hired labourers are base of agriculture practices.114 He
argues that slavery undoubtedly existed in South India in the medieval
period.115

Kathleen Gough has tried to postulate the theory of mode of production

with the notions of Asiatic mode of production116 to analyse the changes in
the political economy and the production relation from the first half of the
ninth century CE until the middle of the eighteenth century in South India in
general and Thanjavur in particular.117 The land tax and the rent were
identical, upper share called mēlvāram belonging to the king and the lower
share called the Kīlvāram to the cultivators. The vellanvagai villages were
communes containing a kinship community of peasants or Vellalars together
with specialized smaller caste and kinship groups of village artisans and other
village servants. These inhabitants held the land in joint possession.118 In
such villages each peasant household organised part of its own cultivation, but
communal labour persisted for major undertakings such as digging out
112
Ibid., Vol .1,pp.69-97.
113
They are Sir Henry S Maine [Village Cammunities,1871] Baden Powell, Maine [Indian
Village Communities,1899]
114
A Appadorai, Economic Conditions of Southern India op.cit.,pp.253-254.
115
Ibid.,pp.313-322.
116
There are attempts to critically engage with the concept of AMP , Brendan O’ Leary,
The Asiatic Mode of Production: Oriental Despotism, Historical Materialism and
Indian History,[Basil Blackwell,Camebridge,1989], see Chapter 7 ‘The Asiatic Mode of
Production and Indian History’,pp. 262-329. M J K Thavaraj, The Concept of Asiatic
Mode of Production: Its Relevance to Indian History, Social Scientist, Vol.12, No.7,
July, 1984, pp.26-34.
117
Gathleen Gough, Modes of Production in Southern India, Economic and Political
Weekly, Annual, No.Vol.15, No.5,6 and 7,1980,pp.337-364.
118
Ibid.,p.344.

34
irrigation channels and transplanting, harvesting and threshing rice.119 The
artisans and other village servants belonged to separate endogamous caste
below the peasants. The village slaves were called adimai and most of them
were descended from the conquered tribes who had earlier possessed the
lands out of which the irrigation state was carved. They were called Parayar
and they lived as separate kinship communities.120 They specialized in
ploughing wet rice lands, transplanting the seedling, harvesting, threshing the
crops and they were attached to the land.121 Slaves, and perhaps ordinary
peasants, were corveed to build and repair irrigation channels and to quarry
and transport stone for palaces and temples, make roads and drag heavy ruins
of royalty. They were also used large scale irrigation and drainage works
consisting of dams, reservoirs and numerous channels leading from the
Kavery.122

As far as Kerala in the early medieval period is concerned, Kathleen

Gough argues in line with the AMP and substantiated that the claimate and
terrain along with the heavy rainfall and numerous rivers and streams Kerala
had no need for large irrigation works and this also influenced to develop the
political structure which hardly developed centralized state system and
bureaucracy.123 It is because this that she characterizes the economy and
society that existed in Kerala as ‘feudal’. The Brahman ūr and the settlements
of royal and noble aristocrats are conceptualized as a kind of manor where
they ‘owned’ the village in a form of a possession known as janmam.124 The
estates of the temples are autonomous. At the village level , personal and

119
Ibid.
120
Ibid.,p. 345.
121
Ibid.
122
Ibid.
123
Ibid., pp.349-350.
124
Ibid., 349.

35
inter- household ties of service bound the village lord to his military Nāyar ,
and below them to each household of artisan or other village servants , to
separate the households of tenant serfs of the Tīyar or Īzhava caste, and to the
lowest Untouchable households of patriarchal slaves who carried out rice
cultivation. The slaves were fewer in Kerala than in Thanjavur for wet rice
region was less. The important point she makes is that the tenant-serfs who
cultivated dry lands and orchards were more numerous in Kerala.125

Noboru Karashima has studied the Chōla inscriptions126 and says that
the inscriptions of Rajaraja, the Chola king, have references to certain
tīndāchēri, the residential area of untouchable communities.127 It also
mentions certain parai-chēri, the residential area of the Paraiyar. Karashima
is of opinion that there was a faire prevalence of paraichēri in the villages in
the Cholamandalam.128 The tīndāchēri and paraichēri are one and the same.
The social position of Paraiyar was at the bottom of jāti hierarchy. Karashima
states that the Paraiyas and Pulayas had become slaves to be transferred
[adimailadiyār] by the fourteenth century.129 Pallar who were a community
who lived mostly in Thanjavur and Tiruchirappalli Districts appeared to have
become slaves which is attested in the nineteenth century palm- leaf
documents130, much later than the Chola and Vijayanagar period. Karashima

125
Ibid.. Each Nāyar vassal households of the village lord also had a small collection of
Izhava serfs and Untouchable slaves attached to it, who worked the land which was
leased by the vassal house from the lord’s estate and also that possessed hereditarily on
military service tenure by the vassal house. On the lord’s own demesne, a large number
of serfs and slaves labored directly in his service, ibid.
126
Noboru Karashima, Y Subharayaalu and Toru Matsui, A Concordance of the Names in
the Cola Inscriptions [Three Volumes] ,[Sarvodaya Ilakkiya Pannai, Madurai, 1978].
127
Noboru Karashima, ‘The Untouchables in Tamil Inscriptions and other Historical
Sources in Tamil Natu’ in H Kotani [Ed ], Caste System, Untouchability and the
Depressed [Manohar, Delhi,1999], pp.21-30.
128
Ibid., p.22.
129
Ibid., pp.26-28.
130
Ibid., pp.26-27.

36
concludes that certain communities were considered untouchables during the
Chola period, though their identity was not very clear. Parayas and Pulayas
were engaged in menial jobs and were made slaves [adimai] and transferred
from one owner to another. He states that the conditions of these untouchables
do not seem to have changed much since the Chola period.131

Karashima has studied the historical nature of village community and

the structure of power network over those village communities.132 Communal
ownership and the economic and social independence or self sufficiency was
often attributed as the common nature of the village communities133. There
were different residential areas in the villages134 and Parayas in those villages
were employed for cultivation operations.135 They have separate well and
cremation grounds, paraikulakuzhi and paraichuchudukātu.136 However, the
villages did not have as independent a nature as has been presumed by
historians following the view taken by Maine and Marx.137 Dharma Kumar
studied the land ownership in medieval south India especially the communal
131
Ibid., p.28.
132
Noboru Karashima, ‘Integration of Society in Chola Times’ in South Indian History and
Society: Studies from Inscriptions- AD 850-1800, pp.36-68.
133
Ibid.,p.42.
134
Ibid., pp.46-47. Different residential areas are ; ūrnattam [ūrirukkai] ,kammalachcheri,
paraicheri, vannarachcheri,izhachcheri,tindachcheri,talaivaycheri, etc. The existence
of different residential areas indicates the actual location of a number of social groups
engaged in different occupations and therefore there was division of labour based on
caste difference in those villages, ibid.,p.54.
135
Ibid.,p.48. [uzhapparayaririkkum kīzhāchccheri and uzhapparayaririkkum
mēlaiparaichēcheri are the epithets denoting the separate residential areas of the
Parayars,ibid.]
136
Ibid., pp.49-50.
137
Ibid.,p.55. Two types of villages, ie. brahmadeyam and the non brahmadeyam are
studied by Karashima, the Isanamangalam and Allūre respectively. Individual
landholding existed in the brahmadeya village where the land holders and cultivators
formed two distinct classes. The communal land holding existed in the non-
brahmadeya villages where the landholders themselves were the cultivators. ‘Alllur and
Isanamangalam: Two South Indian Villages of Chola Times’ in History and Society in
South India: Cholas to Vijayanagar; South Indian History and Society, [OUP, Delhi,
2001], pp.3-15.

37
ownership of the village and the collective possession of the extended
households.138

The social life of the Ādisūdra caste during seventeenth and

eighteenth century in western Deccan and Konkan region under the Maratha
kingdom / Peshva government has been studied.139 The Mahar , Mang and
Chambar were the Ādisūdra communities and they were historically
incorporated to the exploited framework of the village system called vatan
system. The contact with an Ādisūdra was regarded as bringing impurity
which was also considered to be transmittable to other persons and various
purificatory ceremonies were conducted to the eradication of such impurity.140
There were measures to avoid physical contact with the Ādisūdras in villages,
temples etc.141 To prevent any physical contact with the Ādisūdras their
dwelling places were restricted and their settlement called mahārvāda were
located outside the village walls.142 Sometimes, their dwelling places were
relocated and occasionally changed due to the hard measures of the practices
of untouchability.143 Caste was officially ranked, a stratified caste ranking
was existed among the Ādisūdras, and each caste was represented by its head
to the state or its representatives and vatan system enabled the effective
control of the various castes within a frame work of exploitation.144 The sin –
penance, dōÀa- prāyachitta, and ideology must have been used by the

138
Dharma Kumar, ‘Private Property in Asia? The Case of Medieval South India, in
Colonialism, Property and the State,[ OUP, Delhi, 1998], pp.135-170.
139
Hiroyuki Kotani, ‘Adisūdra Castes in the Medieval Deccan’ in H. Kotani [Ed], Caste
System, Untouchability and the Depressed, [Manohar,Delhi, 1999], pp.55-75.
140
Ibid.,pp.56-57.
141
Ibid., pp.57-58.
142
Ibid., p.58.
143
Ibid., p.59.
144
Ibid.,pp.60-63.

38
medieval state in Decan to the continuation of caste exploitation and
subordination of the marginal castes.145

Theoretical Issues:

Considering the understanding of social stratification process in pre-modern

societies and the issues involved in the formation of endogamous groups
leading to the caste hierarchy, certain theoretical positions and
methodological issues have helped the researcher to develop the analytical
framework for problematising the topic of research. The dominant
methodological orientation of nineteenth century sociology, as the discipline
of history, was positivism. However, the critics of positivism developed the
methodological concerns over explanation and understanding of social reality
as against the notions of positivism. One of the main theoretical developments
was the social action theory. The historical world has been defined, as the
notions given by the social action theories, both in terms of its constituent
parts [individual experiences and interactions] and the comprehensive
structural whole. Human actions and experiences were not external data but
idiosyncratically146 subjective and formed part of a humanly created historical
whole.147 Dilthey has defined the society in terms of interactions and
individual as an element in the various systems of interaction.

Sociology began to give much importance to social action in general

and the notions given by George Simmel and others got prominence in
German sociology in particular. This was further developed by Max Weber

145
Hiroyuki Kotani, Dosa[Sin] –Prayascitta [Penance] the Predominating Ideology of
Medieval Deccan’ in Masaaki Kimura and Akio Tanabe [eds] The State in India, Past
and Present ,[OUP,Delhi,2006],pp.103-119.
146
Dilthey has separated the natural from the cultural sciences, the former is nomothetic
science concerning with the establishing general law and the latter is idiographic
sciences concerned with unique and unpredictable events.
147
Allen Swingewood, A Short History of Sociological Thought, [1984, Second
Edition,Macmillan ,London,1991],pp.128-132.

39
who formulated a methodology to understand the integration of individuals
into the culture and Weber located it within a social action frame work with
certain holistic categories.148 The fundamental task of social science,
according to Weber, is to analyse the society as a structure of meaning-
endowing actions centered on the human subject.149 Therefore, he defined
sociology as a science ‘which attempts the interpretative understanding of
social action in order to arrive at a causal explanation of its cause and
effects’.150 He formulated a methodological device called ideal type to
analyse the social action and ideal types are probable and unique rather than
certain. These ideal types are the historical formation of capitalism and the
Protestant ethics, bureaucracy and feudalism and types of action such as
rational action, rational goal oriented action, affectual action and traditional
action. The social formations and institutional structures are to be studied by
reducing them to the understandable actions of participating individuals.
Thus, the main task of sociologists, according to Weber, is to interpret the
meaning of social actions, rational actions of the individuals in the
motivational structure of culture. However, Weber’s theory of social action is
not separable from the social system. The meaning of social action is inter-
subjective, the social whole conferring historical meaning to individual
actions.151 Society as a social system and the study of which is developed as
the study of society as the product of non logical social action can be seen in
the works of Vilfredo Pareto.

148
Weber ‘s sociological methods were developed as a response to evolutionary positivism
and the intellectual culture of Marxism that was developed in German world and he uses
the categories like Protestant ethic, pre- industrial social structures, bureaucracy and
nation state to explain the social action.
149
Ibid., p.142.
150
Ibid., p.143.
151
Ibid., p.149.The motivational structure of culture for the development of spirit of
capitalism is found only in the Western Europe.

40
 Durkheim has argued that social institutions exist to fulfill specific
social needs and he influenced the development of sociological
functionalism.152 The social facts worked to promote the social solidarity.
Durkheim’s functional approach to the study of institutions emphasised
synchronic, structural dimension of society at the expense of the
diachronic.153 It treated the society as a differentiated and integrated whole
in which the various elements exercise interdependence function to sustain a
complex unity. The social typologies like mechanical and organic solidarity
are postulated to explain the function of elements.154 Radcliffe – Brown
maintained that culture which constitutes the functionally interrelated system
and argued for the functional unity.155 Functionalism became a theory of
system analysis and Talcott Parsons was the leading figure who developed the
theory of structural functionalism which emphasised structural properties of
social systems and its functional interrelations.156 However, structuralism
defined the social reality in terms of the relations between elements, not in
terms of things and social fact. Observable social phenomena are meaningful
only in so far as it can be related to an underlying structure or order.157

By the beginning of 1970’s, there appeared the crisis in anthropology

and in other social sciences, leading to the search for alternative

152
Heine Andersen and Lars Bo Kaspersen [eds], Classical and Modern Social Theory,
[Blackwell, Massachusetts, 2000], pp.57-72.
153
Allen Swingewood, op. cit., p.226.
154
Ibid.
155
Ibid.,pp.226-227.
156
Heine Andersen and Lars Bo Kaspersen [eds], op.cit., pp.218-229.
157
Allen Swing wood, A Short History of Sociological Thought, op.cit., p.296. It
originated in the study of language [Saussure and Jakobson] and has exerted influence
in anthropology [Levi-Strauss], semiotics and literary theory [Roland Barthes]. It made
significant analytical impact upon Marxism and sociology [Althusser and Poulantzas]
,economics [Godelier],philosophy [Foucault] and psycho-analysis[Lacan], Heine
Andersen and Lars Bo Kaspersen [eds], op.cit., pp.278-289. Allen Swing wood, A Short
History of Sociological Thought, op. cit., pp.296312.

41
approaches.158 It offered a powerful challenge to the structuralism as a
dominant model and stood against the notion of structural totality as
structuralism could not have been a basis of the general theory of pre-
capitalist modes of production.159 It resulted in the formation of
investigations and analysis of pre-capitalist social and economic
formations.160 There began the increasing tendency among the French and
American anthropologists to make use of the notions of mode of production to
concentrate on pre-capitalist formations and relations of production of those
formations. The code word of this form of analysis has been economic
anthropology for some non -Marxist anthropologists, but rather, it is an
academic endeavor to apply the concepts of historical materialism to primitive
social formations.161 For Marxist anthropologists and others the central
problem was the role of kinship in primitive societies.162 Kinship dominates
the reproduction of social relations but this does not mean that the economy is
not determinant.163 In a primitive society kinship relations dominate social
life, they determined the places occupied by the individuals in production ,
their rights to land and goods , their obligations in respect of work and gifts
etc. Then, they function as production relations, just as they act political and
religious relations.164 Kinship is here both infrastructure and superstructure.

158
David Seddon[Ed], Relations of Production: Marxist Approaches to Economic
Anthropology, [Frank Cass, London 1978], Preface, pp.7-13.
159
Jean Copans and David Seddon, ‘Marxism and Anthropology: A Preliminary Survey’ in
David Seddon[Ed],Relations of Production: Marxist Approaches to Economic
Anthropology, op.cit., p.2.
160
Ibid., pp.1-46.
161
Ibid., p.7.
162
Ibid., p.36.
163
Ibid.
164
Ibid., p.37.

42
Accordingly, the correspondence between productive forces and production
relations is at the same time correspondence between economy and kinship.165

There are attempts to study various primitive and pre-capitalist social

formations by the anthropologists using the notions of historical
materialism166. Primitive economies are under productive where the labour
power is under used, technological means are not fully engaged and natural
resources are untapped167. Kinship relations of the domestic groups are
important to organise these economies. Slash and burn form agriculture made
production primitive and thus economy is characterised by under
production168. The economy of primitive society is largely functioned by the
involvement of social groups whose kinship relations developed the house
hold the dominant form of family system in determining economic activities
which also developed household as work group with appropriate technology
and division of labour.169 It evolves a specific form of man –tool relation and
the primitive relation between man and tool is the condition of the domestic
mode of production.170 It is intrinsically an anti –surplus system, production
for the use of producers. Certainly there is exchange but production is
oriented to livelihood, not to profit. The kinship relations prevailing between
households must affect their economic behavior.

165
Ibid.
166
The French anthropologists are pioneers in these attempts who heralded new methods
and analytical tools in the understanding of primitive social and economic structures.
Marshal Sahlin who worked on the domestic Mode of production, Emmanuel Terrey on
lineage mode production, Maurice Godelier has detailed on the object and method of
economic anthropology and Claude Millassoux on the social organization of peasantry
and the economic basis of kinship.
167
Marshall Sahlins, Stone Age Economics, chapter Two ‘Domestic Mode of Production:
the Structure of Under Production’, [Tavistock, London [1974]1984], pp.41-43.
168
Ibid.
169
Ibid., pp.74-78.
170
Ibid., pp.79-86.

43
 The production process and the relations of production developed in
self sustaining kinship groups must have developed a segmentary and lineage
based society of its own.171 Claude Millassoux formulated the idea of mode
of production of lineage based segmentary societies, although other Marxist
anthropologists have developed these concepts during 1970’s. Millassoux is
of the view that cultivation of soil by self subsistence kinship groups requires
very short term production techniques and human energy is the main source
of power.172 However, Emmanuel Terray also makes the point clear that the
modes of production should not be confused with a general description of an
economy. According to him mode of production is a three part system, an
economic base, a juridical -political structure and an ideological super
structure. In the final analysis the economic base is the determining factor
within the system and must, therefore, be the point of departure for the
construction of the theory of the mode of production. The economic base is in
turn, a combination of a system of productive forces and system of relation of
production.173 Productive forces174 and relations of production175 are two
conjoint forms of one and the same process.176

171
Claude Millassoux has studied the Guro of the Ivory Coast and described the mode of
production of the lineage based segmentary society of Guro and Emmanuel Terray has
made critical comments on the work made by Millassoux on Guro , see ‘Historical
Materialism and Segmentary Lineage – Based Societies’ in Emmanuel Terray
,Marxism and ‘Primitive Societies’, [Monthly Review Press, London, 1972],pp.195-
186.
172
Ibid., pp.128-129 and 139.
173
Ibid., pp.97-98.
174
It consisted of all the material conditions of production –raw materials, tools,
machinery, etc, ibid., p.98.
175
Relations of productions entail the relations established between the producers in the
course of their work, ibid., p.98.
176
Ibid., p.99. ‘Social labor is divided into a certain number of divisions , and labor
processes are developed in each of these divisions : a raw material is transformed into a
product by the joint action of the labour force and the means of production and this
operation is carried out according to a specific mode of material appropriation’,
ibid.,p.99.

44
 Societies displaying this mode of production are characterized by
coalitions made of a number of households or domestic units which are bound
together by rights in property which they have jointly inherited and which
they jointly manage. They developed into co-operate lineage. Kinship
provides both the ideology by which group membership is justified and the
means by which the labour is coordinated. These mutual rights and activities
lead to members of the junior generation being subjected to the political
authority of the elders, from whom they will inherit the right to the essential
subsistence resources which belong to that group. The authority is therefore
vested collectively with the elders of the groups. Women are often used by the
senior men to create strategic marriages which maintain inter-lineage
relationships in the absence of an overarching political authority. The concept
of lineage mode of production has become a convenient analytical tool to
study the societies of nomadic pastoralists and the subsistence farmers on the
one hand and to analyse how political relations are sustained by collective
property rights and exchange relations on the other.

Emmanuel Terray has substantiated the arguments given by Millassoux

on the lineage society of the Guro of the Ivory Coast by explaining his own
study on Dida community in the West Africa. The whole village is engaged in
net hunting and war. Effective net hunting requires a large party which helps
to create cohesion among lineage. The cultivation is characterized by the
irregular labour demand for various agriculture operations and this was met
by the long term social relationships established between the members of the
lineage. The lineage was held together by the need for cooperation, both
extended and restricted co operations, in agriculture works. In villages where
lineages were strong, extended co operation in agriculture is to be carried by
the whole lineages, while restricted co operation occurred within the lineage
segments.

45
 Both structuralists and the functionalists and the structural
functionalists failed to unravel the location of social relation operated in the
material process of production. It is necessary to avoid the methodological
antinomies that might creep into the analytical frame work of the researcher
who is likely to inherit it from the structural understanding of the social world
and the functional meaning assigned to the economic process of social groups
who create number of relations as part of the production of the material
wealth for their own survival. It is also important to ground the relations
evolving out of the material world of economic production in its proper
historical process. The insights given by Meillassoux while explaining the
social organization of peasant groups in West Africa are important in this
context. His formulations of the relations developed out of the material milieu
of the peasant agriculture are at two levels; first is analyzing the self
sustaining agrarian communities as productive units and the second is the
understanding of the relations of these units themselves.

The term peasant in this context is important; it is a differentiated

group of people living off the land through their agriculture labour and
cultivation being the dominant activity, dominant because it determines the
overall social organization of the community.177 Land in such communities
is treated as instrument of labour178 as labour is invested into the land with the
expectation of a later return.179 Agriculture cycle is divided into successive
productive and unproductive periods.180 The involvement of the people in

177
The agriculture is dominated by the features such as [a] use of human energy n
agriculture work,[b] use of individual means of production requiring little labour
investment,[c] non-methodical division of labour, but rather than allocation of tasks
between the number of productive cells,[d]immediate accessibility to land and raw
materials and [e] self sustenance, ibid,pp.109-110.
178
Hunting and foraging communities use land as subject of labour.
179
Ibid., p.109.
180
Delayed production, accumulation and storage of products and managed distribution are
the characteristics of agriculture, Meillassoux, ‘The Social Organization of Peasantry:

46
agriculture process creates bonds between people at two levels. The first level
is the bond that is created between people who worked together from the time
of the preliminary tasks to the time of harvesting and at the second level is the
relations developed between successive terms of labourers who at each season
are depending for survival during the unproductive periods and for the
preparation for the next cycles. Changing composition of the work team who
are engaged in the labour process is also responsible for the emergence of the
hierarchy in the agricultural communities.181 The social cooperative units of
the segmentary linage groups are included in several productive units in
which segmentation and cohesiveness take place through decentralization of
economic activities and the matrimonial relations.182

The power of the seniors shifts from the control over subsistence to
control over women.183 Therefore, social reproduction of community is
actualized through the authority of the seniors by which both productive cycle
and reproductive cycle, the control of subsistence and the means of human
reproduction, ie, women are regulated by the authority of the seniors. The
reproduction of both products and the producers means the reproduction of
peasant community and their means of subsistence which ensures the
solidarity and hierarchy among the successive groups.184 What is important
here is the failure of both the functionalists and the structuralists and also the
structural functionalists to grasp the manifold aspects of the process of

The Economic Basis of Kinship’, in David Seddon [Ed], Relations of Production:

Marxist Approaches to Economic Anthropology, op.cit., pp.160-161.
181
The actual hierarchy rests on the notion of ‘anteriority’, the ‘people who come before'
[elders] and ‘people who come after’ [the junior partners/members], Meillassoux, ‘The
Social Organization of Peasantry: ibid., p.161.
182
Meillassoux, ‘The Social Organization of Peasantry: The Economic Basis of Kinship’,
in David Seddon[Ed] Relations of Production: Marxist Approaches to Economic
Anthropology, op .cit., pp.160-162.
183
Ibid., pp.162-163.
184
Ibid., pp.165-166.

47
production and reproduction of the peasant community. They also fail to
understand what exactly the kinship relation is, which in our analysis is
nothing but the expression of the relation of production and of the
reproduction of various communities. It should be noted that the
understanding of self-sustaining segmentary societies and their lineage
structure are important. In order to conceptualise the formation of kutis and
the development of households in early and early medieval Kerala, studies
done by Middleton and Tait et al185 and Marshal D Sahlins186 on tribal
societies and their lineage structure provide necessary explanatory framework.

The important point is how the departure was made from the
conventional rational of economics which did not analyse the social relations
involved in the economic activities. Maurice Godelier has attempted to give
the objective and method of economic anthropology which aimed to provide a
comparative theoretical analysis of different economic system.187 It makes
sense of the task of constructing a general theory of various social forms of
man/woman’s economic activity. In this sense, for Godelier, the production is
the totality of operations aimed at procuring for a society its material means
of existence.188 Combination of factors of production is carried out within the
setting of production units, it may be a family holding, the village community
etc. In primitive economies, the village community or the entire tribe is

185
John Middleton and David Tait,[Eds],Tribes Without Rulers, Routledge,London,1958.
186
Marshal D Sahlins, Tribesmen, [Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1968]. An illuminating
conceptual clarity of tribal social form can be seen in the work of Maurice Godelier,
Perspectives in Marxist Anthropology,[Camebridge, London,1977], see part 1.chapter 3.
‘The concept of the ‘Tribe’.
187
Maurice Godelier, ‘The Object and Method of Economic Anthropology’ in David
Seddon [Ed] Relations of Production: Marxist Approaches to Economic Anthropology,
op. cit., pp.49-126.
188
The forms of production resembles functions according to certain technical rules,
R = Resources, I = Instruments of Labour, M = Men and P = So as to attain a product.
The production or the functional combination of three sets of variables; the factors of
production [ P= R- I-M]. Every production process entails an ordered series of
operations in a given natural milieu, ibid, pp.60-64.

48
mobilized for the production operations. But in an agrarian community
cultivation requires the members other than the family labour which is met
either by relatives of blood or marriage or by groups located outside by force
or cohesion.189 He argues that economic science studies the social relations
that operate in production, distribution and consumption.

Karl Polanyi, an economic historian drawing inspiration from Marcel

Mauses, combining the methods of economics and anthropology, expanded
the subject matter of economics. He formulated a theoretical framework for
the study of economies which were neither industrialised nor organized by
market institutions.190 He has defined economics as ‘substantive’ as it refers
to an instituted process of interaction between man and his environment
which results in a continuous supply of want-satisfying material means.191
He has described the importance of the integration of the economy192 and the
main pattern of the forms of integration is the principle of reciprocity193,
redistribution194 and exchange.195 Polanyi says ‘reciprocity, then assumes, for
a background symmetrically arranged groupings; redistribution is dependent
upon the presence of some measure of centricity in the group; exchange in

189
Economic activities appear as activities with many different meanings and functions, the
economic domain is thus both external and internal to the other structures of social life
and this is the origin and basis of the different meanings assumed by production,
exchanges and consumption.
190
Karl Polanyi et el, Trade and Market in the Early Empires, [1956,the Free Press, New
York, 1957].
191
Karl Polanyi, ‘The Economy as Instituted Process’ in Trade and Market in the Early
Empires, p.248.
192
Ibid., p.250.
193
Reciprocity denotes movements between correlative points of symmetrical groupings,
ibid., p.250.
194
Redistribution means appropriational movements toward a centre and out of it again,
ibid., p.250.
195
Exchange refers here to vice versa movements taking place as between ‘hands’ under a
market system, ibid., p.250.

49
order to produce integration requires a system of price-making markets’.196
Polanyian way of analysis has been developed by his disciples like George
Dalton who developed new frame of analysis to study the aboriginal stateless
societies.197 The studies of Polanyi on economic anthropology have
influenced the French Marxist economic anthropologists198 who have studied
the structures of pre-capitalist formations with a new method and
interpretations. Attempts have been made to study various forms of pre
capitalist modes of production and the condition of the transition from one
mode of production to another is also examined.199

There are two major viewpoints of the nature of the peasantry; the
Chayanovian and the Marxist; the former one is conceptualized by A V
Chayanove, extended and refined by Teodor Shanin and Daniel Thorner. The
characteristic peasants are ‘small agricultural producers who, with the help of
simple equipment and labour of their families, produce mainly for their own
consumption and for the fulfillment of obligations to the holders of the
political and economic power’.200 This is linked to the peasant economy,
peasant mode of production, which is conceptualized as part of a doctrine: the

196
Ibid., p.250.
197
George Dalton, Aboriginal Economies in Stateless Societies in Timothy K Earle and
Jonathan E Ericso [eds],Exchange System in Pre History, [Academic Press, New
York,1977],pp.191-212. Introduction; the Subject of Economic Anthropology, in
Studies in Economic Anthropology, [eds] George Dalton, [American Anthropological
Association, Washington, 1971].
198
Jean Copans and David Seddon, ‘Marxism and Anthropology: A Preliminary Survey’ in
David Seddon[Ed] Relations of Production: Marxist Approaches to Economic
Anthropology, op. cit., p.18.
199
Barry Hindes and Paul Q Hirst, Pre –capitalist Modes of Production, [Rutledge and
Kegan Paul, London, 1975]. Barry Hindes and Paul Q Hirst, Mode of Production and
Social Formation: An Auto Critique of Pre-Capitalist Modes of Production, [The
Macmillan Press, London, 1977].
200
Teodor Shanin, Peasantry as a Political Factor,p.240 quoted in ‘In Search of Peasant in
Early India’ in Uma Chakravarti , Beyond the Kings and Brahmanas of ‘Ancient’
India,[2006]Second Edition, Tulika Books ,Delhi,2007],PP.101-118.

50
theory of the family economy.201 The peasant mode of production is based
on petty commodity production containing only one class and hence was
characterized by the absence of relations of exploitations among the peasant
themselves.202

According to Thorner the most representative units of production are

peasant family households which cultivate its own lands relying its own
family labour. Peasantry as a group is subject and exists to be exploited by
others.203 However, from the point view of production, peasant households
constitute almost independent entities.204 According to the Marxist
formulation peasantry refers to ‘those who labour on the land and possess
their means of production: tools and the land itself’205. Peasants must pay a
rent or tribute to maintain its possession of land. Peasant is different from the
agricultural labourers. In pre- revolutionary Russia, the Narodniks and
populists argued that the peasantry represented a distinct mode of production
which was antagonistic to capitalism.206 However; Lenin rejected this
position and held the view that peasant production represents a special type of
economy characterized by the vestiges of the feudal mode with the aspects of
the expanding capitalist mode. Lenin saw peasant production as the basis for
the development of capitalism.207 The internal differentiation of peasantry

201
Uma Chakravarti, ‘In Search of Peasant in Early India’,op.cit., p.102.
202
Ibid.
203
Daniel Thorner, ‘Peasant Economy as a Category in Economic History’ in Teodor
Shanin [ed]Peasant and Peasant Societies,[Harmondsworth: Penguin Books,1971],pp.
202-218 quoted in Uma Chakravarti, ‘In Search of Peasant in Early India’, pp.102-3.
204
Ibid., p.103.
205
Tom Bottomore et al. [eds], A Dictionary of Marxist Thought, [Basil Blackwell,
1983,OUP, Delhi, 1987], p.363.
206
The supporters of this view point argued that there was no tendency for capitalism to
breakdown, or to develop within, the peasant communities. The populist were in favour
of this position and argued for the isolation of the peasantry against the efforts to unite
the struggles of the peasants with the revolutionary struggle s of the Russian proletariat,
Tom Bottomore et al. [eds], A Dictionary of Marxist Thought,op cit., p.363.
207
Lenin V I, Development of Capitalism in Russia [1899]1960, in Tom Bottomore et al.
[eds], A Dictionary of Marxist Thought, pp.363-364.

51
indicated the fact that capitalist relations of production constantly developed
within the peasant community in Russia. Lenin found that competition led to
the impoverishment of the vast majority of the peasantry and at the same time
a small minority expanded its land holdings. It was this process that
developed poor peasants who sell their labour and became the rural
proletarians, working the land of the emerging rich peasant, who later
developed into agricultural capitalists.208

The term peasant has become a problematic category in Indian social

science practice and it has been influenced by the notions given by the
sociologists and social anthropologists209 . Taking note of the Marxist notions
of peasantry, Irfan Habib has tried to locate the peasant in the agrarian system
of medieval India. He is of the view that the social distribution of landed
property is an important aspect of the medieval Indian economic and social
life.210 Agrarian property system that existed in medieval India and the
peasants and their relation to the land determined nature of the rural life in
medieval India.211 He described the formation of Indian peasantry in different
historical periods.212 Habib argues that the peasants are highly differentiated
rural mass whose property system contained a network of transferable rights
and obligations with different claimants to differently defined shares in the

208
Ibid., p.364. Between these two opposing classes were the middle peasants most of them
were slowly merged with the status of poor peasants and became part of the rural
proletariat, ibid.
209
Vijaykumar Thakur and Asok Anshouman [Eds], Peasant in Indian History: Theoretical
Issues and Structural Enquiries, Vol.1, [Janaki Prakashan, New Delhi, 1996].
210
Irfan Habib, ‘The Social Distribution of Landed Property in Pre- British India: A
Historical Survey’ in Essays on Indian History: Towards a Marxist Perception, op.
cit,pp.59-108.
211
Irfan Habib, The Agrarian System of Mughal India, Chapter 4 ‘The Peasant and the
Land; The Village Community, [1963, Revised Edition and Ninth OUP Impression,
2009], pp.123-168.
212
Irfan Habib, ’The Peasant in Indian History’, in Essays on Indian History: Towards a
Marxist Perception, op. cit., pp.109-160.

52
produce from the land.213 Individual peasant production existed with
differentiation which formed village as a community, a net work of caste
division and customary services.214

The existence of untouchables was thus a pillar of Indian peasant

agriculture from very early times, ever since, that is the food gatherers and the
forest folk were humbled and subjugated by settled agricultural communities.
The actual status of many of them in Mughal India too was semi servile,
implying same kind of bondage including the obligation to render forced
labour, begār to zamindars and upper caste peasants. The artisanal and menial
population of untouchables in the village was exploited and the village
community framework functioned as the effective instrument of
exploitation.215

However, the formulation made by Burton Stein to analyse the social

formation and the political structure of medieval south India has been loaded
with the ethnographic perception of the peasantry.216 He failed to grasp the
multiple meaning of the socio-cultural and economic entities which evolved
as part of the social formation process and the differential meanings derived
in the process of the constitution of the tribe, caste and peasant.217 The
clannish groups called kutis in the Tamil anthologies are referred to as

213
Irfan Habib, The Agrarian System of Mughal India, op.cit., pp.134-135.
214
Ibid., pp.144-145.
215
Ibid.
216
Burton Stein, Peasant State and Society in Medieval South India, [OUP, Delhi, 1980].
217
There are number of critical reviews of the segmentary model and peasant state, D N
Jha, The Validity of the ‘Brahmana Peasant Alliance’ and the Segmentary State in Early
Medieval South India, Social Science Probing, June, 1984.D N Jha, Relevance of
“Peasant State and Society” to Pallava Chola Times” in Economy and Society in Early
India, [Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Delhi,1993],R Champakalakshmi, Peasant
State and Society in Medieval South India: A Review Article, Indian am Economic and
Social History Review, Vol.18.Nos.3and 4. Vijaya Ramaswamy, Peasant State and
Society in Medieval South India, Studies in History, Vol.4, No.2 [1982].

53
peasants in the works of MGS Narayanan who also failed to define the term
peasant as a differentiated group.218

The most important problem is the status of the term peasant to be

treated as an analytical category as it lacks explanatory potential to analyse
the various aspects of the social formation process and the multiple forms by
which various historical entities got specific meanings in its historical setting.
The monolithic and undifferentiated way that the term peasant has been used
in historical studies also created certain category mistakes which made the
category peasant a misnomer to address the question of class, gender, caste
and the term peasant itself in South India in general and Kerala in particular.

G E M .de Ste Croix has described the way in which the surplus was
extracted from the primary producers in ancient societies, especially in the
ancient Greek society. The studies made by Croix on the historical process of
formation of slavery in the ancient Greek world give a general framework to
look into the process of the subjugation of the primary producers.219 Class
has been variously defined in terms of status group, occupational category and
income group etc. However, class relations are functioned as mediated
relations and it is mediated through a number of extra economic forms. Class
has been understood here as a relation in the process of production and this is
incorporated in the analysis of the problem under discussion. The insights
given by G E M .de Ste Croix and E P Thompson are important to develop a
perspective.220 While describing the class and class relations in ancient Geek
world G E M .de Ste Croix argues that class is a general concept and is

218
M G S Narayanan, ‘Peasants and Warriors in the Sangam Age’ in Foundations of South
Indian Society and Culture, [Trivandrum, 1976]. M G S Narayanan, the Role of
Peasants in the Early History of Tamilakam in South India, Social
Scientist,Vol,16,No.9,September ,1988,pp.17-33.
219
G E M .de Ste Croix, ‘Slavery and Other Forms of Unfree Labour’ in Leonie J. Archer
[Ed] , Slavery and Other Forms of Unfree Labour, [Rutledge, London, 1988] , pp.19-32.
220
E P Thompson, the Making of English Working Class, [Penguin Books,[1963]1986]

54
essentially a relationship.221 Similarly the most important theoretical position
regarding the way one can make use of class in analysing the historical
process is given by E P Thompson and he is of opinion that class is a
historical phenomenon. He does not see class as ‘structure’ or a ‘category’ but
it is happened in human relationship. He argues that the concept of class
entails the notion of historical relationship. The class experience is largely
determined by the production relations into which men are born – or enter
involuntarily.222 Class is relation and it is also meant for the overall position
in the production relation.

This is also the case of gender and patriarchal relations which used to
subjugate women and the primary producers to the coercive power structures.
This must have worked to form and to reproduce the hierarchical structures
like caste system and its ideology and the concept of brahmanical patriarchy
gains importance.223 It seems that there existed complex relationships between
caste, gender224 and class which must have been developed as multiple forms
of power in structuring the hierarchy, subjugation of both women and the
marginalized. There is also the question of the hierarchy and the way in which
it has been conceptualized in the studies made by the anthropologists and
historians. Attempt has been made to locate the caste subordination in relation
to the question of labour.225

221
G E M .de Ste Croix, Class Struggle in the Ancient Greek World, [DuckWorth, London
[1981]1983], p.32.
222
E P Thompson, the Making of English Working Class, op.cit., Preface, pp.8-9.
223
Uma Chakravarti, ‘Conceptualising Brahmanical Patriarchy in Early India’,op.cit.,
pp.138-155, Gendering Caste Through a Feminist Lens, op.cit., pp.34-36.
224
Anupama Rao [ed], Gender and Caste, [Kali for Women,New Delhi, 2003].Kumkum
Roy [Ed], Women in Early Indian Societies,[Manohar,Delhi,2005].Jaya Tyagi,
Engendering the Early Households: Brahamanical Precepts in the Early Grahyasutras,
[Orient Longman,Delhi,2008].
225
Peter Robb[ed], Dalit Movement and the Meanings of Labour in India, [OUP, Delhi,
1993].

55
 Labour is an interaction between a person or a group who works upon
the elements of the natural world and consciously alters it in a purposive
manner226. It is a social activity that results in the making of a tangible social
product either in the form of material object or mental artifact. However, there
is no mental labour without the existence of material labour. Labor process is
the process whereby labour is materialised in the use values of the produces
or services. Each labour process takes place within a given set of social
relations of production and implies a particular allocation of the means and
agents of production.227 The primary producing groups are defined as those
who directly involved in the production of subsistence and the surplus for the
existence of themselves and for others. There are references to the groups who
directly engage in the labour process for the production of valued things and
their social labour is appropriated from the time of classical Tamil Texts. In
early medieval period they came to be represented as Atiyār / Āl/ Pulayar ,
Parayar etc in epigraphical documents. They are referred to as existing tied to
the land on which they did their labour. It also shows the way in which the
complex production process that make those people who are engaged in the
direct labour activities the primary producers.

We have seen in the above discussion the development of social action

theories, structuralism, structural functionalism and the phenomenological
approaches and how it conceptualized the social reality and the ways in which
the process of social stratification and the formation of hierarchy have been
theorized . Subjectivist approaches treat desires and judgments of agents as
the centre of social analysis and consider these agents as endowed and
empowered to make the world and act according to their own way. On the
contrary, objectivist views explain social thought and action in terms of

226
Tom Bottomore, Dictionary of Marxist Thought, op.cit., pp.265-270.
227
Emmanuel Terray , ‘Historical Materialism and Segmentary Lineage-Based Societies’
in Marxism and Primitive Societies, op. cit., p.100.

56
material and economic conditions, social structure or cultural logic.228 The
problem under discussion is how to analyse the particular castes which had
been functioning as fussy and floating entities specific to its cultural and
geographical location and how it became part of the whole system of
hierarchy. Many of anthropological theories of caste including the attempts
made by some historians who subscribed to the notions of structuralism and
the structural functionalism tried to focus the hierarchy of castes which has
ended up in relativism, rather than to focus the process that transformed the
fussy entities of particular endogamous groups to particular jātis. It is in this
context certain questions may be raised to be probed.

It is necessary to make an enquiry into the ways in which the multiple

economies that existed in early and early medieval period and what kind of
production processes it evolved. Kuti and ūr in the Mullai-kurinchi region in
early period and its transformation into the occupation and settlement space
of the settlers when the people migrated from the Mullaui -Kurinnchi region
to the laterite parambu areas and to the river valleys and the riparian areas in
the midland is another important point to be discussed. Another significant
issue is the process of social stratification that developed in the multiple
economies in the midland comprising of the forested spaces, parambus and
the estuarine areas along with the development of various production
operations and life activities. It is also to be discussed the ways in which the
production process that developed the ūr settlements of the settler cultivators
and the cultivating kutis and how it became the production localities in early
and early medieval period. How temple centered Brahman settlements
developed in the mid land and the ways through which the ūr settlements of
the settler cultivators and the cultivating kutis sustained the Brahman

228
Pierre Bourdieu, and J D Wacquant, An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology, [Polity Press,
University of Chicago, 1992], pp2-59. Pierre Bourdieu, Structuralism and Theory of
Sociological Knowledge, Social Research, Vol.35, No.4, winter, 1968, pp.681-706.

57
settlements by providing the surplus for the existence of latter settlements.
How Nāttutayavar and the households of the settlers developed in both
parambu and the wet land areas and how the Brahman villages get patronage
from them. The most important point for discussion is the process which
developed the primary producing groups in the context of the formation of a
number of overlords and how they became the Atiyār/ Āl or Pulayar.

How kutis retained their rights over the resources including the skill
and knowledge is a significant question to be addressed which would make
sense of the ways in which the occupational gradations developed and were
maintained among the kutis and why and how the kinship descent groups
sustained the thalamura avakāsams. The development of the hereditary
occupation and the form of control over the resources, exchange and
production forms by various occupational groups are also to be probed. The
way in which the households in both Brahman and non Brahman groups had
been developed and how it evolved as collective form of possessions over
material resources are to be interrogated. How the Brahmans, temples and
Nāttutayavars incorporated the structures of different avakasams of the kutis
in to their fold of authority and how they maintained it under their control is
also related to the problem of the development of hierarchy of rights.

The question of clan exogamy in the early period and the ways in
which it had been changed into clan endogamy and then how it transformed in
to caste endogamy in relation to the development of complex division of
labour in multiple economies are significant points to be answered. How the
production process gets transformed into the complex process of agrarian
hierarchy which transformed the hierarchy into a particular system of jātis.
The question is the historical roots of transition to castes and its relation to the
production process. How Brahmans and temples legitimized the hierarchy
with the notion of varnashramadharma and how the concept and the practice

58
of purity and pollutions get materialized to control and subjugate the primary
producers. How can we offer explanations to the formation and development
of castes in the process of production and exchange in relation to the
development of a multiple economies, and the polity dominated by the
Nāttutayavar and the Chēra Perumāl along with the ritual and the ideological
dominance made by the temples and Brahmans is a vexed problem to be
investigated.

Sources and Methodology

The present study is mainly based on the primary sources; classical Tamil
texts, epigraphical materials, which are available from ninth century C E
onwards, and the folk literature pertaining to production operations and labour
process. Secondary material like books and articles are also used to
substantiate the arguments presented. An interdisciplinary method is
followed. The non –conventional sources, primarily the oral texts belonging
to folk literature, are not as contemporaneous as the epigraphical sources.
Even though there are references to people engaged in the labour process in a
number of inscriptions, non-conventional sources, like folk literature reflect
upon the labour process and the historical development of the primary
producing groups. The regressive and productive reading of this genre would
help us to corroborate it with the conventional epigraphical sources for the
understanding of the labour process and the life world of the primary
producers who were engaged directly in the production process.

The problem of the literary sources including the folk texts is its
spatio-temporality. However, literary texts belonging to the brahmanical
tradition like Kēralōlpatti also contains the problem of a literary source in the
case of spatio-temporality of the text; even then, it has been selectively used
to create the narratives of Brahman migrations and establishment of their

59
settlements.229 Similarly, the oral texts are important non conventional
sources to the understanding of the labour process and the location of the
primary producers who were involved directly in the production operations.

The present study is focused on the formation of the primary producing

groups and their involvement in the labour process and the representation of
which is much entrenched in the non-conventional sources like folk literature.
What is required here is a methodological exercise by which the non-
conventional sources can productively be read and interpretatively undersood
to historicise these texts and to corroborate with the conventional sources like
epigraphic materials.230 The remnants of the labour process are floated in
these texts, which is to be regressed to its anterior spatio- temporal location.
The subjective dimension of the life activities of the primary producing
groups are embedded in the literary and folk narratives preserved in oral
tradition and ritual acts. The objective material structure of the political
economy in early medieval period is largely represented in the conventional
epigraphical sources. The subjective experiences of the primary producers are
historically and culturally contingent upon the objective material structure of
production process in the agrarian order. The historical contingency of the
social relation of power and the practical insubordination of labouring body of

229
Kesavan Veluthat, The Keralotpatti as History: A Note on Pre-colonial Traditions of
Historical Writings in India, pp.11-14.
230
Wendy Singer, Creating Histories: Oral Narratives and the Politics of History –Making,
[OUP. Delhi, 1997].Velcheru Narayan Rao,David Shulman and Sanjay Subramanyan,
Textures of Time: Writing History in South Asia, [Permanent Black,Delhi,2000].Walter
J.Ong, Orality and Literacy: the Technologizing of the Word, [Methuen,
London1982].Vladimir Propp, Theory and History of Folklore, [Manchester University
Press, Manchester, 1984].Terence Hawkes, Structuralism and Semiotics, [Bungay
1985].Robert Perks and Alistair Thompson, The Oral History Reader,
[Routledge,London, 2000],Jawaharlal Hundoo, Current Trends in Folklore, [Institute of
Kannada Studies, , University of Mysore, 1978].Mary Douglas, Purity and Danger, : An
Analysis of the Concepts of Pollution and Taboo, [ARK Paperbacks, London], K N
Ganesh, Vākkum Samūhavum, [Vallathole Vidyapeedam, Sukapuram, 1999]. M R
Raghava Varier, Madyakāla Kēralam,Sambathu Samūham Samskaram,[Chintha
Publishers, Thiruvanadapuram, 1997].

60
the primary producers can be revealed taking into account the corroborative
reading and analysis of both conventional and non conventional sources. The
notions of human geography can also be used to analyse the ways in which
the settlements and production operations materialised and the ways in which
people were made to deploy themselves in different spatialities.231

The Organization of the Study

The present study is arranged thematically into four chapters preceded by this
introduction and followed by a brief conclusion. The first chapter deals with
the nature and importance of the land, labour and production process in early
and early medieval period. The various forms of life activities and the people
engaged in it in the early historic period are dealt with in this chapter. The
migration and settlement of people from the Mullai - Kurinchi region to the
river valleys and the riparaian areas in the mid land and in the laterite areas
are also discussed. Ur and the kutis developed in the midland and the
development of production localities of the settlers and the cultivating kutis
are also delineated. The expansion of agriculture and the formation of a
number of groups and households of both Brahman and non Brahman are also
delineated in this chapter. The instituted development of production process
and formation of number of overlords including the Nāttutayavar and the
temples in relation to the generation of agrarian resources made by the
cultivating kutis and the primary producers are discussed.

The second chapter deals with the various forms of agriculture

practices, multi crops in the laterite parambus including the spices varieties in
the forested areas and the wet land agriculture. The location of primary

231
Insights are given in the works such as; Anne Buttmer and David Seamon [eds], The
Human Experience of Space and Place, Croom Helm, London, 1980.Trevor Barnes and
Derek Gregory [eds], Reading Human Geography: the Poetics and Politics of Enquiry,
[Arnold, London, 1997].Georges Benko and Ulf Strohmayer [eds], Human Geography:
A History for the 21st Century,[OUP, New York, 2004].

61
producers in the labour process in the agrarian activities in both laterite and
wetland areas is discussed in detail. Importance is given to the primary
producers who are known to have developed as the Āl / Atiyār/ Pulayar/
Parayar etc engaged in the various labour activities in the production
operations in both laterite and wetland areas. Mixed crop cultivation in the
parambu areas and forest produce including the spices and herbs and their
importance in the multiple economies is dealt with in this chapter. It deals
with the development of agriculture practices and the labour activities done
by the cultivating kutis and the primary producers. The development of a
number of skilled labour practices and knowledge related to agrarian
production are also explained.

The agrarian production process and the formation of hierarchy based

on occupational gradation and the gradation of number of rights related to
material and ideological resources including occupational skill, agriculture
knowledge are discussed in the third chapter. The formation of number of non
producing groups developed in relation to the appropriation of resources
generated by the cultivating kutis and the primary producers and the ways in
which a complex process of redistribution of resources is also discussed. The
historical process of the formation of agrarian hierarchy developing in relation
to the multiple forms of power structure and the complex form of
redistributive economy is also discussed in this chapter.

The fourth chapter deals with the agrarian process and the historical
roots of transition to the castes. It starts with the historical antecedence of the
formation of clan endogamy and the subordination of women by
problematising the gender relations called kalavu and kārpu that existed in the
society represented in the classical Tamil texts. It tries to delineate the pattern
of development of the households and the collective forms of material
possession developed in early and early medieval period. Endogamous

62
marriages and the hereditary occupation developed among the kutis of
cultivating and occupational groups and also among a number of non
producing groups who were positioned in various service assignments in the
polity of the Nāttutayavar and the Chēra Perumāl and in the temples are also
discussed. The social reproduction of the production process and the
redistributive process by way biological reproduction of the producing groups
and also the non producing groups is the very foundation of the historical
roots of transition to the formation of castes which is discussed along with the
process of the subjugation of the primary produces as untouchables. This is
followed by a brief but open ended conclusion in which findings of the study
is summed up and suggestions are made for future research.

63
 Land, Labour and Production Process in
Early and Early Medieval Kerala

K.S. Madhavan “Primary producing groups in early and early medieval Kerala:
Production process and historical roots of transition to castes (300-1300 CE)”
Thesis. Department of History , University of Calicut, 2012
 Chapter One

Land, Labour and Production Process in Early

and Early Medieval Kerala

Production of material and ideological resources was important for the

sustenance of multiple economies in early and early medieval Kerala. The
multiple economies were charcterised by hunting gathering and punam
cultivation in the Mullai- Kurinchi region, the wetland agriculture in alluvial
soil, mixed crop cultivation in parambu in laterie area and fishing and salt
manufacturing in the littoral tracts. The kinship and clan relations determined
the livelihood forms of people who settled as kutis in particular spatialities
called micro-eco zones. Production of surplus and developement of
redistributive economy evolved social stratification in which chiefs dominated
the society and economy. Expansion of wetland cultivation and the multi crop
production in parambus developed exchange and trade as well as number of
overlords. The basic unit of economic production was the kuti and people who
provided the labour services became the primary producers and surplus
generation and appropriation developed on the labour of the producing
groups.

The proliferation of settlements and the formation of households was

pivatol in the case of institutional control over the kutis and the primary
producrs called Āl/ Atiyār/ Pulayar. The institutional realisation of labour and
resources was materialised with the emergence of the overlords like
Nāttutayavar, temples and the Chēra Perumāl. The household srtructure and
the collective form of material possession determined the socio-economic
structure. The forms of matrial possession that developed within the structure
of households, the corporate form of possession under the temples and the
collective form of wealth in the Brahman ūrs and the households determined

64
the nature of social stratification and the structure of agrarian hierarchy. It
also determined the nature of the political structure developed under the
Nāttutayavar and the Chēra Perumāls. Forms of labour and the productive
land spaces in the multiple economies were crucial in the production
operations and labour activities which determined the production process. The
above mentioned points are explained in detail in this chapter.

Geography and Ecology

The geographical area that lies between the Western Ghats and the Western /
Arabian Sea was part of the Tamizhakam in early historical period. The
understanding of the geographical diversity of this region would help us to
know how the human habitation and production operations were made
possible in this region. However, geographical notions and categories
prevalent in modern Kerala are used here to conceptualize this part of the
geographical region of ancient Tamizhakam. This region can be divided into
three area, highland, midland and low land.1 Arabian Sea and a long range of
mountains called Sahyadris [a part of Western Ghats] bound this region in the
west and east respectively. A major part of this range is dissected by
numerous west flowing rivers resulting in varied landforms.2The mountains
are essentially plateau remnants of two or three altitudinal ranges,
approximately around 1,800 m, 1,200 m, and 600 m called planation
surfaces.3 The coastal plain has a few scattered hillocks with rocky cliffs. In

1
Resource Atlas of Kerala: Explanatory Notes, Center for Earth Science Studies,
[Trivandrum, 1984], p.4.
2
The vegetation types vary from tropical rain forest to dry deciduous. Temperate shola is
prevalent in the valleys. The soil is forest loam with higher proportion of humus.
3
Waynad plateau, Kunda hills, Nelliampathi Plateau, Periyar plateau and Agasthya malai
are all parts of this range at different elevations. Several peaks in this range exceeds
2000m in height, Anamudi [2695m] being the highest peak3.Palaghat gape [with a width
of about 30 k m] , is a major break in western Ghats within this region, ibid.p.4.

65
this coastal area: there are 34 kāyals [lagoon or estuary]; the Vēmbanādu lake
is the largest [205 sq km], followed by Ashtamudi kāyal.4

The eastern highlands zone occurs in two patches, separated by Palghat

Gapes, this region is dominated by plateau surfaces bounded by steep scarp
slops.5 Flat foothill zone is marked in two narrow strips flanking the high land
zone. It bears a close resemblance to the hilly upland zone, except the rainfall
here is very high and slopes are mostly concave.6 Hilly uplands zone is
located in three separate patches within the midland region. Semi-evergreen
and moist deciduous types of vegetation dominate the area.7 The region is
dominated by lateritic outwash, alluvium and black soils.8 Undulating plain9,
less undulating plain10 and Western low lying plain extending along the
coast11 and central part of this micro region, popularly known as Kuttanādu
region.

The drainage network of this region consists of 44 short and swift

flowing rivers. Out of these, 41 rivers flow westward and three flow eastward.
The four major rivers – Periyār, Bhārathapuzha, and Pamba and Chāliyār
4
Ibid.,p.4.
5
Ibid.,p.36 .Palghat gap is an important physiographic feature of Western Ghats. Flood
plains, alluvial fans, residual hills and gently undulating plains dominate topography.
6
Ibid.p.36, the northern part surrounding the Waynadu plateau is characterized by near to
vertical scarp slopes more than 600 height. Tropical rain forest is the major natural
vegetation. The soil is mainly lateritic with patches of brown hydromorphic type in the
enclosed valleys.
7
Ibid., pp.36-37.
8
Ibid.,p.37
9
Ernakulum – Trivandrum Rolling plain, the topography is undulating with an average
height of about 40 m. The alluvial valleys cutting across the lateritic soil support paddy
cultivation, Ibid .,p37.
10
Cannanore – Thrissur plain is the northern counterpart of the Ernakulam –Trivandrum
plain. However, it is less undulating and includes low-lying kole lands of Thrissur. The
rainfall is comparatively less in the northern part of this zone, ibid.p.,37.
11
Western low-lying plains is extending along the coast, has an elevation of 10 m with
hillocks and rock cliffs reaching a height of 50 m at places .The climate is almost
uniform, ibid., p.37.

66
together drain about 35 percent of the region.12 There are 34 river basins
drained by these 44 rivers. River length varies from 16 km for Manjesvar
River to 244 km for the Periyār. The Bhārathapuzha River has the largest
catchment area, at 6,186 sq km, with 1786 sq km being located in Tamil
Nadu. The Periyār River drains a catchment area of 5,398 sq km of which
5,284 are in Kerala. Rivers of more than 100 km length are: the
Chandragiri[105 km],Valapattanam [110 km], Chāliyār [169 km], Kadalundi
[130 km], Bhārathapuzha [209 km], Chālakudi[ 130 km], Periyār [244 km],
Muvātupuzha [121 km] , Pamba [176 km], Achankōil [129 km ] and Kallada
[121 km ] . The combined length of all the rivers is around 3,200 km, which
gives a figure of 12 sq km of catchment for every kilometer of the major
rivers. In other words, 1 km of main river is fed by 12 sq km of catchment
area. This indicates higher capacity of land to sustain a river and high water
yield.13

At present, the forest area is confined to parts of high land and midland
zones falling within the Western Ghats and its foothills.14 Isolated patches of
evergreen forests are marked in rugged slopes of Western Ghats. Large and
very tall trees characterize the tropical evergreen forests.15 There is a dense
second storey and under growth of many ferns and tall herbs. Moist deciduous
type is less diverse compared to the evergreen forests but contains several
valuable species.16

12
Ibid. , p.5.
13
Srikumar Chattopadhyaya and Richard W.Franke, Striving for Sustainability:
Environmental Stress and Democratic Initiatives in Kerala. [Concept Publishing
Company, New Delhi, 2006], p.41.
14
Resource Atlas of Kerala: op.cit., p.14.
15
Ibid.
16
Ibid.,p.15. The major feature of this forest is that the trees remain leafless during the
period of December to June. Evergreen, semi-evergreen and moist deciduous forest
types are located in the rainfall zone of 200 -300 cm with temperature more than 20
degree Celsius. These areas fall above an elevation of 300 m. The sub –tropical

67
 Lateritic soils and forest loams dominate the soils.17 Forest loam soil is
developed in the eastern part of the region within forest area on the weathered
crystalline rocks. The soil is quiet fertile under forest cover and promotes
prolific undergrowth.18 Lateritic soil is a typical weathering product under
humid tropical conditions, occurs throughout the region.19 Red loam occurs
mainly as colluvial deposits in isolated patches in foothills and hillocks being
associated with latetrites.20

Riverine alluvium is developed along river valleys occur throughout

the region cutting across the extensive laterite soils. The soil is very deep with
surface texture ranging from sandy loam to clay. It is very fertile having high
water holding capacity and plant nutrients which are regularly replenished
during floods.21Other soil types are brown hydromorphic soil22, greyish
Onattukara23, acid saline soil24, coastal alluvium25, hydromorphic saline group
of soil26 and black soil.27

evergreen forest commonly known as temperate shola, occurs in the valleys of the high
ranges. Grasslands are marked in a few isolated patches. The physiographic, climatic
and vegetation diversities support a range of habitats suitable for a variety of fauna.
Important wild life species are elephant, gaur, sambar, and spotted deer, barking deer,
wild boar, tiger, panther and bear, ibid., p.16.
17
Ibid .,p.10.
18
Ibid.,p.15.
19
Ibid.,p.10.
20
Ibid.,p.10.
21
ibid.,p.7.
22
Brown hydromorphic soil is commonly found in areas in wetlands. They are moderately
rich in organic matter, ibid., p.11.
23
Greyish Onattukara is a grey colour soil occurs in the modern Alappuzha and Kollam
districts. It is generally coarse grained, highly porous with limited capacity for retaining
water and fertilizer,ibid., p.10.
24
Acid saline soilation type is found mainly in Kuttanadu region. Developed under hydro-
morphic conditions, these include the kari soil [soil in reclaimed areas with high clay
content] and karapādam soil [soil along river courses with high silt content. Salinity and
water logging have put limitations to crop culture but with careful management, these
soils can sustain good crop production, ibid.,p11.

68
Corroboration of Archaeological and Literary Sources

In order to understand the relation of human beings with the landscape

ecology of the region from early historic period ownwards, considering the
above geographical factors, a corroborative study of archaeological findings
and literary sources is required.28 The urn urials extensively found in Kerala
megaliths must be a continuation of the practice in Neolithic – Chalcolithic
settlements of the Karnataka / Tamilnadu regions.29 The different types of
burials are clustered in different localities in this region. The rock cut tombs
are confined to the midland laterite zones, mainly in northern and central part
of this region.30 The kodakkals and toppikkals are also concentrated to the
mid-land laterite zone in northern and central parts of this region.31 Dolmens
are mostly found in upland region where granite is abundant. Urn burials are
concentrated in the deltaic and coastal regions; they are also noticed in
midland and upland regions too.32 The high concentration of urn burials in

25
Coastal alluvium is predominantly marine with some fluvial sediment along the coastal
line. The soil is immature with high sand content and low water holding capacity, ibid.,
p.10.
26
Hydromorphic saline group of soil is observed along the coastal strip where inundation
by sea causes salinity. The problem of acidity is also observed within this soil group in
some areas.
27
Black soil is found in the northeastern part of modern Palghat district. This soil is dark
in colour, low in organic matter, calcareous, moderately alkaline and high in clay
content. The higher proportion of clay makes it sticky and plastic in character. The
shrinking- swelling capacity is also high. As this soil promotes cotton cultivation, it is
often referred to as black cotton soil. Due to low organic matter and high clay
percentage, it is found suitable for a limited variety of crops, ibid.,p.11.
28
R Champakalakshmi, Archaeology and Litarary Tradition, Puratattva, No.8.pp.110-122.
29
Rajan Gurukkal and M R Raghava Varrier [Eds], Cultural History of Kerala, p.124, S
Darsana , ‘History of Archaeology in Kerala’ in Gautham Sen Gupta and Kaushik
Gangopadhyay [ Eds], Archaeology in India, [Munshiram Manoharlal Publisers , New
Delhi,2009],pp.163-196.
30
Rajan Gurukkal and M R Raghava Varrier [Eds], Cultural History of Kerala, op.cit.,
p.122.
31
Ibid.
32
Ibid.

69
the mid land and coastal region suggests that there were megalithic
settlements in these regions in addition to the uplands. The burial sites also
presuppose the habitation sites nearby. The megalithic urns sites and its
settlements must have been contemporaneous to the settlements and society
represented in the Ettuthokai texts. The objective structure of the material
culture and lived experiences of people in both megalithic period and society
represented in Sangam texts can be delineated33.

Kerala in the Period of Classical Tamil Texts

Attempts have been made to study the people who inhabited in the region
between the western part of the Western Ghats and the western sea during a
couple of centuries before and after the Common Era34 which is generally
assigned to the period of Classsical Tamil Texts. Mountains and sea are
represented as the two geographical boundaries of this region.35 Sometimes,
there is reference to the mountainous forest and sea as the centers of
resources36to denote the nature of the geographical terrain.The conception of
landscape is represented with regard to earth in vivid manner.37 Seasons also

33
K N Ganesh, Lived Spaces in History: A Study in Human Geography in the Context of
Sangam Texts, Studies in History, 25, 2, n.s. [2009] pp.151-195.
34
Rajan Gurukkal, ‘Semiotics of Ancient Tamil Poetics: A Historiographic Consideration’
in Irfan Habib [Ed] ,Papers from the Aligarh Historians Society , [Aligarh, 2008],p.93,
Rajan Gurukkal, ‘Forms of Production and Forces of Change in Ancient Tamil Society’,
Studies in History Vol.5:2,pp.159-175, Rajan Gurukkal and Raghava Varier,[eds]
,Cultural History of Kerala Vol.1, [Thiruvanandapuram,1999,], Raghava Varier and
Rajan Gurukkal, Kēralacharithram [Sukapuram,1991],K N Ganesh , Kēralathinte
Innalakal, [Revised Edition, Department of Cultural Publications,
Thiruvananthapuram,1997].
35
Purananuru.343.7-8, hereafter PN, Patittupattu.3.10.31 kadalavum kāttavum hereafter
PP, PP.5.10.1. The region of presente day Kerala [Lat 8017’E and 12047’N Long
74000’E and 77024’E] is situated in the south western part of India , flanked by the
Arabian Sea on the west and the states of Tamilnatu and Karnataka respectively on the
eastern and northern parts .
36
PP.3.2.6 kadalum kānamum palapayam uthava, PP.5.8.13.PN.343.7-8 malaipadu
porulum kadal padu porulum.
37
PP.2.3.22 njālam.PP.2.4.1 nila nīr vali vijimpu [earth, water, air and sky].

70
 38
represented and landscapes are mentioned in poetic conventions.39
Patittupattu refers to the names of a number of hills, turais, ūrs or villages40in
this region.

Landscape Ecology

As our geographical area of discussion lies, from east to west, in between the
western part of the Western Ghats and the West coast, mountains, hills and
hill slopes are important geographical terrains. Thick and dense forest is on
mountains, hills, hill slopes, hillocks, and valleys in the high ranges in the
Ghats. Many of the perennial rivers and streams are originating from the
mountains and hills, flowing through the hill slopes, connecting different
settlements, reach either into backwaters or sea. Elevated terrains and hills are
also located in the midlands as well. Hence, our first attention is given to the
mountains and hills in the high ranges.

During the Sangam period, mountains were known by the terms malai,
porai and varai. Patittupattu refers to ayiramalai, cheruppumalai, nanra,
ēzhimalai and parambumalai.41 Hills were known as kuntru and hill slopes
are characteristic to the Kurinchi region and chāral42 is the term used to
denote hill slopes and hilly backwoods region. Sometimes, the hill slopes
were also known as mēval.43 Adjoining hills are termed chilampu.44 There are

38
PP.3.3.2 peruvaram kurnthu PP.5.10.2 kal mayanku urai
39
PP.8.5.8, PP.8.8.7, PP.3.10.26, PP.5.6.8, PP.2.3.23, PP.3.10.21, PP.3.10.25,
PP.3.10.26, PP.3.10.31, PP8.5.8, PP.8.8.7.,PN.187.1-4
40
K N Ganesh, Historical Geography of Malabar from Early Settlement to the Emergence
of Nadus – A Preliminary Note, SAP, Department of History University of Calicut,
2006], P.18.
41
Ibid.
42
AN.2.2-3[Jackfruits are ripped in the hill slops of kurinchi region] AN.52.1 valli
valantha maran ōngu chāral , PN.90.2.
43
PP.5.3.2
44
AN.152.13 ēzil neduvarai pāzhichchilambu.

71
also references to perumalai, perunkunru and netumperumkunru. Kurumporai
is to indicate small hills in the elevated region.45

The poetic notion of five-fold divisions of the landscape [tinai] is

Kurunchi, Mullai, Palai, Marutham and Neythal.46 It represents the material,
cultural and political spatialities47 of the Sangam society. Kurinchi as forested
hills and vegetated slopes was predominantly in the mountainous hilly region.
Mullai and Marutham were comparatively less in the region under discussion.
What existed as Mullai in this region was predominantly in the northern part
of this region [north Malabar in modern Kerala] and proper marutham is less
in this region as well. Kurinchi was not a hunting-gathering space alone but it
is a region where slash and burn / shifting cultivation practiced.48 It would be
appropriate to identify mullai49 as forest [kādu] around or peripheral to the
wetland / marutham, along with pastures, meadows, and scrubland, especially
those on the cultivable lower slopes.50 Mullai is the region where cattle
rearing and agriculture was conducted.51 There was kurinchi- mullai blending
zone also.52 Mullai region was predominantly populated by pastoral
communities.53 Though marutham was comparatively less, wet land

45
K N Ganesh, Representation of Natu in Early Tamil Songs, Perspectives,
Vol.2.No.2.p.2.
46
AN.210.6 ,PP.2.5.16-17, PP.6.5.6, PP.3.10.25, PP.8.5.8, PP.9.1.4-5, AN.233.3,
AN.22.1, PN.386.
47
K N Ganesh, Representations of Natu in Early Tamil Songs, Perspectives.op. cit., p.2.
48
PP.3.10.22’ēnal uzhavar’AN.222.1
49
PN.328.1-2 pullenadaimuthar puravu chērththiruntha punpula chirūr.
50
R Chambakalakshmi, ‘From Pastoralism to Agriculture: Tondai Nadu : A Tamil Sub –
Region in the Early Historical and Early Medieval Periods’ ,in Rudolf C Heredia and
Shereen Ratnagar [Eds], Mobile and Marginalized Peoples : Perspectives from the Past,
[Manohar, Delhi, 2003],p.206.
51
PP.2.3.20 puravu[mullai kollakal].AN..34.2[puravu], PN.386.12.
52
PP.3.10.21 punpulam thazhiiya puravanivaippum
53
R Chambakalakshmi., op cit, p207.

72
agriculture was predominantly practiced on Mullai-Marutham54blending zone.
This region was more located in the silt – biomass deposited areas on the river
valleys, riparian and estuarine areas. Palai was not a specific zone. Palai was
an ephemeral eco – situation contingent upon seasonal changes55 and,
therefore, Palai could be anywhere else56 as trans- tinai phenomena.
Agriculture can also be seen in Neythal region57in addition to fishing and salt
manufacturing58.

People and Life Activities in the Tina – Varaku Zone

Hills and hill slopes were characteristic to the Mullai-Kurinchi region and
chāral59 was the term used to denote hill slopes and hilly backwoods region.
Sometimes the hill slopes were also known as mēval.60 Agricultural
operations were originated in Kurinchi region where the slash and burn form
of shifting agriculture began to be developed.61 Ēnal was the place in the
kurunchi region where tina was cultivated.62 Therefore, the kurinchi-mullai
region can also is termed as tina- varaku zone.

In the hilly back wood Kurinchi region, cultivable land was called
punam. Punam is a fertile land space used for tinai cultivation in this region.63
Variety of millets and cereal were cultivated in this region.64Varaku also was

54
PP.8.3. marutham chānta, PP.8.8.7.
55
Rajan Gurukkal, Semiotics of Ancient Tamil Poetics…., op.ci., t p.94.
56
AN.31.7,AN.297.16
57
AN.40.1 kānal mālai kazhi , PN.209.2, PP.6.5.3-6.
58
AN.30.1, AN.70.1, AN.230.1, AN.310.14.
59
AN.2.2-3[Jackfruits are ripped in the hill slops of kurinchi region] AN.52.1 valli
valantha maran ōngu chāral, PN.90.2.
60
PP.5.3.2
61
PP.3.10.22[ēnal uzhavar],AN.32.1,AN.12.6,AN.178,
62
AN.12.6, AN.32.1, AN.234.15.
63
AN.89. kollai irupunam, AN. 102.1-2 tinaiperumpunam
64
AN.88.1-2, AN.148.6.PN.168.5-6.

73
cultivated in the vanpulam in the mullai track.65 Varaku and tinai cultivated in
the puravu land and puravu is identified with the Mulla zone.66 Mountain
paddy and garden produces were cultivated in the Mulla zone as well.67
Shifting agriculturists as Kuravar conducted the tinai cultivation in Mullai
region.68Both Kurinchi and Mullai had cultivable slopes, punam or ēnal
which enabled the Vētar to take to shifting agriculture as the Kuravar.69
Therefore, the cultivable area in the kurinchi- mullai region is predominantly
a tina- varaku zone. The place where multi- crops were cultivated in Mullai
and Kurunchi zones was known as padappai.70 One of the songs in
Purananuru in favour of Āy Andiran of Pothiyil hill mentions the ‘garden’
land, padappai, in the hill slope, varayanipadappai.71 There is also reference
to fenced garden land. The produce from land is termed as payam.72
Sometimes, this is also termed as vila.73 Aval is used to denote the land lies
below the hill slops used for wet agriculture in the mullai zone.74 Multi crop
area in the Mullai region was lying adjacent to wet land zone75 indicating the
proximity of the wetland spaces mostly in the riverine areas and the
possibility of the migrarion of people from Mullai- Kurinchi region to riverine
areas.

65
PN.384.4. vanpālānkarunkāl varakin
66
PN.328.1-2, AN.34 .1 padumazhai pozhintha payanmikupuravin.
67
AN.204.12 kāynelpadappai vānan chirukud.
68
PN.168.5-6.AN.154.1[Payam miku puravin]
69
Rajan Gurukkal, ‘Aspect of Early Iron Age Economy: Problems of Agrarian Expansion
in Tamil Nadu’ in B P Sahu [ed] Iron and Social Change in Early India, [OUP, Delhi,
2004], p.222.
70
AN54.14[Chirukudi padappai], AN.158.7[nam padappai]
71
PN.375.9-10 varayai padappai nannāttuporuna.
72
AN.154.1,PP.7.9.3 nilam payam pozhiya, AN.70.3 valaipayam
73
PP.6.10.8 marā ā vilaiyul.
74
AN.54.2 Neduaval nīrppakuvāyththēre, PN.187.2 avalā kontrō, AN.23.5.
75
PP.8.7 palpayan nilai iya kadarudai vaippin

74
Kutis and Life Activities

In order to understand the meaning of labour in Sangam Kerala, we have to

historicise the formation of kutis as it appears to mean family, clan and
settlement.76 It is suggested that in a society in which kin groups and
labouring groups are not differentiated, the term for the kin groups would
mean the term for labouring people.77 Labour and livelihood practices were
important in each eco – cultural zone [tinai] in the Sangam period. Different
modes of subsistence and labour forms were evolved in the different eco-
zones. Vētar, Vēttuvar, Kuravar78 from kurinchi, Āyar or Itayar from
Mullai79, Paratavar from Neytal80, Thozhuvar and Uzhavar81 from Marutham
and Maravar from palai82were the people who adapted to the respective eco-
cultural zones. There emerged an assemblage of coexistence and interaction
of various groups who followed the particular means of subsistence specific
to the landscape ecosystem [tinai] they inhabited.83

Hunting, gathering and shifting agriculture were the main livelihood

forms of the people in the kurinchi - mullai zone. Vēttuvar resorted to hunting

76
K Sivathampy, ‘Early South Indian Society and Economy: the Tini Concept’, in Studies
in Ancient Tamil Society: Economy, Society and State Formation,[New Century Book
House, Chennai] p.15.
77
K N Ganesh, Perception of Labour in Pre-Modern South India- A Historiographical
Analysis, unpublished paper, Department of History ,University of Calicut, 2010,p.2
78
PN.231.1-2 eripunakkuravan , AN.232.9 viyal araivarikkum muntril kuravar .
PP.3.10.9-11.
79
AN.54.10 kōlkaikōvalar, PP.3.1.20.
80
AN.70.1 kodunthimil parathavar
81
PP.6.8.16, PP.8.6.11
82
AN.105.13.AN.129.1O,PP.3.10.4
83
Rajan Gurukkal, ‘Tribes, Forest, and Social Formation in Early South India’, in B B
Chaudhari and Arun Bandopadhyaya [Eds], Tribes, Forest, and Social Formation in
Indian History,[Manohar,2004], p.66. Rajan Gurukkal, Forms of Production and Forcess
of Change in Ancient Tamil Society, Studies in History, 5, 2 n s [1989] pp.159-175.

75
84
for livelihood.85 Hunting was an important form of subsistence that
sustained the people of hilly backwoods region in addition to gathering and
shifting agriculture. Hunting, gathering and shifting agriculture were being
practiced side by side in the region under discussion. Let us first look into to
the hunting practices in the Kurinchi area. However, hunting cannot be
confined to the Kurinchi zone alone.

Hunting and Gathering

Our textual evidences suggest that the people resorted to hunting and
86
gathering practices are known as kānavan comprised the Vēdar87 ,
Vēttuvar88 and Kuravar89clans. There is also reference to the Maravar
conducting hunting.90 Hunting dogs were important animals of the hunter
clans whose companionship while resorting to hunting is repeatedly
91
mentioned in the songs. They are known as vayanāy kathanāy92, etc. The
hunting groups conducting hunting practices are represented in the songs93,
which suggest that the forested landscape was the object of their labour. There
is a reference in the text, which could productively be read as hunters were

84
PP.3.10.9 kānthalankanni kolaivil vēttuvar.
85
PN.19.5 irumpulivēttuvan .AN.28.8 vēttuvan peralodu, PN.33.1 kathanāy vēttuvan,
PN.150.7 ōrval vilvēttuvan ,PN.205.9 chile vēttuva,PN.252.5 chol valevēttuvan,
PP.324.3 velvāyvēttuvar.
86
PN28.10 kānaththōr, PP.3.10.24 kuntavar, AN.88.5 kadumkai kānavan, AN248.6-7
kānavan kurukinan, AN.102.2 kānavan.
87
PN.324.3.PN.333. thannūr vēttakudi thorunkūttam
88
PN.150.7 ōrval vilvēttuvan, PN205.9 chilai vēttuva, PN19.5-6 irumpuli vēttuvan,
AN28.8 vēttuvan peralodu
89
PN.3 kuravar mākkal, PN. 157.7 kuravar perumān,
90
AN.75.6-7.
91
AN.248.2 vayanāy
92
PN.33.1 kathanāy vēttuvan.
93
AN.38.3-4 vem chel kanaipalam therinthu,AN.48.12 varipunavillan

76
coming from faraway places with hunting dogs, especially from north with a
different language.94

These hunting clans lived as kutis95 , importantly chirukuti96 and the

hut settlements where they inhabited were called kurumpu.97 As far as
individual and collective labour practices are concerned there were two types
of hunting practices: firstly hunting as an individual endeavor; [a] hunting the
small animals, [b] hunting with bow and arrow, secondly hunting as a
complex and cooperative effort: [a] hunting / trapping large animals, [b]
hunting with nets.98 Women of the hunting tribes are also mentioned in the
songs99 but we do not know whether they did participate in hunting or not, but
they were mostly engaged in gathering. Sometimes, we have reference to the
chief of the hunting clan.100 Hunting is both individual and collective effort
and we have a number of references to the individual hunting and hunting as a
collective mode of labour. One song says that a hunter is going for hunting
wearing foot gear made of leather.101

The principal hunting clans were Kuravar, Vēdar and Vēttuvar and
they lived in the kurumpai102 in the chirukuti103 of the chirūr.104 They were

94
AN.107.11 kalla nī½mozhi kathanāy vadukar.½
95
PN.324. 8 punpulam thazhiiya ānkudichirūr, PN.333. thannur vettakudi
96
AN.7 kalkezhu chirukudi kānavan AN.232. kuntravēli chirukudi.
97
AN.89.16 vilkezhu kurumpu .PN129.1 kuriyirai kurampai.
98
For an interesting example of hunting practices among West African Guro tribes,
Cloude Meillassoux’s works are important; see Emmanuel Terray, Marxism and
Primitive Societies, [Monthly Review Press, London, 1972],pp.107-108.
99
AN.132.3 kānavar thankai AN58. kodichchiyar, AN7.22 kalkezhu chirukudi kānavan
makale, AN348.8-9 kuravar muriththazhai makalir.
100
PN.157.7 kuravar perumān. PN.152.24 ‘ vēttuvarillai ninnoppōrana’.
101
AN.34.3 neduthōl kānavan,
102
PN.129.1.
103
AN.7.22 kalkezhu kānavan chirukudi
104
P.N.326 villor vazhkaichirur mathavali

77
kinship descent groups and the people belonged to Kuravar clan are called
kuravarmākkal.105 They were kin groups consisted senior and junior lines of
members. The junior members [ilaiyōr] did substantial part of the labour in
the hunting activities.106

Individual hunting was for small animals107 such as rabbits108, rats109,

varieties of birds110, and some times, wild pigs111 , wild cows112 deer 113etc. In
Purananuru, we have reference to vilvēttuvan114 , hunter with bow and arrow.
A hunter attacking the wild pig with bow and arrow is mentioned in the
song.115 Hunting for elephants116, cheetah117, bear, and pig require collective,
planned and cooperative efforts. We have reference to yānai vēttuvan or
kaimān vēttuvan118, those who hunt the wild elephants.119 Cheetahas were
also captured or killed by resorting to collective hunting practices.120 One of
the songs in Akananuru mentions some youngsters of the Vēdar communities
resorting to hunting a wild pig.121 For trapping the wild animals, certain
methods were adopted and the device was made of big stone [perunkalladār]
105
PN.129.1, PN.143.3.
106
PN.150, AN.248.2-4.
107
PP.3.1 kathanāy vēttuvan.
108
PN.34.11.
109
PN. 324. 3 velvāyvēttuvar
110
PN.214.5 kurumpūzhavēttuvan.
111
AN248.6-7 kānavan kurukinan thoduththa kūrvay pakazhi. AN.28.1-2.
112
PP.10.9-11.
113
AN.7.9-11.
114
PN.150.7 ōrval vilvēttuvan
115
AN.248.6-7 kānavan kurukinan thoduththa kūrvay pakazhi.
116
AN.21.24-25.
117
AN.27.1 irumpuli thayanka neduvarai .AN.52.7.
118
PN.214.4 yānai vēttuvan yānaiyum perume , PN.320.3 kaimān vēttuvan
119
AN.157.8. kānayānai.
120
PN.19- 5-6 irumpuli vēttuvan pori yarinthu māttiya.
121
AN.248.2-4.

78
and one song mentions a cheetah hunter hunting the cheetah with this stone
made trap.122 We have reference to the Vēdar who resorting to net hunting.123
We have a reference to hunting imagery in a song, cholvalaivēttuvan124,
[weaving out net out of words]. Elephants were hunted either for tusks or for
taming and we have picturesque representation of capturing elephants in the
songs.125 Capturing of elephant and the device used for it was the digging a
certain pit with a trapping technique.126 There is a vivid representation of
capturing elephants in the song.127

Woman the Gatherer

The earliest form of gendered division of labour occurred among the hunting
and gathering clans of early historic period in the region under discussion.
Though we have references to the men of certain clans who engaged in
collecting honey, our textual evidences suggest that it was the womenfolk of
almost all clans engaged in gathering activities. Gathering was also a
substitute to the hunting and shifting agriculture. The people who lived in the
chirukuti engaged in the activities of hunting, gathering and shifting
cultivation side by side. The women of the chirukuti settlers were known as
kānavan makal.128 They also have known as kānavar thankai.129
Kodichchiyar were also the wome folk among the Kuravar clan.130 The

122
PN.19.6-6 irumpuli vēttuvan poriyarintu māttiya perunkalladārum.
123
AN.7.8-11 valai kān inaththu inchilai ēru udai nāru uyir pinayir pōki.
124
PN.252.5 cholvalai vēttuvanāyinan munne.
125
AN. 21.24 venkōdu nayantha anpu il kānavar.
PN.214.4 yānai vēttuvan yānaiyum perume, PN.320.3 kaimān vēttuvan.
126
AN.21.25 akazhntha kuzhi cheththu
127
AN.211.9-10 kuzhiyidai konda kantru udaipperu nirai pidippadu pūchalin .
128
AN.7.22 kalkezhu chirukudi kānavan makale.
129
AN.132.
130
AN.58.

79
women of the Vēttuva clan engaged in the gathering of fruits and roots.131
The women folk of the Kuravar, Vēdar and Vēttuvar engaged in the gathering
activities and substituted this to the hunting and shifting cultivation as a
livelihood form.132 The women of these clans engaged in gathering and lived
in number of chirukutis that constituted a small ūr.133 Honey gathering is
undertaken by the Kuravar clan.134

Therefore, ‘women were the gatherers’ in the hunting and shifting

agricultural economies of early historic period. The Kuravar, Vēdar and
Vēttuvar clans engaged in hunting and gathering forms of subsistence, they
turned to slash and burn cultivation called shifting cultivation. The
womenfolk of these clans turned to agriculture and became the harbingers of
agriculture practices in the tina – varaku zone. They did substantial part of
labour and thereby contributed to the origin and development of agriculture,
especially the slash and burn agriculture. The following explanation of
shifting cultivation would substantiate the role of women in labour process.

Shifting Cultivation

The shifting cultivation in addition to hunting and gathering was an important

subsistence form. The hill slopes where the land prepared by the way of slash
and burns the trees and shrubs and the land so prepared for cultivation was
called mutha.135 The cultivated tracks are ēnal136and in one of the songs in
Patittupattu we find reference to cultivators, ēnal uzhavar who cultivate the

131
AN.283.5 chil unāthantha chirūr pendir.
132
AN.331.6,AN.348.2,AN.1.20-23.
133
AN.283.5 chirūr pendir.
134
AN.321.12 arai urum thīm thēn kuravar, PN.348.3.
135
AN.88.1-2.
136
PP.3.10.22 [ēnal uzhavar], AN.32.1, AN.118.

80
Kurinchi tract.137 One of the songs in Patittupattu mentions the ēnal in the
Kurinchi zone cultivated by the Uzhavar138 indicating the development of hoe
cultivation employing animals like ox. There were fertile tracts where the tina
was grown.139 Kuravar of the Kurunchi zone engaged in tina cultivation.140
Trees were cut down and burned by the Kuravar for tina cultivation.141 Hill
slopes were to be brought under cultivation by the practice of burn and clear
the forest and the plot so prepared is also called mutha done by the Kuravar
[kadunkai kānavan].142 One of the songs in the Purananuru says that the
people of the kurinchi called Kānavar did slash and burn the forest plough the
plot and sow the seeds of hill paddy in the hill slopes.143 One of the songs in
the Akananuru speaks of the Kuravar protected the riped tina in the kurunchi
hill slope and back wood tracks.144 In the Mullai region, cultivation of paddy
and garden crops were concentrated around the chirukuti .145 In Patittupattu,
we have reference to the people of kurinchi who ploughed the ēnal tract to
cultivate the tinai and they lived in the huts thatched by hays of varaku146
[common millet].

137
PP.3.10.22 ēnal uzhavar
138
PP.3.10.22 ēnal uzhavar
139
AN.28.3, AN.178.
140
PN.168.5-6
141
PN.231.1-2 eripunakuravan kuraiyal anna
karipura virakinima vollazhar, Rajan Gurukkal, Aspect of Early Iron Age Economy, op.
cit., p.222.
142
AN.88.1-2.
143
PN.159.16-17. Kānavar kari punam mayakkiya akankan kollai , PN.159.18 ivanam
viththi.
144
A N .348.10 adukkal ēnal irumbunam maranthuzhi kuravar
145
AN.204.12 kāynel padappai vānan chirukudi
146
PP. 3.10.22-23 ēnal uzhavar varakumīthitta.

81
 Chirukuti was the settlement of the people in the hill slopes circled by
hills.147 Cluster of these settlements constitute the chirūr. The ūr which was
situated in the hilly forested regions was also called chirur.148 Those who
conduct slash and burn the forest for cultivation in the punam was called
Punavan and he was identified with Kuravar clan. Kuravan is referred to as
kadunkai kānavan149, the forest dweller. Tinai [Italian millet, cereal]
cultivation practiced in this ēnal tract.150 It was in the chirukuti surrounded by
the waste or grazing land in the Kurunchi – Mullai zone that agriculture began
to be practiced.151In order to cultivate tinai or varaku152 in an area the land has
to be cleared by slash and burn method.153 The land set apart for this by the
process of slash and burn was called muthai154 and this was done by the
cultivators consisted of Kuravar, Vēttuvar and Vētar in the forested hilly
backwoods region and in some pastoral plots.155 As there is ash and other
fertile contents in the soil so burned, the tinai began to be grown fast.156 It
was from the streams that were flowing down nearby there that the water was
channelized to these tinai plots.157 One of the songs in Purananuru describes

147
AN.232.6 kuntravēli chirukudi ānkan, AN.315.18 kānkezhu vāzhner chirukudiyān,
AN.331.7-8 kuntruakachirukudi ,AN.192.12 peruvarai chirukudi .
148
AN.152.2 kuntruzhai nanniya chirūr, AN.171.8 mālvaraichirūr. AN.224. ānkudi
chirūr.
149
AN.88.5 kadunkai kānavan, AN.34.3. neduthōl kānavan,PN.33.1 kān udai vāzhkai.
150
AN.288.5-6.
151
AN. 284.7 punpulam thazhiyiya poraimuthal chirukudi.
152
PP. 8.5.11 velvaraku uzhuthakolludai karambai.
153
AN.140.11-12 ithai muyal punavan pukai nizhal kadukkum māmūthu allal , PN.231.1-2
eripuna kuravan kuraiyal anna.
154
AN.88.1-2 muthaichchuval kaliththamūri chenthinai.
155
AN.42.5-7 nāduvarankūra nānjil thunja…………….’ AN.141.5 nānjil thūnji, PN.20.11
nānjil allathu padaiyum ariyār.
156
AN.28.3.
157
AN.28.4 aruvi ānda painkāl. Kāl is used to denote, in later periods, the channel through
which the water is directed to the fields.

82
the process by which the varaku was cultivated in the Kurunchi region.158 In
one of the songs of the Purananuru there is reference to the Kuravar of the
kollai land doing the slash and burn cultivation.159 One song in the
Akananuru speaks of the cultivation of hill paddy and garden cultivation in
the hill slopes, which was part of chirukuti.160

We have also reference to the ploughing the kollai with ox.161

Purananuru speaks of the Vēdar doing the slash and burn for cultivation of
paddy in the kollai land.162 We also see references to the cultivation of kol or
horse gram163 and plot is furrowed for kol cultivation.164 Another song in
Purananuru also speaks of the cultivation of horse gram and payaru / green
gram.165 The cultivation of white millet and horse grams can also be seen in
the texts.166 One scholar suggests that varieties of crops cultivated during the
period under study.167

Labour Process in Shifting Cultivation

As far as the process of agriculture operation in the Kurinchi-Mullai

hilly forested back wood region is concerned, the land was understood here as
both the object and instrument of labour and human labour was seen as the

158
PN.120.1-13.
159
PN .231.1-2 eripunakuravan kuraiyal anna.
160
AN .204.12 kāynel padappai vānan chirukudi.
161
PN.322.1 uzhuthūr kālai yuzhukōdu.
162
PN.159.16-17 kānavar karipunam mayakkiya akankan kollai.
163
PN.297.4-5 chirūr puravu kol.
164
PN.105.5 kolluzhu viyanpulaththuzhi kālāka.
165
PN.297.3 pachchiya payattin payaru.
166
PN.392.10 vellai varakum kollum viththum.
167
N Subrahmanian, Pre- Pallavan Tamil Index, University of Madras, Madras, 1966.

83
principal source of available power.168 Firstly, the soil is furrowed 169
and
ploughed170 field is prepared repeatedly using a wooden device yoked to
oxen171 to prepare for the seed172 bed.173 The plough marks are known as
chāl.174 The dried millet and paddy seeds were used for sowing.175 Paddy
seeds were also sown in the same manner.176 Weeds are removed from the
millet crops177and green leaves, possibly cow dung are applied as fertilizing
[idumurai] agent.178 The productivity of the soil and especially the weather
condition determine the quality of tina produced.179 The varaku/ millet are
grown fast180 and the leaves of tina / varaku or paddy181 are grown to be
ripped182 as there is enough organic content in the soil so prepared.183 Tina is
grown to be harvested. A poem in Purananuru gives a vivid picture of the
different stages of the cultivation of tina.184 In Patittupattu, we have reference

168
The relation of labour to the land in primitive self sustaining societies are described in
anthropological works, Emmanuel Terray , Marxism and Primitive Societies , op.cit.,p.
105 and p.109.
169
PN.120.3 pūzhi mayanka ppala uzhuthu viththi, AN.262.2 pakadu pūnda uzhavu pala
uru chenchey
170
AN.194.2-3 ēr idam paduththa ………… .. AN.194.4-5 nedunchāl vitti [plough marks].
171
AN.262.2 pakadu pūnda uzhavu pala uru chenchey,
AN.314.2- 4 kānam thazhappai inamthēr uzhavar.
172
AN.194.4-5 nedunjāl viththiya marunkin vithai pala nāri.
173
PN. 120.4 palli ādiya palkilaichevvi.
174
AN.194.4-5 nedunchāl viththiya marunkin vithai pala nāri
175
PN .333.12 kuralunangu vithaithinai.
176
PN.159.16-18 kānavar karipunam mayakkiya akankan kollai ……aivanam viththi .
177
AN.194.9 kalaikāl kazhi iya perumpuna varaku. AN.179.13-14, PN.120.5 kalai kāzh
kazhavin.
178
AN .262.3 pinneyum idumurai nirambi ākuvinaikkaliththu.
179
PN.159.18- 19 .
180
PN.120.5 thōdu olipu nanthi.
181
AN.269.22-23 vanangu kathir nellin yānar than panai pōthuvāy avizhantha.
182
AN.28.3 kuralvārpu tinai koyyāmun ukum.
183
PN.120.9 valithin vilaintha.
184
PN. 203. 1- 9.

84
to the cultivation of varaku.185 Then, we find reference to tinai koyya in the
text indicating the harvesting millets.186 We can also see the cultivation of
sesame [ellu]187, beans [avarai]188 and pease [payaru]189 in the same way
mentioned above.190 We have reference to the cultivation of pepper
[kari]191and plantain [vāzha]192in the Kurinchi back wood hill slopes. There
are indication of the cultivation of aromatics, ginger, cardamom and variety of
wild flora like teak and sandal.193

Kin Labour

A clan is consisted of the extended familial groups based on kin relations.

They are, including women, engaged in the process of life activities.
Therefore, familial kin labour is the principal form of labour. The familial kin
relations had important role in organizing the labour process. Kilai194 and kēl
are used to denote the kinsmen.195 The extended kin groups are divided on
senior and junior line, muthiyar and ilaiyar respectively, mentioned in the
text.196 The members of the junior line [ilaiyar] in the extended households
of the clan directly engaged in the agriculture operations. They lived in

185
PP.8.5.11 vel varaku uzhutha kolludaikarampai.
186
PN.120. 9 puthuvaraku ariya, PN .120.10‘tinai koyya.
187
PN.210. 10 kavvai karuppa.
188
PN.120.10-11 avarai kkozhunkodi vilarkkāy kōdpathamāka.
189
AN.262.3 pinneyum idumurai nirambi ākuvinaikaliththu.
190
PN.335.4-7 karunkāl varakēyirunkathir ththinaiyē
chirukodikkollē porikilaravarayō
tinnānkallathu½āvumillai.
191
AN.112, PP.251.
192
AN.302.9-10 chilampin pōkiya chemmuka vāzhai.
193
Rajan Gurukkal, ‘Historical Antecedents’ in P J Cherian [ed], Perspectives on Kerala
History, [KCHR, Thiruvananthapuram, 1999], p.32.
194
AN.172.1-2 kilayodu kaliciranthu
195
AN.93.1
196
AN.348.8-9 ilayarum muthiyarum kilaiyudan

85
chirukuti and identified as chirukutiyān. They provided the labour force for
the agriculture operations. We have ample examples to show that the
members of the junior line engaged in ploughing the soil.197 A carpenter who
gives the axe to the youngsters for cutting down the trees is also mentioned 198
and this alludes to the clearing of the vegetated shrub for tina cultivation by
the people of junior line in the clan.

Implements of Production

As regards the implements of production, weapons for hunting activities and

war as well as for agriculture operations, use of iron implements was
important and we have ample evidences in the text that the blacksmiths made
these implements.199 The workshop200 of a blacksmith where the weapons
were made is mentioned in one of the songs in Purananuru.201 Those
blacksmiths who made weapon for war were known as pōrkollan.202 A
203
blacksmith preparing axe probably for the purpose of slash the tress and
arrow [vēl] for hunting or war are mentioned.204 The implements made by the
blacksmiths were important in an economy where the hunting –gathering,
shifting agriculture and predatory movements went hand in hand. Carpenters
who made chariots are also mentioned in the text.205 One song in the

197
AN.302.9-10 ennaiyar uzhutha
198
PN.206.11 maramkol thachchan mazhuvudai kaival chirā ar
199
PN.21.7 karunkai kollan, PN.170.16, AN.72.5 irum pū chey kol enaththōntrum.
200
AN.96.6 ūthulai
201
PN. 95.5 kotturai kuttila.
202
PN.353.1.
203
PN.36.6.
204
PN.312.3
205
PN.87.2-3 enthēr cheyyum thachchan.

86
Purananuru speaks of a potter makes pots in the chūlai [furnace] situated in
the old ūr 206and he also made urns for burying the dead.207

As the plots were located within the hilly forested region, crops were to
be protected from the interference of wild animals and from theft. In one of
the songs in the Akananuru there is a reference that a wild pig coming to the
tina plot to eat it.208 Yet another song in the Akananuru also mentions a wild
elephant coming to destroy the tinai plot.209 The term for protection is
kāval.210 In one song in praise of Chēral we find reference that a specific
strategy was applied to go off the birds from the tina plot.211 The hut which
had been constructed for protection of the agriculture fields in the Kurinchi
region was known as kazhuthu212and the male or female who were stationed
and engaged in this activity was termed as kāvalar.213 We have also reference
to the fact that the kāval was also made for the protection of the ūrs in the
Kurinchi region.214 The persons who engaged in protecting the tina were
called ēnal kāppōr.215 Certain devices [thattai] were used to go off the birds
from the tina plots.216

206
PN.228.1 chūlai nananthalai mūthūr kalamchey kōvai.
PN.256.7 nananthalai mūthūr kalamchey kōvai.
207
PN.228.12 annōr kavikkum kannakan thāzhi.
208
AN.88.6-7.
209
348.11 yānai tinai vavvina ena nōnāthu.
210
AN.73.14 ēnalam chiru tinai chēnōn, AN.94.10-11 muthaippunamkāvalar, AN.102.1-2
kazhuthil kānavan, PN.28.8 ēnal kāppōr.
211
PN.49.4 Punavar thattai pudaippin.
212
AN.162. ōnku kazhuthil kānavan.
213
AN.12.6 ēnal am kāvalar, AN.162.12 kāvalar.
214
AN.12.6 thunjākkannar kāvalar kadukuvar.
215
PN.28.9.
216
PN.49.4 punavar thattai pudaippin.

87
Gendered Division of Labour

There appeared gendered division of labour in which the women did

substantial part of their labour in the gathering and shifting agriculture. The
origin of agriculture must have been largely related with women folk when a
society of hunters and gatherers, subsisted on hunting and gathering forms of
existence, turned to shifting agriculture mainly through the mediation of the
womenfolk. In the tina – varaku zone, different phases of agriculture
operations were done by the women who provided the labour from clearing
the tina / varaku plots ,the sowing the seeds, weeding, harvesting and sifting
the crops and so on. Many of origin myths of agriculture are related to
women. Hunting, shifting agriculture and war and heroism evolved a social
division of labour, which constituted the groups within the tribal structure of
social division in which clan endogamy was evolved. Clan endogamy along
with the kin labour played very important role to reproduce, socially and
biologically, the society and economy of early historical period. Hence , the
extended familial kin relations within the structure of clan endogamy and the
gendered division of labour in agrarian operations resulted in making women
as an instrument of social as well as biological reproduction of ‘tribal social
order’.

The Fishing and Salt Manufacturing – the Life World of the Coastal
People

Western sea and its coast are described in the Ettutokai texts.217 The littoral
tracts are referred to as Neytal in the texts. It also denotes landscapes around
natural water sources like lake, rivers and backwaters.218 There are
settlements on the western coastal region from the early historic period

217
PP.6.1.3 kudapula kadal,PP.9.10.28, PP6.1.7,PN 2.10 kudakadal,
218
Rajan Gurukkal and M R Raghava Varier [eds], Cultural History of Kerala, Vol.1. op.
cit., p.171.

88
onwards. Panthar219, Muciri220 and Thondi221 are referred as important ūr
settlements on the western coast. The resources from the sea were as
important as the resources from the mountain.222 These coastal settlements
were centers of exchanges also.223 The main inhabitants of the coastal region
are the Paratavar and Umanar, fishing and salt manufacturing are their
important livelihood forms.224 Old settlements or tolkutis located in the
neythal zone.225 Chirukuti can also be seen in the neythal zones.226 People
subsisted on fishing lived in the chirukuti on Neythal terrain.227 One of the
Neythal songs in Akananuru mentions the chirukuti228 settlement of the
Parathavar in the neythal region.229 Certain Vānavan who was living in the
chirukuti settlement in the coastal region is mentioned.230

The fishermen who lived in the chirukuti231 of the Neythal are also
mentioned and they lived in huts called kurumpu.232 It is also known as
il.233There is also reference to huts with small irai called kuriyirai

219
PP.7.7.2 Panther peyariya pērisai mūthūr PP.8.4.6, chirukudi
220
AN.57.15
221
PN.48.4 kalnārum kānalam thondi, AN.11.13 valankezhu thondiyanna
222
PP.3.2.6 kadalum kānavum palapayam uthava, PN.343.1. malaithāramum
kadalthāramum talaipeythu
223
PP.6.5.5.
224
Rajan Gurukkal and M R Raghava Varier [eds], Cultural History of Kerala,op.cit.,p.171
225
AN.290.8 chirupal tholkudi perunīr chērpan.
226
AN.330.15 chirukudiparathavar.
227
AN.140.1 perunkadal vēttaththu chirukudiparathavar, AN.270.2-3 pulā al marukin
chirukudi pākkaththu ī mīn vēttuvar
228
AN.270 pula al marukin chirukudi pākkaththu inamīn vēttuvar.
229
AN.20.11-12 a valai parathavar kānal am chirukudi.
230
AN.269.21-22 cherunīrkānal thazhiyiya irukkai vānavan chirukudi.
231
AN;330.3-4 chirukudi parathavar.
232
AN.210.1. kuriyirai kurampai.
233
AN. 360 kāyal vēyntha thēy anal il.

89
kurampai.234 The people subsisted on fishing were known as
parathamākkal.235 Sometimes, the fishing folk were termed as timilōn.236
These settlements of the Parathavar and Umanar were clustered in ūr.237
Poems refer to a good number of fishes that the settlers used to catch.238 They
included ayila239, ira, katumīn, kayal, kōzu240, cura, prumīn, varāl241 and
vālai.242 There are vivid descriptions of fishing.243 The country boats used to
catch the fish244 and they are variously known as thimil245, nedumthimil246and
kodumthimil.247 The nets they used to catch the fish are called valai and there
are descriptions of the making of these nets. The country boats248 and nets249
are used as the instruments of fishing. The labour activity resorted to the
fishing is denoted by the term vinai or thozhil250 in the texts.251 Hence, the
thimil and valai are the instruments of their labour activity for subsistence and
sea was the object of their labour. The fishing party was consisted of the

234
AN.210.1.
235
AN.30.3.
236
AN.320.2.
237
AN.340.24.
238
AN.30.2 kadalpādu aviya.
239
PP.9.4.5, 3.9.4.
240
PP.9.4.5.
241
PN.18.8-9.
242
Rajan Gurukkal and M R Raghava Varier [eds], Cultural History of Kerala,op.cit.,p.171.
243
AN.70.3, AN.270.
244
AN.70.1 vēttan vāythana, AN.70.3 valaipayam , AN.280. paduthanam.
245
AN.340.17-18. vānthimil parathavar, P N.60.1, PN.24.4 thinthimil vanparathavar.
246
AN.60.3.
247
AN.70.1.
248
AN.350.1 vānthimil paratavar.
249
AN.30.1 nedunkayiru valantha kurunkan avvalai ,AN10.4 puthuvalai parathavar and
AN.290.4.
250
AN.60.3 nedumthimil thozhil.
251
AN.340.18-19 tindimil elluzhil maduththa valvinaiparathvar.

90
youngsters and elders in the family and their kinsmen were called kilai.252
Fish was dried in the sun and salt is applied to preserve the surplus fish.253
The fish was exchanged254 on bargaining255 including for long distance
exchange.

Kazhi is the term used to denote the saltpan.256 It also points to the salt
manufacturing257 and its exchange.258 The bullock cart was a common vehicle
by which the salt was exchanged to faraway places.259 Bullock carts of salt
manufacturers loaded with salt going to the points of exchange in the
hinterlands.260 Sometimes donkeys were also used to load the salt.261 Salt
manufacturing was an important occupation of the people, in addition to the
fishing and cultivation of multi culture produces in certain areas in the neythal
areas.

The people engaged in salt manufacturing were known as Umanar.262

There are references to the settlements of the salt manufacturers near the
saltpans.263 There are allusions in the texts of the manufacturing of salt.264
The area where the salt was produced is known as kazhi or saltpan and the

252
AN.30.4 kilayudan thuvanty.
253
AN.80 panmīn unangal.
254
AN.340.14.
255
AN.30.10, AN.140.8 chērimāru vilaikūralin and AN.320.3-4.
256
PN.17.12 thenkazhi, PN 20.5 kodunkazhi, AN. 40.1kānalmalaikazhi AN.230.1 urukazhi.
PN.386.16, AN.350.1.
257
PN.313.5-6.
258
PN.60.7 kanal kazhiyuppu mukanthu kalnādu madukkum, PN, 116.7-8.
259
AN.30.5, PN.116.7-8, AN.390.2.
260
PN.102, 106, 307, 386.
261
AN.207.5 naraipura kazhuthai.
262
AN.30.5 uppu oy umanar.
263
PN.386.16 kazhi chārntha pukuthi.
264
AN.207.1-2, PN.313.5-6.

91
space where salt is manufactured is known as chiruthadi.265 The spread of
saltpans266 indicates the production of salt and rock salt267 facilitated the long
distance exchange268of salt. The manufactured salts were exchanged not only
in the coastal region but also in the hinter lands.269 Salt was exchanged for
paddy270 on bargaining terms is mentioned in the text271. The bullock carts272
and donkeys were also used to the exchange of salt.273 Movements of carts
and people resulted in the formation of pathways and steady movements of
people across long distances.274 These long distance pathways were used by
the salt/ dry fish exchangers who exchanged theses goods to the people settled
on the hill slops275and mountain tracts.276 Salt traders were proceded to the
hilly-forested nātu called kalnātu, nātu in the hilly region277, with salt loaded
carts. Fishing, salt manufacturing and its exchanges resulted in the gender
division of labour as the women of Umanar and Parathavar clans conducted
the exchange of salt and fish in the coastal settlements.278 This indicates that
there existed the settlements of the people who were not engaged in salt
manufacturing and fishing in the coastal region. The texts also suggest that

265
AN.366.
266
AN.20.5 kodunkazhi, AN.230.1 urukazhi
267
AN.140.3 velkal uppu.
268
AN.386.17.
269
AN.207.3.
270
PN.341.1.
271
AN.60.4-6.
272
AN.390.2.
273
PN.386.17.
274
K N Ganesh, Lived Spaces in History, op.cit.p.178.
275
PN.386.17 perunkal nannāttu uman olikkunnu.
276
PN.60.7 kānal kazhiyuppu mukanthu kalnādu madukkum, AN.30.5 uppu oy umanar.
arunthurai pōkkum.
277
PN.60.7 kānal kazhiyuppu mukanthu kalnādu madukkum.
278
AN.320.3-4

92
there were agriculture tracks279 in the coastal region where the paddy and
certain garden produces were cultivated. The shrubbed vegetation in the
littoral tracts is called kānal.280 Hence, pulam is also a productive space in the
coastal region too.281

Migaration and Occupation of River Valleys

The forested region in the high ranges in the western part of the Western
Ghats is conceptualised as Kurinchi –Mullai region, where we find diverse
livelihood forms like hunting, gathering and shifting cultivation in the early
historic period.282 Kādu was as important as agricultural tract - an
indispensible part of life activity of the people who subsisted on forested
space. The shifting cultivation in the tinai-varaku zone of the mountainous,
hilly-forested back wood region shows that the inhabitants of Kurinchi –
Mullai zone were the originators of both monocrops including mountain
paddy and multi crops. Kuravar, Vēdar and Vēttuvar clans resorted to hunting
and conducted shifting cultivation together in the mountain and hilly-forested
area.

The people who practiced the shifting cultivation in the mountains and
hills migrated to the river valleys and riparian region in the midlands and
estuarine areas. There had also been the movements of the people like bards,
movements of the people from the seashore to exchange the salt and
seafood.283 Movements of the people like hunters, gatherers and shifting
agriculturalists also opened up new routes for movements and

279
AN.40.1, pn.209.2, pp.6.5.3-6.
280
PP.6.5.5, AN.110.5
281
AN.10.4.
282
Rajan Gurukkal, ‘Tribes, Forest, and Social Formation in Early South India’, in Tribes,
Forest, and Social Formation in Indian History, op.cit.,p.71.
283
PN.60.7 kānal kazhiyuppu mukanthu kalnādu madukkum.

93
communication.284 Predatory marches were another kind of human
movement. The land routes and river routes were made use of for the human
movements as well as movement of goods. Movements of carts and people
resulted in the formation of pathways called aru. It went through cross roads
called kavalai. Peruvazhi285 and neri286 are also referred to as pathways.287
The people used the rocky pathways in the mountain-forested region called
churam288for their movements. The rivers were also used for human
movements.289 There are references to the movements of the people from
certain old settlement called muthukdi mūthur.290 People moving towards far
away places in search of new resources are mentioned in the texts.291 They
came down to the midland from the forested hilly region in search of new
resources.292 Migration of women from the hilly region is specifically
mentioned in the text.293 Text also reveals migrations due to disturbances of
wild animals294 and migrations from the kutis.295 They migrated through the
region where other dialects were spoken.296 There are also references for

284
PN.138.1-3 āninam kaliththa āthar pala kadanthu
māninam kaliththa malai pinnozhiyz.
285
AN.17.15 chennila peruvazhi , PN.30.13. idapulaperuvazhi.
286
AN.168 chiruneri.
287
K N Ganesh, Lived Spaces in History: A Study in Human Geography in the Context of
Sangam Texts, Studies in History.25,2[2009].p.178, AN.344.6.
288
PP.2.9.2 kalludai neduneri pōzhnthu, PP.6 9.3 panichuram padarum AN.171.15,
PN.143.8.
289
PP.9.8.25 punalmali peryāru izhithanthānku, PN.42.19 malaiyil izhinthu mākkadal
nōkki nilavarai izhitharum palyāru pōla.
290
PN.391.9.
291
AN.21.5-6 chēynāttu chellal.
292
AN.25.22 kalmichai aruviya kādu iranthōr, AN .45. kāduiranthanar,
AN.1.19,AN.327.18 , AN.331.7-8.
293
AN.321.17, vēy uyar pirankal malai iranthōl.
294
AN.52.7.
295
AN.77.5-6 yānkanum kudipathi ppeyarntha chuttu udaimuthupāzh
296
AN.349.14 chel peyar thēyaththa churan iranthōr

94
desertions of settlements in the Kurinchi-Mullai zone due to such
migration.297 People were forced to migrate from their ūr298settlements due to
war299 or natuaral calamities. The chiefs who also conducted plunder raids
and burned the agriculture settlements and crops300.

The migration of people from the Kurinchi-Mullai zone to the river

valleys thus resulted in the production of operational and habitational spaces.
The migrant settlers began to clear and reclaim the biomass deposited and
silted areas in the river valleys and the estuarine plains. Hence, the formation
of river valley agriculture reveals the pattern of human movements and
developments of communication networks as well. Ūr settlements were also
the production localities in the riverine and wet land areas.

Mixed crops production spaces were also developed in the hinter lands
as well. The agriculture operations began to spread in the riparian terrains in
the midland. Wetland agrariculture operations began to be developed in the
river valleys and riparian areas. This development was on account of the
contact between the people who inhabited in the mountainous hilly-forested
back wood region on the one and the littoral coastal tracks on the other. The
proximity of these two terrains is somewhat so close in many part of the West
Coast. The relations that developed between the people of these two regions
through exchange of goods and human movements resulted in the
development of the midland as a region for cultivation and settlement.

The early migrants settled in the river valleys and water logging areas
were the people who inhabited in the chirukutis in the Kurinchi- Mullai region
297
AN.77.13-14.
298
AN.166.10 ūr ezhunthu ulriya.
299
PP.2.9.16,PP.6.4.12
300
Rajan Gurukkal, ‘Historical Antecedents’ in P J Cherian [ed], Perspectives on Kerala
History,op.cit.,p.35.

95
and subsisted on tina and varaku. The technologies of production and know
how of agrarian operations they possessed at the Kurinchi-Mullai region also
travelled along with the migrants to the midland.

Occupation and Settlements in the Midland

The movements of the people from the hilly mountainous region resulted in
two important developments in the midland region: settlements near water
sources and the formation of extensive cultivation area.301 These human
movements for appropriation of resources and lands across micro – eco
zones302 resulted in the formation of kutis and ūrs in the mid land. The
expansion of agriculture and the formation of settlements on the riversides in
the midlands and on the estuarine area point to the trans- tinai nature of
settlements and cultivation process.303 Expansion of agriculture practices from
mountains and hills to the mid lands and estuarine area was a process by
which the shifting cultivation spread to the elevated regions and the hill slopes
in the midland. Mountain paddy now began to be cultivated in the elevated
area in the midland.304

Rivers subjected to floods and water logging called punal or vellam.

Flood carried silt [ekkal] that was deposited in the riverbanks.305 Water laden,
swampy areas were brought under cultivation called tannadai or tanpanai.306
Silted areas and flood plains on the river valleys like Periyar307 , Bharatapuzha

301
K N Ganesh, Representations of Nadu in Early Tamil Songs, Perspectives.
Vol.2.No.2.p.5.
302
Ibid.
303
Ibd.,pp.4-5.
304
AN.397.Pul vilaivethirai nel vilai kātu.
305
K N Ganesh, Representations of Nadu,op.cit.,pp.2-3
306
Ibid.
307
PP.3.8.10 karai nivanthu izhi tharu nananthalai ppēriyāttu.

96
and Pampa308 etc began to be occupied and cultivated. Forested area on these
riverbanks, and the marshy and water logging plains in the estuarine region
[kāyal309] were to be brought under cultivation by way of slash and burn and
reclamation means. The biomass in the flood plains on these riversides and
silted areas310 in the estuarine tracks were also cleared and reclaimed for
cultivation as part of this process.311

Thus, new landscape was formed on the river valleys, water logged
areas, riparian plains and estuarine regions. The agricultural tracts so created
are called kazhani312 and vayal.313 Organized form of paddy cultivation in
these river valleys required the efficient water management and the systematic
preparation of land. Use of extensive water management devices and efficient
ground preparations made these lands conducive for production operations in
this region.314 The use of water spaces and systematic water management that
turned the wetland315 a congenial terrain for cultivation of paddy, sugarcane
and multicultural produces.

308
AN.246.6 pozhil akal yāru
309
AN.366.5.
310
PN.366.20 nīrnilaiperiththa vārmanaladaikkarai.
311
Ibid.
312
PP.2.3.13. viripūnkazhani, PP.5.10.3. Karumabamaikazhani, AN.326.6.Irunkathir
kazhani, AN.156.13,226.5 . PN.57.6 kathirkazhani, [kazhani form of land can also can
be seen in the neythal region PN.209.2 neythalankazhani]. PN.266.6 niīthikazh kazhani,
PN.387.35-36 pallūr chuttiya kazhani, PN.396.3 kazhichuttiya vilai kazhani, AN.96.8
kazhani ampaapai
313
PP.2.3.1 thoruththa vayal, PP.3.9.3. mudanthai nellin vilaivayal, PP.4.13.mudanthai
nellin kazhayamal kazhani, PP.4.10.5. vilai vayal, AN.306.5 valavayal, PN.15.4 vilai
vaya,PN.16.3-4.
314
K N Ganesh, Lived Spaces in History: A Study in Human Geography in the Context of
Sangam Texts, Studies in History.25,2[2009].p.174.
315
Ibid.

97
Landscape and Production of Productive Spaces

The riverine areas316 were occupied and settled by the people who migrated
from the high land, i.e. the people who lived in the chirukuti called
chirukutimākkal like Vēdar, Āyar and Kuravar.317 Nīrthurai318 is the wetland
space in the riverside, which had been reclaimed for occupation and
settlemnts. These lands were reclaimed from the marshy and waterlogged
areas called pazhana poikay319 and nīrmuthir pazhanam.320 The flood areas in
the riversides are known as punal or puthupunal.321 The reclaimed land space
for cultivation was known as vaipu.322 Flood regions were also reclaimed.323
The flatlands in the river valleys and littoral tracts are called parappu. The
shrubbed vegetation called pothumbu in the wet lands was also made
cultivable tracts.324 An area laid in between two slightly elevated land spaces
was called kōdu.325 Settlements were made in the riversides.326

Settlements near water sources began to be spread.327These settlements

are known as ūr328, punal ūr329 or chirūr.330 We come across the terms like
Uzhavar, Thozhuvar and Vinainjar etc to denote the settlers. The major

316
AN.246.6 pozhil akal yāru.
317
K N Ganesh, Kēralathinte Innalakal,[ second edition] , op. cit., p.61
318
PP.3.7.6.
319
AN.96.3, AN.276.1 nīl irum poykai.
320
AN.46.4.
321
PP.9.8.25, AN.266.2
322
AN.255.10 ‘punalvaipu’,PN.341.19 menpula vaippin.
323
AN.266.2 puthupunal.
324
AN.256.1 .
325
AN.266.1.
326
PP.3.10.21 chezhumpalvaippin.
327
AN.336.10.
328
PN.285.14-15
329
AN.116.4.
330
PN.65.5.

98
challenge the settlers had to confront was to manage the flood water331 and set
the riparian space for agriculture operations. The efficient water management
made these spaces the fields of permanent agricultural operations.332 Hence,
much labour and attention was required to control as well as to manage the
waterscapes. These land spaces became more arable and fertile because of the
biomass deposited sedimentation and intervention of human labour for
cultivation.333 The garden land for sugarcane cultivation and paddy fields
created from these lands spaces334. There are vivid representation of land and
water335indicating the importance given to production operations.

Land, Water Management and Water Harvesting Structures

Many of water management devices were invented because of the efforts

made by the settlers. The river water was drawn away by making channel
called vāy.336 Chiray was also built to store water for irrigation purpose.337
Bunds were created for the management of water.338 Vāy and chiray are
important water management system by which excess water was drawn away
and water was stored in reservoirs. Thōdu was a small stream339 usually
located near productive spaces like paddy fields. New land spaces were
created as a result of the process of reclaiming the land called pulam, pulam is
the fertile arable agriculture tract.340 When the pulam was used for agriculture

331
PP.3.10.7 vendalai chembunal paranthu, PP.5.3.15 arunjelar pērāttinurunkarai.
332
AN.306.5 nīrchūzh valavayal.
333
AN.126.8.
334
AN.256.14-15 palpūnkazhani karumbu amalpadappai.
335
PN.18.21-22.
336
PP.3.7.9. poykai vāyil punalporu puthavin, AN.155.9 koduvāy pattal.
337
PP.3.10.1819 vellaththulchchirai kol, AN.76.11, AN.346.9 val vāy kodumchirai.
338
AN.346.9 valvāy kodumchirai, PN.18.28-29.
339
PN.9-10.vanthōtttupinanku kathirkazhani, PN.338.9-10 vanthōttu pinankukathir
kazhani.
340
PP.3.5.4 mā ādiya pulam nānchil āda.

99
operation, especially for paddy cultivation, this land space became nilam, ie,
cultivated field.341 Kazhani342 which denotes attract of land in water logging
region is also mentioned in texts.343

When new riverine and riparian areas were reclaimed, the space
becomes kazhani, ie, the wet land near water source in the ūr.344 These
kazhanis were used to cultivate the paddy345. This process began to spread
into the hinterlands and hence kazhani can be seen in the elevated paddy
cultivating areas in the midland.346 Vayal is also the wet land meant for paddy
cultivation347. Pallam348 is wet land located in between two elevated areas in
the midland region where paddy was cultivated. Other spaces of cultivation
were emerged in the form of padappai.349 Padappai often occurred adjacent
to vayal in the wetland.350

Kazhi is saltpan and there existed paddy field near saltpan in the
Neythal region.351 This shows agricultural space352 spread in the coastal
region.353 Pulam can be seen as a fertile agriculture space354, menpulam is wet

341
PP.2.9.17. Nilam kan vāda.
342
PP.2.3.13. viripūnkarumbinkazhani, PP.4.2.13. mudanthai nellin kzhaiyamal kazhani,
PP.5.10.3. karumbamal kazhaniye.
343
PN.385.9 nelvilaikazhani.
344
AN.387. pallur chuttiya kazhani.
345
AN.326.6 irunkathir kazhani.
346
AN.13.17-19 valavayal kazhaninel, AN.41.4-7.
347
AN.306.5 nīrchūzh valavayal.
348
PN.1871-4.
349
AN.146.4Padappai nanni.PN.197.10
350
AN.96.8 Kazhani am padappai.
351
AN .40.1 kānalmālaikazhi , PN.209.2 neythalankazhani nellari thozhuvar, AN .20.5
kodungazhi.
352
PN. 396.3 kazhichuttiya vilaikazhani.
353
PN.388.1-2 vilaivayal pallam.
354
PP.3.5.1, PP.3.3.3, PP.6.8.15.

100
land agricultural zone355 and vanpulam is multi-production zone.356
Punpulam is meant for the place where agriculture does not occur or waste
land.357 In the wetland region, water sources near paddy fields are known as
pazhanam358, poykai359, aruvi360 and kayam.361 Kuvam and kinar362 are other
sources of water. Chirai363 was a form of permanent water source and it was
constructed by making bund across the water channel.364 There developed
natural or man-made water harvesting structures, which were indispensible
part of the settlements and cultivation operations in both wetland and laterite
areas.

Uzhavar and the Cultivation Operations

The people who subsisted on cultivation in the lands so reclaimed / created

were called ērin vāzhnar or Uzhavar365, ie, people subsisted on plough
agriculture. They are also known as kazhani uzhavar.366 Hence, Uzhavar
become an important occupational group in the wet land region367 who

355
PN.384.1.
356
PN.146.4, PP.209.6 menpulavaippin nannāttupporuna,PN.42.17-18.
PN.395.1-2 menpulaththu vayaluzhavar
vanpulaththu pakadu viduka.
357
AN.284.7 punpulam thazhiyiya porai mutal chirukudi.
358
AN.46.4, 106.1, 136.4, nīrmuthir pazhanam, AN.96.3 pazhana poykai. AN.176.7
pazhanam,AN.226.5, AN.256.6 thīm perum pazhanam, AN.6.16.
359
AN.276. nīl irum poykai.
360
PN.229.14 Paraiyichai aruvi, PP.8.8.2 avellaruvi.
361
Ibid.p.174. AN.186.5 kayam, AN.25.1.
362
PN.331.1-2 kallaruththiyattiya valluvarkūval, PN.392.13 ūrunkēni, PN.371.1 kalarpadu
kūvai thōndi, AN.68.2 than ayam, AN.155.10 kūval thōndi, AN.321.8.
363
AN.76.11.
364
K N Ganesh, Lived Spaces in History: A Study in Human Geography in the Context of
Sangam Text, Studies in History,op.cit., p.169.
365
PN.33.2-3.
366
AN.216.9.
367
AN.35,6 er vāzhkai, AN.37.2 kalimakizh uzhavar.

101
managed the production operations. The land called kazhani or vayal was
prepared for paddy cultivation. As these land spaces were silted368 and
riparian, organic and fertile condition of the fields were so fit for paddy
cultivation.369 The field was divided into a number of marked plots370 and the
boundaries of the plots were marked by varambu.371 These plots ploughed
with iron ploughshare called nānchil.372 The plough marks were called
kozhuvazhi373 or chāl.374 Animals like oxen375 and sometimes donkeys376
were used to plough the lands.377 Buffaloes were used to plough the land in
waterlogged areas in the riverine and estuarine plains.378 Selection of good
quality of buffaloes was important for ploughing the waterlogged areas.379
380
The terms such as pūttu, uzhu and uzhupadai381were used to denote
ploughing.382

The muddy area was cleared by a devise called thalambu.383 There is

reference to the different aspects of ploughing384and sowing the seed.385 The

368
AN.25.5 ekkar,aral and viravumanal.
369
AN.156.3.
370
AN.336.17 kazhani karumgōdu.
371
PN.98.varambu anainthu iranku kathir alam varu kazhani, AN.13.20 cheruvin
varambu.
372
PN.120.3 pūzhi mayanka pala uzhuthu viththi, PN.20.11.
373
PP.6.8.17 nānjilādiya kozhuvazhi.
374
PN.35 uzhupadai yūntru chāl.
375
PP.3.7.11,PN.322.1 uzhuthūr kālai.
376
Pp.3.5.4,PN.15.2.
377
PP.6.8.16 chirudai palpakadu olippapūtti.
378
AN.146.1-4.
379
PN.289.1-2 palleruthullum nalleruthu nōkki viru vīrāyum uzhavan pōla.
380
AN.26.24-25
381
PN.35 uzhupadai yūntru chāl marunkin intrathan payan.
382
Ibid,PN.13.11-12.
383
PN.61.3 thalambu thadinthitta.
384
AN.41.4-7.

102
paddy seed was planted in the fields.386 The land produce and tree produce
were called payan387and the riped paddy was called kathirmuthal.388 Certain
people called kāvalar are appeared to have employed to protect the paddy
field.389 The harvesting of paddy is referred to in the texts.390 The harvested
paddy391was brought and put in a threshing ground called kalam392or nilai.393
The oxen were also used to separate the paddy [azhiththal] from its straws
[pōrppu] and sifting grains for shaft was another task394.This was usually
done by way of showering against wind was called kadunkātteriya.395The
grains sifted and processed thus were preserved in spaces called kalam. As
such kalam functioned as a centere of redistribution space.396 Women played
very important role in the process of agriculture operation from planting the
seedlings to the husking the paddy.397 The elders among the Uzhavar were
called naraimūthālar.398 It was the leadership of these elders that much of the
agricultural operations were conducted. Juniors [ilaiyar] must have been
employed to conduct the agriculture operations in addition to women in the
extended kin group.

385
PN.120.1-8.
386
PN.18.24. vittivanōkkum,PN.127.4-5 thuvantiya kayathitta vittum
387
AN.136.6.
388
AN.156.4.
389
AN.156.4
390
AN.40.12-13 kazhani vel nel arinar,AN236.4 vel nel arinar.
391
AN.156.3 chezhunjey nel.
392
PN.30.8-9 perumkalam thokuththa vuzhavar pōla,171.9 kalamali nellin
393
AN236.5.
394
AN.366 kadunkāttu eriya pōkiya.
395
AN.366.4.
396
AN.366.1-3 nīr chūzh viyan kalam poliya pōrpu azhiththu.PN.33.5 kalakkol vennel
mukanthanar koduppa.
397
PN.61,1 kondai kkūzhaithandazhai kadaichiyar.
398
AN.366.

103
 Spread of cultivation in the vayal and kazhani399 in riverine and
riparian area also indicates the proliferation of settlements of the Uzhavar.
These settlements are called ūrs400 or pākkam401 and those who lived in ūrs
and managed the process of cultivation in the wet lands are called ūran.402
The appearance of ūran indicates proliferation of agrarian settlements403 and
the organization of agriculture activities in the ūr settlements.404 Hence, ūran
can be a person holding certain power over the ūr and its settlers from among
them chiefs must have emerged. Ūran and other dominant groups lived in the
structured houses like manai or later when chiefs grew themselves they lived
in nakar. The socio-economic status of the people of the ūr settlements were
determined on the basis of the structure of the houses in the ūr settlements.

Evidences show paddy cultivation spreading in these settlements.405

Paddy is differently termed as chennel406, pazhamchennnel407,
chezhumcheynel408 and pal pazhanel409 to show varieties of paddy cultivated.
The term yānar indicate the spread of these agrarian settlements and the
production of surplus in the ūr settlements in wetland region.410 This also
indicates the spread of cultivation of paddy, sugarcane and other multi culture

399
AN.226.5 pazhana painchay kezhuthi kazhani, 326.6 irunkathir kazhani.
400
AN.336.10 thīm perum poykai thurai kēzh ūran.
401
AN.245.13.
402
PN.49.1 ūran enkō, AN.236.4 akal vayal yānar ūra, AN.246.4 mali nīr akavayal yānar
ūra.
403
PN.346.11 paya kēzh ūra, AN.356,13 nedunkathir nellin vallam kizhavōn.
404
AN.S6.8 thanthurai ūran, AN.106.5 thurai kēzh ūran.
405
PN.387.35-36. pallūr chuttiya kazhani ellām vilaiyum nellinum.
406
AN.116.2
407
AN.126.10-11.
408
AN.156.3.
409
AN.166.4.
410
AN.226 yānar ūra.

104
produces411 in these settlements. The expansion of agriculture resulted in the
formation of certain concept regarding the extent of cultivated land as well as
a measurement of land called vēli.412 The term padappai points to the
development of multicultural garden413 and mixed crops cultivation
spaces.There is reference to the padappai near water logging area, indicating
the coexistence of paddy cultivation and the multi culture garden produces.414
Yet another produce cultivated as multi culture crop is kol [horse gram] which
is mentioned in the text.415 There is an agrarian imagery in the text in which
sugarcane is brought from the hilly-forested area to cultivate in the wetland
area in the midland.416 Paddy is also brought from the stock of mountain
paddy cultivated in the hill slopes.

The extension of cultivation in padappai indicates the development of

garden cultivation in the laterite area called parambu. The floral richness like
fruit bearing trees417 also indicates this development. Cultivation of mono
crops like paddy and sugarcane, multi culture operations in padappai and
parambu made possible the further spread of ūr settlements in the midland.
The spread of mono crops and multi culture cultivations resulted in the
development of auxiliary occupations like craft and metalwork and exchange
of produces including the spices and forest produces collected.

Kuti and the Qestion of Labour

The agrarian operations and settlements in the river valleys, estuarine lands
and in the laterite areas also reveal the nature of production process that
411
AN.256.14-1.
412
PN.391.21 nin vayal vēli āyiram vilaika.
413
AN.146.4 padappai nanni,PN.375.9-10 yānar varaiyani padappai.
414
PN.98.20 perumpunar padappai.
415
PN.105.5 kolluzhu viyan pulathu uzhaikōlaka.
416
PN.99.2 arumperal marapin karumpu ivan thanthum.
417
AN.166.1 kuzhi iya nal maram.

105
required the multiple co-operation of people engaged in the different phases
of agriculture operations. This evolved certain form of division of labour in
the agrarian settlements. Gendered labour also began to be appeared in the
production process in these settlements. The settlements of the people who
subsisted on cultivation are called ērin vāzhnar kuti.418 The term kuti is to
denote the settlements of the cultivators and other occupational groups and
their life activities. It is a habitation as well as operational category denoting
the spatiality of settlement and labour aspect of life activity. The people
engaged in the ploughing activities were called Kalamar.419 Harvesting was
done by the group called Thozhuvar420 or Arinar.421 There are people
engaged in separating the paddy from its hays.422 The people who conducted
the labour activities in agricultural operations thus came to be known as
vinainjar and Arinar.423 Vinai stands for labour.424 Thozhil and chey are used
to denote the labour activities. There are indications regarding the importance
given to the socially necessary labour.425 The term Thozhuvar also makes
sense of the people who engaged in the auxiliary activities to agriculture
production426 like craft and metal working. The persons working as a craft
men are also mentioned in the text.427

418
PN.375.5.
419
AN.366.3 kal ār kalamar.
420
PN.209.2 neythalamkazhani nellari thozhuvar.
421
PN.348.1 vennellarinar.
422
AN.AN.366.3. pakadu thalai mātti.
423
AN.236.4 vel nel arinar.
424
AN.116.2 kāl kuvitta vinainjar, PN.388.10-11 vinai pakadu ēttam ezhī ikkinai.
425
PN.366.10-13.
426
PN. 209.2.
427
AN.356.9 chirukarōdan.

106
Women in the Labour Process

Women who engaged in direct agriculture operation and fishing are also
mentioned. Women did planting the paddy, weeding, harvesting, husking428
and fishing in the inland water429 . Gradually, they were attributed low social
or economic status or generally the low born status. There were women who
engaged in domestic labour.430 There is a reference to the weaving woman in
the text. This indicates the cotton texture must have been done mainly by
women.431 Certain people who were employed to protect the paddy field
called Kāvalar. There is a term called pathan eliyōr indicating the low status
of the people432 including women, likely to be employed in the agricultural
operations and other auxiliary activities. They received grains as reward of
their labour.433 Subsistence on a low-grade paddy called chilpatham is
revealed in the text.434 The women of the Pānar clan in the midland region
subsisted on inland fishing.435

References to impoverished clans436 who engaged in the agricultural

operations and settled din kutis indicate growth of socio-economic
differentiation. Migrants originally settled themselves as uzhavar. They
created and extended the productive spaces. It is possible that predatory chiefs
raided and plundered their settlements with the result that the latter were
subordinated. The settlers thus subordinated ultimately turned themselves as

428
AN 286.1 velli vizhuththodi ulakkai, kuruthal, PN.399.2 thodiman pathu oū ulakkai
kuttarichi.
429
AN.216.1 mīnkol pānmakal
430
PN.399.1 adumakal mukantha alavā vennel.
431
PN.125.1 pariththi pendin panuval anna.
432
PN.35.15 pathan eliyōr.
433
PN.387.25 manaikkala marodukalam.
434
AN.316.13 chil patham kozhiththu thām attu undu .
435
AN.196.3 noduththundādi.
436
PN.230.13 vīzhkudi uzhavan.

107
permanent laboring groups in the ūr settlements.437 The term izhichinan438
was important in this context as it was used to denote the low social and
cultural status of such people and they were treated as izhipirappālan439, clans
of lowborn origin.440 They were denied to posses the productive lands and
remained landless441as many of their original settlements and productive lands
were lost in plunder raids of the war chiefs and their kinsmen. Those who
possessed the productive lands and other material resources came to be called
uyardōr/mēlōr, the high born442 and they lived in manai.443 Their residences
were rich in resources and termed valamanai, wealthy houses.444

Multiple Economies and its Uneven Development- the Ūrs and Nātus

The above analysis shows that the natural resource regions in the period of
classical Tamil texts are forest, pasture and sea.445 Forest was termed as kātu,
kānal and irumpu. Pasturelands were also known as itam. Kātu and irumpu
were associated with the mountainous hilly-forested region while the kānal
was with shrubbed vegetation in the coastal area. We also come across the
process that the different modes of resource use were developed that enabled
to appropriate the various resources in the multiple economies that existed
and developed unevenly. The productive landspaces, forest, pasture lands,
sea, flora and founa, and auqua – biotic marine spicies became the object of
the labour of the inhabitants in each eco- zone. The use of resources like the

437
PN.327.5 thannūr chirupullālan.
438
PN.82.3 kattil ninakkum izhichinan, PN.289.
439
PN.170.5.
440
PN.364.14 izhipirappinōn īyapettu.
441
Rajan Gurukkal, Aspects … , op. cit., p.223.
442
ibid.
443
PN.338.2 nel malintha manai.
444
PN.354.6.
445
K N Ganesh, Representations of Natu …, op.cit., p.3.

108
landscape and the floral wealth for organized production took place in the
hilly back wood region called tina – varaku zone where shifting cultivation
was practiced.

Human movements and communication networks towards the midland,

especially to the river valleys and estuarine areas were corresponded to the
expansion of floral wealth and cultivation process across micro- eco zones.
The ‘garden’ cultivation existed in the mullai- kurinchi region indicated by
the term padaippu was also expanding to the midlands and littoral tracks,
pointing to the trans - tinai nature of the human movements and floral
wealth.446 Migration of people and their settlements in the river valleys,
water-laden areas and laterite parambus in the midland also indicate the
transition of resource use from the tina - varaku cultivation to the wetland
paddy cultivation in the river valleys and water logging areas and to the hinter
lands where multi culture operations were also developed in parambus.

The agrarian operations in the lands set by siltation and flood in the
river valleys and riparian region involved the utilization of labour for water
management and the reclamatory activities. It led to the formation of wet land
agriculture with utilization of new labour force.447 Trans – tinai nature of use
of resource and landscape for production was corresponded to a settlement
pattern of specific kind spreading across micro – eco zones. Settlements and
habitats in the Kurinchi – Mullai zone involving hunting, punam cultivation
and cattle keeping was termed as chirukudi448 and kurampai449 respectively.

446
Ibid.,p.4.
447
Ibid.
448
The chirukuti was normally situated in the slopes of the hills in the Kurinchi –Mullai
zone [AN.218.22 thanperunchāral, AN.118.3-4 and AN 192.12 peruvare chirukuti].
The people who inhabited in the chirukuti were known as chirukutiyān [AN.228.13
perunkal yānar thamchirukutiyān. AN.315.18 kānkezhuvāzhnar chirukutiyān]
The chirukuti is a resource rich settlement having the new yielding including agriculture
[AN.228.13 ‘…..yānar …….chirukuti…]

109
The settlements in the littoral tracts were also called chirukuti.450 The other
terms for house are manai451, illam 452
or il453, chittil, [small house454], nal il
[good house]455 and chēri.456 A number of settlements or kuti formed part of
an ūr. Hence the most archaic and basic geographic unit in the Samgam age in
this region was ūr [village].457 An ūr consisted of number of kutis called

It was the people who lived in chirukuti in forested back wood region that they engaged
in hunting, gathering and agricultural practices side by side. There also existed the
chirukuti surrounded by punpulam / waste land [AN.288.7 punpulam thazhiyiya
poraimuthal chirukuti.
448
PP.6.9.7 iraval mākkal chirukuti] .There are chirukutis of lesser bards448too [PP.6.9.7
iraval mākkal chirukuti].
449
PN.332.2 kurambaikūrai, AN.63.14 cherukāl kurambai, AN.129.6 kalchērpu iruntha
karuvāy kurambai, AN.129.6 pāzh ūr kurambai. AN.315.16, AN.210.1 kuriyirai
kurampai.
thanperunchāral, AN.118.3-4 and AN 192.12 peruvare chirukuti]. [AN.228.13
perunkal yānar thamchirukutiyān. AN.315.18 kānkezhuvāzhnar chirukutiyān]
The chirukuti is a resource rich settlement having the new yielding including agriculture
[AN.228.13 ‘…..yānar ….chirukuti…]
The people lived in chirukuti in forested back wood region that they engaged in hunting,
gathering and agricultural practices side by side. There also existed the chirukuti
surrounded by punpulam / wasteland [AN.288.7 punpulam thazhiyiya poraimuthal
chirukudi.
449
PP.6.9.7 iraval mākkal chirukuti] .There are chirukutis of lesser bards449too [PP.6.9.7
iraval mākkal chirukuti].
450
AN.290.8 chirupal tholkuti perunīr chērpan, AN.20.11-12 ‘ a valai parathavar kānal
am chirukuti, AN.269.21-22 ‘ cherunīrkānal thazhiyiya irukkai vānavan chirukuti,
AN.270. pula al marukin chirukuti pākkaththu inamīn vēttuvar.
451
AN.224.11, AN.232.10, AN.254.5,
452
AN.141.3 punaivinai illam.PN.116.5, PN 329.1.
453
PP.331.5.
454
PN.85. em il, PN.86.1 ‘chittil nattūn.
455
PP.9.10.45 kūzhudai nal il.
456
AN.76.2, AN.91.1-2 pulālamchēri pulvē kurampai, AN.347.6.
457
PP.2.5.18 muzhavu imizh mūthur,PP2.9.16 ūr udan ezhunthu,PN.387.35-36 pallūr
chuttiya kazhani, PN.342.11, PN.110.3, PN.285.14-15, AN.96.8 kazhani am padappai
kānchi ūra, AN.246.4 mali nīr akal vayal yānar ūra, AN .256. There is a vivid picture
of the ūr called pontha of Neduvel Athan PN.338.4.PN.84.4 kallen pērūr, ‘sometimes
there is reference to nallūr/ good ūr PN.343.17 nedunal ūr , PN.345.20 ippanai nallūr .

110
chirūr458 and a larger village was mūthūr.459 The ūr is a locality where
different lived spaces of various clans are embedded.460 Ūrs as localities of
lived spaces were trans - tinai in its location and identified with operational
[hunting and gathering, punam cultivation, fishing, salt manufacturing, and
wetland agriculture etc.] and habitational spaces [like kuti, chēri and pati]
exchange, cultural and ritual forms.461 Therefore ūr was subjected to
transition in accord with changes in production of subsistence and surplus and
its re /distribution in each eco zone.

Ūr, kuti and chirukuti are associated with nātu in the Kurinchi- Mullai
zone.462 A number of ūrs around hills constituted a nātu within the forest
[kādu]463 , but there was no clear distinction between nātu and kādu as the
former remained subsumed by the latter.464 However, the relation of kādu to
nātu indicates the difference between the food gathering and food production
in the kurinchi – mullai zone. Nātu became a resource region for food
production. Natu can also be seen in both menpulam and vanpulam and
vanpulam is a multi production zone, which includes forest, is also meant for
the food gathering and food production spaces.465 Hence, the formation of
nātu is related to the process of shifting cultivation and garden produces in the
kurinchi-mullai zone. It was also related to the settlements of inhabitants who

458
AN.63.13 kal en chīrūr, AN.104.10-1I , AN.129.11, PN.143.9-10, PN.170.2 ānkuti
chīrūr, PN.197.13 chīrūr mannan,PN.322.7, PN.314.4 vanpula chīīrūr,PN.328.2
punpula chīrūr.
459
PP.2.5.18 muzhavu imizh mūthur, PP.3.10.20, AN.218.19 ambal mūthur, AN.342.6 ā kol
mūthūr kalvar perumakan, AN .122.1, PN.350.2 karuvāy mūthūr, PN.391.9-10
muthukudi nananthalai mūthūr.
460
K N Ganesh, Lived Spaces in History, op.cit., p.189.
461
ibid.
462
They are kuntru natu, kuntru kezhu natu, perumalai natu, perunkal natu, kurumporai
natu, etc, K N Ganesh, Representations of Natu …..op.cit.,p7.5.
463
PP.2.5.16-17,PP.4.8.3, PP.7.colophone.4, PP.9.5.1
464
AN.22.1-2,AN.128.10
465
K N Ganesh, Representations of Natu.. , op.cit., p.6.

111
involved in the production of tinai- varaku and garden produces and auxiliary
occupations in the Kurinchi Mullai region. The term nādan466 indicates the
emergence of chiefs in the tina- varaku region under nādu, a tendency that
developed to imaging a political territory in the kurinchi-mullai zone by
subsuming the category tinai467eco zone. The predatory marches of the chiefs
are vividly represented in the texts.

The movement of people to the river valleys, creation of wetlands and

production in kazhani and vayal, in addition to multicultural operations, made
possible the proliferation ūr settlements in the river valleys. Expansion of
agrarian settlements along the river valleys indicates the development of the
prosperious village settlements as operation cum habitation spaces as well as
surplus producing localities. This process evolved a social division of
gendered labour process in these localities. However, the familial kin relations
could not have been detached from the labour process. It was from these
surpluses producing ūr settlements that the dominant persons developed from
ūrans who made certain control over the cultivating kutis. Production and
distribution of agrarian resources in these ūr settlements made these
settlements to connect and interlock each other. This resulted in the
consolidation of these localities under a territory of resource region called
nātus in the midland.468

These agrarian localities became the base of the political territories of

the chiefs called Kizhār469, Vēlir [hill chieftains470] and Vēntar.471 The

466
AN.4.13 kurumporai nādan, AN.22.1-2 aruvikkan kezhu nādan, AN.128.10 kāna
nādan,AN.138.14 nanmalai nādan, AN.148.6 perumpunam vavvum nāda, AN.222
perumalai kāna nādan.
467
Ibid, p.6.
468
AN.236.17 nāttin nāttin ūrin ūrin.
469
Kizhar are the low land chiefs of small settlements, though hunter chiefs, sometimes,
they held sway over agrarian tracts and maintained predatory control over other

112
chiefdom of Āys in the south, Chēras in the middle region who centered on
the trade settlements like Thondi, Muziris and Nannan in the north on the ēzhi
hill472, are best example for the process of the domination of such chiefs over
the production localities and cultivating kutis in both wet land and parambu
areas. This process of political formation was corresponded to the
development various forms of resource appropriations in multiple economies.

Continuity and Change

The terms denoting land and labour are indicative of the agrarian production
in which the formation of different operational land spaces related to
agricultural activities in both alluvial and laterite area is produced by human
beings as part of their involvement in the labour process. Therefore, the
labour activity for agriculture production and the production of landscape for
cultivation is a complementary process where the production operations and
formation of settlements get converged. The terms signifying land and labour
appeared in the inscriptions from the first half of the ninth century C E
indicate the process of continuity of agrarian production and formation of
settlements from early historical period. These terms must have attached to
the lands long before the transactions of these lands or the produce from such
lands was made and as such the inscriptions pertaining to such transactions
were produced. Hence these terms have a long historical past and continuity

settlements, Rajan Gurukkal and Raghava Varier [Eds], Cultural History of Kerala, op.
cit., p.201.
470
Katiramalai, kollimalai, mutiramalai, kutiramalai, parampumalai, pothiyil malai,
payirumalai and nanchimalai are important millat rich hill chiefdoms. The structure of
political power of these hill chiefs were based on kinship, Rajan Gurukkal and Raghava
Varier [Eds], Cultural History of Kerala, op.cit., pp.200-201.
471
The Chēras held sway over the kurinchi dominated zone of the Western Ghats towards
sea. They started their predatory marches from the mountain region, by subjugating
other chiefs, to the West and established a system in which a simple hierarchy was
formed on redistributive political economy based on plunder raids, Rajan Gurukkal and
Raghava Varier [Eds], Cultural History of Kerala, op.cit., pp. 202-205.
472
K N Ganesh, Keralathinte Innalakal,op.cit., pp.345-348.

113
to the period to which the epigraphical documents belong. This anteriority of
the terms and categories appeared in inscriptions pertain to settlements and
cultivation helps us to delineate the continuous process of occupation of river
valleys, water laden areas, marshy plains and estuarine areas. It also
highlights the formation of settlements and the continuation of cultivation in
these regions followed by the early historical period. In the following section,
an attempt is made to understand the natural specificity of the region, nature
of the location and varying significations of land and labour related to
production and habitation, followed by an analysis of production process

Ūrs were considered as the nerve centers of agrarian production and

settlements in post Sangam period in the region under discussion and,
therefore, an understanding of the nature of geographical terrains, land use
forms in the midland, estuarine areas, and littoral tracts are important. There
are two categories of land terms in our source material. One is the terms
related to natural geographical terrains including the water spaces and water
harvesting structures which must have necessary connection to what had
existed in the early historical period. Second is the operational land terms
developed as part of the labour process in agricultural operations which also
continued to exist up to the period when the epigraphical materials appear.

Many of the perennial rivers and streams are originating in the

mountains and hills, flowing through the hill slopes, connecting different ūr
settlements, reached either into backwaters or sea. Elevated terrains and hills
are also located in the midland. The midland, coastal plains and estuarine
areas are important where agriculture began to spread. The development and
expansion of agriculture practices centered on midland and the estuarine lands
made them a vast surplus generating region. The epigraphical material from
ninth to fourteenth century C E are important sources to reconstruct the
historical process under discussion and many of the features of this process in

114
the immediate post Sangam period are embedded in this source material itself.
The following attempt is to provide the nature of the land, labour forms and
agrarian production process from the period followed by the classical Tamil
texts to fourteenth century C E.

Land and Labour Terms: Embeddness of Production Process

Natural Spaces - Hills and Forest

Kuntram and malai are appeared as general terms in inscriptions to denote the
mountains-hills and elevated landscapes in the midland and malaipuram473and
venpamalai474 can be cited as cases in points. Sometimes kunnu, mala and
kuntram475 are used to denote the elevated areas. There are certain
malaimēlpadakāram, the padakāram land situated on a hill476,
venpāyamkuntranjīvitham, jivitham form of land located on hill slopes477.
Thazhuvankuntram478, malaiyum karaiyum479 , malaiyilkīzh480 ,ālakkādu and
malai481 are terms indicate the hill, forest and hill slops. Pukazhamalai and
kuntram are also mentioned482to denote this. The small hills and elevated
region are landscape found in midland region where the thick and dense
forests located and shifting cultivation practiced. This was also a space for

473
Tirikkakara Inscription of Indukothavarman, TAS.Vol.3.pp-171-173. [M G S
Narayanan, Index to Cera Inscriptions, A Companion Volume to Thesis on ‘The
Political and Social Conditions of Kerala under the Kulasekharan Empire’, University
of Kerala, 1972, Index A-26. Hereafter M G S, A,B,C.
474
Trikkakara inscription, M G S,A-25.
475
They are perinkamala, marunkamala, venpāykuntram, mutharkuntram and
venpāyikunnu, Devidevisvaram Plates, M G S,B-15.
476
Ibid.
477
ibid
478
Trikkakara Inscription,TAS.Vol.3.pp.188-189.[M G S,B-19]
479
TAS.Vol.3.No.7 [L] pp.46-49.
480
M G S,A-80.L.626.
481
M G S,A-80.L.554.
482
Adharam, op.cit.,

115
foraging activities. The major part of midland region during the early
historical period was almost a forested area. Our epigraphical references
reveal the importance of small hills and elevated regions in the midland and
estuarine areas. Migration of people to the river valleys and waterlogged areas
and to the estuarine region from mountains and hills resulted in the
settlements and cultivation in these regions. We find, in forgoing discussion,
that forested hillslopes in the midlands and estuarine areas began to be cleared
and cultivated from the early historic period itself and the continuation of
these process is inscribed in the epigraphical materials.

Forested area in this region during the early historical period was
variously known and represented as kādu, kanal and irumpu. The forested
region in the mountains and hills are kādu and irumpu while coastal
vegetation is kānal. Pasturelands are known as itam. Kādu is a term appeared
in our epigraphical documents to denote the thick forest in high ranges of
Western Ghats, hill slope forests, forested landscape in the midlands and the
shrub vegetations in the coastal region. Kādu terms appear to indicate not
only the forested region and shrub vegetation but to represent the cultivation
in the forested lands and foraging activities. It also makes sense of expansion
of cultivation in the midland river valleys and estuarine areas where the
forested landscape was cleared for cultivation and settlement. Kādēru is a
land term used to denote this process483 and certain vayalkādu484 is to suggest
the process of clearing the forested area to set paddy field or such lands
located near forested space. Shrub vegetation in the coastal region can be seen
in Kollam inscription and that must have been cleared and cultivation was
started. Similarly, the term kādumkarayum kazhiyum indicates forested land
space, paddy field and cultivable land lying adjacent to saltpan. The epithet

483
Tiruvattuvay inscription of Sthanu Ravi, TAS.Vol.2.no.9 [3] pp-85-86.
484
Kollam Inscription, TAS.Vol. 2 .No. 9 [2] pp.80-85

116
kādumkarayum also indicates the arable lands near riparian area which were
spaces of to the multi culture operation. The location of this inscription in a
water-laden area also points to the coastal vegetation and its transformation
into agrarian tracts. This process had been started from the early historical
period onwards and continuation of that process is revealed in inscriptions485.

Land terms with prefix kādu also indicate the existence of productive
spaces near the forest or the formation of such spaces out of forested area
because of slash and burn and forest clearance. A few kādu terms such as
mārakādu, cherumarakkādu, kayyikkāttu, kākkaikādu and chevvakkādu486 can
be cited as cases in point. Certain puraiyidam situated to the north of a kulam
and kachchikādu, kakkaikādu and chevvakādu mentioned in Chokkur
inscription reveal that forested area was being increasingly used for
cultivation and settlements.

Forested land space, vegetated terrain and floral wealth near

settlements were considered as a protected ecological niche and
palāvunkalamili and viyaimili are to denote this protected vegetation. Certain
chirupalāvinkulamili [the well and the land space covered by jackfruit trees]
and valankālmili487, protected vegetation with water source are mentioned.
Mili is a protected vegetation area in the midlands including the wetland
vegetated space. Kaiyanaikalmili488 indicates certain form of small reservoir
near protected vegetation. Certain miliyapazhanvilankādu489, a cultivation
area covered by shrubbed vegetation is also mentioned. It also indicates the

485
Ayiranikkalam inscription of Kota Ravi, Puthussery Ramachandran, Kerala
Charithrathinte Adisthana Rekhakal, State Institute of Languages, Thiruvanantapuram,
[2007]No.8, p.21.
486
Chokkur Inscription, SII.Vol.7.No.173.p.72.[M G S,A-8].
487
Ibid.
488
Manipuram Inscription, M G S,A-20.
489
Trikkakara Plate, M G S,A-28.

117
antiquity of an arable land, probably to early historical period, located near
protected vegetated area. The epithet mannanchēri
purayidamumathinukīzhmiliyālum 490 is protected vegetation near a compound
site. This reveals the relation that had existed between the forested land space
and the settlement area which made the cultivation and settlement specific to
each locality.

Nedunkādu and perumankādu491 indicate the large and dense forest

landscape in the midland. Mukkālizhaikādu492reveals the relation of forest to
the cultivable land space. This indicates the way in which the forested and
vegetated land spaces related to the making of livelihood forms. This would
suggest that the floral wealth of forested landscape and the making of land
spaces had been increasingly used for cultivation as part of the expansion of
cultivation into the laterite areas493 and the formation of settlements.

Certain izhikādu494and vettikarikkāttupūmi495 indicate the process of

slash and burn the forest for cultivation and the lands so created. This must
have been started in long historical past and continued to exist during the later
Chēra period as indicated by the epigraphical evidences. Certain
kulakkādu496, the land comprised of well and forested landscape used for
cultivation also indicate the process by which the forested area became part of
cultivable land space. Certain forested landspaces, perumanankādu,

490
Tiruvalla plates, M G S,A-80.L.263.
491
Nedumpuram Tali inscription of Kota Ravi, TAS.Vol.8.pp.43-44 ,MGS,A-9,Puthussery
Ramachandran, Kerala Charithrathinte Adisthana Rekhakal,op.cit.,No.10.pp.28-30
492
Manipuram inscription of Indu Kotha,M G S,A-20
493
Manipuram Inscription, M G S,A-20.
494
Chembra inscription, M R Raghava Varier, Kēralīyatha: Charithramānangal,[Vallathol
Vidhyapitam,1990], pp.119-134
495
Trikkakara Copper Plate of Indukothavarman, TAS.Vol.3.pp.161-169.
496
Nedumpuram Tali inscription of Indukothavarman, TAS.Vol.8.pp.41-42

118
marunkāduand perumbulam497 were forested landscapes used for productive
purpose. Certain kuzhaikkādu, kurandimankādu, pirayamankādu and
kudamanaikādu are mentioned in Devidevisvaram plates498 also indicate the
same process.

Certain karikkādu499 indicates the process of slash and burn the

forested area for cultivation. Mērumanaikāttu500 might have been a forested
space and cultivation began to be started along with formation of settlements.
Manaikādu indicates the clearing of forest for cultivation as well as
settlement. Kōthaiyūr vayilkādu501 indicates the clearing of forested area and
appropriation of floral wealth for cultivation on laterite and wet land regions
and formation of settlements. Kādumkaraiyumkaraipuraiyidavum and
kādumkarai502 indicate the process which brought the forest under cultivation
and formation of a compound site. The term karaipuraiyidam also indicates
the spread of multi crop cultivation and proliferation of settlements in the
laterite areas in the hinterlands. Certain kāttunilaththupurayidam503,
puraiyidam situated near forested land indicates the spread of settlements in
the forested region. Mannanchēri purayidamumathinukīzhmiliyālum points to
the protected vegetations and a compound site.504

There developed a process in which lands were reclaimed from

forested land spaces, vegetation in water laden areas and from estuarine
region. Early migrant settlers and settler cultivators or those people who had

497
Nedumpuram Tali inscription of Bhaskararavi, TAS.Vol.8.p.40.
498
Devidevisvaram Plates, M G S,B-15.
499
Trikkkakara inscription of Bhaskararavivarman, M G S,A-30.
500
Trikkakarai inscription of Bhaskararavivarman, TAS.Vol.2.No.7 [M] pp.48-49.
501
Tirumuzhikkalam inscription of Bhaskaravarman, TAS.Vol.2.No.,7 [K] pp.45-46.
502
Mampalli Plate, TAS.Vol.4.pp.72-82.
503
Tiruvalla Copper Plates, M G S, A-80.
504
Ibid, L.263.

119
been brought by the settlers must have cleared such vegetated areas. Tiruvalla
Copper Plate mentions such forest areas that had been cleared for
cultivation.505It also mentions certain people associated with these forested
area. Neythattalaimēkkāttu, may be a forested land space with cultivation
located adjacent to riverbank or estuarine area.506 Certain punnukādu507
points to the wetland vegetation. Talaipulam, kānjirakkādu508and araikkādu509
suggest the historic past of the term pulam and arable lands near forest.
Nelvāthilkādu and karavayalkādu510indicate the forested area where paddy
was cultivated. The transition of paddy cultivation from the hilly and
mountain region to the elevated area in the midland can also be seen in this
document.

The spread of paddy cultivation from mountain and hilly region to the
midland is very significant. The epithet karayum vayalum kādum ulladanga,
511
the land consisted of vayal, kara and kādu reveals this transition process.
The location of Kizhumalainādu was in the forested hilly region and the land
term nelvāthilkādu suggests that the cultivation of nel / paddy in the kādu
region, the mountain paddy was cultivated in the mountainous-forested region
/ hill slopes. This area was brought under the Kizhumalainādu and became
part of a chērikkal land when the natu formation in this high land region was

505
Tiruvalla Copper Plates, M G S,A-80. They are:
āththirayarkādu,arikkāduvēzhkkai,ālaikkalpālaththinarukevēzhaikkādu,irudiyārkādu,kā
rekalilakkaithaikādu,kuzhikkādu,kulakkādu,kurakkōţţuvanji,kaithaikkādu,kothaikannārk
ādu,kōthaichēnthanārkādu,chankarārkādu,chiriyakādāy,chēriudaiyārkādu,njāralkādu,n
edunkālināţţukānjirakkādu,paruţţikkādu,paruţţikkādumulmunai,penangādu,manimuzha
ngādu,veliyanārkādu, valiyakāday,vāyappāţţukādu and karakkādu.
506
Trikkulasekharapuram inscription, M G S, C-32.
507
Chennamangalam Inscription, TAS.Vol.6.Part.2.pp.189-190.
508
Nedumpuram Tali Inscription .TAS.Vol.8,No.33.p.41.
509
Nedumpuram Tali Inscription, M G S,C-38].
510
Trikkadithanam Inscription, MG S, B- 20.
511
Trikkadithanam Inscription, M G S,B-20.

120
consolidated under kīzhumalai nāttudayavar.512 The process of clearing forest
for cultivation was continued during the thirteenth and fourteenth century,
kadankādu513 palakkādu514 manankādu515 pāthirikkādu516, mayakkalkādu and
pūthiyarkādu517 are indicative of this process.

Pullēlpaduvana518and perumpullēl519indicate large grazing lands. The

term vēli is also meant for pastoral common lands for grazing. The term stand
for the people associated to it or lands lying near grazing lands. Tiruvalla
Copper Plate mentions a few such land spaces.520 These spaces were also
used for foraging activities and pastoral people might have used these spaces.
Grazing lands were also important for agro-pastoral communities and we have
kīzhkuzhipāzhchelli and mēlkuzhipāzhchelli521, indicating the pastoral
activities in the mid land region.

The Production and Land Spaces

The terms that we find in the inscriptions either suffix or prefix such as kādu,
kara and turuththu indicate the forest clearing, reclamation of estuarine lands
and water-laden areas. This process would be clearer when we study the terms
related to agricultural operations in the mid land and estuarine areas. These

512
Ibid.
513
Tiruvalur Inscription of Kulasekharaperumal, TAS.Vol.4.pp.145-146.
514
Kollam Inscription of Ramar Thiruvadi, TAS.Vol.5 part.1.pp.40-46. KE 278 .M G S,A-
71, 1102 C E.
515
Nedumpuram Tali inscription of Ramakulashekharan, TAS.Vol.8.p. 42.
516
Perunjellūr Inscription, ADHARAM, Vol.1.Sept.2006.pp.75-82.
517
Sattankulangara inscription, TAS.Vol.4.pp.160-161.
518
Tirunandikara Inscription of Vikramadithya Varaguna, TAS.Vol.1.p.42.
519
Devidevesvaram plate, M G S, B-15.
520
M G S,A-80, they are ayyanveli, alaveli, izhinjinattukadaveli, kalankalveli, kalveli,
kumanveli, chembakaveli, thevarveli, chaiththiyanveli, thazhaimuthaiyilkuzhiveli,
naluveli, neduveli,pattarveli, palaiveli,punaiveli, perunkalveli, vazhaipalli
irayinkaththanveli and chāttankāmanveli.
521
Kuravakavu temple inscription, M G S,B- 24,

121
terms represent a process by which the forested areas, river valleys, marshy
lands, flood plains, silted area and biomass formation in the waterlogged areas
in the midlands and estuarine regions were being cleared, harnessed and
reclaimed for cultivation. The forest was cleared for permanent agriculture
operations for multi crop cultivation. The conjoining together of kādu to the
terms denoting lands in these areas and terms signifying the agriculture
practices in the flood plains, waterlogged areas and estuarine regions indicate
the expansion of agriculture practices. Agriculture expansion in the mid lands
and estuarine areas are attested in these terms. It indicates the process by
which the forested area and marshy waterlogged wetlands and estuarine
regions were increasingly being brought for cultivation.

Grazing lands were also located near the forested areas and was
important space for agro-pastoral communities. Lands adjacent to water
sources like rivers, streams bunds, canals and estuaries were mostly used for
paddy cultivation. However, multi crop cultivation was also practiced in these
areas. Water sources like kulam and chira were located near mono - crops
and multi -culture lands. Flood plains, riverine and riparian regions, reclaimed
lands, elevated areas, foretasted land spaces and shrub vegetations were
mostly located in midlands and coastal plains. The conglomeration of these
land types, both in natural terrains and operational spaces, formed the
settlement pattern and production operations specific to the midlands. This
spatial specificity in the natural geographical region in the midland influenced
the operational spaces for agricultural production in laterite and alluvial areas.

Water Sources and Irrigation

In Sangam period, mountain streams were the main water sources of the
people who inhabited on mountain slopes and hills. Chinai was also a water
source in rocky areas. Kuvam and kinar were other sources of water. Chirai
was a form of permanent water source and it was constructed by making bund

122
across the water channel.522 In the wetland region, the water sources were
known as palanam, poykai and kayam.523 Puzha, thōdu, ār and aruvi indicate
the natural water channels like river and streams in the documents from ninth
century C E onwards. This also indicates riverside and riparian fertile lands
for cultivation in the midlands. Kulam, kinar, and chirai are the most common
water storing spaces.

In cultivable land and settlement area, whether it is in laterite zone or

alluvial area, water sources must have played a central role to sustain the
cultivation and the vegetation. Hence the habitation and settlement area like
kuti, ūr, chēri, mangalam or palli must have been situated near natural water
channels or artificial water spaces like kulam, kinar and chirai or other
manmade water sources. Kulam and kinar were important water harvesting
structures. Chirais are located in the confluence of settlements and agriculture
lands. Kulams, kinar and chirai can also be seen near the purayidams, the
compound sites. Epigraphical materials give us the following description of
waterscapes and water sources.

Certain temple land is said to have located in between udarār, a small

river, and kuttankōlanchira, a tank.524 The land situated in between a river
and a tank also reveals its importance as a large cultivating area. This also
indicates that occupation of riparian area and large scale cultivation by the
first half of the ninth century C E. Kulamuruthai, kulamili525, a purayidam to
the north of kulam [tank]526are indicative of this process. Certain
mēlkāniyārkulam, kōvankulam, kālanērikulam and kadalumkulam are stated

522
K N Ganesh, Lived Spaces in History: A Study in Human Geography in the Context of
Sangam Text, op.cit., p.169.
523
Ibid.p.174.
524
Irinjalakuda inscription of Sthanu Ravi, RVRIB.Vol.9.1.p.43.
525
Chokkur inscription, SII.Vol.7.No.173.p.72.[M G S,A-8].
526
Ibid.

123
to have been existed in the southern part of this region527. Lands also located
near water sources like kulams.528

Vāy is used to denote the sluice and puthuvāy indicates newly formed
water channel or sluices for cultivation purpose.529 Kannan Purayan, the
udaiyavar of Kālkkarainadu granted the land known as vettikkarikkāttu and
Pulaiyar attached to it. The same was located west to vāykālchirai and east to
idaichchirai530 Vāykālchirai indicates vāykāl, a term meant for water
channel, sluice, drawing water from tank to the field.531 This also reveals that
despite the abundance of natural water channels, certain forms of manmade
irrigation techniques were built to facilitate the expansion of agriculture.
Certain puzhaimānjāmannu, land near a river532 and chiraithalai, land to the
side of a tank are also mentioned. Certain karaikādinulla kulam [karai, kadu
and kulam] indicating the cultivation on an elevated area near forested
landscape where a water source called kulam is situated.533 Certain land
situated on a riverside, puzhakarai534 shows the riverine wetland agriculture
that was expanding along with the formation of new settlements.

Devidevisvaram plates mentions certain kulam called pūlaikulam.535

It also mentions pūmannikulanilam, chenkulam nilam, cultivated lands

527
Paliyam copper Palate of Varaguna, Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit.,No.77.pp.129-
133.
528
Parthivapuram plates of Kokkarunnadakar mentions kānjirakulam, painkulam,
venjaikulam,nedumankulam,perumkulam,kīzhkulam,kadalumkulam,mīnachchichirukula
m and ilanjakulam, TAS.Vol.1.pp.15-34.
529
Nedumpuram tali inscription,M G S,A-9.
530
TAS.Vol.3.pp-161-169.
531
Mampalli plate mentions certain uthikkāthudavai, M G S,B-12. Certain vāyināl are also
mentioned in Manipuram inscription, M G S,A-20.
532
Trikkakara Copper Plate of Kannan Kumaran ,M G S,A.20.
533
TAS.Vol.3.No.40.pp.176-177.
534
Chokkiram inscription,SII.No.772.[AR.No.207/1895],M G S,C-17.
535
Devidevisvaram plates,M G S,B-15.

124
situated near a kulam suitable for wet land agriculture. Kulangaraipurayidam
, a compound site adjacent to a kulam and kulamadikkunnavanjīvitham, the
land set apart for the well diggers indicate the importance given to the wet
land agriculture and making of water sources like kulam. This is also meant
for well diggers who developed themselves as particular laboring group.
Certain chiramēlpurayidam536, a compound site is located near a tank
deserves attention. Certain kīzhthōdu, chiraikīzh and chadikulam537 reveal the
process of agrarian expansion along with the creation of water sources.
Thōdu538was an important form of water channel and thōttōdu,
thōttyoduthōttidai539, indicating the importance of water channel like small
streams.

Irappuzhai and karppuzhai were small rivers and tributarie.540

Karppuzhaikari, karpuzhaippallam and karpuzhaippanal541 indicate the
riparian lands near the tributaries of rivers. Sirumattapuzha 542,āttōdu thōttodu
karaiyum543, mēlānjipuzha and thōttippu544 are indicative of water channels.
Puzha, thōdu, ār and karai are river and streams indicate the water bodies and
wet land spaces lying adjacent to water bodies.

Painkulam545, kulam on a land space, also indicates certain habitation

space near a field. Kāraikādudaiyārkulam546, karaikādu is an agricultural tract

536
Ibid.
537
Fragmentary odd Plate of Mampalli, M G S,B-12[974. CE].
538
Tirumuzhikklam inscription, M G S,A-37.
539
Tiruvalla Plates,M G S,A-80.
540
Ibid.
541
Ibid.
542
Trikkakara inscription of Bhaskararavivarman, TAS.Vol.3.pp.179-182.
543
Irinjalakuda temple inscription of Bhaskararavivarman, BRVRI.Vol.9.Part.1.p.51.
544
Tirumūzhikkalam inscription of Bhaskaravarman, TAS.Vol.2.No. 7.[K]pp.45-46.
545
Nedumpuram Tali inscription, M G S,C-38.
546
Tiruvalla Plates, M G S,A-80.

125
where multi crops were cultivated. Therefore, the well in a multi crop land
tends to the existence of settlement. Certain chiraimēlpuraiyidam and
chiraikumēl547 also indicates this.548 The compound site located near a tank
also makes the point that tank was an important water source in the midland
area. Tirunelli plate mentions kīzhkāttupozhaichērikkal, chērikkal land
adjacent to forest and river549 indicating cultivated land on a river mouth
located on hilly-forested area. Certain thōlanchirai 550is mentioned and chira
is important for both alluvial and laterite agricultural activities and for human
habitation. It also presupposes the existence of habitation sites near a chira or
tank. This area is very congenial to the formation of purayidams or compound
sites.

Certain puzhakkaraimattam551and puzhaimānjāmannu indicating the

land situated on a riverside. Aruvi [a small river] and kuzi [pit for storing
water] are other forms of water sources.552 Vattachirai, anjanachirai and
karpuzhai553 are water sources mentioned in the documents.
554
Vāzhaippallipōttai is a wet and fertile land space and karpuzhaipallam,
land situated near a river and lying in between two elevated region555, are fit
for wet land agriculture. Certain vuthumarkuzhi556and thirunīlankuzhi557 are
important as kuzhi and pallam are low laying land spaces surrounded by

547
Maniyur inscription, M G S,C-2
548
Devidevesvaram plate, M G S,B-15.
549
V R Paramesvaran Pillai, Prāchīna Likhithangal, op.cit.,
550
. Panniyankara inscription, M G S Narayanan, Kerala Charithrathinte Adisthanasilakal,
[Calicut, 1972],[M G S,A-53]
551
Tiruvalla Plates, M G S, A-80.
552
Ibid.L.67.
553
Ibid.L.221 and L.442
554
Ibid.L.139.
555
Ibid.L.235.
556
Kollur Matham Plate, M G S, B-15.
557
Kuravakavu temple inscription, M G S,B-24.

126
elevated area adjacent to water source. Kādum karaiyum kulamum558 indicates
the agriculture operation on an elevated space watered by a kulam.
Kulavarai559is paddy field near a kulam. Thannīrmukkam is a term denoting to
the water source.560 Munainkadavu, kadavu is ford, lowest crossing point of a
stream or river is mentioned in a mid 14th century Kollam inscription.

Chirai is also mentioned in this document. Vanjippuzha is mentioned

in a 14th centuary Sattankulangara inscription also indicates cultivation on
riverside and riparian fertile lands, which was expanding in thirteenth and
fourteenth century. Water sources like puzha, ār, thōdu, aruvi chira, kulam,
kuzhi etc indicate the availability of water for human habitation and
agriculture operations. This water harvesting structures must have been
existed in the ūr settlements. This indicates cultivation and habitation in these
settlements.

The term kōdu is a natural landscape meant for land situated between
two elevated land spaces. Certain kodu terms are mentioned in chokkur
inscription.561 There are references to kodu such as kummankōdu562,
marakkōdu, chirukōdu’ mundaikkōdu563and kattattikarikkodu. 564
Kōdu is
denoted here for an elevated land space adjacent to water source. The term
kōdu also occures as vadukikōdu and uthiyankōdu.565 Kollur Matham Plate
mentions certain kōdu566, Kodu is thus a term which shows a land space and

558
Mampalli Plate .Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit.No.103.
559
Tirunandikkarai inscription, TAS 3.No.55.pp.203-203.
560
Panthalāyini Kollam inscription, SII.Vol.7.p.69.
561
Idānkōdu, mānkōdu and pānkōdu, SII.Vol.7.No.173.p72.[MGS.A-8]
562
Indukothai inscription, TAS.Vol.3.pp-171-173.
563
Nedumpuram Tali inscription, TAS.Vol.8.pp.41-42.
564
Trikkakara inscription of Indukothavarman, MGS.A-25.
565
Tiruvanvandur inscription, M G S,C-41.
566
nedungōdu ,chengōdu, idaikkōdu , pirappamankōdu, vadakōdu ,īzhakkōdu,
kuththālangōdu,

127
extent of which is limited by water sources. This can also be applied to mūlai
such as pariyādimūlai and nariyādimulai.567 Certain kōnam can also be seen
in the same document.568

Pasture land and Punam Cultivation Spaces

The epithets atimāri569 and kādēru 570
indicate the existence of
shifting cultivation. Chirumuthaivēli571is also meant for pastoral common land
and the shifting cultivation spaces nearby. Chirupunaiyil thalai
chāththankūru572 gives us the sense that cultivation on a punam land and the
share [kūru] of the cultivator called Chāttan. Punam means high ground,
chiefly high land overrun with under wood and capable of irregular
cultivation.573 Punanellu [mountain paddy or hill paddy] punakrishi [shifting
cultivation], punakandam [marked field for punam cultivation] and
punamvāram [a share of the produce given to the overlord as dues out of
punam cultivation are cases in point in the practice of shifting cultivation.
Ālakkāl punam, kallūrpunam, kīzhpunam, cheriyapunam, puļivēlippunam,
agrashālappunam, mundayilagrashālappunam and nākanārpunam are
shifting cultivation tracts mentioned in the documents located in the midland
region.574

alirūrkkōdu,nedungōdukuthālangōdu,puliyangodu,kirayanangōdu,mulikkōdunilam,vella
ngōdu,karingilikkōttukōnam and veliyangōdu, M G S,B-15.
567
Kollur Matham Plate, M G S,B-15.
568
Ibid, ilavankōttukōnam, idanāttukōnam, kulapāttaththinumēlkōnam, pūlakkottukōnam,
kundāyaththukōnam, perurkkōttukōnam and maruthakachchērykōnam.
569
Chokkur inscription, M G S,A-8.L.9. Atimāri is also mentioned as the slash and burn
cultivation space in Kannapuram inscription, M G S, B-24.L.12.
570
Tiruvattuvay inscription of Sthanu Ravi, TAS.Vol.2.no.9 [3] pp-85-86.
571
Kandiyur inscription.Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit., No.154. L.16.
572
Kaviyur inscription ,M G S,B.5.
573
H Gundert, Malayalam -English Dictionary, Mangalore, [1892] AES [Reprint] Delhi,
1982, p.676.
574
Tiruvalla Copper Plates, M G S, A-80.

128
 The epithet nākanārpunamum purayidamum is important as it indicates
the process of shifting cultivation practiced by tribal population in the
historical past and it had been transformed into a multiculture operation space
with compound site called purayitam in course of time. Certain nelvāthilkādu
and karavayalkādu are mentioned575to indicate the process that once these
lands were shifting cultivation tracts and had been transformed into
permanent agricultural areas. The term punamidaikuyavanvayal 576also reveal
the process that punam tract might have been transformed into paddy field.
Mutha means jungle ground brought for the first time under cultivation and
muthapunam is old jungle577where tina-varaku had been practiced in the
shifting cultivation mode and the term Chirumuthaimattamundakam is meant
forthe practice of shifting cultivation.578 Aranjanmuthai579chirumuthai580and
mummuthai581are indications to the practice of shifting cultivation.

Certain pulaiyanmuthai582 deserves attention as it indicates certain

Pulayar groups engaged in the practice of shifting cultivation and they might
have sustained this practice of punam cultivation in the midland region too,
the hill Pulayar who conducted slash and burn cultivation till the last century
also attest this. Elippunam and punanilam reveal that the shifting cultivation
practices that continued to remain in fourteenth century also.583 These
epithets denote a process that those shifting cultivators in the mountainous
slops and hill slopes who migrated and started cultivation on the river banks

575
Thrikkadithanam inscription,M G S,B- 20.
576
Kuravakavu temple inscription, M G S,B-24.
577
H Gundert , Malayalam English Dictionary,op.cit., p.676.
578
Tiruvalla Plates, M G S,A-80.
579
Ibid,L.327.
580
Ibid.L.506.
581
M G S,B-12.
582
M G S,A-80.L.507.
583
Sattankulangari inscription.

129
in the midlands and reclaimed lands on the estuarine areas . They attributed
their operational experiences of punam cultivation to the lands they newly
found, reclaimed and cultivated. They continued to practice the punam
cultivation in the elevated areas in the midland region as well. Certain tracts
of punam cultivation must have been transformed into permanent agriculture
areas in the midlands. It was because of this process that there remained
punam related epithets attached to the lands for permanent agriculture
operation and continuation of these terms thereafter. Certain nadukallu584,
585
kallarai nilam and perunkallarai586 are lands located near megalithic
monuments existed in different areas.

The terms like man, nilam, arai ,vayal, karai,pottai , odi and kari are
appeared in the epigraphical sources from the ninth century onwards
indicating the expansion of paddy cultivation area in marshy , estuarine and
wet land regions. These lands are located either in reverine riparian and
marshy plains or estuarine regions. We find these lands in the midland and
coastal / estuarine area in the region between Bharatapuzha and Aranmula
Rivers. The region north to Bharatapuzha where we also find paddy fields
called vayal and pādam.

Reclaimed Spaces

Turuttu /turutti as pantriturutti587and ilamthuruththi588 indicate the reclaimed

land spaces from a water-laden area also meant for the spread of wetland
agriculture. Tiruvalla Copper Plate mentions certain reclaimed turuttu

584
Paliyam plate, Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit., No.77.pp.129-133.
585
Devidevisvaram Plates, op.cit.
586
Tiruvalla Plates, M G S,A-80.L.624.
587
Trikkakara inscription of Yakkan Kuntrapozhan, TAS.vol.3.No.38.pp.173-174.
588
Trikkakarai inscription of Indukothavarman, TAS.Vol.3.pp.161-169.

130
lands.589 There are a number of kari lands in the inscriptions of the area,
µjāravēlikkari, vattakari590 kīrankadambanārkari591, siriyaparyankari,
padinjāyiruparayankari592 ,chēnnanchēnnanārkari593, ūrālachēnnankari,
ēttikkari, kumarakottakkari594 govinnanārkari, paravanārkari, indranīlankari
595
,pattiarkari596, thirunālganaththārudayakari597and nedumkari.598 Tiruvalla
Copper Plate mentions a number of kari lands.599 The kari stands for the land
spaces reclaimed from the estuarine and water logging areas. It also points to
the expansion of agriculture to the estuarine areas and water-laden spaces.
The reclaiming process required the utilization of skilled laboures and the
invention of water management devices and techniques.

Multi Crops Lands

Parambu as mixed crop cultivation space began to be developed in the laterite

areas in the midland because of the proliferation of settlements and clearing of
589
Ammānaiyūrthurutti , āthanthuruttipīradikkōyil, injaithurutti, vadathalaithurutti,
ilanthurutti and nedunganthuruthi, M G S.A-80.
590
TAS.Vol.5.No.55.pp-172-176.
591
Inscription of Rajasekhara C. 830 C E, M G S,A-1.
592
Kandiyūr Inscription ,TAS.Vol.1.pp-414-417.
593
Tiruvāttuvāy inscription of Sthanu Ravi, TAS.Vol.2.no.9 [3] pp-85-86.
594
Revised text of Kaviyur Inscription, TAS.Vol.5.part 1 p.7.and TAS.Vol.5.part 1 p.6 [M
G S,B-6].
595
Thiruvanmandur inscription, M G S,B-13.
596
Tiruvanmandur inscription, M G S, B-14.
597
Perunnayil inscription, TAS.Vol.5.part.1.pp.34-37.
598
Trikkakara inscription of Bhaskararavivarman, TAS.Vol.2.no.7. [D] pp.38-40.
599
idaikkari,idaikkaripuranthudai,idaichchērikkari,izhanjinattukattankari, ilanthuruthikkari
,ilavariyāykari,kavaļanjēnnanārkarikaļļakkari,kuttankadunkōļūsrkari,kumankari,kumba
nārkari,kazhikkari,kurumāpallikkari,kuntankari,kokkōkari,kōthaikkari,kōilkari,chātttkar
i,chēnnanārkari,chēraikkari,thāmaranallūrkari,tekkināttinvazhigōvinnanārkari,thombūr
kari,nāithikkari,nīranattukadambankari,nenmalikari,padinjāyittuchēraikkari,paruvaithit
taiyāttuvazhiputhukkari,palliyārkari,pāttakkari,pātthāinaththukari,purangōlinattuchudu
kandalkari,punnaikuntrattumānnankari,perumāppelikkari,perumbāthuruttikkari,pothuv
attukari,pottankalārkari,pothangumānārkari,manaludayānkari,mannintōttuvazhi
pazhankari, mannamangalattukadambanakari, munjināttil thiruvōnakkari, yakkankari
,vadachchēri kari, vadachchērikari,vattakkari, M G S,A-80.

131
forest in this region. The laterite area in the midlands used for multi crop
cultivation is known as parambu. Parambu and purayidams or compound
sites in the laterate region also indicate the expansion of multi crops
cultivation and spread of settlements in this region. This process continued in
the period after the Sangam age and the epigraphical material pertain to the
ninth century C E indicate the development of this process. The terms
denoting to the mixed crop lands are parambu like pūyaththu parambu and
perumparambu.600 The appearance of parambus indicates multi crop
cultivation and the compound sites; it also presupposes the existence of ūr
settlements.

Āttūttiparambu and chethidanparambu601 also indicate the

development of mixed crop cultivation. Thottams are mono crop gardens and
we have references to thōranathōttam,āndilanthōttam,602idaithōttanilam and
punnaithōtam in the documents.603 There are other mono crop cultivation
spaces like chembakathōttam, pūnthōttam, perunthōttam, māvaliyālthōttam
mentioned in Tiruvalla plates.604 Arunkādan thōttamand and vayirāvanar
thōttam are mentoned in Tiruvannur605 and in Kollam inscriptions
respectively.606 Podikkāttuvilai 607
indicates the multi culture operation like
pepper. Existence of vayal [paddy field], thottam and vila [mono-crop garden]
lands point to the growth of multiple economies developed side by side.

600
Tirumuzhikkalam inscription of Bhaskara Ravivarman, M G S,A-37.
601
Tiruvalla Copper Plate, M G S,A-80.
602
Kollam inscription of Sthanu Ravi, M G S, A-6.
603
Kollur Matham plates,M G S,B-15.
604
M G S,A-80.
605
M G S,A-76.
606
TAS.Vol.5.part.1.pp.46-47.
607
Kollur Matham plate,M G S,B-15.

132
Settlers and their Identification to Land Spaces

Kīrankadambanārkari and iyyankāttumattam mentioned in Vāzhapalli

plate608 indicate the process of reclaim and lands so created for cultivation.
The lands mentioned in the document are located in ūr settlements of the
cultivators which was donated to the temple. The people like
Kīrankadambanār and Ayyan or their ancestors might have engaged in the
creation of these lands for production operation. It was because of this that
their names were attached to the lands and these land names continued to
appear even in the land deeds. There is reference to two purayidams
[compound sites] in the ūr settlement which indicate the existence of
settlements of cultivators. Certain Pakaithonkan, Thudavar,
Mīnachchichirukundurār and kurunthorai Kundirār mentioned in the
Parthivapuram plates of Kokkarunnadakar are identified with lands is
important in this context.609 Chemmaruthar kuti mentioned in
Tirunandikkarai inscription of Vikramadithya Varagunan is also a case in
point.610 This document also mentions the settlements of the Pulayar who
were transferred along with the lands.

Certain Karunantharuman who settled the land is mentioned in the

Paliyam plate.611 This document also mentions the settlement of the Pulayar
in the lands transferred to the temple. Certain Ittiyaikādar and Nārayanan
Chāththan mentioned in Nedumpuram Tali inscription612are associated with
purayidams613 also indicate the settlement of the cultivators who involved in
the production operations. Chāththankotti, Kuraichīkandan and Chāththan

608
M G S,A-1
609
Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit. No.75.p115.
610
Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit. No.76.p128.
611
Ibid, No.77.pp.129-133.
612
M G S, A-9
613
Ittiyekādar purayidam and nārāyanan chāttan purayidam.

133
Kandan mentioned in Chokkur inscription614 are names of the settlers who
created these pieces of land as productive spaces for cultivation as part of
their involvement in the labour process. It also makes sense of the existence
of settlements in and around of these lands. Kannakālaiyudaiyār and
Thachchanār mentioned in Trikkakara inscription615 are related to two plots
called pōttai, wet and fertile paddy lands616, indicating the people who
probably created these lands from the marshy area. Certain tank called
kāraikādudaiyārkulam mentioned in a Trikkakara plate indicates the
construction of a tank and the people associated with it.617 Kāraikkādudaiyar
seem to have identified with a group of people who might have engaged in the
activities of forest clearing and cultivation.

Certain Kollarchēriavarkal618 mentioned in Trikkakara plates619is also

related to a parambu, land for mixed crop cultivation, indicates the spread of
mixed crop production in the ūr settlements. Kōthaiyūr, nedunganpār and
620
pulaiveruvatti mentioned in a Muzhikkalam inscription can be cited as
cases in points in this context. These lands were related to the original settlers
and later it was incorporated to the chērikkal lands of the Nāttutayavar. Even
after it had been incorporated to the chērikkal lands, the nomenclatures of the
settlers who created these land spaces were attached to the lands and
continued to mention when these lands were granted to the temple and deeds

614
Chokkur inscription mentions Chāththankotti, kuraichikandan puraiyidam, Chāththan
Kandan gives certain kalam land to the temple, kudiyirikka purayidam, M G S,A-8.
615
M G S,A-24, Kannakālaiyudaiyārpōttai and thachchanārpōttai .
616
Kannakkālaudaiyārpōttai and thachchanār pōttai.
617
M G S,B-10.
618
M G S,A-30, Kollarchēriyavarkaludayathediyanparambu.
619
. M G S,B-10
620
M G S, A-37.Kōthaiyūr vayilkādu, nedunganpār, and pulaiveruvatti are part of a
cherikkal lands.

134
were made on it. Kovinnanār, Paravanār, Pattiar621, tharappalil Unnathan,
Inthiran and Chāntār are mentioned in Tiruvanvandur plate. 622 It indicates the
people who were involved in the process of reclaim certain land spaces came
to be called kari lands and vaipu lands. These land terms came into existence
through the process in which the names of persons or groups who engaged in
the production of these lands were being attached to it and inscribed in the
document when the produce was transferred. Chēnnan Chēnnanār and
Kumarakottan mentioned in Kaviyur inscription623are also related to the land
terms in the same way.

Certain Iyyanār and vallōkkannār mentioned in Kandiyur plate are

associated to certain vayal and purayidam. Chāththan and Chēnnan mentioned
in Kaviyūr plate are related to certan kari lands.624 Certain kuravankōnam in
marayūr is mentioned in Kollur Matham Plates indicates the settlements of
the Kuravar. These people must have been the descendants of the Kuravar
clan of a long historical past. Kollur Matham Plates mention
dēvidēvisvaraththukudiyirikkintrapurayidam, the various compound sites
where different groups of people settled indicating the settlements of different
groups and expansion of mixed crop cultivation.625

Certain nariyādimūlai mentioned in the document indicates the

settlements of hunting communities626and pariyādimūlai is for the habitat of
the Parayar. Pullan kannan thudava, nāganārthudava and pulikkonur
thondanār thudavai are land terms associated with certain people indicate that
621
M G S,B-14.
622
M G S,B-13, kovinnanār kari, paravanār kari, indranīlan kari, tharappalil unnathan
vaippu
623
TAS.Vol.2.No.9, pp-85-86.
624
Revised text of Kaviyur inscription, M G S,B-5.
625
There are 11 purayidam [compound sites, kudiyirikkumpurayidangal] mentioned in the
document, Kollur Matham Plates, M G S,B-15.
626
Ibid.

135
these people might have been the original settlers and cultivators of these
lands. Mampalli plates mention certain people who seem to be the kārālar of
certain lands who gave certain quantity of paddy to the temple; they are
Kumaran Chēnnanār, Arankakuntapōzhanār and Kāmankuntapōzhanār.627
These people might have been settler cultivators of these lands before these
lands were donated to the Brahmans and they became the kārālar. They were
collectively known by their clan names or their generic terms related to their
settlements which were attached to the lands they occupied.

There are a number of individuals and groups who are identified and
attached to certain lands such as kari, odi , kadu628 , purayidam, mulangu,
kuzhi629, vēli , adichchili, , mattam, punam630, kuntram631, valāl ,purāy , thara
, kudi, pakarchchai, etc. in Tiruvalla plates. These terms relate to certain
individuals and groups , they are Irudiyār632, Nākanār633, Kōthaichēnnanār634,
Mānnāmangalathu kadamman635, Mettiyār636, Ērankannaiyār637,
Kadamman638, Chirukannar639, Kattankadungonār640, Poththankumanār641,

627
M G S,B-12.
628
Tiruvalla copper plates [M G S,A-80] mention land terms associated with kadu;
irudiyārkādu, kothaikannārkādu, kōthaichēnthanārkādu, chankarārkādu,
chēriudaiyārkādu, and veliyanārkādu.
629
Ibid., L.67, chirukannarkuzhi.
630
MGS,A-80,Nākanārpunamum.
631
Ibid.,Ls.97-98,kuntramudaiyār who gives his idaiyiravam.
632
Ibid.,L.43,Irudiyārkādu.
633
Ibid., L.45,Nākanārpunamum purayidamum.
634
Ibid., L.46,Kōthaichēnnanārkādu.
635
Ibid., L.61,Mānnāmangalathu kadammankari.
636
Ibid., L.64,Mettiyār mulangu.
637
Ibid., L.66,Ērankannaiyārodi.
638
Ibid., L. 61,Kadammankari.
639
Ibid., L.67,Chirukannarkuzhi.
640
Ibid., L.75,Kattankadungonārkari.
641
Ibid., L.77,Poththankumanārkari.

136
Kavalanchēnnanār642, Chēnnanchēnnanār643, Mettanchāttanār644, Valavanār645,
Manaludaiyān646, Kuntramudaiyār647, Mārāyan648, Thirunilār649, Yakkan650,
njelinkāttu Pokkandanār651, Kannan652, Vettiyār653, Kottan654,
Kizhavanthāyanār655, Chāththankāman656, Kādanthaththanār657,
Pallamudaiyār658, Pokkandanār659, Parayan660, Paraiyanvalāl, Siriyaparayan [
kandiyur inscription], viriyūr Pokkandanār661, Kadamman Chēnnan662,
Kuttan663, Kāttūrudaiyār664, Kannanchēnnan665, Chāththankāman666,
Palliyār667, Poththankumaranār668, Munkavalaichēnnanār669, Chennan670,

642
Ibid., L.77,Kavalanchēnnanārkari.
643
Ibid., L.7,chēnnanchēnnanārkari.
644
Ibid., L.79, mettanchāttanārkari.
645
Ibid., L.93, Valavanār odi.
646
Ibid., L.94,Manaludaiyānkari.
647
Ibid., Ls.97-98,kuntramudaiyār who gives his idaiyiravam.
648
Ibid., L.105,Mārāyanadichchili.
649
Ibid., L.112,Thirunilārkari.
650
Ibid., L.181,Yakkankari.
651
Ibid., Ls.197-198,Njelinkāttu Pokkandanār purayidam.
652
Ibid., L.203,Kannankādu.
653
Ibid., L.224,Vettiyārmulangu.
654
Ibid., L.224,Kottankari.
655
Ibid., L.230,Kizhavanthāyanārodi.
656
Ibid., L.231,Chāththankāmanveli.
657
Ibid., L.237,Kādanthaththanārodi.
658
Ibid., L.242 Pallamudaiyār.
659
Ibid., L.244, pokkandanāramaichcha pāttakkari.
660
Ibid., L.249,Parayanpurāy.
661
Ibid., L.253,viriyūr pokkandanār.
662
Ibid., L.256,kadamman chēnnan kudi.
663
Ibid., L.258,Kuttankari.
664
Ibid., L.261,kāttūrudaiyārodi.
665
Ibid., L.271,Kannanchēnnankarithara.
666
Ibid., L.273,Chāththankāmanveli.
667
Ibid., L.277,Palliyārkariputhukari.

137
Njelingāttu Pokkantanār671, Kannan, Veliyanār672, kāranikādar673,
mūlaipaduvaththu Vārangādar674, Kōthai675, Kandan676, kōilpurathu
Chēnnankumaran677, Kōvinnan Achchuthan678, Poththanganār679,
Vayiravāvanan680, Parayan681, Kurukannār682 , Kamukudaiyān683and
Kāvathiyār.684 These names of individuals and groups indicate labour process
involved in the creation of these lands as operational spaces on the one hand
and, the creation of these spaces is embedded in the process of production for
subsistence and surplus on the other. Therefore, generation of any form of
agrarian wealth was involved the production and maintenance of operational
space as well. This also indicates the formation of habitation spaces of those
people who engaged in these processes and the earliest settlement space
created by the settler cultivators were thara and kuti. Tiruvalla plates
containslarge number of archaic terms related to settlement and settlers. It
mentions certain settlements where the settler cultivators were located in

668
Ibid., L.279,Poththankumaranārkari.
669
Ibid., L.280,munkavalaichēnnanārkari vāzhpakarchai.
670
Ibid., L.291,Chennankari.
671
Ibid., L.397,njelingāttu Pokkantanār purayidam.
672
Ibid., L.404,Veliyanārkāttupūmi.
673
Ibid., L.446,kāranikādar purayidam.
674
Ibid., L.455,mūlaipaduvaththu vārangādar purayidam.
675
Ibid., L.501,Kōthaikari.
676
Ibid., L.520,Kandankari.
677
Ibid., Ls.544-545,kōilpurathu Chennankumaran and his nephews held certain lands in
thēngavēlikōnam.
678
Ibid., L.552, Kovinnan achchuthan and his nephews granted one – fourth in
panichchaviruthi to the temple.
679
Ibid., L.573, Poththanganārkari.
680
Ibid., L.587,Vayiravāvananpuraiyidam.
681
Ibid., L.611,Paraiyanvalāl.
682
Ibid., L.581,Kurukannārmattam.
683
Ibid., L.610,Kamukudaiyānveli.
684
Ibid., L.619,Kāvathiyārpurāy.

138
addition to ūrs, they are thara685, nilamum tharayum686,valāl and thara687,
kattutharai688,kulakkāttilpadinjāyittu thara689, kochchāpurathuuthara690,
thaththaiyārtharai691 narangatharai692 and kōlankudimannattathara.693
Cetain settlements were also known as kutis they are kadamman chēnnan
kuti694, kōlakuti and kōlankuti.695

These land terms came into existence through the process in which the
names of persons or groups who were engaged in the production of these
lands were being attached to it and inscribed in the document when it was
transferred. Chēnnan Chēnnanār and kumarakottan mentioned in Kaviyur
inscription696are also related to the land terms in the same way. Certain
Iyyanār and Vallōkkannār mentioned in Kandiyur plate are associated to
certain vayal and purayidam. Chāththan and Chēnnan mentioned in Kaviyūr
plate are related to certan kari lands.697Kollur matham plates mention
dēvidēvisvaraththukudiyirikkintrapurayidam, the various compound sites

685
Ibid.,L.310, one of the Trikkadiththanam inscriptions mentions nilamum tharaiyum, M
G S,A-38,L.8.
686
Tiruvalla Plates, M G S,A-80,L.316.
687
Ibid.,L.458.
688
Ibid.,L.589.
689
Ibid.,L.598.
690
Ibid.,L.603.
691
Ibid.,L.613.
692
Ibid.,L.620.
693
Devidevesvaram plate, M G S, B-15.
694
Tiruvalla Plates,M G S,A-80,L.256.
695
Ibid.
696
TAS.Vol.2.no.9, pp.85-86.
697
Revised text of Kaviyur inscription, M G S,B-5.

139
where different groups of people settled indicating the settlements of different
groups of laboring population and expansion of multiculture operations.698

There are a number of individuals and groups who are identified and
attached to certain lands such as kari, odi , kadu699 , purayidam, mulangu,
kuzhi700, vēli , adichchili, , mattam, punam701,kuntram702, valāl ,purāy , thara ,
kudi ,pakarchchai, etc in Tiruvalla plates. The settlements of the cultivators
were archaic in its origin and non-brahman in existence. The spatiality of
these settlements in the midlands is small mountains, hills and hill slops and
other elevated regions on the one hand, and reverine and riparian regions,
kāyal [estuarine lands] ,water logged areas and coastal plains on the other.

Natural watercourses like rivers, rivulets and streams along with wells
and tanks also made the midland landscape for congenial to settlements. What
makes these regions important is the laterite and alluvial landscape. The
former is paramba lands for mixed crops where we also find compound site
called purayidams and the latter for paddy cultivation and mono crop garden
like coconut. This spatial specificity has influenced the agriculture production
and its modes of distribution, which again influenced the dispersed nature of
settlement localities called ūrs. Development of wet rice agriculture,
monoculture gardens [thōttams and vila] and multi crop lands [parambus]
along with foraging activities evolved diverse and uneven agriculture
practices that provided the expansion of dispersed settlements. Kutis as settler

698
There are 11 purayidam [house sites, kudiyirikkumpurayidangal] mentioned in the
document, Kollur Matham Plates,M G S,B-15.
699
Tiruvalla copper plates mention land terms associated with kadu; irudiyārkādu,
kothaikannārkādu, kōthaichēnthanārkādu, chankarārkādu, chēriudaiyārkādu, and
veliyanārkādu.
700
M G S,A-80, L.67,chirukannarkuzhi.
701
M G S,A-80,Nākanārpunamum.
702
Ibid.,Ls.97-98 kuntramudaiyār who gives his idaiyiravam.

140
population as well as occupant categories and purayidams as compound sites
of the cultivating groups played important role in this development.

Cultivation and Produce

The terms uzhavu and Uzhavar meant for cultivation operations and
cultivators respectively in early historical period and this was continued to the
later phase of the historical period as well. The process of cultivation
undertaken by the cultivators can also be seen in one of the earliest
epigraphical documents, Parthivapuram inscription703, as uzhuthu and
āyuvikkathirētti to mean cultivation. In Chōkkūr plate, we have uzhuvārum704,
those who do cultivation. Tarisāpalli plate mentions the same process as
naduvana nattu iduvana ittu705 , sow and plant to indicate this process.
Uzhamum is also mentioned in Porangāttiri inscription for the cultivation in
the land706. Certain uzhavērchey is also used to denote the labour activities in
the cultivation process707. Uzhuthida708 is a term used in Tiruvalla plate to
indicate the cultivation. Cultivated land was called uzhaikkalam.709 Therefore,
the term uzhavu was to mean the cultivation process rather than mere
ploughing the soil.

Mixed crop cultivation was done in the laterite soil and paddy
cultivation in alluvial soil. The lands where paddy was cultivated were
variously known as nilam, vayal, pādam, arai and kari. The mixed crop lands

703
Puthussery Ramachandran, Kērala Charithrathinte Adisthāna Rēkhakal.op.cit., No.75,
p.119, Ls.23-24.
704
M G S,A-8 ,L.49.
705
M G S,A.6,Ls.2-3
706
M G S,A.14,Ls.29-30
707
Kandiyur plate, Puthussery Ramachandran, Kērala Charithrathinte Adisthāna Rēkhakal
op.cit., No.154.p.351.L.10.
708
M G S,A-80, L.464.
709
M G S,C-28,L.7

141
were parambu. Purayidam being compound sites where mixed crop
cultivation was also practiced. Mono crop lands are thōttam, vila and vilākam.

As far as the paddy cultivation was concerned double crops lands were
known as irupū lands710 or pūnilangal. In water laden areas, another type of
cultivation called punjai711 practiced in addition to irupu cultivation. The land
was classified according to its fertility and the extent of cultivable land was
measured in terms of the quantity of the paddy seeds used to be sown, called
vittupādu nilangal.712 Certain form of land measurement called thadi713or mā
was existed in some areas. In one of the Trikkakara inscriptions we have an
epithet payaram is to cultivate the land714 and hence payam is for land
produce. Kīzhvāyanum mēlvāyanum was used to denote the land produce and
the tree produce.715 Sometimes, it was also known as kīzhpayan and mēlpayan
respectively.

Cultivating Kutis

In early historic period, the settlements as well as those who practiced the
production operations were known as kutis. When the river valleys and water-
laden areas were occupied and agriculture began to be started in the midlands
the cultivators came to be known as uzhavar or uzhakuti. The shift from kutis

710
ichchērikkal irupū kārānmai is mentioned in a Mūzhikkalam temple inscription, M G
S,A-37,L.[2].4
711
Tiruvalla plates, M G S,A-80, L.599 iravinallur punjai, thalaiyāttupunjaivayal,
ibid,L.600.
712
The extent of land was measured in terms of the quantity of paddy seed used to sow
and kalam [one kalam is equal to 15 kuruni and 10 nazhi =1 kuruni] was the most
common seed measurement used in the cultivable lands, Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai,
‘janmisambrathāyam Kēralathil’ in N Sam [Ed], Elamkulam Kunjan Pillayude
thiranjedutha Krithikal, p.594.f n.2. 12634 kalam seeding capacity of lands comprised
of nilam [paddy fields ] and purayidam[ compound site] was set apart for Brahman
feeding in Tiruvalla temple,ibid, p.596.fn.1.
713
Parthivapuram inscription, Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit., No.75, p.115-126.
714
M G S,A-25, L. [4]. 7
715
Ayiranikkalam inscription, Puthussery Ramachandran,op.cit.,No.8, p.21.L.4

142
of the mountainous and hilly regions to uzhakuti in the midland region was
significant when the process of food production in wetland region was based
on the labour of the occupant cultivators and those who associated with them
as laboring group. When the Nāttudayavar began to exert their power over
these cultivation localities, the occupant cultivators came under the
dominance of the Nāttudayavar and subsequently to the temples and
Brahmanas. It was due to these transformations that cultivators became the
tenant cultivators. Their condition of existence and the mode of agriculture
operations done by them are mentioned in number of inscriptions.
Tirukkadittanam inscription mentions pūmiyuzhumavar to mean those who
cultivate the lands.716 Perunneyil inscription mentions pūmiuzhuvumavar to
indicate the cultivators.717 Sometimes, we have reference to kankānichu, to
manage the cultivation.718 Certain chēnnan kari uzhavar719 mentioned in
Tiruvalla plate indicates the cultivators who cultivate the reclaimad lands. The
texts related to the agriculture operations in the Tamil country during this
period like ērezhupathu720 describes the various aspects of agriculture
operations. The texts like Krishigītha721 and krishi pāttukal, though much
later in compilation, allude to the different aspects of agriculture operations
and labour process including the names of seeds.

The settlements of the cultivating kutis were located in the agrarian

localities where the production operations took place and the control of these
localities was crucial in the making of political authority over these agrarian
localities.The lands in these agrarian localities were divided into three
716
M G S, A-42, L.[3].1.
717
TAS.2.No.7.[B].
718
Trikkakara Plate,M G S,A-41L.[2].1
719
M G S,A-80, L.464.
720
A Appadorai, Economic Conditions of Southern India.Vol.1, [Madras University,
[1936]1990], pp.334-337.
721
K P Padmanabhamenon, Kochchirājyacharithram,[1914] [Calicut, 1989],pp.269-289.

143
catogories as far as the controls of the agrarian localities are concerned.
Firstly, ūr settlements of the settler cultivators where the cultivators held
lands, secondly the lands which were part of the ūr settlements of Brahmans
and the thirdly the lands controlled by the Nāttudayavar as chērikkal. These
three types of lands held by the cultivating kutis, Brahmans / temples and
Nāttudayavar. These areas became part of the nātus when nātus emerged as a
political territory under the Nāttudayavar. The lands controlled by the
cultivating kutis were settlements where they held lands collectively.

The cultivating kutis were kinship descent groups who organised the
production operations and the lifeworld of the kutis. The development of
agrarian process made these settlements surplus production localities that
paved the way for the emergence of dominant households of cultivating
groups.They might have been developed from the dominant kinship groups in
the settlements with certain form of kūru rights, resulted in the changes in the
internal structure of these settlements. Many of them cultivated the lands with
the help of labouring groups. The formation of this laboring population was a
concomitant development with the migration of people to the river valleys
and the growth of agrarian society in the river valleys and laterite areas in the
midland. The role of the land holding groups in the production localities was
importand as far as the expansion of cultivation and the formaton of number
of functionaries under the Nattutayavar and the donation of produces made to
the temples by them are concerned.

Development of Land Holding Groups

Certain Kāvathi Kannan Sankaran mentioned in Vāzhaipalli plate as a private

individual who held puraiyidam, compound site, is an earliest epigraphical
indication to this land holding group who developed from the settler

144
cultivators.722 The compound site called pīlikkōttupurayidam was a mixed
crop land attached to the habitat of the settler cultivator. Purayidam must
have been a space where the habitat of the settler cultivator and his mixed
crop cultivation space located. Certain punnaithalai Āndilan who held
thōttam lands in the coastal settlement at Kollam seems to be a dominant land
holder.723

Certain groups mentioned in Parthivapuram inscription such as

omayanāttār, chengazhunāttār, mudalānāttar, padappanāttar and
valluvanāttar were land holding groups724and their localities called nātus
must have been developed from early historic period as resource region of
tribal historical past, indicating the formation of such group from early
historic period as well. Certain karkkottupuraththu Kadampan Kumaran
seems to be a private individual who held land as a land holder of non-
brahman origin. He donated a share of the produce from a number of multi
crop lands [the land possessed by the extended household to which he
belonged, thannudaiya] to the temple of Kumaranārayanapuram.725 These
examples show the expansion of cultivation in multi crop and monocrop lands
and the development of ūr settlements and the households from the settler
cultivators and the latter held landed wealth collectively.

The produce from these lands or, sometimes, the lands itself donated to
the temples by land holding households who were located in the ūr

722
M G S,A-1,L.9.
723
M G S,A-6,L.14.
724
Puthussery Ramachandran, op .cit., no.75,pp.115-126.L.46.
725
Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit., No.9. [M G S.A-8]. The lands given are multi crop
lands including mili-4, kādu-5,purayidam-4, kōdu-3, man-2, odi-1, munda-1, kotti-1,
kara-1, puram -2, pori-1, kundi-1 and kūra-1. .Kuraichīkandan who held certain
puraiyidam and Chāttan Kandan held certain thūni extend of land, both of them were
cultivators also donated lands to the temple in addition to the lands donate by
Kadampan Kumaran.

145
settlements726 to meet the expenses of the offerings they made in the temples.
The lands held by dominant cultivating households in the ūr settlements who
donated lands or a share of the produces to the temples got an institutional
form by the end of the ninth century C E. When the expansion of nātu
territories was consolidated under the Nāttudayavar, these cultivating
settlements were brought under the overlordship of the political authority of
the udayavar. Hence, the cultivating kutis came under the dominant
landholding households and Nāttudayavars of the respective nātus. It was in
this context that labouring population settled in the cultivating localities like
Pulayar or Āl / Atiyār and other occupational groups began to be functioned
under the domination of landholding groups and the Nāttudayavar.

The political authority of the Nāttutayavar and the members of ruling

families also played very impotant role in strenghtening the temple authority,
as they were the principal donors of lands and other material resources to the
Brahmans and temples. Certain lands donated to Avittaththūr temple by
Chēramān Māthēvi indicates the way in which how a brahman ūr and its
temple did maintain a dependence relations for its own existence.727 The
relations that were established by the temples with the political authority that
changed the condition of cultivating kutis who settled in the lands, from
where the share of the produce was donated the temples. Kutis settled in such
lands became subservient to the temples. It was in this context that the
members of the ūr assembly of the brahman ūr and the members of the
assembly of the temple tried to effect control over the kutis settled in the lands
under the control of Brahman urs.728 The witnesses mentioned in the

726
Three ūrs mentioned in the document, vengāvanūr, ilayanūr and perumbuttūr, along
with a number of multi crop lands, M G S,A-9.
727
Avittattur Temple inscription,MGS,A-10
728
Ibid.

146
inscription seem to be non Brahman landholders of dominant stature729
indicate that these groups began to be integrated to relations established under
the temples.

There developed certain assembly of the non Brahman landholding

groups who must have developed in the ūr settlements. The term ūr which
originally stood for the settlement of the settler cultivators , in the wake of
emergence of powerful land holders , ūr began , in addition to , to connot the
assembly of the land holders. The logical postulation is that what existed
earlier as space of public gathering of the settler cultivators was reformulated
as the assembly of the landholding groups in the ūr settlements. It happened
due to the agrarian expansion in the production localities and development of
dominant landholding households from the settler culticators in such ūr
settlements. The members of the dominant landholding households happened
to be the members in this ūr assembly and they came to be known as ūrpattar
or ūr. The epithet thirupparangōttu pradaimārum ūrpattārum730 mentioned in
Triprangōdu inscription reveals the separate existence of Brahman ūr
assembly and non brahman ūr and its assembly. Certain Nārayanan Anki and
Thirakānthan are stated to be the non Brahman cultivators of dominant status
who donated the share of the produces from certain lands they held to meet
the expenses of the offerings they made in the temple of Tiruppangodu731is an
indication to the development of the landholding groups and their assemblies.

However, the Brahman urālars in the temples tried to misappropriate

the corporate property of the temples and it cerated a tendency to alienate the
temple property. The conflicting interest that developed between the temples

729
Ibid., the dominant cultivators are Kadamban Nārāyanan of mayilampally, kārimukkil
kōtha, vembazhamanan, malimangalathu Kandan Thāyan, Kanada Nārāyanan of
kāyamattam,Kannan vaikundi Nārāyanan,and Chankara Nārāyanan of kāyamattam.
730
M G S,A-13.
731
M G S,A-13,Ls.32-33 and 71-72.

147
and its ūrālar called parudai or ūr on account of of the corporate property of
the temple had been resolved by the steps taken by the temple as a corporate
institutional structure with the suppot of the political authority. The
conflicting interest of the temple and its paradai revealed in a document of
the Tripunithara temple732 can be sited as a case in point. A private individual
called Iravi Ādichchan made certain offerings in the Trippunittura temple733
and he could be a member of the landholding households. The coexistence of
both Brahman and non Brahman ūr assemblies in the case of taking
descisions on the temple affairs are attested in the dated Chembra
inscription.734The formation of a non Brahman ūr and its assembly is revealed
in an undated chembra inscription anterior to the former one.735 Inscription at
Chembra in which the occupancy right of the cultivating kuti under
landholding groups of non Brahman origin was protected.736

Certain individuals mentioned in a Trikkakara plate are part of

landholding groups in the ūr settlemts and they donated their share of produce

732
TAS.6.No.52.pp.64-65.[M G S.A-16]
733
M G S,A-16,L.3.
734
M R Raghava Varier, Keraliyatha Charithramanangal,op.cit.,pp.98-118.
735
Ibid.,pp.113-117.
736
Ibid. The document reveals the decision taken by Abhirāman alias Thondathimūrkhan,
edanūr [non Brahman assembly], sabhai and pothuvāl. Almost 24 landed properties are
mentioned in the document. Even though the ūr and sabhai were separate entities they
together took decisions in the document. The document mentions a number of fields and
house sites. Lands mentioned in the inscription; mayyilkarapurayidam,
kunnaththupurayidam, vēngayāttpurayidam ,izhikattupurayidam,
uthiyanpurampurayidam ?], thirumalēri, 300 nāzhi viththupādu in the
kottāravēlikkakathtthu, kottiyār vēliyakam,mānaththunayār vēliyakavum and ¼ in the
karumāra vēliyakam,pallippuram,vallakulapāttāl,uthiyanpuram,thirumangalam and
karaippalam 400 nazhi, chundipādan 300 nazhi . These lands are cultivated by the
following cultivators; Vāyilākumaran Iyakkan, his mother and chittamma [sister of
mother?], Sankaran Sreedharan,Chiraththala Thariyanan ,Maniyan Kandan , Kuvēri
Kadāthiran Kumaran ,Chālakkara Iyakkanār,Thavaththikkukuvēri Chanthira Chēkaranār
and Nārāyanan Chankaran.

148
[kīzhpāti] to the temple to meet the expenses of their offerings.737 The
witnesses mentioned in the same document are also landholders. 738 Kēsavan
Sankaran and Kannan Kumaran of kārilam instituted certain offerings in the
Trikkakara temple are belonged to land holding households in the ūr
settlement.739 The witnesses mentioned in the document are also landed
group.740 Kōthai Kēralan of chirumattapuzhai was a dominant person who
donated certain quantity of gold to the Trikkakara temple.741 Certain persons
received this gold from the temple by pledging their collective landed
possession. They were also landholding groups.742 It shows that the dominant
households held land as collective form of possession. Certain Tuppa
Narayanan and Tuppan Krishnan mentioned in one of the Trikkakara
inscriptions were dominant land holders who were given certain quantity of
gold on mortgage of their lands.743 Witnesses mentioned in the document are
land holding groups.744 Trikkakara inscription refers to Nakkan Iravi and
Adichchan Iravi who cultivated land called kannamangalam in

737
M G S,A-25, they are Pōzhan Kumaran of mēlthali, Ūran Nakkan Kēralan, Ūran
Chēnnan, Kōtha Iravi of vantalachēri, Chinkapirān Kumaran of mēthali,Ūran kumaran
Chāmi Kannan and Ekkan Pōzhan of venpamala.
738
M G S,A-25 , They are ; Thēvan Chāttan of attānikkōttam, Kēralan Nārāyanan of
ilamthuruththi, Kanda Nārāyanan of perumthottam, parambudaiya Kumaran, Kanda
Nārāyanan of kuppavāzhkai,Kēralan Srikumāran, Kumāra Nārāyanan of parambudaiya,
chiraiyankōttu Iravi Vāsudēvan, kannan Pōzhan of pantrithuruththi, Kannan Kumaran
of ventalamanal,Kottan Puraiyan of kīzhakam,Kandan Puraiyan of Kuntriyur, Ūran
Kottan Kōthai , Ūran Unnichirukandan,Ūran Kumaran Chirukandan,Ūran Pōzha
Nārāyanan,Pōzhan Chāttan of velliyāmpalli and Sankaran Kumaran of pullipalli.
739
M G S,A-26,Ls.[2].3 and [5].3.
740
M GS ,A-26, they are;Thēvan Thēvan of malapuram, Kēsavan Sankaran of per
umanaikōttam, Pōzhan Nārāyanan of Kulassēkhara Pattanam, Ūran Pōzhan
Chirikandan, Pōzhan Chāttan of velliyanpallli, Kumaran of malaiyilmpalli.
741
M G S,A-28,L.[1]5.
742
M G S,A-28,L.[2]1-2, they are Thēva Nārayanan of ilamkulam and his brothers,
Thēvan Subramanyan, Thēvan Chuvākaran and Thēvan Chēnnan.
743
M G S,A-30,L.[3]1.
744
M G S,A-30, they are Chāttan Kumaran of Velliyānpalli and Kālan Gōvinnan of
nedumkollil.

149
chirumattapuzhai745and donated its produce to meet certain offerings in the
temple. Kōtha Nārayanan of Cherumattapuzha and Kanda Nārāyanan of
mākkannapalli mentioned in another Trikkakara inscription were
landholders.746 Lanholding group called ūridavakai Vellālar are mentioned in
a Tirunelli inscription747 and associated with the Nāttutayavar in the execution
of deed in the temple. Gōvinnan Kuntrapōzhan of kulavāyini mentioned in
one of the Trikkakara inscriptions was a landholder.748 Certain persons
mentioned in a Trikkakara inscription are appeared as members of
landholding households.749

The above examples reveal the expansion of the cultivation and

proliferation of settlements where landholding households developed. The ūrs
where the landholding households and the cultivating kutis developed were
the production localities and these ūrs were integrated to the nātus when the
Nāttudayavar established overlordship over the production localities. This
shows the fact that these production localities were integrated to nātu
territories and the political authority of the Nāttudayavars. The proliferation
of Brahman settlements and development of the temples became part of the
formation of nātus.

Ūrs - the Production Locality

In Perunna inscriptions, we find the separate existence of non-Brahman and

Brahman settlements and their assemblies called parudai and ūr

745
M G S,A-45.
746
M G S,A-44.
747
M G S,A-36,L.8.
748
M G S,A-35,Ls.3-4.
749
M G S,A-41, they are Kesavan of neythalmangalathu, Kesavan of perumanakkadu,
Narayanan of vandapadi , Chattan Chennan and Kannan Chennan.

150
respectively.750 This shows the process that the surplus produced in both
settlements by the cultivating kutis and the laboring groups. The Nattutayavar
and Perumāl received respective shares of the produce from the cultivating
kutis. Sometimes, the share received from the cultivating kutis [as annual due
called attaikōl and war tax called aranthai] was granted to the temple by the
Nāttutayavar or the Perumāl.751 There are also references to the way in which
the produce from the lands where the cultivating kutis settled and cultivated
was appropriated by the temple.752

Perunnai inscription mentions kutipathis [kāpālimangalathum

muttūttum olla kudipathikal] and they could have possessed the landed wealth

750
Peruneythal ūrum pothuvālum kīzhkulangaraiththapaiyum,M G S,A-33, Peruneythal
ūrum paradaiyārum pothuvālum,M G S,A-49,
751
An order is issued by a Kulashekhara koiladhikari who was staying at netiyatali. The
king was sitting in council with nalu thali and and Thirukkuntrappozhai at netiya tali
ordered the cancellation of attaikkōl [annual dues] and aranthi [war tax] from
perunnayil and granting annual income 40 kalam paddy and arandai to the Perunnayil
temple for the feeding of brahmanas andmāpāratham. It was from the non Brahman
settlements at Perunnai that the āttaikōl and arantha was collected by the Kōiladhikāri
through kudipathies. It was by an order that this was granted to the Perunnayil temple
as an attippēr.
The aranthai and āttakkōl which were taken from the kuties in the non Brahman
settlements to king [presumably by the kudipathīs] is now given to the Perunnayil
temple as attippēr for the purpose of namaskāram and māparatham. Perunnayil ūr and
pothuvāl received these at the temple as attippēr. It is assumed that these attaikkol and
aranthai were previously collected by the kudipathis, kāpalikamangalaththe
kudipathikal and muththūtte kudipathikal [kāpālimangalaththum muththūttum olla
kudipathikal] and after this order [ koiladhikarikal issued a royal order to both
kudipathis ] they refrain from collecting these from the Perunneythal and given it to the
koiladikari
752
Thirunālganaththār and pothuvāl meet in temple and unanimously accept land from a
person on condition that he and his descendants are appointed as tenants in perpetuity.
The land originally belonged to Ādichchankōthai, nattudayavar of Munjinādu, who
mortgaged it to Ethirangavīran of njāvalkkādu as surety for a loan of paddy .This land is
now given to the temple for Brahman feeding on ten festival days. Therefore a provision
is incorporated to the effect that in case the original loan is repaid and the land taken
back by Ādichchan kōthai, the ūrālar must invest that amount in another land and
nominate Ethirangavīran and his descendants as their tenant again. If the tenant or his
descendants withdrew from the commitments, the land is to be cultivated by kanattār
and pothuvāl themselves, Thiruvanvandur inscription, M G S ,C-41.

151
 753
in the ūr settlements of kāpālimangalam and muttūttu. They were the
descend heads of the kutis settled in both ūr settlements. Kāpālikamangalam
might have been originated as a settlement of an individual Brahman
household and cultivating kutis also developed in this settlement. Muththūttu
is an ūr settlement that might have been developed from an old settlement of
the cultivating kutis. It also reveals the development of both Brahman and
non-Brahman settlement of cultivating kutis. Land holding groups and the
descent heads [kutipathis] developed in the respective settlements and they
were incorporated into the nātus and political structure of Nāttudayavar.
These kutipathis accepted the ritual authority of the temples and later Chēra
Perumāl superimposed the political authority upon the kutipathis. It shows
the way in which cultivating settlements and the labouring population were
integrated to the temples and the political authority in course of time.

Mampalli Plates754 mention certain cultivators who settled and

cultivated lands located in ayirūr village. Adichchan Umayammai of
Trikkalayapuram had been donated this land along with a temple by located in
it by Venatu ruler Srivallabhan Kōthai. This land was again donated to the
Tiruchchengannūr temple by Adichchan Umayammai as kīzhītu. Three ūr
settlements such as murunkaiyūr, punalūr and kudakkōttūr are mentioned in
the document in addition to Tiruchchengannur and ayirūr. The witnesses in
the documents are belonged to the former villages. This document shows the
fact that the cultivators had settled and cultivated the land before it was
donated to Adichchan Umayammai. These cultivators became the kārālar of
the Tiruchchengannūr temple when it was granted as a kizhidu755to the temple

753
M G S,A-68.
754
M G S,B-11 and B-12.
755
Ibid, Kuntran Kovinnan cultivates uthikkālthudavai and ambillam. He also cultivates
chadikulam, pulipalli and thānthōntrikkāl.Pichchakachēriyavan cultivates kuntraththūr
and olithudavai. Arankan Kuntrappōzhanār cultivates on kārānmai basis and gives 35
para paddy.Kunnan Paranthavan cultivates on kārānmai and gives 40 para paddy.
Gōvinnan Kōtha cultivates chāththamangalam and gives 23 para paddy. Kāman Kuntra

152
by Adichchan Umayammai. Even when it was transferred to the
Tiruchchengannur temple as a kīzīdu and temple became the overlord of these
lands, the cultivating kutis settled in such lands held the land as collective
possession and maintained their identity as cultivating kutis in the ūrs
settlements.

The Devidevesvaram plate mentions a number of ūrs756, some of them

might have continued from early historical period.757 The original settlers and
cultivators in this region were settler cultivators settled as cultivating kuti and
cultivated lands. Tiruvalla Copper Plate758 mentions a number of non

Pōzhanār cultivates and gives 20 para. Ayyan Chēnnanār cultivates mummuthai and
gives 10 para. Kunpūr Iravi Kuntrapōzhan cultivates on kārānmai and gives 20 para.
Thōnnan Kēralan cultivates and gives 21 para. Thaniru Chengāttu Nārāyanan Gōvinnan
cultivates on kārānmai and 25 para. Pichchagachēri Nārāyanan Dāmōdiran cultivates
on Kārānmai and gives 33 para paddy .Ilayān Ayyan and Kōtha Ayyan cultivate
kannanvaippu and give 50 para paddy. Pāththa Gōvinnan and Ilayān Perumān cultivate
and give 40 para paddy.
756
Ūr settlements and lands used for different agriculture operations in it are ; nedunkōdu
in madayūr;chenkōdu , kuzhakkādu and kuravankōnam in marayūr;navayanellūr;
ponnūr;mulachchal,punnamuttam,poduthaara in thōnnakkalūr;kuzhiman,puththara and
punnamankōdu in kuttaththūr;kōviyūr;āttaravam in pūvūr;punalur;mukuvattūr;
kārānmai on perumpazhanji in nakarūr;panampala in madavūr; mavara in vanjayūr
;vāzhekandam in punalūr;kōttūr in mēvūrkkal;nedunkōttupurayidam in
madayūr;konnara in arunallūr;oruvallyaram in peringalūr;kuttiyūr;thambur;
chenkyayūr; vellallūr;chadayamangalam and cherukannanādu in
ottiyūr;malaikkanellūr; iravinellūr; mannattathara in ottiyūr;ullūr;vallūr;
thondanarthudava in pulikkōnūr;thonnakkal , pūvūr and mēlkōnam in
njāralūr;kuthalamkōdu in koduvalanūr;ivvūr;palakkadu, palivila,vazhayila,
muthalkunnamaraman in ollūr;kānūr in vellayūrnādu;idinjil in kudavūr;
urakaththuvathilkarapurayidam in ūrakam;pērūrvattam , mēlmanalūr , muthuvellaiyūr,
manmēlkandankal and kīzhnelli in manalūr;marūrthūrnilam in idapazhayanādu;
kodumuttadiyūr;aruviyūr;thalathōttunilam in thānbanūr; Devideveshvaram Plate. M G
S,B-15. 1189 C E.
757
There developed a number of warrior settlements in this area during the time of early
Venadu rulers who made settlements of the warriors by giving them jīvitham lands. It
was the ūr settlements of the cultivators that had been taken over and donated to these
warriors by the chiefs.Before the brahmanas were made settled donating these lands as
padakarams, cultivating kutis settled these lands and cultivated.
758
The contents evidently belongs to different periods and were collected, rearranged and
edited at a later date .It is suggested to be belonged to middle of the 11th century. The
document is in the form of temple committee resolutions, The donations made at
different times by different persons for different types of offerings in the temple like
thiruvilakku , thiruvamrithu, thiruvakkiram ,nīrāttupalli , akkarathali , snāpanam,

153
Brahman settlements759 and the agriculture productionin in these
760
settlements. A vast area had come under the control of Tiruvalla temple.761
Mulaiyil Nambu Nāranan donated share of the produce from certain lands to
meet the expenses of his offerings in the Tiruvalla temple.762 Nambi Raman of
Komakattil, Pallamudaiyar763 and Ponni Yakka Nayan of kidanguparal
instituted certain offerings and donated a share of produces from the lands
they held. Kesavan Kandan, Pallamudaiyar, Kesavan Thayan, Kunnan
Govinnan of pallam764, Thevan Chennan of madaman and Ayyan
Godavarman of ponjikkara were land holding groups who donated a share of
the produce from the lands they collectively held to the Tiruvalla temple to
meet the expenses of the offerings they made in the temple. Kōilpurathu
Chennankumaran and his nephews held certain lands in thēngavēlikōnam.765

panjamahāshabdam,dwādeshi celibration,āvani ōnam ,etc. are registered along with the

details of lands or gold contributed or leased out , and the conditions of tenure and
service. Mūzhikkalatthu kachcham and Sankaramangalathu Kachcham are quoted .Fine
and other punishments are prescribed for violation of rules. Number of nattudayvar,
merchants, and others are mentioned. Different measures like ennāzhippara,
onpathinazhippara, and pathināzhippara are indicated .The prices of several articles are
listed..It is a mine of information regarding temple rituals, deities’ festivals, caste
profession, personal names, plot names, princes etc, in this period. It provides a
contemporary record of the growth of socio economic formation, M G S, A-80.
759
Ayōkamannūr,Āmanthaiyūr,Īravinallūr,Kākkayūr,Kilimānūr,Kīzhvellūr, Kudavūr,
Kundiyūr, Kuttūr,Kuntattūr,Parambūr,Pulikkōnūr,Puliyanūr, Peruvayalūr ,Peruvūr,
viriyūr.
760
Ibid.
761
The boundaries of Thiruvalla village are; North kannamberur bridge in Changanasserry
taluk, South Chennithala river in Mavelikkara taluk, West is lower side of Pamba river
and East is a small stream called Kaviyūr Kaithōdu.Upagrāmās of thiruvallagrāma are
Ālanthuruthi,Vēngal,Kāvubhāgum,Peringara,Thiruvambādi,Mathilbhāgham
Cherānallūr, Mīnthalakkara, Padappādu, Venpāla, Vāzhapalli, Niranam, Parumala,
Mānnār, Perunna,Muttār and Thalayār.Main Sankētham of Thiruvalla Grama are;
northis Ezhinjillam, South is Pulikkizh river, East is Kaviyūrkaithōdu Bridge and west
is Chāthankari river.The old name of the place before the founding of the Thiruvalla
temple was mallikavanam.Norhtern side of manimala river is vallapuzha and hence
Tiruvalla settlement was ,sometimes, called as vallavāy.Pōttimār of thiruvalla
pattillam are the traditional ūrālar of the Thiruvalla temple
762
M G S,A-80,L.106.
763
Ibid.,L.152
764
Ibid.,L.461.
765
Ibid., L.544-545.

154
Kovinnan Achchuthan and his nephews granted one – fourth of produce from
land called panichchaviruthi to the temple.766

Narayanan Chandrasekharan of idanadu made certain offerings in the

Kandiyur temple and he donated the kārānmai share of certain lands to meet
its expenses.767 Yakkan Kothai of Iravimangalam is stated to be a dominant
landholder in one of the Trikkakara temple inscriptions.768 Sankaran
Kuntrapozhan of murukanattu also instituted certain offering in the Triprayar
temple.769 Certain Kothai Chandiran of kuppaiyarpulam and Kothai
Manavijayan seem to be members of landholding households instituted
certain offerings in the Pukkottur temple and they made arrangement to meet
the expenses from certain lands.770 All these examples suggest the formation
of non Brahman landholding families in the ūr settlements which were the
production localities. These landholding groups made offerings to temples
and meet the expenses of the offerings from the produce of the lands they
collectively held.

The above analysis of the inscriptional references to the cultivating

settlements and landholding households shows the fact that the settlements of
the cultivating kutis and landholding households played very important role in
the expansion of cultivation and the spread of the human habitation spaces.
Many of these settlements can be traced back to early historic period. These
settlements were production cum operational spaces and many of them were
existed from early historic period as settlements of the settler cultivators and

766
Ibid.,L.552, the donors mentioned in the Tiruvalla copper plates,in addition to
Nātttudayavar and Chōla king, were non Brahman cultivators having dominant stature ,
Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai, ‘janmisambrathāyam Kēralathil’ in N Sam [Ed], ‘Elamkulam
Kunjan Pillayude thiranjedutha Krithikal’op.cit., p.599.
767
Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit., No.154, pp.351-352.
768
M G S,B-10.
769
M G S,C-31.
770
M G S,C-23.

155
continued to exist in early medieval period. Hence these ūr settlements were
nerve centres of agrarian production. Some of the ūr settlements are taken
into account here to show the tendency of its growth and spread in spatio-
temporal development rather than to provide the exact number of the
settlements.771

771
Chimbūlaiyūr [Iranikkulam Inscription.RVRIB .9.2,P.135.[M G S,C.36], vengavanūr
[Siva temple at Nedumpuram Tali, Cochi [M G S, A-9,900.C E], kuntriyūr [Trikkakara
Inscription of Indukothavarman.TAS.3.PP.161-169[M G S,A-25,959. C E], punalūr
[Mampalli Plate [M G S,B- 11, 971 AD] kavayemanalūr [ Devideveshvaram Plate. M G
S,B-15.Originally belongs to 973 C E and reissued in1189CE mentions certain urs such
as mēūr, mēlmanalūr, mudavallūr, marudūr, perumbuliyūr,
kālaiyūr,āvalūr,idaipērūr,nāralūr,madayūr,nāvayanallūr,kōviyūr,punayūr,vannanūr,otti
yūr,vellālūr,sengaiyūr,nallūr,pulamattelvāyiravinallūr,ullūr,vallūr,pullikkōnūr,puvvūr,i
vvūr,kānūr,ālimānur, and paravūr. Fragmentary odd Plate of Mampalli mentions [M G
S,B-12, 974. C E] kuntrattūr kumbūr, ayirūr. Mampalli Plate [M G S,B-11, 971 CE]
mentions murunnayūr, kudagōttūr. Mudavallūr, kālaiyūr, idaipērūr, punayūr, kōtūr,
kāvavayelmannamannūr, koduvalanūr, kuttiyūr, thāmbūr, pulamattelvāyiravinallūr,
pullikkōnūr, vellakkottil tambannūr, pilaiyūr, perinūr. Nedumpuram Tali inscription
mentions
Chēralūr, chāttanūar and chirumāttūr. Siva temple at Tali, Cochin [TAS. 8, P.40 [M G
S, A.43, 996C E] refers to perumputtūr and pazhuvūr. Irinjalakuda inscription mentions
[RVRIB.9.1,P.51[M G S,A-74] paraiyūrkādu. Similarly, Karikkadu inscription [MGS.
C-7] refers to tachchiyūr. Muzhikkalam inscription [TAS.2.No.7 [k] pp.45-46] mentions
thaiyūr, nedungundūrkōthaiyūr, Perūr, iravinallūr, seranallūr, sattanūr, sirumattūr,
ilayannūr and kānūr. There are a number of ūr settlements mentioned in Tiruvala
copper Plates such as ayōkamannūr, āmanthaiyūr,
īravinallūr,kākkayūr,kilimānūr,kīzhvellūr,kudavūr,kundiyūr,kuttūr,kuntattūr,parambūr,p
ulikkōnūr,puliyanūr, peruvayalūr ,peruvūr, viriyūr and karanjanur [Tirunelli Plate
No.2, V R Paramesvaran Pillai, Prachīna Likhithangal,op.cit., p.139-144. Karanjānūr
sabha gave the land worth of 15 gold kāsu to theTirunelli temple for instituting three
perpetual lamps. The first inscription in the same temple mentions certain kannannūr
kannanūrirāmankunjiyum as witness].Sētupullūr [Inscription from Siva Temple at Tali.
TAS.8 [MGS.A.69, 1089 .C E] .Nallūr [Nallur means prosperous ūr , situated south east
of Calicut, SII. P. [MGS .A-66]. Vettiyūr, serinūr, kōmūr, kunavāyanallūr are also
mentioned mudakkaraiyūr and tankur [ibd]. Tiruvangur inscription mentions
[SII.Vol.7.No.175.No.15 of 1901.p.74 [Chelannur inscription,M G S, A-77] Certain
mākalūr and rāyiranallūr. There are chēlannūr and pālaiyūr [M G S,A-76]. We have
pulpattaiyūr [M G S,C-12.]. Paramban Tali inscription mentions tiruparambilūr,
parappūr, perūr nilamaniyūr and irayiranallūr. There is also narayankannanūr [M G S
Narayanan, Adisthana Silakal pp.93-113.This ūr was located at the foot of Ezhimala and
around Narayan Kannur temple. This inscription speaks of ithumuttikkumūrārkal ,ie,
those urārkal who make stop to this expenses to the temple, obviously reveals the
existence of an ūr, and kodungallūr [Viraraghava Plate, Puthussery Ramachandran,
Kērala Charithrathinte Adisthāna RēkhakalNo.133, p.319, Nedumpuram Tali
inscription. TAS.8 [M G S,A-70,1090 C]P.41]

156
 Many of these settlements are archaic in its origin and non Brahman in
its functioning. An important aspect in the development of the production
localities is landholding households that developed from settler cultivators. 772
These households made negotiation and mediation with political authority of
Nāttudayavar on the one hand and Brahmans settlements and the temples on
the other. Settlements were production localities from where donations were
made to the temples in the form of produce and, sometimes, productive lands
were also granted. The rights and previlages enjoyed by this land holding
groupds were to be accepted by the temple authorities when the produce or
productive lands were granted to the temples. It was because of the important
role played by the landholding groups in the production process in the
production localities that their rights and privilages were acknowledged by the
temples and the Brahmans.

The Brahman settlements and temples were surrounded by these

production localities and the Brahmans and temples felt certain insularity and
insecurity in their settlements as the former were a few in numbers and they
were not cultivators themselves. Temple authorities acknowledged the
customary rights and previlages that the non Brahman landholders enjoyed on
the lands they held or the privileges they had in their assemblies called ūr/
ūrpattār. The temples and Brahmans sought support of land holding groups
who were donors to temples. This was to ensure the resources that reached the
temples in the form of donations. It was in this context that the ūr assemblies
of the non brahman landholding groups were acknowledged by the temple
authorities and it was made incorporated to the temples. These assemblies
began to function as incorporated entities in the case of donations and
transactions made in the temples. The landholding groups also wanted to get

772
Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai, ‘Janmisambrathāyam Kēralathil’ in N Sam [Ed], Elamkulam
Kunjan Pillayude Thiranjedutha Krithikal, [Thiruvananthapuram, 2005], p.592.

157
access to the Sanskritic and dharmasastric way of life and itihasa- purana
idioms percolated from the temple culture.

The Brahman Ūrs and its Relation to the Production Localities of the
Cultivating Kutis

The Brahman villages grew up along with the process of

transformation of tribal chiefs and lanholding households into Nāttudayavar.
Brahmans settled in the donated lands in the riverine areas which were
suitable for agriculture.773 The Brahmans also became an important group
who made influence over the Nāttudayavars. They also participated, along
with the Nāttudayavars, in the efforts to get control over the agrarian
localities of the cultivating kutis. The period from third century C E to seventh
century C E was a period of Brahman dominance and the formation of
nātus.774 When the agriculture communities proliferated and the settlements
increased, the territorial boundaries of nātus began to expand. Nāttudayavar
established their overlordship over the the production localities and
cultivating kutis accepted the overlordship of the Nāttutayavar by paying
customary dues in the form of kutima for settling in the production localities
and cultivating the lands. The areas adjacent to nātu territories and the people
settled in such areas including the tribal groups were gradualy integrated to
nātus.

For the protection of Brahman villages, it was necessary for Brahmans

to legitimize the political power of the Nāttudayavar. The overlordship of the
Nāttutayavar developed primarily because of the domination made by the
Nāttutayavar over the cultivating kutis and the laboring groups. The
expansion of the political power of the Nāttutayavar and domination of the
temple over the cultivating settlements were developed on account of the
773
M G S Narayanan, Perumals of Kerala,op.cit., p.141.
774
K N Ganesh, Kēralathinte innalakal, op.cit., pp .40-46.

158
process by which the Brahmans and Nāttudayavar helped each other to
establish their dominance over the agriculture communities.

The growth of Brahman villages was the result of a process in which

dominant landholding households became the negotiators and mediators. It
enabled Brahmans to develop certain tenurial control over the lands where the
cultivating kutis and the laboring groups settled. It was from these settlements
that the donations were made by the land holding families and the
Nāttutayavrs predominantly in the form of the share of the produce to the
temples. It developed certain tenurial control made by the temples which
came to be called kārānmai –mitātchi [kārānmai was cultivating right and
mitātchi was controlling right on the lands] upon a large extent of lands held
by the cultivating communities in the Ay territory. However, such kārānmai –
mitātchi system of tenurial dominance is not found to have developed in the
rest of the region where the temple committee called ūrālar sabha / parudai
became the predominant group who functioned as the managerial group to
control the cultivating kutis through the mediation of landed gentry called
kārālar in the production localities.

The development of the polity of Nāttutayavar and the ritual and

religious dominance of the temples made agrarian process an instituted
process. The production operations and surplus mobilization began to become
part of an exploitative relation in which the cultivating kutis and the laboring
groups became subservient groups. The resource requirements of the various
non producing groups resulted in the expantion of cultivation into the areas
hitherto uncultivated. There developed the expansion of cultivation and
proliferation of settlements to the hinter lands and estuarine areas to meet the
resource requirements of the various overlords. This was met by bringing a
number of new groups into the production process either by way of persuation
or by force that also made such people servile in the production localities.

159
 The people engaged in various labour activities and production
operations such as cultivating kutis, kutis of artisanal and metal working
activities and the laboring groups were consolidated in the production
process. This developed complex form of gendered division of labour which
resulted in developing a stratified agrarian order. The base of this stratified
agrarian social order was the producing class consisted of cultivators, the
primary producers and the auxiliary occupant categories.775 The cultivating
kutis and kutis of occupational groups and the primary producers were
subjected to the domination of temples, Brahmanas, Nāttudayavar and their
functionaries and retinue. The following attempt is to analyse the way in
which the stratified agararian order was constituted and how the various
categories of people developed to evolve an agrarian hierarchy in the period
under discussion.

Kārālar and Production as Instituted Process

When temples became important institutional structures it developed certain

tenurial domination on the lands where the cultivating kutis and the primary
producing groups generated the agrarian resources. The landholding
households accepted the dominance of temples, donated a share of the
produce or the productive lands to the temples and Brahmanas. It was in the
form of offerings in the temples and meeting the expenses of such offerings
by way of donating a share of produces from the lands they collectively held
that the tenuarial dominance of the temples was established. Certain
Narayanan Chandra Sekharan of idanādu donated certain lands to the
Kandiyur temple. The kārālars were [kārānmai cheythu] nominated to
cultivate these lands776and provisions were made that if the kārālar failed to

775
Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai, ‘Janmisambrathāyam Kēralathil’ in [ed] N Sam, Elamkulam
Kunjan Pillayude Thiranjedutha Krithikal,op.cit., p.593.
776
TAS.Vol.1,pp.414-417,the karalar are ; Damodaran Narayanan of nandāmanaichchēry,
Kumaran Maniyan of thāmarapalli , Kandan Thēvan of mallikachērry, Iyakkan

160
measure out the paddy in the temple at the stipulated time the lands would be
forfeited777 to the temple. This also shows how the cultivating groups became
a dependent group to the temples and Brahmans. Hence, institutional and the
ritual dominance of the temples were used to ensure the perpetuation of
surplus production and meeting the expenses of the temples by the share of
the produce from the cultivating kutis.

The cultivation of paddy and garden produces like coconut was

produced in the agrarian localities in the Western coast from early historical
period and certain coastal settlements got prominence as these settlements
located near ports of trade. As these settlements were centers of trade and
agrarian localities, the chiefs tried to control these settlements. When the
agrarian localities began to become a cluster of production localities and
surplus producing areas these localities became part of resource regions called
nātus and Nāttudayavar began to establish their sway over these settlements.
Many of the coastal settlements, as trade centers as well as agrarian localities,
became part of the incorporative political territory of the Nāttutayavar called
nātus. It was made possible because the extension of control that theses chief
were able to exert from hilly region or from midland to these coastal
settlements. Sometimes, these coastal agrarian settlements became part of the
chiefs’ ‘territory’ called chērikkal. The cultivators who lived and cultivated in
these agrarian localities came to accept the overlordship of the chiefs and they
became the kārālar to these lands under the chērikkalkāranmai.

Certain extent of land from a settlement at Kollam had been granted to

the Tarisapalli by the political authority [Nāttutayavar]. The epithet in the
document thēvarku naduvana nattu iduvana ittu or saw and cultivates the land

Paramēsvaran and Iyakkan Kēralan of punnaichēry, Agnisarman Narayanan and

Narayanan Govinnan of vairamana , Iravi Ayyan of neypalila perungala and Kaman
Sakthidaran of kuttikkattu.
777
ibid., muttukil viththinupōrum alavu pūmi vidakkadaviyar.

161
 778
for the thēvar [church] indicates this process. The land was transferred
along with the cultivating kuits who had become the kārālar of land,
[pūmikku kārāzhar nālukudi Vellālarum], ie, four kudi Vellālar are the
kārālar of this land.779 It shows the way in which the cultivators became
kārālar to the lands under the church.

Certain Kolavāyan and his descendants were appointed as the kārālar

of some land which was donated by a non Brahman individual, Narayanan
Anki. This was to meet the expenses of his offerings to Trippangōdu
temple.780 It does not explicitly mention whether Kolavāyan had been
cultivating these lands before it was set apart to meet the temple expenses or
not. However, somebody might have been cultivating the lands before it came
under the temple dominance. Kārānmai lands are also mentioned in
Porangattiri inscription [kārānmaiyum kūduvittār].781 This inscription also
reveals the formation of rights over the landed wealth by the temples and
Brahmans called dēvasvam and brahmasvam.782 It also reveals the tendency
that private individuals and local gentries donated to the temples in the form
of lands, gold or the share of the produce from the lands they controlled, in
addition to that of Nāttudayavar and others. It was because of these donations
made by the landholding groups including the Nāttutayavar and the members
of the ruling households that temples and Brahmans were able to accumulate
landed property and to develop control over the lands. The process of the
consolidation of such rights enabled the temples and Brahmans to develop a
form of tenurial dominance without themselves being the actual owners of the
land.

778
Ibid.
779
M G S,A-6.
780
Tirupparangodu inscription, M G S,A-13.
781
M G S,A-14.
782
Ibid., the inscription mentions the brahmasvam and devasvam, ibid., Ls.13-14.

162
 Definite norms and stipulations began to be framed to ensure the
production in the lands from where the share of the produce was channelized
to the temples and Brahmans. Norms were also framed to pevent the
misappropriation of the resources from such lands including attippēr lands.
This also aimed at protecting the corporate nature of the wealth accumulated
by the temples. The notable example in this regard is revealed in the
Trikakarai inscription of Kērala Kēsari783 in which a provision was made that
Kārālan should cultivate the vayal and kara lands and take 20 kalam paddy as
his share [irupathinkalamūrālankondu] and rest of the paddy should be
measured in the granary [kottakāram] of the temple after the grain was
separated and waste was removed [pōkkumullathu]. Akapothuvalmār could be
also the tenants of the temple.784 The same process can be seen in the Narayan
kannur temple document in which ten kalapādu lands called kaviyalpurathu
ayini which was a vayal placed under the supervision of [ithukkumēlāli]
Pukkala Kōpan of Valampurimangalam and Chāththan Kannan of thāyattu.785
In Kaviyur inscription we find certain private individuals, Narayanan Kesavan
and Narayanan Kirittan of Mangalam, donated certain odi and kari [marshy
and reclaimed lands] to the Kaviyur temple.786 Certain Mangalattavan and his
two elder sons were entrusted to cultivate these lands [ippūmiyellām uzhavu
mangalaththavakal thanthathiyil mūttōriruvarum787]. This also points to the
patrilineal line of rights over the lands.

Similarly, Chembra inscription reveals the cultivation of certain

purayidams and vēliyakam788 by the cultivators. Though this was a coastal

783
M G S, A-19.
784
Ibid.
785
Narayankannur inscriptions, M G S,B-3 and B-21.
786
M G S,B-6
787
M G S,B-6.
788
Chembra inscription, M R Raghava Varier, Kēraliyatha Charithramānagal,op.cit.,
pp.108-111,Kumaran Iyakkan of Vāyila, Sankaran Sridharan, Thariyanan of Chirathala

163
settlement, mixed crop cultivation was expanding under the kārānmai.
Kannan Puraiyan, udayavar of Kālkarainātu, received some quantity of gold
from Trikkakara temple and we see he granding the land called vettikarikkāttu
along with the Pulayar attached to it to the temple. Certain expenses in the
temple were met by the mērpāthi held by the udayavar and the pani [servants]
on this land.789 Kannan Puraiyan also granted certain lands to the temple
exempting the customary dues given to the Nātu, Vāzhkai and Pani.790 This is
turn was given on kārānmai to meet certain expenses in the temple and failure
of which led to lose of kārānmai right, [muttikkil kārānmai
vidakkadaviyar].791 Certain Puraiyan Kandan and Pōzhan Kōvinnan were
appointed as the kārālar of some lands. It also stipulates that kadamai [ the
obligatory payment given to the overlord / Nāttutayavar ] was to be added
with the kārānmai, [kadamakūdakārānmai kānpithu]792 i.e. the dues given to
the Nāttudayavar on this land as kadamai was now went to the temple by the
kārālan along with the kārānmai.

The formation of overlords above the cultivating kutis and the

development of the kārālar was an important transition in the nature of the
agrarian structure. The dues given to the Nāttudayavar as a political authority
in addition to the share given to the temples brought kutis under the subjection
of the temple and Nāttudayavar. This is clearly visible in one of the
Trikkakara inscriptions in which a few members of a household taking 120
kazhanju gold from the temple by pledging the vayal lands they held
collectively and they had to measure out 12 kalam paddy to the temple

,Maniyan Kandan , Iyakkanār of Chālakkara , Kadāthiran of Kuvēri, and

Chandrasēkharanār of kuvēri are the cultivators.
789
M G S,A-25.
790
M G S,A-26.
791
Ibid.
792
M G S,B-10.

164
annually.793 Here also we find cultivators bounded to follow the stipulations
made by the temple pertaining to kārānmai. Similarly, Tiruvanvandur
inscription mentions uzhumavakalkku ippūmi vilakkilum, extending
punishment to evictors in case of cultivators being ejected from the land. Such
actions were borne out of the fact that it had to ensure cultivation in the lands
without which temple can exist.

The material interests of the temple as a corporate institutional

structure thus was in need of keeping the temple property intact and ensure
the surplus production in the lands on which the temple developed tenurial
control. Therefore, the cultivation in the temple lands was to be continued
without the disturbances or misappropriation likely to be made by the ūrālar
or Itaiyītar and others. It was in this context that certain regulations were
framed to safeguard the material interest of the temple as corporate
institutional structure. It was made in such a way as to make a pretention to
protect the cultivating kutis settled the lands over which the temples had
established overlordship.794 There are number of such provisions and
regulations in the form of kachchams and Mūzhikkalam kachcham was the
model for the region as a whole.

793
M G S,A-28, Thēvan Nārāyanan, Thēvan Subramanyan, Thēvan Chuvakaran and
Thēvan Chēnnan of ilamkulathu manai.
794
Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai, ‘Janmisambrathāyam Kēralathil’ in [Ed] N Sam, Elamkulam
Kunjan Pillayude Thiranjedutha Krithikal, op.cit.,p.593, M G S Narayanan, ‘Oru
Pazhaya Karshaka Niyamam’ in Kerala Charithrathinte Adisthana Silakal,op.cit.,pp.45-
60.

165
 The Devidevesvaram plate mentions a number of ūrs795 settlements,
many of them might have been continued from early historical period and it
had been developed as non Brahman settlements. Terms appeared as the
operational spaces and habitation localities in the documents suggest that the
original settlers and cultivators in this region796 can be trace to long historical
past. When the lands were granted to the Brahmas and they were made to
settle in padakāram lands, those who previously controlled the lands as
jivitham holders became the kārālar to the padakāram holders.797 The epithets
like kārālan, perumpazhanjimēlkārānmai and nālontru kankānichchu kolvithu
are indications to this transition. It seems that the earlier jīvitham holders of
these lands became the kārālar to the Brahman households and the original

795
Ūr settlements and lands used for different agriculture operations are ; nedunkōdu in
madayūr;chenkōdu , kuzhakkādu and kuravankōnam in marayūr; navayanellūr;
ponnūr;mulachchal,punnamuttam,poduthaara in thōnnakkalūr;kuzhiman,puththara and
punnamankōdu in kuttaththūr;kōviyūr;āttaravam in pūvūr;punalur;mukuvattūr;
kārānmai on perumpazhanji in nakarūr;panampala in madavūr; mavara in vanjayūr
;vāzhekandam in punalūr;kōttūr in mēvūrkkal;nedunkōttupurayidam in
madayūr;konnara in arunallūr;oruvallyaram in peringalūr; kuttiyūr; thambur;
chenkyayūr; vellallūr;chadayamangalam and cherukannanādu in ottiyūr;
malaikkanellūr; iravinellūr; mannattathara in ottiyūr;ullūr;vallūr;thondanarthudava in
pulikkōnūr;thonnakkal , pūvūr and mēlkōnam in njāralūr;kuthalamkōdu in
koduvalanūr;ivvūr;palakkadu, palivila,vazhayila,muthalkunnamaraman in ollūr;kānūr
in vellayūrnādu;idinjil in kudavūr;urakaththuvathilkarapurayidam in ūrakam;
pērūrvattam , mēlmanalūr , muthuvellaiyūr, manmēlkandankal and kīzhnelli in
manalūr;marūrthūrnilam in idapazhayanādu; kodumuttadiyūr
;aruviyūr;thalathōttunilam in thānbanūr; Devideveshvaram Plate. M G S,B-15. 1189
CE.
796
The Vēlir chiefs controlled the area during the Sangam period as there are references to
the Āy chiefs in the Ettuthokai literature and Pothiyilmalai was the centre of their
activities during this time. There is a reference to the skirmishes between the warriors of
Chēras and the Pāndyās over capturing of Vizhinjam, a port town in the peninsular area,
Huzur office plate TAS, Vol.1, No.1, pp.15-19. Later the Cholas tried to subdue this
area. The early Venadu rulers made settlements of the warriors and officials in jīvitham
lands in this area. It was the ūr settlements of the cultivators which had been taken over
and donated to the warriors and officials by the rulers.Then the officials and servants of
the Venādu rulers like adhikārar, warriors and other functionaries became the dominant
groups in this region and they continued to hold these lands as jīvithams. Later they
granted these jīvitham lands to the Brahmans on a direction given by the royal authority
to settle them and thereby these lands became the padakāram lands of the Brahmanas,
M G S,B-15. 1189 C E.
797
M G S,B-15

166
settlers in the lands who cultivated the lands as cultivating kutis were
subjugated to the Brahmans who were settled with these lands as padakarams.

Similarly, Mampalli plates mention a number of lands798 and its

kārālars.799 We also find that certain lands were mortgaged to the Trikkakara
temple by Thuppan Narayanan and Thuppan Kirittanan to get some quantity
of gold.800 They had to measure out 100 nāzhi of rice to temple in lieu of
interest, [palakathalai alakkakadaviyar]. This also indicates the dominant
landholding groups becoming the kārālar to the temples. The gold deposit of
the temple was invested on land in the form of pledge is also attested
[pūmimēlidakadavar] in another document in the Trikkakara temple.801
Certain land, padinjāyittupōtta, a fertile wet land,was given to four
manikkirāmattār on kārānmai by Bhaskara Ravi, indicating the traders were
also settled to became the kārālar to the chērikkal land.802 It shows the trade
relations and the land tenurial practices converged and strengthened the land
relations of the period.

Certain Ethirangavīran and his descendants became the kārālar of the

Tiruvanvandur temple.803 Certain double crop land in the chērikkal was
cultivated on kārānmai by kārālar as revealed in Muzhikkalam inscription.804
Chālavēli Kēralan Pōzhan who was appointed as the kārālan of certain lands
798
M G S,B-12, uthikkālthudavai ,nambintrām , sathikulam , pulipalli , tanthrōntrikkāl,
kuntrattūr,ottitudavai,pichchagachchēry,vellimuttamthōttam,ilampallivayal,ayrūr,
thiruchchengannūr,sittūrmudappalavinkāl,sāttamangalammummuthai,kumbūrtanirusen
gādu,kannanvaippāy,kundapuram.
799
Ibid ,Kuntan Gōvinnan , Kumāran Chēnnan , Arangan Kuntrapōzhanār , Kuntran
Parantapan , Kōvindan Kōtai,Kāman Kuntrappōzhanār , Ayyan Chēndanār ,Nārayanan
Dāmōdiran, Iravikuntrappōzhan, Nārāyanan Gōvindan , Tōnnan Kēralan, Ilayan Ayyan,
Kōdai Ayyan, Pārthan Gōvindan and Ilayān Perumān.
800
M G S,A-30.
801
M G S,A-44.
802
Irinjalakuda Temple Inscription, M G S.A-74.
803
Tiruvanvandur inscription, M G S, C-41
804
Ichchērikkalirippū kārānmai cheyyumavanum, M G S.A-37.

167
[chālavēli kēralan pōzhan konda kārānmai] along with Pathavāramākkal and

Pothuvāls were to meet the jīvitham of the Mēlsānthi in the temple.805 The
functionaries like pathavāramākkal were important because they were
appointed to collect dues to the Nāttudayavar or to the Perumāl. There is a
provision in the Tiruvalla Plates that Kārālar should cultivate some lands and
meet the expenses for the offerings to temple.806 Iravi Chirikandan, udayavar
of Venpolinādu, granted [māvarakondu muthalamaya attikoduthān] his lands
called Muttāru [his own land or muthal, 3500 kalam nilam] to the Tiruvalla
temple and he and his descendants continued to manage the cultivation in
these lands on kārānmai.807 It indicates Nāttudayavar could be the Kārālar to
the temple by donating / alienating theirown lands to the temple. Lands called
kannankazhi, thōlanchirai, vayal and kara are cultivated on kārāmai is
attested in Panniyankara inscription.808 There are references to the donations
made by the dominant landholding households to the temples in the form of
share of the produce of the lands or land itself and thereby they became the
kārālar to the same lands.809

Chāttan Arukkati, Kuntran Chirunankai and Chāttan Chirukandan were

appointed as the Kārālar of certain chērikkal lands donated by Arappan
Kunji, Kurumbranāttu udayavar, to meet some of the expenses in the Jaina
shrine in Kinālūr.810 Trikulashēkharapuram plate says that those Kārālar who
used to quarrel with the kōilmānichcham [temple functionaries] and the

805
Kārālanumpathavāramākkalum īrandukudi pothuvālmārum kūdi kankānichchu,
Trikkkakara inscription, M G S, A-41.
806
ichchelavinollapūmi kārānmai cheythu cheluththumavar, M G S,A-80.Ls.34-35.
807
Ibid, Ls. 51-54.
808
M G S, A.53.
809
Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai, ‘janmisambrathāyam Kēralathil’ in [Ed] N Sam, Elamkulam
Kunjan Pillayude Thiranjedutha Krithikal, op.cit., pp.615-616.
810
M G S,B-23.

168
Pothuvāls would lose their kārānmai right811. This also points to the tension
that developed between the temple authorities and the Kārālar groups.
Certain vayal land was cultivated on kārānmai is mentioned in another
Nedumpuram tali inscription.812 Kumaranallur plate also mentions the
Kāralar settled in a Brahman ūr.813 It also points to the relation that existed
between the kuti settled in the ūr and the Brahmas ūrālar. Palli [Jain temple]
lands were cultivated on uzhākārānmai is mentioned in Godapuram
inscription814. It shows that the kārānmai form of land relations were also
developed in the lands held by Jain and Budhist shrines. Some lands were
given to the Pothuvāl on kārānmai is mentioned in Maniyur inscription.815
This shows the temple functionaries were also became Kārālar to the lands
controlled by the temples. Kollam inscription of Rāmartiruvadi mentions that
certain chērikal land was given to the temple and certain persons were
appointed as Kārālar.816 Palakkāttu Kannan Thēvan and Chatti Piramman in
addition to Kumaran Udhayavarman of Vēnadu became the kārākars.817

Kilimanur plates say that idaman and āyiraman in Nāvāyikkulam and

nedumpuram parambu were given to the temple by Manikantan Mādhaviyāna
Pillayār Thiruvadi of Kīzhpērūr as kārānmai.818 It also reveals that Vīra
Udhaya Mārthāndavarma granted certain lands including kādu, karai,
karapurayidam, and Āl [men at the feet or bonded labourers] in it were

811
M G S,C-32.
812
M G S,C-38.
813
M G S,C-43.
814
M G S,C-28.
815
M G S,C-2, attipērkoduththān kārānmai āka pothuvālmār yithu.
816
M G S,A-71,chērikkal kārānmai.
817
Ibid, kārālarmūvarum.
818
TAS.Vol.5Part.1,pp.63-85.

169
transferred to the Trippālkadal temple.819 The temple gave away these lands
on kārānmai820. The Kārālar were appointed either by the donors at the time
when the land was donated or the the produce from the lands was set apart to
meet the expenses of the offerings or the temples appointed the Kārālar after
receiving the lands. Vellayani inscription mentions that the mērpāthi on
certain chērikkal land cultivated on kārānmai was transferred to
Tirukunakkara Vishnu temple along with the Āl attached to it.821 This
indicates that the mixed crop lands and the labourers [bonded labourers
attached to the land] attached to it along with the mēlpāthi rights of the
Nāttudayavar on such lands were donated to the temple. This can also be seen
in Velam inscription in which certain land was cultivated by a group of
people.822

One of the Haripadu inscriptions mentions that certain land was given
on kārānmai.823 Mili and purayidam lands over which the temple had
overlordship were also given on kārānmai by Manivannan Pāvanan of
thāzhaiyūr and what he got as cultivator’s share was kārānmaikūr824.
Simalarly, Subramanyan Nagasarman of Kalpakanallur was the Kārālan of
the same temple825. Kandan Nāgasarman and his eldest son gave with libation
of water certain lands they had taken on kārānmai to the temple.826
Kārānmaikūru on certain land was granted to the temple by Maniya

819
Ibid, ennilam,thottikkōdu nilam,mannadi
nilam,thadandōdunilam,vettikkōdunilam,vettiyattukandam,perumbaravūr
nilam,shengūrunilam,cherumāveli nilam,mundakkal nilam, kīrthimangalam and anjal.
820
ibid, kāranmayāka adhikarichchukondu.
821
kārān nilaththilkollum mēlpāthiyum kādum karapurayidamum ālum, Puthussery
Ramachandran, op.cit., No.102.pp.210-211.
822
pūmiyum athanakku amaintha purushārararaiyum, M G S,C-4.
823
Niravāthittai kārānmai, TAS.Vol.6.Part.1, No.24.
824
Ibid, No.28, p.41.
825
Ibid, thēvaridaikāranma.
826
Ibid, No.30.p.42.

170
Narayanan of kalpalli.827 These examples suggest that though these
documents are of later period the kāranmai relations were consolidated under
the temple and the Brahmans which paved the way for the subjugation of the
cultivating groups including the laboring population who did substantial part
of labour in such lands.

Consolidation of Kārānmai

The Kārālar and kārānmai was important feature of the social form that came
into being, however, the kārānmai –mitatchi relation in the proper sense of
the term was existed only in the Āy territory. The rest of the areas in the
region witnessed a similar tenurial domination in which the Kārālar and
Ūrālar became the principal agencies of the tenurial domination controlled by
the temples. Temple established domination over the cultivating kutis with the
support of the Nāttutayavar. The most pertinent question is how the settler
cultivators and the landholding households did became the Kārālar to the
temples and how they came under the overlordship of the Nattutayavars. The
notable feature of agrarian development was wetland agriculture, mixed crop
cultivation in the laterite zone as well as expansion of cultivation to estuarine
lands and to hinterlands in which utilization of landscape ecology and labour
forms played very crucial role.

Those cultivators who settled and cultivated the lands in the river
valleys and estuarine areas were the original settlers and cultivators in the
midland and the coastal plains. These settlers created the original agrarian
settlements and generated agrarian surplus. The formation of settler
cultivators was important shift in the process of formation and expansion of
ūr settlements. The cultivating kutis and the laboring groups who did labour
for transforming the lands into cultivable tracts for both wetland and mixed

827
Ibid, No.31.p.42.

171
crop cultivation is also important developement. It was among the settler
cultivators in the ūr settlements that landholding households developed in the
midland. When the nātus began to develop as an ensemble of production
localities in the midlands [including the estuarine areas and coastal plains] as
resource region, the chiefs who could develop overlordship over the nātus and
on the ports of trade. They developed their overlordship over the respective
nātu territories that also brought the production localities and the cultivating
communities of the respective areas under their authority and the cultivators
including the cultivating kutis and the laboring groups who settled in these
regions accepted the dominance of the Nāttudayavar as overlord paying a
share of their produce as customary dues.

A few Brahman settlements developed from the early historical period

also got patronage from these Nāttudayavar along with the support of the
notable landholding households. It was because of the expansive efforts made
by the Nāttudayavars to enlarge their territorial boundaries and the efforts
made by the Brahmanas along with these Nāttudayavars to get more
productive lands in the production localities of the cultivating communities
that the cultivating kutis were brought under the dominance of the
Nāttudayavar, Brahman ūrs and temples. It also developed a tenurial relation
under the temples and the political dominance of the Nāttutayavar and their
retinue which developed a redistributive process in which the agrarian surplus
produced in the production localities was shared among the temples and its
functionarieds and Nāttutayavars and their retinue.

As we have mentioned above, the condition of cultivating kutis in the

agrarian system where the Nāttutayavar had established their sway over the
agrarian territories was simple in its tenurial form when the cultivating kutis
had only to give a share of their produce as katamai to the Nāttudayavar and
kīzhpāti was the cultivator’s share. It was from mēlpathi, share of the

172
Nāttudayavar, that Nāttudayavars donated to the temple, mostly to meet the
expenses of their offerings in the temples. There are also references to the
donation of kīzhpati, share of the cultivators, to the temples in addition to the
produces and productive lands donated by the private individuals of the land
holding households. However, when the temples were able to establish their
dominance over the lands from where the produce was donated to the temples
by the landholding households and the Nāttutayavars to meet the expenses of
their offerings in the temples that the communities who settled and cultivated
such lands were brought under the overlordship of the temples and the
Brahmans. This was materialized in such a way that thosehouseholds of the
landholding groups who donated the share of the produce of the lands they
collectively held to the temples had either become the Kāralar to the lands
they donated or they nominated certain other groups as Kāralar to the lands
whose produce was donated to the temples.Sometimes, temples itself
nominated the Kāralar to the lands which had been donated to the temples.
The Brahmans were made to settle donating productive lands by the
Nāttutayavar and Kārālar were also nominated to manage the cultivation in
such lands. Whoever might have been the Kāralar to the lands on which
temple had made the overlordship, the original settles and cultivators of such
lands who lived as cultivating kutis and cultivated the lands had become
subjugated to the dominance of the temples and the Kārālar. The lands
located in the Brahman ūrs and the lands donated as attipper grants where
also the the cultivating kutis and the laboring groups engaged in the
production of agrarianan surplus under the tenurial dominance of the
kārānmai.

The system of land tenure began to develop in the region which

determined the land relations and the position of the producing class. It forced
the cultivators to give the share of their produce to the temple and
Nāttudayavar as the latter developed overlordship over the former .The

173
consolidation of the dominance of temple and Brahman was established by
the support and patronage made by the Nāttudayavar and by the Chēra
Perumāl. There developed a dependent relation in which the temple sought
the political support of the Nāttudayavar and the Perumāl, and the latter were
in need of the ritual power of the temples and Brahmans to legitimize their
political authority. It developed multiple forms of power and overlordships
over the cultivating kutis and on the primary producers. The functionaries of
the temples and the polity of the Nāttutayavar and the Chēra Perumāl
evolved to give a definite shape to the system of polity and ritual and religious
authority of the temples. This process was developed corresponded to the
larger agrarian process leading to the consolidation of an agrarian hierarchy.
Temples, Nāttudayavars and the Chēra Perumāl remained as the principal
appropriators of the agrarian wealth generated by the cultivating kutis and the
labouring groups. This resulted in the subordination of cultivating kutis and
subjugation of the the primary producers which paved the way for the
emergence of number of intermediaries in the agrarian process and
Pāttamālar can be sited as an example to this development.

Pāttamālar and Formation of Intermediaries

In an inscription of Kota Ravi, certain Ukkiramangalam and

Miyanamangalam granted some lands to the Nedumpuram temple828 and the
temple leased these lands to meet the expense of feeding Brahmans in the
temple.829 There appeared certain provisions in the documents from the
beginning of the tenth century which emphasised the cultivation on pāttam
tenure. Lands that were donated by the members of ruling family also ensured
the cultivation in the donated lands on pāttam. This is evident when

828
M G S, A.9 ukkiramangalamu miyānamangalamu chennadaikkittithu.
829
Ibid, thāzhvārathu pāttamalakkakadaviyan.

174
Kizhānadikal granted certain lands to the temple.830 The epithet
ippūmipāttamāndu indicates cultivation was on lease to meet the expenses of
the offerings that Kizhānadikal made in the temple.831 The temples could
accumulate gold as donation. Such gold in turn invested either on land or
given to the dominant groups like Nāttudayavar on pledge of lands. This
resulted in increase in cultivation on pāttam. 832

Strict measures were stipulated to cultivate the lands on lease and to

remit a share of the produce in the form of ‘rent’ to the temples, failure of
which resulted in lose of pāttam right. The resource requirement of the
temples necessitated to cammute the ‘rent’ in kind into kānam833indicating the
development of a dominant group among the cultivators. Similarly, the
chērikkal lands donated to the temple was also subjected to the norms of lease
holding practice followed by temples. It also points to the fact that the
cultivating kutis who settled and cultivated the chērikkal lands became the
tenant cultivators and a dominant group emergrd as pāttamālar when these
lands had come under the tenurial control of the temples.834

830
Trikkakara Temple inscription,M G S,A-24.
831
Ibid.
832
Kannan Puraiyan, udayavar of Kalkarainatu, received some quantity of gold from the
Trikkakara temple and granted the land called vettikarikkāttu and the Pulayar attached
to it to the temple .The document stipulates that these expenses should be met by the
Pāttamālan who cultivate these lands, M G S,A-25.
833
A private individual, mentioned in Nedumpurayūr temple inscription, Ukkiramangalam
who made arrangements to cultivate the temple lands on lease .It stipulates that if the
Pāttamālvan fails to measure out the paddy in the temple pāttam could be converted to
kānam by the Ukkiramangalam, ukkiramangalam pāttam āttaikānamkolvithu, M G S,A-
27.
834
Tiruvanvandur inscription mentions certain pāttamālar seem to have cultivated the
chērikkal lands which was given to the temple by Srivallabhan Kotha, M G S,B-13.
Certain chērikkal lands given to the Nedumpuram temple as kīzhīdu by Chirithara
Nangachchi were also cultivated on lease [pāttam] to meet certain expenses in the
temple, M G S,A-43.

175
 Thaviranūr pāttavālan cultivated some kīzhīdu lands under the
835
Chōkkiram temple also reveals the way in which the large extent of lands
was cultivated by the cultivating kutis under a dominant group called
pāttavālan and the norms of lease were formulated by the temple. There also
developed a tendency in which lands controlled by the temples began to be
held by the ūrālars on pāttam indicating the emergence of land holders
among the ūrālars. However, stipulation were framed to restricte such ūrālars
from misappropriating / alienating the temple property. The epithet
pāttamidavumperārūrālan shows the way in which the ūrālar had become the
pāttam holders and they were also restricted to hold such lands.836 Sometimes,
the pāttam was collected in gold also.837 Pāttam mode of cultivation was
increased by the first half of eleventh centuary838revealing the formation of a
number of intermediaries in the production and distribution process which
also shows the deteriating condition of the actual tillers and other laboring
population.839

The transition of the condition of the cultivators from settler cultivators

to the tenant cultivators under kāranmai and then to pāttam mode of
appropriation was a significant transformation in which the cultivating right
possessed by the actual tillers were considerably eroded. The share of the
produce that was given as customary dues called mēlvāram to the overlord
was transformed into a fixed rent and temples became the principal

835
M G S,C-17.
836
Certain lands were donated to Pukkottur temple to cultivate on lease, Pukkottur
inscription, M G S,C-23.
837
33 kazhanju of gold was received from asokamannur as pāttam is mentioned in
TiruvallaPlates, M G S, A-80.L.529.
838
Panniyankara inscription mentions that temple lands were cultivated on pāttam. M G
S,A-53. Certain piece of land was cultivated on pattam in Indianūr inscription, M G S,
A-63. Certain land in Erālanādu was cultivated by pāttavālan is also mentioned, M G S,
C-12.
839
M G S Narayanan, Perumals of Kerala, op.cit., p.174.

176
appropriators. Leaseholders and sub leaseholders were emerged which
resulted in the development of an intermediary class called Pāttamālar who
tried to possess large extentent of land under whom the cultivating kutis
became the subordinated tenant cultivators.

The hierarchy within the temple structure, the gradation of land rights
and the division of functionaries in the polity from Vāzhkai to Nāttudayavar
also reveal the nature of gradation of rights possessed by different groups.
This process was being formed due to the development of the production
process which structured the production and re/distribution of agrarian
surplus. This also indicates the consolidation of a tenurial relation based on an
agrarian hierarchy. The kārāinmai that existed earlier was transformed into
much more exploitative system in which a number of intermediaries
developed and the condition of cultivating kutis and the labouuring population
got deteriorated. Therefore, the establishment of a tenuarial and cultural
dominance of the temples and the Brahmanas subjugated the producing class.
The development of the political authority in the nātus and integration of the
political power of the Nāttudayavars to the the Chēra Perumāls were also part
of this process.

Cultivating Kutis and the Kutis of the Occupational Groups

The term kuti was meant for the settlements of the settler cultivators
and other occupational groups who inhabited the agrarian localities in the
midland. The settler cultivators, craft collectives and other auxiliary
occupational groups were also known as kutis. This would also mean that the
settler cultivators, craft groups and artisanal groups were important groups in
the production process and they retained certain rights over the land they
cultivated and and resources they made use for production operations. Kuti
was, thus, not only known for habitation site but for labour also, a habitational
and occupational space.

177
 The origin of these kuti settlements could be traced back to the early
historic period when the entire production operations in the hilly backwoods
region were done by the kutis, predominantly the chirukutis whose life
activities were based on familial kin labour. There existed different types of
kuti settlements in the early historic period when their relations to the
production localities were determined by their involvement in the agrarian
operations and participation in labour process. The formation of agriculture
and creation of the land spaces in the river valleys, water laden areas and
estuarine region involved the production of occupational and habitation
spaces as well. It shows the involvement of settler cultivators and other
cultivating groups in the labour process, which also resulted in the production
of occupational and habitation spaces. These settlements of the settler
cultivators and occupational groups were variously clustered as kuti; a
location that meant for those who involved in particular occupations and their
habitation spaces. The development of kuti settlements along with the
formation of production localities like ūr settlements indicate the importance
of the cultivating groups and occupational collectives in the production of
agrarian surplus.

The transition from chirukuti settlements in the hilly-forested region to

the uzhakuti settlement in the river valleys and water-laden areas in the
midland was a significant transformation when the settler cultivators created
the land spaces and conducted agriculture operations in the river valleys and
water laden areas840 in the midland. It also reveals the process of transition of

840
Certain land called uzhakkudivilai is mentioned in the Parthivapuram inscription of
Kokkarunnadakkan. This land, held by the sabhai of Minchirai, was bought by King
Kokkarunnadakkan, built a temple on it and renamed it as Parthivasekharapuram. The
term uzhakkudivilai itself reveals that this must have been a kuti settlement before it had
come under the minchirai Brahman sabha, later taken over by the king and he built a
temple there. A provision is made in this document that forcible appropriation of
resource from the kuti settlement had to be returned in ten-fold, indicating the
importance of kuti settlement in the case of agrarian production, The Huzur Office
Plates ,TAS, Vol.1.PP,15-34.

178
kuti settlements located in the mountain and hilly region in the early historic
period to uzhakuti settlements of cultivating groups841 and formation of
cultivating kutis in the midland region.842 Chemmaruthar kuti843 mentioned in
Huzur plate of Varaguna is a kuti of settler cultivators. Āykuti844 and
pērāyakuti845 have anteriority to early historic period. This suggests that
there must have connecting link of habitation cum operational spaces from
early historic to early medieval times. It also shows that the
institutionalization of the tenurial relation based on kārānmai-mitātchi in
which the settler cultivators and the laboring population became subject
groups to the temples and Brahman846in the southern part of the region,
especially in the Ay territory.

It was because of this instituted process of production dominated by

the temples and legitimated by the Nāttudayavar that the cultivation was
expanded to hitherto uncultivated areas and various strategies of labour
realization was materialised. This would mean that a system of land tenure
began to be developed in the agrarian order by the time of Āy king Varaguna
by which the agrarian process came to be consolidated on graded relations
and the primary producers of the labouring populations came to be known as
Adiyār or Pulayar.847 A notable feature of the agrarian system was the
formation of primary producers like Pulayar who had been transferred along

841
Raja Gurukkal and Raghava Varier, Cultuaral History of Kerala, op.cit., p.251.
842
Kutiye valiyakonda muthal ontukkupaththāka kkuduppathu, Huzur Office Plates, TAS,
Vol.1.PP,15-34. , Fifth Plate, L.4.
843
TAS.Vol. 1, No.2,p.42 , L.7.
844
Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit., No.77, p.129.
845
Ibid, No.123, p.306.
846
Raja Gurukkal and Raghava Varier, Cultuaral History of Kerala, op.cit., pp.252-254.
847
Ibid., p.254.

179
with lands.848 Sometimes, they were also given lands for their services849 as a
group of primordial settlers. It also indicates that the term Pulayar came to be
known to denote a generic labouring group of primary producers. Land
relations that were developed due to the establishment of land tenure which
required large mass of people for surplus production and various labour
realization strategies were evolved to make the people permanently employed
in the labour activities as primary producers like Pulayar or Atiyār/ Āl etc. The
consolidation of temples and expansion of nātu territories under the
Nāttudayavar also made impetus to this process.

Formation of kutis in the coastal settlements was part of a concomitant

process of agriculture production and the exchanges that developed from early
historic period. When the agriculture production and settlements began to be
developed in the midland region, the exchange process centered on the ports
of trade became crucial. As a strategic point of trade and resources as well as
agrarian operations of both mono crops and multi crops, trade settlements in
the coastal area began to become an integral part of the territorial area of the
Nāttudayavar. It is from this point of view that the settlement at Kollam and
the kutis who settled in this settlement get attention. It was the political
interest of the Chēra Perumāl to secure the support of the Christian group that
certain grant of land along with the kutis attached to it was granted to the
Tarsa Chuch. Kollam is found to have developed as a non Brahman
settlement where the mono crop garden cultivation and paddy cultivation had
been developing side by side. It indicates the involvement of Kārālar and
other kutis of occupational groups engaged in the cultivation operations in

848
Paliyam Plate mentions that certain lands were donated to Srimūlavāsam and the
Chellapulayar were also attached to these lands, Puthussery Ramachandran,
op.cit.No.77, p.129.
849
In Parthivapuram inscription, we find reference to certain extend of land that was given
to the Pulayar, kalam aduththu pulaiyerku koduththa īrandēr nilaththinun kizhakku,
TAS, Vol.3.Part.1, No.16, L.2.

180
both mixed crop and wetland agriculture.850 Kuti settlements of Īzhavar,
Vannār located in the donated lands and the adimai [slave] mentioned in the
document also indicate this process. The epithets kutiyirukkapurayidam, the
purayidam or the compound site where kutis settled851 and
kutinilpathinthūnippādum, the tūni extent of lands where kutis
settled852indicate the expansion of cultivation in mixed crop and paddy
cultivation areas where the cultivating kutis,occupational groups and the
primary producers engaged in the production operations.

We find three areas where kutis settled as cultivating and occupational

groups: the settlements of the settler cultivators, the areas where the
Nāttudayavar had direct control like chērikkal lands and the settlements of the
Brahmans.

The expansion of multi crop and wetland cultivation that developed as

a result of the settlements of the people in the river valleys and water-laden
region signified the trans-tinai nature of the agriculture operations and
formation of production localities called ūr settlements. Formation and
proliferation of ūr settlements also give birth to a number of cultivating kutis
and the kutis of various occupational groups.

In addition to the cultivating kutis and the kutis of the occupational

groups, cluster of production localities where the settlements of the settler
cultivators and the land holding households developed. The various categories
of lands and the ūr settlements mentioned in number of documents pertain to
the transaction of either share of the produce or the productive lands to

850
Kollam inscription of Sthanu Ravi mentions kutis, ippūmiyil kudikalayum, like nālukudi
īzhavar,īzhakkayyar, orukudi vannār and adimai [ slaves?] who were transferred as
Kāralar and adiyār along with the land donated to Tarsa church at Kollam,M G S,A-2
and A-6.
851
Chokkūr inscription, M G S,A-8.
852
Porangattiri inscription, M G S,A-14.

181
temples, Brahmanas and other groups indicate the nature and location of the
production localities of the settler cultivators and the landholding households.
Extended households based on descent groups were the base of the land
holding households who collectively held lands in production localities. The
locality kinship played important role in the control of lands and the
development of familial relations which regulated the production operations
and reproduction of the household units. The cultivating kutis settled in the
production localities and the occupational and artisanal group who clustered
as kutis conducted the production operations

Parambu and Compound Sites – Households and the non- Brahman Ūr

Assembly

A significant development was the formation of parambus and the compound

sites called purayidams. Purayidams were compound sites where we find the
mixed crop lands attached to the house sites.853 The developments of
compound sites were related to the expansion of mixed crop cultiation in the
laterite areas in the midland.854 Parambu and purayidam was expanded and

853
Rajasekhara inscription mentions pīlikkōttu purayidam and Kāvati Kannan Sankaran
purayidam [M G S,A-1.]. Chokkur inscription mentions certain kuraichīkandan
purayidam, kulaththinukku vadakkin purayidam, padinjāyittu purayidam and
kudiyirukkai purayidam [M G S,A-8.]. Nedumpuram tali inscription mentions
irandaiyākkapurayidam, ittiyakkādar purayidam and Nārāyanan chāttan purayidam [M
G S,A-9.]. Kandiyur inscription mentions manvelipurayidam, vadavaymanaivalālum
purayidamum, punnaichchēripurayidam, and aiyanārkālapuraiyidam. Chembra
inscription mentions certain purayidams such as mayyilkaraipuraiyidam,
kunnaththupuraiyidam, vengayāttupuraiyidam īzhikkāttupuraiyidam, and
uthiyanpurampuraiyidam,M R Raghava Varier, Kēraliyatha Charithramānangal,
op.cit.,pp.99-102 .Trikkakara inscription mentions Chōzhasikhamani granted certain
lands including thēvar kondapurayidam situated to the south of Kesavan Sankaran
purayidam [M G S,A-26].Seven purayidams situated to the east of the palace was given
to the temple as a kīzhīdu by Chirithara Nangachchi alias Chiripuvana Māthevi [M G
S,A-43.
854
Kollur Matham plates mention certain purayidams, they are; Kulangaraipurayidam,
Karaipurayidamumkādum, Idaichchēripurayidam, Nanthāvanapurayidam,
Chiramēlpurayidam, Kalavāniyarpurayidam, Vāthikkalpurayidam,
Dēvidēvisvaraththukudiyirikkintra purayidam, Purachcheipurayidam and
chengazhunīrmangalaththupurayidam

182
developed primarily because of the development of exchanges that involved
the production and exchange of a number of mixed crops. It also widened the
cultivation spaces of spices and forest produces. The production localities of
the non Brahman cultivators were largely developed along with the
development of these compound sites and expansion of parambu cultivation
in laterite area.855 Tiruvalla inscription mentions as many as 55
purayidams856indicating the expansion of mixed crop cultivation. It also
reveals the fact that many of the landholding households were non Brahmans
who held the compound sites.857 The paddy cultivation areas in the alluvial

855
Tirukkadiththanam inscription mentions Thenchēri Chēnnen Thāyan who settled the
purayidam [kudiyirikkunna purayidam] [M G S, A-64.] .Certain edaiyin purayidam is
mentioned in an undated Trikkadiththanam inscription [TAS.Vol.5.Part.2.No.58.There
is a thēvakinadaipurayidam in Kinalur inscription [M G S,B-23.]. Panthalayini Kollam
inscription mentions certain purayidams, pūttillaththtu purayidam, thannīrmukkaththu
purayidam and alankārachettiyār purayidam. Kuravakavu temple inscription mentions
tirukkōilkku thekkinpakkaththu mūntru purayidam ketti [M G S,B-24.], three
puraiyidams to the south of the temple.
856
M G S,A-80, anjānnachchirayum purayidamum,Iravinallūr purayidam,
Karanikādarpurayidam,Kūmānkariyumpurayidamum,Kūpakathupurayidam,Kāttūr
purayidam,Kunthakkāttu Puraiyidam,Kōthai Gōvindanār Puraiyidam,Kōirpurathu
puraiyidam,Kōirpurathupōralākintra puraiyidam,Chālappuzhai Kōvinnanār
puraiyidam,Chiruman puraiyidam, Chiraikkarai puraiyidam,
Chempakachchērippuraiyidam, Njelinkkāttu Pokkandanār Puraiyidam,Njelinkkāttu
Puraiyidam,Thuruttikkaraippuraiyidam,Pazhavirukkai Puraiyidam,Maniyirukkum
Puraiyidam,Mandapattu Puraiyidam,Mandapamākintra Puraiyidam,
Manninjērippuraiyidam,Mattathil Vayiravāvanan Puraidam, Munaimanaippuraiyidam,
Mōlōrpaduvattu Vārankādar Puraiyidam,Īraippuraiyidam, Manimumuzhangādu
nālupurayidam,Randarikumulla karappurayidam,Chittodiyum purayidavum,Purayidam
to the south of the tank in kāpālisvaram,Thilakamangalaththu purayidam,Pōkkandanār
purayidam,Kalpuzha kirittan purayidam,Mānnamangalaththu malaiyil
purayidam,Nāgamangalākintra purayidam,Iruppallipurayidam,pūnthōttamākintra
purayidam,thuruttikkaraipurayidam,karaipuraiyidam,kannaiyārazhiyamākintra
purayidam,vāypāttukāttunilaththupurayidam,vayiravāvanan
purayidam,mulamanaipurayidam,ennavāniyar purayidam,kuntrattūr kēsava nārāyanan
kudiyirikkintra purayidam,four purayidams in manimuzhangāttu,nangayār
manpurayidam,pūmi and purayidam in mīnaichchiyil and īrandarukumolla
karaipurayidam.
857
Mampalli plates of Devadaran Keralavarman mention certain kādummkarayum
karaipuraiyidavum in Cheruneduman, Thōnnakkal, Chiraiyinkīzhkatta, and the lands of
Kesavan Damodiran. Neduvila purayidam of Iruriman Kesavan Damodiran,
karapurayidam held by Maniyan Maniyan of Maruthakachchery, perungulathu
Narayanan Narayanan held the karapurayidam, kizhakinkara kādu kara and

183
regions where compound sites are also located near the wetland and in the
laterite soil where mixed crop cultivation was prodominatly conducted and
compound sites usually appeared.858

The land holding households of non Brahman origin are found to have
developed in these production localities and certain ūr assemblies were
developed to protect their interest. The landholding households represented in
the ūr assemblies called ūr / ūrpattar. The ūr assembly of Edanūr settlement
mentioned in an undated Chembra inscription may be considered as a case in
point859. The non Brahman ūr assembly [Edanūr ūr] had taken decision to
transfer certain lands. The epithet kudithala pakukkaperāre860 , [the area
where the kutis settled should not be divided], indicating the importance of

karapurayidam and the karapurayidam of perumbulam Kesavan Narayanan are

mentioned in the document [TAS.4.PP.72-82.]. Killiyur inscription mentions pūmiyum
purēdamum athinupadum karēkādum [Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit.No.98.pp.203-
204.].Tiruvambadi inscription reveals pumi purayidam, Puthussery
Ramachandran.no.99,pp.205-206.Tiruvallam inscription mentions certain
aruviyūrpurayidam [Puthussery Ramachandran no.109.pp225-226.
858
Kilimanur inscription mentions Parappu nāttil chemme olla kādum
karaippurayidamum, kādun karayum karaippurayidamum ālum kūda, kāriththumrai
pūmi and purayidam and āl irupathum nīkki olla nilam eppēr pettathum kādun karayum
karaippurayidamum ālum kūda. Mitranandapuram inscription mentions
manalpazhanjinilamirukalamum purayidattālum, Karaippadal and Purayidam,
Panaingāttur nilam araipangum athintupadum purayidamum, Agattikōdu [2 kalam]
along with [its] karaipuraiyidam, Kummam Perunthanti [2 kalam] and its Purayidam
and Kurugātti together with its purayidam. Another document in the same temple
mentions three purayidams [ Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit.No.101.pp.209-210.]
.Perinchellur inscription mentions kuntramākintra puraiyidam, panapuraiyākunna
puraiyidam, puthukudi puraiyidam, azhakaththupuraiyedam, thuluvathurapuraiyidam,
pattukaththu puraiyidam [AdhAram, op.cit.].Karakandēsvaram temple document
mentions certain chokuzhipurayidam and chenkuzhipurayidam [Puthussery
Ramachandran, No.107.p.221]. Sāttankulangara inscription mentions kuvayūrkkale
kandamum purēdamum and ambiyur purayidam. A fourteenth century document at
Kollam reveals two purayidams, araikkal puraiyidam and vayalir purayidam
[TAS.5.Part.1.pp.46-47.]. An undated Tiruparapu inscription mentions
katturaipurayidam, ponnankalipurayidam and thalaipurayidam
[TAS.Vol.6.Part.1.pp.76-77.] Haripadu inscription mentions certain
manaththalaipurayidam [TAS.Vol.6.Part.1.No.26].
859
M R Raghava Varier, Keraliyatha Charithramanangal, op.cit., pp.113-117.
860
Ibid.p.113.

184
the cultivating kutis settled in the production localities of the non- brahman
settlements and the land holding households developed in such settlements
who must have been represented in the ūr assembly.

Chērikkal Lands - the Cultivating Kutis and Laboring Groups

Chērikkal lands are appeared to have donated to the temples by the

Nāttudayavar and his family members861 and the cultivating kutis and
laboring population like Pulayar settled in such lands. The formation of
chērikkal land is related to the process of integration of the production
localities of the settler cultivators to the nātus and the consolidation of
agrarian localities under Nāttudayavar. The location and structure of chērikal
lands suggest that it was strategic locations where Nāttudayavar and their
kins862settled as dominant houses holds 863
or groups. The chērikal area was
consisted of ara, vayal and kara lands.864 Ara and vayal are paddy fields and
kara is waterborne lands. Sometimes, it was also consisted of fertile wetland
called pōtta and large paddy land called peruvayal.865 The land created by
slash and burn method was formed part of the chērikkal lands.866 The
chērikal land near forest and river is located in hinter land.867 Both mono

861
M G S Narayanan, Perumals of Kerala, op. cit., p.174.
862
Nāduvāzhumavarkalāka avarkalku chārnavarkalāka, M G S,A-25.
863
Pantruturutti Yakkan Kuntrapōzhan, the Nāttudayavar of Kālkarainātu belonged to the
Pāntruturutti house, M G S,B-8 and M G S,B-7.Karilathu Kannan Kumaran, who is
also the udayavar of Kalkarainatu,belonged to the karilathu house. M G S,B-
10.Pantriturutti Pozhan Kumaran who also held sway over both Kalkarainatu and
Nedumpurainatu,M G S,A-45. There might have existed the practice of seniority [kūru]
in the extended family to become the Nāttudayavar, Kunjikutta Varman, the
Nattudayavar of Kurumporainatu was the senior member or the mūttakūru .
864
The land donated by Kerala Kesari Perumal to theTrikkakara temple was consisted of
ara, vayal and kara, M G S,A-19.
865
M G S,A-24,peruvayal pūmi, kannaikālaiyudaiyārpōttai,thachchanārpōttai,vattapōttai.
866
Vettikarikkāttukolla pūmi, M G S,A-25.
867
The land called kīzhkāttupozhachērikal is mentioned in Tirunelli inscription, V R
Paramesvaran Pillai , Prāchīnalikhithangal, op.cit.,p.140.

185
crops and multi crops cultivation were practiced in the chērikal lands.868
Compound site called purayidam869 were also located in cherikal lands, which
was also developed along with the mixed crop cultivation called parambu
cultivation. Sometimes, we have reference to forest, arable land; compound
site attached to cherikal land.870

The expansion of agriculture in mixed crop cultivation in laterite

regions and wet land cultivation in alluvial areas and proliferation of
settlements resulted in the formation of production localities which
constituted germination of a number of nātus in midlands871. Nāttudayavar
must have been originated from the tribal chiefs and the landholding
households 872in the nātus which consisted of number of production localities
of the settler cultivators. The settler cultivators and the cultivating kutis had to
give a part of their produce to the local chiefs as prestation called

868
M G S,A-25, the epithet kallum karidum kānjara kuttiyummullumuyirumaka
………………vettikkarikkāttinolla pūmi evvakai pattathumullodunka indicate the mixed
crop nature of land.
869
M G S,A-58 attipēttu purayidam.
870
Kilimanur Plate,TAS.Vol.5 Part.1.pp.63-85,kilimānūr pūmiyum kādum karayum
karapurayidaththinide māniyam.
871
K N Ganesh, historical Geography of Natu in South India with special Reference to
Kerala, Indian Historical Review,36,1[2009]:p.9. The north most area where existed the
Kolathunadu stretched on the banks of Kavvai, Koppam and Valapattanam
rivers.Purakizhanatu and Kurumporainatu occupied the territory at the foothills of
Western Ghats that included several rivers.Purakilanadu included the present Pazhassi,
Kuttuparamba,Talasseri and Kuttiyadi region.Kurumporai natu was situated to the south
of Kuttiyadi river and stretched up to the Tamarassery. Eralanadu was on the banks of
the Chaliyar river .Valluvanatu, Nedumporaiyurnatu and Nedumkalaya natu were
located the Bharatapuzha river basin. Valluvanatu was located on the both banks of
Bharatapuzha, Nedumkalayanatu on Cheruppulassery and Nedumporaiyur natu in
Pattambi area. Periyar and Pamba rivers and the Vembanadu Lake influenced the nature
and location of natus in central Kerala, i.e., Kalkarainatu, Kizhumalainatu, Venpalanatu,
Nantruzhainatu and Munjinatu. Kalkarainatu was in Trikkakara included Edapalli and
stretched up to the Periyar river.Kizhumalai natu was on the banks of Periyar in the
Todupuzha region.Venpalanatu included the present Vaikkom and Kottayam areas.
Nantruzhainatu was between Trikkadittanam and Perunna and Pamba rivers, an area
that included the Tiruvalla temple. Munjinatu was stretched to the east and south of
Kottayam.Venatu was located in southern Kerala, ibid.
872
Ibid, p.8.

186
pakarcha873and this was the earlier form of dues given to the chiefs in the
form of a protection fee. Later when the chiefs were able to consolidate their
power over the nātus and assumed the power as Nāttudayavar the dues given
to the Nattutayavar got a fixed form and began to be called mēlpathi / mēlodi
and it was given as customary dues called katamai. The cultivator’s share was
kīzhpāti. The Nātudayavar and their family members donated the lands on
which they assumed overlordship or the share of the produce that they had
received from the cultivating kutis as mēlpāti to the temples. They donated the
share of the produce either from their personal holdings called chērikals or
from the cultivating settlements in the nātus where they had control over the
agrarian communities. .Sometimes, they granted lands in the form of kīzhīdu.
The dominant landholding households also donated lands located in the
production localities in the nātus to the temple and, in such cases, they could
retain certain rights over the donated lands.

It shows the tendency that the produce from a large extent of land in
the nātus was donated to the temples either by the land holding families or
Nāttudayavar and the lands from where the produce generated was being
brought under the control of the temples. These lands where the people settled
as cultivating kutis, occupational groups and laboring population who had
come under a tenurial domination called kārānmai. It should also be noted
that as and when more and more production localities were being come under
the temples on kārānmai, it also prevented the autonomous growth of the land
holding households in production localities in the nātus.874

873
Tiruvalla Copper Plates refer to certain pakarchai to indicate the share given to the
udayavar by the cultivator , araiyirai ulpakarcha [MGS,A-80,L.73],
chēnnanchēnnanārkari vāzhpakarchai[ibid.,L.79],uzhpakarchai[ibid.,Ls.231-232],
mūnnontrukarivāzhpakarchai[ibid., L.279], munkavalaichēnnanārkari
vāzhpakarchai[ibid.,L.280], kānjirakāvilīrandaraiyodi vāzhpakarchai[ibid.,L280].
874
K N Ganesh, Historical Geography of Natu in South India, op. cit., pp.11-12 and f
n.no.54.

187
 The agrarian communities and their production localities were
integrated to the larger political territories of the Nāttudayavar and to the
Chērā Perumāl. The integration of these agrarian communities was mediated
by local power centers in which the kutipatis played important role.875 The
kutipatis seem to be the descent heads of the cultivating kutis. The patis or the
descent heads of the other kutis like occupational and artisanal cammunities
were also integrated to the polity of the respective overlords. Kutipathis were
also related to the dominant landholding households as many of the kutipatis
developed from the landholding households. It was through these kutipathis
that the Nāttudayavar and later Chērā Perumal able to extract the resources
from the agrarian localities and delegated their political power.

The subordination of cultivating kutis and the laboring population like

Pulayar was ensured when temple was donated with the chērikal lands and
such lands were leased to the cultivators on kārānmai.876 The land called
vettikarikkatu and Pulayar attached to it were transferred to Trikkakara
temple877and this land was cultivated on lease by the pāttamālan is also a case
in point. Certain vayal and kara lands in Kannamangalam and the Pulayar
attached to it were transferred to Trikkakara temple by Kannan Kumaran.878
It indicates that the development of kārānmai and later the pāttam which
developed the intermediaries in the agrarian process in which cultivation

875
M G S,A-6, Certain kutipthis are mentioned in the Tarsa church copper plate,
punnaithalaipathi and pōlakudipathi, in whose presence the attippēr grant deed was
executed and given to the Tarsa Church.It also reveals pathippathavāram, the dues
given to the kutipathis by the kutikal.
876
M G S,A-19, Trikkakara inscription reveals that the vayal and kara lands had to be
cultivated and 194 kalam paddy should be measured in the temple by the kārālan.
Mention is also made that certain peruvayal pūmi [land] and Pulayar attached to it were
settled, TAS.3.PP.169-171.
877
M G S,A-25, Vettikarikkāttinolla pūmi, this land might have been occupied and
cultivated by slash and burn method with the help of Pulayar and they must have been
settled this land as laboring group thereafter.
878
M G S.B-10.

188
became an instituted process under the domination of the temple and the
Nattutayavar. It also shows that the development of the primary producers
like Pulayar was a complex process occurred in the chērikkal lands as well.
We find the process by which the reclaimed lands and the Āl attached to it had
become part of the chērikal of the Nāttutayavar. It is evident that certain
chērikal lands called injaithuruththi and kuzhikkādu where Āl were settled
was donated to Tiruvalla temple by Irāman Māthevi, the udayavar of
Munjinādu as a kīzhīdu.879

A notable aspect of the production localities was the location of the

cultivating kutis in the settlements itself, as we have an epithet ivvūr ulkudi,
the kutis settled inside the ūr.880 The location of kutis 881
, unlike in the Tamil
country, was within the ūr settlements, a spatial specificity of settlement
which gave the dispersed character of settlements in this region. The lands
consisted of ūr and market place was part of the cherikal lands.882 Pūmiyum
kādum karayum karapurayidaththinide māniyam mentioned in Kilimanur
plate indicates the people who settled as cultivating population in the cherikal
land.

Kutis in the Brahman Ūrs

The location of the kutis in the Brahman villages is important as in the case of
the cherikkal lands and the lands controlled by the households of the non
Brahman groups. When the Brahmans were given the productive lands in the
river valleys, from early historical periods onwards, the cultivating kutis that

879
M G S,A-80.L.538,certain land called kadapanagadu and the āl attached to it seems to
be a part of cherikal land, ibid, L.499.
880
Trikkakara inscription,M G S,B-19.
881
Viraraghava Plate mentions Vāniyar and ayinkammālar settled as kutis and they had
been granted to the Manikirāmattār [traders] as adimai [slave?], Puthusseri
Ramachandran, op.cit., No.133, p.319.
882
Tiruvalla Copper Plate M G S,A-80,Ls.331-32.

189
already settled in such settlements had become the dependent cultivating
groups to the Brahman ūrs. There also developed individual Brahman house
holds called mangalams outside the Brahman villages883and cultivating kutis
might have been attached to such settlements. Proliferation of Brahman
settlements and development of structural temples were also related to the
development of production localities outside the Brahman settlements where
cultivating kutis and the labouring population produced surplus. The growth
of landholding households in these production localities made possible the
donations to temples mostly in the form of the share of the produces from the
lands. The overlordship of the Nāttutayavar over such production localities
also helped to enlarge the resource base of the temple centered Brahman
settlements. This process made expansion of cultivation in the river valleys
and estuarine areas and also in the laterite parambu areas. The development
of nātus in the midland regions and consolidation of political authority of the
Nāttudayavar over such natus were also related to the development of temple
centered ūr settlements of the Brahmans. This also meant that settlements of
the cultivating kutis and kutis of artisanal and occupational groups and the
laboring population were proliferated and labour realization strategies were
developed which provided production process an instituted character.

The existence of Brahman villages was also based on the cultivation

and production operation made by the cultivating kutis and laboring groups
settled in the Brahman villages. The produces from the lands in the villages
other than the Brahman settlements was expropriated by way of imposing
tenurial domination. A share of the produce from such villages was donated to
the temples by the landholding households and the Nāttutayavars. It enabled
the temples and Brahmans to controll the cultivating communities by way of
structuring the production process through the kārālar and then through the

883
K N Ganesh, Historical Geography of Natu in South India, op cit., p.13.

190
mediation of intermediaries called pāttamalar. The appropriation of surplus
produce from the production localities was materialised in such a way as to
make the producing groups subservient to the corporate institutional structure
of the temples.884 It makes the point clear that the Brahman settlements and
the temple centered villges developed as an exploitative institutional and
spatial structures whose existence was ensured and perpetuated predominantly
by the resources genarated by the cultivating kutis, occupational collectives
and the primary producers in the production localities located outside the
Brahman settlements. It was in this context that production operations done
by the cultivating kutis and other labouring groups in both Brahman and non
Brahman villages were to be got ensured and surplus that was generated from
such settlements had to be chanalised to the temples, the Nāttutayavar and to
the Chēra Perumāls. The corporate interest of the temples made provisions to
restrict the temple committees like ūrālar, Potuvāls and Itaiyītar885 from
making disturbances in the cultivation operations done by the kutis in the
lands where temple had control.

This would be clear when we analyse the relation of kutis and

kutipathis located in two non Brahman ūrs settlements886 which had been

884
Avittaththūr inscription mentions the ivvūrkudikale, kutis who settled in a Brahman ūr
and their relation to the ūrudayavar of that ūr, M G S,A-10.
885
The intermediary tenure holders of the temple lands. The itaiyītar appear to have
originated from the dominant land holding households of the production localities. They
were also probably members of the ūr assemblies of the non Brahman landholding
group. It was through these itaiyītar that temple authorities were able to integrate the
non Brahman cultivating localities to the temples and to esablish tenuarial control over
the production localities. This was supported by the Nāttudayavars who wanted to
legitimise their political authority through the temples and Brahmans.
886
Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit.,No.8, It is in this context that certain lands donated to
the Ayiranikkalam temple by Chēra queen and junior prince in the presence of
Brahman and non Brahman ūr assemblies is to be considered. This inscription reveals
the existence of the ūr assembly of the non brahman cultivators and the sabha of
Brahaman ūr. Kutis and kutipathis were located in both ūrs. It was with the consent of
the kutipathis in both ūrs that certain chērikkal lands were received as kīzhīdu grant by
the temple authority. The important thing was that the existence of two ūr assemblies of
non Brahmans with the kutis and kutipathis in it. The senior member of the kuti was the

191
donated to the Ayiranikkalam temple and the way in which these ūrs came
under the domination of temples and Brahman ūr. The relation of kutipathis
to the cultivating kutis and to the labouring population also important as the
former was made to mediate to control cultivating kutis setltled in the donated
ūrs. The instituted relations established by the temple by which the non-
Brahman settlenements of the cultivating kutis came under the domination of
the temple and to the Brahman village was crucial one as it ensured the
subjugation of kutis to Brahman ūr and temple. Sometimes, the consent of the
kutipatis in the ūrs was required to make the execution of land deeds pertain
to the transfer of the possession right of lands in which the kutis settled. The
senior male member of the kuti was the person who managed the cultivation
operations in the lands. The members of the assembly of the temple like
ūāralar were restricted to interfere in the cultivation operations and the right
possessed by the kutis who settled in the lands controlled by the temples.

It is important to note that Pulayar attached to the lands in these ūrs

settlements as primary producing group pointing to the fact that Pulayar must
have been developed in the ūr settlements before it was donated to the temple.
Suffice it to say that the overlordship of the Perumāl was developed over
these ūr settlements even before the donation was made. The cultivating kutis
could retain the right to cultivate the land they settled887 even when the ūrs
were donated to the temple and the absence of kutinīkkikārānmai in the
document as elsewhere in the region suggest that they could not have been
evicted from the land where they settled themselves and cultivated.

person who led the cultivation and ūāralar of the temple were restricted to interfere in
the cultivation done by the kutis. It also reveals the Pulayar who were settled in the ūrs.
The right of the kutis over the land they cultivated was attested by this document,
Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit.No.8.
887
ivvūr kudikalarkkattu karaipūmi, ibid.

192
 As almost all the production localities in both Brahman and non
Brahman settlements where the cultivating kutis could retain their right to
settlement and cultivation, the complete Brahman hegemony in terms of
property right over the lands where the kutis settled could not have been
possible. What determined the location and the condition of existence of the
kutis of various producing groups was the right they could possess over the
land and other resources including the skill, knowledge and the technical
knowhow they possessed.The eviction of the kutis settled the lands on which
temple could develop overlordship, in fact, would affect the cultivation
operations and consequently the resources requirements of the temples.
Therefore, it was necessary for Brahmans and temples to see that kutis are
well settled in the lands which alone ensure the continuous resource pooling
by the temple so as to make the continuation of cultivation operations without
any external disturbances in these lands.888

When the temples became a dominant corporate institutional structure,

it adopted tenurial system, its legal codes and mobilized the resources from
the land which established dominance over the kutis. The assembly which
managed the affairs of the temples was variously known as parudai / sabha /
ūr which also managed the temple property and the every day affairs of the
temple. There developed a tendency to turn away the corporate nature of
temple property by the members of ūrālar sabha. There also developed a
group from the ūrālar and the non Brahman landholding households to
manage the cultivation of lands under the control of the temple called kīzhītu.

888
Most of the documents in the region seem to have been the kudinīnga kārānmai, transfer
of lands without the eviction of the kutikal settled it.There is a debate in historical
scholarship regarding the actual nature of kutis settled the land on which temples could
developoverlordship and the legal provision made in the form of kachchams,
Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai, ‘Janmisambrathāyam Kēralathil’ in [Ed] N Sam, Elamkulam
Kunjan Pillayude Thiranjedutha Krithikal, op.cit., p.593. M G S Narayanan, ‘Oru
Pazhaya Karshaka Niyamam’ in Kerala Charithrathinte Adisthana Silakal,op.cit.,pp.45-
60.

193
They began to controll these lands by assuming intermediary tenure called
itiyītu. It was in this context that certain regulations called kachchams were
framed with the support of the political authority to safeguard the corporate
right of the temples over the lands. The temples had to ensure the cultivation
of the lands under its control and the protection of kutis settled there. This was
mainly to meet the resource requirements of the temples without any
disturbances from the ūrālars and Itaiyītar.889 The phrase
kutikalkkuvalaiyaicheyyavu pperār ūrālar which means that the ūrālar should
not disturb the settlers, was included in the transaction deeds.890 It intention
was to protect the corporate right of the temple over the landed property and
to ensure the cultivation in the lands without any hindrances from ūrālar and
Itaiyītar.891

The settlements mentioned in the Kollur Matham plates had very long
antiquity892. It explains how the settlements of the cultivating kutis had
become part of the settlements of Brahmans when the latter were made to
settle the area. It is also made clear from the document that this Brahman
settlement was earlier was the service tenure given to the officials of the
Vēnādu rulers as jīvitham. It may be noted that the kutis continued to live and
cultivate the lands even when the service tenure was changed to the
padakaram or the joint holding of the Brahmans. There settled four kutis of
Vellayālar in the lands to indicate cultivators were known as Vellalar in this

889
Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai, ‘Janmisambrathāyam Kēralathil’ in N Sam[Ed], Elamkulam
Kunjan Pillayude thiranjedutha Krithikal, op.cit.., pp.605-606. The earliest record to
mention theMuzhikkalam kachcham is Chokkur plate [M G S, A-8] and the latest one is
Tirumittakodu [M G S, A, 36 and A-52]. The north most temple inscription that refers
to Muzhikkalam kachcham is Narayan kannur [M G S,B-33]and the southern most one
is Tirunandikkarai[M G S,C-45], M G S Narayanan , Perumals of Keala,op.cit., p.115.
890
M G S,C-17.
891
M G S Narayanan, Perumals of Kerala, op.cit., p.176.
892
Devideveshvaram plate, M G S, B-15.

194
region.893 There are also four kudi of Vāniyar and their settlements.
Kalavāniyar purayidam, ākkal vāniyar and vannārkandam are indications to
the settlements of Vāniyar and Vannār respectively. The salt makers in the
pozhikkaraithurai reveal that the salt makers and manufacturers settled the
coastal areas as kutis where the saltpans located. There were a number of kuti
settlements in the lands donated to the temple [kutiirukkumpurayidangalum
and kudi irikkinta purayidaththil kudiintiye irukki].894 There are references to
the jīvitham lands of tank diggers and bund makers895, they also settled as
kutis. The right to settle the land in an ūr was the right of the kutis896 who had
the right to retain a share of the produce for their subsistence, kudikūru.897
Kollur Matham plates also reveal that the structure of the ūr settlement and
the labouring population had developed a certain form of spatial hierarchy on
account of the production and distribution of material wealth as well as the
power structure developed in the agrarian social structure in this region.

The incorporation of the land holding households and their ūr

assembly into the land tenure system and the assimilation of the landed gentry
of non Brahmans into the corporate property relations were significant
processes. We have a number of examples where both non-brahman and
Brahman ūr assemblies came together to take decision on the transfer of lands
or produce to the temples or to give lands on kārānmai or pāttam. The
893
Ibid.
894
Devideveshvaram plate, MGS,B-15, innilamum ithinōdukūda mukkālvattamchuzhantum
kudiirukkumpurayidangalum vilakkavum vaikkavum adikodukkavum adhikarikkavum
perār.
895
Ibid, kulamadikkunnavar jivitham and chirayadikkunnavar jivitham.
896
The laboring population like Parayar were also considered as kuti in the ūr settlements
can also be seen in the Kandiyur inscription which mentions certain lands called
siriyaparayankari and padinjāyiru parayankari indicating the settlements of the
Parayar. The Parayar must have created the estuarine landspace called kari lands for wet
land agriculture, TAS.Vol.1.pp.407-413. Perunjellur inscription mentions āladiyār
attached to certain nilam and puraiyidams and we are also told that they settled as
laboring population, AdhAram, op.cit.
897
TAS.Vol.5.Part.1.p.7.

195
epithets in Ayiranikkalam inscription, ayiranikkalaththūrārkum
paradaiyārkum898 and ayirānikkalathu paradaiyārum ūrārum899 indicate that
ūr assemblies of both Brahmans and non Brahmans met together and
unanimously took decisions regarding the donation of chērkal lands to the
temple. Similarly, Trippangodu insciprton refers to tiripparangōttu
paradaimārum urpattārum'900 which means the joint activities of Brahman
and non-Brahman assemblies. Edanūrūrum thapaiyum901is mentioned in
Chembra inscription which reveals the joint decision taken by both ūr
assemblies in edanūr regarding the cultivation of certain lands given to the
temple. Similarly, the references to peruneythal ūrum parudaiyārum902in
Peruneythal inscription and those of ūrum paradaiyārum’903and
thirukkadithānathūrāraum paradaiyārum904 found in Trikkadithanam
inscriptions also reveal the presence of both Brahman and non-brahman ūr
assemblies in the areas and their joint venture in agrarian process including
the prevention of disturbences in these settlements from the hands of ūrālar
and the itaiyītar.

Another means adopted by the temples and Brahmans to establish

dominance over the production localities was the incorporation of the
kutipatis into the tenurial system and using them as the linkage between the
production localities on the one hand and the temples and the Nāttudayavar
on the other. The reference to īrandūr kudipathiyum mentioned in a
Perunnayil inscription indicates the rol of kutipatis there. Kutipatis are also

898
Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit., No.8.
899
M G S,C-36.
900
M G S,A-13.
901
Dated Chembra inscription, M R Raghavava Varier, Keraliyatha, op.cit., pp.99-102.
902
M G S,A-49.
903
M G S,A-42, Trikkadithanam inscription.
904
M G S,A-64, Trikkadithanam inscription.

196
mentioned in Ayiranikkalam inscription.905 There also developed the kuti
settlements and kutipatis in the Brahman and non Brahman settlements in
Perunnai.906 Kutipatis mediated the process of linking various kutis with the
temples and the Brahman settlements. Therefore, the cultivating settlements
and the kutis settled became part of the instituted relations under the
temples.907 It was an incorporative process which brought the production
localities into the tenurial relations of the temples with the support of the
Nāttutayavar and the Perumāl. This process seems to have made Brahmans
and temples the parasitic on production localities and kutis for their resource
requirements. The consolidation of this instituted process made the agrarian
order hierarchical in nature. It was materialised in such a way that the surplus
appropriated was also redistributed at different levels in the hierarchy so
developed.

The corporate property of the temples called dēvasvam was vested in

the assembly of Brahman ūrālar908 who were given jīvitham lands as
managers for their life time. The right of the Brahman family to be
909
represented as member in the ūrāla assembly was called ūrānmai. When
this ūrānmai right became a hereditary, the jīvitham holdings of the ūrālar

905
Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit.No.8,pp21-23.
906
M G S, A-49 mentions peruneythal ūrum paradaiyārum indicates the separate existence
of both non Brahman and Brahman ūr assemblies.
907
One of the Perunneyil inscriptions mention that aranthai and āttakkōl were collected by
kudipathīs from the kutis settled the Perunneyil ūrs for the king. It was granted to the
Perunnayil temple by the instruction of the royal authority as attippēr for the purpose of
namaskāram and māparatham. It seems that these āttaikkōl and aranthai were
previously collected by the kudipathis, īrandūr kudipathiyum,[kāpālimangalaththum
muththūttum olla kudipathikal] from the kutis settled the Brahman settlement and non
Brahman settlement and after an order [kōiladhikārikal issued a royal order to both
kudipathis] kudipathis refrained from collecting these from the perunneythal
settlements. Kudipathi is a problematic term, being the head of the kuti settlements of
the laboring population kudipatis were the integrating link between the political
authority and the cultivating groups, Perunnayil inscription, M G S,A-68.
908
M G S Narayanan , Perumals of Kerala, op .cit., p.111.
909
Ibid, p.174.

197
also turned to be hereditary and it came to be known as janmam holdings of
individual households of the Brahman ūrālars. 910 This process seems to have
given birth to collective holding among the households of Brahman ūrālars.

Property Form and its Development

There are references to individuals or households who possessed landed

wealth indicating the nature and form of material possession developed within
the structure of extended households in the period under discussion. We have
references to the collective holding of the landed property and it was donated
to the temples or it had been pledged by receiving money or gold from the
temples. we find that the a number of private individuals both Brahmans and
non Brahmans, Nāttudayavar and the members of the extended households of
the Nāttudayavar including female members possessed lands either in their
individual capacity911 or they held lands as collective holding on behalf of
their extended households or individual households912. The extended family
members in the kizhpērūr households could develop the rights to sell their
holdings with individually capacity.913 Certain individuals appeared to have
donated holdings of their extended households or mortgage it to get gold or
achchu from temples also indicate the development of collective holdings.

910
Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai, ‘janmisambrathāyam Kēralathil’ in N Sam [Ed], Elamkulam
Kunjan Pillayude Thiranjedutha Krithikal,op.cit., Pp.621-622.
911
jīvitham lands were held as collective holdings[TAS.Vol.1.pp.414-417].
Trikkadithanam inscription mention the collective form of landed wealth enjoyed by
household of certain Thenchēri Chennan Thāyan [M G S, A-64].
912
Kandan Kumaran alias māluvakkōn, Kīzhmalai nāttudayavar [M G S,B-20] and
udayavar of munjinādu held wealth as collective form of possession. Arappan Kunji,
the nāttutayavar of Kurumbranātu called kurāumburai, donated with certain lands to the
Kunavāyanallūr temple in Kinalur and the lands is refered to thankūru, his own share
[M G S,B-23] indicating the kūru form of right held by the various lineage segments in
the extended households of the ruling family.
913
Kilimanur plates reveal that Vira Adichchavarma Tiruvadi purchased certain lands from
the members of the extended royal family and granted it to the temple to meet some of
its expenses [TAS.5.Part.1.pp.63-85].

198
The collective form of material possession including landed wealth developed
among the non-Brahman landholding groups914.

Development of Otti and Panayam

Other significant developments in connection with the collective form of

property right were the development of the right to mortgage the property in
the form of otti and the formation of intermediaries called itaiyītar.
Devidevesvaram plate mentions that the 23 padakāram lands consisting of
1325 para lands had been granted to the Brahmans with the stipulation that
the purayidams around the temple where the kutis settled should not be
mortgaged in the form of otti. It reveals that the practice of mortgage of land
was prevalent during this period. Padakāram lands given to the Brahmans
were also prevented from the practice of otti 915 Service holding also appears
to have exempted from otti practice as it has been stated in the
Trikkadithanam temple inscription that the virutti holdings of the drummers
of the temple should not be taken and given away in otti.916

Other record states that itaiyītu properties possessed by some ūrālar of

Irijālakuda temple were similarly prevented from mortgage or otti.917 Certain
chērikkal land granted as kīzhīdu to the Irānikkalam temple by Kōil Kōpirātti

914
Yakkan Govinnan of Mulankadu donated 400 kalam lands consisting of thara and nilam
to the Trikkadithanam temple is also part of the collective form of wealth [MGS.A-38].
A private individual, Chankaran of murukanādu also held land as collectiv in form [M G
S,A-9]. Perumānar Pāndan Chēnnan possessed as his own thvam [Nedumpuram Tali
inscription, M G S,A-27]. Certain private individual, Karkottupuraththu Kadampan
Kumaran, made land grant for the purpose of routine expenses in
Kumaranārayanapuram temple and this landed property seems to be held by him on
behalf of his extended household [Chokkur inscription, M G S,A-8]. Pukazhamalaichēri
Chuvaran Thēvan mortgaged certain lands to the Perunchellur temple to get a sum of
707 ānaiachchu .These lands are also appeared to have held by him for his extended
household[ADHARAM, op.cit].
915
Tiruvalla Plate, M G S,A-80,Ls. 382-383.
916
M G S,A-47 ūrālarum idaiyīdarum pothuvālum ottikollumaval … ..
917
M G S,A-3. idaiyīdullayidaththu ottivaykkavum kollavum …………. perār.

199
and Iravi Iravi were also brought under the similar restrictions918. It also
stipulates that the lands of the kutis in this ūr should not be mortgaged or sold
to others other than the settlers of this ūr.919 Ālaththūr Jain document
mentions that the palli lands [uzhaikkalam and the property attached to it]
920
should not be mortgaged, pledged, or transferred as ītu and fine.
Tirupparangodu temple inscription mentions that lands given to the temple
should not be mortgaged and such lands should not be received by the ūrālar
921
and Pothuvāl. If they do so, they would lose their possessions.922 This
document also makes provision to prevent the misappropriation of income of
the temple.923

Certain nātus which had been developed from the tribal historical past
such as the Āy Vēlir924, Vēnātu925 , the vēlir chiefs of Ēzhimala [Kōlathunātu
]926 ,Kurumbranatu927 ,Purakizhanatu928, Erālnatu929 and Valluvanātu930

918
Ayiranikkalam inscription, Puthusseri Ramachandran, ipūmi vilkavum ottivaykkavum
manti ontrum cheyypperār ūrālar , op.cit.No.8, Ls.21-22.
919
ivvūrkudikala [rkka]ttu karaipūmi ivvūrkanayāthavaralālantri puramoruvar vilkavum
ottiveykavum perār, ibid.
920
ottiyum panaiyavum vaikkavum thandam āka kkodaikkavum īdukodukkavum perār,
Puthusseri Ramachandran,op.cit., No.127,pp.312-313.
921
M G S,A-14, chennadayā ullapūmikondu ottivaykavum ottikollavum perār.
922
koduththu muthal chimāvāvithu, ibid.
923
thēvarudaiya pathavāramazhippithāka pūmi ottivaypithāka cheyyavum perār,ibid.
924
Tiruvidaikodu inscriptions, Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit.No.73-74, Parthivapuram
inscription describes the settlements and the formation of Brahman temple in the Ay
territory, Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit.No.no.75.Thirunandikara inscription and
Paliyam plate of Vikramadithya Varaguna also mention the development nātu under the
Ay chiefs, Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit.No.76-77.
925
Kollam inscripton of Ayyanatikal [M G S,A-2], Tirunandikara inscription
Vijayaraghava deva [M G S,A-7], Kollam inscription of Ramakulasekhara [MGS,A-
71],Mampalli PlateS [M G S,B-11 and B-12], Devidevesvaram plate [M G S,B-15] and
Tirunandikara inscription [M G S,C-45] deal with different aspect of the development of
Venatu.
926
Pullur kodavalam inscription [M G S,A-39], Eramam Chalapuram inscription [M G
S,A-40],Narayan Kannur inscription [M G S,B-3 and B-21]Tiruvattur Temple
Inscription [Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit.No126], Kuravakavu temple inscription

200
where original Brahman settlements were less in number and wetland paddy
area was limited.931 Brahmans and temples seem to have had no significant
influences over these natus.932 The expansion of laterite parambu cultivation
and the proliferation of large number of compound sites called purayidams
where mixed crop cultivation practiced, reveal the expansion of the
cultivation in laterite area and development of powerful non Brahman
landholders. It shows the fact that majority of population subsisted on the
mixed crops including paddy cultivated in the elevated areas in the laterite
region and in the hill slopes. It also reveals that mixed crop cultivation in
parambu and purayidam had descisive role in developing the subsistence
form of people. The variety of crops cultivatd and the volume of produce
generated in the mixed crop cultivation areas show that cultivation in laterite
region was as important as wet land agriculture.933 Interestingly, Brahman ūrs
and temples were lagely developed in the wetland region.

In wet land region too, the non-Brahman land holders like itaiyitars
developed as powerful cultivators and dominant land holders. The beginnings
of land mortgages seem to have given an opportunity for the powerful non
Brahman groups to intervene in the field of agriculture in an increasing

[M G S,B-24] and Perumchllur inscription describes the various aspects of the

development of Kolathunatu ,in addition to Mushakavamsa.
927
Tirunelli inscription] M G S, A-36]. Kulathur inscription [M R Raghava Varier,
Keraliyatha Charithra Manangal, op.cit., pp.119-134 and Kinalur inscription [M G S,B-
23]mention the development of this nātu.
928
Tirunelli inscription deals with the Chankaran Kothavarman of Purakizhānātu [V R
Paramesvaran Pillai, Parchīna Likhithangal,op.cit., p.145 and M G S,A-46.
929
Pulpatta inscription mention the erālanātu and arunnūttuvar [M G S,C-12]in addition to
Jewish Copper Plate [ M G S,A-34]
930
Jewish Copper Plate [M G S,A-34] mentions Rayiran Chattan, the udayavar of
Valluvanatu.Irinjalakuda inscription mention the arunnūttuvar of Valluvanatu [M G
S,A-74].
931
K N Ganesh, State Formation in Kerala: A Critical Overview, op.cit., PP.25-26.
932
K N Ganesh, Keralathinte Innalakal,op.cit.,pp.351-352.
933
K N Ganesh, State Formation in Kerala, op .cit., PP.24-25.

201
manner. This might have increased the insecurity and insularity among
Brahman population and temples. The challenges possed by these non
Brahman groups to the brahmanical dominance and to the supremacy of the
temples also increased insecurity among the Brahman population. The
Brahman settlements that developed in the reverine areas were less in number
when compared with the cultivating settlements of the non Brahman people
and the lands controlled by the dominant landholding households. The
Brahman settlements and the temples could not have dominated the nātus
territories of the Nāttudayavar and Nāttudayavar do not seem to have
subordinated their political power to the temples and Brahmans. However, the
Nāttudayavar and their militia seem to have occassionaly intervened in the
affairs of temples and ūrārs934 which might have also added to the isolation of
the Brahman settlements and temple. Groups like Nūttuvar935, Adhikārar936 ,
Nizhal937, Prakriti938, Pani939, and Mēnāyan940 found in the inscriptions of the

934
K N Ganesh, Historical Geography of Natu in South India, op cit., p.18.
935
Vēnātu arunnūtttuvar[ Tarisapalli plate, M G S,A-6.L.9],nantuzhai nātu vāzhumavar
munnūttuvarum[M G S,B-13.L.10-13], nantruzhai nāttu munnūttuvarum [M G S,B-
14,L.6] and nantruzhai nātu munnūttuvar [M G S,C-41.L.6], mūtta kūttil
ezhunnūttuvarum’[Tirunelli Plate MGS,A-36], ichchērikkal valluvanādu
arunnūttuvarkkunkāval [M G S,A,74.L.19], thirumannūr patārarudaiya
thēvaththuvamum pirammaththuvamum arunnūttuvarkku kīzhītu[Tiruvannur plate ,
MGS,A-62] Tirukkadiththanam inscription mentions munnūttuvar [ M G S,A-64],
Kīzhmalai arunnūttuvarum and nantruzhainātu munnūttuvaru [MGS,B-20] kurumporai
natu munnuttuvar is mentioned in Kinalur plate, M G S,B-23.L.51].Also see K N
Ganesh, Historical Geography of Natu in South India …….., op cit, pp.15-16.
936
Tarisapalli plate mentions athikārarum prakritiyum arunnūttuvarum, M G S,A-6,
certain tali athikarar mentioned in Ayiranikkalam inscription, Puthussery
Ramachandran, op cit, no.8, certain patārar athikārikal , [adhikarar of the Trikkakara
temple] mentioned in a trikkakara plate, M G S,A-24.Tirunelli plate mentions
ezhunnūttuvar, nizhal , pani, prakriti etc, V R Paramesvaran Pillai, Prachina
Likhithangal, op.cit., No.2.p.145,Ls .7-9.Adhikarar were also relatd to the temple which
is mentioned in a Nedumpuram Tali,M G S,A-43.L.3.
937
Nizhal are the personal guards of the Nāttudayavar and they might have belonged to the
kin group or chārnavar of the udayavar. Nizhal are mentioned in a Tirunelli plate, V R
Paramesvaran Pillai, Prachina Likhithangal………op cit., atikal puraikizhārum
nizhalum paniyum mentioned in another Tirunelli plate, M G S, A-46.

202
period would reveal that they were an integral part of the political power
under Nāttudayavar. These functionaries seem to have played a very
significant role in integrating the production localities to the nātus which
developed as the political territory of the Nāttutayavars. In addition to the
tribal chiefs who evolved as Nāttudayavar, some nātu chiefs also emerged
from the households of the dominant land holding groups. The households
which retained the rights and succession in the form of kūru were also the
extended kins of the Nāttudayavar who were recruited to the militia of the
Nāttudayavar called Nūttuvar. The Nūttuvar probably indicated the number of
house holds that could be recruited to the militia of the Nāttudayavar. This
signifies the extent of the nātu territory as well941.

Hence the agrarian process that developed in the production localities

in which the households had considerable power was also linked to the the
resource base of the nātus. The development of the collective form of
property among the various lineage segments of the households of the
Nāttutayavar and the dominant landholding groups shows that individual
private property could not have been developed among the land holding
households and the ruling families. It was through these households of the
Nāttutayavars and the dominant land holding groups that the political power
of the Nāttudayavar percolated to the cultivating settlements so as to

938
Prakriti were non Brahman or Vellāla notables, K N Ganesh, Histoionical Geography of
Natu in South India …, op .cit., pp.14-15.Tirunelli Plate mentions certain ūridavakai
vellālar, M G S, A-36.
939
Pani are the servants or labourer located in the chērikkal lands, ippūmi mērpāthiyum
paniyum mentioned in a Trikakara Plate, M G S,A-25. Another Trikakara Plate mention
vāzhkaikum panikum, MGS,A-26]the Nizhal and Pani of Nantruzhai nadu is mentioned
in a Trikadithanam inscription,M G S,A-32 .Certain paniyudaiya Nāyan is mentioned in
a Tirunelli Plate, M G S,A-36. Certain paniyudaiyavakal mentioned in a
Trikkadiththanam plate, M G S, A-64.
940
K N Ganesh, Histoionical Geography of Natu in South India …, op. cit., pp.14-15.
941
Ibid, p.16.

203
appropriate the resources942 and to delegate the political power of the
Nāttutayavar. Vāzhkai943, the local power centeres, and Pathi944, who
developed from kutis, were integrated to the nātus and to the authority of the
Nāttudayavar, which began to function as the collectors of dues. The Vāzhkai
were those people who were assigned to collect the dues from the local
area.945 The āttaikōl, the annual dues to the Nātttudayavar and to the Perumāl,
were collected by the Vāzhkai946 and the Kutipathis947. Therefore, Nātu,
Vāzhkai and Pati functioned between Nāttutayavars and the kutis for the
appropriation of the surplus and in percolating the political power.

The nature and development of the Chēra political authority has been
discussed.948 The location of Mākōtai, the capital city of Chēras as a port
town helped the Chēras to engage in trade with other parts of the world. The
overland trade route also linked Tamizhakam with the West Coast.949 The
overseas merchants were incorporated to make them part of the indegeneous
trade corporations and to accept the indigenous system of social hierarchy and

942
Natus themselves were organization of groups of household units, rather than separate
villages, K N Ganesh, Historical Geography of Natu in South India …….., op. cit., p.19.
943
Nāttinum vāzhkaikum panikkum mentioned in a TrikakaraPlate, M G S,A-26.A few
Vazhkai terms appear in Tiruvalla Plates , M G S,A-80.
944
Punnaithalai Pati and Pōlaikudipati were present while Ayyanatikal, the udayavar of
Venatu, made the land transaction to Tarasa church at Kollam, M G S, A-2.
945
Trikkadittanam inscription says āttamkollum utampāttāl vāzhkai āka pāttam, M G S,A-
31.Collection of dues from various local areas were assigned as Vāzhkai, K N Ganesh ,
Historical Geography of Natu in South India …….., op cit, p.16.
946
Trikkadithanam inscription says āttaikolvār and the epithet attaikollum utambāttāl
vāzhkai āka pita indicating the annual dues were collected by the Vāzhkai.
947
Perunneyil inscription mentions that āttakkōl were collected by Kudipathīs from the
kutis settled in the Perunneyil ūrs for the king. It seems that these āttaikkōl were
previously collected by the kudipathis, īrandūr kudipathiyum,[kāpālimangalaththum
muththūttum olla kudipathikal] from the settlements of the cultivators where kutis also
settled and after an order [kōiladhikārikal issued a royal order to both kudipathis]
kudipathis refrained from collecting these from the perunneythal settlements, M G S,A-
68.
948
K N Ganesh, State Formation in Kerala, A Critical Overview,op.cit., PP.1-20.
949
Ibid, p.22.

204
privilege.950 The control over the production localities of the cultivating kutis
and the occupational groups in the Perumāl area and the ports of trade helped
the Chēra Perumāls to expand his control over the political territories of the
Nāttutayavar by superimposing the political control over the institutional
structures of the polity of the Nāttutatayavar.

The institutional structure developed by the temples supported by the

ritual and cultural dominance of Brahman ūrs necessitated political support
from the Chēra Perumāls to protect the collective and corporate property
form that developed in the Brahman ūrs and under the temples. The
institutional structure of the temples closed the possibility of the emergence of
the individual form of property within the domains of temple over which the
temples extended its dominance as well as the Brahman ūrs.

Chēra Perumāls exteneded the political support to legitimize the

corporate form of property that developed under the temples and the
collective form of possession within the Brahman ūrs. The political authority
of the Perumāl did not transform the household structure that developed
among the propertied and producing classes and the collective forms of
material possession that developed under these households. This enabled the
Chēra Perumāls to superimpose certain cultural and symbolic power over the
functionaries of the existing political structure of the Nāttutayavars to claim
the over lordship.

We have seen in the above discussion the formation and developement

of multiple economies. The food producing surplus generating economy of
wetland agriculture in river valleys and water-laden areas, and the mixed
crops economy in laterite parambus got domiannace. The expansion of
agriculture and proliferation of settlements in wetland and laterite region also

950
Ibid,pp.22-23.

205
developed a number of groups and their settlements including Brahmans. The
expansion of the cultivation into hither to uncultivated areas in both parambus
including forested areas and the wetland and estuarine areas were made
possible because of the resource requirements of the Nāttutayavar, temples,
Brahman settlements and the land holding households. It developed the chiefs
who evolved from land holding households to the Nāttutayavars. Gradation of
rights over the lands and other material resources led to the formation of
agrarian hierarchy and corresponding social gradations. Formation and
consolidation of producing groups was important in the production process
which we will discuss in the next chapter.

206
 Agriculture Production and the Location
of the Primary Producers

K.S. Madhavan “Primary producing groups in early and early medieval Kerala:
Production process and historical roots of transition to castes (300-1300 CE)”
Thesis. Department of History , University of Calicut, 2012
 Chapter Second
Agriculture Production
and the Location of the
Primary Producers

Agriculture production in parambu and wetland regions became a dominant

form of subsistence of the people. In addition to this, pumam cultivation in the
elevated areas and hill slopes and forest produces are also important
livelihood forms of the people. The kutis and the labouring population
engaged in the production operations in both parambu and wet land that
enabled to generate surplus for the sustenance of the people of various
categories. Various forms of agriculture practices including mono crops and
multi crops are discussed in this chapter. An attempt is made to understand
the way in which the primary producers engaged in the labour process.
Various aspects of social formation are explained in relation to the production
process in the following sections.

Monsoon, Rivers and Backwater System

The region under discussion enjoys southwesterly and northeasterly monsoon

and rain is the source of all water in this region. More than sixty percent of all
rainfall occurs during the south-west monsoon period [i.e., June –July]. The
contribution of north-east monsoon is high in certain parts. The effect of the
north-east monsoon is found to be more towards the southern part of this
region.1 Therefore, the southern part of the region enjoys high twice, once in
June –July and next in October.2 Normal rainfall pattern indicates that this
region receives some rainfall throughout the year. Monsoon failure for both

1
Srikumar Chattopadhyaya and Richard W.Franke, Striving for Sustainability:
Environmental Stress and Democratic Initiatives in Kerala, [Concept Publishing
Company, New Delhi, 2006], p.37.
2
Ibid.

207
periods is very rare.3 If rainfall is low in the southwest monsoon it is partly
compensated for during the northeast period.

The foothills receive maximum rainfall and many of the rivers and
tributaries originate in the foothills. All round rainfall and high precipitation
in the foothills result in the perennial water supply in the rivers.4 These rivers
discharge heavy biomass deposits on the riverbanks and to the estuaries.
There are base flows in these rivers throughout the year. Combined with deep
soil and high biomass density contribute the perennial water availability in the
rivers in this region. This region is well endowed with the water resources and
traditional water harvesting structures like channels, canals, springs and tanks.

One of the most conspicuous features of the West coast is a backwater

system parallel to the entire coastline. This region has a chain of backwaters
running from north to south. It can be categorized into lagoons, estuaries and
lakes connected by channels and broken up by man- made lands. The brackish
water [mixed salt and fresh water] form part of the coastal wetland system.5
As most of the rivers in the region pass through the backwater system before
emptying into the Lakshadweep Sea, the backwaters tend to be enriched with
nutrients brought down by the rivers. The sediment and nutrient loads down
with the river water first settle [or are naturally penned] in the backwaters
before they move to the sea. The alluvial plains are confined to the
riverbanks; the rest of the area being undulating laterite surface, consisting the
slops, hills, hillocks and valleys.6

3
Ibid., p.39.
4
Kerala is drained by 44 rivers and there are 34 river basins drained by these 44 rivers.
River length varies from 16 km for Manjesvar River to 244 km for the Periyar. Many of
the rivers in Kerala is perennial, ibid., p.41.
5
Ibid, p.33. There are 46 estuaries and backwaters. When taken together, backwaters,
estuaries and brackish water lakes , cover an area of 2426 sq km
6
K N Ganesh, Historical Geography of Natus in South India with Special Reference to
Kerala, Indian Historical Review,36,1[2009];p.6.

208
 Since the paddy fields in this region are located in the valleys, they
receive sediment and water from the slopes. Due to high biomass coverage,
both water and silt are nutrient laden and thus enrich the fields. The high yield
in this region can be attributed to the availability of rainwater for longer
periods; inherent soil quality and comparatively better management of water
and soil. River water is commonly used for irrigating paddy fields.7 Ponds
and tanks [kulam and chira] are the traditional rainwater harvesting structures.
Considering the above factors, we can have a discussion of the labour process
involved in the alluvial and laterite areas, which sustained multiple economies
of hunting gathering, punam cultivation, and parambu and wetland cultivation
from early historical period until the end of the fourteenth century CE.

Land spaces created from the water logging areas and marshy plains
became important for cultivation operations. The migrant settlers engaged in
labour activities in the lands set by siltation and in harnessing the biomass in
the flood region in the river valleys and riparian areas. This happened
predominantly in the region between Bharatapuzha and Pamba rivers that is in
midlands including the Palghat plains and the estuarine region of Kuttanad.
This was the region where most of the ports of trade were located in the early
West coast.8 Early migrations might have occurred along the Palakkad gap.9
The people settled in the hilly areas migrated to the river valleys with their
livelihood forms, the slash and burn cultivation to the midland.

Paddy must have been brought from the stock of mountain paddy
cultivated in the hill slops as part of the migration of the people inhabited in
the chirukutis. Agrarian imagery of bringing sugarcane from the hilly-forested

7
Ibid., p.56.
8
K N Ganesh, State Formation in Kerala, A Critical Overview, [ICHR, Bangalore, 2010],
p.35.
9
Ibid.

209
area to the midland10 shows the process of transition of the cultivation of
different crops from the mountain and hilly areas to the midland. It also
indicates the transition of a number of crops to the midland corresponded to
the movement of people from the hilly area, pointing to the trans-tinai nature
of livelihood forms and settlements due to human movements. The generic
terms and names related to settler cultivators appeared in epigraphical
documents from ninth century onwards also indicate this process.

The paddy fields are either located in the river valleys or in the
estuarine region. They received sediment and water from the slopes, biomass
coverage occurred in water and silt became nutrient laden, enriched the
fertility of the soils. The cultivation in this area entirely depended on
monsoon and the area was rain fed. Cultivation in these lands also depended
upon the nature of water harvesting technics that had been developed in and
around these lands. Ponds and tanks are traditional rainwater harvesting
structures. It seems that the earliest form of wet land cultivation practiced in
this region is sowing the paddy [vitha] in the wet land fields. Wet land
agriculture required steady and copious supply of water through the period of
their growth. The lands recovered and reclaimed on the river valleys and
water-laden areas were fit for this form of cultivation. This form of cultivation
took place at low laying lands where there was no scarcity of water.
Cultivation took place in the riverine riparian area having rich alluvium where
riverine alluvium was highly favorable for cultivation and manuring was not
necessary.

Organized form of paddy cultivation in these areas required efficient

water management and systematic preparation of land. Use of extensive water

10
PN.99.2 arumperal marapin karumpu ivan thanthum

210
management devices and efficient ground preparations made these land
spaces specific for wet land agriculture operations in this region.11

Cultivation of tina / varaku and hill paddy continued to practice in hill

slopes and elevated region in the midlands and high ranges. The orchestrated
formation that developed in the midland where tina, mountain paddy, nuts,
cereals, and spices were cultivated. The development of these multi culture
operations led to the formation of land space that came to be called parambu.
The development of multi crop cultivation in paramba lands and proliferation
of settlements in these areas formed the settlements with compound sites
called purayidams. Epigraphical evidences of later years refer to variety of
paramba products and number of purayidams. People who engaged in the
labour activities in cultivation of mixed crops in paramba lands, however,
could not have entirely followed the pattern that existed in the wetland
cultivation in alluvial area. The agriculture knowhow and utilization of land
and forms of labour were different in the parambu cultivation and, therefore,
the formation of cultivating groups and realization of labour in parambu was
different from that of wet land agriculture.

The topography, the river system, soil types, the weather and annual
rainfalls called monsoons, which are so specific to the region which
determined the entire agriculture operations and settlements in both wetland
and parambu areas . The cultivation and settlements developed exclusively on
the basis of the availability of water, its base was annual monsoons that
sustained various water harvesting structures in both alluvial and laterite
regions. Therefore, the settlers were very particular to observe the rainfalls in
monsoons and the changes in the weather and seasons. The flood banks of

11
K N Ganesh, Lived Spaces in History: A Study in Human Geography in the Context of
Sangam Texts, Studies in History.25, 2[2009].p.174.

211
rivers and on the water logging areas, which were more prone to the floods
and heavy discharges from the hill slopes through the perennial rivers.

Almost all the rivers are originated from the hills and the monsoon
rainfalls are very high on the hills and its slopes. The seasonal monsoonal
rainfalls on the hills and slopes carried heavy discharge of silt and biomass to
the riverbanks and estuaries, the migrants and settlers gave much attention to
reclaim or recover the land spaces in flood plains and water-laden areas where
the biomass and silt were deposited through these rivers. All these became
major concerns of these settler cultivators that resulted in the observation of
the changes in the weather and seasons to manage the flood and to prepare the
lands for cultivation. The observation of season, weather especially running of
wind, led to the prediction of the commencement and end of monsoons. It
enabled them to understand the diversity in the flora and the changes in the
environment.

The settlers began to develop the life activities according to the

seasonal rainfall and changes in the weather in each period. Calculation of
season and the seasonal rainfalls directly influenced their life activities and
habitats. These calculations, in fact, developed from the experiences of their
life activities and livelihood forms, the cultivation in both the water-laden
areas where the seasonal rainfalls brought water, biomass and silt deposits and
the laterite areas where large number of multicrops cultivated based on the the
monsoons. This led to the management of the flood and the reclaim the land
spaces for cultivation. This required the efficient utilization of labour and this
process was started from the early historic period itself. The cultivation and
settlements in the laterite areas also developed orchard formation called
parambus in which mixed crops cultivation developed according to the nature
of monsoons and weather conditions.

212
Understanding Labour Process – Analysis of Epigraphical and Oral
Sources

Epigraphical materials, available only from ninth century C E onwards,

describe the process of agriculture operations that existed during the period
under discussion. Even though there are references to the people engaged in
the labour process in a number of inscriptions, non-conventional sources,
most of them are part of folk literature, to be consulted to the understanding
of the labour process and the historical development of the primary producing
groups. The non –conventional sources, especially the oral texts belonging to
the folk literature are not formally as contemporaneous as the epigraphical
evidences. However, the life activities and labour process represented in many
a number of the oral texts do reflect upon the historical development of labour
process through centuries. The regressive and productive reading of this genre
would help us to corroborate it with the conventional epigraphical sources to
understand the historical development of the labour process done by the
primary producers who engaged directly in the production operations.

The primary producers are represented in the inscriptional sources;

they are signified in relation to the tenuarial forms pertaining to the
transaction of the produce of lands or land. However, literary texts belong to
the brahmanical tradition like Kēralōlpatti also contains the problem of a
literary source in the case of spatio-temporality of the text; even then, it has
been selectively used to create the narratives of brahman migrations and
establishment of their settlements. Similarly, the oral texts are important non
conventional sources to the understanding of the labour process and the
location of the primary producers who were involved in the labour process.

As the problem under our discussion is the question of labour and the
people who involved in the labour process, the lived experiences of the
primary producing groups and their involvement in the labour process are to

213
be problamatised and the process is much entrenched in the non –
conventional sources like folk literature. What requires here is a
methodological exercise by which the non-conventional sources can
productively be read and interpretatively understood to historicise these texts
to cull out the life-world and historical consciousness related to the labour
activities embedded in it. This will also help us to see the nature of labour
process which has been developed historically, the remnants of which are
floated in the texts, which is to be regressed to its anterior spatio- temporal
location in which the objective relation of production process was
materialised .

When we corroborate these texts with the conventional sources like

epigraphical documents, it would also help us to analyse the subjective
dimension of the life activities of the labouring groups produced by the
objective material structure of the agrarian order, as largely represented in the
conventional epigraphical sources. The subjective experiences of the primary
producers who involved in the labour process are historically and culturally
contingent upon the objective material structure of production process in the
agrarian order. The servile labourers called Āl /Adiyār / Pulayar and their
distinct life worlds represented in many of the oral narratives pertaining to
agriculture practices do also reveal their involvement in the labour process,
they have been conceptually categorized as the primary producers in the
agrarian system under discussion.

Reflection of Labour Process in Oral Texts:

Some of the texts of the oral tradition preserved by the Pulayar,one of the
important groups termed as Atiyār/ Āl, do reflect upon the development of
agriculture practices in the forested hilly region in the high ranges and the
transition of these practices into the wetland region revealing the
involvement of labouring population in the labour process. Particular attention

214
is given here to two texts, which reveal the way in which the origin and
transformation of agriculture practices and the formation of the labouring
groups as part of this transformation. It also shows how the labouring groups
became the servile laboring population called Āl / Adiyār / Pulayar. The social
memory which remained part of the oral tradition was continued to preserve
in the ritual acts of these groups and reflect upon the process of origin of
agriculture practices in the hilly areas and its transition to river valleys in the
midland region.

The social memory embedded in ritual acts reveals the pattern of the
agrarian transformation and its expansion. The labour practices are entrenched
as floating signs in the ritual acts. This process is largely embedded in the
texts like pulayarude viththupattu12, bhadrakālipāttu13 and pākkanār pāttu.14
These texts show the process of creation of land spaces made by certain social
groups. This process is concealed in the form of origin myth indicative of the
production of land spaces15 not only for shifting cultivation but also for
cultivation in marshy and water-laden areas. It also reminds us of the life
activities in relation to the labour process done by the people whose social
experiences are preserved in oral tradition as social memory.

The text, pulayarude viththupāttu16, much later in its production and

compilation, is preserved in the social memory of the Pulayas of northern
12
Geetha P Koramangalam, Pulayarude Viththupāttu’ in V K Sridharan [ed] Krishiyude
Nāttarivukal, [DC Books, Kottayam, 2004], pp.54-64.
13
These texts are compiled and edited by Vettiyar Premnath, Bhadrakālipāttu is recited
along with a ritual dance performed by Parayar and Pulayar. Story of ‘Chilapadikaram’
is found to have influenced this text, P K Sivasankara Pillai, in his introduction to
Nādan Pāttukal collected by Vettiyar Premnath, Vettiyar Premnath, Nādan
Pāttukal,[Kerala Sahithya Academy, Trissur, 1979] , pp.5-8.
14
The ‘pākkanār pāttu’ is the mythical narration of the genealogy of the Parayas of Kerala,
Vettiyar Premnath, Nādan Pāttukal,op.cit., p.7.
15
ibid, pp.19-22.
16
Geetha P Koramangalam, ‘Pulayarude Viththupattu’ in V K Sridharan [ed] Krishiyude
Nāttarivukal, op.cit., pp.54-64.

215
Kerala, describes the germination of agriculture practice in the hilly-forested
region in the high ranges. It shows the ways in which the agriculture practices
gradually shifted to the wetland areas and developed the river valley
agriculture in the wet land region. We have already seen, in the Classical
Tamil Texts, the movement of the people from the hilly mountainous region
to the riverine areas and transition of agriculture practices including the paddy
to the wetland region in the midland and estuarine areas. The transition of
agriculture that was practiced in the hilly areas by the kin groups in the
chirukutis to the midland areas is represented in this text. When we
historicise the text, it reveals the transition of paddy cultivation that practiced
in the hilly areas by the hill Pulayas to the riverine wet land areas. The social
memory of that practice is preserved in the oral tradition of the later
generation of these producing groups.

In our foregoing discussion, we found the fact that the women of the
chirukudi settlers like Vēttuvar, Āyar and Idayar were the gatherers who took
to agriculture and became the harbingers of cultivation in the tina-varaku
zone. We also saw the punam cultivators who subsisted mainly on tina and
varaku in the mullai kurinchi zone of the forested hilly region migrating to the
river valleys in the midlands. Some of the oral texts preserved by the people
belonging to the primary producing groups reflect upon the way in which the
same process had taken place; though the texts appeared comparatively much
later in its language and compilation, the process embedded in the texts
follow the pattern of the same transition. The text of the pulayarude
viththupāttu begins with an invocation to māthāpithāgurudaivam, parent,
teacher and God to say the goodness of certain seeds. The narration goes to
say that when the Gods, Sun and Moon created the earth, there required the
cultivation of seeds on earth to create the human beings and their settlements
there. Someone had to go to earth [tharakilakam] with the seeds cultivated in
the mēlilakam or the other world. The mēlilakam was the land of the Dēvās

216
where the seeds were sown and cultivation was done by the Annam Cherukili,
‘woman the cultivator’.

Annam Cherukili was directed to take one hundred types of seeds to

earth along with a number of occupational groups and functionaries i.e. Āsāri
[carpenter], Silpi [sculpture], Kotti [drummer], Gurukkal [teacher] Vēlar and
Parayar in addition to the animals like ox and buffaloes. They came down to
the earth, cultivated the seeds in different parts of the region in between
Kanyakumari and Gokarnam and settled in the tharas as kutis. They continued
to cultivate the lands for the people who settled there and, gradually, Annam
Cherukili is said to have labeled as vayaladiyāththi or Adiyāl who did labour
in the vayal or paddy field.

The mythified narration in the text reminds us of a transition process in

which those who did the shifting cultivation in the hilly-forested region in the
high ranges had migrated to the riverine areas and they created the settlements
in the wetland. They became the practitioners of wetland agriculture and
gradually had become the labouring groups under the land holding groups
who developed from the settler cultivators. Their skilled and specialised
labour must have been used by the settler cultivators to harness and reclaim
the biomass deposited and silted areas in the riverine riparian region and
water-laden areas in the wetland for cultivation and settlement.

We have already seen that the early migrants introduced the paddy and
other crops and women among them did substantial contribution to the
development of agriculture in both hilly mountainous region and in midland.
Here, in the text under historicisation, we find, though the text appeared late
in its narrative structure, form and language, it tries to visualize and make us
believe the content of the text which has been transmitted orally and
circulated in a society to which the text also intends to invoke of the historical
legacy of the transition of agriculture practices from the Mullai- Kurinchi

217
region to the riverine and riparian region. The text represents a process that
the people who settled in the hilly forested region were the shifting cultivators
who were the originators of the cultivation of varieties of mixed crops
including hill paddy. They themselves introduced their agriculture knowhow
and skilled labour practices to the river valleys as part of their migration and
settlements in the wetland areas. The settler cultivators who developed from
the early settlers might have brought the people who practiced the punam
cultivation in the hilly region for reclaim the land spaces and to develop the
wet land agriculture in the riverine and riparian areas. It also indicates the
process by which the people who were brought to reclaim the lands and to
develop the agriculture in wetland areas became the servile labouring groups
in agriculture operations in course of time.

The story of Āthimūlam Thiruvallōn in the Bhadrakālipāttu has a

narration in relation to the story of Annam Cherukili .It indicates the process
of transition of agriculture practice from the hilly-forested region to the
wetland. Annam Cherukili is stated to have brought the paddy from the
āriyakkaranātu to cultivate it in the ‘pathi’ of the Vallōn.17 The story also
narrates the way in which the paddy cultivation started in the pathi and the
various activities regarding the cultivation of paddy like preparing the ground,
ploughing, making kalam or the threshing ground, reaping, husking and
keeping the paddy in the ara [granary]. The process of formation of wet land
agriculture and development of cultivation operations that embedded in the
text makes sense of the legacy of a historical past in which the migrants from
the hilly region created the settlements in the riparian areas. The paddy
cultivation had migrated from faraway places, as part of the migration of the
people to the midland, possibly from the hilly region where the shifting
cultivation had been practiced. As we have already noted above this process

17
Vettiyar Premnath, Nādan Pāttukal, op.cit., pp.50-54.

218
must have been taken place as part of the movement of the people from the
hilly mountainous tracks where the millets and paddy cultivated.

The texts narrates the process which the paddy seeds was brought and
sown in the wetland field called pathi, this is important primarily because it
indicates the settlement of the early migrant settlers and their clan heads
called pathi. Pathi can also be seen as an area where the migrant settlers
settled collectively and their clan head was also known by the same name.
The settlement they created and the head of the clan who probably led the
clan to settle collectively in an area was also known by the term pathi. The
epithet āthimūlam indicates the early root, or the original settlement and
settlers, reveals the early inhabitants among the migrant settler who created
the land as a productive space for cultivation and settlement. It also shows the
process by which certain groups who created the early settlements and land
spaces for cultivation became the permanent laboring population to the
landholding groups who had developed from the settler cultivators. Thus, the
āthimūlam thiruvallōn represents an eponymous ancestor of the migrant
settlers who had developed the wetland agriculture and they had become the
practitioners of agriculture whose historical experiences as original settlers
and harbingers of agriculture practice must have been preserved in the oral
tradition as social memory of a historical process in the form of ritual act.

It is also important to show the development of such settlements

created by the waves of migrant settlers in the wetland areas and the historical
memory of one of such clan groups has been preserved in the heroic saga of
the producing castes. There existed the āti tradition among the producing
groups in certain parts of Kerala and it also narrates a heroic culture. There is
a tradition of twenty-one Ātīs in the oral literature of the Paraya community of
southern Kerala and Chengannūr Āti, the celebrated heroic saga of the

219
Parayas, is about the historical legacy of one among such Ātīs.18 The tradition
of twenty-one Ātis indicates the historical legacy of the migration of early
settlers and the settlement created by such people under the leadership of their
clan heads. These settlements were to be protected from external threat and
plundering marches of the warrior chiefs and their kinsmen.

It is important to note that the people who had protected the lands and
settlements might have died in the attempts of defending such settlements and
the productive lands against the onslaught of the predators. The memories of
such heroic activities must have transmitted orally and continued to develop a
tradition which preserved the reminiscence of eponymous ancestors who had
created the settlements and protected such settlements from external threat
and predatory marches of the chiefs. The Ātīs mentioned in the heroic saga of
Chengannūr Āti are; Vengōlamāti, Cherpunkalāti, Thirumukhattāti,
Pūvinkalāti,mānkombilāti, Malanāttilāti, Chengannūrāti, Villuvanāti,
Mūvakkalāti, Kerpunkalāti,kāyayilāti,Atirambuzāti, Kozhuvallūrāti,
Mangalattāti, Malankuranāti, Vempālayāti, Irumellūrāti, Maniyātilāti,
Pāntikuruppāti,Kollattuvāti and Thenkumpalāti.19

Names of homesteads and locality or names of dēsam are prefixed to

these names of Ātis which could be located in and around the present day
Kuttanātu region. It also indicates the way in which the early migrant settlers
developed the localities as productive spaces. The heroic tradition of the
Parayas shows the historical memory of such process which had been
developed as the story of eponymous ancestors who led the efforts to create
the settlements and the way in which they defended the productive spaces.
Another important aspect that developed in connection with this tradition is

18
A K Appukuttan, ‘The Folk Literature of Sambhavas in Central Kerala: A Structural,
Phonatury and Deconstructive Analysis, Unpublished PhD Thesis, M G University,[
Kottayam, 2006].
19
Ibid., p. 296.

220
the formation of thara as a settlement and cultural space of the settler
communities. The settler communities in the wetland areas, especially in
Kuttanātu region, developed their own settlements and cultural spaces called
tharas.20

Evidently, we have references to the tharas in the Tiruvalla copper

plates21 and the data available in these plates also reflect upon the various
aspects of the land, labour and forms of material possessions in and around
the Kuttanadu region. The Parayar groups settled as kudis in the ūr and
Kandiyur inscription mentions certain lands called siriyaparayankari and
padinjāyiru parayankari indicating the settlements of the Parayar.22 The
Parayar groups were organised as clan groups settled in kutis must have
created the estuarine lands for cultivation. The heroic saga of Chengannūrāti
mentions the origin of chengannurati to a pūyingal tharavātu23, which
obviously connects it with the thara, the socio –cultural space created by the
early migrant settlers. The early settlers were clan groups who maintained
either patrilineal or matrilineal lines of inheritance and the saga of
Chengannūrāti refers to four illams which indicates the kinship and descent
structure existed among the Parayar groups. The following is an excerpt from

20
Tharas developed as the settlements and cultural spaces of the migrant settlers. The lore
and myths circulated among the people of Kuttanatu mention some of the names of
tharas that existed in Kuttanatu, they are; muntatithara, pottanthara,pazhayathara,
kochuthara,māluthara,kālathara,kanyakōnithara,thuruttithara,thekkitithara,arakkathar
a, punnathara,pāvuthara,vālatithara,nārakathara etc, Kavalam Visvanathakuruppu,
Kuttanātinte Thanimayum Pāttukalum, [Kerala Sahithy Academy,Trissur1989],pp.4-9.
21
Tiruvalla copper plates [M G S,A-80] mention certain thara such as nilamu mathunu
patum tharayum [L.316] , valāl and thara[L.458], kāttutharai [L.589],
kulakkāttilpadinjāyittuthara[L.598], kochchāpurathuuthara [L.603], thaththaiyārtharai
[L.613], narangatharai[L.620]. Certain tharayum nilamum mentioned in a
Trikkadithanam plate, MGS.A-38. Certain mannattathara is mentioned in Kollur
Matham Plate, M G S, B-15.
22
TAS.Vol.1.pp.407-413
23
Mariyamma John, Manikkam Pennu, [Current Books, Kottayam, 1998], pp.10-16.

221
the saga of Chengannūrāti which indicates the kinship and clan ties called
illam that existed among the Parayar groups;

‘Thekku thekke thekkēloru thaivaththārunde

Thekku thekke thekkēloru chemmam thānunde
Chemmaththu vāzhana madavāthimārunde
Madavāthimāravarillakkārāne
Illangalinālavarillakkār nālu
Velliyil thēyiyen cherunātan kavaran
Nālilla makkalavar nātāke vāne
Nātōtu nātavaru pettuperuki’ 24

This must have been developed from the concept of ill or illam that
existed in early historical period and mentioned in Classical Tamil texts.
Chengannūrāti is born and bought up in the illam called cherunātan, one
among the four illams mentioned in the text. The existence of illam has been
memorised in the oral tradition and the representation of which can bee seen
in another oral text;

‘achchante illam®thorillamanachcho? th¡ra

ennillam ponnillam kochchu
thachchanillamei penkochchce?
ennillom ponnillam koochchu
thachcha nillamāne thāra
illam m¡¶¶achcha illam m¡¶¶achcha
thō¶¶amk®rilachcho thāra
ve½½iyile ve½½am vachche
illam m¡ttachcha th¡ra’ 25

Another oral text has following narration of the illam ;

‘vīdum pennum tharamākunnidathu

illavum kulavum chēraththilla’.26

24
A K, Appukuttan, The Folk Literature of Sambhavas in Central Kerala, op.cit., pp.271-
272.
25
Mariyamma John, Manikyam Pennu,op.cit., p.20.

222
 It indicates the development of certain clan groups among the original
settlers whose historical experiences as creators of settlements and the
protection they made against the plunder raids of such settlements are
memorised in their oral tradition which constituted the saga of the Ātis.

Classical Tamil texts refer to the hunting practices that existed in this
region in early historic period, show the people who resorted to hunting and
27
gathering practices. They were known as Kānavan comprised of Vēdar28 ,
Vēttuvar29 and Kuravar30 clans. Hunting dogs were important animals of the
hunter clans. They are known as vayanāy 31 kathanāy32, etc. There is reference
to vilvēttuvan33 , hunter with bow and arrow. Kathanāy vēttuvan34, a hunter
who resorts to the practice of hunting with a hunter dog is important in this
context. There is also reference to the hunters who were coming from faraway
places with hunting dogs, especially from north with a different language.35

These hunting clans were lived in kutis36, importantly in chirukuti37 of

the chirur38 and the hut settlements they occupied were called kurumpu.39

26
A K Appukuttan, op. cit.,p.332.
27
PN28.10 kānaththōr, PP.3.10.24 kuntavar, AN.88.5 kadumkai kānavan, AN248.6-7 ‘
kānavan kurukinan, AN.102.2 kānavan.
28
PN.324.3.PN.333. thannūr vēttakudi thorunkūttam.
29
PN.150.7 ōrval vilvēttuvan, PN205.9 chilai vēttuva, PN19.5-6 irumpuli vēttuvan,
AN28.8 vēttuvan peralodu
30
PN.3 kuravar mākkal, PN. 157.7 kuravar perumān.
31
AN.248 vayanāy.
32
PN.33.1 kathanāy vēttuvan.
33
PN.150.7 ōrval vilvēttuvan
34
PN.33.1.
35
AN.107.11 kalla nī½mozhi kathanāy vadukar.
36
PN.324. 8 punpulam thazhiiya ānkudichirūr, PN.333. thannur vettakudi.
37
AN.7 kalkezhu chirukudi kānavan AN.232.kuntravēli chirukudi.
38
P.N.326 villor vazhkaichirur mathavali.
39
AN.89.16 vilkezhu kurumpu.PN129.1 kuriyirai kurampai.

223
They were descent groups and the people belonged to Kuravar clan are also
known as kuravarmākkal.40 The lands called padappai41 where multi- crops
were cultivated in mullai and kurunchi zones. It was predominantly cultivated
in the hill slopes when it was called varayanipadappai.42 There practiced the
cultivation of mountain paddy and garden crops side by side by the
chirukudimākkal.43 Sometimes, the orchestrated multi culture lands were
fenced.44 As we have already noted there happened the migration of people
including the hunting groups towards the river valleys in the midland. The
punam cultivators who practiced cultivation in hill slopes and they also
conducted hunting. The extension of cultivation in padappai in the midland
indicates the expansion of mixed crops cultivation in to the river valleys45 as
well. Cultivation of mixed crops in padappai can also be seen in the riverine
areas indicating the coexistence of paddy cultivation and the multi culture
garden cultivation.46

Some of the thōttam pattukal47, mostly practiced as ritual acts and

performed by the various groups of people in Malabar region. The oral genre
of which called thōttam do have certain reminiscence of the process of
transition of clan groups who conducted hunting gathering and shifting
cultivation to the practitioners of settled agriculture in mixed crop cultivation
area called parambus. This also shows the pattern of migration of clans who

40
PN.129.1, PN.143.3.
41
AN54.14 Chirukudi padappai, AN.158.7 nam padappai.
42
PN.375.9-10 varayai padappai nannāttuporuna.
43
AN.204.12 kāynel padappai vānan chirukudi.
44
PN.375.9-10 varayai padappai nannāttuporuna.
45
AN.146.4 padappai nanni,PN.375.9-10 yānar varaiyani padappai.
46
PN.98.20 perumpunar padappai.
47
Vayanāttukulavan thōttam describes the origin of the hunter god as he was born on the
hill and settled in Wayanatu, ādithīyanenna vayanāttu kulavan thōttam in Chiraykal T
Balakrishnan Nair, Kērala Bhāshagānangal’, Vol.2.Kerala [Sahithya Academy Trissur,
[1979] 2005] ,pp.91-92.

224
followed hunting gathering from the hilly region to the midland areas. The
thōttams, the prose text of the performance called theyyam narrating the saga
of historical antecedence of a ritual act, reveal this process, a hunter chief who
descended the hill and proceeded to the midland along with a band of hunters.
From the hills, they came down to Waynatu where they stationed for a short
while. They started from Waynatu and reached a purayidam [compound site]
of person called ādiparampan Kannan in the malanātu i.e. the midland48. This
hunter chief along with the hunting dogs was deified and worshiped as an
eponymous ancestor as well as a hunter God by the cultivating groups of the
region. Later the cult of the hunter God became incorporated to one among
the principal deities of the kōla swarūpam.

The pattern of the movement of the hunting clans from the hilly area to
the riverine area in the midland is non-linear in its character, suggests the
migration of hunting clans who were also the punam cultivators. The
movement of the hunting and shifting cultivators is meant for the movements
of the livelihood practices as well as crops and the knowledge involved in the
cultivation operations. The shift is also known as the shift to the mixed crop
cultivation in the midland region. The purayidam of ādiparampan Kannan in
the malanātu referred to in the text suggests the development of multi crop
cultivation in laterite area came to be called parambu cultivation in the
midland where the house site garden, purayidams, of the cultivating kutis
developed. The ādiparampan is signified to the practice of the development
of multi culture operations and proliferation of compound sites called
purayidams in the laterite region. Later, the cultivating clans in this region
began to worship this eponymous ancestor and hunter God as their principal
deity. Therefore, historicisation of this text would invoke the historical

48
Wayanatu is called as īzhanātu and malanatu as āzhanātu, Vayanāttukulavan
mumbusthānam’ [prose], in Chiaykal T Balakrishnan Nair, Kērala Bhāshagānangal’, op.
cit., pp.94-99.

225
process of transition from hunting gathering and shifting cultivation to the
settled multi crop operations in the parambu region. When the nāttudayavar
of the kōlathunatu began to develop the overlordship over the production
localities and cultivating communities, the hunter God of the cultivating
communities was also incorporated and transformed as a martial deity of
kōlathunatu.

Kutis in the Production Locality

Formation of the cultivating kutis in the settlements of the settler cultivators is

attested in number of inscriptions from ninth century C E onwards. The
diverse livelihood forms that developed in the ūr settlements show the process
of incorporation of all the producing groups consisted of cultivating kutis,
kutis of various occupational groups like craftsmen and metalworkers and also
the menial labourers in the production process in the ūr settlements. They
were incorporated with their distinct life worlds and livelihood forms into the
production process, which began to be developed into an instituted form.
Another significant development was the transformation of cultivating kutis
of the ūr settlements into the tenant cultivators. It happened because of the
development of the land holding households among the settler cultivators and
the formation of chiefs who exercised control over the production localities.

The kuti began to be transformed when the households and the chiefs
developed their overlordship over these cultivating settlements. Thus, the
meaning of the kuti such as settlements of early settlers, clan groups that
followed different livelihood forms and the cultivators and homesteads of
settler clans was transformed into occupant cultivators and to the cultivating
kutis in the ūr settlements. The cultivating kutis inhabited in puras and they
retained rights over the lands they cultivated and it was the collective
possession of their households.

226
 The chiefs called Udayavar, developed from the dominant landholding
families of the settler cultivators and from the tribal chiefs, their kin groups
and retinue and the land holding households managed to evolve devices to
realize the labour of the cultivating kutis and other laboring populations for
agriculture expansion and surplus extraction. The Brahmans and temples
began to become part of this process of realization of labour in the generation
of agrarian resources with the support of the udayavars of the nātus. The most
important aspect in this context was the development of two important
groups, i.e., the kārālar and the primary producers, the latter became the
servile labouring population and the Pulayar were important group among
them. Their condition of servility is indicated by the terms such Āl, Adiyār in
the epigraphical documents.

Location of the Āl / Atiyār/ Pulayar

When the cultivating kutis became part of a tenuarial relation dominated by

the temples, they also became the tenant cultivators. The servile labourers
attached to the lands located in the marshy areas had already been termed
Pulayar and continued to exist in the ūr settlements, they also came under the
dominance of tenurial control. This is attested in the epigraphical documents
of the period. The servile labour collectives including Pulayar were attributed
a status of Āl and Adiyār indicating their condition of existence as primary
producers who did substantial part of their labour in the production of
agrarian resources as instruments of production. The term Pulayar began to be
used to indicate the general term of servile people whose labour was
indispensible part of the production of subsistence and surplus. The condition
of their existence also shows their location in the labour process as Āl / Atiyār.

Parthivapuram plate mentions that Pulayar were given lands near

kalam or threshing ground indicates that they were settled near the cultivating
fields, which held either by households of the dominant cultivating groups or

227
by the Nāttutayavar and their labour services might have been rewarded in the
form of land49 or the share of the produce. Documents also suggest that the
people like Pulayar were largely employed in the cultivation operations. It can
reasonably be argued in this context that they were settled to protect the fields
and to provide the labour services to the activities of water management and
irrigation activities in the area for cultivation. The Huzur Plate of
Vikramadithya Varaguna shows the cultivating kutis who did become a
subservient tenant cultivators under the tenurial control that was imposed
upon the cultivating kutis when the servile laboring populations called Pulayar
were also subjected to the kārānmai –mitatchi relations of the temple50,
though the kārānmai –mitatchi form of tenurial relations were confined to the
Āy territory. This indicates the process by which the laboring population like
Pulayar became indispensable part of the production of agrarian wealth and
they provided substantial part of labour as primary producers. It was because
of the labour of the primary producers had been purposefully used, which was
inevitable to the production of the material wealth in the social form that
came in to being, that they were being attached to the lands on which their
labour employed as instruments of production. This can also be seen in yet
another document51 in which Pulayar were attached to the punjai lands52 as
servile group.

Development of multicultural operations, especially the spices and

forest produces, developed the internal exchange networks and these products
reached to the ports of trade. Production operations in parambu lands in the
49
Parthivapuram Plate, pulērku koduththa īrandēr nilaththinum kizhakkku, TAS, Vol.3,
pp.52-56.
50
Ivattintlyaikarayum pulaiyum kārāimamitātchi ulladanka iraiyilikōnīkki chemmaruthar
kudiyāga pārthivashēkharapurathuperumakkal kāttūttuvathāga attikkuduttathu,
TAS.Vol.1, p.42.
51
Padunilanīkki ithanakam tholikkottodu kūdappunjaikuttuntharikkurayuzhu kodu
chelluppulayarum ,TAS.Vol.1,pp.275-283.
52
Punjai in Kerala is for summer crop and opposite to nanjai.

228
laterite area in the midlands and in the coastal plains developed the exchange
net works and the ports of trade that also developed the settlements of
cultivating kutis in the settlements in West coast. Kollam was a coastal
settlement and port of trade where multi culture garden cultivation and paddy
cultivation developed side by side53 and this must have been developed from
the early historic period. Kollam plates mention four kuti of Vellālar, one kuti
of Thachchar, four kuti of Īzhavar, one kuti of Vannār and adimai or bonded
people. It also makes sense of the historical process that had already been
developed in the area, which made the cultivating kutis and the laboring
population an integral part of the development of agriculture.

Coastal settlement developed as nagaram and became part of the

territorial area of the Nāttudayavar. Certain land had been donated to the
Tarsa Church and the cultivators called Vellālar kutis who cultivated the lands
became the kārālar to the Tarsa Church when the land was transferred to the
church. Occupational groups were also known as kutis54such as Īzhavar,
Vannār and Thachchar and they were transferred along with the land donated
to the church. Reference to the bonded people called adimai point to the fact
that there developed the slave population. The term ālkāsu mentioned in the
inscription indicates that the political authority might have collected a certain
form of levy for the transaction or to maintain such bonded people called
adimai in the nakaram.

In the midland and estuarine areas, production localities called ūr

settlements of the settler cultivators, where multi crop and mono crop
cultivations developed. Cluster of these production localities gradually had

53
M G S,A-6 and A-2.
54
Kollam inscription of Sthanu Ravi mentions kudikal, ippūmiyil kudikalayum, like
nālukudi īzhavar,īzhakkayyar, orukudi vannār and adimai [ slaves?] who were
transferred as kāralar and Adiyār along with the land donated to Tarsa Church at
Kollam,M G S,A-2 and A-6.

229
become part of the nātus in the midland. The cultivaing kutis were descent
groups who lived in extended families and they collectively held lands in
these production localities. Locality kinship played important role in the
control of lands and the production operations in these production localities.
Some of the laboring groups like Parayar could keep their clan identity and
kinship ties even when they had become the servile groups. The expansion of
mixed crop cultivation and paddy cultivation areas in the hinterlands 55made
the parambus important area of mixed crop cultivation where a number of
settlements called purayidams or compound sites proliferated. The land
holding households along with the kutis of cultivating and occupational
groups and labouring population began to be made under thetenurial relations
56
that were being developed in certain part of the parambu areas in course of
time.

There are three groups who directly related to the agrarian production,
they are, the landholding families who developed from the settler cultivators
and some of them became the kārālar when they donated their share of the
produce or the lands to the temples, the cultivating kutis including the
occupational and artisanal groups and the labouring groups, the latter became
the servile population called Pulayar and Āl / Adiyār. These three groups can
be seen in three areas under various overlords i.e., in the settlements of the
settler cultivators, the areas where the Nāttudayavar had direct control like
chērikkal lands and the settlements of the Brahmans. In the following
discussion, we try to locate the primary produces in the respective areas in
relation to other groups, i.e., kārālars, cultivating kutis and others.

Expansion of parambas and proliferation of purayidams or compound

sites in the hinterlands was a significant development. Purayidams where the
55
Chokkūr inscription [M G S,A-8] mentions kudiyirukkapurayidam, the purayidam or
the compound site where kudikal settled.
56
Porangattiri inscription [M G S,A-14] mentions kudinilpathinthūnippādum, the tūni
extent of lands where kudikal settled and two kutipothuvāls, īrandu kudipothuvālum.

230
pura located in the parambu lands where multi crops cultivation developed.
Laterite areas in the midlandare congenial for the multi culture operations and
cultivating kutis largely developed in laterite area. Landholding households
evolving from the settler cultivators held lands and inhabited the compound
sites called purayitams. Similarly, the mixed crop cultivation in the laterite
areas also developed the settler cultivators and landholding groups. The
households held landed property collectively.57

The production localities where the households developed and the

assembly of the land holding households of non Brahman groups came to be
known as ūr. The ūr assembly of Edanūr mentioned in the Chembra
inscription can be seen a case in point and certain land had been donated to
the Edanūr temple where the cultivating kutis also settled. It reveals the
relation that existed between the dominant land holding households and the
cultivating kutis settled in the area58 indicating the development of non
Brahman groups who controlled the lands and expansion of production
operations made by the kutis and the laboring groups. The kutis must have
developed with the rights they possessed to occupy and cultivate the lands and
laboring groups like Atiyar / Al/ Pulayar/ Parayar held no such rights and they
were tied to the lands without any rights which distinguished them from the
cultivating kutis and kutis of occupational and service groups. The condition
of servility and bondage that the primary producers received had not been
experienced by the kutis of cultivating and occupational groups. This also
reveals the fact that there developed differences in the condition of

57
There references to the kūttumuthal ,ie,kazhanjinkūttumuthal to indicate the colleitctive
nature of property,M G S,A-80.L.44-45.Certain kōilpurathu Chennan Kumaran and his
nephews held land collectively, A-80.Ls.544-545. Govinnan Achchuthan and his
marumakkal [nephews] held land collectively is also mentioned in the same document,
M G S, A-80, and Ls.551-552.
58
The epithet kudithala pakukkaperāre mentioned in the Chembra inscription reveals the
fact that the laboring kudikal settled in the land controlled by the cultivators should not
be divided, indicating the importance of the laboring kutis and their relation to the
dominant families of the cultivating kutis, M R Raghava Varier, Keraliyatha
Charithramanangal, op.cit.,p.113.

231
subordination among the producing groups and the objective condition of
their existence is determined by their location in the labour process and the
relation developed out of the production process.

Expansion of cultivation and growth of Primary Producers

We have already seen the development of certain groups who engaged in the
labour activities in the agriculture production operations in both wetland and
laterite parambu areas. They directly engaged in the labour process and
involved in the production of agrarian resources. As they are primarily
engaged in the labour activities for the production of agrarian resources, they
can be conceptualised as the primary producing groups in the production
process. Their condition of existence evolved historically in such a way that
the expansion of cultivation in both wetland and paramour areas, development
of over lords over the production localities and the growth of a redistributive
economy made the people who directly engaged in the labour activities
servile groups and they were subjugated to a number of overlords and their
condition of existence is indicated by the terms such as Atiyār/ Āl or Pulayar
in epigraphical evidences.

Inscriptional reference to siriyaparayankari and

padinjāyiruparayankari 59 indicate servile population like Parayar who settled
and reclaimed the estuarine lands and engaged in the cultivation operations in
these lands. They must have been dominated by the land holding households
developed from the settler cultivators.60 Paraiyanpurāy61, paraiyanvalāly62,

59
Kandiyur inscription, TAS.Vol.1, pp.414-417.
60
Kanditur inscription mention that certain persons are appointed as tenant cultivators
such as Dāmōdiran Nārāyanan of Nandāmanaichchēry and Kāman Sutti of
KuttikkāduAkkisharman Nārāyanan of VayiramanaiNārāyanan, Gōvindan of
Vayiramanai, Iyakkan Paramēsvaran of Punnaichchēry illam, Iyakkan Kēralan
Punnaichchēry illam , Kumāran Maniyan of Thāmarai palli, Kumaran Maniyan of
Thāmaraipalli and Kandan Dēvan of Malliyaichchēry they are mentioned to and they
became the tenant cultivators, who must have been developed from the cultivating
kutis of the settler cultivators, ibid.

232
parayarkāttuchēri63 and pulaiyanmuthai64 mentioned in the documents reveal
the existence of settlement spaces of the Parayar and Pulayar groups; they
must have been engaged in the process of reclaiming the land spaces and
conducting the cultivation operations. These groups engaged in the labour
activities in both production of land spaces and subsistence and surplus. They
are directly engaged in the labour process and did substantial part of the
labour and hence became the direct producers of the subsistence and surplus.

Certain lands called muthai; karunthāzhemuthai, punalimuthai,

mentioned in the Tiruvalla plates indicate, in fact, the process which brought
the newly reclaimed lands under cultivation probably with the labour of
people like Pulayar.65 Certain land called kadappanangādu and the Āl
attached to this land66 mentioned in the Thiruvalla plates indicates the servile
laboring population called Āl who must have been employed by the
landholders among the settler cultivators, probably for reclaiming the land
spaces and cultivation in the area concerned. The land called chāntārkādu
indicates the settlement of the laboring population called Chāntār.67 The land
term, pulayannadaipunnu68, mentioned in the Chennamangalam inscription
indicates that Pulayar might have been settled near a water born area and this
land was reclaimed by the labour of the Pulayar settled. Certain Chuvaran

61
M G S,A-80.L.249.Certain kāvathiyārpurāy mentioned in the Tiruvalla Plate may be
related to the same group, M G S,A.80,L.619.
62
Ibid,L.611.
63
This land term is mentioned in a mid-fourteenth century Saththankulangara inscription,
TAS.Vol.4.pp160-161.
64
M G S,A-80,L.507.
65
The land terms like valāl and thara[L.458] and vadachēripurāy [L.524] mentioned in
the Tiruvalla Plates also indicate that such laboring population must have been settled
by the cultivators.
66
M G S,A-80.L.499.
67
Ibid, L.393.
68
TAS.Vol.6.Part.2, pp.189-190.

233
Thevan belonged to an extended household called pukazhamalaichēri pledged
certain lands consisted of nilams and purayidams along with the Āladiyār
attached to the lands to Peruchellur temple to get certain sum of money.69 It
reveals the labouring populations called Āladiyār were attached to the lands
controlled by the dominant households and the labour of these groups must
have been used for the cultivation operations in both wet lands and in the
parambu areas.

The above examples suggest that the development of the land holding
households from the settler cultivators and they must have utilized the labour
of the primary producers. We also find in the documents that these people
began to be subjugated to the dominance of the households who controlled the
lands. Laboring groups came to be called Pulayar, Parayar etc. The terms like
Adiyār and Āl are used as generic terms to denote their condition of existence
as servile groups. The labour of the primary producers was realized in number
of ways by the overlords including the households that controlled the lands to
increase the surplus production in both wetland and parambu areas.

Formation of chērikkal lands is a complex process; the location and the

nature of such lands70 suggest that the production localities, where the

69
Adharam, A journal for Kerala Archaeology and History, Vol.1, 2006, pp.75-82.
70
The chērikal area is consisted of fertile wet land [ara, vayal and kara lands [The land
donated by Kerala Kesari Perumal to theTrikkakara temple was consisted of ara , vayal
and kara, M G S,A-19]
Fertile wetland called pōtta and large paddy land called peruvayal [peruvayal pūmi,
kannaikālaiyudaiyārpōttai,thachchanārpōttai,vattapōttai, MGS,A-24, ] were part of
it.The land created by slash and burn method is also formed part of the chērikkal lands
[Vettikarikkāttukolla pūmi, M G S,A-25]. The chērikal land near forested area and river
is located in hinterland [The land called kīzhkāttupozhachērikal is mentioned in
Tirunelli inscription, V R Paramesvaran Pillai, Prāchīnalikhithangal,op.cit.,p.140]. Both
mono crops and multi crops cultivation were practiced in the chērikal lands [M G S,A-
25, the epithet kallum karidum kānjara kuttiyummullumuyirumaka
………………vettikkarikkāttinolla pūmi evvakai pattathumullodunka indicate the
multiculture nature of land]. Compound site called purayidam are also located in
cherikal lands, which is also developed along with the multi culture operations called
parambu cultivation. There are references to forest, arable land, compound site and

234
cultivating kutis and servile populations settled, developed as part of the
expansion of cultivation in both laterite and alluvial areas. The resource base
of the political territories of the nāttutayavars called nātus developed due to
the proliferation of production localities and resource apropriation from such
localities was made by the Nāttutayavar with their routinue. Nāttudayavars,
their kins and members of extended house holds held large extent of land as
their private possession called chērikkals. Nātu formation was a concomitant
development and it was developed with the expansion of cultivation in multi
culture laterite region and cultivation in alluvial areas, and there also
developed a number of production localities where the settler cultivators,
cultivating kutis and the labouring population settled. Nāttudayavars must
have developed from the tribal chiefs and the chiefly households of dominant
clans in the production localities.71 The cultivating kutis had to give a share
of the produce to the local chiefs in the form of prestration called pakarcha.72

labouring groups settled in it, which were part of the cherikal land [Kilimanur Plate,
TAS.Vol.5 Part.1.pp.63-85, kilimānūr pūmiyum kādum karayum karapurayidaththinide
māniyam].
71
K N Ganesh, Historical Geography of Natu in South India with special Reference to
Kerala, Indian Historical Review,36,1[2009]:p.9. The north most area where existed the
Kolathunadu stretched on the banks of Kavvai, Koppam and Valapattanam
rivers.Purakizhanatu and Kurumporainatu occupied the territory at the foothills of
Western Ghats that included several rivers.Purakilanadu included the present Pazhassi,
Kuttuparamba,Talasseri and Kuttiyadi region.Kurumporai natu was situated to the south
of Kuttiyadi river and stretched up to the Tamarassery. Erālanātu was on the banks of
the Chaliyar river .Valluvanatu, nedumporaiyur natu and nedumkalaya natu were
located the Bharatapuzha river basin. Valluvanātu was located on the both banks of
Bharatapuzha, nedumkalayanatu on Cheruppulassery and nedumporaiyur natu in
Pattambi area. Periyar and Pamba rivers and the Vembanadu Lake influenced the nature
and location of natus in central Keralai.e.Kalkarainatu, Kizhumalainatu, Venpalanatu,
Nantruzhainatu and Munjinatu. Kalkarainatu was in Trikkakara included Edapalli and
stretched up to the Periyar river.Kizhumalai natu was on the banks of Periyar in the
Todupuzha region.Venpalanatu included the present Vaikkom and Kottayam areas.
Nantruzhainatu was between Trikkadittanam and Perunna and Pamba rivers, an area
that included the Tiruvalla temple. Munjinatu was stretched to the east and south of
Kottayam.Venatu was located in southern Kerala, ibid.
72
Tiruvalla Copper Plate refer to certain pakarchai to indicate the share given to the local
chiefs by the cultivators; araiyiraiulpakarcha [MGS,A-
80,L.73],chēnnanchēnnanārkarivāzhpakarchai [ibid,L.79] ,uzhpakarchai [ibid,Ls.231-

235
When the production localities were consolidated under the political
territories of Nāttudayavars and the latter made overlordship over the
production localities, the cultivating kutis in the production localities had to
pay obligatory payments called mēlpathi / mēlodi to the Nāttutayavars to stay
and cultivate the lands they settled. However, the right to cultivate and settle
the land was the right possessed by the cultivating kutis and as long as the
kutimai had been given to the over lords the kutis could retain their rights over
the lands they cultivated.

When the Nāttudayavars consolidated their power over the nātus, the
production localities of the settler cultivators and the cultivating kutis in the
respective nātus came under the dominance of the Nāttudayavar and chiefly
families. Certain vayal and kara lands in kannamangalam and the Pulayar
attached to it73 mentioned in a Trikkakara Plate became significant in this
context. It reveals the existences of servile population of Pulayar attached to
certain pieces of wetlands. It indicates that they are already settled in the
production localities of the land holding groups. They came under the
dominance of the Nāttudayavar when theses production localities were
brought under the political dominance of the Nāttudayavar. The possibility
cannot be completely ruled out that the Nāttudayavar themselves made
arrangements to settle such servile population in the chērikkal lands where he
had direct control over the cultivating grous. Kutis had to pay a share of the
produce to the Nāttudayavar as mēlpāti and the kizhpāti went to the
cultivator. The mēlpāti received by the Nāttutayavar donated to the temples to
meet the expenses of certain offerings made by the Nāttaudayavar in the
temples.When the produces of such lands and, sometimes, the lands itself as
attippēr grants were donated to the temples, the lands where the cultivating

232],mūnnontrukarivāzhpakarchai[ibid, L.279], munkavalaichēnnanārkari

vāzhpakarchai[ibid,L.280], kānjirakāvilīrandaraiyodi vāzhpakarchai [ bid,.L.280].
73
Kannamangalathu vayalum karaiyumpulerum,M G S,B-10.

236
kutis settled and cultivated were given to the kārālar on certain tenurial
conditions called kārānmai by the temples. It ensured the right of the kārālar
to manage the cultivation operation and control the kutis.

Kannan Kumaran, the Nāttudayavar of kalkarainatu, made certain

offerings in the Trikkakara temple, which was met by such donation.74 There
are references to certain peruvayal pūmi [paddy field] and Pulayar attached to
this land. Laboring population is also attested in a Trikkakara Plate indicating
the Pulayar must have been used in the wetland region as direct producers.75
Certain lands called injaithuruththi and kuzhikkādupūmi and the servile
population called Āl attached to these lands held by the Irāman Māthēvi, the
udayavar of Munjinātu76, indicates the process of reclaim the lands made by
the labouring population called Āl and the creation of cultivable land spaces
called thuruthu, the land spaces reclaimed from the vegetated terrain in the
water logging areas.

Certain vettikarikkāttukollapūmi, situated to the west to vāykālichirai

[sluice started from a tank] and east to idaichirai [a tank], is transferred along
with the Pulayar attached to it to the Trikkakara temple.77 This land was set
apart to cultivate on lease by the pāttamālan. The name and location of land,
vettikarikkāttukolla pūmiyumpulaiyarum indicates certain process of the
agrarian development. This land must have been developed from slash and
burn cultivation area, probably, much before the transaction of this land was
made and production of this document. The labouring people called Pulayar
must have been brought and settled in this area to convert this area for
permanent cultivation space at a time when the expansion of cultivation began

74
M G S,B-10.
75
TAS.3.PP.169-171.
76
M G S,A-80.Ls.537-38.
77
M G S,A-25.

237
to develop under the land holding households who had enjoyed the kīzhpāti or
the lower share on the land cultivated. It was this land where the people who
did their labour on it as primary producers had been placed under the
kāranmai relation instituted by Trikkakara temple.

Kannan Puraiyan, the Nāttudayavar of Kālkarainātu, donated his

mēlpāthi78, i.e., the obligatory payment he received from the cultivating kutis,
to the temple to meet the expenses of certain offerings made by him in the
temple. The households that held right over this land also donated their
kīzhpāti79 to the temple to meet their offerings in the same temple. The land
was placed under certain pāttamālan for cultivation along with the labour of
the same servile population who already attached to the land as direct
producers. This show the way in which the primary producers like Pulayar
and Āl developed in the production localities in the chērikkal lands. The
development of pāttam, lease holding, shows the formation of intermediaries
in the process of production which structured the cultivating kutis under the
dominance of tenurial relation when the cultivating kutis became tenant
cultivators and the condition of primary producers like Āl and Pulayar was
deteriorated along with the cultivating kutis. The term puleverupatti80, the
area where Pulayar settled indicates the Pulayar must have been brought to be
employed to reclaim land spaces and conduct agriculture operations.

When the produce from the cultivating kutis who settled the chērikal
lands or the lands itself were donated to the temples to meet the offerings
made in the temple by the donors, these lands were also subjected to the
tenurial dominance of the temples. Certain peruvayal pūmi [paddy land] and
Pulayar attached to it mentioned in another document in the same temple

78
īppūmi mērpāthiyum paniyum konu, ibid.[2]1.
79
Mattepāthikkum.
80
Tirumuzhikkalam inscription, TAS, Vol.2.No.7 [k].pp.45-46.

238
indicates81 the process by which the lease holding became a feature of the
cultivation and tenant cultivators became a subject population to the overlords
along with the servile labouring groups.

The epithet kilimānūr pūmiyum kādum karayum karapurayidaththinide

82
māniyam mentioned in Kilimānūr record indicates the transation of
Kilimānūr village in which the large extent of land comprised the forest,
arable land, compound site and kutis settled. It shows the way in which the
cultivators and other labouring groups who settled the lands had come under
the temple on kārānmai relations. This document also mentions kādum
83
karayum karapurayidavum ālum kūda and kādum karayum
karapurayidavum ālum84, the forested land spaces adjacent to compound sites
in the parambu region where the Āl / Adiyār were attached to these lands. The
labouring population called Āl / Adiyārs were integral part of mixed crop
cultivation in the parambu region in the midland is attested in this document.
This document mentions that nine Āl/ Adiyār were required to cultivate sixty
kalam seeding capacity of wet land and they were given away from the land
when it was transferred [āl irupathum nīkki olla nilam] to the temple.85

The kīzhperur Nāttutayavar is found to have acquired the lands after

removing the original settlers in the lands. This document mentions the
development of the labouring population called Āl in the mixed crop lands
and their location and role in labor process must have been different from
their counterparts in the wetland areas as the cultivation operations and labour

81
Trikkakara inscription, TAS.3.PP.169-171[M G S,A-24].
82
TAS.Vol.5 Part.1.pp.63-85.
83
Ibid, L.8.
84
Ibid, L.50
85
per onninu ānāl ontrum pennāl ontrum akayil arupathungalamum āl orupathum nīkki
olla nilam eppēr pettathum kādun karayum karaippurayidamum ālum kūda kīzhppērūr
nādevāzhiyide amiththu ,ibid.

239
process in the mixed crop cultivation areas are different from that of the
wetland cultivation lands. The land is transferred along with Āl / Adiyār86
indicates that these people were settled as primary producers. It also shows
the process that the servile laboring population must have been developed
along with the expansion of agriculture in both wet land and mixed crop
areas. The formation of primary producing groups called Āl / Adiyār or
Pulayar is an integral part of the expansion of agriculture and proliferation of
production localities in both wetland and parambu regions. These labouring
groups appear to have located in the areas where mono cultural practices and
mixed crops cultivation developed.

The above analysis shows the fact that the land holding house holds
developed from the settler cultivators and they made use of the labour of the
primordial groups who already settled in the region. Their labour was
appropriated for reclaim the marshy and water logging areas and also in the
parambu areas. The punam cultivators and non-agricultural groups were also
brought to be part of these labouring groups in course of time and they
became the permanent labour collectives in the production localities. It was
this process that developed the primary producers whose labour must have
been purposefully used to reclaim the water laden and vegetated areas for
cultivation and settlements. The settler cultivators utilized the labour of the
labouring clans for the purpose of water management in the flood plains and
irrigation activities in the cultivation of wetland areas. Knowledge of the
season and environ like rain, flora etc preserved by the settler cultivators
including the Brahmans were effectively used to realise the labour of these
groups for reclaim land spaces and cultivation activities. This process of
reclaim the land spaces in water laden and estuarine areas and expansion of

86
Ibid, Ls.8-9.

240
cultivation in such areas made the growth of production localities in wetland
areas.

There developed internal differentiation among the settler cultivators

due to the expansion of cultivation and corresponding division of labour that
occurred in the production localities, which resulted in the development of
households among them which held land, it also developed the cultivating
kutis. Labouring groups were also emerged from the settler groups. Some of
the laboring kutis came to be the servile population and became part of the
primary producing group on account of the development of overlordship over
the production localities. The land holding households, dominant agrarian
communities and their production localities were integrated to the nātus
where the Nāttudayavar, who developed from the tribal chiefs and dominant
land owning clans, held political power. The over lordship of the
Nāttudayavar that developed over the production localities necessitated the
production of more surplus that accelerated the process of labour realization
in which the cultivating kutis and the servile labouring population called Āl /
Adiyār or Pulayar became important.

The resource requirements of various overlords also ensured the

labour of the primary producers by way of exchange and transaction of
migrant laboring population who hitherto did not take part of the settled
agriculture in both alluvial and laterite areas. Certain people who were part of
the non-agricultural groups, forest dwellers, punam cultivators, primordial
settler clans and others had increasingly become part of the dircet labouring
groups in the settled agriculture in both alluvial and laterite areas. Some
people who engaged in the hunting gathering and shifting cultivation
activities in the midland region began to be integarated to the agrarian process
of the area and they were integrated to the nātus of the respective

241
Nāttudayavar and thus they became the subjugated groups and others
continued their livelihood forms in the hinterlands.

The cherikkal lands where cultivating kutis and Atiyār / Āl / Pulayars

settled were integrated to the social relations of production developed in the
nātus over which the nāttudayavar retained their over lordship. Sometimes,
the primordial settlers and punam cultivators were brought and settled in the
chērikkal lands by the men of the Nāttudayavar like Nūttuvar or chārnavar
[kinsmen of the Nāttudayavar]. These labouring groups became part of the
private possession of the nāttudayavar as Atiyār / Āl / Pulayar. The formation
of nātu is meant for the expansion of agriculture and resource base of the
proliferation of settlements in the production localities, which increasingly
became part of the nātu territories, required the utilization of existing labour,
and the additional labourers required were met by bringing people from
outside for the purpose of reclaim the cultivable lands and cultivation in these
lands. Therefore, expansion of nātu means the expansion of agriculture to
new areas, and new groups were integrated to the agriculture process. It also
meant for the movement of migrant people and these groups were process
settled as labouring population. The proliferation of the settlement sites where
the Āl /Atiyār, Pulayar/ Parayar groups settled is inscribed in number of
epigraphical documents. Their presence is also attested in land and labour
terms indicating a process that made the expansion of cultivation in various
nātus territories and the development of overlordship over these political
territories.

Beyond the Brahman Settlements and the Temples

Brahman settlements have been given much importance in the historiography

of Kerala. However, the information regarding the settlements of Brahmans in
the classical Tamil texts pertaining to this part of the region is scanty when
compared with the settlements and livelihood forms of different kuti settlers

242
[kutimākkal]. Whatever the information that prevails pertaining to the
Brahman population is mostly found in the colophons to these texts, which
were added by the later commentators. When we think about the Brahmans
settlements and temples in the period from the ninth century onwards we have
a number of inscriptional evidences, but the early Brahman settlements did
not originally produce any documents of its own, which force us to relay upon
the documents produced by the members of the ruling families and private
individuals when they made grants of the share of the produce, and
sometimes, certain attipper grands, mostly to meet the expenses of their
offerings in these temples. However, the attippēr grants, exempted all the
rights the donors had possessed the lands, donated to the temples and
Brahmans, are only very few in numbers and lion share of the donations to the
temples and Brahmans are donations of the share of the produce from the
lands cultivated by the cultivating kutis rather than the lands itself.

Kēralōlpatti, the brahmanical prose narrative, originaly developed as

part of the oral tradition and textualised and compiled much later, has
selectively been used to establish the location of traditional Brahman
settlements87, rather than the process of its origin and development.This
historioghraphy emphasises the monocausal explanation to the social
transformation in the post - Sangam period in such way that the Brahman
settlements and the temples had been a prime agency in transforming the
society and economy. The historiographical silence on the the production
localities outside the Brahman settlements where the cultivating kutis
generated the resource along with the primary producers has to be made
visible. It is in this context the settlements of the Brahmans, the production
localities called ūr settlements where the cultivating kutis, occupational

87
Kesavan Veluthat, Brahman settlements in Kerala, [Sandhya Publication, Calicut,
1978]. M G S Narayanan, Perumals of Kerala,op cit,pp.141-144.

243
groups and the servile population engegd in the production of material
resources get attention to be interrogated.

When the Brahmans were given the productive lands in the river
valleys from the early historical period, the cultivating kutis who already
settled in the lands donated became the subject population to these Brahman
settlements. However, majority of the settlements located outside the
Brahman settlements and these settlements functioned as the production
localities of the settler cultivators and the cultivating kutis. Individual
Brahman house holds called mangalams began to be developed outside the
Brahman villages.88 Development of production localities where the
cultivating kutis generated the resources, formation of landholding households
and the chiefs developed from such households was also a supportive factor in
the proliferation of the Brahman settlements. The developemment of over
lordship of the Nāttutayavar over the production localities and consolidation
of political power of the Nāttutayavar under the nātus also made impetus in
strengthening the cultural and ritual power of the temples centered Brahman
villages as the Nāttutayavar sought the ritual and ideological legitimacy from
the temples and Brahmans. The process of the proliferation of Brahman
settlements was propped up by the expansion of cultivation in river valleys
and estuarine areas on the one hand, and the development of nātu formation in
the midland regions and consolidation of political authority of the
Nāttudayavar over the production localities on the other.

The Brahmans were in need of the political and the physical protection
of the Nāttudayavars and the latter sought the ritual and ideological
legitimacy from the temples and Brahmans. The land households developed
from the settler cultivators were also in need of the cultural resources of the
Brahmans and the ideological legitimacy of the temples as majority of such

88
K N Ganesh, Historical Geography of Natu in South India, op.cit., p.13.

244
households developed from the settler cultivators. The dominant landholding
households that emerged from the settler cultivators donated the share of the
produce to the Brahmans and temples. Both the nāttudayavar and Brahmans
carried out the expansive efforts to accumulate the landed resources of the
land cultivating groups and the lands cultivated and controlled by the
cultivating kutis. This resulted in the political dominance of the Nāttudayavar
over more and more production localities where cultivating kutis settled and
cultivated the lands. The share of the produce from the lands controlled by the
cultivating kutis was reached to the temple as the obligatory payment received
from these cultivating kutis had donated to the temples by the Nāttutayavar.
The share of the produce from the lands held by the households where kutis
already settled and cultivated was donated to the temples. The share of the
produce from the lands held by the Nāttutayavar and the ruling households
also donated to the temples in addition to the attippēr grants of lands made by
the nāttudayavars and the members of the ruling lineage to the temples and
Brahmans. It is in this context that the agriculture operations and the
development of cultivating groups and servile labouring populations
proliferated in the cultivating localities on which Nāttutayavar, Brahmans and
temples developed overlordship.

Ayiranikalam inscription issued in respect of Kota Ravi, the Chēra

Perumāl, mentions that two ūrs where the cultivating kutis and the Pulayar
settled were made as attippēr grant and donated to the ūrār and paradaiyār of
the Ayiranikkalam temple by Iravi Piratti and Ilaya Iravi. It also mentions
kutipatis and adhikārar who were designated as the mediators of the
transaction of the land. It seems that when the cultivating localities called ūr
settlements became part of the political territory of the Nāttudayavar the
cultivating kutis and kutipathis located in the ūrs had also come under the
overlordship of the Nāttudayavar. The kutipatis who functioned as the
descent heads of kutis in the ūrs were incorporated to the polity of the

245
Nāttutayavar and the kutipatis began to be functioned as the collectors of the
dues from the kutis to the Nāttudayavar. It was because the mediatory role
done by the kutipatis that the adhikārar and the kutipatis of the two ūrs were
informed and the consent of the kutipatis was sought and he was
acknowledged when the ūrs were made an attippēr grant and donated as
kīzhīdu to the temple by the Iravi Piratti.89 The two ūrs that were granted
along with the Pulayar attached to the lands in the ūrs, athikārapetta
90
pulayaralum, indicates that the Pulayar had already been attached to the
lands cultivated in the ūrs. It is also possible that the servile labour must have
been developed in the ūr settlements itself and they must have been
transferred along with the lands they settled when the two ūrs were donated to
the temple by the Iravi Piratti and Ilaya Iravi.

The reference to Āl attached to the land as primary producers

mentioned in an Uliyannur plate is important in this context.91 The
transformation of the actual cultivators to the tenant cultivators indicates the
transition of the condition of the cultivating kutis from autonomous cultivators
to the status of subordinate tenant cultivators in the Brahman settlements. This
was happened on account of the process of transition from the uzhakuti to the
cultivating kutis then to the kutis of the tenant cultivators. The kutis of the
occupational and artisanal groups who did auxiliary occupations to agriculture
had also become the subservient groups in the social form that came into
being.

The lands where the cultivating kutis and labouring groups had already
settled had been donated to the temples and Brahmans.92 The cultivating kutis

89
The text of the document is from Puthusseri Ramachandran, op. cit., No.8.
90
Ibid., L.3.
91
Mithunukku molla pūmiyum ālum, TAS.Vol.7, part.2, No.15, p.98 [MGS, C-38].
92
Avittattur Temple inscription, M G S,A-10,L.14, mentions ivvūrkudikale, the kutis
settled in the brahman ūr.

246
became tenant cultivators and subordinated groups to the temples and
Brahmans as the latter had established tenurial dominance on the lands where
the former settled and cultivated. These kutis began to the subject population
to the respective overlords. The kutis and laboring population who settled out
side the Brahman settlements could be dominated by the temples and
Brahmans only when the share of the produce from such settlements was
donated to the temples and Brahmans were made to settle in such settlements
by the Nāttutayavar. It occurred only when the overlordship was established
by the dominant landholding households and ruling households of
Nāttudayavars over such settlements which were the production localities and
the share of the produce from the cultivating kutis was donated to the temples,
in addition to a few attipēr grants of lands where the cultivating kutis and the
laboring population already settled, made by the Nāttutayavars and the
members of ruling households to the temples.

This enabled the temples to develop certain tenurial control on such

lands which ensured the surplus from the kutis by way of overlordship over
the production localities of the cultivating kutis and chērikkal lands, and as
and when the produce from such lands was donated to the temples. Thus,
temples became a kind of parasitic institutional structures which developed
instituted modes to control the cultivating kutis and the laboring population to
realise the labour to increase the surplus appropriation from the resources
genarated outside the Brahman settlements and the temples. However, the
kutis who became the tenant cultivators to the temples or to the Brahman ūrs
could retain the right to settle and cultivate the lands, as long as they paid the
kutimai93 or pāttam to the overlords, so long as the kutis paid the customary
dues to the respective overlords they could retain the rights to cultivate and to

93
Avittattur Temple inscription, M G S,A-10,L.15.

247
settle the lands they cultivated.94 It shows the settlements other than the
Brahman settlements where resource was generated by the cultivating kutis
and the laboring groups from where it was appropriated by the temples and
the political authority.

River Basins, Estuarine Areas and Development of Wetland Agriculture

The region under discussion is drained by 44 rivers and there are 34 river
basins drained by these rivers, from the Manjesvar River to Kallada River.95
The main river basins are Chadragiri, Valapattanam, Chaliyar,
Bharathapuzha, Chalakudi, Periyar, Pamba, Achankoil and Kallada. The river
basins feed large extent of catchment area. The land spaces reclaimed from
the biomass and silt deposited areas in these river basins are suitable for
paddy cultivation and for the spread of settlements. Multi culture operations
were developed in the catchment area of these rivers in the hinter land. The
lands located in the riverine alluvium are highly favorable for paddy
cultivation. Systematic manuring was not necessary for the cultivation in the
silted alluvium soil. Since the area was located in the flood plains, soil is rich
in sediments and organic contents.

Creation of land spaces for paddy cultivation in this area was quite
labourious activity, which required the technical knowhow and skilled labour,
the cumulative process of which resulted in the formation of wetland
cultivation spaces. In the early period when the riverine agriculture began to
be developed by the efforts made by the settler cultivators and the labouring
population, the regular rains at punctuated intervals enabled the cultivating
kutis to cultivate during both the monsoon seasons. It also developed the

94
Ayiranikkalam inscription mentions that kutikal controlled the land, ivvūr kutikala[r
kka]ttu karaipūmi, Puthusseri Ramachandran, op.cit., No.8.L.24.
95
Srikumar Chattopadhyaya and Richard W.Franke, Striving for Sustainability:
Environmental Stress and Democratic Initiatives in Kerala, op.cit., p.39

248
calculation of agriculture seasons with reference to the monsoons.96 The
settler cultivators and cultivating kutis took advantage of the advance showers
of the southwest monsoon to prepare the land in this water-laden area. The
short time cultivation required the duration of a single monsoon and a system
of short-term cultivation began to be developed in these areas. Gradually there
developed single and six months’ crop cultivation which later came to be
known as muntakan cultivation.

Since the area was water laden the transplanted paddy cultivation was
much more secure and high yielding one in these river basins .This might
have been the reason for the development of the practice of mundakan
cultivation in the riparian areas. Agriculture practice began to become
systematic and regular with the proliferation of settlements of the settler
cultivators which also made the advancement of agriculture technology
resulting in developing of two-crop cultivation in course of time. It also
resulted in the spread of cultivation into the estuarine areas and to hinterlands.
There gradually developed paddy cultivation in elevated areas in the interior
areas. It was because of this expansion of cultivation that there developed
local variations and specificities in the paddy cultivation in all parts of the
region in the form of mundakan, virippu, punja etc.

Crop Pattern and Types of Cultivated Lands

The lands where paddy cultivated are variously known as nilam, vayal,
pādam, arai, kari etc. Double crops lands are irupū lands.97 Lands came to be
classified on the basis of how many times cultivation could be made in a land

96
More than sixty percent of all rainfall occurs during the southwest monsoon period [i.e.,
June – July]. The contribution of northeast monsoon is high in certain parts. Normal
rainfall pattern indicate that this region receives some rainfall throughout the year, ibid,
p.37.
97
ichchērikkal irupū kārānmai is mentioned in a Mūzhikkalam temple inscription, M G
S,A-37,L.[2].4

249
in a single year called pūnilangal. In water laden areas, the cultivation called
punjai98 was practiced in addition to irupu cultivation. The land was also
classified according to its productivity and the extent of such land is called
vittupādu nilangal. The cultivation process is indicated in number of
epigraphical documents as uzhuthu, āyuvikkathirētti, and uzhuvārum99 and
naduvana nattu iduvana ittu100 , sow and plant. Uzhamum101, uzhavērchey,
uzhuthida102 and uzhaikkalam103 are used to denote the labour activities
involved in the cultivation process.104 The plot where the paddy sown or
seedling planted is called kandam or strip. The types and nature of kandams
are related to the topography, nature of soil, its location and proximity to
water sources and to the availability of other resources for the cultivation.

Field and Strips

We have references to a number of such strips in epigraphical material located

in some of the river basins. Thirukkadiththanam record mentions certain
thenvāypalikandam.105 Manmēl kandangal and vāzhekandam are mentioned
in Kollur Matham plates.106 Tiruparapu inscription mentions
puththaraikandam and kadamannarai kandam.107 Mampalli Plate mentions
certain thalēthodi kandangal and urākandam.108 Sāttankulangara inscription
mentions kuvayūrkkale kandam. We have reference to certain nālukandam in

98
Tiruvalla plates, M G S,A-80 iravinallur punjai [L .599],thalaiyāttupunjaivayal[L.600]
99
Chokkur Plate, M G S, A-8, L.49.
100
Tarisapalli Plate,M G S,A-6,L.2-3
101
Porangattiri Inscription,M G S,A-14,L.29-30
102
Tiruvalla Plates, M G S,A-80, L.464.
103
M G S,C-28,L.7
104
Kandiyur plate, Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit., No.154.p.351.L.10.
105
TAS.Vol.5.No.55.pp.172-176.
106
M G S,B-15.
107
TAS.Vol.6.Part 1.pp.76-77.
108
TAS.Vol.4,PP.72-82.

250
Haripadu inscription.109 It shows the fields in both the alluvial region and in
the hinter lands developed over the centuries.110

Primary Producers and the Labour Process as Revealed in Oral Texts

The variety of krishipātukal [agriculture songs] transmitted from generation

to generation do reveal the process of agriculture production and the
involvement of the primary producers in the different agriculture operations.
Agriculture songs, krishipāttukal, have been a specific genre in folklore
contains historical consciousness in embedded form. If variety of texts in this
folk genre can properly be historicised and corroborated with the conventional
sources of the discipline of history , various aspects of the production process
and the involvement of the laboring groups in the labour process can be
revealed. As these materials have been orally transmitted from generation to
generation111and preserved by the labouring population as part of their social
memory and ritual acts, their involvement in the labor process and the
dynamics of their life activities are inscribed in these texts. This genre can
also be used to understand the life world of the primary producers who
directly involved in the labour process.

Theses genre represent the distinct life world of the laboring groups
who directly engaged in the various stages of labour process in the agrarian
production. The historical process of labour activity and the involvement of

109
TAS.Vol.6.Part.1.No.29,p.41
110
There are striking references to the various types of kandams mentioned in the ‘Tullal
Kathakal’ of Kunjan Nambiyar,P K Sivasankara Pillai[Edited and compiled ] ,Kunjan
Nambiyarute Thullal Kathakal,Kerala Sahithya Academy Trissur,[1970] 2000.
111
M V Vishnu Namputhiri, Nādan Pāttukal Malayālathil,[ The State Institute of
Languages, Thiruvanandapuram, 2008], pp.1-10 and 300-333. Pankajakshan M R,
Kerala Bhashaganangal, Vol.3, Kerala Sahithya Academy,Trissur,[1989] 2005]
Anadakuttan V, Kerala Bhashaganangal Vol.2 [1980],[Kerala
SahithyaAcademy,Thrissur, 1980].Chirakkal BalakrishnanNair,KeralaBhashaganangal
Vol.1 [1979], [Kerala Sahithya Academy, Thrissur, 2005].

251
laboring population in the labour process can be culled out of these materials.
This can be used as non-conventional source for the study of the production
process and the location of the primary producing groups who did substantial
part of labour in the production of agrarian surplus in the region under study.
The following attempt is to provide a corroborative analysis of oral literature
with the conventional epigraphical sources to the understanding of the
development of agriculture practices and to locate the primary producers who
involved in the labour activities in the production of agrarian resources.

Mundakan Cultivation

Mundakan cultivation practiced in the form of transplantation of the paddy

seedlings. The making of seedbeds for planting the seedlings and preparation
of kandams [strips] for transplanting the seedlings is the two important
aspects in the beginning of this form of cultivation. The fields are prepared in
the months of Chingam and Kanni [August –September], when the seedlings
planted. The harvest is in Makaram or Kumbham112[February- March].The
labour activities done by the cultivating kutis and Āl /Adiyār / Pulaya groups
are found to have cordinated in the agriculture operations that started during
the Kumbham [February-March].

Preparation of Kandam

There must be sufficient water in the fields for this crop all the time. The
members of the cultivating kutis and the men of the servile labouring group
make necessary arrangement for the supply of sufficient water in the

112
T K Velupillai, in his Travancore State Manuel [Vol.3] describes the different aspects of
agriculture practices that traditionally practiced in Travancore region. These practices
have had an anterior historical existence and continued for long time without major
changes. Therefore, we assume that the agriculture practices explained by him are more
or less same to the agriculture activities that had been developed during the period under
discussion. Many of the agriculture songs related to different labour activities pertaining
to these agriculture practices are also give us information to the labour activities
involved in these agriculture practices.

252
kandams. The servile labourers belonged to the Atiyār/ Āl usually do the
irrigation works and engaged in the preparation of kandams. Because
buffaloes are fit for ploughing the water-ridden fields, they are mostly used in
ploughing; oxen are also used whenever necessary. The text of an agriculture
song pertaining to ploughing describes it in the following manner;

‘arayarayōm ki´gi¸iyarayō
nammakan·am k¡rakan·am
k¡rakan·am na¶¶ituve
or¡yiram k¡½® m vannu
or¡yiram ¡½ um vannu
k¡rakan·am na¶¶ituv¡n
¡½¡yiram vannerengi’113

Ground preparation and ploughing were important activities for the

transplanting the seedling. Better breed of oxen were used for ploughing the
kandam;

‘ akkarayile manakan·athile
maramatiyute thurumbime
chembōran®m m¡ mbu½½iy®m
e·athum valathum n¤uththatte
ch¡tti ch¡tti ke½achcha kan·athi
neratti nj¡rukon·eriyatte
kurichchika¶¶ayum kari¶¶imīnum
maraththinte mīthe mariyatte’.114

The field is manured with green leaves before ploughing and the
Pulaya men and women collect the green leaves from nearby areas or from the
pasture lands.115

113
M V Vishnu Namputhiri [Genaral Editor], Nātanpāttukal Vol.1, [Kerala Folklore
Academy Kannur, 2003], p.17.
114
C N Vasudevan, Nātanpattukal, Vol.1, p.31.

253
 The soil is ploughed to mix the green leaves with the soil. Cow dung
and ashes kept at the purayidam of the cultivating kutis carried to the fields by
the female Pulaya labourers. They scattered these manure evenly in all the
kandams. Then the soil is again ploughed to mix the manure with the soil. The
surface of the kan·ams is thus covered over with water, which is allowed to
stand for just above the surface and is again ploughed up into a deep mud. A
process of leveling of mud in the kan·am is done at this stage, which is done
with a specific implement to level the kandams even and smooth so that water
can be maintained in the kandams on an equal footing. This is undertaken by
the cooperative labour activities of a number of labourers belong to both the
cultivating kutis and the servile labouring groups. The process of leveling is
being done from the lower part to the upper part of the field, not vice versa.
After this, the kandams are ready for transplantating the njāru.116

Making Seed Bed and Planting Seedlings

Planting the seedling in the seedbed is another important agriculture operation

for the transplantation of paddy. Before sowing the seed on the seed bed for
nurturing the seedling, the seed is soaked in cow dung water and a bamboo
basket is prepared for keeping the soaked paddy seeds, it is prepared by
placing straws or special green leaves in it. The elder members of the
cultivating kutis do this in their pura. The soaked seeds so prepared are kept
in the bamboo basket in a special area of the pura for three days. The seeds so
placed are to be soaked three times a day. On the fourth day, the seeds are
sprouted and ready for sowing in the seedbed. Then, the seeds are to be
carefully sorted and separated before sowing.

115
The most common green leaves used are vatta, maruthu, punna, ayirumala, ālu ,māvu,
vēnga , pēzhu, nelli ,pungu, vāka,shīlānthi [pūvarashu] oduku , cheriyila konna, njāra ,
vittil, mottal etc, C K Sujith Kumar , Krishimalayālam, [Akshara Samskriti,
Kannur,1999],p.97.
116
The paddy seedlings.

254
 The seedbeds are prepared by plouhging the soil not less than six chāl
as in the case of preparation of kandam for transplanting the paddy seedlings.
The prepared seeds are sown thickly and evenly on the seedbeds called
njāttadi by skilled labourers mostly labourers belong to Pulayar. The
following texts of songs pertaining to the preparation and pluking the seedling
make this point clear;

‘komban katavayaran p¡kichoru µj¡re

kochchari pallan parippichchoru µj¡re’.117

‘P¡kunnunde P¡kunnunde viththell¡m

V¡ri p¡kunne
Arikaruka cherukaruka jīraka chemp¡vu
Viththell¡m v¡ri p¡kunne
Kōrunnunde kōrunnunde vittinu ve½½am kōrunnu’.118

‘polayi makka½e varuv¡n cholle

µj¡ttatiyile varuv¡n cholle
polayi makka½u vannerangi
µj¡ttatiyile vannerangi’.119

Atiyār / Āl Women and the Transplanting the Seedlings

A month after the appearance of the seedling above the ground the plant will
be about a foot in height and fit for transplantation.120 The seedlings are
collected by the female labourers of Āl /Adiyār / Pulayar groups from the
seedbeds and tied in bundles. These labourers bring the seedling bundles to
the field and keep it on the bunds or the varambu of the kandams for
transplantation. Then there starts the operation of transplantation of these

117
Vettiyar Premnath, Nātanpāttukal,op .cit., pp-101-102.
118
A K Appukuttan, op. cit., pp.228-229.
119
Kilimanur Vishvambharan, Kēralathile Nādan Pāttukal,op. cit., pp.24-25.
120
T K Velupillai, The Travancore State Manuel. Vol.3, op.cit., pp.308-309.C K Sujith
Kumar, Krishimalayālam, op. cit., pp.76-80.

255
seedlings by these female labourers, they transplant the seedlings at a distance
of six or nine inches from one another in the kandams. An oral text
describing the labour activities done by Adiyār women in the transplanting of
paddy reveals the labour activities done by the women among the Atiyār/ Āl
group;

‘mu¶¶ikkūni uthikkika½ellam
natukkan·athile nerakkatte
pu½½ayu½½a tha½½am¡rell¡m
varambuvaththu nerakkatte
¡rum¡naka½½ika½ell¡m
akalam thiriµju nerakkatte
¡¶¶iya¶¶i nadunna µj¡rinte
kō¶¶am thirichchu vitineto’.121
‘natuv¡ no½½a µj¡reriµju
µ¡rututtu che½ikalakki’.122

‘Akkan·am nattu µj¡n ikkan·am nattu µj¡n

M®l®kan·aththil µj¡ru na¶¶u’.123

The labour acitivities in the process of transplanting is represented in

yet another oral text in which we find number of Atiyār / Āl women engaged
in the labour activities pertaining to the transplating of the paddy seedlings;

vēgaththil parikkunna kayy¡¸e

theyyakam thōro thiththōrō
vēgaththil natunna kayy¡¸e
theyyakam thāro thiththāro
paththuparakkan·am nad®¸ame
vēgaththil angu nat®¸ame
onn¡m kan·aththil k®rīlo
onn¡m kan·am na¶¶allō

121
C N Vasudevan, Natanpattukal, Vol.1, op.cit.,p.31.
122
Kilimanur Vishvambharan, ‘Kinginiyarayam’, in Kēralathile Nādan Pāttukal, op .cit.,
pp.19-20.
123
M V Vishnu Namputhiri [Genaral Editor], Nātanpāttukal. Vol.1, op. cit., p.17.

256
 n¡lu m£lakkum kuththtīlo
¡ kan·am angu thīrnnallō’.124
They conduct the transplanting operations in groups as the
transplanting is done in a number of kandams at a time and this is vivdly
represented in a song,

‘µj¡rell¡m l¡kil¡kiyē
th¡rikanth¡rōm
thirippa¸am ke¶¶iyi¶¶ē
th¡rithinanthōm
kan·am natukku chenn®
th¡rikanth¡rōm
µ¡ri¶¶u kaiva¸angē
th¡ rikanth¡ rōm
na¶¶uvalam thiriµjē
th¡rikanth¡rōm
na¶¶upuram thiriµje
th¡rithinanthōm
na¶¶uvarambu kan·ē
th¡rithinanthōm
µj¡ri¶¶u kaiva¸agē
th¡rithinanthōm
ch®ttinm®l kaiva¸ag®
th¡ rithinanthōm
otayōre kaiva¸agē
th¡rithinanthōm’.125

It also shows the different aspects of the transplanting process done by

the women who know the very intricacy involved in the process of
transplanting. The following song reveals the labour activities of the women
who engaged in the process of transplanting.

124
M V Vishnu Namputhiri, Nātanpāttukal. Vol.2, [Kerala Folklore Academy Kannur,
2005], pp.21-22.
125
Kilmanur Visvambharan, Kērallathile Nātanpāttukal, op.cit., p.26.

257
 ‘v¡runnunde v¡runnun·e
mu½½am p¡yalu v¡runnun·e
ve¶¶¶unnunde th®ykkunnun·e
varambell¡m che½ith®kkunn®
ell¡rut®m kan·am na¶¶u kariµj¡rupi¶ikon·all°
namma½ute kan·amell¡m mu½½am p¡yalu k®riy®
¡liy¡liparikkunna µj¡ru pitiµj¡ru ke¶¶iyeriya¸am
kuththik£ni muthikkika½um pe¸¸¡½um vannirangunn®
cheruppakk¡ri pe¸¸unga½um pe¸¸¡½um vannirangunn®
kuththikk£ni muthikkika½um nadukkan·aththilum nikka¶¶®
cheruppakk¡ri pe¸¸unga½ell¡m
varamberambikkuthikka¶¶®’.126

What is important here is the collective labour activities done by the

women of the laboring groups who are endowed with the technical skill and
expertise in conducting labour activities for the creation of agrarian resources.
It also shows that the women of the Atiyār /Āl groups are the active agent of
the agrarian process.

Weeding Practices

Weeding has to be done twice or thrice and overcrowding of the paddy

seedlings has to be prevented by removing the surplus seedlings. The female
labourers belong to Adiyār / Āl / Pulaya do this work, they pluck the weeds
and sometimes treading it with footsteps.127 The agriculture songs related to
weeding activities mention the labour activities done by these groups.128

pathth¡yīra parakan·avum thann®

k¡¶um kaiyitha k®riikitanna kan·am
innuki½achchinnu vithachcha kan·am
126
A K Appukuttan, op. cit.,pp.228 -229.
127
There are number of songs sung while the weeding was being conducted, M V Vishnu
Nambuthiri, Nadan Pattukal Malayalathil, op.cit.,pp.304-305. M V Vishnu Nambuthiri,
Nādan Pattukal, Vol.2, op.cit., pp.9-13.
128
Kilimanur Vishvambharan ,‘kalaparikkal pāttu’, in Kēralathile Nādan Pāttukal, op. cit.,
pp-29-30, Vettiyar Premnath ,‘kavidikandam’, in Nādan Pātttukal,op.cit.,p.102.

258
 innuka½ayeduththu thīrnnillangil
enteyoru v®lak£li ki¶¶ukayill®’.129

An agriculture song pertaining to weeding done by Pulaya female

labourers represent the labour activity in weeding practice;

‘m¡lam m¡lōreyy¡
kann®lakan·am kavita kan·aththi - m¡lam m¡lōreyy¡
µj¡noru kavita parichchirunnappam -m¡lam m¡lōreyy¡
avitekitannoru m¡vuki½achc®h - m¡lam m¡lōreyy¡
mail¡ppū m¡vennu pērukoduththē - m¡lam m¡lōreyyā
akk¡lam m¡vatha kanniyum p£ththe - m¡lam m¡lōreyy¡’.130

The Process of Harvesting

The ear heads begin to form about a month before the crop get mature and a
fortnight before the harvesting, which is generally begun after the whole
plant, leaves and ear assume a yellow colour. The special protection is to be
given to the paddy fields to prevent the threat of the animals etc and Pulaya
labourers are appointed to do this and epigraphical documents mention this
labour activity as pulaikāval.131 Paddy is given as reward to the kāval service
of the Pulaya men and they are supposed to protect and maintain the paddy in
the fields until the harvest.

The fields are drained off the water and allowed to dry before the
harvest. The harvest is in the month of Kumbham [February-March], which
gives the name to the crop. Harvest is the time when there also require

129
Kilimanur Vishvambharan , Kēralathile Nādan Pāttukal, op. cit., pp-29-30,
130
Vettiyar Premnath, ‘Kavidikandam’, in Nādan Pātttukal, op.cit., pp.102-103 .
131
Parthivapuram inscription mentions ithinil pulaikāval nīkki, TAS, Vol.3.Part.1, No.16.

259
collective labour activities of both men and women for reaping132, taking the
paddy bundles to the threshing grounds, treading, sifting etc. The labourers
belong to Adiyār / Āl / Pulaya are brought from nearby places or from outside
in addition to the existing labourers of the same group to do the different
labour activities in the harvest.

The harvest is a collective and cooperative labour activity

predominantly done by the Adiyār/ Āl /Pulaya labourers who cut the rice
stalks with short sickles and rice stalks are tied in bundles, carried to the
threshing floor called kalam. Normally the harvesting would take place from
morning to evening.

The collective and cooperative labour activities of the women

labourers are required and they do substantial part of the labour in the
harvesting;

‘onn¡m kan·am thalakan·am koithappam

n¢yevite p°yeti kochchupe¸¸®’.133

‘th¡zhththi koyyeti th¡½aththil koyyeti

th¡zhenilkkuna pe¸¸¡½®
n¢¶¶ikoyyati n¢rththaththtil koyyeti
n¢lath¡mara ka¸¸¡½®
k¸¸¡½® eti pe¸¸¡½®.’134

The collective labour activities done by the women of different age

group of the Atiyār in the harvest are narrated in number of folk texts, the
following is part of the same ganre;

132
A number of songs reveal the labour activities involved in the harvesting ,it represent
the collective labour and cooperative efforts made by the people of Adiyār/Pulaya
groups, M V Vishnu Nambuthiri, Nādanpāttukal Malayālathil, op.cit., pp. 306-308
133
M V Vishnu Nambuthiri, Nātan Pāttukal, Vol, 2, op.cit., p.25.
134
Ibid., p.26.

260
 ‘m£ththvarum ch¡µjavaru
moru niravinu nirakka¶¶e
pi½½ayu½½a tha½½am¡ru –
moru niravinu nirakka¶¶e
v®lakka¸ika½ penkurum¡-
roru niravinu nirakka¶¶ō
naththuka¸¸ika½ n¡nmulachchi
ka½oru niravinu nirakka¶¶®’.135

Processing Paddy

When a group of labourers engaged in cutting the stalks, others take the
bundled stalks to the kalams.136 The next day, treading will take place when
the rice stalks are spread and beating handfuls on the ground, beaten smartly
with long bamboo sticks, or trodden with feet until the grain is separated.
Sometimes, cattle are used to separate the paddy from its hays. That which is
wanted for seed must be beaten immediately after being cut and dried in the
sun seven days. Rest of the paddy is to be given to the overlords and the share
of the cultivating kutis is treaded in the course of three days, which requires
only four days sun to be sufficiently dry. The sifting of the paddy is another
job, which is done by both male and female members of the labouring groups
with murams [sieve] made of bamboo, or pouring the paddy from the kotta
[bamboo basket] against wind. The straw is afterwards dried in the sun for
four or five days, tied in bundles and kept in separate heaps. The labour
process involved in the muntakan cultivation is more or less same in the areas
of other river basins as well.137

135
V Anandakuttan Nair, Kērala Bhāsagānangal, Vol.2, op.cit., p.145.
136
The female labourers of the Adiyār/ Āl /Pulaya group engaged in harvesting is described
in a song, ‘Koithinirangi’ in Vettiyar Premnath, Nādan Pātttukal, op.cit., p.108.
137
C K Sujith Kumar, Krishimalayālam, op cit., pp.71-96.

261
Labour Process in Muntakan Cultivation
Local variations can be seen in the labour activities done in the preparation of
kandams, sowing, planting seedling, transplanting the seedlings, weeding,
harvesting and processing the corn etc in muntaken cultivation in different
river basins. This developed on the basis of the availability of a number of
resources such as water, nature of kandams, quality of seeds, plough, and the
animal used and also the level of technology, etc.138 The folksongs pertaining
to the operations of transplanting the paddy vividly represent the labour
activities involved in it. The female labourers of primary producers engaged
in the labour activities in the plucking and transplanting the paddy seedling
and the collective labour activities of these group make the process of
transplanting and harvesting a skilled and productive work;

polayi makka½e varuv¡n chollu

µj¡ttatiyile varuv¡n cholle
polayi makka½u vannerengi
µj¡ttatiyile vannerangi
polayi makka½e varuv¡n chollu
natavayalile varuv¡n cholle
polayi makka½u vannerengi
oru pi¶iyum µj¡retuththtu
m®lak¡yam n°kkeriµju
oru pi¶iyum µj¡retuththtu
kīzhppūmi th¡zhththi na¶¶u
µj¡r¡ya µj¡raththar®m
na¶¶appazhum thīrnnu pōy®
ell¡pērum k£tunnund®
chōtuvechchu k£tunnunde
pa¶¶um¡na thirumudambil
m£nnuk£li ch®rththa½annu
innenthu thampur¡ne
m£nnuk£li ch®rththa½annu ?
pinnenthu thampuraney
m£nnuk£li ch®rtha½ann®y? .139
138
Ibid., pp.71-96.
139
Kilimanur Vishvambharan, Kēralathile Nādan Pāttukal, op.cit.,pp.24-25.

262
 This can also be seen in a song called µjāttupāttu which narrates the
labour activities in connection with the transplating the seedlings;

‘µj¡rall¡m l¡kil¡k®
th¡rikanth¡r°m
thirippa¸am ke¶¶iyi¶¶®
th¡rithinanth°m
kan·am natukkuchenn®
th¡rikanth¡rōm
µj¡ri¶¶ukaiva¸ang®
thārithinanthōm
na¶¶uvalm thiriµj®
th¡rikanth¡rōm
na¶¶upurm thiriµje
th¡rithinanth°m
na¶¶uvarambukan·®
th¡rikanth¡rōm
µjri¶¶ukaiva¸ang®
th¡ rithinanth°m
ch®ttinm®l kaiva¸ang®
th¡rikanth¡r°m
o¶ay°re kaiva¸ang®
th¡rithinanth°m’.140

The labour activities are inevitable part of the life world of the primary
producers and the representation of which can be seen in another njāttupāttu,

s£ryanuthichchu kant®
th¡ikanth¡rō
n®ram pularnnu pōy®
th¡rithianthōm
oru pi¶i µj¡retuthth®
th¡rithianthōm
¡thithyan kathiru nōkky®
th¡rithianthōm
¡thithyan kathiru kan·®
th¡rikanth¡rōm
140
Ibid.,p. 26.

263
 thaivaththekkaiyeduththe
th¡rithianthōm
thampurān vannallō
th¡rikanth¡rōm
thallikarak®¶¶um®
th¡rithianthōm
na¶¶i¶¶um thīrunnill®
th¡rikanth¡ro
n®ram pularnnupōy®
th¡rithianthōm
m®nitha½arnnupōye
th¡rikanth¡ro
n®ram pularnnupōy®
th¡rithianthōm’.141

The labour activities done by the primary producing groups are

narrated in a number of folk texts which reveal the complex ways in which
the labour activities are coordinated in the process of the production of
agrarian surplus, the text mentioned below is indicative of such process;

‘µj¡np°tte µj¡np°tte m¡th®vi pe¸¸®

k¡r¡½arum karimpōththum p¡¶aththu v®la
®roteyeriththilum p¡¶aththuthanne
uchchakkuriyari u¸¶a¸am th®vo
pōkan¶a pōkan¶a m¡th®van¡re
¡½uma¶iy¡rum p¡¶aththu thanne
kuµju½½a tha½½ayum p¡¶ aththu thanne
muthth muthukkiyum p¡¶aththuthanne
¡½uma¶iy¡rum p¡daththu v®la
¡½uma¶iy¡rumenneppir¡kum
k¡r¡½arum karimpōththumenneppirakum
muthth muthukkika½ enneppir¡kum
ko¶¶ayum kūliyum µj¡n chenneyu½½u’.142

141
Ibid., pp.27-28.
142
Text of an agriculture song describes the participation of the Adiyār labourers in the
different agriculture operations, Vettiyar Premnath, ‘pōkanda pōkanda māthēvanāre’ in
Nādan Pātttukal, op.cit., pp.104-105.

264
Mundakan Cultivation in the Bharatapuzha River Basin

Mundakan cultivation in the Bharatapuzha river basin starts in the month of

Chingam [August – September –October] and is harvested in Dhanu –
Makaram [December –January -February]. This is also called muntakankrishi
/ ‘makarakrishi’/ makaravila. The harvest in muntakan cultivation is called
muntakan koithu or makarakoithu. It needs much care and attention than the
virippu crops. The labour activities are done predominantly by the Āl/Adiyār
/Pulaya labourers along with the cultivating kutis. It is more or less same to
the muntakan cultivation practiced in the other river basins. The agriculture
songs pertaining to the different aspects of labour activities from the ground
preparation and ploughing the land to reaping the corn are represented in
number of agriculture songs of these areas.143

The Agrarian Landscape

The agriculture song called chōzhipāttu narrated the agrarian landscape which
the performers called Chōzhis journeying through various areas and narrates
the agrarian landscapes in the Bharathapuzha river basin. It also indicates the
cultivation operations involved in the muntakan cultivation in the
Bharatapuzha river basin;

‘ku¶¶¡¶am p¡¶aththu vannirangi chōzhi

pan·¡rachōzhi pa¶achchōzhi
ku¶¶¡¶am p¡¶aththude pōrumbōzhallado
ku¶¶¡¶am ka¶¶a po¶ip¡ra¸®

143
Folklore genre like chōzhipāttukal and chavi¶¶uka½i p¡¶¶ukal preserved and performed by
the people of Kanakkar and Pulayar depict the different phases of labour activities and
their distinct life worlds.The agriculture songs collected from Ottapalam,
Perinthalmanna, Ponnani, Thirunavay, Chavakadu taluks reveal the location of the
direct producers in the labour activities, M Sivasankaran, ‘kālakalipāttukal’,
‘kudachchōzhi’ and ‘Krishipāttu’ in Valluvanāttile Nādanpāttukal,[Current Books,
Kottayam,2003],pp.80-82.Thamattattu Govinnankutty, ‘cherumapāttukal’, ‘kshananam’,
‘cherupaththil’ in Nādōdipāttukal, Vol,1, [P K Brothers Calicut],pp.106,119,121-122.

265
 avidennum pōnnoru chōzhika½¡¸eto
pan·¡rachōzhi patachchōzhi
ayiram p¡taththude pōrumbozhallado
¡yiram th¡½okke chavi¶¶ith¡zhththi
avidennum pōnnoru chōzhika½¡neto
pan·¡rachōzhi padachchōzhi
pāmpurip¡¶aththum vannirangi chōzhi
pan·¡rachōzhi pa¶achchōzhi’.144

Kūttumuntakan is another method practiced in the paddy cultivation in

certain area. The peculiarity of this crop is that after the harvest of the virippu
its stems are kept to be sprouted and grown again until its harvest as the
muntakan. It is advantageous to the agriculturists because two crops in one
sowing are possible. It is said that the yield is lesser in this type of cultivation.
It is also learned that kūttumuntakan is also practiced when rain fails at the
time of virippu crop. The seeds for virippu and muntakan are mixed up and
sown in the same paddy field but the corn of virippu seeds comes earlier and
has to be harvested accordingly but the plants of muntakan are kept in the
same field till the muntakan harvest of makaram.145

Makaram Cultivation in other River Basins

Cultivation of transplanted seedling in the river basins of the northern part of

the region is known as Makaram cultivation, which is practiced mostly in
larger wet land paddy fields146 in the Valapattanam, Chaliyar and Kadalundi

144
M Sivasankaran, Valluvanāttile Nātanpāttukal,op.cit., p.80.
145
Greeshmalatha A P, Historical Geography of Valluvanatu, Unpublished PhD Thesis,
[University of Calicut, 2008], pp. 33-36.
146
Buchanan was able to provide a detailed description of the way in which the
transplanted cultivation practiced in various parts of Malabar, Buchanan, A Journey
from Madras through Mysore, Canara, and Malabar, op.cit., p.398.

266
river basins.147 The manner of ploughing and manuring for the transplanted
cultivation is as same as the sprouted seed cultivation in these areas.148
Seedling is transplanted in ploughed strips called kandams149 either in Idavam
or in Mithunam [June –July] and reaping would take place in Dhanu
[December-January].150

The seeds sown in separate seedbeds. Seedlings are to be reared to

maturity, if the ground is clean, the seedlings are plucked immediately from
the seedbeds and the female Adiyār labourers do this as elsewhere. They bring
the seedlings to the fields and put on the little banks called varambu of the
kandams, and if these are full of worms, they are to be exposed for three days
in bundles on the varambus of the kandams in order to harden them; they are
kept with their roots uppermost. When they are planted, about three inches
depth of water is maintained in the kandams. Then it is kept inundated to
whichever depth of water is required. The weeding151 and harvesting have
been conducted as done in other areas. The people engaged in the labour

147
A Malayan song called ‘kadalāyi Krishnan and kāppāttu daivaththār’ mentions the
wetland paddy cultivation fields, Chirakkal Balakrishnan Nair, Kēralabhāsagānangal,
vol.1, [Kerala Sahithya Academy, Trissur, 2005],pp.34-36.
148
Thōttampāttukal mention the wetland paddy fields called kōlathuvayal that existed on
the banks of Valapattanam River, Chirakkal Balakrishnan Nair, and op.cit., pp.20-27.
Edayadakkam vayal was one of the largest paddy fields in Kōlathunātu, patapāttu
performed as cherumapāttu reveals the dispute between the Alladam and Kōlathu
svarūpams over this paddy field. It also mentions annūr and kūlōthuvayal situated to the
north of Payyannur, ibid, pp.57-58. Certain muchchilōdan peruvayal is mentioned in
Muchchilōttu Bhagavati thōttam, ibid., pp.108-116.
149
The prose narrative of the muchchilōtttubhagavati thōttam mentions certain
nālukandam and kandavum parambum , Chirakkal Balakrishnan Nair,op .cit., pp.116-
123.The spread of agriculture process is described in the agriculture song preserved by
Pulayas of northern Kerala ,Geetha P Koramangalam, ‘Pulayarude viththupāttu’, in V
K Sridharan [Ed], Krishiyude nāttarivukal, op.cit.,pp.54-64.
150
C G N, ‘Krishi Pazhaya Kālathu’, in V K Sridharan [Ed], Krishiyude Nāttarivukal, op.
cit., p.37, Buchanan, A Journey From Madras through Mysore, Canara and Malabar, op.
cit., pp.355-359.
151
The songs sung while doing weeding in North Kerala is known as chāranpāttukal which
depict the labour activities involved in weeding, M V Vishnu Nambuthiri, Nādan
Pāttukal Malayalathil, op.cit., pp.304-305.

267
activities in the different aspects of agriculture process are depicted in
epigraphical and oral texts. The cultivating kutis mentioned in the Chembra
inscription and the Āladiyār of the Perunchellur inscription can be
corroborated to the nūttu thonnūttāladiyār kudipathinnayum mentioned in the
prose narrative of muchchilōttu Bhagavathi thōttam152 to locate the kutis and
Āl/Adiyār groups engaged in the labour process.

Virippu Cultivation

The sowing is the main form of cropping in the virippu cultivation, which is
generally called the first crop in all part of the region. Normal seeds and
sprouted seeds are used for sowing in this cultivation. In the former case,
seeds sown in the ploughed and dried soil153 and in the latter; the sowing will
take place in wet soil.

A typical song belonging to the folk genre describes the labour process
involved in the different aspects of sprouted seed cultivation in the wetland
river alluvium soil. It represents the process of agriculture operations from the
preparation of kandams or strips to the sowing the sprouted seeds. The text
mentioned below depicts the various stages of the labour activities involved in
the sprouted seed cultivation;

‘¡dichchan chanthiran ran·allo k¡½a

k¡µjirakkīzhna¶ukan·am thundaththil
¡thichchan k¡½e valaththtum vachchu
chanthiran k¡leyi¶aththum vachchu
ichchālu p£¶¶i maruch¡luzhuvumbam
ch®ru ka¶¶ayo¶ayum paruvaththil
chavu¶¶i niraththiya v¡chch¡lum kōri
152
Kudithala pakukkaperare is mentioned in the undated Chembra inscription, M R
Raghava Varier, Keraliyatha.... op.cit.,p .113, āladiyār mentined in the Perumchellur
inscription, Adharam,op.cit., ¡½a¶iy¡n ku¶ipati is mentioned in the muchchilottu
Bhagavati thōttam ,Chirakkal Balakrishnan Nair, op.cit., p.117.
153
T K Velupillai, in his State Manuel provides the various aspects of dry sowing
cultivation prevailed in Thiruvithankur, T K Velupillai, The Travancore State Manuel,
Vol.3, op.cit., pp.302-308.

268
 vachch¡lum kōri perikkōlum kuththi
perikkōlum kuththi v¡rivethappina
vārivethachchu ma¶ayuma¶appina
pitt®nnu n®ram veluppina thīyathi
madathurannu vethayum thōththi
nelllell¡m k¡chchukuniyum paruvaththil
nellinte m£¶¶ilpperam¡vu k¡vale’.154

The nature of kandam depends upon the location of the land where
cultivation operation is conducted;

‘ī thenga¶i kandathile v¡raththinu vara¸®

ī m¡va¶i kandathil v¡raththinu vara¸®
pl¡vati kan·athil v¡raththinu vara¸®y’.155

When we see the narration given in the Thullal Pāttukal of Kunjan

Nambiar it would be helpful to have a picture of the strips for the sproutd
sowing in the wet soil;

‘kan·athinte gu¸amkon·® vi½a

vund¡vu½½u vi½achchathilathikam’
[Syamanthakam Thullal]

‘anjuparakku½½oru kan·aththil
puµjai vithachchu vi½aµjathukoith¡l
anju janaththinu chelavukazhikk¡
manjumor®zhu m¡sam muzhuvan’
[ Gh°shay¡thra Thullal]

‘kandanga½iluzhavennathuk£ta-
thund¡ manavathi nellathuk¡lam
kandanga½iluzhav¡m vi½ava½ave-
kandavarilla krishikk¡ranm¡r’
[ Ghōshayāthra Thullal].156
154
Kilimanur Vishvambharan, ‘Ādichchan Chandiran’ in Kēralathile Nādan Pāttukal, op.
cit., p.22.
155
Kilimanur Vishvambharan, ‘ Vāraththinu Varannu’ in, Kēralathile Nādan Pāttukal, op
cit., pp.35-36.

269
 There are number of descriptions of kandams or strips in oral sources
and the head of Atiyār women who were engaged in the cultivation operations
in the kandams is also known as Thalapulayi;

‘paththuparakan·athinte
thalappulayiy¡¸®
enne nōkk¡the n®ram nōkka¸am
ente kochchiambir¡n’.157

Women of Atiyār /Āl groups were important groups for conducting

agriculture operation which is also attested in the following text,

‘nammute kan·aththi chankukan·aththi

n¡½enamakkoru viththidilon·®
nīliyum th®niyum kochchikkem n¡kki
chankukandaththinte chantham kandammō’.158

Each kandam is marked by varambus. Paddy fields comprised of

several plots called kandams are so arranged as to flow irrigation water from
one end of the field to the other. The labour activities of two groups of
labourers, the cultivating kutis and the servile labouring groups like Āl/ Adiyār
/Pulayar are coordinated for cultivation. The labour of the former and the
latter is coordinated for conducting the ploughing activities and renovating or
modifying varambus / bunds in the beginning of agriculture operations. The
kandam is prepared for ploughing159 is usually done by the men belonging to
Āl/ Adiyār /Pulayar and the ploughing is done by the men of the cultivating
kutis, Pulayar are also used as ploughmen if necessary. The following text
156
P K Sivasankara Pillai [Edited and compiled], Kunjan Nambiyarute Thullal Kathakal,
op.cit.,
157
Kilimanur Vishvambharan, ‘Nēram Pōyalla’ in Kēralathile Nādan Pāttukal, op.cit.,
pp.31-32.
158
M V Vishnu Namputhiri, Natan Pattukal, Vol, 2, op.cit.,p.4.
159
Kilimanur Vishvambharan, ‘Kinginiyarayam’ in, Keralathile Nadan Pattukal, op.cit,
pp.19-20.

270
shows the labour activities involved in the production operations starting from
ploughing the soil;

‘payyanozhaththtilum paik¡½a vannu

m¡lom¡r®rayya
cheriyonazhaththtilum cheruk¡½a vannu
m¡lom¡r®rayya
kanangarippilak¡½®m vannu
m¡lom¡r®rayya
payyanozhaththtilum van k¡½a vann®
m¡lom¡r®rayya
cheriyonazhaththti cheruk¡½a vannu
m¡lom¡r®rayya
vattanum kuttanum k¡½®m vannu
m¡lom¡r®rayya
k¡½®m kalapp®m varikayum cheythu
m¡lom¡r®rayya
ke¶¶iya mālanum vanni¶¶umonde
m¡lom¡r®rayya
cheriyanozhaththi cheng¡thi m¡lanum vanni¶¶umun·®
m¡lom¡r®rayya
pachchanozhaththtil vank¡½e ke¶¶iye
m¡lom¡r®rayya
cheriyonazhaththti cheruk¡½e ke¶¶iy®
m¡lom¡r®rayya
k¡½aye ke¶¶i uzhanum tho¶angi
m¡lom¡r®rayya’.160

The plough marks are called chāl161and the number of chāls to be

ploughed in each kandam depends upon the nature of soil162 and the type of
the seed to be sown. The clods created while ploughing the soil is broken into
small pieces by using a special device called kattamutti, a wooden hammer

160
A K Appukuttan, op.cit., pp.255-256.
161
Sangam texts refers to the ploughing activities done by the cultivators in which the
plough marks are called kozhuvazhi or chāl, PP.6.8.17 nānjilādiya kozhuvazhi and
PN.35 uzhupadai yūntru chāl.
162
The terms pūttu, uzhu [AN.26.24-25] and uzhupadai [PN.35 uzhupadai yūntru chāl
marunkin intrathan payan] were used to denote the ploughing in early historic period.

271
with long handle used for preparing seed beds as well as for sowing.
Ploughman used to stand on kattamutti to break the clods when the oxen draw
it. Ashes and powdered cow dung are preserved as manure in the purayidams
of the cultivating kutis, prepared usually by the women of the Adiyār group,
who bring it in bamboo baskets or in the long spathes of areca palm into the
fields and scatter it over the kandams while ploughing the soil . After the
ploughing, certain small channels called vālchāl are made in the kandam by a
hoe to draw the excess water from the kandam and a stick of shrub called
perikōl is erected in the middle of the kandam to show that the ploughing is
over and kandam is ready for sprout sowing. The agriculture operations and
the labour activities of the weeding and harvesting are more or less the same
as the muntakan cultivation.

The sprouted cultivation in the northern part of the region under

discussion starts about the middle of May and during any thirty days of this
period. The kandam is ploughed from twelve to eighteen times or chāls.
Kandams are always kept full of water, except when the plough is at work.
Certain instrument called mutti is used to break the clods, when the oxen draw
the plough ploughman used to stand on it to break the clods. Then the field is
drained until the water does not stand deeper than a hand’s breadth .At each
ploughing, some leaves of any bush and ashes could be procured and applied
into the mud as manure. Then the mud is smoothed by dragging over it a
plank yoked to two oxen and the water is allowed to drain off completely.
Two or three small channels are formed in the kandam with the hoe. The
coordinated labour activities of men and women of cultivating kutis and the
laboring groups are required for the sprout cultivation in this part of the
region.

The sprouted seed is then sown evenly and thick as in the dry seed
cultivation. Two or three inches of water are allowed to rest on the field. As
the corn grows, the depth is increased. When it is a month old, some ashes are
scattered on it .The kinds of rice cultivated are fifteen in number, and require

272
from three to six months to be ripen. The labour activities involved in the
sprouted seed cultivation in the preparation of kandams, manuring, weeding
harvesting etc are same to the sprouted seeding cultivation in other parts of
the region as well as the cultivation of transplanting the seedlings in this
region.

In preparing the land for sowing in the dry soil called potivitha, the
stubbles left after the previous harvest are gathered and burn towards the end
of Minam on the eve of monsoon. Mostly the Pulaya or Adiyār male and
female labourers do this. The field is then required to plough thrice
continuously and leveled with a rake. There is a picturesque representation of
the ploughing activities done by the Āl labourers in the agriculture songs;

th®vi thiruth®vi punn®ri kan·am

punn®ri kan·aththila½u varunn®
¡½uvarunn® k¡½avarunnē
k¡½avarune kalappavarunney
kalappa varunn®y nukkam varunn®y
nukam varunn®y k¡½a varunn®y’.163

Big clods or lumps of earth left undisturbed are broken into small
pieces and the field is smoothed and leveled with a rake once more. After this
comes again the manuring. Cattle manure and ashes are brought from the
purayidam of the kutis by the female labourers belonging to Āl group. The
seed is sown on or before the tenth of Mēdam. Several varieties of seeds are
sown. The dry sowing for podivitha is done by dibbling or broadcasting, the
latter being the method more usually followed. Immediately after sowing, the
field is again ploughed and smoothed. The seed begins to sprout on the fifth
day. A full-grown plant attains to a height of three to four and a half feet.

163
The agriculture song speaks of the coming of Āl labourers for ploughing the soil with
oxen , Kilimanur Vishvambharan, ‘Punnērikkandam’ in Keralathile Nadan Pattukal, op.
cit., p.21.

273
After the rains, the weeds begin to appear and the groups of Adiyār female
labourers remove these once or twice.164 The self perception of the labour
activities done by the primary producers is narrated as follows;

‘innu ki½achchinnu vithachcha kan·am

innu ka½ayediththu thīrnnillankil
enteyoru v®lak£li ki¶¶ukayilla’. 165

About the beginning of Chingam the ear heads appear and ripen
within a month, when they become fit for reaping. During the period of
sowing to reaping, the paddy field is protected by the Pulaya men known as
pulaikāval and the service rendered by them when rewarded in kind is also
called by the same name. During this time, the fields are supplied with water,
which is allowed to stand two inches deep. This is ultimately drained off to
expedite ripening and facilitate reaping. The harvesting is the collective and
cooperative labour made by the people of cultivating kutis and the Āl / Adiyār/
Pulayar groups.

Two methods are adopted to sow the paddy seed; one is called nuri in
which female women labourers belonging to Adiyār /Pulaya groups sowing
the paddy seeds in the plough marks or chāl while the plot is being ploughed.
Certain instrument called ēppu made of bunches of bamboo sticks tied on a
plantain tree, which is drawn on the plough marks with rope to be leveled the
plough marks and broadcast the seeds. Another method is simply sowing the
paddy to be fully spread over evenly in the plot. This method is adopted when
there is rain and an instrument called kattādi, a stick placed on a bamboo
piece, is used to level the plot after sowing. In these two methods, the women
labourours belonging to the Adiyār group exclusively do the sowing.

164
Kilimanur Vishvambharan, Keralathile Nādan Pāttukal, op.cit., pp.29-30.
165
V Anandakuttan Nair, Kērala Bhāsagānangal, Vol.2, op.cit., p.161.

274
 Seeds sown started to sprout in four of five days and the same groups
of labourers do weeding when the tender buds reach at one or one and half-
span or chān height. The soil is slackened with a stick while conducting the
weeding and ashes brought from the purayidam of the kuti cultivators
scattered over the kandams thereafter. Some plants are taken from somewhere
else in the same plot to replant it in the area where the budding seem to be
less or uneven in growth.166 This is called idanātti and cow dung is applied
while conducting this by the female labourers. Paddy plants start growing
well after the idanātti. Spikes of paddy appear and ripen by month of
Chingam. A day is selected for reaping the paddy and both women and men
of the labouring group conduct it. The sheaved paddy bundles brought to the
threshing floor, which is prepared near the paddy field called kalam or in the
courtyard of the cultivating kutis. In the next day, women treading the paddy
bundles, separate the paddy from its hays and sift it. The labourers are given
the paddy for their bare subsistence called patham. The remaining paddy is
divided into three, one is for the overlord called pathavāram, another for
preserving as seed for coming cultivation and the next is for the cultivator.
After separating the paddy from the sheaved bundle called katta it is kept in
the purayidam of the cultivator.

Cultivation in Estuarine Lands / Punja Cultivation

The punja cultivation lands are reclaimd from the water logging spaces in the
estuarine areas. There developed a specific form of wetland eco system in the
punja cultivation areas, which is under water during a considerable part of the
year. The punja lands can be classified as karapādam, kāyal lands [estuarine
lands] and kari lands. Swampy lands situated on the banks of rivers and
watercourses where the silt was brought down by the floods began to reclaim

166
C G N, Krishi Pazhaya Kālathu, in V K Sridharan[Ed] , Krishiyude Nāttarivukal, op.
cit., p.38.

275
and cultivate by the settler cultivators, which came to be known as
karapādam. Therefore, karapādam is the oldest among the punja cultivating
lands. When the cultivation began to be expanded, the estuarine areas
reclaimed by the settler cultivators with the help of labourers mostly brought
from outside. Labouring population consisted of Pulayar and Āl or Adiyār
groups reclaimed the lands from the Vempanadu Lake. It is the most
extensive of the kāyal lands where punja cultivation developed as part of the
expansion of agriculture and proliferation of settlements in wetland areas.

The lands are reclaimed from backwaters having about 8 to 10 feet of

water. Throughout this tract, the fertility depends on the silt deposited by the
Pamba and other rivers. The soil is a clay loam with organic ingredients in
certain places. Kari lands are swampy areas reclaimed for cultivation due to
its organic contents and the foziled wood appearing in this soil. The lands
reclaimed from the kāyal and the kari land comprised the cultivating areas in
Kuttanatu. Pampa, Achankovil, Manimala and Minachchil rivers bring in silt
and organic contents to the estuarine areas of Kuttanatu where developed the
punja cultivation in the kari and kāyal lands developed.

We have a number of epigraphical references to the land spaces of

punja cultivation and the people involved in such cultivation process. The
inscriptions of Vazhapalli167, Tiruvattuvay168, Trikkadithanam169, Tiruvalla170,

167
M G S,A- 1,L.1 mentions certain kīrankadampanārkari, Kīrankadampanār might have
been the settler cultivator who took initiative to reclaimed the kariland.
168
M G S, A-4, L.2, chēnnanchēnnanārkari, Chēnnanchēnnanār might have been the
settler cultivator who is associated with this land.
169
Trikkadithanam inscriptions, MGS,A-64 mention certain karilands, njāravēlikari and
vattakari.
170
M G S, A-80. Tiruvalla plates mention certain iravinallūr punjai [ibid,L.599],
thalaiyāttupunjaivayal [ibid,L.600] to indicate the punjai cultivation in the
Tiruvallanatu area. As many as 67 kari lands are mentioned in the Tiruvalla Copper
Plates to indicate the extent of karilands in which the punja cultivation had been
practiced. Many of these land terms related to the people who reclaimed and cultivated
the lands.

276
Kaviyur171 , Kandiyur172,Haripadu173 do mention the karapādam, estuarine
[kayal] and kari lands where the punja form of agriculture practices
developed. There is also reference to the cultivation of estuarine and kari
lands in the palm leaf documents of the Tiruvalla temples.174 These estuarine
and kari lands are part of the Venpalanatu, Munjinatu, Nantruzhainatu and
Tiruvallanatu. Apart from these evidences to the cultivation of these land
spaces there are descriptions regarding the labour activities done by the Āl/
Adiyār /Pulayar groups in the oral tradition, ‘Edanādan Pāttukal’175 being the
most extensive oral narrative depicts the cultivation process and the labour
activities in the punja cultivation in the estuarine lands of Kuttanātu.

Historicising Edanātan Pāttu: - Labour Process in Punja Cultivation

The role of the labouring population belongs to the Āl / Adiyār / Pulayar in the
process of reclaiming and cultivating the estuarine and kari lands are vivdly
represented in the oral texts produced and circulated by these groups176. The
various texts of Edanātan Pāttu have been produced and circulated among the
producing communities who lived in the modern Kuttanadu177. These texts

171
M G S,B-49 mention chēnnan kari. Certain ettikari and kuzhikottakari are mentioned in
another inscription in the same temple, M G S, B-6.
172
Chiriyaparayankari and padinjāyiru parayankari are mentioned in the Kandiyur
inscription, Puthusseri Ramachandran, Kēralacharithrathinte adisthāna Rēkhakal, op.
cit., No.154, Ls.7 and 38-39.
173
Certain madayanarkari are kannaniyakkanarkari mentioned in this document, ibid,
No.156.L.3.
174
Certain rāmamkarinilam, nāmamkarinilam, nantāttupādm and puthiyathuruthunilam are
there in this document,P Unnikrishnan Nair [Ed],Sāmūhya Rēkhakal :Thiruvalla
Granthavari,Vol.2.[Kottayam, 1998], Documents .47/ KE.650.Dhanu 22, 49/
KE.768.Chingam 29.and 54/KE.852.Dhanu 8.
175
K R Sajitha [Ed], Edanādn Pāttu, Thārathamya Padanasangham, [Current Book,
Kottayam, 1997]. The epithet kādum kariyum, ente karivetti vāzhanakondu’ in the text
indicate the kari lands and the cultivation in such lands in the estuarine region.
176
Ibid.,pp27-156.
177
Attempts have been made to study the punjai cultivation and labour process involved
agriculture process in modern Kuttanatu region, K T Rammohan, Tales of Rice:
Kuttanatu, South West India, [CDS, Thiruvananthapuram, 2006].

277
represent the life world of the primary producers that developed in relation to
the production of agrarian resources in and around this region. Edanādan is
the hero of the Edanātan Pāttu whose father had been killed by Mēnovan and
Kōil. Though he failed in his first attempt to have a vengeance on those who
were involved in it, later with detailed planning and preparation he killed his
enemies. There are two extended households mentioned in the text, i.e.,
Thekēlam kūru and Vadakkēlam kūru. The former one belonged to the
Kaimals and they were powerful in their status, knowledge and martial power.
The latter was the Karthākkal who did not have the knowledge and martial
power. Therefore, Māvallacheri Kaimal was invited to instruct the martial art
to the sons and nephews of the Karthakals of the vadakkolamkūttu.

Kaimal was given accommodation in a separate house along with a

female attendant [concubine] called Kōthavellātti. Meanwhile Kaimal’s niece
at home fell in love with one kuttapilly Menon that led to her pregnancy.
When Kaimal came back home he came to know about her pregnancy, he
killed his niece since her lover was below in his caste to Kaimal [Menon was
lower than the kaimal in caste order]. As there was no female member in the
family, Kaimal brought Kōthavellatti who also became pregnant from Kaimal
while he was at Vadakkolamkūttu. On the way, she gave birth to a son in a
boat [vanchi] and she died. The child was named Edanadan and brought up
in his paternal house.

Kaimal had been given certain extent of land in a marshy area called
ezhuvanthuruththu by Karthakal of Vadakkolamkūttu as a reward of his
service of martial instruction. However, this land was taken possession on
lease by Kuttapilly Menon from the Karthakkals on the condition that he had
to remit the pāttam [lease] to the Kaimal in time. Menon started cultivation in
the land with the help of the laboring population called Pulayas without the
prior consent of the Kaimal. Menon and his friend, Koil, killed Kaimal when

278
Kaimal reached the ezhuvanthuruththu to collect pāttam. Menon had already
planned to kill Kaimal as Kaimal had killed his niece; who was the lady love
of Menon. When Edanadan came to know that his father had been killed by
Menon and Koil he planned to avenge, but he failed in his first attempt.
However, he made preparation; formed a chāvēr [suicide guard], reached the
ezhuvanthuruththu along with the chāvēr and killed Menon and his
supporters. While he returned, Edanadan became a stone statue.

The area in and around ezhumanthuruththu , a part of the Kaduthuruthi

in modern Kottayam, is believed to have the place where the story of
Edanāda pāttu had been enacted. However, Edanāda pāttu represents the
geographical area and agrarian process of the whole Kuttanadu region. The
story represents two phases, the process of reclaiming land spaces and
cultivation of these land spaces on the one hand and, the formation of
households developing from the settler cultivators that held land and
development of cultivating kutis on the other. The land spaces so reclaimed
came to be known as thuruthu and kari lands. There were two families in the
texts, Thekkōlamkūru and Vadakkōlamkūru, the former represents the early
migrants from whom there might have developed the lands holding
households from the settler cultivators, their settlement-cum cultural space
began to be called thara178. The latter family is represented as cultivating
kutis who developed from the settler cultivators as part of the complex
division of labour and expansion and consolidation of agrarian process in the
estuarine areas, which is represented by Kuththappilli Menovan.

The land scape in the marshy vegetated area is surrounded by back

water and the reclaim of such spaces for cultivation operation is one of the
important labour activities involved in the creation of punja cultivation lands.
Sometimes, these lands came to be known as thuruttu lands. The shrubed

178
K R Sajitha [ed], Edanādn Pāttu, op.cit.,Ls.6-16.

279
vegetated lands are reclaimed for cultivation operation is narrated in the text
as follows;

‘nammu¶e vakayalle ezhuvanthuruththe

nammu¶e vakayalle ezhupunnaka¶e
ezhupunnak¡¶e ezhuvanthuruththe
thekke½am ku¶¶o½½a ezhuvanthuruththe
thekke½am ku¶¶o½½a ezhupunnak¡¶e
ch®rapolaµjalethth¡ththa k¡¶e
k¡kanparann¡luvethth¡ ththa k¡¶e
kuriyalu kuthichch¡lu veththaththa k¡¶e
ezhupunnak¡¶® ezhuvanthuruthth®’.179

As has been seen elsewhere the labour process involved in the

production of landspaces and the cultivation operations in such lands, in fact,
was based on the labour of the primary producers called Atiyar/Āl /Pulayar.
The following excerpt from the text shows that these groups must have been
engaged in the labour activities to reclaim estuarine lands and cultivation
operations in such lands.

‘pathinparakandam k¤Àiyuvond®
m®nakav¡ne k¤Àiyuvond®
k¤Àik¡ryanga½um cheyy¡nakond®
¡½uvatiy¡r®m k£¶¶iyum kon·®
k¡ndum kariv®li k¤Ài cheyy¡n®
m¡valla ch®rikkatavilum chenn®
¡½uva¶iy¡r®m erakkiyavan®
v®lak¡ngaluvell¡m cheyyichchirunn®’.180

When we historicise the text, we come to know the intricacies

embedded in the text, which is entrenched as the dispute regarding the
cultivation right on a vast land space which was reclaimed from the marshy
area. There is narration regarding the practice of different aspects of the

179
Ibid., Ls.516-524.
180
Ibid.,Ls.256-263.

280
process of reclaim the marshy lands and cultivation activities in these marshy
and water logging areas. The labouring populations called Pulayas were
employed under the land holding groups and the latter are represented as
kuththappilli Menovan in the text. The dispute over this reclaimed cultivated
space by the households who had also developed the thara as a settlement and
cultural space, in fact, developed the narration. This is significant from the
point view of agrarian labour process as the text indicates the way in which
the marshy water laden area has been reclaimed by the collective labour of the
Pulayar/Adiyār and the creation of wetland cultivable space in the estuarine
areas. As we have already noted, the indication to the process of the creation
of wetland spaces from the marshy areas is inscribed on land terms and labour
terms appeared in the epigraphical documents181, the process embedded in the
text can also be corroborated to the evidences in inscriptional and palm leaf
material. Inscriptions from the estuarine areas in the Kuttanādu region also
make convergence of our understanding of the labour process.

The cultivation operation started with the process of reclaiming the

land space from the marshy area followed by the clearing of the shrub
vegetation in the land reclaimed and this can be seen in the following
narration in the text as well;

‘nammate vakaya¸e ezhuvanthuruththe

ezhuvanthuruthth® ezhupunnak¡¶e’.182

‘°¸appa¸ikk¡ran ch¡ththappel®ne
avan va½½aththikke¶¶yavan ch¡ththappel®ne
ve¶¶upelayar®m k®¶¶iyavane
lavadannum p°¸eyavan ch¡ththappel®ne
thampur¡n pa¶ikkalum p°runnathund®
thampur¡n pa¶ikkal®yavan chennathin¡ n®ram

181
See foot note from236 to243 above.
182
Ibid.,Ls.1217-1218.

281
 k°yilum m®nakanum va½½aththekk®ri
avarezhuvanthuruththinu p°kunnathund®
avarezhuvanthuruhtthile chennathin¡n®ram
n¡lu patthran·u nalla ve¶¶upel®re - avaru
va½½athth®nn¡n® erangunnathond®
k¡¶um kariyell¡m ve¶¶ithe½ichch®
avar®th¡num devasamangane k¡¶u the½ichch®
ezhuvanthuruththile k¡¶u the½ichch®’.183

The estuarine land spaces reclaimed for cultivation operations are also
labourious activity which required the skilled labour and technical knowhow.
The people called Vettupelayar [Vettupulayar - those Pulayar groups who
involved in the reclaim activities] were brought from nearby areas. It is
important to note that the text represents a social world which shows the
process of the complex division of labour developed due to the expansion of
agriculture to the estuarine areas and the development of a corresponding
social configuration that evolved the Āl/Atiyār/Pulayar as labouring
population. It not only indicates the process of reclaim the lands and the
cultivation in such lands that must have brought people other than the
original settlers of the area into the agrarian process as permanent labouring
groups but also the regular migration of people as part of the labour activities
in the development of agriculture in estuarine lands. The productive reading
of the following excerpt from the text of Edanātan Pāttu is also indicative of
this process.

‘ch®nngan¡¶¶u½½a ve¶¶upel®re
ve¶¶upelayarō¶um chennu paraiµj®
n¡le n®ram ve½ukka pōka¸am namakk®
n¡lpanthrandu p®ru k£¶iyum v®¸am’.184

183
Ibid.,Ls.1264-1277.
184
Ibid.,Ls.1258-1263.

282
 The skilled labour and knowhow that endowed with these people must
have been used to reclaim the lands from the estuarine area. It also indicates
that the primary producers were endowed with skill and knowhow and that
enabled them to convert these areas into productive land spaces and create the
agrarian resources out of it. It was because of these skilled labour and
technical knowhow that were endowed with the primary producers that these
groups must have been subjugated to the respective overlords to exploit their
skilled labour for the production of surplus.

k®¶¶¡lum k®kka¸amente ch¡ththappel®ne

°¸appa¸ikk¡ra ch¡ththappel®ne
‘n¡½e namukkonnu pōvukayum v®¸e
ezhuvanthuruththinu pōvukayum v®¸am
ezhuv¡nthuruththinu ve¶¶i v¡zh¡nakon·e
k¡¶um karika½um ve¶¶ithe½ikka
p£vakkan¡¶¶u½½a ve¶¶upel®re
ve¶¶upelayare vi½ikka¸e nīye’.185

The construction of mud bunds is very important activity in the

cultivation of estuarine lands, which required technical knowhow and skilled
labour. The mud bund making is the most difficult process which required the
technical expertise and ardous labour. The entire labour and technical
activities involved in the creation of bund is provided by the primary
producers known as Āl/Atiyār/Pulayar. The bund called katta has been made
using mud, coconut leaves and leaves of shrub vegetation, the reminiscence of
which is inscribed in the oral narrative;

ezhuvanthuruththile ka¶¶ayum vachch¡leta

ka¶¶ayum vechch® varikayum v®¸®’.186

185
Ibid., Ls.1246-1253.
186
Ibid., Ls.1366-1367.

283
 Katta was built to prevent the salt water from estuaries and lagoons
coming into the reclaimed field. Bund making was an important process,
which required skilled labour and steady attention and it was exclusively
provided by the Atiyār group especially the Pulayar. The pros and corn of the
process of bund making is narrated in the oral texts indicating the ardous
labour activities involved in it.

ezhuvanthuruththinte kannimakō¸i
lavan va½½avum kuththiyatuththathin¡n®ram
mell®neyerangiyavan ch¡ththappel®ne
®zhumatalōlaykku ¡zhipi½arnn®yavan
mell®ne ve½½aththe th¡nnangarangi
p¡rayetuththavan ch¡ththappel®ne
®zhumatalōlaykku ¡zhi pe½arnn®yavan
āzhipi½arnn®yavanōla chavi¶¶i
ōla chavi¶¶iyavan ka¶¶um chav¶¶i
kombum chavarumedukkunn®yavane
®zhupa¸iyum pa¸ithuneraththi
kombum chavaru pa¸ithuneraththi
tha½½ichavi¶¶iyavan poththiminukki
poththichavi¶¶iye ch¡ththappel®neyavan
mell®ne ve½½aththil th¡¸ angerangiyavan
poththichavi¶¶iye ch¡ththappel®ne
mellēne ve½½aththil th¡¸angerangi
ezhuvanthuruththile ka¶¶avaykk¡n®.187

The labourers, especially the Pulayas who used to dive in to the water,
collected the mud from the swampy area, mixed it with coconut leaves and
shrub and they created the mud bund with their technical knowhow and
skilled labour that resulted from the practical experiences in the making of
katta.

187
Ibid., Ls.1390-1403.

284
 ‘ka¶¶achavi¶¶ipi¶ikkunnathonde
®zhumatalōla nilam chavi¶¶ipi¶ichche
ka¶¶api¶ichch®yavan poththichavi¶¶i
poththichavi¶¶iye karayilu k®riyavan
pizhinju thokarththiyavan ch¡ththappel®ne’.188

Diverting the water from the reclaimed swampy field covered by the
mud bund is also an important labour activity in the preparation of ground to
start the cultivation operation. Drawing the water out of the land so reclaimed
is another important labour activity done by these labourers for the
preparation of kari or karapātam. The narration in the oral text mentioned
below makes sense of the process of water management done by the labouring
groups in the entuarine lands;

‘thō¸iyum va½½avum vachchathu ke¶¶i

thō¸iyum vechchavaru ke¶¶iya ¿®Àam
avar¡½uva¶iy¡rum th®kku tho¶angi
n¡luvashaththō¶¶um thō¸i th®kunnathunde
®zhuvanthuruththile ve½½am va¶½ikk¡n¡yi
n¡luvashaththō¶¶um th®kunnathund®
pi¶iyum valiyum¡y th®kunnathund®’
¡½uva¶iy¡rum thō¸i th®kunnathunde
avar¡½uva¶iy¡rum thō¸i th®kunnathunde189

Skilled and hard labour were required to bale out the water from the
mud-bounded field. When the water level gets down the field is ready for
ploughing and buffaloes are used, buffaloes are more powerful and fit to
plough the swampy area.

188
Ibid., Ls.1432-1437.
189
Ibid., Ls.1484-1489.

285
 pi¶iyum valiyum¡yi thō¸iyum th®ki
m®ppuµja p¡daththu ve½½avum va¶¶i
iniyenthu v®n¶iye¶a Ch¡ththappel®ne
pōththachchanm¡rem kon·up£¶¶ikka v®¸am
n¡½e n®ram ve½uththu Ch¡ththappel®ne
ch®nnangana¶¶eyo½½a pōththachchanm¡re
poththachchanm¡reyum konduvar®¸e
pitt®nnu n®rem ve½uththathinan®ram
ōnappa¸ikk¡ran ch¡ththappel®ne
ch®nnangana¶¶olla pōththachchanm¡re
pōththachchanm¡r®yum konthuvanne
mēppuµjapp¡daththu p£¶¶um thodangi
m®ppuµjap¡davum p£¶¶imarichche’.190

Women of Atiyār group do substantial part of labour and the Pulaya

women were brought to clear and prepare the ploughed strips for sowing. The
text of the Edanātan pāttu has the following narration to emphasise the labour
activities done by the female group among the Atiyār. The important point to
be noted here is the fact that the women labourers were brought from
neighbouring areas and their regular movement as labouring group indicates
the intricate relations that existed in relation to gender and labour which is
also related to the subjugation of the primary producers as well.

iniyenthu v®ntiyeta ch¡ththappel®ne

pe¸¸aley¡½eye ¤akkuka v®¸e
ch®nnangan¡tteyo½½a pe¸¸¡leyell¡m
pe¸¸¡le nī konduvar®¸e
pi¶¶®nnu n®ram ve½uththathin¡n®ram
v½½aththikk®riye ch¡ththappel®n®
chennengan¡¶¶eyo½½a pe¸¸¡leyell¡m
chi¶¶a cheriya ponantha
n¡nka¶iy® p£nka¶iye tha½iru va½½ōththi
ingano½½a pe¸½¡½e va½½aththikk®¶¶i
ezhuv¡nthuruththil® kondathuvann®
190
Ibid., Ls.1673-1685.

286
 pe¸¸¡lerangiy® thappineraththi
m®ppuµjap¡dam vethakkuvar¡y®’.191

The usual form of cultivation in the estuarine area is sowing the seeds.
There were number of indigenous seeds that were cultivated and developed
by the cultivators which were very congeneial to the cultivation in the
swampy area. The following narration gives us the information regarding the
seeds as well as the way in which the seeds sown in the prepared punjai lands
in the estuarine area;

aricheriya cherukuruka mailachemp¡vum

azhak®rum chemp¡vum karuththa chu¶¶¡ryan
ingano½½a viththuka½um vethakkunnathunde
m®ppuµjap¡dam vethachchukazhiµj®
m®ppuµjap¡dam vethachchupi¶ichch®
th¡ppuµjap¡davum th®kunnathunde
th¡ppuµjap¡daththum ve½½avum va¶¶i
ōrōro v®layum cheyyichchavare
th¡ppuµjapp¡dam vethuchchupi¶ichch®’.192

When the paddy plants get ripened, the women of Adiyār / Āl or

Pulayar groups came to the estuarine fields from nearby areas and harvesting
started. The cooperative labour activities are important for reaping and the
processessing of paddy. Like the process of sowing the labour activities
involved in the harvesting also required the harmonious cooperation of male
and female labourers, the Atiyār group provided the labour. Since the local
labouring groups were not sufficient in number, the migrant labourers,
predominantly women, from nearby areas came to conduct the harvesting

191
Ibid., Ls.1866-1879, Chitta, Cheriya, Cheriyaponantha, Nankati, Punkoti,
Thaliruvellothi etc are the names of Pulaya women represented in the text and Atiyār
women do participate in the labour activities involved in the preparation of kari lands
and other activities in the cultivation operations.
192
Ibid.,Ls.1879-1887

287
and processing of paddy indicating the seasonal movement of labouring
groups, especially the women labourers.

‘m®ppuµjap¡dam ve½anju pazhuththe

k®¶¶alum k®kkanamente ch¡ttapppel®ne
m®ppuµjap¡dam pazhuththe ve½anje
m®ppuµjap¡davum koyya¸am namukku
ch®nnangana¶®o½½a¶iy¡re
¡½uva¶iy¡r®m k£¶¶a¸am® n¢y®
n¡½e namukku nelam koyyuka v®¸am’.193

‘ch®nnangan¡¶¶ile p°vukayum cheyth®

ch®nnangan¡tto½® ala¶iy¡re
¡½uva¶iy¡rem ku¶¶ikurichche
pittennu n®ram ve½uththathinan®ram
¡½uva¶iy¡r®m kondathuvann®
m®ppuµjap¡daththey¡½um nerann®®
m®ppuµjap¡daththu koithuthodangi
m®ppuµjap¡dame koyyunnathunde
o¶¶udevasamangane koyyunnathonde
m®ppuµjap¡dame koiythukazhinj®’.194

The reaped paddy bundles brought to the kalam195 [threshing ground]

where it was kept for threshing out the grains. The skilled and experienced
labour was also necessary for the processing the paddy in the threshing
ground. Similar to the process of paddy after reaping in other forms of
cultivation in wet land areas as represented in many othe roral narratives, the
processing of paddy in the threshing ground in the punja cultivation areas also
can be seen in the Ednātan pāttu;

193
Ibid., Ls.1844-1850.
194
Ibid.,Ls.1852-1862
195
Ibid., Ls.1962-1964.

288
 ‘m®ppuµjap¡dame koiythukazhinj®
ka½aththilu ka¶¶ayum kondathuvachche
ka½aththilum kondannu ka¶¶ayum vachch®yavar’.196

The processing of paddy involves the labour activities of both men and
women. The stunning narration of the various aspects of labour activities
related to the processing of corn is presented in the same text;

¡½uvatiy¡rum methiyum thodangi

®zhezhake¶®i methikkum ka½av®
®zhezhake¶¶i methikkunnathunde
kattamethichchathu mūtayumi¶¶®
®zhel® m£tatavarikuttiyavan®
th¡ppuµjap¡dam pazhuththu ve½aµja
th¡ppuµjap¡daththum koiythuthodangi
th¡ppuµjap¡dam koithu ka¶¶ayum vachch®
®zh®zhake¶¶i methikkunnathund®’.197

Harvesting in all the punja fields must be done simultaneously before

the south –west monsoon sets in. The harvesting was also dependent on
outside labour as local labour was insufficient. Consequently, there was
regular movement of labourers to the punja tracts in harvesting season.198

In the following section, we will analyse the various forms of mixed

crop cultivation including the cultivation of a number of spice and
condingents that cultivated in the laterite parambu areas and in the forested
spaces. The punam cultivation practices developed in the midland and in the

196
Ibid., Ls.1971-1975.
197
Ibid., Ls.1869-1877.
198
The migrations of seasonal labourers are represented in folk songs, Ibid., Ls.1947-1964.
Another oral text speaks of the migration of women labourers during the time of
harvesting in the punjai lands;
‘thāzhe padinjāru thēsam kuttakam thēsam
kuttakam thēsaththēnōru koithinu pōye’
-Mariyama John, Pūyinka tharavādu, in Mānikkyam Pennu,op. cit ., p.14.

289
elevated and hilly areas also became important for the develpement of
multiple economies.

Punam Cultivation

The epigraphical references to the land and labour terms point out the non-
lineal process of the development of agriculture practices. It also shows the
symantaneous development of both shifting cultivation [punam cultivation]
and the wet land agriculture. It seems that the early migrants from the hilly
areas started paddy cultivation in the forested hill slopes in the midland and
later proceeded to the riverine areas, marshy plains and estuarine areas. The
epithet kādēru199 in a ninth century C E document indicates the spread of this
movement in the form of shifting cultivation. Continuation of this process is
further attested in the land terms in inscriptions itself, it is inscribed as
nelvāthilkādu and karavayalkādu in a Trikkadithanam inscription.200
The punam related epithets such as ālakkālpunam, kallūrpunam,
kīzhpunam, cheriyapunam, puļivēlippunam, agrashālappunam,
mundayilagrashālappunam and nākanārpunam indicat the spread of the
movement of people and agriculture practices from the hilly areas towards
201
midland and estuarine areas. It also makes the point that punam
cultivation must have been sustained along with wetland cultivation in the
midland and multicrop cultivation in laterite areas. The epithet
nākanārpunamum is important, it not only indicates the anteriority of the
punam cultivation space in the midland but also the process of shifting
cultivation practiced by tribal population in the long historical past and its
spread to the midland and the continuation of such cultivation practices.

199
Tiruvattuvay inscription of Sthanu Ravi, TAS.Vol.2.no.9 [3] pp-85-86.
200
M G S,B-20.
201
M G S,A-80.

290
 Certain punamidaikuyavanvayal202shows the process that punam tract
must have been transformed into paddy field in the midland as part of the
development of cultivating kutis and the emergence of overlords in the
respective areas. Mutha is a primordial cultivation space and before it was
brought under cultivation it must have been a forested space which had been
brought for the first time for cultivation operations then it came to be known
as mutha. The term muthapunam is old forested space to be practiced the
shifting cultivation.203 Chirumuthaimattamundakam204 aranjanmuthai205
chirumuthai206and mummuthai207are terms indicating the practice of shifting
cultivation represented in the documents located in the midland region, shows
the process of the transformation of shifting cultivation spaces into permanent
agriculture fields. Certain pulaiyanmuthai208 deserves attention as it indicates
certain clans like Pulayar must have engaged in the practice of shifting
cultivation and they might have sustained this practice of punam cultivation
in the midland region, a point may be noted that the hill Pulayar conducted
the slash and burn cultivation until recently.

Shifting cultivation practiced in the riversides and certain areas in

midland are attested in the epigraphical documents.209 The continuation of the
shifting cultivation practice can be seen on the elevated region in the midland
as well. The term atimāri210 mentioned in the epigraphical evidences suggest
the continued practices of the punam cultivation in the region. There
continued to develop the punam cultivation practices in the hilly region as

202
Kuravakavu temple inscription, M G S,B-24.
203
H Gundert, Malayalam English Dictionary.
204
Tiruvalla Copper plates, M G S,A-80.
205
M G S,A.80.L327.
206
Ibid.,L.506.
207
M G S,B-12.
208
Ibid.,L.507.
209
Tiruvalla Copper Plates, M G S,A-80.
210
Chokkur inscription, M G S,A-8.L.9. Atimāri is also mentioned as the slash and burn
cultivation space in Kannapuram inscription, M G S,B,24,L.12.

291
well as in the hill slops. The labour process involved in the punam cultivation
can also be culled out of oral materials pertaining to the shifting cultivation.

The cultivators proceeded to some unoccupied part in the hilly areas

when the rain ceased and selected a part of the vegetated land space. The
virgin forest is much better than the secondary forest for punam cultivation.
The longer the land had laid fallow the better would be the return was the
rule. The hill tracts cleared by way of slash and burn. Having decided on the
area of cultivation operations the cultivators started to cut down the under
growth trees and grass on this land. The trees cut down remained for two or
three months until they completely dried, then they were burnt and a fence
was erected round to keep out the animals. The land was now ready for
sowing but the sowing had taken place only after the first showers of the
south-west monsoon. Women conducted the lion share of the labour activities
in the cultivaition of tina;

‘onn¡m malave¶¶i onnara malave¶¶i

ninnumkondoru n¡zhi thina vithachch®
n¡ththunm¡riruvarum che¶¶aththi¡riruvarum
th®gi th®ngi ninnu thina vithachch®’.211
Another text in the same genre also speaks of the same process;

‘k¡duvettiththinavithachchu
thinathinn¡n ki½iyirangi
ki½iy¡tt¡n pe¸¸irangi
ki½iya¶ichchu va½a kilungi’.212

The people of Ulladar tribe who located in the Idukki, Kottayam,

Alappuzha and Trissur Districts have in their tradition another textual version

211
Certain oral texts related to the shifting cultivation provide us different aspects of labour
process, Vettiyar Premnath, Nadan Pattukal, op.cit., p.91.
212
Kilimanur Visvambharan, ‘karuththapennu’ in Kēralathile Nātanpāttukal’, op.cit., p.42.

292
of the same practice.213 The oral narration also makes it clear that the tina
cultivation was widely practiced in many parts of the elevated areas in the
region.214 The following text is from the South Malabar area.

Koththikk¢ri thina vithachche- thinayth¡½am

Enthum viththum v¡ri vithachche - thinayth¡½am
Ch¢ra chemb¡vu vari vithachch® - thinayth¡½am
Enthup°la muna k¡ttunne - s£chi p°la munak¡ttunne
Enthup°la elavirinje- k¡½am p®la elavirinj®
Enthup°la kathirchinnunn® - p£kkila p°la kathirchinnunne
Athil®kku ki½iy¡tt¡n arey¡kk¡ malayile malankurathy®
Enthum ko¶¶i ki½iy¡¶¶unn® -
kayyum ko¶¶i ki½iy¡¶¶unn®.215

The paddy is another important crop that was cultivated in the punam
tracts and it was cultivated in the form of slash and burn method. The clearing
of virgin forest, preparation of land and the way in which it swon are same as
that of the tina cultivation.

The period of three months required to ripen paddy and reaped. In

some cases after the crop has been reaped, the land cleared again and sown
with horse gram or some leguminous seed. After the second crop has been
gathered, the land was again cleared up and another crop of paddy is taken of
it. In some places, ragi is sown instead of paddy and various kinds of millets
are grown. The system of hill cultivation is identical everywhere. The regular
season for clearing is from December to June when the seed sown and crops
ripen about September.216

213
M Sebastian, Kāttile Pāttukal, [The State Institute of Languuages, Thiruvananthapuram,
2008], pp.13-14.
214
Kumaran Vayaleri, Dalithante Novum ninavum Nadan Pattukalil, [Pappiyon, Calicut,
2003], p.33.
215
M Sivasankaran, ‘Kiliyattupattu’ in ‘Valluvanattile Nadanpattukal’, op.cit., p.91.
216
T K Velupillai,The Travancore State Manuel. Vol.3, op.cit., pp.317-318.

293
Paddy Cultivation in Elevated Region

Paddy cultivation began to practice in the elevated areas in the midland. The
development of this cultivation might have been the extension of the hill
paddy cultivation into the elevated areas in the midland. After the southwest
monsoon rain has reduced the soil to mud the field is ploughed ten times,
between Idavam and Mithunam [i.e. May -June]. The ploughmen also
belonged to the Adiyār groups. Cow dung and green leaves217 applied as
manure after the third ploughing. It is collected and scattered over the
kandams by the female labourers who engaged in the labour activities along
with the cultivating kutis as elsewhere.

The field, having been ploughed, is smoothed with an implement

called ūricha maram, which is drawn by two oxen, yoked as usual by the
yoke or nukam. To drain off the water, two chāl or furrows are then drawn
with ordinary plough. When drained, the field is smoothed by the female
labourers, who draw over it a small square stick called pati. After this, the
seed previously prepared to sprout called mola vittu is sown broadcast usually
by the Adiyār male labourers. The field, after having sown, is for fifteen days
kept free of water. The female labourers of Adiyār / Pulaya group then weed
it. They with their hands separate the young plants to equal distances. Four or
five days are required for this operation. Then the field is inundated until ripe,
which happens in three months. Oral texts also make convergence of the
process of paddy cultivation, this practice in Malabar region is also known as
mōden cultivation,

217
There is an oral narration regarding the collection of green leaves in the following way;
" Chavaru vettan pōya
kannikalēzhu
thakatheyyo theythāra’ - - --Vettiyar Premnath , Natanpattukal , op.cit.,p.101.

294
 Puththanorotive¶¶i puthumazh®m peyth¡ye
¡r¡nte kanninīm perakki the½ichchōy®
Kuntanitavazhi k£¶¶ithe½ichchu µj¡n
Nī½anetavazhi nī¶¶ithe½ichchu µj¡n
Pattampu¶¶ikkandaththil kondōyi nirthi µj¡n
Kizhakkōttu thirichchatha p£¶¶ith¡ kettunn®y
Achch¡lum p£¶¶i µj¡n muchch¡lum p£¶¶i µj¡n
Kannarimō¶an v¡rivithachchallō
Akkollam l¡mō¶an s£chimunak¡¶¶ i
Akkollam l¡mō¶an k¡¶¶ ¡tivalarnnallō
Akkollam l¡mō¶an kathirum nerannallō
Akkollam l¡mō¶an koithum thutangallō
Akkollam l¡mō¶an kandam po½ichchallō
Akkollam l¡mō¶an patippura po½ichchallō
Akkollam l¡mō¶an ka½avum po½ichchallō
Akkollam l¡mō¶an vaippanum po½ichchallō
Akkollam l¡mō¶an etangazhīm po½ichchallō
Akkollam l¡mō¶an paththayōm po½ichchallo’.218

The female labourers reap the paddy and bring to the threshing
grounds. The grain is separated from the straw by beating handfuls on the
ground, or against a stone. That which is wanted for seed must be beaten
immediately and dried in the sun for seven days. The rest of the paddy must
be all beaten in the course of three days; only four days sun is required for
getting it sufficiently dry. The straw is afterwards dried in the sun four or five
days, and trodden by the feet of oxen, or beaten with a stick, to separate the
rice that, from having been less ripe, did not fall at the first beating.219 All
these labour activities are done with the collective labour of the Adiyar /Āl /
Pulaya group.

218
M Sivasankaran, ‘Puththanoritivetti’ in Valluvanāttile Nādanpattukal, op.cit., pp.75-76.
219
Buchanan, A Journey From Madras through Mysore, Canara, and Malabar.Vol.2,op.cit.,
pp.374-75.

295
 River basins and its watershed eco systems show the bio diversity that
existed in the catchment area of the river systems where countless number of
species of flora and fauna existed. Different forms of agriculture practices
with distinct technology were also developed in these river basins. Diversity
in life activities developed various labour forms in relation to the agriculture
practices and allied occupations. It also developed various forms of naïve
knowledge in relation to agriculture practices and other forms of livelihood
practices . It has been developed locally with the specific needs of the locality
and was preserved and transmitted through the sustenance and advancement
of agriculture practices. The different livelihood forms and the people/groups
who followed these practices also evolved traditional means and modes
through which these knowledge forms have been percolated and transmitted.
Different forms of agriculture practices and allied occupations like craft and
metalworking have been formed as indispensible part of the organic
development of an agrarian system which evolved the skilled labour and
professional knowhow; these are transmitted as customary knowledge and
preserved through oral tradition as social memory.

Mixed Crop Cultivation in Parambu – Purayitam and in the Forested

Spaces

The land spaces related to parambus, compound sites and monoculture garden
spaces are mentioned in a number of inscriptions. Parambus are
predominantly multi crop cultivation areas220 and purayidams are compound
sites where multi culture operations are also practiced. Vazhapalli plate221,
Chokkur plate222, Nedumpuram tali223 , Kandiyur224, Chembra225,

220
pūyaththu parambu and perumparambu are mentioned in the Tirumuzhikkalam
inscription of Bhaskara Ravivarman, M G S,A-37. Āttūttiparambu and
chethidanparambu, Tiruvalla Copper Plates, M G S, A-80.
221
M G S,A-1.
222
M G S,A-8.

296
Panthalayini226, Trikakara227, Trikodithanam228, Kinalur229, Kollur Matham230,
Kuravakavu231, Kilimanur 232 and Mampalli233 inscriptions mention a number
purayidams.234 Tiruvalla plates mentions as many as 55 purayidams.235 The
developments of these compound sites are related to the expansion of mixed
crop cultivation in the laterite areas in the midland. Marapayam236 or the
yields from the planted fruit bearing trees and the epithet kallu karidu
kānjirakutti mullu muyiru mūkkanpampum …...237 indicate the floral richness
and the mixed crops cultivated in the parambu lands238 and compound sites.
Naduvana nattu iduvana ittu239 mentioned in Kollam Plate also indicates the

223
M G S,A-9.
224
TAS, Vol.1.pp.414-417.
225
M R Raghava Varier, Kēraliyatha Charithramānangal, op.cit.,pp.99-102.
226
Panthalayni Kollam, MGS,A-29.
227
M G S,A-26 and MGS.A-43.
228
M G S,A-64and TAS.Vol.5.Part.2.No.58.
229
M G S,B-23
230
M G S,B-15.
231
M G S,B-24.
232
Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit., No.101,pp.209-210.
233
TAS.4.PP.72-82.
234
These compound sites are larger as well as smaller in extentent and settled by the
cultivating kutis and landholding families.
235
M G S,A-80.
236
Kādu kara and kīzhvāyanum mēlvāyanum is mentioned in Ayiranikkalam inscription,
Puthussery Ramachandran, op .cit., No.8, L.4.
237
Ayiranikkalam inscription, Puthussery Ramachandran,op.cit, No.8 L.5, see also
Trikkakara plate, M G S, A-25.
238
The epithet kallum karidum kānjara kuttiyummullumuyirumaka
………………vettikkarikkāttinolla pūmi evvakai pattathumullodunka indicates the
multiculture nature of land.
239
Kollam Plate, M G S,A-Ls.2-3.

297
mixed crop cultivation too. Thōttam240, vila and vilākam are mono crop
gardens.

The parambus are mostly located in the laterite areas that generally lie
in touch with the hills and hill slops241, the vegetated areas near the forest
called kātu are part of the parambu lands and its ecosystem. These parambu
lands are extended to and merged with the paddy fields, and to the coastal
plains. Natural fruit bearing trees, bush and padu or ordinary trees [trees used
for firewood and green leaves for manuring] are part of the parambu
purayidam ecosystem in addition to planted fruit bearing trees.242 Mamballi
Plates mention the parambu lands and compound sites, kilimānūr pūmiyum
kātum karayum karapurayidathide māniyam243 where the labouring
population belong to Āl are attached, kādun karayum karaippurayidamum
ālum kūda244 and kādum karayum karapurayidavum ālum245to show the
importance of the parabu lands and the compound sites where Āl / Adiyār
groups are attached as servile labouring groups.246 Kādumkaraiyum

240
Thōranathōttam and āndilanthōttam [kollam inscription of Sthanu Ravi, MGS. A-6,
idaithōttanilam and punnaithōtam [Kollur Matham Plates ,MGS,B-15], nedumanthōttam
[Parthivapuram plate of Kokkarunnadakkar, AD.866], chembakathōttam, pūnthōttam,
perunthōttam and māvaliyālthōttam [Tiruvalla plates, M G S,A-80], arunkādan thōttam
[Tiruvannur inscription, M G S,A-76] and vayirāvanar thōttam [Kollam inscriptions,
TAS.Vol.5.part.1.pp.46-47].Certain podikkāttuvilai indicates the multi culture operation
like pepper [Kollur Matham Plate,M G S,B-15].
241
Parambu existed and had been developed from early historical period and the parambu
of the famous chief, Nannan ‘nannan āy parambu’ is important, AN.356.19. ‘Nannan
parambil chirukarōtan, AN.365.8-9. Similary, the mixed crops like kol [muthira] is
cultivated in the parambu land of the chief Vel Pari, PN.105.5.Parambu of the Pari is
also reffered to in PN.108.4. Pāriyathu parambe, PN.109,1, parambu kolr karithe,P
N,110.2.
242
M R Raghava Varier, Parambu purayida Sambath Vyvastha in Madhyakāla Kēralam:
Sambath Smūham Samskāram, [Chintha, Tiruvanandapuram, 1997], pp.24-25.
243
Mampalli Plates, TAS,Vol 5.Part 2, L.3.
244
Ibid.,L.8.
245
Ibid., L.50.
246
Mampalli Plates, TAS,Vol 5.Part 2, Ls.3,8 and 50.

298
karaipuraiyidamum ālum247 also indicates this development. Similarly
Perunchellur inscription mentions nilam and purayidam and the āladiyār
attached to it248, indicating the labouring groups belonged to the āladiyār
were indispensible part of the parambu lands.

Variety of crops cultivated and the varied ways it had been cultivated
in addition to the exchanges of various products indicate the importance of
parambu lands. The relation of parambu lands to the cultivation of spice and
other forest products also shows the role played by the parambu –purayitam
in the multiple economies. It was the exchange and trade activities of various
produces including a number of space varieties which made the parambu a
specific area of multi crop production. It not only developed number groups
who involved in the exchanges of various produces but also developed a
vibrant exchange networks and trading activities for internal and internation
trade.

Mixed Crops

We have a number of epigraphical references to various multi crop produces

and mono crop garden produces in almost all part of the region under
discussion. They include pepper249 , coconut250, areca nut251, jagrine252,
plantains253, tamarind254 , pulses255 and betel vain.256 Spices and condiments

247
Vellayani inscription, Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit., No.102, L.6, pp.210-211.
248
pūmi nūrupothi viththupādum thangalkolla āladiyāreyum panayamāka vaipichchu,
Adharam, op. cit., Ls.12-13.
249
Trikakara plate[M G S,A-24,L.8.], Chembra[M R Raghava Varier, Keraliyatha
Charithramanangal, op. cit.,pp.99-102] , Maniyur inscription[M G S,C-2] and Tiruvalla
Plates [M G S,A-80,L.270,L.419].
250
Trikakara Plate, [M G S,A-24,L.8] Chembra, Kandiyur , Kollur Matham Plates,
251
Chembra [M R Raghava Varier , Keraliyatha Charithramanangal,op.cit.,pp.99-
102],Kollur Matham Plates[M G S,B-15], Tiruvalla Plates [M G S,A-80,L.270,L.424].
252
It is processed out of sugar cane, palm and also from coconut, Tiruvattuvay inscription,
M G S,A-4.
253
Tiruvattuvay inscription, M G S, A-4. Tiruvalla Plates M G S, A-80, L.270.

299
were also part of the cultivation in parambus and purayidams. Variety of
vegetables and plantains were cultivated in the mixed crop areas and in wet
land regions. The main monoculture garden crops are coconut, sugarcane,
areca nuts and betel.

Mixed crops are cultivated in the parambu lands and purayidams or

compound sites in relation to the course of rains in both the monsoons. The
varieties of spices are cultivated in these areas. Pepper, ginger, cardamom etc
are the main spice crops cultivated. Coconut, sugarcane, areca and betel vine
or vettila are cultivated as mono crops. Turmeric, sesame, variety of plantains
and vegetables are cultivated in the mixed crop areas in both alluvial and
laterite soils. Variety of grams/grains like muthira [horse gram], tina [millet],
chāma [guinea corn], varaku [grain grass] etc were also cultivated in mixed
crop areas. Tubers and yams were cultivated in both parambus and compound
sites. There are several varieties of mangoes and jack trees257, which were
planted in parambus and purayidams. Tamarind is cultivated in mixwed crop
areas. Cultivation practices and labour activities in mixed and mono crops are
described below.

Cultivation of Pepper

Pepper is one of the important mixed crops cultivated mainly in parambus

and compound sites. There are references to pepper in Classical Tamil
texts258and epigraphical documents.259 Cultivation of pepper can also be seen

254
Trikkakara plate mentions tamarind M G S,A-24,L.8 , Kandiyur inscription also
mention it ,
255
Tiruvattuvay inscription, M G S, A-4, Kandiyur inscription, Porangattiri M G S,A-14,
Tiruvalla Plates M G S,A-80,L.270,L.422.and 431.
256
Kollur Matham Plates [M G S,B-15], Tiruvalla Plates[ M G S,A-80,L.270,L.423].
257
Kūzha and varikka are two varieties of jack in the region.
258
Karivalaradukkattu, PN.168.2, maanaikuvai iya karimūtaiyar, PN,343.3.
259
One of the Trikakara plates, Chembra and Maniyur inscriptions and also Tiruvalla
Plates refer to pepper, see foot note No.309 above.

300
in the medieval literature.260 Pepper requires a rich soil with free drainage. It
is cultivated usually in thiruvāthira njāttuvēla. The seed pepper vines
prepared from the bunc hes of pepper trees when the new rain comes in the
southwest monsoon and keep it in tree shadow for twenty one days. Cuttings
usually planted at the bases of the trees, such as jack, mango, erythrina, which
serve as standards. Elavu and murukku are planted as standards when there
are no trees. The prepared sticks are plant in small pits. Pepper vines
propagated through these cuttings and suckers. The growing buds are directed
to the stumps for further growth, tied the buds with threat made of spate of the
areca palm when it become bunches to the stumps or the trees concerned.
Cow dung, goat dung, paddy husk, oil cakes and green leaves are applied as
organic manure and in three years after planting the pepper vines begin to
bear fruit.

Flowers appear in Mithunam –Karkidakam [July] and Chingam

[August] and the berries are ripe from Vrichikam -Dhanu [December]
onwards. The cultivating kutis engaged themselves in planting the pepper
vines in their purayidams and there required the labourers of the Adiyār /
Pulayar for the cultivation of pepper in the parambus where it cultivated in
large scale. The labourers engaged in making pits, collecting the seedlings,
planting it and erecting stumps of elavu and murukku trees. The manure like
cow dung, goat dung, paddy husk, oil cakes and green leaves are collected
and prepared at the purayidam of the cultivating kutis and bring to the
parambus mostly by the female labourers of Adiyār group. When the pepper
berries ripen the male labourers gather these by using ladder made of illi
[bamboo]. The female labourers dry the collected pepper at the courtyard of
the pura of the cultivators.

260
Kodichutti nīlkamukumukil chārnna thontumada, Suranadu Kunjan Pillai,
Unnichiruthevicharitham, [Thiruvanadapuram, 1954], p .26.

301
Cardamom Cultivation

Forested area near the parambus is the best land for cardamom cultivation.
The forested space is cleared during the months of Makaram and Kumbham
by the labourers including the tribal groups. They dig the pits of two feet
square and one foot deep to cultivate it. Weeding and pit digging must be over
by the end of Mēdam. The seeds have to be sown in that month. Manure
consisted the green leaves and dried cow dung is applied. It begins to bear
fruit within three or four years after planting and continues to give a good
crop for five or six years.261 The protection is given to the plants as it need
care and attention from the interferences of wild animals and certain
protection is ensured by employing labourers of Adiyār groups or the forest
dwellers for the purpose.

Cultivation of Ginger

Ginger cultivation usually takes place when new rain in the southwest
monsoon comes. The planting begins in June. The cultivation of ginger needs
the collective labour of the male and female labourers. It requires a warm,
moist climate and a medium, light rich soil. The parambu area is most fit for
this. Prepare the land by removing the weeds are the first task in which the
efficient coordination of the labour activities of both male and female
labourers can be seen. Seedbeds [thadam] are prepared with spade mostly by
male labourers; holes are prepared in the beds by the female labourers to plant
rhizomes therein. Dried cow dung and ashes, which are already available at
the purayidam of the cultivators, brought to the field and added to the holes
where the ginger buds are planted by the female labourers. The ginger seeds
put in the prepared bed [thadam] and cover with the leaves of kānjiram tree
[nux vomica tree] by the female labourers; they also gathered it from the

261
T K Velupillai, op.cit., pp.341-342.

302
nearby areas and pasturelands. When the leaves are gone out of bunches the
sticks are removed from the seedbeds, a mixture of cattle dung and wood ash
are applied as manure by female labourers and soil is scattered over the
thadam by male labourers. Female labourers do weeding also. The crop is
ready for harvest in November. The yield varies with the soil and the
locality.262 The harvesting is also a collective activity of both male and
female labourers. They harvest and collect the yield, and then female
labourers prepare to dry the ginger in sun light.

The main monoculture garden crops are coconut, sugarcane, areca nuts
and betel vine. Coconut is cultivated in the lowlands, in the midlands and in
the slopes of the high lands. It is also cultivated on seaboard, the shore of the
lagoons and the banks of the rivers. There are references to the existence of
coconut in early historical period.263 Therefore, it can assume that spread of
coconut must have been started from the hilly areas to the midland as well as
from the coastal areas to the hinterlands. The coconut gardens are located in
the coastal region where there is the alluvial rich soil. The area known as
Ōnattukara where the soil is sandy loam is the low land division to the south
of Kollam where there is cultivation of coconut trees in large number. In the
midland region, coconut grows along the banks of rivers, in the valleys and on
the slopes of hills. The coconuts tracks in the high land division also consist
of the slopes of hills and the valleys between them.264 The epigraphical
references to the coconut and the monoculture gardens like thōranathōttam
and āndilanthōttam265, idaithōttanilam and punnaithōtam266,

262
Ibid., p.346.
263
PN. 17.9 kulaiyirainchiya kōttazhai, PN.29.15 thenkin ilainīr, PN, 61.9
thengupatuviyanpazham.
264
Ibid, pp.350-351.
265
Kollam inscription of Sthanu Ravi, M G S. A-6.
266
Kollur Matham Plates

303
nedumanthōttam267, chembakathōttam, pūnthōttam, perunthōttam and
māvaliyālthōttam,268 arunkādan thōttam269 and vayirāvanarthōttam270 indicate
the spread of mono crops and coconut cultivation must have included in it271
in the coastal plains and the hinterlands.

Coconut and Areca Cultivation

Seedbeds for the planting of coconut are prepared with river sand and manure
consisted of wood ash and salt. The ripe coconut nuts collected for planting;
they planted in one foot apart in the seedbeds. The beds then watered once a
day and manured till they take root. The seedlings will be ready for
transplantation in about a year. Plenty of free air and sunshine required the
coconut palm and pits arranged for the transplantation of seedlings. Ashes,
dust, and coconut husk put in to these pits along with sand and salt. The
seedlings are watered daily till new roots sprout. There required continuous
manuring for the growing plants. Wood ash, fish manure and oil cakes are
suitable manure to be done at the beginning of rainy weather.

Five to ten years after planting the plants begin to bear fruits.
Harvesting of yield require skilled labour which is done usually by
professional climbers. The labour activities pertaining to the planting, nursing,
and transplantation of the seedling; manuring and harvesting the coconut palm
and processing the coconuts indicate the diverse labour activities in the
various stages of the development of coconut palm. If the cultivation of
coconut palm is in large mono crop garden the labour of both men and women
are required on large scale. This is practiced in the gardens located on
267
Parthivapuram Plate of Kokkarunnadakkar, AD.866.
268
Tiruvalla plates, M G S,A-80.
269
Tiruvannur inscription, M G S,A-76.
270
Kollam inscriptions, TAS.Vol.5.part.1.pp.46-47.
271
Trikakara plate [M G S,A-24,L.8], Chembra inscription, Kandiyur and Kollur Matham
Plates.

304
seaboard, the shore of the lagoons and the riverbanks. Evidently,
thōranathōttam and āndilanthōttam are located on the seashore at Kollam.
The harvesting is important labour activities and labour groups such as
Vannār and Īzhavar appeared in the documents must have been engaged in
the labour activities. It is attested in epigraphical evidence that the dues are
collected from these groups as ēnikānam and thalaikānam272for climbing the
coconut trees. Ēni and talai are the tools of the toddy climbers. The expansion
of cultivation of coconut is indicated by the references to thōttams and to
coconut oil in inscriptions of the period under discussion.

The areca grows on the banks of rivers, canals, backwaters and in low
valleys. The planting is done by sowing seeds at stake from Makaram-
Kumbam [February] to Idavam Mithunam [June]. Transplantation is also done
by one year grown seedling. The maximum numbers of fruits are obtained in
the months of Kanni, Tulam and Vrichikam and minimum in Chingam. The
labour activities are more or less same to the cultivation of coconut palm,
from planting the seedlings to the gathering the yield.

Cultivation of Sugar Cane

There are references to the cultivation of sugar cane from the period of the
classical Tamil texts.273 It is known that this was cultivated in the hillsides in
the early historic period and started to move towards the riverine areas in the
midland.274 Later it began to cultivate on the flat alluvial pockets in the
undulating banks of the rivers. As a rain fed crop, sugar cane cultivation
required a rich and deep soil, heavy manuring and plenty of moistures. The
seedlings are generally planted from Kumbam [February] to Minam -Medam
272
Tarisapalli Plate mentions four kuti Īzhavar and one kuti Vannār , thalaikānam and
ēnikānam, M G S,A-2,Ls.7-8, also see M G S, Narayanan, Perumals of Kerala, op. cit,
p.131.
273
Karumpamal kazhani PP.5.10.3, AN.256.14-15 palpūnkazhani karumbu amalpadappai.
274
PN.99.2 arumperal marapin karumpu ivan thanthum.

305
[April]. Ashes, fish manure and oil cakes applied as manure. Many of the
canes submerged under floods when the south-west monsoon breaks out in
Edavam and Mithunam [June], bring rich deposits into the fields. Canes ripen
in December and harvest commences in Dhanu- Makaram [January].275 Then
there starts the processing of canes for making jagory. The labour process
involved from the planting of the canes to harvesting is important, as it
requires labour of both male and female of Adiyār groups as needed for the
other mono crop garden cultivation.

Cultivation of Betel Vine

Betel vine or vettila are also cultivated in particular ways. Moist situation and
rich black sandy soil required for the cultivation of betel vine. The vine
planted in rows. The grounds leveled for making beds. Each bed containing
three strings with vines. The cuttings planted in two to three feet in length.
Periodic watering is necessary. Fresh shoots appear after a period of nearly
three months. One year after planting the leaves may be plucked. They are
generally plucked once in three days276. The labouring groups available in the
nearby areas of the purayidam of the cultivating kuti meet the additional
labourers required for different labour activities in the cultivation of betel
vine.

Turmeric Cultivation

Turmeric cultivation requires a loamy soil and good manure. It is started

when the rain comes in the month of Mithunam and separate seedbeds are
prepared usually in the shadow of trees. It is prepared as done for the
cultivation of ginger. The ground must be well worked and seedbeds formed
with small trenches a foot wide intervening. Dried cow dung, ashes, paddy

275
T K Velupillai, The Travancore State Manuel, Vol. 3,op.cit., pp.362-363.
276
Ibid., p.348.

306
husks and green leaves cover it after turmeric seeds planted in the prepared
thadam. By the month of Vrischika, the crop ripens and is gathered in the
following Minam [March] or Medam [April]. The labouring groups available
are made use for the cultivation of turmeric as done in the ginger cultivation
from the planting the seeds to gathering the yield.

Sesame or Ellu Cultivation

The antecedence of the practice of sesame or ellu cultivation goes back to

early historical period when it was cultivated as mixed crop in the tina varaku
zone.277 This practice extended to the midland region where it began to
cultivate in plots located in the parambus and fields in the elevated areas.
When it is cultivated in the elevated paddy fields, it will be in the well-dried
alluvial loam. The small bushes, growing on the fields are cut, dried for two
days and then burned by the kuti cultivators with the help of the labourers at
their disposal. During the period between August and September, the field is
ploughed seven times, and seed sown and a light ploughing after it. There are
two varieties of ellu cultivated, whitish and black.278 These are always sown
separately; but they are cultivated at the same season, in the same manner,
and in the same kind of soil. Twenty days afterwards, that is, about four
weeks after rains in the southwest monsoon have ceased, the rains from the
eastward ought to commence. If these come, and there will be a good crop,
which ripe get between Dhanu [December] and Makaram [January]. The
labour of the women belonging to Adiyār group is necessary for harvesting
the sesame and they do it collectively and processe it.

277
This was cultivated along with millet.
278
Buchanan gives us the information regarding the cultivation of two varieties of sesame
in Malabar, shiray and peri ellu, Buchanan, A Journey from Madras through Mysore,
Canara, and Malabar.Vol.2.op.cit, p.379.

307
Cultivation of Plantains

There is reference to the cultivation of plantains in the classical Tamil texts

pertaining to this region and cultivated in the hilly region.279 Later it
cultivated in both parambus and compound sites as well as in wet land areas.
Almost every compound site has a few plantains. The extensive cultivation of
plantain must have been started in the river valleys and a number of
inscriptonal references point to this fact. The banana variety is mostly
cultivated in the banks of rivers and streams. Though they are planted
throughout the year, karkadakam, Minam, Dhanu and Makaram are favourite
months.

Cultivation of Vegetables

Varieties of vegetables cultivated in both parambus and compound sites in

addition to the elevated fields. Tropical vegetables cultivated and the most
suitable soil is sandy loam with plenty of organic manure. Condiments also
cultivated in the parambus and purayidams. Chillies cultivated in Mithunam
[July] and Dhanu [December] or Makaram [January] in the compound sites
and parambus when the seeds sown in the seedbeds are transplanted. The
plant begins to flower in about four months from the date of planting. There is
regular picking of chillies up to six months, when the plants become old.

Cultivation of Millet

We have reference to the grams and millets in classical Tamil texts and
Purananuru mentions the cultivation of white millet and horse grams.280 The
millets continued to cultivate in the hillslopes and in the midland after the

279
Vāzhai am chilampu AN.332.9.
280
PN.392.10 vellai varakum kollum viththum.

308
Sangam period. Chōlam281, rāgi, chāma [guinea corn], tina and varaku are
cultivated as dry crops in parambu. Various kinds of pulses282, black gram283,
horse gram284, green gram and thuvara cultivated. There existed the
cultivation of millets in the dry soil in the parambu and in the elevated areas
in the midland.

The mode of cultivation is the same for all kinds of gram. The ground
is first ploughed, made even and then divided in to small plots. The soil is
ploughed again and ash, the usual manure is applied. The seed is then sown
and the ground is ploughed again a third time. The labour activities are same
for cultivating all grams in the case of preparing the field, ploughing, sowing,
weeding, reaping and processing the reaped grams. The cultivating kuti and
the Atiyār groups engaged in the labour activities. The cultivation of varieties
of millets was important for the existence of the multiple economies. Many a
number of millets varieties existed as the staple food items of the people of
the cultivating kutis, kutis of occupational groups and the Atiyār/Āl groups.

281
Cholam[ especially the white variety] is grown in black soil. The ground is prepared
about Mēdam [April-May ]after ploughing several times and penning sheep for three or
four days or otherwise manuring .The sowing takes place about Edavam [May –June ].
It becomes mature in four months .The stalks are cut low; the ears are removed and the
grain, after thrashing, is separated from the chaff by winnowing. Under suitable
irrigation, ploughing and manuring, several crops can be obtained from the roots of the
same plant, T K Velupillai, The Travancore State Manuel. Vol.3, p.325.Ragi, chama
and tina are cultivated in parambus and compound sites. Kampam pullu or kuvaraku are
also cultivated in the dry area.
282
The varieties of cowpea are perumpayar, karinganta, itinchakanni, pulamuntan,
vatakkanpayar, sixteen-seed payar, chentantan and nedumpayar.
283
There are two varieties of blackgram, eruma uzhunnu and cheru uzhunnu, T K
Velupillai, The Travancore State Manuel. Vol.3, op.cit., p.325.
284
Horse gram is cultivated in open places on the hilltops. The sowing season is in Kanni
[September –October] cattle manure is used. The harvest is reaped in Makaram [January
–February].There is brown and black variety of horse gram.

309
Cultivation of Edible Roots

The edible roots are cultivated in the parambus and compound sites. Elephant
foot, yam, chēmpu, kāchil, sweet potato, chīvakizhangu, cheruvallikizhangu,
arrowroot and mukkizhangu etc cultivated in the parambu and compound
sites. Sandy loam soil is best suited for chēmpu and kāchchil. Chēna is
cultivated in square or circular pits manured with a mixture of dried cattle
dung and wood ash. After planting, the pits covered with thick layer of leaves.
The planting is done in Medam [April -May] and the crop ready for harvest in
the following Tulam –Vrichikam [November and December]. Wet lands with
alluvium used for cultivating sweet potato. The kuti cultivators and the
laboring groups of Atiyār / Āl do the labour activities in the cultivation of
these edible roots in the compound sites and parambu lands.

Main multi culture crops in parambu region and compound sites are
coconut, areca nut, betel, and ginger, pepper, spices of various kinds, pulses,
tubers and yams. Parambu cultivation is started in the rōhini njāttuvēla,
according to the traditional agrarian calendar, in the mid of the month of
Idavam [idavapāti].285 Certain methods are adopted to cultivate the garden
crops, one method is plant the crops in pits. Pits are prepared according to the
nature of soil and yield of the crop, dry leaves burn in it. Dried cow dung,
ashes and leaves usually applied in the pits after the rain started in the
southwest monsoon. Small beds called vāram prepared after weeding and
preparing the ground is a method for the cultivation of ginger etc. Making
heap or kūna is another method to cultivate the certain garden crops. Chēmbu
[variety of colocasia] planted in small pits and kūrkka [a small kind of yam,
Malabar catmint] cultivated in separate beds. Kūrkka can be cultivated in two
times in a year by planting its buds in the months of Karkidakam and Kanni.

285
According to the traditional agrarian calendar, the rōhini njāttuvēla begins in 11th of the
month of Idavam.

310
Certain expertise is also required for the cultivation of crops in parambus, the
cultivating kutis and the laboring groups provided the labour for the
cultivation operations in the mixed crop cultivation. Many of the mixed crops
including the spices in parambus and cultivation in wetland take palce
simultaneously.

Cultivation of Pulses

Pulses also cultivate in rōhini njāttuvēla, ashes and cow dung used as manure
and there are various kinds of pulses cultivated.286 Thuvara [the pigeon peas]
and uzhunnu [black gram] also cultivated in the same season. Small types of
pulses are cultivated in the elevated region and it can be cultivated in coconut
garden. Vegetables like varieties of chilly, venda [ladyfinger], vellari
[maddar plant],vazhuthana [egg plant, brinjal ],maththa[pumpkin],
kumbalam[ash guard] , kaipa [bitter guard] padavalam[snake gourd]
churaiyka [long gourd] are also planted in the compound sites and garden
lands. These pulse varieties cultivated in either beds or pits. Seeds of these
crops are put either in water and cow dung or in ashes before planting it.
There are certain methods to be followed in the cultivation of chēna [elephant
yam]287, chēmbu, cherukizhangu [a kind of yam], kūrka, kāchil [a kind of
climbing yam] etc.

Preparations are made in cultivating the parambu crops like

groundnuts, pulses, various kinds of spices, yam etc from the mid of the
month of Idavam [idavapāthi] to the month of Chingam. From the month of
286
Buchanan is of view that ‘all the pulses… are cultivated in the same manner [as the
sesame cultivated]. The field is ploughed once between the 12th of January and the 9th of
February; the seed is sown immediately afterwards, and covered with a cross ploughing.
Between the fourteenth September and 14th October these pulses ripen without further
trouble.’ Buchanan, A Journey From Madras through Mysore, Canara, and Malabar
Vol.2.op.cit., p.379.
287
Chēna is cultivated in the month of kumbam. The chēna seed is cut in to four or five
pieces and put in cow dung water and plant it in a rounded pit prepared by burned dry
leaves in the veluthavāvu of the month of kumbam.

311
Mithunam to the month of kanni [June – September] is a period of heavy rain
according to the traditional agrarian calendar and this is also the period when
many of the mixed crops cultivations in parambu and compound sites are
started. There are different varieties of parambu crops cultivated during this
period. Different methods of cultivation practices existed for various
parambu crops. Planting in pits, seedbeds, bunds etc are usual methods.
Green leaves or dry leaves are put and burned in the pits or beds, and cow
dung/goat dung and ashes are added to it when necessary after the rain comes.
The organic manure made of mixing the cow/goat dung and ashes and keeps
it in advance for cultivation in the rainy season is a usual way of preparing the
manure. Separate manure component is necessary for each crop.

Perception of Agrarian Geography in Medieval Literature

The medieval literary texts like sandēsha kāvyās and the champu kāvyās also
contain description regarding agriculture operations and names of variety of
seeds cultivated in both wet land and parambas and compound sites. They
provide information of the wet land cultivation like paddy, grains, different
types of vegetables and fruits. They also provide descriptions of mono crop
fields like paddy fields and fields of sugarcane and plantains.
Unnichiruthevicharitham of fourteenth century mentions the punja fields.288
It also describes the paramba lands where pepper289 and areca nut290
cultivated. The text also mentions the mono crop garden like coconut garden,
sugarcane fields291 and rich paddy fields.292

288
Suranadu Kunjan Pillai, Unnichiruthevicharitham, [Thiruvananthapuram, 1954], p.26,
punjaikazhani polinjēdamoridam.
289
Kotichutti nīl kamuku, Sundaram Dhanuvachchapuram, Unnichiruthevicharitham, State
Institute of Languages, [ Thiruvanandapuram, 2005], p.64.
290
Kamukinai thazhukuma kotikalum, [Prose, 5.] ibid, p37.
291
Madhurangalil madhurangalil, Sundaram Dhanuvachchapuram, ibid,p.57.
292
Thodalāmala vayalangalil, ibid, p.57.

312
 Reference to fruit bearing trees like jack and mango trees indicate to
show the existence of parambu lands and compound sites where multi culture
crops cultivated.293 Kōkasandēsa of the fourteenth century mentions the
cultivation process in the wet land agriculture, especially paddy cultivation.294
The agriculture operations existed in earlier period must have been continued
into the fourteenth century. The text also reveals the fertile fields where two
and three crop cultivated in a year. Unninīlisandēsam mentions names of
different types of paddy including those cultivated on hills and hill slopes.295
Unniyaticharitham mentions the cultivation of ginger in the paramba296.
Unninīlisandēsam and Unnichiruthēvicharitham mention mono crop
cultivation gardens like coconut, areaca nut, plantains and sugarcane fields. It
also mentions mango and jack trees in addition to the cultivation of a number
of vegetables in the compound sites.297

Crops and Produces in Foreign Accounts

Information regarding the cultivation of spices in the mixed crop garden i.e.
parambu in the literary texts may be corroborated to the accounts given by the
foreign travellers. Though many of the accounts are left after 1300 CE, the
process of agriculture operations and the crops that reported in these accounts
must have been existed centuries prior to the period. Ma Huan mentions the
cultivation of pepper in addition to the vegetables cultivated in compound

293
M R Raghava Varier, ‘Kēralathile Kārshika Vyāpanam’ [AD.1200-1500] in
Madhyakala Keralam: Sambathu, Samuham Samskaram,[Chintha,
Tiruvananthapuram,1997] ,pp.7-22.
294
Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai, Kōkasandēsam,[1959][1965,Kottayam],p.78.
295
Kūran,chōzhan,pazhavari,karakonganam, vennakannan, mōdan , kadan,kuruva,kodiyan
panki, ponkāli,channel,ānakkōdan, kiliyira,kanangāriyan and vīraviththan, 295
Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai,Unnunīlisandēsam, [Kottayam ,[1954]1983],p.75.
296
M B Manoj, ‘Manipravāla kavithakal oru sāmuhya parisōdhana’ in Dēsan Dēsi Mārga,
[Papyrus Books, Kottayam, 2011], pp.25-31.
297
Ibid,pp31-41.

313
sites.298 Ya quat, an Arab traveler, writes the cultivation of pepper and this is
also attested by Al Qazwim and Idrisi.299 Marcopolo who visited Kollam and
also in some area in Malabar mentions the cultivation of parambu crops i.e.,
pepper, cinnamon and ginger.300 Athanius Nikhitin, a Russian traveler
mentions the cultivation of mixed crops like cinnamon, aromatic roots, spices
like pepper, ginger, and colour plants and so on.301 Similarly, Duarte Barbosa
refers to different variety of crops cultivated in various part of Kerala.302

Agrarian Process in Parambu- Purayitam

Varieties of crops cultivated and different methods were adopted in parambu

lands and in compound sites which show the richness in the crops and the
multiple ways in which these crops cultivated. It also shows the complex
process of agriculture practices, which ensured different livelihood forms for
different groups of settlers including the cultivating kutis and labouring
groups. It also reveals the diversity in the labour process and the differet
group of labouring population who engaged in various agriculture operations.
Male and female labourers of the cultivating kutis and the Adiyār / Āl or
Pulaya groups engaged in the labour activities in the agrarian process in the
parambu purayitam.

The pattern of the utilization of labour also indicates that it must have
been different from the labour activities done in the cultivation of wet land
agriculture. The labourers employed in the cultivation of a parambu crop can

298
K A N Sastri, Foreign Notices of South India, [1939] (University of Madras, 2001),
p.305 ‘pepper, however, grows on the hills and is extensively cultivated’.
299
S M H Nainar, Arab Geographers Knowledge of Southern India, [Madras,1942],pp.,34 ,
41, 202
300
Henty Yule, Travels of Marcopolo, Vol.2, p.363 and 393.
301
R H Mayor, Travels of Athanius Nikhitin, [London, 1857], p.20.
302
Barbosa mentions cultivation of coconut, areaca, pepper, ginger, cardamoms, cinnamon
etc, Mansel Longworth Dames, [in Two Volumes] Vol.2, [AES Reprint, New Delhi,
1989], pp.90-93.

314
also be used for the cultivation of variety of other crops in the parambu areas.
The location of labouring groups and their involvement in the labour process
in the cultivation of mixed crops in the parambus and compound sites also
reveal the different modes by which variety of mixed crops cultivated.
Therefore, the variety of crops produced in the laterite parambu and
compound sites was as important as the wet land paddy cultivation in terms of
productivity and volume of produce. Many of the parambu crops, especially,
the space varieties and forest produce were exchanged and there developed a
number of exchange networks and centers through which many of these
products reached to the ports of trade. This also indicate the importance of
parambu cops in the exchange, the appropriation of revenue from the
exchanges and trade influenced to determine character of the political power
structure in which the traders both internal and overseas had been granted
privilages and incorporated to the local societies that must have developed in
and around these ports of trade.

Agrarian Technology and Knowledge Forms

Certain form of irrigation system developed during the period under

discussion and it developed due to the expansion of agriculture operations in
both wetland and in the hinter lands. They are mainly used in the viripu
cultivation and cultivation in elevated areas. The water wheels used for
reclaim the land spaces from the water laden lands in the estuatine areas. A
water lifting device called thulām used for lifting the water from the wells and
ponds. The baskets called vēththu, kūri, pōthira, kūta, thulākotta etc used for
the purpose. Lifting the water with vēththu needs the labour of a single
person. The kayattukotta requires the labour of two persons and excess water
is thrown off by a basket suspended between four ropes wrought by two men.
Thulān used to lift water from ponds and wells. The methi made of the sheet
of a coconut tree placed across the pond well on which the person who lifts
the water stands and do the water lifting operation.

315
 Water wheels used in certain parts of the areas where cultivation
operations practiced in water logging areas near lagoons and estuaries. The
water wheels used to remove the superfluous water from the paddy fields in
the estuarine lands. Excess water drained away after erecting bunds in the
estuarine areas for cultivating. Water wheels were known by its size
according to the number of leafs used in the wheels, from three leafs wheels
to the wheels used 21 leafs. The water wheel having four leafs could be
functioned with the labour of a single person, therefore, it is known as
nālilakutti. The water wheel having the seven leafs required the labour of
three persons while the eleven and twenty-one leaf wheels needed the labour
of four and seven persons respectively. The Adiyār groups like Pulaya men
mainly engaged in the water management and irrigation activities.

Agriculture implements used according to the nature of soil and the

availability of water. The development of such implements were related to the
development of the agriculture operations in both alluvial and laterite regions.
There developed the tendency of systematic cultivation process in the early
historic period when iron began to play important role in the society. How far
iron could have made changes in the agrarian processes is a matter of
debate.303 However, the agriculture implements used in both laterite and
alluvial areas show that there developed systematic cultivation with utilization
of different soil types, water harvesting systems and irrigation activities. The
most common agriculture implements made of iron and used are ploughshare,
spade, sickle, axe, knifs, etc. Wooden implements like yoke or nukam,
ūrchamaram or njaviri, kattamutti or rake, plough etc are used. Accessories to
these implements made of bamboo like variety of baskets called kotta,vatti
,vallam, [vallam made of chūral or cane sticks],muram, [sieve],large
panambu [bamboo mat used for processing paddy including drying the paddy
seed] are used . Different sizes of bamboo baskets used for different purposes

303
B P Sshu [ed], Iron and Social Change in Early India, [OUP, Delhi, 2004].

316
in agriculture operations like collecting ashes, cow dung, paddy etc. This is
also represented in oral narratives;

th®kko¶¶a parakko¶¶a
parambum p¡lariva¶¶i
a¶iy®num k°thayum
koth®de adakkam ko-
ndatiyante pularchchaka½
ko¶¶®m morameduththe
iruvarum p°kanonde
manakk®lum chennavare
thampur¡ne vi½ichchall°
ko¶°ayum moravum kond®
a¶iyangal vannittund®’.304

N®ram veluththappa pennu koyikka n¢li

Oru pi¶i po½iyetuththu koyikka n¢li
Kinn¡ram p¡¶¶up¡ti parambonnu p¡ththi
Ku¶¶ipo½iy¡le kurumpo½iy¡l®
avaloru ppe¶¶ipparambu neyhtirikkunn®.’305

Thullal kathakal of Kunjan Nambiyar also narrates this;

‘ko¶¶akal va¶¶ikal tho¶¶ikalell¡m

k°¶¶amakannu chamachch¢¶®¸am’
[Syamanthakam, Thullal]

‘cha¶¶ika½um kalavum ku¶avum va¶¶ika½um

ko¶¶aka½um’
va¶¶iiyum ko¶¶ayum cha¶¶ikalanga½um’

[Paundrakavadham , Thullal].
306

304
Mariyamma John, Manikyam Pennu, op.cit., p.30.
305
Ibid.,p.32.
306
P K Sivasankara Pillai[Edited and compiled ] ,Kunjan Nambiyarute Thullal Kathakal,op.
cit.

317
 The different artisans groups like carpenters and blacksmiths, being
part of the Kammalar groups, made the iron and wooden agriculture
implements. The processing of the iron ore and making agriculture
implements like sickle, ploughshare, spade, axe, knifs etc was a highly
specialized occupation. The carpenters who made the accessories for
ploughing also made the water wheels and lift irrigation devises. The
specificity and variations in the implements used in different areas in the
region suggest that the local specificity and uneven nature of the availability
of raw materials in the region and also shows the settlement areas of the
groups who involved in the production of such implements. The nature of
implements of production shows that technological advancement did not
occur as far as the agriculture tools and implements are concerned and people
used labour intensive technology, however, it was never at a primitive level.

Kuta, a type of country umbrella made of palm leaves used especially

during the time of transplanting the seedlings by the female labourers.
Thoppikuta, which wear on the head by the men labourers while doing
agriculture operations. The kuta is placed on the back of the female labourers
while working in the fields, when doing transplanting the seedlings or
weeding and other agriculture operations. The men labourers use a
thōrthumundu, a short towel, tying on their waist, which does not come down
beyond their knees.307 Female labourers used rough cloth to cover their waist.
The labouring groups inhabited in mādams and chālas, which were thatched
huts made of bamboo and grass.

The local specificity can also be seen in the case of those who made
accessories of bamboo flakes who were predominantly Parayar groups. This

307
The occupational codes and dress codes depicted in the ethnological accounts of the
people, also make sense of it, Edgar Thurston , Castes and Tribes of Southern India [ 7
volumes ] and L K Anantha Krishna Aiyar, Cochin Tribes and Caste [Vol. 1and
2][John Reprinted Corporation ,New York,1909 and 1912].

318
also makes another important point that some of the Paraya group began to
settle as kutis in the production localities called ūr settlements. The local
specificity in the case of settlements and the implements they reveal the local
nature of their occupational configuration as well as their social collectivity.
However, they are indispensible part of the agrarian production process and
the constitution of the producing class.

Agrarian Cycle and Knowledge Forms Regarding Monsoon, Climate,

Weather, and Season

An agrarian cycle is developed, which was based on the availability of

rainwater in the region, it is depended upon the southwest and northeast
monsoon. Water availability in the region was calculated in relation to these
monsoons. The agriculture practices began to be based on njāttuvēlas-, which
became the base of the agrarian calendar. The cultivators who practiced both
wet land and parambu cultivation developed the calculation of rain in various
periods called njāttuvēlas. The experiences of the cultivators regarding the
availability of rainwater for a year are also important. The concept of
njāttuvēlas reveals the agriculture knowledge that developed by the
cultivators in relation to their life activities and agriculture process also
formulated certain astronomical knowledge and knowledge of season. This
knowledge was produced by the producing class from their practical
experiences in the labour process as part of the development of cultivation
operations. It must have been transmitted orally and the textual tradition of
non producing class must have codified and textualised it. This textualisation
and codification must have been related to the consolidation of agrarian
hierarchy and the subjugation of the producing class.

Njāttuvēla is also known as njāttunila or njāttila, is derived from

njāyittuvēla or njāyarvēla which indicates its relation to the sun. The total
rainfall received in a year was calculated to be divided in to 27 njāttuvēlas.

319
The names of 27 nāl / stars [astrological day] were given to this 27
njāttuvēlas, from Ashvati to Rēvati njāttuvēlas. Njāttuvēlas began to be called
by the name of each star when the sun stands with each star or nāl. When sun
begins to change from one nāl /star to another the njāttuvēla also changes, this
is called njāttuvēlappōkku or njāttuvēlappērcha [njāttuvēlappakarchcha].
Certain njāttuvēlās stands on more than one sign [rāshi] for example,
Kārthika, Makiram, Punartham etc. Duration of a njāttuvēlā is thirteen and a
half days. Therefore, rainfall varies in each njāttuvēlā.

There developed a number of proverbs related to the availability of

rainfall in each njāttuvēlā, according to which different varieties of multi /
mono crops cultivated in both alluvial and laterite soils. There is only mild
rain in ashvati and bharani njāttuvēlās, while during the period of Kārthika,
which is located in Mētam and Mithunam rāshi-s, receives hardly any rain.
During the bharani and Karthika njattuvela, i.e. from the 14th Metam [latter
part of April] to the 10th of Edavam [about the end of May]308, which is also
the auspicious time when the seeds sown for dry seed cultivation. There is
sufficient rainfall in Makiran njāttuvēla. The time for sprout cultivation is
during the Makiram njāttuvāla, which begins from the 23rd of Edavam and
lasts until the seventh of Mithunam. There is torrential rain during the
Thiruvāthira njāttuvēla, which starts from 7th Mithunam to the 23rd
Mithunam]. The transplanted cultivation in both mixed and mono crops
begins during the period of Tiruvathira njattuvela.309 The rainfall in
Punartham njāttuvēla is heavy and there happens high rainfall in āyilyam
njattuvela too. There is heavy rain in Aththam njāttuvēla as well. There is
rainfall in Mīnam month and mild showers in Kumbham. Enough rain is there
in Pūyam and Chōthi njāttuvēlas.

308
K P Padmanabha Menon, History of Kerala, Vol.1, [AES Reprint, Delhi, 1984], pp.96-
97.
309
Ibid.

320
 According to the calculation of rains and the agrarian calendar so
formulated310, it is suggested that Rēvathi, Ashvati, Bharani and Kārthika
njāttuvēlas are for the cultivation of first crops, while Āilyam and Makam
njāttuvēlas are for second crop in a year. Ashvati and Bharani are best for
virippu cultivation. Sowing started either in ashvati or in bharani njāttuvēlas.
In Ashvati njāttuvēla, long-term viruppu seeds sown while the short-term
seeds are in Bharani. Bharani njāttuvēla is favourable for mōdan cultivation
in parambus. It is also cultivated in Kārthika and Rōhini njāttuvēlas. The
elevated lands called palliyāls in the south Malabar where there cultivated the
paddy seeds called olivitha. Long-term crops called mundakan is also
cultivated in Āyilyam and Makam njāttuvēlas. The long-term mundakan seeds

310
Bucanan has reported an account given by the cultivators regarding the weather
condition that exixted in Malabar in the beginning of the 19th century .We also assume
that this weather condition, especially the monsoon, must have been existed more or
less same to the period under discussion . During the Kanni – [14th September 14th
October] there is considerable quantity of rain and strong winds from the westward and
much thunder during this period. Tulam-[15th October to 13th November] the westerly
winds generally continue but the rains abate, come once only in four or five days. They
are accompanied by much thunder.Vrichika 14th November -12th December] or
sometimes in Tulam, the wind change to the eastward,or four or three times in the
course of this month there comes heavy rains from the eastward. In Dhanu [13th
December 11th January] there are strong winds from the south there are strong fogs
throughout this month but seldom rain. In Makaram [12th January -9th February] there is
no Rain and less fog. The winds are easterly and strong. The jackfruits are ripe during
this month. In Kumba [10th February -11th March] there are strong easterly winds, but
no rain the weather begins to get hot.Mangoes are in season.In Minam [12th March -10th
April] there is seldom any rain and most of the rivulets become dry.the weather is hot,
with slight breezes from the eastward.Medam [11th April - 11th May] the winds change
to the westward and there are four or five heavy showers accompanied by thunder this is
the commencement of ploughing season.In Idavam[12 may-11th June]the winds are
westerly and not strong there is moderate rains for the first half of the month . Towards
the end of the month, rains become very heavy with much thunder. Mithuna [12th June –
13th July] the rain increase with strong westerly winds with much thunder. Karkitakam [
14th July-13th August ] there is less thunder but westerly winds and the rains increase in
violence . In Chingam [14th August- 13th September] the rains and wind somewhat abate
and the thunder is moderate, Bucanan, A Journey From Madras through Mysore,
Canara, and Malabar.Vol.2.op.cit., pp.427-429.

321
sown in the seedbeds during the time the Bharani [Medam month] njāttuvēla
itself. 311

Observation of the various aspects of climate, weather, season etc and

their influence on water management and soil type has a profound impact in
the production operations like ploughing, seeds and their preservation,
sowing, transplantation of seedlings etc. The labour practices involved in
preparing lands, sowing, planting / transplanting, manuring, caring at the
different stages of growth of plants, weeding, pest controlling are very
essential part of the knowledge of cultivation process. The njāttuvēla system
was formulated on the availability of water in monsoons as well as the close
observation of the movements of the stars and the moon that deeply
influenced the practices of agriculture. The practices of agriculture knowhow
and technics percolated and transmitted through the continuation of these
practices in agriculture operations, sometimes, certain information are also
transmitted in the form of proverbs. However, knowledge related to
agriculture operations developed through agriculture practices and must have
been sustained by the labour process involved in it.

Importance of Cultivation Operations and Labour Process in Multiple

Economies

The various forms of cultivation operations in wetland discussed above

indicate the fact that the wetland paddy economy that existed with different
forms of cultivation practices did not provide the sufficient surplus of staple
food items to various groups of the people. However, we have analysed the
cultivation of mixed crops and development of pattern of multi crops mostly
in the laterite parambu areas which were also used for both food and
commercial purposes. Variety of mixed crops including the crops cultivated

311
C K Sujithkumar, Krishimalayālam, op.cit., pp.227-231.

322
in slash and burn method or punam and forest produces in addition to variety
of spices indicate the importance of multiple economy in which various
products cultivated in both laterite and alluvial soil and also in the forested
hilly areas. It also indicates the importance of the cultivation operations and
the labour processes that are involved in the multiple economies which
provided various forms of resources that sustained the economy and society in
the region under discussion.

The labouring groups consisted of the primary producing groups, the

kutis who made accessories to agriculture operations and a large number of
people of cultivating kutis mainly subsisted on corns other than paddy like
chāma and tina; fruits, tubes, yam, leaves etc and paddy was never a main
staple subsistence item of the producing class who constituted the majority of
the population in the region under discussion. It indicates the importance of
the non-paddy items as staple food items of the producing class; many a
number of mixed crops mainly cultivated in purayidams - parambu and
elevated lands. It reveals the importance of non- wet land produces, including
paddy cultivated on slash and burn method in the elevated areas, as far as the
subsistence of the majority of population are concerned, the products in the
parambu-purayitam and the forest produces.

It also makes the point clear that the historical narrations that give
importance to the wetland cultivation and centrality of paddy economy falied
to address the importance of the multiple economies. The social formation
process and the political structure in early medieval period are explained
exclusively on the basis of wetland paddy economy in such narrations. These
narrations do not take into account the existance of the multiple economies
and the development of various production forms and different modes of
appropriations involved in it. It should also be noted that any fruitful
explanation to the development of resource base for the formation of a

323
stratified society and its polity must take into account the ways in which the
various forms of resources had been genarated in the multiple economies, the
modes by which the resources was appropriated resulting in the formation of
stratified society and the development of agrarian hierarchy. The problems
involved in the production process and the formation of agararian hierarchy
are explained in the next chapter.

324
 Production Process and the Formation of
Agrarian Hierarchy

K.S. Madhavan “Primary producing groups in early and early medieval Kerala:
Production process and historical roots of transition to castes (300-1300 CE)”
Thesis. Department of History , University of Calicut, 2012
 Chapter Three
Production Process and the Formation of
Agrarian Hierarchy

The people who settled in each eco – cultural zone [tinai] were clan groups
who followed distinct forms of livelihood during early historic period.
During this period kin groups and labouring groups were not differentiated
and the kin groups were synonymous with labouring people. Hence, kinship
and livelihood forms were indispensably interrelated. People lived as clan
groups and a clan consisted of extended families of kinsmen called ki½ai and
kin relation was the base of the settlements. The extended kin groups were
divided in accordance with the lineage traced through elders and younger
members known as muthiyar and i½aiyar. Therefore, kutimākkal formed a
kinship group and they, including women, engaged in subsistence activities in
each tinai. Therefore, familial kin labour was the principal form of labour of
the various clans who practiced different life activities in multiple economies.
They lived in chirukuti and identified as chirukutiyān. The kutimākkal were
called by their life activities to mark their collective identity as kinship groups
in a settlement.
These early migrants cleared and reclaimed the biomass deposited and
silted areas in the river valleys and the estuarine plains for cultivation and
became the early settlers in this area. Formation of kutis in the riverine areas
in the midland became important as a productive space created by cultivators
for settled agriculture in river valleys and water-laden areas. The formation of
land holding groups from settler cultivators and the emergence of households
became cardinal in the expansion of agriculture. Apart from this a number of
Brahman settlements proliferated in the riverine areas as the chiefs and their
retinue donated productive lands to settle the Brahmans. The labour activities
in such Brahman settlements were also done by the kutis and the labouring

325
groups. The social groups called izhichinan who engaged in agricultural
labour was attributed a status of izhipirapālan, one who is born in low social
status.

From the above discussion we find a process of transition had taken

place by which certain groups among the settler cultivators had been
transformed into cultivating kutis who retained some elements of clan identity
and cultural features and continued to be settled as kutis. This also signifies
the transformation that occurred in the nature of kuti settlements from the
chirukuti in tina -varaku zone to the uzhakuti settlements in the river valleys
and water-laden areas in the midland. This process of transition occurred due
to the development of surplus production in both wetland and mixed crop
cultivation in the parambu areas, which transformed certain groups of the
settler cultivators into cultivating kutis and labour collectives.

When cultivation expanded and settlements proliferated, a labour force

of permanent nature was required to reclaim water logged areas and to slash
and burn in the river valleys and in harnessing the silt deposited marshy
plains. The expansion for the multi crops in the parambu and compound sites
also required large number of agricultural labourers. It was because of the
expansion of agriculture operations in water laden and riverine areas and in
the parambus that there emerged labouring population of permanent nature in
the ūrs in both laterite and in the wetland areas. The social division of labour
that developed in the ūr settlements of the settler cultivators also developed a
group who tried to control productive lands and to make use of labour in the
kutis. They developed as the land holding households from the settler
cultivators. The labouring populations variously called Kalamar, Kāvalar,
Arinar or Thozhuvar were engaged in various labour activities in the ūr
settlements, which were the production localities.

326
 The further expansion of agriculture required a servile population
which was met by bringing non-agricultural labourers and primordial settlers
from outside. The people who practiced punam cultivation and foraging
activities in the hilly areas were brought for reclaiming lands and cultivation
in the river valleys and the water logging areas. They were also employed for
irrigation activities to manage the floodwater, building embankments etc, in
addition to agriculture operations. They were also engaged in cultivation of
multi crop production in the parambu areas. They became the primary
producers in the social form that came into being. They were treated as
Izhichinan, of low socio-cultural status. The chirumākkal in the chirukutis in
the hilly forested areas who were also brought into the wetland agriculture as
laboring groups. It was from these groups that Pulayar and Cherumar of later
years developed and their condition of existence is denoted by the terms like
Āl or Adiyār in the epigraphical documents.

Production and Resource Generation in Multiple Economies

The epigraphical documents refer to a number of land and labour terms

indicating the existence of multiple modes occupational pattern in a diverse
environment, which must have developed from the socio-cultural and
economic world that existed in the early historical period. The multiple
economies that developed from early historical period also continued and
sustained different groups of people with their distinct life worlds. The
wetland agriculture in the riverine and riparian plains including the estuarine
lands was developed as part of the settlement of the settler cultivators and
cultivating kutis in the riverine areas and riparian plains. Similarly, the mixed
crop cultivation in parambu areas mostly in the laterite region also sustained
various groups 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. Foraging activities and collection

327
of forest produce developed along with punam cultivation. This shows the
development of multiple economies in the region, which sustained different
groups of people engaged in various livelihood practices. Various types of
land use forms and terms pertaining to labour activities referred to in the
documents indicate the utilization of productive land spaces in the wet land
and parambu areas for wet crops and mixed crop cultivation, forested and
pastoral spaces for foraging, collection of forest produce and hunting and
punam cultivation for millets and paddy. It indicates the expansion of diverse
occupational pattern of different social collectives.

The riverine and riparian areas in the major river valleys were occupied
by people from the hilly areas. The productive spaces reclaimed in the water
logging areas in the flood plains led to the emergence of the production
localities called ūr settlements of the settler cultivators from whom the
cultivating kutis and group of labouring population developed. Agriculture
operations in wetland areas including cultivation in estuarine lands developed
a number of households among the settler cultivators. The social division of
labour that developed in these settlements also led the cultivating kutis, servile
labouring groups and the kutis who made accessories to agriculture
production. The settlements of the Brahmans were also developed in the
wetland and riverine area mainly because the chiefs and their retinue helped
the Brahmans to settle which came to be also known as ūrs. The cultivating
kutis and servile populations did substantial part of the labour in production
operations in the riverine and wetland areas where Brahman settlements also
proliferated. This was due to the patronage given by the prominent land
holding groups and chiefs.

Development of parambu cultivation in the laterite areas started from

the early historical period and it was linked with the millet zone. The
expansion of the parambu cultivation was accelerated with the movement of

328
the people into the river valleys and riparian areas and the wet land. The most
important aspect of the development of the parambu cultivation was the
development of varieties of mixed crops, which sustained different groups of
people who followed various forms of livelihood practices. The number of
crops including spices developed in the mixed crop areas in the parambus
which led to internal exchange networks. The reciprocal manner in which the
livelihood forms developed in the wet land and parambu areas gave impetus
to the development of parambu and wetland areas in a reciprocal manner.1

The settlements and livelihood practices that developed in both areas

were subjected to environment and resources used in each area that also
influenced the formation of socio-economic life of those who engaged in it.
The ūr settlements of the settler cultivators became the production localities
and nerve centre of the agriculture operations in both wetland and parambu
areas. The terms mentioned in epigraphical documents pertaining to punam
cultivation and foraging activities in relation to wetland and mixed crop
cultivation indicates the interrelated and interdependent development of
various life activities in the multiple economies that existed in the region
under discussion.

There developed the coexistence of economies and movement of

people from one economy to the other and transformations in the labour
activities and resource uses. The land names related to the foraging and
pastoral activities and punam cultivation indicate the existence of the multiple
forms of activities. The produces that reached the temples, mentioned in the
1
Reciprocity is involved in the development of exchange networks in this context and the
notion given by Karl Polanyi in analyzing the exchange process is important. Karl
Polanyi’s idea of reciprocity and redistribution has been ably used to interpret the trade
and exchange process in early and early medieval Kerala , Raghava Varier and Rajan
Gurukkal , Kēralacharithram, Vallathol Vidhyapeetham,Sukapuram ,[1991] 2004],
pp.76-86.

329
documents, indicate that forest produce like sandalwood was included in it.
Documents in Trikkadithanam and Tirunelli temples refer to cultivable lands
within the forest and hilly areas. The produces from such lands must have
reached temples indicating that the forest produces and the produces from the
punam cultivation areas were also part of the revenue of the temples and
Nāttutayavar.2 This is attested in other documents too.3 This shows the
importance of multiple economies, challenges the existing historiographic
understanding that gives centrality to the wet land paddy economy and the
social formation process centered on it and the subsequent development of
state.4 Therefore, we argue that various forms of life activities that emerged
with multiple economies sustained different forms of production process and
corresponding appropriation modes resulting in a stratified social
configuration and the formation of agrarian hierarchy.

Importance of Kutis in the Production Process

The migration and settlement of people from tina-varaku zone to wet land
region was a transformation which is attested in the continuation of certain

2
Land called kīzhkāttiypozhaichēikal donated to the Tirunelli temple[M G S,A-32,L.5]
and the nelvāthilkātu in one of the Trikkadithanam inscriptions indicate the forest land
and the punam cultivating lands were part of the temple lands or produces from such
lands were reached the temples. Certain lands called vettikkarikkātu and
kāttettikarikkātu are mentioned in Trikkakarainscription, M G S, A-25, Ls. [1]6 and
[3]8. Certain perumankādu [Nedumpuram Tali inscription of Kota Ravi, TAS.Vol.8.pp,
Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit.no.10.pp.28-30 ] karikkādu[Trikkkakara inscription of
Bhaskararavivarman ,M G S,A-30], Nelvāthilkādu and karavayalkādu mentioned in
Trikkadithanam inscription indicate the forested area where paddy cultivated[, M G S,
B- 20]. There a number of land names related to forested spaces and punam cultivation
areas in Tiruvalla copper plates, M G S,A-80.
3
The terms like pullēlpaduvana [Tirunandikara inscription of Vikramadithya Varaguna,
TAS.Vol.1.p.42] and perumpullēl [Devidevesvaram plate, op.cit] indicate grazing lands
existed around both the wetland and parambu areas. The term vēli is also meant for
pastoral common lands for grazing [Tiruvalla Plates, M G S, A-80]. The terms like
kīzhkuzhipāzhchelli and mēlkuzhipāzhchelli mentioned in Kuravakavu temple
inscription [M G S,B- 24,] indicate the existence of the pastoral activities done by agro-
pastoral communities.
4
K N Ganesh, State Formation in Kerala: A Critical Overview, [ICHR, Bangalore,
2010],pp20-46.

330
kuti settlements from Sangam period to the ninth century C E as has been
revealed from references to chemmaruthar kudi5, āykudi6 and pērāyakudi7.
The early migrants and settlers are mentioned in a number of inscriptions
from the first half of the ninth century C E. It indicates the relationship
between early migrant settlers to the lands they reclaimed and cultivated.
They are represented in relation to the land or labour terms, which reveal that
these people might have been emerged in the process of reclaim activities
including the production of land spaces and agriculture operations by which
riverine and riparian areas had become productive lands conducting wet land
cultivation. It is important to note that the significant developments that
occurred after the fifth century in which land holding families and cultivating
kutis developed from the settler cultivators. As evident from the records of the
ninth century onwards, the cultivating kutis and the servile labouring
population were located in the ūr settlements of the settler cultivators, in the
lands under the Brahman ūrs, in the chērikkal lands of the Nāttutayavar and
the Perumāl or in the lands donated to the temples by private individuals.
Cultivating kutis and the servile labouring population were located in the
areas consisting of wet lands in the riverine areas and riparian plains,
estuarine lands, parambas and compound sites.

Epigraphical documents of the period under discussion refer to

cultivating kutis who reclaimed wetland areas and conducted agriculture
operations. It shows the expansion of wetland paddy cultivation in the riverine
areas and in the riparian plains. This process is evidently embedded in land
and labour terms.8 Certain Kīrankadambanār9 mentioned in relation to kari
lands in Vāzhapalli plate is indicative of the reclamation and cultivation
5
Puthussery Ramachandran,op. cit.,No.76.L.7.
6
Puthussery Ramachandran,op. cit., No.77, p.129.
7
Ibid, no.123, p.306.
8
The land and labour terms pertaining to the reclaim lands and cultivation process are
discussed in the first chapter.
9
M G S,A-1,L.7.

331
operations done by the settler cultivators and the cultivating kutis in the
marshy area. Certain Pakaithonkan, Thudavar, Mīnachchichirukundurār and
Kurunthorai Kundirār mentioned in Pārthivapuram plate10 are believed to be
cultivating kutis identified with wetland cultivation. Avittaththūr inscription
mentions ivvūrkutikal11, the cultivating kutis settled in the ūr settlement.
Chemmaruthar mentioned in Tirunandikkarai plate indicates the cultivators
settled as kutis, points to the location of a cultivating kuti whose existence
goes back to long historical past.12 Certain Karunantharuman, a settler
cultivator, is identified as a member of a cultivating kuti in the Pāliyam plate13
, also reveals that the cultivating kutis must have developed from the settler
cultivators. Certain Kannakālaiyudaiyār and Thachchanār, the people who
settled as cultivating kutis, were responsible for the creation of wet land
spaces from the marshy area14 for paddy cultivation. Kāraikkādudaiyar,
mentioned in a Trikkakara plate, seems to be a cultivator related to the
cultivating kuti in a wetland area.15 Kōthaiyūr, and pulaiveruvatti mentioned
in a Muzhikkalam inscription16 are indicative of the kuti cultivators and their
production operations in marshy area.

The above examples show that the cultivating kutis cultivated the lands
along with the servile labourers over which the dominant households of the
settler cultivators had certain control. A part of the surplus was donated to the
temple by the dominant households. This led to the proliferation of Brahman
settlements and emergence of Saivite or Vaishnavite structural temples. The
Nāttutayavars who either emerged from the dominant families from the settler

10
Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit., No.75.p115.
11
M G S,A-10,L.14.
12
Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit., No.76.p128.
13
Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit., No.77.pp.129-133.
14
M G S,A-24, Kannakālaiyudaiyārpōttai and thachchanārpōttai .
15
M G S,B-10.
16
M G S, A-37.Kōthaiyūr vayilkādu, nedunganpār, and pulaiveruvatti are part of a
cherikkal lands.

332
cultivators or from the tribal chiefs, donated a share of the produce they
received from the cultivating kutis as obligatory payment and a few attipēr
grants were also donated to the temples by them. The settler cultivators
donated a produce from the lands they controlled and, at times, the productive
land itself was also donated to the temples. The important point is that what
was actually granted was a share of the produce from the land and not the
land as a whole and in case land was granted it was donated attipēr grants.

Ayiranikkalam inscription can be sited as a nodal example to suggest

this process to shows how the cultivating kutis and the labouring population
settled in the ūr settlements and came under the domination of brahmanical
temple. It also reveals the way in which production operations were
conducted by the cultivating kutis who lived in the extended households in the
puras. We find two ūr settlements where cultivation operations developed
both in paddy fields and in the mixed crop lands.17 The production operations
in these ūr settlements were done by cultivating kutis with the labour of the
servile population called Pulayar.18 The descent heads of the extended
families of the cultivating kutis are also referred to in the text as kutipati19 and
the cultivation operations were done with the leadership of the elders of each
extended family of the kutis called kutiyil mūththavan.20 The kutis inhabited
in the pura, the house sites of the cultivating kutis. The land cultivated by the
kutis was the collective possession of the extended households of the kutis,

17
The two ūrs where the lands spaces called kātu ,karai kazhi located to indicate the
forested area near mixed crop cultivating lands, elevated land spaces in the parambu
area and land located near the salt pan respectively. The epithet kīzhvāyanum
mēlvāyanum indicates the land produce and tree produce in both the wetland and the
mixed crop lands. The epithet mullu muyaru mukkan pampu kallum karitum
kanjirakuttiyum iththanaiyum ullodunka indicate the mixed crop lands, Puthusseri
Ramachandran, op .cit., No.8, Ls.3-5.
18
Athikārappetta pulayaralum, ibid L.3.
19
ivvīrandūrilum pathiyaiyum,ibid, L.6.
20
Pūmi kutiyil mūththavalai vazhakkatirai, ibid, L.21.

333
and the kutis controlled the lands they cultivated.21 The term kutiyil
mūththavan or mūththavar refer to the elder members of the cultivating
kutis who managed to cultivate the lands, which the extended households of
the cultivating kutis collectively possessed.

Parambu lands developed from the early historical periods. The

proliferation of settlements and expansion of mixed crop cultivation in the
laterite parambu areas can be seen in many a number of documents of the
period under discussion. Vāzhapalli plate mentions a purayidam of a
cultivating kuti called Kavathi kanna Sankaran puraiyidam22 and a purayidam
of a cultivating kuti located in an ūr settlement is also mentioned.23 Certain
Ittiyaikādar and Nārayanan Chāththan were related to multi culture operations
and compound sites, purayidams, in the laterite parambu areas.24 Similarly,
Kollarchēriavarkal is also related to the cultivation of paramba land.25 The
land spaces related to parambus26 in which the compound sites are located.
Similarly, multi culture garden spaces are mentioned in a number of
inscriptions. Parambus are predominantly multi crop cultivation areas and
purayidams are compound sites located in the parambus where multi culture
operations were also practiced. Chokkur inscription mentions the cultivating
kuti settled in a purayidam called kuraichīkandanpuraiyidam27 and kutiyirikka
puraiyidam28, which show cultivating kutis settled in the compound sites
located in the parambu lands. Ittiyarkadarpuraiyidam and Narayanan

21
Ivvūr kutikalarkkuttu karaipūmi, ibid, L.24.
22
M G S,A-1,L.9.
23
ūrakathu pīlikōttu purayidam,ibid,L.9
24
M G S,A-9
25
M G S,A-30, Kollarchēriyavarkaludayathediyanparambu.
26
pūyaththu parambu and perumparambu[Tirumuzhikkalam inscription of Bhaskara
Ravivarman, M G S,A-37]. āttūttiparambu and chethidanparambu[Tiruvalla Copper
Plate, M G S,A-80].
27
M G S,A-8, L.22. It also mentions certain Chattan Kandan who is a cultivator, ibid,
Ls.27-28.
28
Ibid, L.43.

334
Chaththan puraiyidam mentioned in the Nedumpuram tali inscription29 also
reveals the location of the purayidams of the cultivating kutis in the laterite
parambu areas.

Certain Vayila Kumaran Iyakkan30, Sankara Sridharan31, Thaniyan of

Chirathala32, Maniyan Kandan33 , Iyakkanar of Chalakkkara34 , Kadathiran
Kumaran of Kuveli35, Chandira Sekharanar of thavattikuveri36 and Narayanan
Sankaran of kuruvatteri37 mentioned in the Chembra inscription38 indicate the
existence of cultivating kutis who settled in the mixed crop lands which were
cultivated by their extended families presumably with the help of the labour
of the servile populations. The location of the kuti settlement in an undated
Chembra inscription also indicates the anterior development of this process.39
A share of the produce including the spices from these multi culture lands was
donated to the Chembra temple to meet certain expenses in the temple. The
purayidams mentioned in inscriptions such as Trikakara40, Trikodithanam41,
Kinalur42, Panthalayini43, Kollur Matham44, Kuravakavu45, Kilimanur 46
and

29
M G S,A-9, Ls.26.
30
He and his mother and sister of mother who held the mayilkkara puraiyidam, Chembra
inscription, M R Raghava Varier, op.cit., Ls.9-11.
31
He cultivates certain kunnathu purayidam, ibid, Ls.16-18.
32
He cultivates thirumaleri puraiyidam, ibid, Ls.18-20.
33
He cultivates vengayattu puraiyidam and kottaraveliyakam, ibid, Ls.21-27.
34
He cultivates izhikkattupurayidam, ibid, Ls.27-29.
35
He cultivate kottiyar veliyakam,manathunayar veliyakam,karumara veliyakam,
ibid,Ls.29-31.
36
He cultivates the lands called pallipuram, ibid, Ls.33-35.
37
He cultivates vallakulapattau ,uthiyanpuram , thirumangalam and a purayidam,
ibid,Ls.36-38.
38
M R Raghava Varier, Kēraliyatha Charithramānangal, op.cit.,
39
Ibid.
40
M G S,A-26 and M G S,A-43.
41
M G S,A-64and TAS.Vol.5.Part.2.No.58.
42
M G S,B-23
43
Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit.,No.185,p.387.
44
M G S,B-15.
45
M G S,B-24.
46
Puthussery Ramachandran,op.cit.,No.101.pp.209-210.

335
Mampalli47 across the region suggest the proliferation of compound sites and
the development of parambu cultivation in the region under discussion. It not
only indicates the development of mixed crop cultivation but also the
settlements of the cultivating kutis and the location of the servile labouring
groups attached to such lands. Tiruvalla plates mention as many as 55
purayidams48 in which a number of cultivating kutis must have been settled.
The development of these compound sites is related to the expansion of multi
culture operations in the laterite areas in the midland and to the development
of cultivating kutis and the servile labourers settled in these areas. Thōttam49,
vila and vilākam are mentioned in the epigraphical documents, which also
indicate the cultivation of garden crops including coconut and sugar cane.

Kovinnanār, Paravanār, Pattiar50, tharappalil Unnathan, Inthiran and

Chāntār mentioned in Tiruvanvandur plate51 seem to be settler cultivators who
settled in the kuti settlements, indicate that these kutis or their ancestors might
have been responsible for the reclamation of estuarine lands or the kari and
vaipu lands from water logging estuarine areas. Certain Chirakkaraiyil
mūththavan mentioned in the same document is the elder member of the
cultivating kuti52and kuti, as mentioned elsewhere, must have been the
extended household. Pullan kannan thudava, nāganārthudava and
pulikkonur, thondanār thudavai are related to certain people who might have

47
TAS.4.pp.72-82.
48
M G S,A-80.
49
Thōranathōttam and āndilanthōttam [kollam inscription of Sthanu Ravi, MG S, A-6],
idaithōttanilam and punnaithōtam [Kollur Matham Plates ], nedumanthōttam
[Parthivapuram plate of Kokkarunnadakkar, AD.866], chembakathōttam, pūnthōttam,
perunthōttam and māvaliyālthōttam [Tiruvalla plates, MGS,A-80], arunkādan thōttam
[Tiruvannur inscription, M G S,A-76] and vayirāvanar thōttam [Kollam inscriptions,
TAS.Vol.5.part.1.pp.46-47]. Certain podikkāttuvilai indicates the multi culture
operation like pepper [Kollur Matham Plate].
50
M G S,B-14.
51
M G S,B-13, kovinnanār kari, paravanār kari, indranīlan kari, tharappalil unnathan
vaippu.
52
M G S,B-6.

336
been the original settlers and became part of the cultivating kutis of the area.53
The epithet chēnnankari uzhannavar mentioned in the Tiruvalla copper plate
indicates the existence of cultivating kutis who cultivated the estuarine
lands.54 Tiruvalla Copper Plate mentions as many as 67 kari lands to indicate
the cultivating kutis who cultivated these kari lands in the estuarine areas.55 It
also indicates the reclaim activities of such estuarine land spaces for wet land
agriculture which must have been done with the labour of the servile groups.

The Tarsa Church document mentions kuti settlements in the Kollam

nakaram. Certain nālukuti Īzhavar, one kuti of Vannār are mentioned in this
inscription.56 Two kuti of Chiruviyar, one kuti Thachar, nālu kuti Vellālar 57

and two kutipathis [Punnaithalaipathi and Pūlaikkutipathi] are mentioned to

indicate the cultivating kuti who settled and conduct the cultivation operations
in the lands and the descent heads of extended families of the cultivating kutis
and other kutis of auxiliary occupation. The land where these kutis settled was
donated to the Church of Tarsa. The epithet ippūmiyil kutikalayum 58mentions
the kutis settled in the land and pūmiththalaiyum kutikal pātum, to indicate the
relation between the cultivating kutis and the land they settled.59 Certain
nakarathil kutikal, the kutis settled in the town is mentioned in the Jewish
Copper plate.60 The kutis of Vāniyar and ainkammālar settled in the trade
settlements are mentioned in the Vira Raghava plate.61 Kutis of the auxiliary
occupants to agriculture like craft groups and metalworkers are also
developed as kutis. Cultivating groups were known as kutis and they were
settled in ūr settlements which is taken into account here as production

53
Kollur matham plates, M G S,B-15.
54
M G S, A-80.
55
M G S, A-80.
56
M G S,A-2,Ls.6-8.
57
M G S, A-6, L.2.
58
Ibid, L.18.
59
ibid Ls.20-21.
60
M G S,A-34,L.13.
61
Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit., No.133, L.11.

337
localities. These production localities are located in both laterite and wetland
areas, wetland paddy cultivation areas are located in the alluvial areas where
the production localities of the cultivating kutis began to be subjected to the
domination of the dominant households of the settler cultivators,
Nāttutayavar, and brahman ūrs and to the temples.

The dominant households that developed from the settler cultivators

donated the share of the produce they received from the cultivating kutis to
the temples. The Nāttutayavars were able to establish over lordship over the
lands from where the share of the produce were given to the Nāttutayavars as
obligatory payments by cultivating kutis who settled and cultivated in such
lands. The cultivating kutis gave a share of the produce as obligatory payment
or katama to these Nāttutayavar and at times, Nāttutayavar donated these
share to the temples to meet the offerings they made in these temples.
Majority of the temples are located in the wet land paddy areas where the
Brahman ūrs were developed. The chērikkal lands of the Nāttutayavar and the
Perumāls were also located in wetland areas. Chērikals are also located in the
mixed crop areas where the cultivation operations were done by the
cultivating kutis with the labour of the servile groups. The important aspect in
the formation of the kuti settlements in the laterite area is the development
parambu cultivation and the proliferation of compound sites called
purayidams. The multi culture operations in the paramba areas developed the
settlements of cultivating kutis and the servile labourers, these groups were
located and developed different from that of the wet land area.

We also find that the kuti settlements became part of a tenuarial

relation called kārānmai – mithātchi in the southern part of the region where
the Āy dynasty established overlordship.62 The rest of the region where the

62
The kārānmai –mītatchi form of tenurial dominations were developed from the time of
the Pallavas when the Brahman temples established a tenurial dominance over the lands
from which the share of the produces were donated to the temples. Pulamkurichi

338
overlordship was established either by the Nāttutayavar , ūrālar of the
temples or by the Chēra Perumāls. The land holding households who
developed from the settlers cultivators used to donate the share of the produce
they received from the cultivating kutis. When they donated the share of the
produce to the temples these land-holding households in the ūr settlements
became the kārālar to the temples, as the temples were able to establish
certain tenurial control over such lands where the cultivating kutis engaged in
the production operations along with the labour of the Āl /Adiyār groups. It is
important to note that the cultivating kutis and the primary producers called Āl
or Adiyār were also subjected to the tenurial domination made by the
respective overlords in the areas concerned. The primary producers had been
attached to the lands held by the settler cultivators, Nāttutayavar and other
dominant groups including Brahmans and institutions like temples. The term
Pulayar became a specific term to denote their location in the labour process
in ūr settlements and their condition of servility is attested in the generic
terms Āl and Adiyār. The Āl and Adiyār are generic terms to indicate the
condition of existence of the primary producers in the production process in
both laterite parambu and wetland area where they were tied to the land as
instruments of production.

The development of wetland agriculture in alluvial areas and

multicultural operations in parambus indicate the growth of two forms of
economies that developed the cultivating kutis and the servile groups in
respective areas along with the shifting cultivation and foraging practices.

inscription also mentions such developments, Rajan Gurukkal, The Agrarian System
and Socio- Political Organization Under the Early Pandyas, c. A D 600-1000,
Unpublished PhD Thesis, JNU, New Delhi, 1984, p.21. Velvikuti inscription refers to
the grant of miyatchi and kārānmai rights over the village of Velvikuti, K A N Sastri,
The Pandyan Kingdom,[1929][University of Madras,1972], p. 78. Rajan Gurukkal
studied the kāranmai mītātchi relations developed over the lands mentioned in the
Parthivasekharapuram Plates, Rajan Gurukkal, The Agrarian System and Socio-
Political Organization Under the Early Pandyas, op.cit., pp.109-110.

339
Hunting and collection of forest produce were done by the forest dwellers, the
forest produce like honey, ivory, medicinal herbs, timber of different variety
and aromatic woods were made available at the local markets and from there
reached the ports of trades. Different groups of people engaged in the various
stages of production operations in the multiple economies. People subsisted
largely on the produce from the mixed crops in the parambas and crops
cultivated in shifting cultivation areas including varieties of millets and
mountain paddy. It indicates the fact that the majority of the population in the
region subsisted on the produces from the areas other than the crops cultivated
in wetland paddy area.

Atiyār/ Āl / Pulayar in the Labour Process

Agriculture production in wetland area included paddy, coconut, sugarcane

etc. Mixed crops like millets, lentils, pulses, yams, tubes, fibers and spices
were in the parambus and compound sites. Punan cultivation in the forested
area included the millets of different variety and hill paddy. The kutis
cultivated the lands in both alluvial wetlands and laterite parambus. The
people inhabited in forested spaces engaged in hunting, foraging activities and
collection of forest produce. They also engaged in punam cultivation. It was
in the wetland and parambu cultivation areas that the Āl / Adiyār /Pulayar
groups developed. We have already seen that they developed from the process
of agrarian production that consolidated by the beginning of the ninth century.
The settler cultivators and Brahman ūrs were concentrated in this area in the
beginning and began to spread to the hinterlands in course of time.
Overlordships over the cultivating kutis in the production localities in both
wetland and parambu areas were established by the various Nāttutayavars
who donated a share of the produce they received as kutima to temples. Some
of the Nāttutayavar granted lands and enabled the Brahmans to settle in the

340
productive lands where the cultivating kutis and population were already
settled.63

Pulayar were made to settle near the threshing ground or kalam

adjacent to the cultivating fields64 by either the settler cultivators or
Nāttutayavar and their labour services were required when the wetland
cultivation was expanded in the riverine and riparian areas. It is in this
document that we find the labour of the Pulayar was rewarded in the form of
land or the share of the produce. However, Pulayar were being increasingly
employed as servile labourers when the Nāttutayavar began to collect the
kutima or obligatory payment from the cultivating kutis.

The kutis cultivated lands from where the share of the produce was
donated to the temple by the Nāttutayavars. The kutis themselves were also
forced to give a share of the produce in the form of pāttam to the temples.
This was due to the dominance that the temples acquired over the cultivating
kutis. It was in this context that the generation of surplus became necessary as
the temples became wealthier over period of time. Extension of more
surpluses also necessitated that the primary producing groups were to be
settled to provide labour services in the activities of water management,
irrigation works and other agriculture operations including the protection of
fields as part of the expansion of cultivation in wetland region.

In order to meet the resource requirements of the various groups like

Nāttutayavar and their retinue, the landholding families, Brahmans and
temples, certain form of instituted process of labour realization was
inevitable. It was in this context that the cultivating kutis who in these areas
became subservient tenant cultivators to a number of overlords. Similarly,

63
Tirupparkatal temple inscription and the Tiruvadur inscriptions mention that the
Brahmans were settled by the initiative of the Nātutayavars.
64
Pulērku koduththa īrandēr nilaththinum kizhakkku, Parthivapuram Plate, TAS, Vol.3,
pp.52-56.

341
labouring groups like Pulayar were also subjected to the over lordship of the
temples and the Nāttutayavars.65 Marshy waterborn areas were being
increasingly brought under cultivation using the Pulayar66is one of the
features of the wetland agriculture in this phase of agriculture expansion in
the wetland area.67 The estuarine areas in the Kuttanatu region were
reclaimed and cultivation started68. References to siriyaparayankari and
padinjāyiruparayankari in the epigraphical material indicate, in addition to
Pulayar, servile population like Parayar were also made to settle to reclaim
the estuarine lands and cultivation in these lands.69 This developed a number
of Brahman land holding families in this area.70

Paraiyanpurāy71, paraiyanvalāl72, parayarkāttuchēri73 and

pulaiyanmuthai74 referred to in the documents reveal that the Parayar and
Pulayar groups must have been settled to reclaim land spaces and to conduct
the cultivation operations as part of the expansion of agriculture to meet the
resource requirements of the respective overlords. Certain old land or old
pasture lands called muthai such as karunthāzhemuthai, punalimuthai, were
65
Ivattintlyaikarayum pulaiyum kārāimamitātchi ulladanka iraiyilikōnīkki chemmaruthar
kudiyāga pārthivashēkharapurathuperumakkal kāttūttuvathāga attikkuduttathu,
TAS.Vol.1, p.42.
66
Padunilanīkki ithanakam tholikkottodu kūdappunjaikuttuntharikkurayuzhu kodu
chelluppulayarum, TAS.Vol.1, pp.275-283.
67
This was developed as punjai cultivation in the water-laden areas where it was practiced
as a summer crop and opposed to nanjai.
68
This is discussed in the previous chapter, the arduous labor of the Pulayar made
converted the waterscapes of the estuaries into cultivable fields for paddy cultivation.
69
Kandiyur inscription, TAS.Vol.1, pp.414-417.
70
Kandiyur inscription mention that certain persons such as Dāmōdiran Nārāyanan of
Nandāmanaichchēry and Kāman Sutti of KuttikkāduAkkisharman Nārāyanan of
VayiramanaiNārāyanan, Gōvindan of Vayiramanai, Iyakkan Paramēsvaran of
Punnaichchēry illam, Iyakkan Kēralan Punnaichchēry illam , Kumāran Maniyan of
Thāmarai palli, Kumaran Maniyan of Thāmaraipalli and Kandan Dēvan of
Malliyaichchēry and they became the landholding groups.
71
MGS,A-80.L.249.Certain ‘kāvathiyārpurāy’ mentioned in the Tiruvalla Plate may be
related to the same group, M G S,A.80,L.619.
72
M G S,A-80,L.611.
73
This land term is mentioned in a mid-fourteenth century Saththankulangara inscription,
TAS.Vol.4.pp160-161.
74
M G S,A-80,L.507.

342
being increasingly brought under cultivation.75 It indicates that the old lands
or pasture lands were being brought under wet land cultivation probably with
the labour of people like Pulayar. The references to the land called
kadapanangādu and the Āl attached to this land76 indicates the servile
labouring population must have been employed in the reclamation and
cultivation operations by the landholding groups. Certain chāntārkādu
mentioned in a document indicates the settlement of the laboring population
called Chāntār.77 Reference to pulayannadaipunnu78 in a Chennamangalam
inscription indicates that Pulayar were settled near a waterborne area for the
purpose of reclamation of a marshy land and cultivation in it.

The above examples suggest that the labouring population were

employed for reclaim the water laden areas, conduct irrigation activities and
in a variety of labour activities in the process of agriculture operations in the
wetland areas. The development of Brahman settlements and the proliferation
of structural temples in the ūr settlements, growth of the land holding
households and the consolidation of political power of the Nāttutayavar over
the nātus resulted from the labour realization of the cultivating kutis and the
servile groups in the wetland areas. The institutional mechanism that emerged
under the leadership of the Nāttutayavar and structural temples ensured the
realisation of labour for the expansion of wetland agriculture to meet the
varied resource requirements of the temples, Nāttutayavars and the land
holding households. It reveals the fact that the labouring population called Āl
/ Adiyār were made to settle and they came to be known as Pulayar, Parayar,
Chāntrar etc. The terms like Adiyār and Āl are used as generic terms to
denote their condition of existence as servile groups. The wetland cultivation

75
Land terms thara [L.458] and vadachēripurāy [L.524] mentioned in the Tiruvalla Plates
also indicate the reclamation and cultivation process made by the laboring population.
76
Thiruvalla plate M G S,A-80.L.499.
77
M G S,A-80.L.393.
78
TAS.Vol.6.part.2, pp.189-190.

343
developed in the areas where the land holding households, Nāttutayavar, and
Brahman settlements and the temples held overlordships over the lands where
the cultivating kutis and the labouring population created the surplus.

This process is further expanded into the hinterlands when the wetland
areas in the elevated spaces began to be brought under paddy cultivation
along with the mixed crop cultivation. The Pulayar attached to vayal and kara
lands in kannamangalam79 mentioned in a Trikkakara Plate can be sited as a
significant example in this context. It reveals that the wetlands where Pulayar
were attached were already developed in the production localities.
Landholding households held such lands and these areas had come under the
dominance of the Nāttudayavar when these production localities were made
part of the nātus and the political dominance of the Nāttudayavar. There were
attempts by which Nāttudayavar themselves arranged to settle such
population in chērikkal lands. It is significant to note that kutis who had
cultivated the lands which were held by the landholding families and the kutis
gave both the mēlpāti and kīzhpāti to the Nāttutayavar and to the landholding
families respectively. The mēlpāti, the obligatory payment, made by the kutis
to the Nāttutayavars was in turn donated to the temples by the
Nāttaudayavars to meet the expenditure of certain offerings made by them.
Kannan Kumaran, the Nattudayavar of Kālkarainātu made certain offerings in
the Trikkakara temple, which was met by such donation.80 The kīzhpāti was
also donated to the temple by the land holding households and they became
the kārālar to the temple.

The reference to peruvayal pūmi [land] and Pulayar attached to it

mentioned in a Trikkakara Plate also indicate the expansion of wetland
cultivation using the labour of the primary producers.81 It was in this context

79
Kannamangalathu vayalum karaiyumpulerum, MGS,B-10.
80
M G S,B-10.
81
TAS.3.PP.169-171.

344
that the Nāttutayavar themselves made arrangements to settle the servile
labourours for the reclaiming the lands and to conduct the cultivation
operations in it. Injaithuruththi and kuzhikkāduphūmi, and the servile
population called Āl attached to these lands which held by the Irāman
Māthēvi, the udayavar of Munjinātu82, is a clear indication to such
development.

The reference to vettikarikkāttukolla pūmiyumpulaiyarum83 in a

Trikkakara plate indicates certain process of the agrarian development in
which a slash and burn cultivation area was converted into a wetland
cultivation space by the labour of the Pulayar. This was occurred at a time
when the expansion of cultivation began to be developed under the settler
cultivators who had enjoyed the kīzhpāti or the lower share of the cultivated
lands. The cultivating kutis had to pay the obligatory payment called kutima
to the Nāttutayavar as mērpāti and Kannan Puraiyan, the Nāttudayavar of
Kālkarai nātu, donated his mēlpāthi84, i.e., the obligatory payment he received
from the cultivating kutis, to meet the expenses of certain offerings made by
him to the temple. The households of the settler cultivators also donated their
kīzhpāti85 to the temple to meet their offerings in the same temple.

Certain pāttamālan was nominated to look after the cultivation by

which pāttam or the lease holding became a form of tenurial domination upon
the cultivating kutis and the labouring population. Cultivating kutis became
tenant cultivators and the condition of primary producers like Āl and Pulayar
deteriorated along with the cultivating kutis. The expansion of wetland
agriculture and the fact that labouring groups were attached to the land is

82
Tiruvalla Plates,M G S,A-80.Ls.537-38.
83
M G S,A-25. Certain land called vettikarikkāttukollapūmi, situated to the west to
vāykālichirai [tank] and east to idaichirai, and Pulayar attached to it are transferred to
Trikkakara temple.
84
īppūmi mērpāthiyum paniyum konu, ibid.[2]1.
85
Mattepāthikkum.

345
indicated by the term puleverupatti in Muzhikkalam inscription.86 Another
document suggests87 that lease holding had become a feature of wet land
agriculture and tenant cultivators became a subject population to the overlords
along with the servile population. The Āl settled in the land as primary
producer is also mentioned in an Uliyannur plate is important.88

The growth of the servile labourers in the ūr settlements where settler

cultivators developed is a reflection of the development of agriculture. In the
riverine areas such lands came under the over lordship of the Chēra Perumāl
who donated two such ūrs settlements to the Ayiranikkalam temple.
Ayiranikkalam inscription mentions89 that the two ūrs were granted along
with the Pulayar attached to the lands in the ūrs. The epithet athikārapetta
pulayaralum90 indicates that the Pulayar were attached to the ūrs . This
labouring population must have been transferred along with the lands they
settled when the ūrs settlements were made part of the political domination of
the Chēra Perumāl and was donated to the temples by the members of the
royal lineage.

Expansion of cultivation in multiculture lands including the forested

area and in wetland can be seen in the Kilimānūr plates, which mentions
kilimānūr pūmiyum kādum karayum karapurayidaththinide māniyam.91 The

86
Tirumuzhikkalam inscription, TAS, Vol.2.No.7 [k].pp.45-46. It is important to mention
the terms puleruvetti and vettikarikkatu pumi as these terms indicate the Pulayar were
being attached to these lands. It also important that certain lands called chennīr vetti is
mentioned in a Chola inscription to indicate the compulsory labour and the term āl is
also mentioned in the inscription, Y Subharayalu, ‘State and Society during the Cōla
Period’ in R Champakalakshmi etl,[Eds] State and Society in Pre-Modern South
India[Cosmo Books Trissur,2002],pp.92-94[see appendix].
87
Certain peruvayal pūmi [land] and Pulayar attached to it is mentioned in a Trikkakara
inscription, TAS.3.PP.169-171[M G S,A-24].
88
Mithunukku molla pūmiyum ālum, TAS.Vol.7, part.2, No.15, p.98 [M G S, C-38].
89
Puthusseri Ramachandran, op cit, No.8.
90
Ibid, L.3.
91
Sri Vira Ādichcha Varma Tiruvadi of Venad ordered to give the village of Kilimānūr
with the forest, arable land, compound site, and kutis settled in it, TAS.Vol.5
Part.1.pp.63-85.

346
cultivating kutis and the labouring groups settled in the lands, kādum karayum
karapurayidavum ālum kūda92 and kādum karayum karapurayidavum ālum.93
The forested land spaces adjacent to compound sites in the parambas are
granted to the Tripalkatal temple, indicating that the labouring population
called Āl were an integral part of the mixed crop cultivation in the parambu
region in the midland. Development of the labouring population called Āl in
the mixed croplands was different from their counterparts in the wetland areas
as cultivation operations and labour process in the mixed crop cultivation
areas were different from the wetland areas. Similarly, Perunchellur
inscription mentions nilam and purayidam and the Āladiyār attached to such
lands94, indicates that the labouring groups belonged to the Āladiyār were
indispensible part of the parambu lands. The names of a number of
purayidams and parambus mentioned in epigraphical documents indicates
that the large extent of laterite area where a variety of mixed crops was
cultivated. References to parambu produces also indicate the expansion of
cultivation in parambu areas and in the forested areas adjacent to the
parambus.

The complexities involved in the division of labour in both wetland

and parambu lands and in foraging activities and shifting cultivation show
that there developed a number of groups among the cultivating kutis in terms
of occupational diversity. Kutis who engaged in metal working and carpentry
and the labouring groups like Pulayar, Parayar, Chantarar etc came to be
mentioned. This was a complex process by which the labouring population
consisted of people who involved in the agriculture operations in both
wetlands and parambu areas like irrigation workers, bund makers in water
logging areas, ploughmen, the field watchmen [kāvalar], the gatherers of

92
Ibid, L.8.
93
Ibid, L.50
94
pūmi nūrupothi viththupādum thangalkolla āladiyāreyum panayamāka vaipichchu,
Adharam, op.cit., Ls.12-13.

347
leaves and hides, the cattle herd, makers of agricultural implements, the
makers of bamboo products and so on. The cultivating kutis, kutis of
auxiliary occupants and labouring groups continued to settle in the ūr
settlements as producing class. The kutis who were also kinship collectives
from whom the dominant persons and descent heads developed came to be
called kutipatis who also possessed productive lands. The cultivating kutis
had to give a share of the produce to such kutipatis.

Development of Landed Intermediaries

The formation of settler cultivators in both wetland and parambu areas was
part of a transitory process by which the riverine and riparian areas were
reclaimed. Systematic cultivation started and settlements proliferated. The
expansion of cultivation and proliferation of settlements developed in the
parambu areas where the settler cultivators played a pivotal role in the
process of agrarian development. The cultivation and proliferation of
settlements from the early historical period and the growth of the settler
cultivator was part of this process. Epigraphical references on the settler
cultivators are available from the first half of the ninth century onwards,
which indicate a number of settler cultivators as having located both in
wetland and parambu areas, the anterior locations of such group in the region
can be traced to a few centuries back when the area began to be occupied by
the migrant people from the Mullai-Kurinchi region.

Vāzhaipalli plate mentions certain Kāvathi Kannan Sankaran, a private

individual, who held certain puraiyidam, is an indication to this group95 who
must have been settled in the parambu area where mixed crops were
cultivated. The people called omayanāttār, chengazhunāttūr, mudalānāttar,
padappanāttar and valluvanāttar mentioned in Parthivapuram inscription

95
M G S,A-1,L.9.

348
indicating the development of cultivating groups in the ūr settlements.96 The
development of garden lands called tho¶¶am and the multicultural operations
including coconut found mention in the Kollam plate in which certain
punnaithalai Āndilan held thōttam lands. It is possible that he might have
been a member of an extended household of the settler cultivators.97 Certain
Karkottupurathu Kadamban Kumaran seems to have belonged to a household
and donated land [thannudaiya] to the Chōkkur temple.98 The document also
attests the expansion of cultivation in both wetland and parambu areas. The
same document also mentions certain Kuraichīkandan who settled in a
puraiyidam located in a parambu area and Chāttan Kandan who held certain
thūni extend of land were part of the cultivating families donated a share of
the produce to the temple.

Certain Nārayanan Anki and Thirakānthan are stated to have been

cultivators who held dominant status as landholders donated a share of the
produces to meet the expenses of the temple of Tiruppangodu.99 An individual
called Iravi Ādichchan made certain offerings in the Trippunittura temple.100
The paramour land and puraiyidam mentioned in Chembra inscription is
clear indication to the development of cultivating groups in both wetland and
parambu areas. The two witnesses mentioned in the document seem to have
been cultivators.101 Certain individuals, mentioned in a Trikkakara plate, seem
to have belonged to the cultivating households in the ūr settlements donated
their share of produce [kīzhpāti] to the temple to meet the expenses of the
offerings they made in the temple.102 It not only indicates the emergence of

96
Puthussery Ramachandran , op. cit. , pp.115-126.
97
M G S,A-6,L.14.
98
M G S,A-8
99
M G S,A-13,Ls.32-33 and 71-72.
100
M G S,A-16,L.3.
101
M R Raghava Varier, Kēralīyatha Charithra mānangal, op.cit., pp.99-134.
102
M G S,A-25 they are Pōzhan Kumaran of mēlthali, Ūran Nakkan Kēralan, Ūran
Chēnnan, Kōtha Iravi of vantalachēri, Chinkapirān Kumaran of Mēthali,Ūran kumaran
Chāmi Kannan and Ekkan Pōzhan of Venpamala. The prefix ūran to the names of these

349
landholding families from settler cultivators in the ūr settlements but also
points to the fact that brahmanical temples increasingly received donations as
produces from the settler cultivators103. Kēsavan Sankaran who settled in a
puraiyidam in a parambu area and Kannan Kumaran of kārilam who made
certain offering in the Trikkakara temple seem to have been the landholding
groups in the ūr settlement.104 The witnesses mentioned in the document are
also members of land holding households.105

The development of the structural temples resulting from largely made

the dominant groups and the Nāttutayavars made possible that the temples
became a center of gold deposit. Certain Kōthai Kēralan of chirumattapuzhai
donated certain quantity of gold to the Trikkakara temple.106 The dominant
groups who developed from the settler cultivators took this gold deposit
against landed property on pledge can be seen in a few documents. Certain
Tuppa Narayanan and Tuppan Krishnan who received gold by pledging the
lands they collectively possessed.107 Those who received this gold from the

people indicate these groups must have originated from a long historical past when the
wetland region had been started to cultivation and settlement.
103
M G S,A-25 , They are ; Thēvan Chāttan of Attānikkōttam, Kēralan Nārāyanan of
Ilamthuruththi, Kanda Nārāyanan of perumthottam, parambudaiya Kumaran, Kanda
Nārāyanan of kuppavāzhkai,Kēralan Srikumāran, Kumāra Nārāyanan of parambudaiya,
chiraiyankōttu Iravi Vāsudēvan, kannan Pōzhan of pantrithuruththi, Kannan Kumaran of
ventalamanal,Kottan Puraiyan of kīzhakam,Kandan Puraiyan of Kuntriyur, Ūran Kottan
Kōthai , Ūran Unnichirukandan,Ūran Kumaran Chirukandan,Ūran Pōzha
Nārāyanan,Pōzhan Chāttan of velliyāmpalli and Sankaran Kumaran of pullipalli. The
witnesses mentioned in the document also seem to have belonged to the cultivating
households.
104
M G S,A-26,Ls.[2].3 and [5].3.
105
M G S,A-26, they are; Thēvan Thēvan of malapuram, Kēsavan Sankaran of
perumanaikōttam, Pōzhan Nārāyanan of Kulassēkhara Pattanam, Ūran Pōzhan
Chirikandan, Pōzhan Chāttan of velliyanpallli, Kumaran of malaiyilmpalli.
106
M G S,A-28,L.[1]5.
107
Trikkakara inscription, M G S,A-30,L.[3]1. Witnesses mentioned in the document are
belonged to settlements of the cultivators; they are Chāttan Kumaran of Velliyānpalli
and Kālan Gōvinnan of nedumkollil.

350
temple by pledging their collective landed possession also happened to be part
of the landholding households.108

Two cultivators, mentioned in one of the Trikkakara inscriptions,

Nakkan Iravi and Adichchan Iravi, who cultivated the land called
kannamangalam in chirumattapuzhai109, donated the produce from this land to
meet certain offerings in the Trikkakara temple. Certain Kōtha Nārayanan of
Cherumattapuzha and Kanda Nārāyanan of Mākkannapalli seem to have been
the land holders. 110 This indicates that the emergence of temples as centers of
wealth power was a result of increased and the subsequent rise of wealthy
landholding households and groups.111 The dominant group who developed
from the cultivators can also be seen as ūridavakai Vellālar in a Tirunelli
inscription.112 It reveals that such groups were also important functionaries of
the polity of the Nāttutayavar. There also developed the tendency of donating
landed property to the temples by the cultivators and landholders.113

Another significant development was the growth of the idaiyītar who

must have been developed from the land holding families114 in the ūr
settlements. The descend heads called kudipathis, also must have been
developed from the cultivating households in the ūr115 and thereby

108
M G S,A-28,L.[2]1-2, they are Thēva Nārayanan of ilamkulam and his brothers,
Thēvan Subramanyan, Thēvan Chuvākaran and Thēvan Chēnnan.
109
M G S,A-45.
110
Trikkakara inscription, M G S,A-44. Certain Gōvinnan Kuntrapōzhan of kulavāyini is
mentioned as the cultivator in one of the Trikkakara inscriptions, M G S,A-35,Ls.3-4.
111
Certain persons mentioned as witnesses in one of the Trikkakara inscriptions seem to be
cultivators of ūr settlements [M G S,A-41], they are Kesavan of neythalmangalathu,
Kesavan of Perumanakkadu, Narayanan of vandapadi , Chattan Chennan and Kannan
Chennan.
112
M G S, A-36, L.8.
113
One of the Tirukkadiththanam inscriptions mentions that certain Yakkan Gōvinnan of
mulankādu submitted certain lands to the temple, M G S,A-38,Ls.3-4
114
Certain Thenchēri Chēnnan Thāyan whose landed property had been confiscated due to
his mismanagement in the temple wealth was an idaiytan to the Trikkadiththanam
temple and he is also the land holder in an ūr settlement, M G S,A-64.
115
Perunnai inscription mentions, kāpālimangalathum muttūttum olla kudipathikal, M G
S,A-68.There are also references to the kutipatis who took important position in the

351
incorporated to the polity of the Nāttutayavar and subsequently to the Chēra
Perumāl. Tiruvalla copper plates mention a number of groups who held lands
as the collective property of the extended families and donated either the
lands or the share of the produce from the lands they held to the temple.116

Narayanan Chandrasekharan of idanadu made certain offerings in the

Kandiyur temple and he donated the kārānmai share of certain lands to meet
its expenses.117 Yakkan Kothai of Iravimangalam is stated to have been a
dominant landholder in one of the Trikkakara temple inscriptions.118 A
cultivator, murukanāttu Sankaran Kuntrapōzhan, held dominant position in
the ūr settlement, instituted certain offering in the Triprayar temple.119 Kothai
Chandiran of kuppaiyarpulam and Kothai Manavijayan seem to be part of
landholding group instituted certain offerings in the Pukkottur temple and
they made arrangement to meet the expenses from certain lands120held by
them. Mampalli plates mentions cultivators who held dominant position in

Kollam inscriptions as punnithalaipati and pūlaikutipati,M G S,A-2 and A-6. In the

former case, they were delegated to collect the āttaikkōl from the Perunnayil ūr
settlement and in the latter the transaction of land was made in the presence of the
kutipatis to the Tarsa Charch.
116
Mulaiyil Nambu Nāranan donated share of the produce from certain lands to meet the
expenses of his offerings in the Tiruvalla temple [M G S,A-80,L.106] is said to be a
settler cultivator. Nambi Raman of Komakattil, Pallamudaiyar[Ibid.L.152], Ponni
Yakka Nayan of kidanguparal made certain offerings and donated the produces from
lands they held collectively. Kesavan Kandan,Pallamudaiyar,Kesavan Thayan,Kunnan
Govinnan of pallam [Ibid,L.461.], Thevan Chennan of madaman and Ayyan
Godavarman of ponjikkara were part of the settler cultivators who donated a share of
the produce from the lands they held to the Tiruvalla temple to meet the expenses of the
offerings they made in the temple. Kōilpurathu Chennankumaran and his nephews held
certain lands in thēngavēlikōnam [Ibid, L.544-545] and Kovinnan Achchuthan and his
nephews granted one – fourth of produce on a land called panichchaviruthi to the
temple were part of the settler cultivators [Ibid,L.552]. Thayan Vikraman of kizhcheri is
also mentioned as a cultivator.
117
Puthussery Ramachandran, op .cit., no.154, pp.351-352.
118
M G S,B-10.
119
M G S,C-31.
120
M G S,C-23.

352
the ūr settlements and donated the large extent of landed property to the
Virakeralapuram temple.121

Production Localities and the Brahman Settlements

Formation of Brahman settlements seems to have developed from the early

historical periods when individual Brahmans were patronised and given
productive lands by chiefs. As Brahmans received lands as gifts the kutis who
were already settled in those lands became subject population to the Brahman
settlements. This process started from early historical period and individual
Brahman households called mangalams developed outside these Brahman
villages.122 As ūr settlements of the settler cultivators widened the production
localities increased. This led to the growth of land holding households which
in turn accelerated the development of the Brahman settlements. The rise of
temples in the Brahman settlements changed the character of the Brahman
settlements which led to the consolidation of the brahmanial power over the
cultivating groups. However, the settlements of the settler cultivators and the
cultivating kutis outside these Brahman settlements were larger in number and
large extent of land was cultivated in these settlements than that of the
Brahman ūrs. Thus the proliferation of the Brahman settlements and the
enlargement of the resource base of these settlements would not have been
possible without having the resource pooling from the settlements located
outside the Brahman settlements where cultivating kutis and the laboring
groups generated the resources.

The efforts made by the Nāttutayavar for the expansion of the nātu
territories brought the ūr settlements of the settler cultivators and the
cultivating kutis under the overlordship of the Nāttutayavar in the nātus. The
Brahmans also sided with the Nāttutayavar and participated in the process of

121
Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit., pp.214-218.
122
K N Ganesh, Historical Geography of Natu in South India, op.cit.,p. 13.

353
making control over the cultivating settlements by way of ritual and
ideological legitimacy to the political power of the Nāttutayavar. It was
actualised through embellishing the cultural idioms, which incorporated the
land holding groups and the ruling families into the rituality of the temples,
perpetuated the offerings and donations to the temples in the form of share of
the produce, productive lands and other precious materials etc. The dominant
groups like settler cultivators, Nāttutayavar and their retinue and others
granted the share of the produce, from the lands where the cultivating kutis
and the labouring groups engaged in the production operations, to the temples
in the form of donations.

Certain legal and juridical forms were formulated by the temples in

which the discourse of sin and fear was used to control the land holding
groups and the cultivating kutis. The tenurial practices that were evolved to
ensure the resource requirements of the temple were protected through the
rituality and cosmological worldview, which made the temples parasitic
institutional and incorporative structures. The Brahman settlements and the
temples began to proliferate as the Nāttutayavars made the Brahmans to settle
in the production localities of the settler cultivators where the cultivating kutis
had already settled and cultivated. The institutional dominance and
ideological supremacy of the temples and Brahmans resulted in ensuring the
donations from the households of the landholding groups and the chiefs. They
donated a share of the produce they received from the cultivating kutis to the
temples. This situation enabled the temples to establish certain tenurial
control over the lands in the production localities located outside the Brahman
settlements from where the produce was donated to the temples. This was a
long process which proliferated the Brahman settlements and the temples
corresponded to the expansion of cultivation in river valleys, estuarine areas
and in the mixed crop parambu areas on the one hand, and the development
of nādu formation in the midland regions and subsequently consolidation of

354
political authority of the Nāttudayavas over the production localities of the
settler cultivators and cultivating kutis on the other. This is led to the rise of a
number of occupational and service groups in the production and
redistributive process as well.

The land holding families were also in need of the cultural resources of
the brahmans and the ideological legitimacy of the temples as majority of the
landholding families developed from the settler cultivators. The Brahmans
sought the political and the physical protection of the Nāttudayavars and
Nāttutayavars were in need of the ritual and ideological legitimacy from the
temples and brahmans. It made the Nāttudayavar and brahmans to undertake
expansive efforts to make control over the agrarian surplus generated by the
cultivating kutis and the primary producing groups. It not only resulted in the
political dominance of the Nāttudayavars over more and more production
localities where the cultivating kutis settled but also to increase the donations
made by the Nāttutayavars including the ruling households and the land
holding groups in the form of the share of the produce cultivated by the
cultivating kutis and the primary producers settled in the production localities
to the brahmanical temples.

The structure and location of Brahman ūrs and the functioning of

brahmanical temples located in these ūr settlements have become important in
this context. The term ūr is meant for any settlements and the settlements of
Brahman and other groups were also known as ūr settlements. However,
historiography on early and early medieval Kerala increasingly prioritized
Brahman ūrs in understanding social formation process. Yet being
conspicuous by the silence on ūrs and settlements of communities and groups
other than that of the Brahmans.

355
 The earliest epigraphic reference to ūr settlements is in the Vazhapalli
plate.123 Similarly, certain ūrmaraiyār124 or ūrār is mentioned to indicate the
Brahmans settled in the ūrs. The epithet ūrkkumpuramāvithu, that a Brahman
could be expelled from the ūr, also indicates those who settled in the Brahman
ūrs.125 The ūrār of the Thāzhekātu gave certain land to the traders [vānikar,
namely Chattan Vatukan and Iravi Chattan of manikkiramattār to build a
pītikai [shop].126 Certain ūrum pothuvālum is mentioned in a Trikkadithanam
inscription.127 The epithet peruneythal ūrum pothuvālum has become
important in this context.128 Thirumūzhikkalathu ūr is also reveals the
importance of the ūr settlement.129 Brahman settlement was made by way of
donating productive lands to the Brahmans by the ruling families. This was
made above the settlements of the settler cultivators and cultivating kutis who
were already settled. In this sense, all most all Brahman settlements were
being raised in the productive lands where the kutis were already settled and
were cultivating the land.

The lands donated to the Brahmans were part of the settlements where
people had already settled as its original settlers. Brahmans were donated with
productive lands and they were not cultivators themselves. The new Brahman
settlers must have recognised and acknowledged the rights of the settler
cultivators who already settled in the area. As the cultivating kutis who held
certain right over the lands in which they settled and cultivated, it was
possible that the Brahmans had either migrated or were made to settle and

123
M G S,A-1,L.2, the epithet vāzhaipalli ūrār indicates the existence of a settlement as
well.
124
M G S,A-4,L.3.
125
Triprangottu inscription, M G S,A-13,Ls.58-59.
126
M G S,A-54,Ls.2-3, A stipulation is made that the ūrālar of the temple should not
enter in to the shop interfere in the activities and disturb the functioning of the shop,
Ibid,Ls.6-8.
127
M G S,A-31,L.2.
128
M G S,A-33,L[1]3.
129
M G S,A-37,Ls.2-3.

356
hence they must have adopted the names of such primordial settlements and
acknowledged the rights and privileges already enjoyed by the original
settlers. It must have been one of the reasons that these settlements were to be
known by a generic term called ūr. Brahman settlements were forced to retain
the rights and privileges enjoyed by the original settlers consisting of land
holding households and the cultivating kutis. The rights and privileges of the
settlers and the separate existence of the ūr assemblies of the land holding
groups were acknowledged by the Brahmans. The existence of non Brahman
assemblies together with the Brahman assemblies is mentioned in the
documents. The Brahman assembly of the temples called sabha which must
have acknowledged these non-Brahman assemblies of the landholding groups
among the settler cultivators. Both the Brahman and non-Brahman assemblies
were existed in relation to the landed property and the relations developed on
it.

The Brahmans settlements where the temples were built were in need
of the support of the original settlers of the area. This must have been the
reason for Brahmans to recognise the privileges and rights of the original
settlers and the assemblies of the landholding families of the non Brahman
land holders. They were incorporated into the power structure of the
brahmanical temples and this is attested in the documents pertaining to many
a number of transactions made in the temples. This made the assemblies of
the landed gentry of non-Brahman groups under the dominance of the temples
and the separate existence of these non-Brahman assemblies as autonomous
entity had been considerably reduced. Inscriptions from Ayiranikkalam130 ,
Triprangode131, Chembra132, Tirukkatiththanam133, Perunna134,

130
Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit ., No.8, L.9 and M G S,C-36, L.2.
131
Puthusseri Ramachandran, op.cit., No.12.Ls.6-8.
132
M R Raghava Varier, keraliyatha Charithramanangal, op.cit., pp.99-118.
133
M G S,A-42,L.3.
134
M G S,A-49,L.[2].1.

357
Chennamangalam135 and Tirunalli 136
temples explicitly mention the decision
taken by both Brahman sabha and the non-Brahman assembly called ūr
together. It reveals the fact that the assembly of the land holding groups called
ūr which developed from the land holding households of the non-Brahman
groups indicates the importance of such group as landed gentry.

Ayiranikkalam inscription mentions ayirānikkalththūrārkkum

paradaiyārkkum137 and ayirānikkalththū paradaiyārum ūrārum138, indicating
the temple assembly of the Brahman called paradai and the non-brahman
assembly of the land holding groups called ūrār. Triprangode inscription also
refers to triprangōttu paradaimārum ūrpattārum139 which made arrangement
to lease certain lands. This indicates the separate existence of Brahman and
non Brahman ūrs and its assemblies called paradai and ūrpattār respectively.
Similarly, we have edanūrum thapaiyum in Chembra inscription to mention
the ūr assemblies of Brahman ūr settlement called thapai /sabhai and non
brahman ūr assembly called ūr.140 Tirukkatiththanam inscription mentions
ūrum parudaiyārum141 and thirukkadiththānaththūrārum paradaiyārum and
ūrum paradaiyum sabhaiyum.142 Perunna inscription mentions peruneythal
ūrum parudaiyārum.143 Similarly, we have the epithet paraiyūr
ūrārumparadaiyārum in Chennamangalam inscription.144 Ūrum ūrida
[nālida] vakai vellālarum mentioned in a Tirunalli Plate in which ūr

135
M G S,C-34.L.7
136
M G S,A-36,Ls.7-8.
137
Puthusseri Ramachandran, op.cit., No.8.
138
Ibid,L.9. Another document in the same temple mentions, ayirānikkalththū
paradaiyārum ūrārum,M G S,C-36, L.2.
139
M G S,A,A-3,Ls.6-8.
140
M R Raghava Varier, keraliyatha Charithramanangal, op.cit., p.111-112.
141
M G S,A-42,L.3. thirukkadiththānaththūrārum paradaiyārum and ūrum paradaiyum
sabhaiyum,
142
Another inscription in the same temple, M G S,A-64.
143
M G S,A-49,L.[2].1.
144
M G S,C-34.L.7

358
represents the non -Brahman assembly of the land holding households and
ūrida [nālida] vakai vellālarum denotes the land holding households.145

These assemblies of the non-Brahman landholders must have existed

as incorporative entity along with the Brahman sabha in the functioning of the
temples. It also shows the fact that the temples were established and
continued to exist with the active support of the land holding groups of the
non Brahmans and the temples were forced to accept their rights and
privileges. It made the temples, with the active support of the non Brahman
assemblies, to develop certain tenurial control upon the lands from where the
share of the produce was donated to meet the expenses of the offerings of the
temples and the grants of lands which were predominantly made by the land
holding groups and ruling families. This tenurial control over the lands
cultivated by the cultivating kutis changed the status of the land holding
households into kārālar and the cultivating kutis to tenant cultivators. This
also developed the Kārālar to manage cultivation process done by the
cultivating kutis and the primary producers. It developed a tenurial control in
which the intermediaries like pāttamālar were made to mediate the tenurial
dominance of the temples upon the cultivating kutis and to realize the labour
of the primary producing groups in the generation of the agrarian surplus.

Similarly, The Vellālars had already developed as the cultivating

groups and became the kārālar to the land donated to the Tarsa church as
indicated in the Kollam inscription in which the land was donated to the
church by the Nāttutayavar, pūmikku kārāzhar nālukudi vellālarum.146

145
M G S,A-36,Ls.7-8.
146
M G S.A-6. Wet land cultivation and mixed crop cultivation were done by them under
the karanmai, thēvarku naduvana nattu iduvana ittu, saw and cultivate the land for the
Thēvar, ibid.

359
Sometimes, the land holding households became the kārālar to the temple by
donating the lands or the produce of the lands to the temples concerned.147

Development of Intermediaries and the Consolidation of Production

Process

Kārālan is appointed to cultivate the mixed crop land and his share is also
mentioned in document148 and, sometimes, we have the epithet ithukkumēlāli
to indicate certain persons who were appointed to supervise the cultivation.149
Similarly, Chembra inscription reveals that certain mixed croplands are
placed under certain person to cultivate on kārānmai.150 The epithet ippūmi
ellām uzhavu, cultivate these lands by Mangalaththavakal and his sons and the
151
elder of Chiraikkarai as kārālar is a clear indication that the kārālar
developed from the households of the settler cultivators. It was from such
land holding households that the share of the produce of the lands they
collectively held or, sometimes, lands itself donated to the temples.152 When
the Nāttutayavar of Kālkarainātu made donations of a portion of the produce
he received as obligatory payment from the lands cultivated by the cultivating
kutis, he donated it to the temple by exempting the dues given to the Nādu
153
,Vāzhkai and Pani. The land from where the temple received the share of

147
Tirupparangodu inscription, M G S.A-13. Certain Kolavāyan and his descendants are
appointed as the kārālar, ibid.
148
M G S, A-19. The kārālan and take 20-kalam paddy as his share,
irupathinkalamūkārālankondu, cultivate the vayal and kara lands ,ibid.
149
Pukkala Kōpan of Valampurimangalam and Chāththan Kannan of thāyattu are
appointed to manage the cultivation of certain land called kaviyalpurathu ayini , a paddy
land, Narayankannur inscriptions, M G S,B-3 and B-21.
150
Kumaran Iyakkan of Vāyila, Sankaran Sridharan, Thariyanan of Chirathala, Maniyan
Kandan Iyakkanār of Chālakkara , Kadāthiran of Kuvēri, Chandrasēkharanār of kuvēri
are the cultivators who settled in purayidams or house site gardens and vēliyakam. ,
Chembra inscription, M R Raghava Varier, Kēraliyatha Charithramānagal, op.cit., pp-
.99-118.
151
M G S,B-6.
152
Narayanan Kesavan and Narayanan Kirittan of Mangalam donated some lands to the
Kaviyur temple, M G S,B-6
153
M G S,A-26.

360
the produces in turn given to cultivate on kārānmai.154 The obligatory
payment given to the Nāttutayavar by the cultivating kutis called kadama and
the kārānmai, the dues given to the kārālar who is supposed to conduct the
offerings made in the temples by the donors with the produce given by the
cultivating kutis155.

We also find that the mērpāthi, ie, the obligatory payment given by the
cultivating kutis from the lands cultivated to the Nāttutayavar and kīzhpāthi or
the lower share enjoyed by the land holding households on these lands were
granted to the temple by the respective holders.156 When both the shares were
donated to the temple, it led to the domination of the temples on lands which
in turn it was leased to a person who was part of an intermediary group
generally called pāttamālan. Trading activities were also related to the land
relations of the period under discussion157.

Donations made by the landholding households were in the form of the

share of the produce from the lands cultivated by the cultivating kutis and the
servile labouring population. The land itself became part of such grants to the
temple and donors of such lands also became the kārālar to such lands.158
Both wet land and mixed crop lands including the double crops lands became
part of such tenure.159 The functionaries like pathavāramākkal, those who
collected the pathavāram to the Nāttutayavar or to the Perumāl,
kutipothuvāls, the functionary of the temple who was in charge of looking
after cultivation done by the kutis from whom the share of the produce came
to the temples, and kārālar were appointed to look after the jīvitham of the

154
muttikkil kārānmai vidakkadaviyar,Ibid.
155
The epithet kadamakūdakārānmai kānpithu indicates this development, MGS.B-10.
156
M G S,A-25.
157
The document stipulates that the expenses should be met by the pāttamālan of this land
by cultivating these lands.
158
Certain Ethirangavīran and his descendants became the kārālar to the temple lands, M G
S,C-41
159
Ichchērikkalirippū kārānmai cheyyumavanum, M G S.A-37.

361
mēlsānthi in the temple.160 This points to the dominant role that the kārālan
had enjoyed in the temples under the new form of tenurial relation.161
Generally, kārālar had to meet the expenses of the offerings made in the
temples by the donors162 and thereby functioned as an intermediary group to
dominate the cultivating kutis on account of the tenurial dominance made by
the temples.

Sometimes, the Nāttutayavar granted the lands and they and their
descendants became the kārālar of such lands.163 The expansion of cultivation
in multi culture lands on kārānmai tenure was also developed164which played
a crucial role in the production of mixed crops including the spices. This must
have been a reason to support the trading groups who were mainly engaged in
the exchange of parambu products especially spices and forest produce and
they were granted lands on kāranmai tenure. Jaina shrines also made tenurial
dominance called kārānmai165upon the cultivating kutis. There is also an
indication to the tendency of tension that developed between the temples and

160
M G S,A-41, kārālanum pathavāramākkalum īrandu kuti pothuvālmārum kūti
kankānichu, kārālan, pathavāramākkal and kutipothuvāl are to supervise the cultivation
in the land.
161
Certain Chālavēli kēralan Pōzhan who was appointed as the kārālan of certain lands
[chālavēli kēralan pōzhan konda kārānmai] . He along with the Pathavaramakkal and
the Pothuval of the temple kārālanumpathavāramākkalum īrandukudi pothuvālmārum
kūdi kankānichchu.
162
Ichchelavinollapūmi kārānmai cheythu cheluththumavar is mentioned in Tiruvalla
Plates M G S,A-80,Ls.34-35.
163
Iravi Chirikandan, udayavar of Venpolinādu, granted [māvarakondu muthalamaya
attikoduthān] his lands called Muttāru [his own land or muthal, 3500-kalam nilam] and
continues to be cultivated it on kārānmai by him and his descendants. M G S,A-80, Ls.
51-54. Kumaran Udhayavarman of Vēnadu became the kārākar certain land, Kollam
inscription of Rāmartiruvadi, M G S,A-71.
164
The lands including kannankazhi, thōlanchirai, vayal and kara are mentioned in
Panniyankara inscription, M G S,A.-53.
165
Chāttan Arukkati, Kuntran Chirunankai and Chāttan Chirukandan are appointed as the
kārālar of certain chērikkal lands donated to the jaina shrine at Kinālūr by Arappan
Kunji, kurumbranattu udayavar, to meet some of the expenses in the temple, M G S,B-
23. The epithet, uzhākārānmai indicate this development, M G S,C-28.

362
the kārālars166signaling the clash of interest that had been developed between
the institutional interest of the temples and the landholding groups who were
subjected to the tenurial norms dictated by the temples. Pothuvāls were also
167
appointed as kārālar which reveals that the temple functionaries also held
land in addition to their service tenure called virutti or jīvitham.

The consolidation of the polity of Nāttutayavar also strengthened the

kārānami holding by which Nāttutayavars themselves donated lands or the
produce from the lands to the temples, resulted in bringing the cultivation of
such lands under kārānmai tenure. When Manikantan Mādhaviyāna Pillayār
thiruvadi of kīzhpērūr donated certain mixed crop lands including kādu,
karai , karapurayidam, and Āl [the servile labours attached to the lands ] to
the Trippālkadal temple in turn the temple made these lands on kārānmai,
kārānmayāka adhikarichchukondu.168 This was increased when Nāttutayavar
donated the obligatory payment they got from the cultivating kutis to the
temples.169 The agriculture expansion in estuarine lands developed kārānmai
relations which are largely represented in the documents from the estuarine
lands in Kuttanātu area.170

Another significant development was the formation of pāttamālar and

the transformation of cultivating kutis into the tenant cultivators. When lands
or the shares of the produce from the lands were donated to the temples, these
were leased to the cultivators and an intermediary group, pāttamālar, was

166
This is mentioned in a Trikulashēkharapuram plate in which a provision is made that
those kārālar who make quarrel with the kōilmānichcham and the Pothuvāls would lose
their kārānmai, M G S,C-32.
167
Maniyur inscription mentions attipērkoduththān kārānmai āka pothuvālmār yithu, M G
S,C-2.
168
Kilimanur plates, TAS.Vol.5Part.1.pp.63-85.
169
The mērpāthi on certain chērikkal land cultivated on kārānmai was transferred to
Tirukunakkara Vishnu temple, kārān nilaththilkollum mēlpāthiyum kādum, Puthussery
Ramachandran, op.cit. No. 102.pp.210-211.
170
The Haripadu inscriptions mention the epithets like niravāthittai
kārānmai,[TAS.Vol.6.Part.1.No.24, kārānmaikūr [Ibid, No.28, p.41.] and
thēvaridaikāranmai ,Ibid, No.31.p.42 to indicate this development.

363
developed as part of the leasing practices made by the temples.171 This
indicates the development of intermediary groups between the temples and
the cultivating groups172, which made the tenant cultivators a subjugated
group. When the chērikkal lands were donated to the temples, the pāttamālar
were appointed to manage the cultivation in the donated lands or the lands
from where the share of the produce was donated to the temples.173 The
Nāttutayavar also donated their mērpāti to the temple and the temple
appointed pāttamālar to cultivate such lands.174

However, even when the pāttam became a tenurial mode, temples

did not become owner of such lands rather such lands had come under the
tenurial dominance of the temples in which the cultivating kutis and the
servile labourers were subjected to the overlordship of the temples as well as
the intermediaries like pāttamālar . The chērikkal lands had increasingly
become part of the pāttam mode of tenure.175 This reveals the fact that the
political authority of the Nāttutayavar also developed in relation to the
tenurial structure providing the political support to the domination of such
practices. The development of such practice made the expansion of

171
Thāzhvārathu pāttamalakkakadaviyan, M G S,A-9.
172
We find reference to certain Ukkiramangalam who arranges to cultivate certain lands on
lease in a Nedumpuram tali inscription, M G S,A-27. If such pāttamālvan were failed to
measure out the paddy in the temple, pāttam may be taken as kānam for a year pāttam
āttaikkānamkolvithu, ibid.
173
One of the Trikkakarai inscriptions mentions that Kizhānadikal granted certain lands to
the temple to meet the expenses of her offerings and the land should be cultivated on
lease, ippūmipāttamāndu, M G S,A-24.
174
Since the expenses of the offerings made by Nāttutayavar of Kālkarainātu in the
Trikkakara temple the mērpāthi held by the udayavar was donated to the temple, as
such land called vettikarikkāttu and the Pulayar attached to it were come under the
pāttam mode of tenure under the Trikkakara temple. M G S,A-25. The kīzhpāthi, held
by certain individuals, is also granted to the temple to meet the expenses of their
offerings in the temple, ibid.
175
Tiruvanvandur inscription mentions certain pāttamālar managed to cultivate chērikkal
lands given to the temple by the Venatu ruler, Srivallabhan Kotha. M G S,B-13.

364
cultivation realizing the labour of more servile groups.176 This shows the fact
that the formation of the land holding households who developed from the
settler cultivators and the donations made by them predominantly in the form
of the produce from the lands they collectively held as extended households
or the lands itself were donated to the temples which were , of course, a few
in numbers. The tenurial dominance of the temples upon the cultivating
settlements developed the kārānmai tenure. Unlike the early form of
kārānmai relation the production process was consolidated leading to a
practice of lease holding called pāttam and the number of intermediaries.
Agricultural production process was mediated by the tenurial control of the
temples and political domination of the nāttutayavar in which the cultivating
kutis and the servile groups engaged in the labour activities and cultivation
operations under oppressive condition.

This transformed the cultivating kutis as tenant cultivators of the

temples and the Nāttutayavar and to other functionaries and groups of landed
gentry. The condition of labouring groups who did their labour on such lands
became deteriorated. The cultivating kutis became subjected to the leasing
practices dominated by the temples and was mediated by the intermediary
group called pāttamālar. The members of the temple committee called
paradai and ūrālar began to hold pāttam when the condition of the cultivating
kutis further deteriorated on account of the development of a number of
intermediaries between temples and the cultivating kutis. Therefore, the
formation of an intermediary group called pāttamālar indicates the formation
of gradation in the tenurial relation starting from the primary producers and
the cultivating kutis to the temple or the Nāttutayavar.
176
CertainThaviranūr pāttavālan mentioned in the Chokkiram plate M G S, C- 17],
pāttamidavumperārūrālar in the Pukkattur inscription [M G S, C-23], the pāttam form
of cultivation of lands in the Panniyankara inscription also and certain land in
Erālanādu is cultivated by pāttavālan [M G S, C-12]. It makes the point that temples
were able to establish a super imposed tenurial dominance over the lands cultivated by
the cultivating kutis and the labour service made by the Adiyār / l groups.

365
Landholding Groups and Intermediary Tenure

The Brahmans who settled in ūrs inhabited the extended house sites called
manai and each family was given a portion of the land from the collective
possession of the ūr to settle down and to meet their livelihood. When the
Brahmans were brought and made to settle by the ruling families177, they
settled as familial households with lands as padakāram.178 When the
structural temples of both Vaishnavite and Saivite groups were built in the ūrs
and temple centered Brahman villages proliferated the members of certain
families became part of the assembly of the temples called ūrālar sabha or
paradaiyār. This is indicated in a number of epigraphical documents and
certain ivvūrikkūrālan, the ūrālan of the temple who settled in the ūr, is
mentioned in a document of Avittaththur temple179 to indicate this
development. The ūrālar had certain rights in the temple like membership in
the temple assembly called parudai, sthānam, and idaiyīdu in the temple
lands etc. Being the members of the temple assemblies, they took, as the
documents mention, unanimous decision180regarding the donation, leasing of
lands and to frame the norms regarding the functioning of the temple and
legal notions related to the tenurial control etc. This is indicated in one of the
Trikkakara inscriptions181 in which certain kālkaraināttūrālar and
thachchanāttūrālar are mentioned. The document of Pullūrkutavalam temple
refers to certain kutavalathu ūrālar.182 Similarly, Tirumittakodu inscription

177
Kilimanur plates and Tiruvadur inscription mention the Brahmans were settled in the
northern and southern part of the region by the ruling families of Venatu and
Kolathunatu,TAS Vol.5,pp.78-85 and Puthussery Ramachandran, Op cit, Nos.125 and
126,pp.309-311.
178
1325 para seeding capacity of lands was granted as 23 padakāram among the Brahman
households settled, Devidevesvaram Plates,M G S,B-15.
179
M G S,A-10,L.12.
180
avirōthattāl is the term usually used in the documents to denote the unanimous decision
taken by the assemblies of the temples.
181
M G S,A-25,Ls.[6]6 and [7]3.
182
M G S,A-39,Ls.13-14.

366
mentions the ūrālar of the temple who were entrusted to receive the pāttam183
from the cultivating kutis. Certain irupaththoruvar is mentioned in
Ayiranikklam inscription184 to mention the ūrālar assembly of the temple and
Avittaththur inscriptions185 also refers to such assembly. Triprangōttu
paradaimār is mentioned in Triprangottu inscription186is also a case in point.
Thapai is also mentioned in Chembrai inscription.187 Sometimes, they were
also known as ganattār188 and uttiraganattar.189

The above examples suggest the collective nature of the sabha that was
exclusively a Brahman assembly of the temple. The two groups that
developed from the land holding households of the settler cultivators as the
landed gentry are the land holding group of the non Brahmans and they
constituted their assembly called ūr and, secondly, the group called idaiyītar
who were able to keep the lands donated to the temple under an intermediary
tenure called idaiyītu. Many of the idaiyītar were the members of the
assembly of the non-Brahman landholders called ūr. The existence of these
non-Brahman assemblies is attested in a number of epigraphical documents of
the period under discussion.

We also find the existence of certain group called patinettunāttār along

with the sabha and this must have been a non Brahman group who managed
the construction activities of the temples.190 The ūrālar and temple

183
Puthussery Ramachandran , op. cit. , No.55,p.90.Ls.21-23.
184
Puthussery Ramachandran, op. cit., No.8, L.2.
185
M G S,A-10,Ls.2-3.
186
M G S,A-13,Ls.6-7.
187
MR Raghava Varier, Kēraliyatha… op.cit., L.7.
188
M G S,A-47,L.[2]1.
189
M G S,A-32.
190
Thiruvāttuvāy Pathinettunāttār and Pathinettunāttār are mentioned in the Vāzhapalli
plate [M G S, A-1, L.2] and Nedumpuram Tali inscriptions [M G S,A-27,L.2.and A-
43,L.3].Tiruvatur inscription mentions kazhakaththu ninna patinettu nāttār,
Panthalayini Kollam document also refers to pathinettu nizhalkal[MGS,A-
29],Pudukkodu inscription mentions puthukkotu patinettunāttār [M G S,A-29],
Godapuram inscription also mentions Pathinettunāttār [M G S,C-28] and Netupuram

367
functionaries could also be the itaiyītar of the temple lands.191 There is also
reference to indicate that there developed clash of interests between the
temples and the idaiyītar who held intermediary tenure on the temple lands.192
These groups raised objections to the expenses of the offerings made in the
temples.193 The tendency of appropriating the produce of the temple lands was
also increased and some of the members of the temple assemblies were the
itaiyītar.194 The brahman families who had no ūrānmai in the temples could
have held itaiyitu in the temple lands.195

Multiple Economies and the Consolidation of Political Power

The chiefs who later came to be known as Nāttutayavar were, in fact,

developed from the tribal chiefs located in the millets zone in the mullai-
kurinchi region and from the dominant households in the midland region.
These chiefs tried to control both the mixed crops paramba lands and the
wetland cultivation areas. They also tried to make control over the ports of
trade where many of the parambu products including spices and forest
products reached. The control over the production localities comprised of

tali document mentions certain nithyaviyāzhesvarathup athinettunāttār [M G S,A-27].

The craft groups and temple builders were important at a time when structural temples
of both both Vaishnavaite and Vaishnavaite were built and they must have been
attached to the temples.
191
Irungādikūdal idaiyīdullayidaththu is mentioned in Iringalakuta inscription [M G S,A-
3].Certain thencheri Thāyan , the treasurer of the Trikkadithanam temple held certain
idaiyītu land [M G S.A-64]and the epithet ūrānmaikkidayīdum kettu indicates that The
ūrālar in the temple is also the idayītar of the temple lands,Ibid.
192
Tiruvāttuvāy inscription mentions those idaiyitar who follow the righteous paths should
be fed, arathinaridai īdu udayārāchērvarkalai ūttakkadavar indicating there might have
existed the itaiyitar who had broken the norms stipulated by the temples [M G S.A-4].
193
The epithet, idayītan ichchelavu virōthikkil, if idayītan makes objection to this
expenditure, mentioned in Perunnayil inscription, would liable to pay fine to the
sabhai,[ M G S.C-42].
194
Kumaranallur inscription mentions, ūrkkidayīdumkettu, those ūrālar who make
obstruction in the cultivation in the temple lands lose their idaiyītu in the ūr.
195
Document of the Kumaranallur temple[M G S,C-43] also mentions
ūrānmaiyillāththavarul ikkachcham pizhaippōr illangaludaya idaiyīdu akanāzhiyai
chelavinōdokkum, those who do not have the ūrānmai in the temple and if they violate
this kachcham, idaiyītu of their illam [house] should be gone for temple expenses.

368
parambu and wetland areas and hill crops as well as forest produce provided
them the resource base for expanding their political authority. Formation of
nātus indicates the process of agrarian expansion and the incorporation of
various economies existed in diverse eco systems consisted the kātu and nātu
areas under the over lordships of these chiefs. Brahman villages and the
temples developed in these settlements had become part of this process. This
was a process by which the products from both the wetland and parambu
lands were appropriated by a class comprised of the households that held land
rights and developed from the settler cultivators , Brahman ūrs , temples and
the Nāttutayavar and their retinue and the households of ruling lineages .

The variety of millets and paddy cultivated in the punam tracts and the
spice and forest products reached the exchange centers or ports of trade, a
share of which must have also reached the temples and to the dominant
Brahman and non-Brahman households. When the territorial control of the
chiefs began to develop over the nātu territories, the chiefs became the
udayavar of these nātus and the production localities of the settler cultivators
were integrated to the political authority of these nātus along with the people
consisting of cultivating kutis , the labouring groups, punam cultivators ,
pastoral groups and the forest dwellers. Thus, the nātus became the resource
base of the political authority of the Nāttudayavars, which included the
production localities in both wetland areas and parambus; the various ports of
trade to which the parambu products and forest produces reached. Those
Nāttutayavar who were able to control these ports of trade became powerful
and they developed the paraphernalia of political control. It also reveals the
fact that the resources from multiple economies and the control of ports of
trade provided the base of the political power of the Nāttutayavar.

When the nātus became the political territories of the Nāttutayavars

the production localities comprised of various ūr settlements were subjected

369
to the over lordship of these Nāttutayavars. The cultivating kutis and
labouring population settled and cultivated in both parambu and wetlands
were brought under the institutional domination of the polity of the
Nāttudayavar. The cultivating kutis had to give the obligatory payment called
kutima or mēlpāti to the Nāttutayavar. The expansive endeavors made by the
Nāttutayavars with their kins and retinue developed an institutional
mechanism of the polity of the Nāttutayavar which played crucial role in the
process of appropriating the agrarian surplus and realizing the labour of
cultivating kutis and servile groups. It was from this mechanism of resource
appropriation and the realization of labour that the institutional structure of
the polity of the Nāttudayavar developed. This was enlarged when more
areas comprised of different livelihood forms existed in multiple economies
were incorporated to the polity of the Nāttutayavar. They included the
descend heads of the cultivating kutis called kutipatis, dominant groups from
the land holding families, heads of the primordial settlers, martial groups and
tribal chiefs and so on.

It was this process, which brought the non-cultivating groups,

primordial settlers, punam cultivators, those who subsisted on hunting and
gathering etc into the cultivation operations in the parambu and wetland areas
as labouring groups. Some of them were retained as the permanent labouring
groups for reclaim the lands and cultivation operations. The political power of
the Nāttutayavars was realized by extending the reach of power to various
social groups in different economies. This resulted in wider reach, composite
character and secular power of the polity of the Nāttutayavar. Certain
intermediaries developed from the process of consolidation of the polity of
the Nāttutayavar mediated the resource appropriation from the groups who
were positioned as producing class in various economies. The associates and
the retinue of the Nāttutayavars delegated the political power of the
Nāttudayavar. They were designated as the Kutipatis, Vāzhkai, Nātu, Nizhal,

370
Pani, Prakriti, Adhikārar, Nūttuvar etc to be functioned as the mediators and
arbitrators of the political power of the Nāttutayavar.

The surplus generated by the cultivating kutis and the laboring groups
like Adiyār /Āl /Pulayar was appropriated in the form of pāttam based on a
tenurial control by which the cultivating kutis had to give the portion of their
produce at the stipulated times as tenant cultivators. This was remitted to the
temples usually at the time of harvest196, mostly, in Thulām and Mēdam
months197, sometimes it was in Idavam198or Vrischikam.199 The produces were
measured either at the kottakāram200 [granary] of the temple, kalam201 ,
threshing ground attached to the cultivated lands in the production localities
called ūrs, thāzhvāram202 or near the cultivated land and palakaithalai 203
in
the temple itself, or simply in the mukkālvattam204 i.e. the temple or at the
person appointed as patinaruvar205 for the purpose. Documents show that it
was to be measured without involving any extra labour charge called
puraikūli.206 Certain īrandu kudipothuvālum mentioned in the inscriptions207

196
Kumaranallur Plate mentions this as koithālollathu [M G S, C-43. L.3].
197
thāzhvārathu alpiyai vizhuvinum chittirai vizhuvinum nellalakkakadavan ,M G S,A-
27,L.7, chittirai vishu[Trikkadithanam,M G S,A-38,L.3 and Trikkadithanam ,M G S,A-
43,L.[3].4].
198
Idapamnjāyor, Trikkadithanam, M G S, A-42, L. [3].2], Idavam month[M G S,A-
49[2].2].
199
Vrichika njāyar [month]is mentioned in a Trikkakara Plate, [M G S, and A-30].
200
Trikkakara Inscription, M G S, A-19, L. [3]1.
201
Avvūrkalaththil alanthukodukka kadavar, Ayiranikalam inscription, Puthusseri
Ramachandran, op. cit., No.8.L.16.
202
ithināttāzhvārathukōil pāttamalakkakadaviyan,Nedumpuram Tali Inscription,M G S,A-
9,Ls.5-6, thāzhvārathu alpiyai vizhuvinum chittirai vizhuvinum nellalakkakadavan ,M
G S,A-27,L.7.
203
Trikkakara Inscription, M G S,A-30,Ls.[5]3 and [6]1.
204
Tirukkadithanam Inscription, M G S, A-42, L. [3]3.
205
Ibid.L.3.
206
Puraikūli nīkki [Vellayani inscription, Puthussery Ramachandran, No.102, L.4, pp.210-
211] and puraikūliyum nīkki mentioned in Tiruvayambadi inscription, [Puthussery
Ramachandran, No.99,Ls.23-24,pp.204-206] to denote that the incidental charges to be
incurred in taking the paddy to the courtyard of the temple or the place mentioned as the
case may be [ see the remarks made by the editor in TAS .Vol.3 . Part.1.No.9] , ie ,
paddy should be measured at the place stipulated without involving any extra labour
charges. Sometimes, we have the epithet nāzhikuravu pokkakodukkakadavar

371
indicates that the persons called kutipotuvāls were given charge of managing
the affairs related to the cultivation and the collection of share of the produce.
Not only the cultivation operations but also the shares of the produces to the
respective overlord were to be carried out by the direct producers called
Adiyār / Āl or Pulayar to the destination concerned. The lands that were
designated and based on service tenure are called virutti, where cultivation
operations were done by the cultivating kutis as tenant cultivators, and they
also had to pay the respective shares to the virutti holders who were the
temple functionaries as well.

There developed certain forms of measurements in relation to the

appropriation of the surplus. Uri and nāzhi208 are the smallest measures used
to measure corn like paddy and two uri is equal to one nāzhi.209 Certain
thēvar nāzhi210 and kongu nāzhi are also mentioned in Chembra inscription211.
Idangazhi212 is next to the nāzhi213. A Nedumpuram tali inscription assigned
to eleventh century referrers to the exchange rate of 600-nāzhi paddy as 30-

[Trikkakara inscription, MG S,A-28,L.[4]3. The cultivators should measure out the

produce [paddy] after processing and drying at the temple in the month of Idavam is
mentioned in a Trikkadithanam inscription, pūmuyuzhumavar unakki uripōki nellu
idapam njāyittu thiruvōnaththin munnēy mukkāl vattaththu alavukodukkakadaviyar, M
G S,A-42,Ls.[3]1-3.
207
Certain īrandu kudipothuvālum is mentioned in the Avittattur temple inscription [M G
S,A-10,L.3] Porangattiri inscription mentions īrandu kudipothuvālum [M G S,A-14].
Kārālanum pathavāramākkalum īrandukuti pothuvālmārum kūti kankānichchm is
mentioned in a Trikkakara inscription [M G S, A-41].
208
Vazhappalli plate , M G S,A-1,L.8,Tiruvattuvay inscription,M G S,A-4,L.3, Iranikkalam
inscription , Puthussery Ramachandran, op. cit., No.8,L.11, Nedumpuram Tali
inscription, M G S, A-9, Ls.9-10, Avittaththur inscription, M G S, A-10, L.6. Trikkakara
inscription, M G S, A-19,L.[3]3and [4]1, Chembra inscription, , M R Raghava Varier,
Keraliyatha Charithra Manangal, op cit ,L.26.
209
M G S Narayanan, Perumals of Kerala,op.cit., p.160.
210
Thēvar nāzhi is also mentioned in the Chokkur inscription, MGS, A-8, and Ls.91-92.
211
Chenbra inscription, M R Raghava Varier, Keraliyatha Charithra Manangal, op. cit.,
Ls.32,35
212
Iranikkalam inscription , Puthussery Ramachandran, op .cit., No.8,L.12, 15,
Nedumpuram Tali inscription ,M G S,A-9,L.6,Avittaththur inscription,M G S,A-10,L.7.
213
Trikkakara inscription M G S,A-45,L.[2].2, Maniyur inscription mention certain
Kōilidangazhiyāl,Puthussery Ramachandran , op. cit., No.191,Ls.28-30.

372
kazhanju gold.214 Para215 is next to idangazhi and certain onpatināzhipara216
is mentioned. Thēverparai or the parai of the Trikkakara temple is mentioned
in one of the Trikkakara inscriptions.217 Kilimanur plate mentions para.218
Certain patināzhipara / puththanpara is also mentioned.219 It shows that
original measure in the region under discussion is para, which conforms to
the system of lower measures.220 The biggest measure was called kalam 221

and ten patināzhnāzhipara or hundred nazhi constituted a kalam.222 Tūni is

mentioned in number of documents223 and it was an intermediate measure
between the nāzhi and para.224 Different types of tūnis are mentioned in
Tiruvalla Plates.225 Twenty tūni constituted a kalam.226 In the northern part
of the region where certain measurement called pothi227 existed. There were
stipulations to the cultivating kutis to measure out the produce according to
the measures of the temples, which were variously termed as thēvernāzhi,
tirumataipallināzhi, thēvartirumadaipallināzhi, thēvar idangazhi, thēvar

214
Muppathin kazhanju pon idangazhiyāl arunnūttunāzhi nel, M G S, C-38.
215
Trikkadithanam inscription, M G S,A-38,L.7,
216
Mampalli Plate, M G S, B-11, L.10, Tiruvanvandur inscription, M G S, B-13, Ls.3-4.
The onpatinazhipara is confined to Venatu region, M G S Narayanan, Perumals of
Kerala, op .cit., p.166.
217
M G S,B-10,L.[4].1
218
Kilimanur plates,[1168 C E]Ls.47,49 and 50.
219
Kollam Ramesvaram Plate, M G S, A-71, LS.24-27 and Trikkakara plates, MGS, A-80.
220
M G S Narayanan, Perumals of Kerala, op. cit., p.166.
221
Trikakara Plate , M G S,A-24,L.13nālpaththirukala nel .Ramesvarathukoil inscription, M
G S,A-71,Ls.71-72 muppaththarukala nellu. Vazhapalli Plate ,M G S,A-1,L.7-8
irupaiththankalamum. Tiruvattuvay Plate M G S,A-4,L.2 chēnnan chēnnanārkari
pathinkalamum.
222
Ibid.Nedumpuram Tali inscription M G S,A-9,L.7 nūttukalamithinātttiruvamirthinu .10
nāzhi = one kuruni and 15 kuruni = one kalam, see Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai ,
Janmisambrathayam Keralathil, in N Sam [Ed] Elamkulam Kunjan Pillaiyude
Therenjedutha Krithikal ,op .cit. ,p.594,f n.2.
223
Chokkur inscription mentions a number of tuni terms ,MGS,A-8, Porangattiri Plate, M G
S,A-14,Ls.44-51,Manipuram plate, Kinalur plate,MGS,B-23,L.23.
224
M G S Narayanan, Perumals of Kerala, op. cit.,p.166.
225
Valiya tūni, iratti tūni and onpati nāzhi tūni, M G S, A-80.
226
Ibid.
227
Peruchellur inscription Adharam, op cit, Ls.7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 16. Tiruvattūr inscription,
Puthussery Ramachandran, op. cit., No.126 [2] L.15 svāmikkainathu pothi nellu.
Kuttiyattur inscription, M G S, C-3, Kinalur, M G S,B-23,L.24.

373
parai228 etc. The surplus received by the temples as pāttam from the
cultivating kutis was used for meeting various expenses in connection with
rites and rituals including the Brahman feeding and to the meet the expenses
of the services rendered by the various functionaries in the temples.229

Certain patavāramakkal were entrusted to collect the pathavāram, one

–tenth of the vāram or dues collected in kind from the cultivating kutis, in the
case of the katamai, which is given to the Nāttutayavars and to the Perumal230
by the kutis. A Trikkakara inscription mentions kārālanum
231
pathavāramākkalum īrandukuti pothuvālmārum kūti kankānichchu means
that the kārālan who was entrusted for cultivation in the lands with the kutis
and the Adiyār groups; pathavāramākkal, the persons deputed to collect the
pathavāram or dues to the Perumāl, and kutipothuvāls, the pothuvāls
appointed by the temples to supervise cultivation in the lands by the kutis and
the adiyārs. They were represented the settler cultivators, the Chēra Perumāl
and the temples, to control the kutis and collect the respective shares of the
produces on behalf of the overlords concerned. Sometimes, patavāram ,i.e.,
one-tenth of the produce was given as share to the temple as thēverude
pathavāram.232

228
Trikkakara inscription,, M G S,B-10,L.2,Chokkur inscription, M G S,A-8,Ls.91-
93,Tiruvalla Plates,M G S ,A-80,Ls.530-531,Trikkakara,M G S,A-30,L.5,Trikkakara
inscription, M G S,A-28,L.2,M G S,B-23,Ls.23-24. M G S Narayanan, Perumals of
Kerala, op.cit., pp.166-167.
229
Chānthithalaiyāy chīkkōlkadaiyāy, the temple functionaries from sānti to the menial
labourers, are mentioned in Trippunithura inscription [M G S, A-16, and Ls.4-5]. Kōil
manuchchēr is mentioned in Tirunelli plate M G S,A-46,L.17 and 20].The menial
labourers of the temple like virakidunnavan,echchiladippān,thalika āyumavan etc, are
mentioned in a Trikkakara inscription[ M G S,A-19,L.[7]2-3 and [8]1]. Pothuvals like
Akapothuval, Urpothuval, Purapothuval, and Varier and Uvachchakal are mentioned in
Kollur Matham plates, M G S, B-15.Thēvidichchi nālvar [four dancing girls] mentioned
in Tiruvalla Temple,M G S ,A-80.
230
Kārālanum pathavāramākkalum īrandukuti pothuvālmārum kūti kankānichchu is
mentioned in a Trikkakara inscription [M G S, A-41]
231
Ibid [M G S, A-41].
232
thēverude pathavāramzhippathāka, Triprangotu inscription, M G S,A-13,Ls.95-97.

374
 The nūttuvar indicate the number of households who were recruited to
the militia of the nāttutayavar. Nātus233 themselves were organization of these
groups of household units.234 These households functioned to appropriate the
resources from the cultivating kutis. The local power centers, Vāzhkai235 Pani,
and Pathi236 developed from the settler cultivators and dominant households.
These groups were integrated to the political territory of the Nāttutayavar
called nādus and began to function as the collectors of dues and delegators of
power in the polity of the Nāttudayavar. The vāzhkai were those who
developed from the local power holders from earlier period and when the
Nāttutayavar developed their overlordship over the production localities these
local power holders were integrated to the polity of the Nāttutayavar and were
assigned to collect the dues from the local area237 to the Nāttutayavar. Nizhal
and Pani238 were part of the personal guards and functionaries of the
Nāttudayavar received a share of the produce appropriated from the kutis as
katamai. Therefore, Nātu, Vāzhkai and Pati functioned as the agents of the
political authorities to appropriate the surplus produced in the cultivating
settlements within the nātus. Sometimes, the āttaikōl, the annual dues to the

233
Natus themselves were organization of groups of household units, rather than separate
villages, K N Ganesh, Historical Geography of Natu in South India …….., op.cit., p.19.
234
Ibid.
235
Nāttinum vāzhkaikum panikkum, except the dues given to the nātu, vāzhkai and pani ,
mentioned in a TrikakaraPlate, M G S,A-26.A few vazhkai terms are also appeared in
Tiruvalla Plates , M G S,A-80.
236
Punnaithalai pati and Pōlaikudipati were present while Ayyanatikal, the udayavar of
Venatu, made the land transaction to Tarasa church at Kollam, M G S, A-2.
237
Trikkadittanam inscription says āttamkollum utampāttāl vāzhkai āka pāttam, MGS,A-
31.Collection of dues from various local areas were assigned as vazhkai, K N Ganesh ,
Historical Geography of Natu in South India …….., op.cit., p.16. There are a number of
vāzhkai terms are mentioned in Tiruvalla Cpper plates; nediyānvāzhkai, irumbuzhi
vazhkayāl, kānjirakkōnathuvāzhkai,
aņukkaņvāzhkkai,thāzhapattivāzhkai,chūralppādivāzhkai,arikkāttuvāzhkkai,thattampāra
vāzhkai,virippuvāzhkai,pātturvāzhkai,parappallivāzhkai,vaļaikkachchivāzhkkai,
vaduthala vāzhkai and ediya idathittavāzhkkai , M G S,A-80.
238
Tirunelli Plate, M G S,A-46,Ls.5-6 and 22-23 [atikal puraikizhārum nizhalum paniyum].

375
Nātttudayavar and to the Perumāl were collected by the Vāzhkai.239
Āttaikolvār240 , Adikārar241 and Kudipathis242 were re-designated and was
entrusted to collect dues from the cultivating settlements in the Perumāl
area.243 They were also managed to the collection of pathavāram. The
āttaikōl244 was collected from the cultivating kutis in the ūr settlements of
different nātus by the representatives of the Chēra Perumāls as and when the

239
Trikkadithanam inscription says āttaikolvār and the epithet āttaikollum utambāttāl
vāzhkai āka pita indicating the annual dues were collected by the vazhkai, M G S, A-31.
240
Trkkadiththanam inscription mentions the āttaikōl and āttaikolvār, those who collect the
āttaikōl, M G S,A-31,panthīru kalanellu āttaikolāka amaichu and īrandarai kānamum
āttaikolvārku.
241
Athikārarum prakrithiyum [Tarisapali Plate, M G S, A-2, L.4].Athikārarum
prakrithiyum arunnūttuvarum punnaithalai pathiyum mentioned in Tarisapali Plate [M
G S,A-6,L.9]. Athikārar ivvīrandūrilum olla pathiyēyum mentioned in Ayiranikkalam
inscription, Puthusseri Ramachandran, op. cit, No.8, p.21, L.6.
242
Perunneyil inscription mentions that āttakkōl are collected by Kudipathīs from the kutis
settled in the Perunneyil ūrs for the Perumal. It seems that these āttaikkōl were
previously collected by the kudipathis, īrandūr kudipathiyum,[kāpālimangalaththum
muththūttum olla kudipathikal] from the settlements of the cultivators where kutis also
settled and after an order [kōiladhikārikal issued a royal order to both kudipathis]
kudipathis refrained from collecting these from the Perunneythal settlements, M G S,A-
68.
243
The inscriptions refer to the Perumal area are ; Irinjalakuda inscriptions of Sthanu Ravi
[RVRIB[10]1.p.43., Tirumuzhikkalam inscription of Indu Kota, TAS,3.No.48,
Tirumuzhikkalam inscription of Bhaskara Ravivarman,TAS,2.No.7.[K], Irinjalakuda
inscriptions of Bhaskara Ravivarman, [RVRIB[10]1.pp.44,Iranikkulam Inscription ,
[RVRIB[10]2.p.134 and. See also MGS Narayanan, the State in the Era of the Ceraman
Perumals of Kerala in R Champakalakshmi , et al[Eds],State and Society in Pre-modern
South India,op.cit.,pp.111-119.
244
The āttaikōle is collected from the area between Trikkadittanam to the Pullur Kotavalam
during the period of the Bhaskara Ravi. Āttamkollum utampāttāl vāzhkai āka pāttam
mentioned in Trikkadithanam inscription [M G S,A-31].The āttaikōl of three kazhanju
gold is granted to the Pullur Kotavalam temple by Chera Perumal Bhaskara Ravi,
Puthussery Ramachandran, op, cit, No.195,Ls.7-8, [M G S,A-39] , it is reasonable to
argue that the āttaikōl must have been collected from the cultivating kutis settled in the
area and they must have given it by commuting the share of the produce in to gold. A
Perunna inscription mentions nantuzhaināttinu āttaikōlāka kotuppānamainja [M G S,A-
49]. Āttaikōl ainkazhanju pon is mentioned in Kulathur inscription,
M R Raghava Varier, Keraliyatha Charithramanangal, op. cit.,pp.119-134.During the
time of the Chēra Perumal Ramakulasekhara āttaikōl was collected from the
Peruneythal ūr settlement and this must have been collected from the cultivating kutis
settled there, āttaikōl nālpathin kalamum, Puthussery Ramachandran op .cit.,
No.64,p.103. Attaikōl is collected from the kutis in the ūr settlement is mentioned in
Panthalayini Kollm inscription,panthalāyini ūril kollāttaikōl arunāzhi anjāzhi
Puthusseri Ramachandran, op. cit., No.68, p.109.

376
latter made over lordship over the nātu territories and polity of the
Nāttudayavars. The produce collected from the kutis settled in the ūrs as
āttaikōl is, sometimes, commuted into gold and was donated to the temples245
or the produce collected as āttaikōl itself was donated to the temples.246 The
kutis settled in the nakaram [town] in the Perumāl area also gave irai or dues
on their profession to the Perumāl.247 The Pathavāramākkal also functioned
as the collectors of dues called pathavāram. Certain emergency dues called
aranthai, especially at the time of war, was also collected from the kutis in the
ūr settlements for the Perumāl.248

The cultivating kutis became the tenant cultivators to the lands they
settled and cultivated. Though share of the produce of the lands cultivated by
the kutis had to be given as customary payment called kīzhpāti or kutima or
pāttam, the cultivating right and control of lands were vested with the kutis.
Both customary and obligatory payments made by the kutis to the respective
overlords indicate that the kutis retained the right to cultivation and
settlement. The absence of kutinīnkkikārānmai in the documents of the region
under discussion also reveals this. The right of the kutis of the occupational
groups for settlement and control of resources for the production was also
protected. However, these rights were denied to the Adiyār/Āl /Pulayar and
they were attached to the lands as instruments of production.

The surplus generated by the producing class, the cultivating kutis,

primary producers called Āl /Adiyār/ Pulayar and the auxiliary occupational

245
The āttaikōl of three-kazhanju gold is granted to the Pullur Kotavalam temple by Chera
Perumal Bhaskara Ravi, Puthussery Ramachandran, op. cit., No.195, Ls.7-8, [M G S, A-
39]. Āttaikōl ainkazhanju pon is mentioned in Kulathur inscription,M R R aghava
Varier, Keraliyatha Charithramanangal, op.cit.,pp.119-134.
246
Trikkadithanam inscription MGS,A-31,Peruneythal inscription , Puthussery
Ramachandran, op.cit., No.64,p.103 and Panthalayini Kollm inscription, Puthusseri
Ramachandran ,op.cit., No.68,p.109.
247
Jewish Copper Plate, M G S, A-34, Ls.13-14.
248
Puthussery Ramachandran , op. cit., No.64,p.103, Peruneythal aranthaiyum,M G S
Narayanan, Perumals of Kerala,op cit.,p.86.

377
kutis, was appropriated and re/distributed among a number of non-producing
groups. The Nāttuayavars , their retinue and functionaries comprised of
Vāzhkai, Pathi, Nātu, Pani, Nūttuvar, etc and the Chēra Perumāl, his
Ahikārar, Pathavāramākkal, Āttaikolvār etc, constituted a stratified
assemblage of agrarian hierarchy who became the ruling class in the agrarian
order under discussion. The households in the Brahman ūrs, the structural
temples and its functionaries were part of the ruling class who appropriated
the surplus produced by the producing class. The dominance of the polity of
Nāttudayavar and Chēra Perumāl was mediated upon the cultivating kutis
and servile labouring population through a number of functionaries like
Vāzhkai , Pathi, Nātu, Pani, Nūttuvar, etc, in which Nūttuvar249 functioned as
the most powerful agency of the polity of the Nāttutayavar who suppressed
the cultivating groups.

The ritual dominance of the temples and Brahman ūrs was materialised
by appropriating resources in the form of pāttam and fines250 from the
cultivating kutis, the brahmanical codes like kachchams251, the concept of

249
Vēnātuarunnūtttuvar [Tarisapalliplate, M G S, A-6. L. 9], nantuzhainātuvāzhumavar
munnūttuvarum [M G S,B-13.L.10-13], nantruzhai nāttu munnūttuvarum [M G S,B-
14,L.6]and nantruzhainātumunnūttuvar [MGS,C-41.L.6],mūttakūttil ezhunnūttuvarum
[Tirunelli Plate,M G S,A36,L.7], ichchērikkalvalluvanāduarunnūttuvarkkunkāval [M G
S,A,74.L.19],thirumannūrpatārarudaiyathēvaththuvamum pirammaththuvamum
arunnūttuvarkku kīzhītu [Tiruvannur plate , M G S,A-62] Tirukkadiththanam inscription
mentions munnūttuvar [M G S,A-64],kīzhmalaiarunnūttuvarum and nantruzhainātu
munnūttuvarum [M G S,B-20]kurumporai natu munnuttuvar is mentioned in Kinalur
plate, M G S,B,23.L.51].Also see K N Ganesh, Historical Geography of Natu in South
India …….., op.cit., pp.15-16.
250
The term muttukil mūttiratti is used to denote the double payment of the pāttam or the
portion of the share given to the temples for default, see M G S Narayanan Perumal of
Kerala, op.cit., p.175.
251
The mūzhikkalam kachchams which is variously mentioned as muzhikkala
vyavasthai,muzhikkalathu ozhukkam and muzhikkalachchavatai in a number documents
such as Chokkur inscription,[M G S,A-8,L.50],Porangattiri inscription[MGS,A-
14,Ls.33-34.],Trikkakara inscriptions [M G S,A-25,L.[7].7],M G S,A-44,L.8, MGS,B-
9,L.[5].1.],Tirunelli Plate,M G S,A-46,L.28, Muzhikkalam [M G S,A-37,L.4],Tiruvalla
Plates [M G S,A-80],Narayan Kannur inscription, [MGS,B-3,Ls.25-26],Kaviyur Plate
[MGS,B-5andB-6],Tiruvanvandur,[MG S ,B-13,L.13and B-14,L.[6]],Maniyur,[M G
S,C-32,L8],Pukkottur,M G S,C-23],Alanallur,[M G S,C-24and25],Tripryar,[MGS,C-

378
panchamahāpāpams or sin and the ideological schema of varna especially the
brahmanical notion sūdra varana252 were used as the most powerful
ideological weapon of the temples and Brahmans to suppress the producing
class. This stratified assemblage of groups and functionaries evolved through
the process of production, appropriation of resources and its redistribution.
Those who were engaged in the production of agrarian resources were
constituted at the bottom of this stratified order and the rest became part of the
appropriation of the resources and the suppression of producing class was at
the top. This stratification process resulted in the consolidation of an agrarian
hierarchy which was entrenched in the social relation of production of the
period and impregnated with class relations and social conflicts.253

Consolidation of this stratification process and formation of agrarian

hierarchy retained many of the social groups who developed from the
production process and appropriation of agrarian wealth. These social groups
that emerged with kinship descent structures and endogamous marriage
relations began to function as particular jātis assuming relational positions in
the already developed hierarchy.

31,L.11],Kumaranallur[B-43,L.14],Navayikulam,[M G S,C-14],Tirunandikkara,[M G
S,C-45,L.39] and Tirumittakodu [M G S,A-52] .The Muzhikkalam kachcham was
followed by Brahman settlements as the model for all over Kerala, from Narayan
Kannur to Tirunandikkarai, MGS,Perumalsof Kerala,op.cit., p.114. The earliest record
to quote the Muzhikkala kachcham is Chokkur inscription and the latest is
Tirumittakodu, M G S Narayanan, Perumal, op. cit., p.114. Other kachchams are
Kalangattu kachcham [Avittaththur inscription,M G S,A-10,L.18 and Trippangotu
inscription,M G S,A-14,Ls.55-57and Chokkiram plate MGS,C-17],Sangaramangalathu
kachcham,M G S,C-20]and Kaitavarathu Kacham,[M G S,A-80].
252
ūrakathu udiyirikkum chūttirar is mentioned in Kumaranallur Plate [M G S, C-43, and
L.8.] indicates the brahmanical notion of varna had been used to denote the cultivating
kutis .
253
Mukkāl vattaththu vaichchu kūttavum kalaikkavum chelavum perār [Kumaranallur Plate,
M G S, C-43, and L.2] indicates the injunction stipulated by the temples as kacham that
also represents the social conflict developed in the ūr settlements between the
cultivators and the land holding households of Brahmans.

379
 Production Process and the Historical
Roots of Transition to Castes

K.S. Madhavan “Primary producing groups in early and early medieval Kerala:
Production process and historical roots of transition to castes (300-1300 CE)”
Thesis. Department of History , University of Calicut, 2012
 Chapter Four
Production Process and the Historical Roots of
Transition to Castes

Attempt is made in this chapter to unravel the various aspects of the process
which developed the multiple forms of power that led to the developemt of
endogamy and hereditary occupations. The transition from a tribal / clan
based society of the Mullai- Kurinchi region to the structured hierarchical
society in multiple economies in the wetland and parambu areas are
important. This society was dominated by the institutional structure of the
chiefdom and the ideological and cultural dominance of the temples which
engendered social subordination and subjugation of women and the producing
class.

The growth of overlordship and the subjugation of producing class was

developed through the political power of the Nāttutayavar and the cultural
and ideological control of the temples and the Brahmans. The instituted
process of production in multiple economies transformed the clan endogamy
and kinship structures into endogamous social collective with hereditary
occupations. The subjugation of the endogamous social collective to the
political and cultural dominance of Nāttutayavar or Chēra Perumāl and the
temples and its retinue and the fucntionaries structured the producing class
with endogamy and hereditary occupation. The servitude and bondage of
primary producers were materialised in the process of the production and
appropriation of the resources. Various aspects of the formation of social
stratification and consolidation of hierarchy based on caste and gender are
explained along with the subjugation and servitude of the producing groups in
the following sections.

380
Eco zones and Life Activities

The physiographic regions1, hilly-forested backwood areas, pasture lands,

river valleys and wetland plain, arid –dry and barren lands and littoral tracts –
Mulli –Kurinchi, Marutham, Palai2 and Neytal respectively are eco –types3
or micro eco zones4 which together constituted the multiple economies5 and
corresponding social structures. Hunting, gathering and punam cultivation or
shifting agriculture was important forms of subsistence among the people in
the Kurinchi - Mullai zone. Fishing and salt manufacturing in the littoral
tracts developed even before the wet land agriculture started in the riverine
areas. Pālai could be located anywhere as it was an ephemeral situation
contingent upon seasonal changes.

Vētar, Vēttuvar and Kuravar were engaged in shifting cultivation and

hunting practices in kurinchi region. Āyar or Itayar were the people who were
engaged in pastoral activities and subsistence agriculture in Mullai and
Paratavar engaged in fishing in Neytal area.6 Migration of people from the

1
K Kailasapathy, Tamil Heroic Poetry,[London,1968], p.12.
2
Palai is an ephemeral ecological situation developed due to seasonal changes and it can
be anywhere else in the physiographic zones.
3
K Sivathamby, ‘Early South Indian Society and Economy: The Tinai Concept’ in
Studies in Ancient Tamil Society: Economy, Society and State Formation, pp.1-25.
4
It is assumed that these represent the primary habitat associated with communities
thriving on a multi -resource broad spectrum subsistence economy, situated within a
series of geo-physical and bio-climatic niches. Each micro geo- physical zone tends to
develop an echo zone having its own distinct character and identity depending upon the
nature of community interaction with resource use , technology,subsistence pattern and
settlement pattern, Sudarshan Seneviratne, From Kuti to Natu: A Suggested Framework
for the Study of Pre- State Political Formations in Early Iron Age South India,[1993]
reproduced in Srī Nāgābhinandanam – Dr M S Nagaraja Rao Festschrift,[Eds] L K
Srinivasan and S Nagaraju, [Bangalore, 1995], p.101.
5
The study of development of multiple economies and the uneven development of life
activities are well attested in the study of Guro society of Ivory Coast by Cloude
Meillassoux, Emmanuel Terrey, Marxism and Primitive societies [Monthly Review
Press, New York, 1972].
6
The analysis of self – sustaining communities in West African societies is useful to the
understanding of the kinship groups developed in the early historical period in the

381
mullai –kurinchi region to the riverine and water logging areas occuredand
subsequently formed settlements and wetland agriculture in the river valleys.
Shifting cultivation was practiced in tinai- varaku zone where multicrops
including mountain paddy were cultivated. We find that Thozhuvar and
Uzhavar had engaged in wetland agriculture in riverine and riparian areas.
The people engaged in various life activities were collectively known as
kutimākkal and the basic unit of the tribal descent society in the early historic
period as represented in the classical Tamil texts is the kuti.

Kuti is used to denote family, clan and settlement7. Kuti was originally
used to denote herd or a collective, which later came to mean residential
community of extended kin group. The original meaning of the herd
[economic base] has been extended to the house [place of residence], family
[the immediate subsistence group] and lineage [the extended kin group]
forming the total socio economic complex.8

region under discussion. Claude Meillassoux has made significant contribution in

understanding the self-sustaining kinship groups and he defines the traditional social
unit called ‘community’ as composed of a number of individuals of both sexes linked by
kinship ties and grouped territorially or moving around together under the authority of a
man regarded as eminent. They meet their subsistence from agriculture combined with
food gathering, hunting or herding and, therefore, self-sufficiency is the economic
feature of such community, Cloude Meillassoux - ‘The Economy’ in Agricultural Self –
sustaining Societies: A Preliminary Analysis, in Relations of Production: Marxist
Approaches to Economic Anthropology [Ed] David Seddon, [Frank Cass,1978],pp.133-
34.
7
K Sivathamby, ‘Early South Indian Society and Economy’, in Studies in Ancient Tamil
Society: Economy, Society and State Formation, op.cit. p.15.
8
Sudarshan Seneviratne, From Kuti to Natu: op. cit., pp.104-105. In tribal society, the
institutions are not much differentiated. The constituent units of tribal society is starts
from the closely –knit household to the encompassing tribal whole. Families are joined
in local lineages, lineage in village communities, villages in regional confederacies, the
later making up the tribe or ‘’people’’- itself set in a wider inter-tribal field. The smaller
groups are usually cohesive kinship groups. The larger appear as social compacts of the
smaller integrated by perhaps personal kinship, clanship, or intermarriage. Tribe as a
whole is identified and distinguished from others by certain commonalities of custom
and speech. The smallest units, such as households ,are segments of larger groups of
more inclusive units, such as lineages ,the lineages in turn segments of larger groups,
and so on ,like pyramid of building blocks. Its coherence is not maintained from the

382
 The notion of kinship9 was important in each micro-eco zone that
determined the nature of life activities and the labour process involved in it.
These clan groups settled as chirukuti and the settlers were identified as
chirukudiyān. Chirukuti was the settlement of the people engaged in the
different life activities in the hill slopes encircled by hills in the mullai –
kurunchi region as well as in the coastal area.10 The settlers were known as
kudimākkal to denote a mark of their collective identity as kinship groups.
Those groups who engaged in metalworking, pottery and carpentry also
contributed to agriculture and settled as kutis. The kutimākkal who engaged in
different life activities resulted in developing the gendered division of labour.
All labour activities were based on extended familial kin relations and kin
labour was the principal form of labour of the various clans who practiced
their life activities. Cluster of these chirukuti settlements of the people who
followed various life activities constituted the chirūr.The resource availability
and material life activities in various micro eco zones indicate the
development of multiple economies in relation to the micro -eco zones. It also
reveals the expansion of different livelihood forms as well as the movement
of people involved in it across the various micro eco zones. Life activities and
gender relations in multiple economies developed particular socio-economic
life, which formed both matrilocal and patrilocalhouseholds.

above by public political institutions [as by a sovereign authority].The tribe is divided in

to concentric circles of kith and kin: the household in central position, a circle of lineage
kinsmen surrounding it, a wider circle of village relations, on out to the tribal and inter-
tribal spheres, Marshall D.Sahlins, Tribesmen, [Prentice Hall, New Jersey, 1968], p.15.
9
Social relations are expressed in terms of kinship; it is expressed either of individuals or
of aggregates of unilineal kin, John Middleton and David Tait, Tribes Without Rulers:
Studies on African Segmentary Systems [1958] 1970, p.4.
10
The observation made by Marshall D. Sahlins is important in this context as he says that
the segmentary tribe is sharply divided into independent local communities. These
communities are small in the form of their settlements. The primary segment may be a
compact village or a ‘open community’ of scattered homesteads or hamlets, Marshall D.
Sahlins, Tribesmen, op. cit.,p-21.

383
The Role of Mother Sex in Tinai Varaku Zone

The Mullai poems describe the change of season from summer to

winter. It also deals with the emotional state of lady -love who stays at home
and the anxiety of the heroes who returns from warfare for the protection of
settlements and cattle wealth.11 The hero after separation from his lover
travels in search of wealth is also depicted in the texts. Cattle rearing was the
mainstay in the Mullai region where the subsistence agriculture in the form of
slash and burn or punam cultivation appears to have developed. It indicates
that pastoralism was a less stable economy, which was linked to the slash and
burn cultivation that developed in certain areas of the Mullai region.12 There
are a number of texts, which refer to the emergence of agriculture along with
herding.13 Mullai tinai represents the agro- pastoralism in which cattle
rearing14 and punam cultivation, especially cultivation of varaku, go hand in
hand.15

11
K Sivathamby, ‘An Analysis of the Anthropological Significance of the Economic
Activities and Conduct – Code Ascribed to Mullai Tinai’ in Studies in Ancient Tamil
Society: Economy, Society and State Formation ,op.cit., p.118.
12
Ibid, pp.119-120.
13
A mullai text [AN.194] describes the various aspects of varaku cultivation in the Mullai
region. The epithet kōtutai thalaikutai chūtiya vinainjar [AN.194.7 ] reveals the
labourers wearing caps in their heads and kalai kāl kazhi iya perum puna varaku
[AN.194.9], engaged in the process of weeding in the varaku plots. Kilikati
makalirinvilipata [AN.194.15] also shows the women who engaged in the process of
driving away the birds from the varaku plots. There is reference to the cultivation of
mutanthai varaku [AN.284.3]. There is also reference to muthaipunam kāvalar
[AN.94.10] the protection of the cultivating fields. Similarly, we find the epithet ithai
puna varakin arichi [AN.394.3], here we also find reference to the youngsters who take
meals made of varaku rice, AN.394.7.
14
The epithet kōvalar mullai viyan pulam parappi kurumporai marunku [AN.14.7],
Kōvalar conducting cattle rearing in the Mullai lands in the foot of a small hill called
kurumporai. The cattle are stationed in the mantram [AN.14.11] is mentioned.
15
AN.194 ithai puna varakin arichi, AN.394.3.

384
 Role of the mother sex is important in the pastoral cum subsistence
agriculture economy.16 It made possible the women of a pastoral economy to
be aquainted make themselves acquainted with plants and crops. Such crops
were later incorporated into the domain of agriculture. The shifting
cultivation was practiced by women near their settlements. As men wandered
with their cattle17 in pasturelands women got engaged in agriculture.18 This
developed a gendered division of labour in which women became central to
agriculture instead of being gatherers.Women became active agent in the
emerging social form as they did almost all agriculture operations, especially
the cultivation of varaku and vegetables.

The gender relations in this stage were somewhat symmetrical and

women appeared to have selected their mating partners independently. It
made possible to develop the fusion of clans resulting in clan exogamy by
which the women were enabled to include the other kinship descent groups.
After the introduction of cattle drawn agriculture and hoe cultivation men
began to dominate the agriculture operations, although the lion share of
agriculture were exclusively done by the women. This is mentioned in
number of Mullai texts in which cattle drawn plough is used for varaku
cultivation.19 The exchange of milk products and multicrops enabled men to
assume power over women. The settlements, the cattle and other resources

16
The word tāy , i.e. mother, has been analysed as tā itam, used honorifically to ā [cow]
āy , i.e. mistress of the cows, Sudarshan Seneviratne, From Kuti to Natu,op cit, FN.2,
p.105.
17
Kōlkaikovalar, AN.54.10. A text of a Mullai song mentions kallākōvalar ūthum valvāy
chirukuzhal [AN.74.16-17], the horn sounded by the Kōvalar to get the attention of the
cattle while they were rearing in the pasture.
18
K Sivathamby, An Analysis of the Anthropological Significance of the Economic
Activities and Conduct – Code Ascribed to Mullai Tinai, op. cit., p.126.
19
It mentions ēr itam patutta iru maru pūzhi ,i.e., the land was ploughed with ox
[AN.194.2]. The persons who ploughed the lands are called kollai uzhavar [AN.194.13].
The reference to nedunchāl vitti [AN.194.4-5] indicates the plough marks where seeds
began to be sprout [AN.194.4-5].

385
were to be protected from plundering raids. The able bodied men went for the
protection of settlements and cattle wealth20, while others engaged in cattle
rearing21 and punam cultivation.22

Cattle rearing and punam cultivation was the main occupation of the
people who were descent groups who inhabited in the settlements called
chirukuti23 and the cluster of chirukutis formed part of the chirukutipākkam24
or village.25 The development of multi crops production and cattle rearing
resulted in the exchange of milk products and multi crops, which led to the
development of the prosperous settlements called nallūr.26 This was
accompanied by the emergence of manai, probably from the perumkuti, the
wealthy households in the Mullai region. It is in the manai that women seem
to have domesticated.27 They were confined to the household in which the
notion of karpu28 or chastity began to determine their everyday life29, which
subjected them to the domination of husband and patrilocal households.30

20
Mullai songs represent the return of the heroes after the warfare made for the protection
of cattle wealth or for booty capturing to the lady love who patiently waiting for him.
21
A Mullai text mentions ūr vayin peyarum pozhuthin [AN.64.13], the cattle are
proceeded from the cattle rearing pasture lands to the kuti and cattle are kept in the
mantram , mantrunirai, the public space in a ūr where the cattle are kept,AN.64.14.
22
Muthaipunam kāvalar [AN.94.10].
23
Punpulam thazhiiya porai muthal chirukuti [AN.284.7] indicating the location of
chirukuti settlement which is usually encircled by the uncultivated pasture lands land
located near small hills.
24
Punpula vaipin em chiru nallūr [AN.394.16], the prosperous ūr in the Mullai region.
AN.274.14 mentions the ūr where the lady - love resided/ settled.
25
A Mullai text [AN.384.5-6] mentions mullai am puravin kavai katir varakin chīrūr
ānkan indicating the chīrur is situated in the mullai region where we also find the
cultivation of varaku.
26
It mentions punpula vaipin em chiru nallūr [AN.394.16], the chīrūr in the Mullai
region.
27
Manaiyōl [AN.14.14] indicates the women seem to have domesticated in a rich
household or settlement, There is reference to nin manaiyōl indicating the domesticated
women in a household called manai.
28
Narumalar mullai chanta karpu [AN.274.12-13].

386
 The protection of cattle wealth and settlements also led to the
emergence of chiefs called Mannar who must have developed from the
prosperous settlements and these settlements called nakar or netunakar. These
centeres were also the centers of exchange. The life world of the households
is represented in the Mullai poems. It mentions the direct involvement of
women in cultivation operations and in the protection of crops. We also find
reference to vanpulakāttu nātu31, the multi crop region where nātu began to be
developed, the germination of nātu, which must have developed
concomitantly with agro- pastoralism. It also mentions thunaiyotu thilaikum
kāpputai varaipin32 meaning the household where the protection is made not
only for the physical protection of the settlements but also for the protection
for the control of the youthful female members of the households to prevent
the practice of kalavu and thereby ensure clan endogamy. The term
chemmuthu cheviliyar’33 indicates the beautiful foster mothers who were
appointed to look after the young female members, especially to instruct them
in the patrilocal household relations and the notions of karpu which
emphasized the importance of conjugal fidelity in the prosperous patrilocal
households. Therefore, the conjugal fidelity and the karpu form of marriage
were used to protect women from making exogamous relations with the
members of other clans and to maintain the material wealth within the

29
The men who returned after warfare for the protection of settlements and cattle are
represented in the Mullai poems, K Sivathamby, ‘An Analysis of the Anthropological
Significance of the Economic Activities and Conduct – Code Ascribed to Mullai Tinai’,
op.cit., pp.122-123.
30
The domesticated women in the household of kuti settlement is mentioned in a Mullai
text, katavut karpotu kutikku vilakkākiya puthalvan payantha pukazhmiku chirappin
[AN184.1-2], to give birth a son to be known as the light of the kuti where he born and
bought up, it indicates the development of a house hold where women are domesticated
and they were supposed to be given birth to male children and they also became
instruments to reproduce the patrilineal house hold.
31
Vanpulakāttu nāttathuve [AN.94.12] the multi crop region where the nātu developed.
32
AN.34.13.
33
AN.254.2.

387
extended patrilineal households. Therefore, the disappearance of ka½avu and
the formation of gender relations based on karpu within the extended
patrilineal households of the dominant clans or social groups became an
ideological mechanism, which appeared to have controlled the sexuality of
women so as to ensure clan endogamy.

Tinai Cultivation and the Role of Women

The slashing and burning method is used in kurinchi34 region to

cultivate the tinai35 in the plots located in the forested area called ēnal.
Women in the kurinchi region are variously known as kānavarthankai36,
kurumakal37, kotichi38 etc, primarily engaged in the cultivation of tinai. The
epithet panaithōl ivalum yānum kāval kanninam tinayē39 suggests that women
in the kurinchi region were primarily engaged in the various activities of tinai
cultivation40including the protection of tinai.41 Men did this as well.42 Hill

34
In Kurinchi poems, the main theme is sexual union and those that lead to it. Pre-marital
intercourse was an accepted social custom of the hilly back wood region, K Sivathamby,
‘Early South Indian Society and Economy’ in Studies in Ancient Tamil
Society,op.cit.,p.19.
35
AN.148.6, chirutinai perum punam.
36
AN.132.5.
37
AN.172.16, AN.188.13. AN.188.13 refers to Kurava woman.
38
AN. 58.5, AN, 102.5.
39
AN.92.6-7
40
Koithu ozhi iravi punam the tinai punam lies after reaping the corn, AN.38.14.
41
AN.92.6-7. there is also reference to kuramakal kākkum ēnal [AN.188.13. Kulil kol
thattai [AN.32.6], devices used to drive away the birds from the tinai plots are operated
by the women.
42
AN. 392.15.refers to kal uyar kazhuthin chēnōn erintha val vāy kavanin, a Vētan who
is stationed in the kazhuthu [the hut erected to the purpose of kāval in the tina plots]
and he operated the device called kavanin to disperse / drive away the wild animals
from the tinai fields. The yield of first crop of tinai plant cultivated in slash and burn
method [AN.88.1], muthaichuval kaliththamuri chenthinai] is protected from the wild
animals by the Kuravar [katum kai kānavan] and the Kuravar erected a temporary hut
called kazhutu in the tinai field to drive away the wild animals and the Kuravar guards
the tina plots even at night [ katum kai kānavan kazhuthumichai koil iya netumchutar
vilakkam, [AN.88.5-6].

388
paddy was another important crop cultivated43in addition to tinai. The
cultivation of peas44, chēmpu 45[colocasia], plantains46, sugarcane47 , pepper48
etc indicates that mixed crop cultivation existed in the kurinchi area. A
number of Kurinchi texts suggest that the in tinai zone of the kurinchi region
women predominantly engaged in agriculture operations.49 These texts
repeatedly refer to the active presence of mothers in the everyday life of the
kuti settlers.50

Kalavu and Clan Exogamy

Since women were primarily engaged in cultivation of tinai and vegetables,

the men engaged in occupations that did not warranting them to stay at the
settlements. This led to the emergence of matrilocal settlements in the
kurinchi areas.51 The epithet vinai punai nal il reveals the matrilocal

43
Chezhumchey nellin vilaikathir [AN.72.17].
44
AN.262 mentions various aspects of cultivation of peas [payar], muthai patu
pachungatu means the green spaces were ploughed with ox , pakatu pūnta uzhavu pala
urumchenchey [AN.262.1-4] and conduct various activities including the manuring and
weeding[ pinneyum itumurai nirampi ākuvinai kkalithu.
45
Chēmpu [colacasia] AN.178.4 and kozhukizhangu / cherukizhangu AN.178.4.
46
AN.8.9 mentions the cultivation of plantains [vāzhai]. Similarly, AN.302.1mentions
chilampir pōkiya chemmuka vāzhai, plantains cultivated in the hillside. AN.328.14 and
AN.332.9 mention vāzhai am chilampu, the plantains cultivated in the small hill slopes.
47
Irunkal atukkattu ennaiyar uzhutha karumpu, 302.9-10. Kurumakal, AN, 172.16.
48
AN.272.10-11 kari ivar patapai, AN. 112.14 mentions kanakkale ikukkum kariyivar
chilampin, the pepper cultivated in the hillside. AN.278.4 mentions kōl nimir koti means
the pepper cultivated and it was directed towards the trees or stumps.
49
In the study of the social system of the Guro’s of Ivory coast, Meillassoux shows the
dominant role played by the women in the cultivation of rice , yam and vegetables etc,
Cloude Meillassoux , Kinship Relations and Relations of Production, in [Ed] David
Seddon ,Relations of Production, Op. Cit,p.290.
50
The text AN.12.1 and AN.18.17 mention thāy, mother. AN.52.9, AN.48.1.AN.68.1,
AN.248.14, AN.292.2 and AN.138.3 mention annai or mother. Certain annay vāzhi
vēntu annai, the women and their lady friends discussed the issues with their mother;
annai ariyinum arika [AN.218] and annai en āvathu [AN. 272.15.16] indicate the
importance of mother sex in the kuti settlements.
51
A Kurinchi text mentions kotichiyar thanthai [AN.58.5], the father of the woman called
Kotichiyar in the kurinchi tinai, the men folk , especially the fathers of the Kuravar

389
settlements where women had considerable importance in agriculture
operations.52 The matrilocal extended households where foster women
engaged in nurturing the children, especially of the girld child. Foster mothers
called shevilithāy informed and instructed the young female members on the
social and familial life. These foster mothers trained the young girls on
everyday familial life including the selection of their mating partners. It
appears that the young women were free enough to select their partners.53

There are references to punarnthōr54, thunaipunarnthu55, namkalavu56,

kāmam kalantha kāthal57 indicating ka½avu form of relations between male
and female members of various kutis. The male members engaged in hunting
activities and the women participated in shifting cultivation, indicating that
hunting and shifting enabled kalavu form of relation by which both men and
women were able to select their mating partners independently. The kalavu
was an accepted practice among the kutis. The epithet kātu ther vēttam

women , were not to stayed in the kurava settlements called chirukuti located in the
hilly area, malaikezhu chīrūr [ūr surrounded by the hills ].
52
Women folk in matrilocal settlements are referred to maiyara pentir [AN.98.22]. The
epithet pirappu ularpu iri e [AN.98.9] indicates a kind of astrological prediction made
by women with the help of paddy grains taken in a bamboo pan. There is also reference
to the women who inhabited in the ills / hut settlements independently, thamiyar aliyar
thām nam il pulampil, AN.78. There is also reference to female deities in the hill, ūhurai
utai chilampil ananku, AN.158.8.
nallirai melviral kūppi
illurai katavut kōkkuthum paliye [AN.282.17.18] illurai katavul means the ancestor who
is deified and worshiped in the house, possibly in a matrilocal settlement , where female
ancestors might have been worshiped and kinship ties were reckoned from a common
female ancestor real or imaginary.
53
The mating partner of a woman seemed to be part of a matrilocal settlement is also
mentioned in this text, AN.32.
54
AN.108.1 lovers engaged in lovemaking.
55
AN.178.15.
Palnālpunarkuri cheytha
Pularkural ēnal kilikati pātal [AN.118.11-13] women used to drive away the birds from
the tina plots where they also met their mating partners.
56
AN.122.23, the lovemaking done in secrete and the selection of partners independently.
57
AN.268.6, the lovemaking in which mating is part of it.

390
indicates that the Vēttuva hunter made alliance with a Kurava woman. Thus,
by the practice of clan exogamy men and women of various clans must have
been integrated to the clan of the female and this developed primarily because
of the existence of ka½avu relation which was accepted and facilitated in the
matrilocal settlements. This must have been the reason for, in addition to the
active participation of women folk in agriculture operation, the emergence of
matrilocal settlements in the hilly backwoods area in the kurinchi region
indicating that women of the matrilocal households were free in their choice
58
of sexual relations. The epithet manapparum kāmam punarthamai59
denotes the meeting of mating partners in the kurinchi tracts. It also mentions
marai amai panarchi60, the men and women of various clans in the kurichi
region engaged in secret lovemaking.

The members of matrilocal settlements practiced kalavu where women

invited their mating partners to the settlements.61 Male members in the
matrilocal settlements used to go for accumulation of wealth called porul
while their partners seem to have resided in the maternal kuti settlements,
which indicate the importance given to the matrilocal settlements in the
kurinchi area.62 It seems that women enjoyed considerable freedom in
selecting their mating partners, the practice was accepted and such women
had considerable role in the familial life world. This must have been the
practice in a matrilocal settlement in which women enjoyed considerable
freedom, where mother sex including foster mothers became the referent

58
AN.98.24-25 marai alar and AN.62.6 marai amai panarchi.
59
AN.112.15.
60
AN.62.6.
61
il vanthu nintrōn kantanal annai [AN.248.14] mother finds a man who is the lover of
her daughter and he reaches near her settlement. AN.102.12-13.
62
AN.22.16.

391
point63in everyday life64thereby resulting in developing clan exogamy as a
rule.

The goods and produce generated through shifting cultivation,

gathering and hunting or collection of forest produce in the kurinchi region
were redistributed among the kutimākkal. It was redistributed at a public
space located either inside or outside the ūr settlements. This process of
redistribution of resources resulted in developing certain form of relations
pertaining to exchange called noduththal. The process of redistribution of
produce and goods and the persons who developed from the ūr settlements to
manage this process came to be called ūr kizhān or kizhavan. The dominant
roll assumed by the ūrkizhān in the process of redistribution enabled him to
control the process of redistribution and the exchanges.

Expansion of agriculture made possible the interlocking of settlements

and the interaction between various groups. It developed exchanges of various
produce and goods in the settlements. The kinsmen in these kuti settlements
called kilai or kilainjan.65 The division that developed among the kuti settlers
between senior and junior male members was called ilayarum muthiyarum
kilayutan.66 The juniors among the male members engaged in labour
activities67 while the elders enjoyed the leadership or seniority.68 The epithet

63
Kotiyōr means kin of a woman, AN.288.9].
64
The epithet kātu ther vēttam indicates that the Vēttuva hunter made an alliance with a
Kurava woman shows there was a practice of clan exogamy by which men and women
of various clans must have been integrated to the clan of the female and this was
developed primarily because the existence of ka avu form of female and male relation
which was accepted and facilitated in the matrilocal settlements.
65
kilainjan are known as kinsmen, AN.342.7.
66
AN.348.11-12. The epithet kilayotu kalichiranthu [AN, 172] means along with the
kinsmen/ kilai. AN.138. mentions ikulai means relatives.
67
AN.182.4 mentions vilai ampin ilaiyar means the elders with their arrows. The Kuravar
conduct the hunting practices as a hunting party consisted of elders and youngsters in
which the active hunting operations are done by the youngsters, ampin ilaiyar and the
elders lead the party. Similary, we have reference to indicate the elders, youngsters and

392
irunkal atukkathu ennaiyar uzhutha karumpu69 is mentioned to denote the
hilly-forested area where the sugar cane was cultivated by the brothers of the
kuti settlers. This points the elders must have used the kin labour in
agriculture.70 This contributed to changing gender relations in the kuti
settlements.

Karpu form of Marriage and the Clan Endogamy

The changes in gender relations are represented in the formation of manai 71,
or wealthy housesites in which the movement of women appears to have
been restricted .72 There appears the emergence of a form of called karpu,
which must have led to the establishment of patrilocal household as an
institution.73 There are number of texts indicating the development of certain
form of restriction on women. Kāval74 was instituted in the household
probably by the male members to restrict the women, especially the young
daughters to prevent them from having sexual relations with persons of their
choice, leading to clan exogamy.75 Karpu was, in a way, a system by which
women was exchanged among the endogamous clans, thontu iyal marapin

the relatives are engaged in the tina cultivation in the kurinchi tracts, AN.348.
AN.122.7, also mentions ilankuvēl ilaiyar, the youngsters is used for kāval.
68
AN.342, ēval ilaiyar thalaivan, means the leader of the Maravar mercenary groups
consisting of the youngsters.
69
AN.302.9-10.
70
There is also reference to the juniors, the elders and the kin of the Kuravar, ilayarum
muthiyarum kilayutan kuzhi, [AN.348.11-12], who engaged in the cultivation of tinai
and they drive away the elephants who destroys the tinai in the tina plots.
71
The reference to nanmanai netunakar kāvalar means the manai or the household is
located near the protected chiefly residence.
72
AN.8.9 , manai muthir makalir indicates the woman of a wealthy household called
manai.
73
anta karpil, AN.198.
74
thanthai arunkati kāvalar, AN.2.13-15.
75
thanthaikāppu, AN.288.17, father instituted kāval to protect his young daughter.
Viyarnakar kāval AN.232.13, the kaval instituted in a wealthy household. AN.298.16.
Enthai katiyute viyanakar, the father instituted kāval in a patrilocal house hold.

393
mantal ayara76, and the practice gave way to penkol ozhukkam77, a custom
related to institutional marriage called mānavam.78 Settlers in an extended
household and the kin79 determined wether women were married to the same
clan, possibly through a form of cross cousin marriage.

The restriction imposed on the movement of women was intended to

prevent them from having sexual relations with men of other clans and
thereby control the members of particular kuti within clan endogamy. Women
in the patrilocal family were restricted to so as to maintain the karpu.80 The
women were subjected to the dominance of male members in the extended
households.81 The kuti settlements began to be known through the male
members in the kuti, ie, kuti nanku utaiyan.82 Perumkal yānar
thamchirukutiyān83, the prosperous chirukuti settlements began to be
developed and the kuti came to be known through the lineage of its male
members and cluster of such settlements were made part of the chirur,
kuntuzhai nanniya chīrūr, the chīrūr in the hilly area.84 The exchanges and
the inter locking of such settlements developed the kizhan in these ūr
settlements. The development of Kizhān or Kizhavan was also linked to the
wealthy settlements and households and Kizhans seems to have a dominant
76
AN.112.16.
77
AN.112.17.
78
AN.292.15.
79
AN.268.12,kilaiyotu polintha perumpeyar enthai
80
AN.252. arunkati annayum thuyil maranthanal means the mother who institutes kāval
to her daughter. āy ari uruthal [AN.298.17] mother of a woman institutes kāval to her
daughter. Val urai katumchol annai [AN.122.4], mother who spoke harsh words and
made protection or guarding called kāval to the daughter. It also refers to pinikōl
arumchirai annai [AN.122.5], mother made kāval to the daughter to prevent her to meet
her mating lover and mate with him.
81
aran il yāy [AN.302.15], mother devoid of aran / dharma indicating the status of a
woman began to be subordinated to the men in the household.
82
AN.352.8 , indicates those born in a famous kuti.
83
AN.228.
84
AN.152.2

394
position over the settlements. When the power of the Kizhan85 began dominat
over the settlements, the karpu form of marriage and the patrilocal settlement
functioned according to the customs called mura guided by the patrilocal
notions of the elders.86 It also shows the development of the power of the
chiefs whose centers were hills87indicating the development of the dominant
groups among certain clans who were able to establish their power over the
settlements, households and the community.

This change could be also seen in the structure of the kuti settlements
in which the male members acquired got prominence, though many of the
extended households were kept organised on matrilocal relations. The line of
succession in such matrilocal extended households must have been controlled
by the elder members was aimed at having control over wealth. This was
intended to control the junior male members so as to make use of their labour
as well as to controll over the sexual and reproductive life of women through
clan endogamy.

The the socio-economic structure of the kuti settlements and gender

relations involved in dominant households underwent transformations. The
‘mother’ who had previously enjoyed considerable autonomy and status seem
to have been subjected to the domination of the male members. The accepted
practice of lovemaking and selection of partners that had existed as ka avu
disappeared. As wealthy households emerged and patrilineal relations
developed, the senior male members also tended to dominate the affairs of the

85
Malai kizhavon, AN.108.18.
86
A Mullai turned Kurinchi song [AN.188.4] mentions, murai purinthu aran neri pizhaya
thiran ari mannar the chiefs rule over the people according to the mura or tradition and
the dharma.
87
They are usually referred to kāna nātan[AN.128.10], māmalai nātan[AN.268.5] , malai
kizhavōn[AN.108.18], malai kezu nātan[AN.292.15], kān kezhu nātan, perumalai kāna
nātan[AN.222.1-2] nalvarainātan [302.4],kunta nātan [AN.352.7]in various Kurinchi
poems.

395
households. The matrilocal settlements that had existed with ka½avu form of
male and female relations declained, still matrilocal forms continued
primarily to control the material possession within the household by the elder
male members. The gender relations and the material wealth continued to be
controlled by the elder male members. They also ensured the continued
existence of male dominance through both forms of succession through
female lines and the patrilocality, which institutionalized the karpu form of
marriage and male dominance.

The early migrants to the rivine areas from the mullai –kurinchi region
maintained both matrilocal and patrilocal forms of successions. Those who
settled in the chirukutis [chirukutimākkals] in the mullai-kurinchi region are
believed to have migrated to the riverine and riparine areas for wetland
agriculture. These migrant settlers were responsible for the creation of
productive lands in the river valleys and water logging areas for wet land
paddy cultivation. The chirukudimākkals of the mullai –kurinchi region were
the harbingers of multi crops including mountain paddy from the tina –varaku
zone to the river valleys and water-laden areas. The migrant settlers who
conducted reclamation and cultivation in the wetland area began to be known
as kazhani Uzhavar, ērin vāzhnar or Uzhavar. Their settlements - cum
operational space were termed as ērin vāzhnar kudi indicating the settlements
of the settler cultivators in the wetland. It shows the transition from dry
cultivation of the tina-varaku zone to paddy cultivation in the wet land region.
It also shows the changes that occurred in the kuti settlements from the
chirukuti to wetland cultivation in the riverine and water logging areas when
their identity was transformed to the ērin vāzhnar kuti meaning the settlers
who subsisted on plough agriculture or the uzhakuti of the settler cultivators
in the wetland region.

396
 Terms such as Thozhuvar Arinar, Kalamar, and Kāvalar indicate the
complex operations in wetland agriculture. Emergence and expansion of
wetland agriculture also implied the formation of a number of groups who
were identified either with their instruments or with the type of labour they
performed.88 The term vinai, which stands for labour and terms such as
thozhil, chey etc, are associated with the labour process indicating the
importance given to the socially necessary labour. 89 The term vinaiar indicate
the people engaged in the labour process. This shows the development of
socially necessary labour and formation of a permanent labouring population
as part of the reclamation of riparian areas and cultivation in the wetland
tracts. The development of wetland agriculture in the riverine areas and the
proliferation of settlements of settler cultivators developed a group of
permanent labouring population who retained certain elements of clan identity
and continued to be called kutis.90

We find terms such as izhichinan and izhipirapālan, low born and the
people of low status. It indicates that the status based on birth became
significant in the social milieu. Development of both wetland agriculture in
the riparian region and the cultivation of multiple crops in the parambu areas
made certain changes in the way in which labour was realised. Both
developments incorporated the punam cultivators, hunting gatherers and other
primordial non-cultivating labour groups into the wetland and parambu
cultivation as labouring groups. The development and expansion of wetland
and multi crop cultivation in the parambu areas made possible the
proliferation of settlements.

88
K N Ganesh, Lived Space in History, op.cit.,p.176
89
ElamkulamKunjanPillai, Keralam Chathurvarnathintepitiyil, in Elamkulam Kunjan
Pillaiyute Therenjedutha Kritikal, [Ed] Dr. N Sam, op. cit., pp-261-262.
90
K Sivathamby interprets this development, as ‘it is in the agrarian region that we meet
the first non owning worker’, K Sivathmby, Early South Indian Society and Economy:
the Tinai Concept, op.cit.,p.18.

397
 A significant transformation is the formation of wealthy households
called manai from the settler cultivators in both the wetland region and
parambu area. The dominant groups who developed from the settler
cultivators and the parambu cultivators began to possess productive lands
which led to the emergence of extended households. The surplus in wetland
paddy cultivation and multi culture crops in the parambu cultivation area
enabled the development of wealthy households.91 In prosperous villages,
patrilineal households called manai92 developed which was controlled by the
Ūran.93 Karpu form of marriage and gender relations developed in these
settlements and women in these households seems to be domesticated.94
There appears to have emerged the patrilocal settlements of the settler
cultivators in the wet land region. Though there developed the matrilocal
households the line of succession to the material possession and control of
such households rested on senior male members on female line.95 Women in
the wealthy households of the settler cultivators appeared to have

91
akal vayal yānar ūra, AN.246.4
92
Manta vilavin manai [PN.181.1] manaivilakkākiya vānuthan kanavan [PN.314.1].The
husband is represented as the person who looks after a woman. Manaivi [PN.326.7]
manaiviyōtu [PN.250.5] Nelmalintha mana [PN.338.2] indicating the prosperous
household where paddy stored. Manaiyurai [PN.318.4] Narkal panthal chirumanai
[PN.29.19-20] the manai which was erected on four pillars. Makalir valamanai
[PN.354.6] the house hold where the women became domesticated. Manaikuva iya
karimutayāl [PN.343.3] the pepper bags are kept in the house indicating the social status
of the house, this must have been a warehouse or the wealthy household of the family
who engaged in the pepper trade.
93
Valamkēzh ūran, AN.26.4 and punal ūran, AN.156.7.
94
Makizhnan manaiyōl AN. 166.10. AN.136.19
95
The behavior patterns represented in the Marutham songs are wife sulking over husband
visiting harlot and those that lead to it, K Sivathmby, Early South Indian Society and
Economy: the Tinai Concept, op.cit.,pp.2-3.

398
domesticated96 and women in the bardic troupe turned out to be the
parattaiyar or the other women.97

Gendered Labour in the Multiple Economies

Diverse occupational patterns in tinais resulted in the social division of

gendered labour. People settled as collective occupational and settlement
entities called kutis, and these kutis controlled the resources in the ūrs where
they collectively inhabited. The goods and produce generated through shifting
cultivation, gathering and hunting or collection of forest produce in the Mullai
–kurinchi region were redistributed among the kutimākkal. This also occurred
in the settlements of the settler cultivators in the wetland areas. It was
redistributed at a public space located either inside or outside the ūr
settlements. This process of redistribution of resources resulted in developing
certain form of relations pertaining to distribution called noduththal. The
process of redistribution of produce and goods and the persons who
developed from the ūr settlements to manage this process came to be called ūr
Kizhān or Kizhavan. The dominant role assumed by the ūr Kizhān in the
process of redistribution enabled him to control the process of redistribution
and the exchanges.

Paddy was the common element in exchange. It was exchanged for

salt, fish and toddy. The pastoral and agricultural activities were linked by
exchanges of milk, curd and ghee.98 Similarly, development of wetland

96
The women who domesticated in a typical patrilineal family is mentioned in a
Marutham text[AN.86.4,manaivilakkuruthu]
97
It repeatedly mentions that the male members in the family went for the parattaiyar, or
the other women, K Sivathamby, Development of Aristocracy in Ancient Tamilnatu- A
Study of the Beginnings of Social Stratification in Early Tamilnatu, op .cit,.p.71. A
Marutham text mentions a patrilocal family where woman seems to have domesticated
and her husband is gone for other women [AN.16. 5]yāvarum vizhayum polanthodi
pulavan.
98
K N Ganesh, Lived Space in History, op.cit.,p.177.

399
agriculture involved the exchange of cattle.99 Maruku was the term used to
denote the center of exchanges which also indicates the germination of
trading activities. The exchange centers were related to different productive
spaces where various life activities developed. As market widened centeres of
exchange evolved as āvanam and angādi. The forest produce and spices were
important goods that reached the ports of trade in the west coast through
internal exchange networks.

The vētchi100, a form of cattle raids, in the ūr settlements became

101
institutionalized. Booty capturing and plunder raids also developed due to
the development of chieftains from the ūr Kizhāns. The warfare that
developed between chiefs led the rise of certain tribal chieftains called Vēls
and later the Mannans from the Ūrans of the ūr settlements.102 Most of the
chiefs were located in mountain centers called malai / kuntram or coastal
areas.103 The headquarters of Vēntans or Vēls were netunakar.104 The trade
settlements began to develop near the residences of these chiefs. The Marava
soldiers developed as retinue of these chiefs as part of the plundering and due
to the sharing of the booty capturing. These Marava soldiers and the trading
groups used the pathways called aru that were developed due to the
movements of cattle, goods and people. The channels in the hillsides called
churam also developed. Different pathways and cross roads resulted in the
steady movement of people across long distances. These pathways served as

99
Ibid.
100
AN.97.6 kolaivil ātavar, 105.13 vinaival ampin vizhuthotai maravar, 309.2 kadunkan
mazhavar,338.16-17 and 372.10 kotuvil ātavar.
101
Ibid.p.183.
102
K Sivathampi, ‘Organisation of Political Authority in Early Tamilnatu’ in Ancient
Tamil Society: Economy, Society and State Formation, op.cit.,pp.37-46.
103
Ibi.p.185.
104
K N Ganesh, Lived Space in History,op.cit.,p.167.AN.162.9[netunakar]

400
important channels to the ports of trade in the west coast, in addition to the
number of rivers.105

Many occupational groups developed. The reference to cotton

texture106, indicates people, predominantly women were engaged in the
cultivation and processing of cotton. Similarly, the mention of the processing
of sugarcane reveals sugarcane was important crop during the period. There
must have been the cultivation of palm and coconut. There developed groups
of people who engaged in different crafts, metalworking, masonry and
pottery. People were engaged in bead making and in the processing of
precious metals and stones. These people are also identified as kutis. The kuti
is known to their settlement locality and their collective identity is related to
107
kinship descent groups. It shows that the kuti is related to the habitational
and occupational aspect of a settlement locality. The production also involved
identification of the means and instruments of labour as well as the labourer,
which is again related to kutis. This is the result of the realization that the
production process in agriculture involved not only different acts and forms of
labour but also different instruments.108 Perhaps the specialized labour that

105
Yavanar thantha vinaima nankalam
Ponnotu vanthu kariyotu peyarum
Valamkezhumuiriyārppezhavalaiyi [AN.149.10]. The Greeks came with gold and
returned enough pepper from the Muchiri is attested in these verses.
106
There is reference to paritti pendir [PN.326.5] indicating the cotton texture
predominantly done by the women.
107
Clan is a multi local, matrilineal or matrilineal descent unit often widely dispersed in
local – the members of which do not intermarry because their presumed common
ancestry, but by that token stand ready to help each other if called upon. Since people
have to marry outside the clan, into other clans, the tribe takes shape as a number of
inter connected clans cutting across the several local groups, Marshall D. Sahlins,
Tribesmen, op. cit.,p.23. The clan is a unilineal descent group when it is exogamous. It
consists of several lineages, which may be segmented. It may be a mere category of
dispersed people, not forming a corporate group with only a vague notion of original
common ancestry, exogamy and totemism are often given a defining attributes, John
Middleton and David Tait, Tribes Without Rulers, op.cit.,p.4.
108
K N Ganesh, Lived Space in History, op.cit., p.177.

401
was directly involved in the space of agriculture production was that of the
potter who involved in the making of vessels for eating, drinking and for
storage of consumable goods. Like the craft groups, the potters were
specialized groups who were part of the moving people and there must have
developed the closed and collective identity of such moving groups as
specialized units of production.

The kutimākkal were identified primarily by the occupation. The

settlement and their life activities were interrelated to each other. People lived
as clan groups and a clan consisted of the extended households of kinsmen
called kilai and kin relation was the base of the extended households of the
kin group.109 The material life activities of each kin group were important in
each eco – cultural zone [tinai] when the kin groups and labouring groups
were not differentiated. The extended kin groups were divided through
muthiyar and ilaiyar groups. Cluster of these kutis constituted the ūr. Ūr is
the habitational space and hence identifiable with kutis conducting various life
activities. Ūr includes habitation sites like kuti,pati chēri etc. Ūrs were in
proximity to exchange centers like maruku, teru and angadi and assembly
called mantram.110 Lived spaces of different groups of people conducting
various life activities with different technological and cultural development
can be seen in the ūr settlements.111 The kinship collectives inhabited as
extended households, as indicated by such terms as ill or illam. Manai was

109
A descent group is a body of kinsmen united by common ancestry. The common
descent is reckoned through male, female or male and female [cognatic]. There are
corporate descent group, in the sense of perpetual units of the tribal system, existing
forever though individual members come and go through birth and death. Descent
groups themselves can be allied by kinship. Intermarriage effects alliance: in so far as,
each group is a cohesive entity marriages between different groups can be translated in
to marriages between the groups themselves. Kinsmen are made as well as born; they
are made by marriages, Marshall D.Sahlins, Tribesmen, op. cit., pp.11-12.
110
K N Ganesh, Lived Space in History, op.cit., p.189.
111
Ibid.p.190.

402
more of a structured residence indicating the socio economic status of the
inhabitants. Elevated walls were erected around such structured houses.

However, there did not develop substantial changes in the forms of

labour involved in the life activities of the different groups who lived as kutis
in micro-eco zones112. Almost all labour activities were done by the kutis in
various tinais. When new occupations developed due to the expansion of
cultivation and proliferation of settlements types of labour diversified in both
mullai –kurinchi, wetland and parambu areas and these were to be done by the
kutimākkals in respective areas. The development of agricultural operations
and the proliferation of exchange centers for the production and exchanges of
goods and produces for the consumption of the chiefs and their retinue led to
specialized skill and goods among certain kutis. The acquisition of new skills
among certain kutis ensured mobility and subsequently which provided them
the potential to have control over the resources available to them in the area
they inhabited. However, the base of the production operation and the labour
process involved in it was the kinship descent structure of the kuti inhabitants.

Such kutis were the resource base of the Vēl chiefs who developed
from the kin groups in the kutis and those who made use of the different kuti
collectives for their existence and expansion of their dominance. They also
made use of the physical power of the Marava / Mazhuva group113 to extend
their power / authority. The Maravas were also kinship descent groups who
developed from the process of warfare between the ūr settlements as in the

112
Thontu mozhintu thozhil kēlpa PP.9.10.8.
113
The Maravars were developed from the ūr settlements where the groups who destroyed
the ūrs of the enemy settlements in the feud that had taken place between the ūrs came
to be known as Maravar. Elamkulam KunjanPillai, ‘Keralam Sangakalathu’ [Kerala in
Sangam period],in Elamkulam Kunjan Pillaiyute Therenjedutha Kritikal,op.cit.,pp.11-
12.

403
case of cattle lifting ,booty capturing or plunder raids.114 The presence of Vēl
chiefs and their retinue led to the constant conflicts between these Vēl chiefs
and this became a regular feature of the society. It created a social situation by
which the kutis came to be controlled by the Vēl chiefs. The war became a
mechanism of appropriation of the resources from the kutis. The Vēl chiefs
incorporated a number of Marava groups as mercenary soldiers into their
political fold that further increased conflicts among the Vēl chiefs. This feuds
between the Vēl chiefs resulted in the destruction of ūr settlements. This was
one of the prime reason for the migration of people from their kuti settlements
to the riverine areas115 and development of wet land agriculture and mixed
crops cultivation in the parambu areas in the midland.

The Vēls chiefs in the hilly areas in the mullai- kurinchi region tried to
subdue the settlements in the wetland and parambu areas as part of the
expansion of their resource base to the midland and to the coastal areas. The
kutimākkals who were captured in the warfare between the Vēl chiefs might
have been employed, in addition to the primordial labour groups like punam
cultivators and pastoral groups, in water management and ground preparation
in wetland agriculture in the flood plains and riparian areas. Effective
utilization of silted and biomass deposited land spaces with the labour of these
groups and the cultivating kutis116who developed from the settler cultivators
made the wetland agriculture a surplus producing enterprise.

It made a complex division of gendered labour in the wetland

agriculture. The expansion of agriculture in the wetland areas and in the
parambus and proliferation of the settlements were complemented by the

114
kotuvil ātavar patupakai very i ūrezhunthulariya pīrezhu muthupāzh indicating the
devastated villages on account of the raids made by the Maravar mercenary groups
[AN,167.9-10]
115
nilam kan vata [PP.2.9.17], pumal keta iruttu[PP.4.2.11], pulamketa nerittu[PP.4.3.6]
116
Palvithai uzhavin chil eralar PP. 8.6.11.

404
extension of various agriculture produce including the forest produce. This
process develoed the produces in parambu and wetland areas became
dominant ones in multiple economies, yet hill crops and forest produce had
considerable importance in these economies. It resulted in linking the various
movements of goods, products and people, trade, which shaped the social
form in which the kutis and labouring population with distinct life worlds in
the multiple economie.

The diversification of occupations and the proliferation of ūr

settlements led to the generation of surplus. Dominant group who emerged
tried to control the production process in these areas. They included the
traders and mercenary groups like Maravar. It was from these groups that the
Vellala cultivators having control over the productive lands developed in the
ūr settlements in both wetland and in parambu areas.

Social Relations in Multiple Economies

The expansion of agriculture in water laden and riverine areas

necessitated the development of a permanent labour collective in the ūr
settlements. The dominant groups who developed in the ūr settlements
brought the non-agricultural labourers from outside for this purpose. They
were used for both reclaiming land and extending agriculture in the midland
as well as to bring the new forested land under cultivation. The land holding
groups brought the non-agricultural labourers and the people who practiced
the punam cultivation and foraging activities for this purpose. The non –
agricultural labourers and primordial groups who already settled in the
midland areas as hunters and pastoral groups were also persuaded and made
to settle in both the laterie and wetland areas.

However, they were detached from their original settlement localities

and clan ties, brought and settled as scattered servile labouring groups in the

405
ūr settlements. Pulam was used to denote the fertile agriculture land117 where
these labouring groups were employed for agriculture operations in wetland
areas. Those servile populations who were permanently engaged in the pulam
tracts for agriculture operations were identified with the lands they attached.
Their servitude was characterized by their attachment to the lands on which
they laboured. They must have been the descendants of some of the earlier
settlers as well as those people who were brought for labour activities in both
wetland and parambu areas. They became the primary producers in the
surplus producing economies in both wet land and parambu areas. These
people became the servile labouring population to the landed groups. The
kinship and descent structure of the cultivating kutis and the kutis of
occupational groups also played important role in the process of the
coordination of labour.

The people who were engaged in the making of agriculture implements

[Kollan]118 and basket making in both wetland and parambu areas were
labouring groups. The people who engaged in craft production, metalworking
etc in wetland riparian plains and their counterparts in the parambu areas were
also kutis. Those who engaged in toddy tapping and labour activities related
to palms and coconut came to be called Thīyar. Occupational groups
connection with palms and coconuts as well as in metalworking and craft
came to known as Katasiyar, Īzhavar etc. The term Izhichinan and
Izhipirappālan become important in this context as it indicated the people of
low origin and status and these terms must have been used to denote the
servile people who developed in the context of agrarian expansion and
formation of dominant groups in the society.

117
PP.3.5.1 mā ādiya pulam nānchil āta, PP.3.3.3 pulam ketu kāleyum, PP.6.8.15
punpulam vittum.
118
Kollan mithukuruku ūthu ulai [AN.202.5-6], irumpu payalpatukkum karumkai
kollan[PN.170.15 ]PN.180.12], porkollan[PN.353.1]

406
 Expansion of parambu cultivation and wetland agriculture developed
diverse appropriating pattern.This also evolved complex form of production
process involving large number of permanent labouring population of servile
nature resulting in the creation of large surplus and its appropriation modes.
The labouring groups required for the production of surplus in wetland and
parambus were met by bringing the non-cultivating labouring clans,
primordial labour groups, pastoral groups, and punam cultivators into the
labour process. This paved the way for the development of servile groups.
The dominant groups were known as Mēlōr and the producing groups were
known as Kīzhōr, Iravalar and Irapirappālar.

The divisions that developed between the two groups, Mēlōr and the
Kīzhōr, were accompanied by the process of the appropriation of surplus. The
elder male members in the extended families were the immediate
appropriators as they were the landed groups among the settler cultivators in
both laterite and wetland areas. The Ūran, Kizhān or Kizhavan mercenary
martial groups like Mazhuvar or Maravar, Brahman groups, sometimes,
called Pulavar, Budhist and Jain groups were also linked to the group of
appropriators of the produce generated by the cultivating kutis and labouring
population. This was crystallized in the form of a political structure that was
manifested in the authority of the Vēnthar who tried to control the resources
by way of subjugating the cultivating kutis and the labouring groups who
were also located in the ūr settlements as Kīzhōr. Development of the political
authority of the Vēnthar involved the development of certain groups
consisting of the retinue of the Vēntans and the Pulavar. The latter were
predominantly the Brahmans who interpreted knowledge as transcendending
and otherworldly one and legitimized the polity of the Vēntans.119 They were

119
PN.305.2-4. K Sivathamby, ‘Development of Aristocracy in Ancient Tamilnatu- A
Study of the Beginnings of Social Stratification in Early Tamilnatu’ in Studies in
Ancient Tamil Society.op.cit.,p.79.

407
able to acquire the wealth including the productive lands in the ūr settlements
of the settler cultivators and the cultivating kutis. They were donated
productive lands and many of them must have participated in the expansive
raids made by the Vēntans over the ūr settlements where cultivating kutis and
the labouring groups engaged in the production of agrarian resources.

The acquisition of wealth by the dominant groups resulted in the

development of structured households among the dominant groups including
settler cultivators and Brahmans, which also necessitated the germination of
an ideology to legitimize gender relations, wealth, household structure and the
polity. This ideology was provided predominantly by the Brahmins with their
Sanskritic and dharmasāstric notions and itihāsa-purāna idioms.

However, the social organization of the kutis did not transform the
structure of the households. Il or illam began to be developed as a unit of
kuti, which was more an economic unit.120 The most typical term is
manai121which is a house site, which must have been developed as the
prosperous households. It not only indicates the constitution of the household
as a structured entity related to formal house site but also the socio economic
status. The manai developed as a formal unit of the familial household of the
wife and husband related to the karpu.122 The manai can be seen as the
development of patrilocal extended family which existed by rule of patrilocal
marital residence which paved the way for the domestication of women in a
patrilocal household.123 It was from the manai that women of the non-

120
AN.141.3 punaivinai illam.PN.116.5, PN 329.1, PP.331.5, PN.85. em il, PN.86.1 chittil
nattūn, PP.9.10.45 kūzhudai nal il.
121
AN.224.11, AN.232.10, AN.254.5,
122
ElamkulamKunjanPillai, ‘Kalavum kārpum’, in Elamkulam Kunjan Pillaiyute
Therenjedutha Kritikal, [Ed] Dr.N Sam, op. cit., pp.53-99.
123
The patrilocal extended family is consisted of a patriarch, his wife, and his married sons
with their wives and children and perhaps some unmarried daughters of the senior
couple. The detachment of women from their natal groups for procreation of their

408
producing groups began to be domesticated and came to be called manaiyōl124
or manaivi.

The familial households were developed from the kutis in relation to

the development of the karpu form of marriage and women came to be seen
as dutiful housewife in a patrilineal household called manaiyōl. The
patrilineal households were developed mainly because of the division of the
descent groups into seniors and juniors either in relation to the development
of patrlilocal households or in relation to the matrilocal settlements on female
line with male dominance. The senior members controlled the labour of the
junior members in the extended households controlling the wealth created by
the juniors.

The control of women was achieved through the practice of an

institutionalized form of marriage called karpu, which aimed at the
domestication of their women. The cultivating kutis and the labouring
population were made use of in the expansion of resource base of the
dominant groups including the settler cultivators, Brahmans, chiefs and their
kin and their retinue. Endogamy became an organic mechanism by which
women were subjugated by having control over their sexuality. The social
reproduction of the material life activities were ensured through the
appropriation of resources by way of social taxonomy of classificatory norms
like Mēlor and Kīzhor. Women and junior male members in the dominant
households and both sex among the producing groups were used biologically
and socially to reproduce the social form that already came into being.

husband’s heirs is one of the features of this marriage, Marshal D.Sahlins, the
Tribesmen, op. cit.,p.65
124
Manaiyōl [AN.166.10]manai manalatuttu[AN.195.4]

409
The Perception of the Social World: Challenges and Transition

Society was continuously confronting challenges, passing through systemic

crisis and transition. The reflection of which is manifested, in a way, in the
forms of influence made by the Budhists125, Jains [arathar, chavakar etc] and
Brahmans126 [pārpanar, anthanar] whose presence is well attested and their
influence had considerable impact upon the society. They came to Tamilakam
along with the trading groups with a missionary zeal and new knowledge
forms from societies where the knowledge forms pertaining to material
production and social life had been well developed. Knowledge forms that
were brought by the Buddhists, Jains and others were accepted and its
acquisition was considered significant in the advancement of the material life
activities of the society at a time when resources and production forms began
to be developed and expanded. The new knowledge was inevitable not only
for the development of agriculture but also for the expansion of trade and
exchange. 127

Those who were able to possess such knowledge forms were

recognized as arivōr/knowledgeable persons /groups and assumed
considerable status and privileges in the society.128 There developed a
distinction between the technics developed and sustained by the producing
groups as part of their involvement in the material production, and the new

125
Elamkulam KunjanPillai, ‘Keralam Chathurvarnathintepitiyil’,in Elamkulam Kunjan
Pillaiyute Therenjedutha Kritikal,op.cit.,pp-241-244.
126
There were Brahmans who conducted the sacrifices and those did not conduct it, the
term maraiyōr indicate the importance as well as the concealment of the vēdic
knowledge. Similarly, the term vēlāpārpanmār indicate the ordinary Brahmans who
lived off the life activities other than the vēdic sacrifices, ElamkulamKunjanPillai,
‘Keralam Chāthurvarnathintepitiyil’, in Elamkulam Kunjan Pillaiyute Therenjedutha
Kritikal, op.cit.,p.240.
127
Mayil arivinar chevvithin natanthu [PP.3.2.8] and uravōr enninum matavōr enninum
[PP.8.3.1]
128
Ariyunar kānin vētkai nīkkkum [PN.154.2], arivutaiyōnārarachunchellum [PN.183.7],
arivutaivēntan [PN.184.5] māndaven manaiviyotumakkalunirambinar [PN.191.3]

410
knowledge largely in the form of ethics and social norms which were
systematically preached by the Budhists, Jains and Brahmans etc. The
Budhists emphasised on social morality while Brahmans stressed the
dharmasastric and canonical principles. This knowledge looked upon those
who involved physical labour as ignorant and uninformed of knowledge.
However, the material production and the diversity of labour activities were
interpreted with the abstract notion of labour and its bodily hexies in Budhist
narratives. Budhists and Jains are believed to have interpreted hunger129 and
misery130 that existed in the society as reality of human material life world
and its location in the social system.131 However, the shramanic sects though
did not negate the importance of material production132, yet it had been
negotiated through question of conditions of human existence.

Therefore, those people engaged in the labour process were treated as

people devoid of knowledge, ignorant and unconscious. The social divisions
that emerged in the context of the relations that were established on account
of the production and exchanges in the multiple economies were represented
as people belonging to Uyarnthōr / Mēlōr, the high born having knowledge,
and the Kīzhōr/ Izhainthōr or the low born devoid of knowledge.
Kataisiyar133,Īzhuvar, Izhichinan134, or Izhipirapālan135 were the attributed

129
Pachiya laikkum pakaiyontrenko [PN.136.8]
130
Varunthalumunden paithalankadumbe [PN.139.15].Philosophical notions of the
existence of misery and hunger in the material life world are attested [PN.182]
131
There is vivid description of the hunger and misery in the text [PN.164.3-7]. pachipini
maruthuvanillam [PN.173.11]
132
njāyittellai ālvinai kkuthavi
Iravin ellai varuvathu nāti
uraittichin peruma nantrum , the attitude of the Budhistts towards labour and labour
activitieas are represented in this epithet [PN.366.10-12]
133
PN.61.1 kondai kkūzhai thandazhai kkatachiyar the Katashiyar women who engaged in
the labour activities. There is also reference to pulaitti kazhi iya thūvellaruvai, the
washer women who is also can be treated as low born in this context, PN.311.2. certain
atumakal is represented to indicate the domestic women labourer [PN.399.1]

411
cultivating kutis and the labouring groups. Birth attributed to particular socio-
cultural group136 became significant category through which their social status
was determined. The people represented as Kadasiyar,Thīyavar, Kīzhōr,
Iravalar ,Izhichinan etc were given the status of Izhipirapālan, the low born
and ignorant , mainly because they did not possess the knowledge of the
condition of their existence. The division between the Uyarthor and Kīzhor
has a striking similarity in Budhist sources, the ukkata jāti and the hīnajāti.137
However, Buddhists made their discourses of knowledge as an open ended
and inclusive system, left the possibility of transcending the nuances of the
material life world through the attainment of knowledge of the material
condition of existence in which the life activities of the people were
located.138

Production Process and Kuti Settlements

The archaic terms that appeared in the epigraphic documents, mostly from
ninth centuries onwards, refer to the settlers in generic terms indicating the
development of the cultivating kutis in both wetland and parambu areas.139
The land and labour terms that appear in inscriptions also indicate the process
of reclaiming land spaces and cultivation operations made by the cultivating
kutis and the labouring groups. The cultivating kudis who developed from the

134
mativāy thannumai izhichinan kurale, PN.289.10. There is also reference to
thudiyeriyum pulaiya,PN.287.1.
135
izhipirappālan karunkai chivappa
Valithuranthu chilaikkum vankat katumthudi, PN.170.5-6 and PN.363.10-14.
136
Chira ār thutiyar [PN.291.1], pathan eliyōr[PN.35.15]
137
Uma Chakravarti, Beyond the Kings and Brahmanas of ‘Ancient’ India, [Tulika Books,
Delhi, 2007], p.62.
138
kīzhppāloruvankarpin
mērpāloruvanu mavankat patumē, PN.183.9-10.
139
Kīrankadambanār in Vazhapalli plate, Pakaithonkan, Thudavar,
Mīnachchichirukundurār and kurunthorai Kundirār in Parthivapuram plates appear as
cultivating kutis.

412
early settlers, in both wetland areas where they did cultivation of paddy and
laterite parambus where they engaged in the production of multi crops,
became an important group. In addition to the cultivating kutis, the labour of
the servile groups was utilisd for the expansion of cultivation and generation
of surplus. Avittaththur inscription can be seen as a case in point, which
mentions ivvūrkutikal140, the cultivating kutis settled and cultivated in the ūr
settlements. Certain chemmaruthar mentioned in Tirunandikkarai plate and
Karunantharuman in Paliyam plate are the cultivating groups settled as kutis
in ūr settlements whose existence in the respective areas must have had long
historical past.141 The epithets like avvūrilirikumkutikale142, yivūrulkuti143,
ivūrur ulkuti144 etc seem to have developed as the cultivating and the
occupational groups. There is also reference to pūmiyuzhuvumavar145 to
indicate the cultivating kutis.

The production and exchange of the parambu and wetland region

developed diverse livelihood forms. They included the kammālar groups
consisting of various smiths like the carpenter, potter etc. The menial
labourers called Pulayar, Parayar and Chāntrar etc were generally considered
as the Adiyār or Āl indicating their condition of existence as the primary
producers who provided the labour for the production operations. The kutis of
cultivating and occupational groups and servile group of labouring population
are found to have incorporated into the production process with their clan ties,
kinship structures and distinct cultural features.
140
M G S,A-10,L.14.
141
Certain Kannakālaiyudaiyār and Thachchanār, [MG S.A-24, Kannakālaiyudaiyārpōttai
and thachchanārpōttai ].It indicates the people settled as cultivating kutis,
Kāraikkādudaiyar, mentioned in a Trikkakara plate [M G S.B-10] also indicate this
development.
142
Chennamangalam inscription, M G S, C-34.L.6.
143
Trikkakara inscription, M G S,B-19,L.[2] 2.
144
Trikkakara plate mentions, M G S, B-19.
145
M G S,A-42, Ls.[3]1-3.

413
 The cultivating kutis controlled the lands they occupied and cultivated
as the original settlers and actual producers. However, the kutis had to give a
share of the produce as kudimai to the overlords when the over lords
developed and controlled the production localities where both wetland
produce and multi crops were cultivated. The overlords consisted of
dominant households, nāttutudayavars, Brahmans and temples received the
kutimai as payment for allowing the kudis to stay in the lands. The kutis
retained the right to occupation and cultivation paying the kutima. This was a
transition from the actual structure of the kutis, from the status of autonomous
cultivating groups who were the original setters and actual producers of the
lands in which they settled and controlled, to the producers who retained the
right over the lands in lieu of the payment of the surplus produce to the over
lords concerned.

Earlier the kutis had to give only certain share of the produce as settler
payment called pakarchai to the powerful groups of the locality as prestations
in return for the physical protection from them. But when the Nāttudayavar
made control over the production localities, the kutis were forced to pay
obligatory payment called kadamai, sometimes, it was called as mēlpāti or
mēlodi and vāram which were given to the Nāttutayavar and to the Perumāl
while pāttam was given to the temples. A major share of the surplus produce
generated in the production localities was taken over by the overlords like
dominant households and the Nāttutayavar as kīzhpāti and mēlpāti
respectively. They in turn donated a share of this surplus to the temples,
largely in the form of expenses of the offerings they made in the temples.
Temples were able to develop certain tenurial control over the lands from
where the donations were made to the temples in the form of the share of the
produce. It was in this way that the agrarian surplus produced by the
cultivating kutis was channelized to the temple as offerings and grants.

414
 A few attippēr grants of productive lands made by the ruling lineages
and dominant families to the temples also brought the productive lands under
the control of the temples. The cultivating kutis and the labouring population
who were already settled in such lands continued to engage in the process of
surplus generation even when they were under the over lordship of the
temples and their obligatory payment were redirected to temples. This forced
the kutis to accept the over lordship of the temples under the kārānmai
relations and pāttam became a new mode of payment of the share of surplus
produce. The households that developed from the settler cultivators held lands
as a collective possession of the households and the Nāttutayavar held lands
as chērikkal on which extended households of the ruling lineage retained
rights over the lands where the cultivating kutis and the labouring groups like
Pulayar, Āl and Atiyār settled and cultivated. Brahman villages where the
temples developed had the lands under the control of Brahman assembly
where the kutis and the labouring population settled to cultivate and generate
the agrarian surplus.

The primary producers of servile labouring population were

subordinated to various overlords like dominant land holding households,
nāttutayavar, Brahmans, temples, Chēra Perumāls and others. The cultivating
kutis were transformed to the tenant cultivators under the kārānmai relations.
The kutis who engaged in the auxiliary occupations like metalworking, craft
and the kutis associated with palm, coconut, etc, also became subordinated to
the respective overlords. The nāttudayavar, their kin groups, retinue, and the
land-holding households managed to evolve devices to realize the labour of
the cultivating kutis and other labouring populations by expanding agriculture
activities and surplus extraction. The Brahmans and temples began to become
part of this process of realization of labour and the generation of agrarian
resources with the support of the nāttudayavars. It enabled the temples to
establish tenurial dominance over the production localities of the cultivating

415
kutis. The hitherto uncultivated areas in both wetland and laterite areas
including forested land spaces were brought under cultivation as part of this
process.

The occupational and spatial meaning of kuti was transformed when

the landed families and the chiefs exerted over lordship over the production
localities where the settlements of kutis were located. The kutis were
subordinated to the political and cultural structure of the overlords and the
land holding households. Their particular life worlds including specific
kinship relations became part of the modes of subordination. The meaning of
the kuti had been transformed as clan groups of occupant cultivators to kutis
of cultivating and occupational groups in the ūr settlements. These cultivating
kutis and kutis of occupational groups were clustered mostly as extended
house sites and the resource they were able to make use of including lands
that were held as collective possession bound to the gradations of rights held
by the extended house sites. There developed the over lordships of the
dominant households of the landholders, nāttutayavar , temples and
Brahmans over the cultivating settlements where the cultivating kutis and
labouring population engaged in the production of agrarian surplus. They
were forced to engage in the expansion of cultivation in parambu and wetland
areas for the requirement of a number of overlords. This also happened under
the Nāttutayavars, temples and the dominant lanholding groups including
Brahman ūrs.

The development of Vellālar as cultivating kutis and the fact that the
kutis engaged were in various occupations like, Thachchar, Īzhavar, Vannār
etc, as mentioned in Kollam plate is an indication to the proliferation of
various kutis in the coastal settlement called nakaram. Similarly, the bonded
people called adimai developed as the servile population. The status of kuti as
cultivators and occupational and artisanal groups appeared in the coastal

416
settlement must have also developed in the wetland and parambu areas. This
can also be seen as the indication to the proliferation of various kuti
settlements and expansion of cultivation in both wetland and parambu areas
where the generation of agrarian resources was made with the labour of the
primary producers called Āl/Adiyār or Pulayar. The location and organization
of kuti settlement mentioned in Ayiranikkalam inscription indicates the
development of kutis as having engaged in cultivation and as having lived in
the extended households in the puras. It also shows the way in which the
cultivating kutis settled in the ūr settlements were brought under the
dominance of a Brahmanical temple. Even when they came under the
Brahmanical dominance, the right of the kuti to settle and cultivate was
retained. Cultivation was done by the members of the kutis with the
leadership of the elders of each extended households of the kutis called kutiyil
mūththavan.146 The land cultivated by the kutis was the collective possession
of the extended households of the kutis and the kutis controlled the lands they
cultivated.147 The term kutiyil mūththavan refers to the elder members of the
cultivating kutis who managed to cultivate the lands and retained the rights
that was collectively possessed by the extended households of the cultivating
kuti as a whole. The descent head of the elders of such extendedhouseholds of
the kutis was known as kutipati.148

The punam cultivation developed in the tina- varaku zone of the

mullai- kurinchi region where women had control over the production and
matrilineal relations. We also find the process in which such matrilineal
households gave way to the households where men had control over the
households, clan and the resources. The development of wetland agriculture
and mixed crop cultivation in both riparian water logging areas and laterite
146
Pūmi kutiyil mūththavalai vazhakkatirai, ibid, L.21.
147
Ivvūr kutikalarkkuttu karaipūmi, ibid, L.24.
148
ivvīrandūrilum pathiyaiyum,ibid, L.6.

417
parambus developed the cereal agriculture where also women also maintained
important roles in the production operations. However, cereal agriculture
required planting, weeding, care, harvesting, processing, stock and
centralization of the product in the production localities called ūrs. Two
important developments occurred in the kutis in relation to this process. One
is the continuation of the kuti as an economic unit of production with its own
kinship descent structures. Second is the continuation of extended households
with matrilineal relations. Men in such extended households could exert their
control without overstepping the prerogatives of women in the households.
The result was the dominance of the elder male members in the extended
households. Cultivation and redistribution of produce in turn led the elders to
assert their dominance within the households of the kutis. The matrilineal
structure was maintained for the enlargement of the extended households as
productive economic unit. Thus, male dominance was maintained by
domesticating women to reproduce such households as endogamous units.
Apart from this, there developed the close ties between the members of the
kutis. Such a relationship was articulated through domination and
subordination that developed between the elders and junior members of the
extended households.

Kuti as Economic Unit and Kinship Descent Structure

Settlements of cultivating kutis proliferated in various production localities in

both wet land areas and mixed crop parambus lands. Land was used as the
instrument of labour with the expectation of a later return. The output was
delayed until the maturity of crop, i.e. for a period, which is not under the
control of the cultivating kutis. The agriculture cycle was divided into
successive periods. For starting the agriculture activities in the wet land
cultivation, the cultivators must have had certain resources at their disposal to
survive during unproductive period and to do the preparatory and preliminary

418
works. This was met either by subsidiary activities like gathering and hunting
or from the left –over from the previous crop or compensated by a number of
mixed crops cultivated in the mixed crop areas like yam, tubes, fibre etc in the
parambu. As agriculture production delayed there developed bonds and
cooperation between the people in the cultivating kutis. The kinship descent
structure developed in the kutis and the solidarity maintained in the extended
households must have evolved the kutis as economic and biological unit.

Agriculture operations created two types of bonds between people who

worked together. There developed the relation between people of cultivating
kutis and the kutis of the occupational groups like metalworkers and artisans
who provided the auxiliary occupations and services to the agriculture
operations. The labouring groups who were engaged in labour activities from
the time of the preliminary cultivation operations to the time of harvesting and
the processing of the produce were also part of these relations. This also
happened in the case of mixed crop cultivation in the parambu areas. Our
textual and oral evidences reveal, as explained in our second chapter, the
members of the cultivating kutis and the labouring groups worked together in
the labour activities from the preparation of ground, ploughing, sowing,
weeding, manuring, maintaining the plants including watering and
protection[kāval] ,harvesting and processing the produce.

The people of cultivating kutis and the labouring groups who existed in
the ūr settlements depended on each other for their own survival as cultivating
and labouring collectives. The survival of both groups from the time of
cultivation until harvesting and for the preparation for the next cultivation is
important. It also reveals that there developed certain form of labour cycles.
Important point is that how a system of appropriation of surplus produced by
both these groups developed, how it kept the kutis at the subsistence level and
labouring groups below the subsistence. It was the instituted mechanism of

419
social control dominated by the polity of the Nāttutayavars and the Chēra
Perumāl and the temples and Brahmanas that made the cultivating kutis and
the labouring population as subjugated groups. It was under the exploitaive
system of resource expropriation maintained by such overlords that the
agriculture cycle was continuously renewed. It also retained continuous
process of production and reproduction of produce and producers, wo/men
and material resources.

The composition of people who involved in the production operations

i.e. the members of the kutis and the labouring populations is bound to
change. The elder members disappear, while younger members of both kutis
cultivating, occupational, and artisanal groups and labouring populations take
their place. The elders in the cultivating kutis called kutiyil mūttavan and the
clan head or the head of such elder members in the clans called kutipatis had
important role in mediating the cultivating kutis with the power centers. There
developed certain form of power structure among the members of the
cultivating kutis, between the elders and the junior members of the extended
house holds. The elders controlled the produce, land and seeds and also the
women. The senior members of the kutis were entitled to control the kinship
descent structures of their clans while all the junior members are indebted to
the elders to meet the necessaries of their everyday life. Because of the
dominant position assumed by the elders in the extended house holds of the
kutis, the elder members collected and stored the produce cultivated in the
collective holdings of the households. The elders also managed the production
operations as well as the everyday life activities of the households. This was
also the case of the kutis of occupational and artisanal groups in controlling
the resources for their labour activities and for the transmission of knowledge
and the skill involved in it.

420
 The agricultural operations done by the members in the kutis and the
kinship descent structure of the kutis constituted certain dependence relations
between the senior and junior members in the kutis. It created a lifelong
relationship between members of the cultivating kutis. Thus, kuti became a
well-defined social cell functioning as an economic unit with kinship descent
structure. The head of the extended household of the cultivating kuti came to
be known as the kutiyil mūttavan, and the head of the kutis in a production
locality called kutipati. The transformation of production process and the
cultivating groups involved in it indicates the process in which both the
productive cycle of the agriculture process and the kinship descent structure
of the kutis were to be reproduced. The kutis engaged in the agriculture
operations during the successive periods. It functioned as an economic unit
engaged in the production operation and reproduced the same agriculture
cycle to the next season as well. Similarly, kinship descent structure of the
kutis is functioned as a social cell with the biological function of reproducing
the members of the kuti. The reproduction of the members of the kutis had
also take place place with the continuous cycles of agriculture production
from one generation to another. There continued the simultaneous process of
reproduction of kuti as an economic unit and reproduction of kinship descent
structure as a biological unit. It shows that not only the production operations
in agriculture but also the producing groups engaged in the production
operations were reproduced. There must have developed certain organic
mechanism which ensured the proper balance between the number of
productive and unproductive members of both sexes in the productive unit
called kutis, which reproduced the kutis and the agriculture operations.

The production locality called the ūr settlements where the cultivating

kutis and the kutis of the occupational groups settled. When the kuti
settlements expanded horizontally in relation to the expansion of agriculture
in both parambu and wet land areas, the control made by the elders over

421
women became an efficient tool to deal with a fairly large population of the
respective kutis. The cultivating kutis is in a way a social corporate unit
consisting of heterogeneous collectives that included several productive units
in its fold. In the beginning, the cultivating communities were not exclusively
endogamous groups and many a number of groups who followed the non-
agricultural activities were exogamous groups who were integrated into the
process of agrarian expansion and thus became part of the cultivating
communities. This happened because of a process of expansion and
diversification of a number of kutis as economic units due to the complex
division of labour and expansion of agriculture. The cohesion among the
cultivating groups was maintained when endogamous marriage relations
developed within the kutis. The head of the extended family in the kutis
controlled the junior members in the family by regulating the subsistence and
the resources. They also extended control over the women, as maintenance
of his authority required that marriage be prohibited within the clan groups.
The authority of the elder members of the kutis rested on the power to prohibit
the exterior relation in the case of marriage, which provided each kuti the
capacity for endogamous reproduction of the kuti, although endogamy never
became the rule in an agriculture community.

The kutis were the functional agricultural groups and the functional
relations were developed among them along with the growth of agriculture
production process, which were bound to be reproduced structurally. The
kutis of kammāla groups like potters and craft groups who were moving
groups engaged in specialized occupations and crafts developed and as
endogamous collective and maintained their professional skill and knowledge
as cohesive unit of professional groups. The dominant groups like retinue of
the nāttutayavar and the Chēra Perumāls like Vāzhkai, Nizhal, Pani, Prikriti,
Adhikaris, and Nūttuvar etc appear to have not maintained the endogamy as a
rule. The structural reproduction of kutis generated the authority of the elders

422
in the kuti; kutiyil mūttavan became a person who led the cultivation
operations and controlled the juniors and women in the households. In both
cases kuti was reproduced through the production of subsistence and surplus.
The control of the biological reproduction of women was important for the
kutis as endogamous units.149 However, control of biological reproduction
was not diverced from production process in which kutis were integral part.

We find that the production operations done by the kutis developed

certain form of kinship descent structures and the corresponding relations.
These relations were developed on the functional requirements of the kutis,
which reproduced the kinship descent structures of the kuti as endogamous
unit. The kutiyilmūttavan or the senior member of the extended house hold in
the kutis maintained absolute control over the women. The kinship descent
structure of the kutis was important for making control over the women by the
elder male members of the kuti. It was here the kinship transformed into an
ideology for the justification of the solidarity of the members of the kuti as a
kinship descent group. It was also used for the domination and exploitation by
the senior members over the juniors, the characteristic of descent group called
mūttār and itaiyār, and controlling the sexuality of women binding the rule of
endogamy.

Growth of Avakāsams and Subordination of Women

Kutis controlled the production operations and labour activities in the

production of a particular produce or artefact. The control of resources,
including raw materials, land, technology, tools; labour etc involved in the

149
Social anthropologists have studied this in terms of certain form of marriage circles.
Marriage circle of kinship groups and the territory in which they settled, the kinship and
territoriality, as cultivating and occupational groups are important,. Morton Class, see,
‘The Economy of Caste’ [Chapter -6] and ‘From Clan to Caste’ [Chapter -7] in Caste:
The Emergence of South Asian Social System, [Manohar, Delhi [1980]1993], pp.105-
160.

423
production of goods and produces was limited to the respective kutis. This
was also the case with the exchange of products or the forest produces
collected. It entiled the involvement of the members of the kutis, or the
people who managed to produce or collected the produce. The cultivating
kutis engaged in the production of both mono and multi - crops in parambus
and wetlands required land, labour, technology and managerial skill to
operationalise the cultivation activities for the production of surplus. This was
predominantly done by the members of the kutis and the primary producing
groups. As has been shown elsewhere the kuti is a collective unit in terms of
kinship and descent structure and an economic unit as far as their location in
the ūr settlements or production localities are concerned. Therefore, kuti
became a production unit as well as a structure and form of kinship descent
group in which the elder and junior male members and the women were
positioned according to specific gender relations in each kuti.

Kuti as a cultivating group in a particular area and service groups or

occupational collective in the ūr settlement used to maintain its rights over the
resources which they made use for the production of a particular material
product. Kutis were allowed to retain the rights it enjoyed over the resources
as original settlers as long as they paid the kutima or dues on their profession
to the respective overlords. Overlords like dominant households of the
landholding groups, the Nāttutayavar and their retinue, temples and
Brahmanas and the Chēra Perumāls and the like established their authority
over the area where the kutis settled. The right of the kuti to settle and
cultivate the lands in the ūr which was a production locality was vested with
the kuti as collective entity. This right of the kuti varied according to their
location in the ūr settlement as well as their rights and control over the
resources with which they produced a particular product or artefact and
contributed to the generation of agrarian surplus. Therefore, the resources
available to the kutis and forms of the labour they performed for the material

424
production was important in determining the nature of the right the kuti
possessed over the resources.

The rights enjoyed by the crafts and artisanal groupsto make use of
their raw materials for the productioion of products or artifacts was
inalienable irrespective of the changing status and power within the societies.
Similarly, the relation of cultivating kutis to the lands they settled and
cultivated in both parambu and wetland was also important. Yet there were
differences in the rights of the kutis who engaged in different occupations
with distinct kinship structures. The knowledge, and skill and their proximity
to the resource as well as the control over the resources also shaped the
disposition of the kutis to hold the rights. The evidences cited in the previous
chapters in relation to the location of various kutis in the production localities
and the analysis made on it suggest that the Izhavar,Vellālar, Vannār and the
Kammalār including the Kusavar/porters were kutis who possessed certain
rights over the resources, i.e. the productive lands on which the cultivating
kutis retained their rights as kutima and the occupational and artisanal groups
who possessed the rights over the respective means of production. The
relation of these kutis to the raw materials or resources indicates the nature of
the rights of these kutis and their location in the production localities.

The location of kuti in a production space and the labour activity

rendered by the kutis in relation to the availability of the resources in that
locality is important as far as the kutis are concerned as an economic unit as
well as kinship groups. The location of various kutis in labour process in
agriculture and allied occupations helped the kutis to develop the potentialities
to accumulate different types of resources for the production. This enabled the
kutis to be endowed with knowledge and skill to maintain differential access
to resources and knowledge. This developed certain form of gradations of the
rights over the resources. The forms of rights called avakāsams that

425
developed among various kutis primarily because of the importance of the
produce and the artefacts they created in relation to their spatial location in the
ūr settlements influenced the growth of gradation of rights.

The structure of various forms of avakāsams /rights held by the kutis

over the resources available to them and the right to settle in a production
locality was developed due to the expansion of agriculture and the
proliferation of settlements in both parambu and wetland areas. The material
life activities and exchange forms that developed along with this process led
to the gradation of rights. Kutis of cultivating and occupational groups that
developed in this process were more economic units than the structured units
of individual families with instituted gender relations. It indicates that the
family as a system had not been developed among kutis and the kinship
descent structure had a dominant role in determining the collective material
possessions of these kutis. Therefore, the kutis must have maintained their
kinship descent structures to transmit the material life world and the
rights/avakasams related to resources, skill and the knowhow to the next
generation. It paved the way for the germination of certain modes of
transmission, which passed the rights / avakāsams to next generation through
a system called thalamura.

These avakāsams or the rights were to be protected through the

generations or thalamura. These rights were maintained and protected by
each kuti through its own kinship descent structures. Therefore, the location
of kutis in the production process, the way in which each kutis maintained
their rights over the resources, the gradation of rights developed among the
kutis due to differential kind of avakāsams and access to the resources
resulted in differences among the kutis as kinship descent groups as well as
occupational collectives. It shows that the structuring of division of labour

426
and occupational differences among kutis in the multiple economies paved the
way for the gradation of rights of the kutis over the resources.

The rights called avakāsams of the kutis who did cultivation and the
auxiliary occupation to agriculture were maintained through generations,
thalamura, by which the rights over the resources and the skill and knowledge
of the life activities they followed were sustained and protected. The rights
assumed by the kutis as a kinship and descent groups were functioned as
economic units with distinct kinship descent structures rather than individual
families. It also meant that the kutis were able to maintain technics and skill
related to a specific life activity in a particular production locality with
distinct socio-cultural life. Therefore, the kuti was entitled to maintain its
rights and protect the skill and knowledge of a particular occupation. The
kutis had to reproduce its livelihood forms and its kinship descent structures,
i.e. the social and biological reproduction of kutis became a historical
necessity. The possession of avakāsams for settlement and cultivation in a
particular production locality by paying kutima to the overlords were
protected through generations as thalamura avakāsams, came to be later
called kuti janmam, the right to settle and cultivate the land which was
recognized as birth right.

Therefore, the social reproduction of kuti not only granted rights to

settle in a production locality but also to cultivate the lands and thereby
generate the surplus, which became contingent upon the historical necessity
of the expansion and development of multiple economies in which wetland
agriculture and multi crop cultivation in parambu played important role.
When overlordships developed in an area by the non-producing groups like
Nāttutayavar and the Brahmans or temples or Chēra Perumāl, the rights
possessd by the original settlers and the occupational groups had to be
acknowledged by the respective overlords. Expansion of cultivation and

427
generation of surplus was possible only when the rights of the original settler
and cultivating groups were protected. Apart from this, the avakasams were
maintained through thalamauras of the kutis consisting of a number of
kinship descent groups inhabited in extended house holds. The avakāsams
were protected through making households. The rights over the land to
cultivate and settle were the right possessed by the cultivating kutis. Similarly,
kutis of other occupational collectives also maintained the rights over their
resources and labour or knowledge. Such rights were collective in nature
protected by the extended households as a whole. The development of
extended households and the right held by these households was protected
through thalamura or generation, shows the way in which the extended
households and the collective form of material possession developed and
protected.

The elder members of the extended households were entitled to protect

the avkāsams and to maintain kuti as a well-knit unit of kinship descent
structure and economic unit. It was achieved through preventing the female
members from making exogamous relation with the other clan groups. The
restriction of women in such extended households of the kutis resulted in
developing the clan endogamy in the kutis. The junior members in the family
were also restricted to render their labour and their knowledge of a particular
life activity was protected within the kutis through the junior generation. The
occupation, the labour, knowledge and technics of the kutis were also
protected through the junior generation of the kuti resulting in developing the
hereditary occupation as concomitant development.

Kuti became biological unit reproducing the kinship descent structure

through endogamy and kuti also developed as a production unit of a particular
occupational group and sustained the rights over the resources, knowledge,
and skill through junior generation. It also enabled to develop the occupation

428
hereditary. The kutis developed through controlling both women and the
junior members by reproducing both biological and social norms. Endogamy
and hereditary occupation became the logical development of the production
of surplus and the reproduction of the producers of the surplus. The hereditary
occupation and endogamous marriages continued to exist on account of
biological and social reproduction of kutis. Thus, the development of multiple
economies and the creation of agrarian wealth ensured the process of social
and biological reproduction of the kutis.

Gradation that developed among various kutis on account of the

variation in the rights they possessed, the immediate requirements of the
service they rendered and the produce or products that they created in the
production localities are important to determine the location of the kutis in the
ūr settlements. The specificity of the kinship descent structures and the
nature of the extended household also structured each kuti in the production
localities. These factors influenced the development of occupational
gradations as well as kinship descent structures among various kutis. It also
developed each kuti as collective entity having differential access to basic
resources. The life activities and the avakāsams over the resources as well as
technics, skilled labour and knowledge forms were to be kept within the
kinship descent structures of the kutis. This had to be protected by the
extended families through thalamuras resulting in the collective possession of
material resources.

Simultaneous development of occupational gradations among various

kinship descent groups who possessed different forms of avakāsams occurred.
It ensured that the kutis were to be positioned in different spatial locations in
the production localities. It developed the historical process of deploying the
various kutis in particular spatialities in relation to their proximity to
resources and the way in which they were able to protect their rights over

429
such resources. This is also imprinted in the labour and resource terms that
appeared in inscriptions of the period under discussion. This created the
dispersed settlement localities of the various kutis whose collective entities in
production localities indicate the spatiality of settlements and labour aspect of
life activities. Thus, kutis developed as economic unit of the producing groups
who maintained particular life activities through hereditary occupations and
kinship descent structure as endogamous groups with specific cultural
features.

The large section of the producing groups consisted of various kutis

and Adiyār / Āl were the bedrock of the agrarian system under discussion.
These producing groups were incorporated into the production process with
their kinship and descent structures and distinct life worlds. The primary
producing groups called Adiyār / Āl, Pulayar or Parayar groups developed
from a number of primordial settlers and groups of obscure origin. Some of
them developed from the original settlers who must have been part of the
early migrant settlers from the mullai-kurinchi region and settled in the
riverine and wetland region as well as the parambu areas. The people who
followed punam cultivation and foraging activities as well as the hunters and
pastoral groups in the forested areas were brought by the dominant groups for
reclaim lands and for slash and burn in both wet land and parambu areas for
cultivation. In course of time, they were subjugated to a number of groups
such as landholding households, nāttutayavar and their retinue, temples and
Brahmans and to the Chēra Perumāl.

The documents including oral texts pertaining to the labour process

involved in the production operations reveal the way in which the migrants
from the hilly forested areas settled and engaged in agriculture in both
wetland and laterit parambu areas. There were two types of migrations; one is
the migration of people who originally migrated from the hilly areas primarily

430
because of the wars in the form of plundering raids and predatory marches,
which destructed the settlements of the people. Secondly, people migrated due
to natural calamities. The early migrants and settlers were the harbingers of
agriculture including many a number of mixed crops and paddy from the hilly
areas where they lived in chirukuti as chirukutimākkals conducting slash and
burn agriculture. The riverine riparian areas and water logging estuarine lands
reclaimed by these settlers were used for wetland agriculture. This process is
also revealed in inscriptional evidences in the form of land names, the names
of settlers and the terms indicating the labour process involved in the
production of space and cultivation operations. The asymmetrical and loose
nature of the settlement localities and the unstructured nature of the
configuration of various groups of people settled in the areas suggest that the
migrant settlers did not develop institutional mechanism for expansion of
agriculture.

Labour Realisation and Development of Primary Producers

The migrants who came from the hilly backwood areas created the
settlements for cultivation in wetland and parambu areas and became the
original settlers and cultivators. They came with their cultural features and
distinct life worlds as many of them had the historical experience of
settlements and cultivation congenial to the tina- varaku zone as
cherukutimākkal. The dominant groups who developed from the war chiefs,
their kinsmen and retinue, who conducted the plunder raids in the original
settlements, captured such settlements and brought the original settlers under
their control. The Vellala cultivators and dominant households of land
holding groups were developed due to these plunder raids and capturing of
settlements. The settlers who had lost their original settlements and
productive lands in such raids to the war chiefs and their retinue resisted the
capturing of settlements and plunder raids. The memories of which were

431
inscribed in the oral tradition of some of the descendants of the original
settlers. The dominant house holds developed from the retinue of the war
chiefs and from the settler cultivators. The patis were developed from the
settlements of the settler cultivators and the cultivating kutis.

The nāttutayavar developed as war chiefs or lords who conducted

plunder raids, captured settlements and productive lands. They distributed the
share of war and prestation among their retinue and the men of arm. The
groups like Nāttutayavar, Kutipatis and Vāzhkai were made use of by the
Natutayavar. It gave way to a system of over lordship of the Nāttutayavar
with the support of the groups called Patis ,Vāzhkai, Nizhal, Pani,Adhikāri ,
Nūttuvar etc who were also developed from the landholding groups and the
mercenary soldiers of the war chiefs.

The cultivating kutis or other settlers paid certain protection fee in the
form of pakarcha to the persons who might have developed from kutipatis or
local chiefs as indicated in certain inscriptions150. The landholding house
holds developed from the settler cultivators, the Nāttutayavar and their kin
made control over the cultivating kutis and the labouring populations when
over lordship over the production localities was developed by the
Nāttutayavar. They wanted to legitimise of their political authority with the
help of Brahmans as many of the Nāttutayavars developed from obscure
origin and tribal past. Brahmans were given productive lands in the form of
offerings and donations to the temples they created in their ūrs. Brahmans
and the temples were able to superimpose the tenurial dominance of the
settlements of the cultivators. The settler population who inhabited in the
production localities became subservient to the temples and Brahmans under
the kārānmai relations when the production localities where the cultivating

150
Tiruvalla copper Plates mention a number of pakarchai terms to indicate this process, M
G S,A-80.

432
kutis controlled the lands and the agriculture process were brought under the
super imposed tenurial relations of the temples and Brahmans with the
support of the Nāttutayavar. However, the chiefly ower of the Nāttutayavar
was different from the political power of the state structure.

One could see the emergence of institutional structures over the

production process and producing groups which developed a number of
strategies for the realisation of labour with the mediation of temples and other
intermediaries of the polity of the Nāttutayavar. The resource requirements of
the overlords were met by expanding cultivation in the areas hither to
uncultivated in both wetlands including estuarine lands and the parambu and
forested spaces. This process can be seen in number of epigraphic documents.
The dominant households, Nāttutayavar and their kinsmen brought new
groups of people for the reclaim land and extend agriculture. This created a
group of servile labourers to cultivate land as permanent labour force. It was
in this context that the primordial settlers, the pastoral groups, punam
cultivators and even hunting gathering groups and non-agricultural labourers
were brought into agricultural activities as labour collectives. These labouring
groups began to be attached to the lands on which they did their labour and
gradually a permanent labouring population was developed in the lands
controlled by the dominant groups.

The growth of kārānmai and the super imposition of tenurial control of

the temples and Brahmans over the production localities of the cultivating
kutis paved the way for the subjugation of the producing groups and the
primary producers like Pulayar and Parayar therefore became the servile
groups. The servile labour collectives including Pulayar and Parayar were
attributed a status of Āl and Adiyār, which indicates their condition as a
labouring population who were attached to the lands. However, the complete
subjugation of these groups with the tenurial dominance of the temples did

433
not happen yet. Parthivapuram inscription indicates that Pulayar were given
lands near kalam or threshing ground suggest the fact that at least in some
areas they were granted lands to settle and were given rights to hold land and
their rights were acknowledged to continue their status as original settlers151.

Servile labouring groups were employed to reclaim lands in

waterlogged and marshy areas near the river valleyes and wet land plains. The
primary producing group engaged in the draining of water from the water-
laden areas for cultivation and construction of water channels, check dams
and anai [dams]. These servile labourers reclaimed the estuarine lands and
engaged in the agriculture operations in the water logging areas like the
karilands and thuruthu lands. The variety of oral genre revels the location of
the primary producing groups in the labour process involved in the production
of agrarian resources in both parambu and wetland areas. These groups did
the labour activities involved in preparing grounds, sowing seeds, planting the
seedlings in the wetland fields. They did weeding and manuring, tending and
protecting the fields, harvesting and processing the food grains. The multiple
labour activities in the cultivation of mixed crops including various spices
were also done by the primary producing groups in the parambu and forested
spaces152.

Pulayar were settled to protect the fields and to provide the labour
services to irrigation activities and water management. The Huzur Plate of
Vikramadithya Varaguna shows that the Pulayar were subjected to the super

151
Parthivapuram Plate, pulērku koduththa īrandēr nilaththinum kizhakkku, TAS, Vol.3,
p.52-56.
152
The various labour activities done by the primary producing groups in both wetlands
including the estuarine lands and in the parambu areas are described in the second
chapter.

434
imposed kārānmai relations of the temple153. In order to meet the resource
requirements of the various overlords the labouring population like Pulayas
were to be maintained as servile group. The labour of the primary producers
was indispensable for the production of agrarian surplus, which made them to
be attached to the means of production. It was made possible to expand the
cultivation reclaiming the estuarine lands where Pulayar were employed to
reclaim the punjai lands154 from marshy lands for cultivation. Multi crops
cultivation including spices in parambu lands in the laterite area and in the
lands adjacent to forest was developed. The forest produces and the spices
were important items, which reached the port of trades like Kollam where
kutis of cultivating and occupational groups and adimai155 or servile groups
were also located.

The lands where labouring groups settled were transferred to the

temple156 in the form of the share of the produce from such lands to meet the
expenditure of the offerings of the temples. The land terms like
siriyaparayankari, padinjāyiruparayankari, paraiyanpurāy157,
paraiyanvalāl158 and parayarkāttuchēri159indicate that the Parayar groups

153
Ivattintlyaikarayum pulaiyum kārāimamitātchi ulladanka iraiyilikōnīkki chemmaruthar
kudiyāga pārthivashēkharapurathuperumakkal kāttūttuvathāga attikkuduttathu,
TAS.Vol.1, p.42
154
Padunilanīkki ithanakam tholikkottodu kūdappunjaikuttuntharikkurayuzhu kodu
chelluppulayarum ,TAS.Vol.1,pp.275-283.
155
The term ālkāsu indicates the transaction or maintenance of bonded people called
adimai in the nakaram.
156
The epithet kudithala pakukkaperāre mentioned in the Chembra inscription reveals the
fact that the kudikal settled the land should not be divided, indicating the importance of
the labouring kutis and their relation to the households of cultivators, M R Raghava
Varier, Keraliyatha Charithramanangal, op.cit.,pp.99-102.
157
M G S,A-80.L.249.Certain kāvathiyārpurāy mentioned in the Tiruvalla Plate may be
related to the same group, M G S,A.80,L.619.
158
M G S,A-80,L.611.
159
This land term is mentioned in a mid-fourteenth century Saththankulangara inscription,
TAS.Vol.4.pp160-161.

435
were the original settlers who reclaimed the lands from the estuaries. The
term chāntārkādu indicate that the people like Chantar160 were part of the
primary producing groups. The primary producers were settled not only in the
parambu and but also in the lands reclaimed from the estuarine area.161 The
epithets like puleverupatti162, pulaiyanmuthai163and pulayannadaipunnu164
indicate Pulayar groups were settled to reclaim the land spaces and to engaged
in labour activities in cultivation operations165. The Āladiyār were transferred
along with lands166 they attached and they were also employed to conduct the
reclamation process in water logging areas.167 Pulayar were also attached to
the chērikkal lands where they engaged in the labour activities in vayal and
kara lands168.

The resource requirement of the Nāttutayavar was met by the surplus

generated by the process of expanding cultivation in both wetland and mixed
croplands with the labour of the primary producers like Pulayar.169 The labour
appropriation was materialised by temples and Nāttutayavar in which the
labour of Pulayar was used for the generation of surplus to meet the resource

160
M G S,A-80.L.393.
161
Kandiyur inscription, TAS.Vol.1, pp.414-417.
162
Tirumuzhikkalam inscription, TAS, Vol.2.No.7 [k].pp.45-46.
163
M G S,A-80,L.507.
164
Chennamangalam inscription, TAS.Vol.6.part.2, pp.189-190.
165
Land terms such as muthai; karunthāzhemuthai, punalimuthai indicates the process
which brought the newly reclaimed lands under cultivation probably with the labour of
people like pulayar, M G S,A-80.
166
Adharam , A journal for Kerala Archaeology and History, Vol.1,2006, pp.75-82.
167
M G S, A-80.L.499. Kadapanangādu and the Āl attached to the land mentioned in the
Thiruvalla plate nilams and purayidams where āladiyār were attached are mentioned in
Peruchellur temple inscription, Adharam, op. cit., pp75-82.
168
Kannamangalathu vayalum karaiyumpulerum, M G S,B-10.
169
The land called peruvayal pūmi and Pulayar attached mentioned in a Trikkakara Plate,
TAS.3.PP.169-171. injaithuruththi and kuzhikkāduphūmi and āl attached to these lands
was held by the Irāman Māthēvi, the udayavar of Munjinātu, M G S,A-80.Ls.537-38.

436
requirements of both the temples and the Nāttutayavar.170 Terms like Āl and
Adiyār indicate the condition of existence of the primary producers because of
the labour was also realised through a number extra economic means to
increase the surplus to meet the leisured existence of the Nāttutayavar and
their retinue and the temples and Brahmans. The Nāttutayavar, temples and
Brahmanas became the main beneficiaries of the surplus. Brahmans were
made to settle by the Nāttutayavar in the lands over which the latter had
established the over lordship where cultivating kutis and the Āl/Atiyār were
already settled.171 It shows the formation of producing groups like Āl/Adiyār
or Pulayar is an integral part of the expansion of agriculture and proliferation
of production localities in both wetland and parambu regions.

Our evidences including the oral texts pertaining to the labour

activities and to the ritual acts of various producing groups do reflect on the
ways in which the primary producers engaged in the production of agrarian
surplus in multiple economies. The overlords expropriated the surplus
productions in these areas by subjugating the primary producers. The primary
producing groups were tied to the lands on which they engaged as instruments
of production. They were transferred along with the land and were
subjugated, in due course of time, by the dominant groups consisted of land
holding house holds which developed from the settler cultivators, the

170
The epithet vettikarikkāttukolla pūmiyumpulaiyarum the land called vettikarikatu and
Pulayar attached to it mentioned in a Trikkakara temple inscription, M G S,A-25
171
The epithets kilimānūr pūmiyum kādum karayum karapurayidaththinide māniyam,
‘kādum karayum karapurayidavum ālum kūda and kādum karayum karapurayidavum
ālum mentioned in Kilimānūr record indicate the transaction of kilimānūr village in
which the large extent of land comprised of forest, arable land, compound site along
with kutis and adiyar, TAS.Vol.5 Part.1.pp.63-85. This document mentions that nine
ladiyār were required to cultivate sixty kalam seed capacity of wet land, per onninu
ānāl ontrum pennāl ontrum akayil arupathungalamum āl orupathum nīkki olla nilam
eppēr pettathum kādun karayum karaippurayidamum ālum kūda kīzhppērūr
nādevāzhiyide amiththu,ibid, Ls.8-9.

437
Nāttutayavar , their militia and the retinue, temples and brahamans, the
Perumāls and their associates.

The development and expansion of agriculture due to the development

of overlords and many a number of non- producing groups made possible the
growth of the Adiyār / Āl / Pulayar. When they were attached to the lands they
rendered their labour, kinship structures and clan relations began to be
developed among the labouring groups like Pulayar primarily through
marriage relations. The kutinīkka kārānmai that existed in the region as a
whole also helped them to create the clan ties without their physical
displacement from the lands they attached. The limited areas of the
production localities called ūrs and dispersed nature of the village settlements
also made possible the reckoning and recognising the clan ties through local
indicators of kinship relations.

There witnessed the gradual process of formation of kinship descent

structures among primary producers like Pulayar that resulted in developing
them as an endogamous collective of servile labourers. It also made them to
possess the skill and knowledge they over period of time accumulated through
labour process and retain certain right over that knowledge and skill. They
were settled in particular areas attached to the lands gradually evolved as
endogamous groups with distinct cultural features and kinship structures and
kutis in later period.172 The kinship descent structures developed through
marriage relations and settlements in the lands helped them to develop the
structure of kuti. The rights were developed among them to possess and
transmit their skill, knowledge and cultural features through generation called

172
The oral text embedded the socio – economic relations of the post Perumal period
describes the socio-cultural life world of the primary producers like Pulayar. The story
of Pumathai Ponnama, a Puluva woman in which Pulayar were treated as kutis who
follow endogamy vested with certain rights in their moral and cultural world, M C
Appunni Nambiyar, Vatakkan Pāttukal, [Malabar Books,Vatakara,[1983]1998], pp.19-
37.

438
thalamura. They were incorporated with their kinship structures and the skills
they possessed into the structures of power as endogamous groups of servile
labourers who engaged in the specific labour activities with particular cultural
features. This integration took place place at a time when various overlords
subjugated them into the agrarian order as the instruments of production.
Thus, Nāttutayavar, temples and Brahmans and a number of non-producing
groups subjugated the primary producers. This process was mediated by
groups consisted of militia and functionaries of the Nāttutayavar, temple
servants and other local magnates like Patis and Vāzhkai.

The Pulayar were ageneric group of labouring population consisting of

a mass of a scattered labouring population attached to the cultivating lands
without locating their kinship descent ties. They developed more as inclusive
exogamous groups rather than discrete labour units. It enabled them to
increase their population to meet the labour requirements necessitated for the
development of overlords and expansion of cultivable areas for surplus
production. The historical contingency was to increase the surplus production
by increasing the population of primary producers. Due to the prevalence of
labour intensive production developed in agriculture, advancement made in
the processing of iron was not applied in the making of new implements in
agriculture production. This relative backwardness in technology in
agriculture especially in the case of implements of production was partly
compensated with the labour of the primary producers, predominantly by the
Pulayar. The situation became complex when overlords and a number of non-
producing groups who participated in the appropriation of the surplus by one
way or the other. This resulted in maintaining the primary producers below
the subsistence and to increases surplus production at an optimum level using
the labour of the latter. The increase in the volume of the surplus was
materialised only by increasing the number of the primary producers keeping
them below subsistence and it was this surplus appropriation mechanism,

439
which made the primary producers in servitude and bondage on which the
entire edifice of the agrarian order and its political structure rested.

Households and Collective Possession of Resources

The system of household and the form of material possession are important to
understand the way in which the stratified agrarian order and the
corresponding social relations developed. It appears that the share of the
produce from the lands possessed by the extended households of land holding
groups , where the cultivating kutis and the labouring groups generated the
surplus, were donated to the temples to meet the expenses of offerings made
by the landholding households. The lands from where the share of the
produce reached the temples as donations aand these lands came under the
tenurial control of the temple called kārānmai. It is important to know the
development of the households of the landholding groups and the way in
which these households were able to control the landed property under the
household structure. Tiruvalla copper plates mention the donors of the
temples which show that the extended households were developed among the
landholding groups and collective form of possession that developed within
the structure of these extended households.

There are references to certain persons in the Tiruvalla copper plates,

they are; Chenthan Kesavan of idaichery; Iyakkiyammai , Kuntan Iravi and
Kuntan Govinnan of pallam,Ponniyakka Nāyan, Achchiyar of Kulakkatu,
Yakkan Govinnan of Kotikkalam, Komakkottu Nayar,Chentan Kumaran of
koyirpurm,Nayattiyar of koyirpuram,Iraya Chekaran of
chennithalai,Nayanthonka Pallavarayan, Nambukali, Thamotharan Kothai of
pallivarutti,Yakkan Kothai of peruvayalur, Ayyan Kothai Varman of
pōnjikkarai, Nayattiyar of mūlaiyil,Kothai Iravi of vantalaichēri,Narayanan of
pāthamūlam, Pantariyar of venpalanāttu mentioned as the members, possibly

440
the elder members of households 173. Apart from this, there are references to a
few Nāttutayavar like Nāttutayavar of Kīzhmalainātu, Purakizhanātu,
Munjinātu, Venpalanātu and Vēnātu; and the members of the chiefly
households are also mentioned. The house names prefixed to the names of
these donors such as idaichēry174, pallam175, kulakkātu176, kōtikkalam177,
kōmakkōttu178, kōyirpurm179, chennithalai180, pallivarutti181, peruvayalūr182,
pōnjikkarai183, mūlaiyil184, vantalaichēri185, pāthamūlam186,
kidanguparal187etc, indicate the households. These households are found to
have developed as extended households of the land holding groups who must
have been developed from the cultivating communities of early settlers of the
area. Certain Chennan Kumaran and his nephews belonged to the household
188
named kōilpurathu and Kovinnan Achchuthan and his nephews were part
of the land holding households189, they are found to have followed matrilineal
line of succession. However, both patrilineal and matrilineal house holds

173
M G S, A-80.
174
Ibid, L.404.
175
Ibid, L.461.
176
Ibid.L.276.
177
Ibid,L.359.
178
Ibid.L.152
179
Ibid.L.544.
180
Ibid,L.102.
181
Ibid,L.554.
182
Ibid,L.154.
183
Ibid,L547.
184
Ibid,L.106.
185
Ibid,L.555
186
Ibid,L.198
187
Ibid.L.152
188
Ibid, L.544-545.
189
Ibid,L.552.

441
donated the produce or the lands on behalf of the extended households they
belonged to the Tiruvalla temples.

Punjaipatakaram190 and karkottupuram191 are the names of the

households that donated the share of the produce to the temples from the
lands they collectively held. Similarly, Chembra inscription192 mentions
names of certain households and these names are prefixed to personal names
such as Kumaraniyakkan of Vāyila, Thariyanan of Chraithalai, Iyakkananar
of Chalaikkarai, Katathiran Kumaran of Kuvēli, Chanthira Chekharanar of
Thavattikuvēri, and Narayanan Chankaran of Kuruvattēri. The witnesses
mentioned in the document such as Narayanan Kandan of Chalaparambil and
Kandan Chinkan of Menmanaipurathu seem to have belonged to the
households of settler cultivators.

Certain individuals donated their share of produce called kīzhpāti to the

Trikkakara temple to meet the expenses of the offerings they made in the
temple.193 They are pōzhan kumaran of mēlthali, Ūran nakkan kēralan, Ūran
Chēnnan, Kōtha Iravi of vantalachēri, Chinkapirān Kumaran of mēthali, Ūran
kumaran Chāmi Kannan and Ekkan Pōzhan of venpamala. The witnesses
mentioned in the document are found to have the members of households of
194
settler cultivators such as attānikkōttam, ilamthuruththi, perumthottam,
parambudaiya, kuppavāzhkai, parambudaiya, chiraiyankōttu,

190
Tiruvattuvayinscription, M G S, A-4, L.2.
191
Chokkur, M G S, A-8.Ls.3-4.
192
M R Raghava Varier, op cit, pp.
193
M G S,A-25 .
194
M G S,A-25 , They are ; Thēvan Chāttan of attānikkōttam, Kēralan Nārāyanan of
ilamthuruththi, Kanda Nārāyanan of perumthottam, parambudaiya Kumaran, Kanda
Nārāyanan of kuppavāzhkai,Kēralan Srikumāran, Kumāra Nārāyanan of parambudaiya,
chiraiyankōttu Iravi Vāsudēvan, kannan Pōzhan of pantrithuruththi, Kannan Kumaran
of ventalamanal,Kottan Puraiyan of kīzhakam,Kandan Puraiyan of kuntriyur, Ūran
Kottan Kōthai , Ūran Unnichirukandan,Ūran Kumaran Chirukandan,Ūran Pōzha
Nārāyanan,Pōzhan Chāttan of velliyāmpalli and Sankaran Kumaran of pullipalli.

442
pantrithuruththi, ventalamanal, kuntriyur, unnichirukandan, velliyāmpalli,
and pullipalli. It is interesting to note that names of settlements such as
mēlthali, vantalachēri, venpamala, attānikkōttam, ilamthuruththi
perumthottam, parambudaiya, kuppavāzhkai, chiraiyankōttu,
pantrithuruththi, ventalamanal, kīzhakam, kīzhakam, kuntriyur, velliyāmpalli
and pullipalli are names of extended households which possessed landed
wealth collectively.

Kannan Kumaran of kārilam who made certain offering in the

Trikkakara temple seems to be a settler in the ūr settlement.195 Thēvan Thēvan
of malapuram, Kēsavan Sankaran of perumanaikōttam, Pōzhan Nārāyanan of
kulassēkhara pattanam, Ūran Pōzhan Chirikandan, Pōzhan Chāttan of
velliyanpallli, Kumaran of malaiyilmpalli are represented in the document as
the settlers held rights over the lands and they must have been the senior
members in the households.196 Chirumattapuzhai and ilamkulam are
households mentioned in one of the Trikkakara inscriptions.197 This is also the
case of the households such as velliyānpalli and nedumkollil mentioned in
another document in the same temple198. Similarly, cherumattapuzha and
mākkannapalli seem to be the names of the households.199 The epithet
ūridavakai vellālar mentioned in a Tirunelli inscription200must have been
landed gentry developed from the households of the settler cultivators.
Certain Gōvinnan Kuntrapōzhan of kulavāyini mentioned in a Trikkakara
inscription seems to be part of land holding households.201 Certain Chēnnan

195
M G S, A-26,Ls.[2].3 and [5].3.
196
M G S, A-26.
197
M G S, A-28,L.[1]5.
198
M G S, A-30, Chāttan Kumaran of Velliyānpalli and Kālan Gōvinnan of nedumkollil.
199
M G S, A-44.
200
M G S, A-36,L.8.
201
M G S,A-35,Ls.3-4.

443
Thāyan belonged to the thenchēri mentioned in Trikkadiththanam temple
document is found to have held landed property collectively202.

Makizhanjery203 and mangalam204 mentioned in Kaviyur inscriptions

are household names. Similarly, certain iravimangalam and murukanāttu
205
mentioned in Trikkakara and Triprayar206 temple inscriptions are
landholding households. Certain kuppaiyārpulam mentioned in Pukkottur
temple document207 is also the name of a settlement space. The names
prefixed as maranallur, govinnamangalam, iruriman, maruthakachēri,
perunkulam et al are names of households attached to the names of persons
who donated lands to the Virakeralapuram temple.208

From the above analysis, we come to the fact that the house holds and
kuti settlements had developed in both wetland and mixed crop areas209.
These were constituted as extended households on matrilineal and patrilineal
line and retained the right on landed possession collectively210. The collective
form of right retained by the households of the settler cultivators and the
cultivating kutis was succeeded to the next generation through thalamura

202
M G S,A-64.
203
M G S,B-5.
204
M G S,B-6.
205
M G S,B-10.
206
M G S,C-31.
207
M G S,C-23.
208
Mampalli plates, Puthussery Ramachandran, op cit.,pp.214-218.
209
Nālukuti Vellālar[ Tarisapalli Plate, M G S, A-6.L.2] and the ūridavakai vellālar is
mentioned in Tirunelli Plate[M G S,A-36,Ls.7-8] are important as the former are the
cultivating kutis and the latter are the dominant land holding group who became
incorporated to the polity of the Nāttutayavar
210
Number of individuals donated the share of the produce, from the lands they held as
collective property of their extended households they belong, to the temples as
donations to meet the expenses of the offerings they made in the temples, M G S,A-80 .
Ilamkulam Kunjan Pillai, ‘Janmisambrathyam Kēralathil’ in N Sam[Ed], Ilamkulam
Kunjanpillayute Thirenjedutta Kritikal, op .cit., p.599.

444
without breaking the structure of the households and the kutis. It succeeded
either through male or female line indicating the existence of both matrilineal
and patrilineal extended households211. Even though there developed the
matrilineal households, the system of possession developed within these
households made the senior male members to control the the material wealth
on mother line. There are instances to indicate that the landholding groups
held rights over the material possession, including the landed wealth on male
line. There must have developed male line of succession for rights over the
resources, mainly the cultivable lands, in the patrilineal households212.

The surplus generated by the producing class consisted of the

cultivating kutis, primary producers called Āl /Adiyār/ Pulayar and the
auxiliary occupational kutis. The cultivation was done under the system of a
tenurial dominance of the temples. The cultivation was done by the
cultivating kutis on a condition of tenant cultivation under the kārānmai

211
Certain kārālar seem to have followed the patrilineal system of inheritance and
Porangattiri inscription mentions kārānmai kotutta kolavāyanum avan chantathiyum M
G S,A-13.L.s.77-79.
212
Tiruvanmandur inscription mentions avan thanthathi uzhuthunintu, his children cultivate
the lands. Similarly, there is reference to ippūmi ellām uzhavu mangalattavakal
thanthathiyil mūttōriruvarum chiraikkarayil mūththavanumkūti in Kaviyur inscription to
indicate the cultivation right over the land was held by the elder members cultivating
kutis. The epithets ethirangavīranum thanthathiyum ippūmi kārānmaicheythu in
Perunnayil inscription and mūttaputtiran athikāram chelutti varuvithu in Tiruppalkatal
inscription are cases in points to indicate rights held by the cultivating groups over the
landed property on male line. We have reference in Thirupparappu document to certain
ithuchōrakan chēnthan makkalmakkle thēven kizhpāti uzhuthūttūvathu to mention the
right held by the cultivating kutis over the lands they cultivate and settled. Certain
families held the rights over the cultivating lands on female lines. Tiruvalla plates
mention certain Chenna kumaran and his nephew /marumakkal held rights over the
lands they cultivated and certain Kovinnamn and his nephew held rights over the lands
they cultivated and settled. Similarly, we have an epithet in Tiruvambati inscription
thannutaiya marumakkale kārānmai cheythu indicating the rights possessed by the the
families on female line, all these citations are referred to by Ilamkulam Kunjan Pillai in
his ‘Marumakkattāyam Kēralathil’ in [Ed]N Sam, Ilamkulam Kunjanpillayute
Thirenjedutta Kritikal,op.cit., pp.676-678.

445
system. The term kankānichchu213 means the land was cultivated under the
domination of the tenurial relations mediated by the dominant land holding
groups like Kārālar and the temple servants like kutipothuvāl and the
pathavāramākkal. It was under the system of tenurial dominance under the
kankāni that the labour was realised to expand the cultivation and to
appropriate the surplus generated with the labour of the cultivating kutis and
the Atiyār /Āl / Pulayar groups. Certain dues were collected from the
occupational groups like four kutis of Īzhavar and the members of this kuti
were called as Izhakkyar, Vannārakuti214, ēnikkānam and thalakkānam on
Īzhavar. It can also be presumed that two kuti of Chiruviyar and oru kuti
Thachchar215 who settled in the land, ippumiyil kkutikaleyum.216 The
Vāniyar and inkammālar mentioned in the Viraraghava Plate217 indicate that
they were also professional groups and kutis.

The thalaivilai and mulaivilai218 mentioned in the document and

interpreted as professional dues indicates the process of subjugation of
occupational groups to the dominance of the polity of the Nāttutayavar and
their labour was expropriated in the form of professional dues on their
occupation by the nāttutayavar. The atimai and the ālkāsu219 mentioned in the
document suggest that slave transaction was prevalent in the port town called
nakaram and the polity of Nāttutayavar and the Chēra Perumāl collected the
dues from such transaction. It shows the way in which the occupational kutis
213
Kollurmatham Plates mentions ‘nāontrukankānichu kolvithu’, M G S,B-15. The epithet
Kārālanum pathavāramākkalum pothuvālum kūti kankānichu, Trikakara plate [, MGS,
A-41.
214
Tarisappali inscription,M G S,A-2Ls.6-8.
215
Tarisappali inscription,M G S,A-6.Ls.1.
216
Ibid,L.18.
217
Ilam kulam Kunjan Pillai, ‘Vīrarāghava Pattayam’, Ilamkulam Kunjanpillayute
Thirenjedutta Kritikal [Ed]M Sam, op. cit.,pp.747-763.
218
M G S Narayanan, Perumals of Kerala, op.cit., p.133.
219
M G S,A-6-L.29. ivakal kollum adimaikku ālkāchu kollapperārākavum.

446
and the labouring populations including the people transacted as atimai were
subjugated to the political structure that developed under the Nāttutayavar
and the Perumāl.

Certain Pothuvāl of the temples were deputed to supervise the

cultivation done by the kutis and they came to be known as the kutipothuvāls
as mentioned in certain documents. Kutipothuvāls220 were the temple
functionaries under the sabha of the temple and functioned as the executive
committee to manage the affairs related to the cultivation in the lands under
the control of the temples, which were cultivated by the kutis as tenant
cultivators and the Atiyār groups attached to lands. The pathvāramākkal were
also entrusted to collect the pathvāram, usually one –tenth of the produce,
from the cultivating kutis for the temples.

The surplus was appropriated and re/distributed among a number of

non-cultivating groups comprised of the Nāttuayavars and their functionaries
like Vāzhkai, Pathi, Nātu, Pani and Nūttuvar. The Chēra Perumāl, his
Adhikārar, Pathavāramākkal, Āttaikolvār were also part of the apropriators.
Vāzhkai, Nātu, Pani, Nūttuvar developed among the land holding households
and became part of the polity of the Nāttutayavar. They were also the groups
that developed as kin groups and as the retinue of the Nāttutayavar.
Kutipatis221 developed from the elder members of the extendedhouseholds of
the kutis and functioned as the descent heads of the respective kutis. The

220
Porangattiri [ M G S,A-14 ]and Avittattur temple [ [M G S,A-10,L.3] inscriptions
mention īrandu kudipothuvālum.
221
Tarisapalli Plate mentions punnaithalaipathiyum pūlaikutipathiyum M G S, A-6.L.42.
Ayiranikalam inscription mentions the kutipatis of two ūrs and the latter were donated
to the temples, ivvīrandūrilum olla pathiyēyum, Puthusssery Ramachandran op. cit.,
No.8L.6, p.22. Similarly, Perunnai inscription mentions two kutipathis who were
deputed to collect the aranthai from the perunnaithal ūr settlement, kāpali
mangalathum muththūttumolla kutipatikku, Puthusssery Ramachandran op. cit.,
No.64.Ls.39-43, p.103.

447
kutis in turn recognized the Kutipatis and gave them customary dues called
patippatavāram.

When the ūrs of the cultivating kutis came under the over lordship of
the Nāttudayavar, obligatory payment called kutima was given to the
Nāttutayavar and retained their rights over lands they cultivated and settled.
Kutipatis as descent heads of the kutis were incorporated to the polity of the
Nāttutayavar and they began to function as the collectors of dues to the
Nāttudayavar. The suppression of the kutis was done by the martial groups
like Nūttuvar and it was mediated by Kutipatis along with the retinue and of
the Nāttutayavar. When the Chēra Perumāl made over lordship over the nātus
and the Nāttutayavar officials of the Perumāl called Adhikāris were
superimposed upon the Kutipatis to control the kutis.

Another significant development in the case of the appropriation of

surplus was the āttaikōl and Āttaikolvār222, the latter were persons deputed to
collect the attaikōl to the Chēra Perumāl which were collected from the kutis.
Documents mention the collection of such annual dues.223 Sometimes, the
Kutipatis were deputed to collect the āttaikōl from the kutis settled in the
ūrs.224 This indicates the process of integration of the kutipatis to the political
authority of the Chēra Perumāl and they became the mediators to appropriate
the surplus from the cultivating kutis. It shows the way in which a mechanism
of appropriation that was already existed under the Nāttutayavar was
integrated to the political structure of the Chēra Perumāl as and when the

222
Trikkadithanam inscription [M G S, A-31, L.3].
223
The attaikōl collected by the Vēnāttatikal is donated to the Kulaththur temple
[Kulaththur inscription, Puthusseri Ramachandran, op cit, p.72, Ls.7-8].Āttaikkōl
collected from the Pullur Kodavalam [M G S,A-39,Ls.7-8] and Peruneythal [Puthusseri
Ramachandran,op cit ,No.64,Ls.15-17. Attaikōl is collected from the Panthalayani
[Puthusseri Ramachandran, No.68. and from Nallur [M G S, A-66
224
The āttaikōl is collected by the Kutipatis from the peruneythal ūr is mentioned in the
Peruneythal inscription, Puthusssery Ramachandran, op. cit., No.64.Ls.39-43, p.103.

448
Chēra Perumāls were able to establish their authority over the Nāttutayavar
of various nātus in different parts of the region. The cultivating kutis were
forced to give the surplus they produced. in the form of āttaikōl, in addition
to the dues given as kutima and pāttam to the Nāttutayavar and the temples
respectively. Araintai was another form of appropriation made from the
cultivating kutis to the Chēra Perumal225 to meet the contingency expense in
the time of war226.

The groups like Vāzhkai, Pathi, Nātu, Pani, and Nūttuvar functioned
as the mediators and arbitrators of the polity of Nāttudayavar and Chēra
Perumāl and they controlled the kutis and servile labouring population.
Nūttuvar were the most powerful agency of the polity of the Nāttutayavar
who suppressed the cultivating groups. The process of appropriation of
resources and its redistribution consolidated these functionaries who engaged
in the mediation of power and suppression of the producing class.

Property of the Brahman Urs and Temples

Dēvasam and brahmasvam227 mentioned in the documents indicate the

fact that they are mentioned only in a few documents while the documents of
the major Brahman settlements and the temples do not mentions the existence
of brahmasvam and dēvesvam forms of possession over matrial resources.
The property forms that developed under the temple emerged as the corporate
form of possession.228 Wile the collective form of property developed in the

225
Peruneythal araithai is mentioned in a Perunnai inscription, Puthusseri Ramachandran,
op. cit.,No.64,Ls.19-20,p.103.
226
M G S Narayanan, Perumals of Kerala, op. cit., p.135.
227
Porangattiri inscription[M G S,A-62,L.6 ,Tiruvannur Plate[ M G S,A-14, Ls.13-14
thirumannūr patārarutaiya thēvettuvamum piramattuvamum and Devidevesvaram
plates [M G S,B-15]mentions the brahmasvam and devasvam form of rights over the
landed property .
228
Thēvethānattil pukkuvilakkivithum porul kavaravum perār, Trippunittara inscription ,M
G S,A-16,L.7.

449
Brahman ūrs. The Brahmans were settled as groups rather than as individual
families and were given lands as patakāram as a collective form rather than as
smaller units of lands to individual families.229 Similarly, landed property of
the temples and the lands from where the produce was donated to the temples
were controlled by the Brahman sabha as a collective Brahman assembly
rather than by individual members.

The material possession of the temple was also known as thvam.230 The
ūrānmai right of the Brahman families in the temples was collective the right
of the Brahman families in the ūrs rather than the rights of the individual
members of the families. The functionaries of the temples belonged to the
Brahmans were rewarded lands called virutti231 and jivitham with adequate
collective rights. It reveals the property right that developed in the temples
was managed by the Brahman sabhas. The property right that developed in
the Brahman ūr appears to have developed and vested in the ūr rather than
among the individual members of the ūr and it was developed as collective
form of possession managed by the assembly of the ūr.

It not only indicates that the property had not been developed into the
individual forms of private property rather was in the form of right called
thvam meaning owned as a collective rather than as individual possession.
The development of the rights over the landed property and other forms of

229
Devidevisvaram Plates and Tiruvattur plates mention the Brahmans were made to settle
as groups of individuals given them productive lands with the stipulations that the lands
should be cultivated without fail.
230
Patārakarkkulla tvam / the property of the temple, Kilimānūr plate, L.30.Thvam of the
Sripatmanabha temple, Puthussery Ramachandran, op cit, No.104, L.11.
231
Panivazhi virutti , the virutti lands held by the temple servants and the cultivation done
in such lands should not be disturbed and the produce from such lands was not taken by
the by the ūrālar is mentioned in Porangattiri inscription, Porangattiri inscription,M G
S,A-14,Ls.28-30.The virutti lands are given to the ūrālar of the temple, Kilimanur
Inscription mentions the lands given to the ūrālars of the Trippalkkatal temple,
Puthussery Ramachandran, op. cit.,No.96,Ls.4-9.

450
wealth and the way in which it was protected and transmitted determined the
nature of property rights. The juridical and legal structures were constituted to
protect it. It appears that the kachams developed by the various temple
assemblies with the support of the Nāttutayavar in the presence of the
kōiladhikāri, the representative of the Chēra Perumāl indicates that the
political authority developed under the Nāttutayavar and the Chēra Perumal
helped to develop a juridical –legal structure to legitimise the corporate and
collective form of property that was developed under the temples and the
Brahman ūrs.

This property system and the legal - juridical practices that became a
powerful form of authority under the temples, which subjugated the
producing class to the institutional structure of the temples which was
legitimised in its ritual idioms as well. The households in the Brahman ūrs,
the structural temples and its functionaries were part of the ruling class who
appropriated the surplus produced by the producing class. The ritual
dominance of the temples and Brahman ūrs was materialized by the way of
pattam / mēlodi and fines from the cultivating kutis. The socio-legal codes
and ritual and distancing strategies were functioned as the ideological weapon
of the temples and Brahmans to suppress the producing class. The rights or
avakāsams developed under the households over the property were subjected
to the legal - juridical practices dominated by the temples.

Manai232 was a house site located within the Brahman ūrs where the
Brahmans inhabited in households. When the Brahmans were made to settle
by granting productive lands, the names of the previous settlement localities
and the names of the house sites of the settler cultivators were adopted and
retained by the Brahman. It indicates the way in which the Brahmans were
232
Kumaranallur plate mentions the development of manai and purai / puraiyidam and the
spatial dichotomy existed among the settlement and the family structure between the
Brahman and non-Brahman groups.

451
integrated to the local society accepting and acknowledging the rights and
privilages enjoyed by the original settlers of the area. It must have been the
reason to adopt the names of urs, settlements and house sites of the settler
cultivators by the Brahmans. The puraiyidam is the compound site where
extended households of the landholding groups including the cultivating kutis
inhabited in puras. Thara and kuti were also important as it make sense of the
settlement sites of the cultivating kutis and the occupational and labouring
groups. Both purayidam and manai indicate the development of house sites
of the landed non-Brahman and Brahman groups respectively. It appears that
individual families had not been developed among them and property that was
developed within the extended households was collective in nature. Tiruvalla
copper plates mention certain kazhanjankuttumuthal233 indicating the
collective form of property that was being developed. There developed
families and households among the functionaries of temples, Nāttutayavar
and the Chēra Perumāl.

This was also the case of the households of the ruling families of the
Nāttutayavar. Kūru system that developed among the ruling lineage of the
Nāttutayavars indicates that they also developed as extended households. The
property that developed within the structures was inherited on kūru system
that was also the extension of the rights of the senior members in the
extended households over the property and its inheritance. It shows that the
family and property systems that developed in the period under discussion is
collective and corporate in nature that could not have been developed into an
individual form.

233
M G S,A-80,Ls.44-45.

452
Development of Property Rights among the Ruling Lineages

Kilimanur plates reveal that Vira Adichchavarma Tiruvadi purchased certain

lands from the members of the extended households of the royal family and
granted to the Trippālakatal temple to meet some of its expenses.234 These
lands were mixed crop lands consisted of kādu, kara, karapurayidam and
parambu lands. These lands were held by some of the members of the
extended households of the royal family and they are found to have held it in
their individual capacity. Certain Manikandan Umayammai pillaiyar,
Kizhperur Kothai Avani Pillaiyar and Trippappur Devadaran Avani Pillaiyar
held lands in their individual capacity revealing the development of individual
property among the households belong to the ruling family.235 Similarly,
certain individuals held land as thvam236 and otti.237 The development of
individual holdings from the jivitham lands among the royal functionaries
called kōilkarmikal is also mentioned.238 They were also known as thvam239.

234
TAS.5.Part.1.pp.63-85.
235
Ibid.
236
King purchased 107 para seeding capacity of lands consisting of nilam, kādu, kara and
karapurayidam and Āl attached to it from Kumara Narayanan of
Chengazhunīrmangalam in nagarūr. The thvam / svam held by Kandan Uzhittaran of
Kunnalaththūr are also purchased. Kandamangalam thvam in vempāyamkunram
jīvitham, kizhmanai thvam in nērpadu jīvitham, Kandan Iravi of melachchery who holds
certain lands as thvam, thvam for mēvūr and Cheruvala Katharan of ānādu holds lands
as thvam are also purchased by the Adhikārār of the king to meet the expense of the
Trippālkadal temple, ibid. Certain Perumānar Pāndan Chēnnan donates land which he
has possessed as his own thvam to Nedumpuram temple, Nedumpuram Tali inscription,
M G S,A-27.
237
Certain land called adimayālakōdu in kizhkilakireyūrkal is held as otti
ottikondathikarikkintanilam adimayālakōdu by Keralan Adithyavarman of mullaikkal, is
purchased for the temple.
238
Neduvila purayidam is held by Iruriman Kesavan Damodiran, Kanda Narayanan of
govindamangalam who owns the lands manjaikalappara nilam in mevurkkal,
karapurayidam held by Maniyan Maniyan of Maruthakachchery, perungulathu
Narayanan Narayanan held the urakandam tudava and kādu kara and karapurayidam
and perumbulam Kesavan Narayanan held the āttara nilam. Private individuals own
these lands in their personal capacity.
239
Certain private individual Kandan Uzhittiran of Kunnalattur holds certain land as thvam
[Kilimānūr Plates, Ls.50-51], Kandan Iravi of mēlachēry holds certain thvam

453
There developed the rights to transact the holdings of the members of the
extended households of the Kizhpērūr family. It indicates that there began to
develop individual property among the members of the households of the
royal family. However, such property was also brought under the control of
the temples as the Nāttutayavar of kīzhperūr donated such lands by
purchasing it from the members of the royal households.

Mortgage and Pledge: Changing Rights of Property

The development of otti indicates that the there began to appear the alienable
right over the landed possessions and the groups developed along with it. This
was developed in the period in relation to the household structure and the
transaction that developed over the collective form of property. There
developed certain intermediary tenurial rights called idayītu which was
possessed by a group called idaiyītar over temple lands. It also shows that
itayītu lands could be mortgaged. Sometimes, provisions were made that the
lands given to the Brahmans as padakāram could not be mortgage [otti]240 as
a safeguard against the transferring. The lands granted to the temples as
kīzhīdu were to be protected from making it otti which is supposed to be made
by the ūrālar or itaiyītar.241 It indicates the development of itaiyītar as
landed gentry who possessed certain intermediary rights over the kīzhītu lands
of the temples.

[Kilimānūr plates, L.54] and the thvam of Kēralan Adichchavarma [Kilimānūr Plates,
L.63] Thevan Iravi of Thilathamangalam holds certain thvam.
240
23 padakāram lands consisting of 1325 para lands mentioned in Mampalli Plates, M G S,
B-11.
241
Mampalli Plate, M G S, B-11. There is a provision in the Tiruvalla plates that padakāram
lands should not be made otti for each other for money, Tiruvalla Plate, M G S, A-80,
lines 382-383. Certain individual called Amrithamangalaththavan holding idiyīdu land
is also mentioned in the Tiruvalla plate, M G S,A-80,.line.451.

454
 Itaiyītar groups often intervened in the temple affairs and objectected
including feeding of Brahman in the temple.242 The itaiyītar also developed as
important functionaries of the temples.243 There developed the tendency that
the virutti holdings of the temple functionaries like drummers were likely to
be mortgaged244 by the Itaiyitar. Itaiyitar were warned against unneceessery
intervention in the cultivation in the land given to the head of the carpenter
called Rāyinga Perunthachchan.245 Ūrālar of the temple could be the itaiyītar
of the temple lands.246 Ūrālar possessed the idaiyīdu right over the landed
property of the temple and they were restricted to transact it on otti247 shows
that the extent to which the intermediary tenure holders could be developed to
transfer the temple property, the property of the functionaries and private
individuals.

242
Trikkadithanam inscription makes the stipulation that those idaiyīdan who make
obstruction in the feeding of God, tiruvakkiram, at the temple would remit the fine in
gold to Kōilathikāri, Nāttudayavar, Vāzhkaivāzhumavar and ttaikolvār, M G S,A-31.
243
Thenchēri Chēnnan Thāyan, an idaiyīdan, whose possession including his idayīdu was
confiscated on account of his misappropriation of temple wealth, M G S.A-64. The
mānushyam of the temple can be idaiyīdar, Parambantali inscription, M G S, C-30.
244
There is a provision in one of the documents of Trikkatittanam temple that the viruththi
holdings of the drummers in the Trikkadithanam temple should not be taken on otti and
make it cultivate by ūrālar, idaiyīdar and pothuvālar, M G S,A-47 ūrālarum
idaiyīdarum pothuvālum ottikollumaval …
245
Tiruvanchikkalam inscription mentions that idiyīdan would lose his idaiyīdu when
makes obstruction in the puaiyidam given to Rāyinga Perunthachchan by the
kōiladhikāri, MGS,A-58.
246
Ūrānmaikkidayīdumkettu, M G S, A-64. Kaviyur inscription indicates that an ūrālar can
be idaiyīdar of the temple, M G S, B-6.
247
The ūrālar of the Irijālakuda temple who were also the itaiyitar of the temple property
were restricted to mortgage [otti] the lands, idaiyīdullayidaththu ottivaykkavum
kollavum …………. perār’, M G S, A-3. Chennadayā ullapūmikondu ottivaykavum
ottikollavum perār, Tirupparangodu temple inscription, and there is a provision in the
same document ‘thēvarudaiya pathavāramazhippithāka pūmi ottivaypithāka cheyyavum
perār , M G S,A-14. Idaiyidar are restricted to stop the cultivation in the lands of the in
Maniyur temple, AR.No.448/1929.

455
 This must have led to frame the provision in the temple to check the
power assumed by the Itaiyitar in the temple affairs.248 Members of the
249
Brahman ūr and Brahman illam could have held itaiyitu right.250
Sometimes, the members of the Brahman ūr were the ūrālar of the temple and
the itaiyitar of the same temple lands as well.251 The ūrālar were also landed
groups and they were restricted not to transact the temple lands on otti or on
sale252indicating that there developed the practice of mortgage and sale of
kīzhīdu lands granted to the temple by Idaiyīdar or ūrālar.253 The Nūttuvar
held the itaiyitu lands of the temple.254 Sometimes, the temple property could
be transferred as otti, panayan [pledge] and īdu [surety against an amount of
loan] indicate the tendency developed towards the character assumed by the
property in course of time.255

248
Idayīdan ichchelavinu virōthikkil iththandam ponnum pattu thavaikkum panthīru
kazhanju pon thandam vaichchu pāttam perakkadavan, M G S, C-42.
249
Kumaranallūr plate mentions ūrkkidayīdumkeduvithu,M G S,C-43.
250
Illamkaludayaidayīdu, TAS.Vol.3.pp.191-196.
251
Avittaththūr temple inscription states that those ūrālar who make disturbances to the
kudikal who settled in the temple land would lose their idaiyīdu that they have in the ūr,
M G S,A-10. pāttamidumūrālan ūrkkidayīdumkettu, Pukkāttūr inscription , M G S,C-23.
252
Irānikkalam temple inscription mentions ipūmi vilkavum ottivaykkavum manti ontrum
cheyypperār ūrālar, Ayiranikkalam inscription, Puthusseri Ramachandran, op.cit., It
also stipulates ivvūrkudikala [rkka]ttu karaipūmi ivvūrkanayāthavaralālantri
puramoruvar vilkavum ottiveykavum perār ,ibid.
253
Temple lands were held as idaiyīdu in Panniyankara inscription M G S,A-53.
254
The idaiyīdu lands of the tiruvannūr temple are entrusted to the arunnūttuvar of
Rāmavalanādu, M G S, A-62. Yidayīdar pukkuvilakkilum porul kavarkilum.
255
Ālaththūr Jain document mentions ottiyum panaiyavum vaikkavun thandam āka
kkodaikkavum īdukodukkavum perār , palli lands should not be mortgaged , pledged ,or
transferred as īdu and fine. Kannapuram inscription mentions ivai vilakkaperār; otti
idapperār ottikolvōr; vilakkapperār vilaikolaperār, Transaction of the temple lands on
otti and sale is restricted, M G S, B-2.

456
Property Form and Legal Structure

256 257
The term ītu and muthal are important in this context as it indicate that
the landed property had acquired certain rights to be made it against otti or
panayam. The legal structure developed by the temples in the form of
kachams was to protect its property from making it otti, panayam and ītu by
the ūrālar and the Itiyītar of the temples. This was also to protect the
corporate nature of the temple property with the help of the Nāttutayavar and
the Perumāl. It was developed at a time when the landed property began to
assume certain character. However, the contestation that evolved between the
temples and the functionaries of the temples including a sizable number of
ūralar and the itaiyitar who tried to set against the corporate form of the
property developed under the temples. The ītu, panayam and otti indicate the
growth of mortgaging and pledging of landed property. It led to contentions
and negotiations between the temples and the Nāttutayavar and the Chēra
Perumāls on the one hand and the Urālar and the Itaiyītar on the other to
retain the temple property in its corporate form by controlling the latter that
evolved certain socio-legal structures called kachams.

Kachchams developed to protect the corporate property of the temples

and the consolidation of which was aimed at to control the fissiparous
tendencies that developed against the corporate structure of the temple
property. This was also to control the intermediary tenure holders and the
functionaries of the temples and to subjugate the producing class. It was in
this context that temples framed provisions and it was made part of the
kachchams to consolidate the overlordship of the temples on the lands and to
subjugate the cultivating kutis settled in the lands. It incorporated the kutis

256
Idukodukkavum perār, Ālaththūr Jain document, Puthussery Ramachandran, op .cit.,
No.127, L.9.
257
Koduththu muthal chimāvāvithu, M G S, A-14.

457
and the primary producers to the legal structure of the property relations
develoed under the domianance of the temples.

The institutional control made by the Nāttutayavar and the temples

over the production process resulted in the development of labour realization
strategies for the expansion of agriculture in both wetland and parambu areas.
It provided impetus to the growth of trade and exchange which incorporated
the already developed occupational gradations into the political structure of
the Nāttutayavar. The institutional control made by the polity of the
Nāttutayavar over the production localities was the product of the
consolidation of a number of local power centers of non-producing groups
predominantly developed from the households with martial and tribal cultural
features. They began to evolve as the collectors of dues from the cultivating
communities. The kin groups of the dominant households developed as the
martial groups and the retinue of the nāttutayavar. They became the Vāzhkai,
Pani, Pati, Nātu, Prakriti, Adhikārar, Nūttuvar etc and functioned as the
arbitrators and the mediators of the political power of the Nāttutayavar. They
developed as local power centeres collecting dues, delegating political power
and suppressing the cultivating and occupational groups.

Thus, temples began to be developed as an institutional structure due to

the tenurial dominance it made over the production localities where the
cultivating kutis and the primary producers generated the agrarian wealth with
the support of a number of kutis of occupational and artisanal groups which
ensured the resource requirement of the leisure and ritual culture of the
temples and Brahmans. The tenurial dominance made by the temples was
established through juridical and legal structures. It was materialised with the
help of the political power of the Nātttutayavar and the Perumāl. This was
aimed to ensure the protection of the corporate and the collective property
developed within the temples and Brahman ūrs. The Nāttutayavar and the

458
temples protected their rights and privilege each other to dominate the
producing class, which gave definite shape to the institutional structures of the
respective overlords. The property structure developed within the extended
households of the various functionaries under the political structure of the
Nāttutayavar and the functionaries of the temples were collective in form. The
property form developed in the dominant households of the ruling lineages
and the structure of the households with kūru form of rights made constraints
in the development of the polity of the Nāttutayavar from its lineage
structure.

Property Form and Political Structure

The political authority of Chēra Perumāls developed in the Perumāl area by

establishing control over the production localities of the cultivating kutis and
the occupational groups. The Perumāls were able to control the internal and
international trade that was developed in relation to the port towns. It helped
the Chēras to control the political territories of the Nāttutayavar and to
incorporate the functionaries of the latter by superimposing political control
over the institutional structures of the polity of the Nāttutatayavar. The
institutional structure developed by the temples and the ritual and cultural
dominance made by the Brahman ūrs sought the political support of the
Chēra Perumāls to protect collective and corporate forms of possession
developed in the Brahman ūrs and under the temples. The institutional
structure of the temple was constituted itself as a corporate entity, the
property could not have been developed into the individual form within the
institutional structure of the temples and in the Brahman ūrs.

The institutional functioning of the polity of the Nāttutayavar had

shown that the functionaries and retinue of the former were developed mainly
from the land holding groups organized as extended households with kinship
descent relations. The form of material possession developed among this class

459
was also collective in nature. It was developed within the households and
extended house sites, many of them were clan groups with tribal structures
and clan rights over the resources and its inheritance. The nāttututayavar,
Chēra Perumāl and the temples made constrains on the intermediary tenure
holders, the functionaries of the temples, the individuals among the
landholding groups and the members of the households developed private
property under individual control. Thus, the household structure developed
within clan relations and the collective forms of possession over the material
and cultural resources did not develop property into individual form. This
collective and corporate form of possession not only developed a propertied
class of non-producing groups. They were not only the functionaries of the
institutional structure of the polity of the nāttutayavar, the Perumāl and the
temples but also a sizable number of landholding Brahmans in the ūrs ,
households of non Brahmans , traders and commercial groups. The political
structure developed under the authority of the nāttutayavars corresponded to
the structure of the extended households and the collective form of possession
held by various groups. The system of household, form of possession and the
structure of political power made the propertied class to develop a kind of
arrangement of gradations of rights and privileges.

The state system in the early medieval sense of the term would not
have been developed from the polity under the Nāttutayavar, which was on
kūruvāzhcha, political power assumed by the segmented lineages of the
extended households of the ruling houses. The Brahmans and the temples
maintained collective property under the Brahman ūrs and as corporate under
the temples which was politically and legally protected by the Nāttutayavars
and the Chēra Perumāl. The extended households developed among various
social groups in both producing and non-producing class were also congenial
to develop the collective and corporate form of material possession. It shows
that the political structure developed under the Nāttutayavar and the ritual and

460
religious dominance of the temples was homologous to the form of
households and property form developed during the period. This makes the
point that whatever the political structure that was maintained under the
Chēra Perumāl it did not transform the corporate form of property developed
under the temples and the collective property of the Brahman ūrs. It also did
not transform the household structure and the form of collective possession
developed under both the propertied and producing class. Therefore, the
system of form of possession developed during the period and the dominance
made by the temples and the Nāttutayavar in the political economy created
debilitating tendency in the consolidation of an independent political structure
under the Chēra Perumāls. Instead the Perumāls superimposed certain
cultural and symbolic power over the functionaries of the existing political
structure of the Nāttutayavar to claim the over lordship of the Perumāl.

Social Stratification and Hierarchy

The process of consolidation of occupational and service hierarchies along

with the structure of endogamous households and collective property forms
transformed occupational and service hierarchies into varna jati system
through a process of incorporation and mediation. Jāti formation can also be
seen in relation to the process of realization of labour and subordination of
producing groups to a number of overlords in an exploitation system of
agrarian hierarchy. The functionaries and service groups formed due to the
development of the polity of the Nāttutayavars and the Perumāl and the
institutional structure of the temples were developed as endogamous groups.
Thus their services and occupations became hereditary. One needs to ponder
over the nature of production relations at this period of time. We find that
various categories of people belonging to the producing groups engaged in the
production operations as cultivating kutis, primary producers of Āl / Atiyār or
Pulayar and a number of occupational and artisan groups who were also kutis.

461
The growth of the kutis and Atiyār show that they were important groups in
the agrarian production. They began to develop as social groups with cultural
features and distinct way of life. Thus producing groups transformed into
hereditary occupational or service groups as endogamous collectives.

Various occupational groups like Thachchan, Kollan, Thattān, Vannār

etc and the toddy tappers and the occupational groups associated with palm
and coconut like Izhavar and Chāntar also developed into endogamous
groups with hereditary occupation or profession. They functioned as kutis
with distinct cultural features and ways of life, the products of their labour
were important for the development of agriculture and trade. The service
groups attached to the producing groups in the production localities came to
be constituted as kutis of endogamous groups and their life activities became
hereditary as well. There also occurred differentiation within these groups
with regard to their spatial location, occupational differences and the rights
they held to possess the resources including land, knowledge and skill to
utilize their skilled labour and professional knowhow with the resources.

The term Uzhavar indicates people who engaged in cultivation in wet

land in the riverine and riparian areas in the early historical period. In early
medieval times, the term uzhavu was meant for plough agriculture. Many of
the fertility cults and magical rites were developed in connection with the
expansion of wetland agriculture and the formation of Uzhavar
communities.258 The fertility cults and propitiatory rituals evolved in relation
to agriculture expansion in both wetland and parambu areas. The magico-
ritual acts show the expansion of agriculture and the way in which the
producing class were subjugated to the political authority of the Nāttutayavars
and its retinue and to the dominance of the temples and Brahmans. The tribal

Rajan Gurukkal, Miththu Charithram Samūham, [Prasakti Books Pattanamthitta, 2009],

p.13.

462
groups who followed the hunting gathering practices and slash and burn
agriculture in addition to collection of forest produces were also subjugated to
the authority of the Nāttutayavar, temples and Brahmans. They were
subjugated with their cultural features and kinship descent structures. This
must have been a prolonged process and the historical memory of which is
embedded in many of their ritual acts and oral traditions.

The cultivating kutis were differentiated groups with their own kinship
descent structures, housesites and cultural features. Though kuti signifies
cultivating kuti and the kutis of occupational groups, kuti may be defined in
terms of kinship descent structures and clan identity of these groups. The
house sites and households developed with endogamous marriage relations
formulated rights over the resources, occupations, skill and knowledge as a
hereditary form. The location of kutis in the production process also
developed the gradation of rights among various occupational and cultivating
kutis. The incorporation of these groups into the system of agrarian hierarchy
dominated by the political authority of the Nāttutayavar and the Perumāl and
the temples made them to be subjugated as endogamous groups who
maintained their occupations and livelihood forms in a hereditary form.

Cultivating kutis who held rights to cultivate and the occupational

groups who engaged in craft production and metal working possessed the
rights over their resources. It determined the relational positions they assumed
in the occupational and service gradations and the position in their lateral
movements as well. The rights they possessed to make use of the resources in
an area they settled and their potentialities including professional skill and
knowhow to make use of the available resources determined their status in
their settlement localities and their relational positions among the
occupational groups. It made them settle at specific spatialities in production
localities in particular ways resulted in lateral differentiation and gradation of

463
occupations. This was also based on their location in the labour process, the
importance of the the products or produces they created and the way in which
it had been circulated among the community at large. This resulted in the
development of cultivating kutis and occupational groups as heterogeneous
and differentiated groups. Thus, the kutis began to be constituted as particular
social collectives lived in specific socio-cultural milieu with hereditary
occupation and endogamous marriage relations.

Certain occupational groups like potters and gold smiths and even
carpenters and sculptures were mobile groups and their lateral movements
enabled them to develop as groups of specific identities with their cultural
features as endogamous groups. The cultivating kutis and those occupational
groups who engaged in coconut and palm related occupations were more
inclusive in their growth and cultural features, and clan endogamy had been
gradually developed in such groups. The clan endogamy that developed in
these groups and the rights possessed by them over the resources including
the lands and their occupations transformed them into endogamous marriage
groups who retained their occupation hereditary. Occupational and
professional skills were retained within the groups through thalamura as
endogamous groups led to the consolidation of their rights over the resources
and skill. This was also applicable to a number of forest dwellers and
collectors of forest produces who followed clan endogamy and their
integration to the settled agrarian order did not occur at this period of time.
Such groups lived as clan groups within the tribal world. The people engaged
in fishing and salt manufacturing are found to have developed their profession
in a hereditary manner and retained it through endogamous structures.

Primary producers like the Adiyār /Āl, / Pulayar and Parayar were tied
to the lands as instruments of production and they were dispossessed groups
who did not have rights to occupation and cultivation of land as that of the the

464
cultivating kutis. The most effective resource that they possessed was their
skilled labour power. They were not allowed to hold right over the material
possession including land and, therefore, they need not maintain such rights
through the generation or thalamura. The transitory nature of their existence
in the land they attached was also important for their dispossession of material
resources as the land they attached were being transferred from one holder to
another. They developed as inclusive groups and they hardly maintained
exclusive and definite clan ties and endogamous relations and therefore left
the possibility to include more groups as primary producers in the course of
expansion of cultivation and generation of surplus. They were denied rights to
possess lands and other forms of resources unlike the cultivating kutis and
other kutis of occupational and artisanal groups. Thus, the primary producers
were tied to the lands and inhabited in the production localities called ūr
settlements devoid rights and attached to the lands as instruments of
production.

However, the groups like Parayar who mainly were engaged in basket
making from bamboo also worked in agricultural fields as seasonal
agricultural labourers. They also seem to have developed certain kinship ties
and clan relations. The relation of Adiyār/ Āl to the land to which they were
attached and their status in relation to their condition of existence must have
been the atiyāymai, which is a form of forced labour. Terms like Āl and Atiyār
that we come across in epigraphical documents and oral literature also make it
clear that they must have been transferred along with the lands they were
attached.

The marriage relations among the Atiyār groups like Pulayar enabled
them to develop as clan groups in later period. The most important aspect in
this context is the question of labour process and the way in which the
labouring population were engaged in various labour activities as

465
endogamous group of servile laboures. Our analysis of cultivating kutis and
kutis of occupational groups suggest that they were largely defined through
tenurial and occupational terms Atiyār or Āl / Pulayar / Parayar were related
to labour process. They engaged in the labour process without having the
rights as enjoyed by the kutis of cultivating and occupational groups.
Therefore, one important aspect that we have taken into account in our
analysis is what actually was the labour form in the period under discussion
and how did it realise.

We find that pāttāli, kutis and Atiyār were groups who formed out of
an agrarian process in which the hierarchy of rights including land rights and
customary relations developed. The terms such as Āl or Atiyār primarily
signified labour as these terms were being related to the productive lands and
the labour activities involved in it. It shows the way in which the people who
possessed skilled labour operationalised in the labour activities to produce a
material product, say, paddy cultivation predominantly in wetlands and multi
crops in the laterite parambas. The skilled and potential labour endowed with
the primary producers was realized in the form of production of various
produces in multiple economies. It also reveals the fact that the skilled labour
of the primary producers was tied to the land for producing the surplus.
Therefore, land as means of production and labour as instruments of
production could not have been detached in the process of production. The
labour form that existed and attached to the cultivable lands could not be
taken away from the lands as the labourers were also tied to the means of
production. It was a condition of labour, in which labour and labouring groups
became one and the same and was attached to the means of production. The
Atiyār or Āl was not only a condition of labour but also the labourers itself.
Thus, the Atiyār or Āl became labour in itself.

466
 Socially mediated human practices created socially necessary labour.
Adiyār labour was a socially necessary labour. Why did it become socially
necessary labour?. It is precisely because their labour created use value. It was
because the value created by the skilled labour of the Adiyār was accumulated
as surplus, which was necessary for the existence of the non-producing class
that the Atiyār were controlled as a servile group. It shows that the Adiyār
were being subjugated not because of their labour was cheap or inferior one
or an inferior ethnic group produced it. Since the primary producers were
developed endowed with the knowhow of agriculture practices and skilled
labour, the Atiyār / Āl /Pulayar could have created use value and produced the
surplus in terms of mono crops like paddy and other mixed crops in both
wetland and parambu areas and they became bonded groups attached to the
lands. This process made them the instruments of production and they did
their skilled labour in the lands they were attached which denied them to
possess the right over the lands. The separation of the primary producers from
the surplus they produced could be materialized by way of not only attaching
them to the lands as instrument of production, instrumentum vocale, but also
keeping them below the subsistence. It is because of this process that the
labouring groups were denoted by the plural terms like Āl /Atiyār, ie, the
men/women at the feet and Pulayar, Parayar etc indicating their collective
existence as labouring groups. This makes the point clear that the labouring
groups like Pulayar were collective entity and it was a generic term259 to
indicate their collective identity as subjugated social and cultural group in the
period under discussion. It makes us postulate that being the primary

259
As far as the general categorization of marginalized and the subordinated groups in
ancient India is concerned Aloka Parasher-Sen has argued that there was always a
conscious effort to refer to these groups by their generic or occupational designations,
Aloka Parasher-Sen,Subordinate and Marginal Groups in Early India, [OUP, Delhi,
2004], Introdiction,p.18

467
producers Atiyār /Āl were subjugated class260 in the multiple economies in
early medieval Kerala and the endogamous collectives like Pulayar and
Parayar were sustained as bonded groups.

Varna and Caste Hierarchy

The wider spectrum of agrarian process that we have analysed in previous

chapters reveals the fact that the formation of agrarian hierarchy occurred due
to the production and distribution of agrarian surplus and its differential
means of appropriation that developed the hierarchical social relations.
Therefore, Perumāls, Nātttutayavars, temples, Brahmans, landholding
households became the overlords one way or the other. The landholding
groups who held intermediary tenures as Itaiyītar, temple functionaries who
held the virutti or jīvitham holdings , the retinue / functionaries of the
Nāttutayavars such as Vāzhkai, Pani, Nātu , Nūttuvar, Nizhall and Prakriti
and the members of the extended households of the Nāttutayavar developed
as powerful landholding groups. These social groups and functionaries
developed as part of the consolidation of the the polity of the Nāttutayavar
and the Chēra Perumāls and the ritual and ideological dominance of temples
and Brahmans. They were the non-producing groups who functioned as the
mediators and delegators of the political power of the Nāttutayavar and the
Perumāl and the ideological and ritual dominance of the temples.

We find the formation of the subordinated groups mainly from the

kutis and Atiyār/Ās. The cultivating kutis, the kutis of the occupational groups
and the primary producers called Atiyār / Āl were subordinated. It paved the
way for the development of agrarian hierarchy. Production process and the
formation of jātis represent the manner in which the kutis of the cultivating
260
G E M .de Ste Croix has described the way in which the surplus was extracted from the
primary producers in ancient societies , especially in the ancient Greek society, see his
article ‘Slavery and Other Forms of Unfree Labour’ in [Ed] Leonie J. Archer ,Slavery
and Other Forms of Unfree Labour ,[Routledge,London,1988],pp19-32.

468
and the occupational groups as well as the primary producers were subjugated
to the domination of the non producing groups in the agrarian hierarchy.

The process that consolidated the stratified agrarian social order also
developed an agrarian hierarchy in which those who were already evolved as
prominent under the polity of the Nāttutayavar, Chēra Perumāl, and
institutional structure of the temples and the households of the ruling lineages
come to be constituted as the dominant social groups. The cultivating kutis
and occupational groups like metalworkers, craft groups and primary
producing groups developed as producing class came to be constituted as
endogamous groups with hereditary occupation within this hierarchy. This
process of hierarchisation incorporated large number of functionaries, service
groups, cultivating and occupational groups belonged to both producing and
non-producing groups in the multiple economies within vertical and
horizontal relations. Vertical configuration of the dominant social groups
consisted of various Brahman groups, Nāttutayavars and members of the
various households of the ruling lineages of the nāttutayavars, the
functionaries of the political structure of Perumāl and nāttutayavar and the
temple functionaries which later evolved as endogamous jāti groups. The
duties, functions and services of each groups among the dominant social
groups were transformed into particular occupations and services both
hereditarily and locally by specific jātis positioned within the hierarchy.

The Brahmans, the members of the households of the Nāttutayavar, the

households developed from the groups like Pani261 , Vāzhkai,Nātu,Prakriti,
Nizhal262 , Adhikāris etc, temple functionaries and groups of militia called
nūttuvar were part of this social groups who came to be constituted vertically

261
Certain paniyutayanayan mentioned in a Tirunelli Plate,M G S,A-36,L.7.
262
Certain nizhalum paniyunnātum itavakaiyum pirakiritiyum mentioned in a Tirunelli
Plate, M G S,A-36,Ls.8-9.

469
in the hierarchy. Documents mention certain Paniyutayanayan263, puraināttu
Mēnāyan264 and kōmakkātu Nāyar265etc who must have developed from such
groups. It indicates that dominant social groups must have developed from
these functionaries. Epigraphical documents refer to groups who developed as
temple functionaries like kīzhchānti266, mērchānti267, purattatikkumavar268,
thēvitichi269 etc. Large numbers of functionaries also developed in the
temples.270 Temple as an institutional structure began to control the economy
and society. The sabha or parisat of the temple were the Brahmana
landholders who were the custodians of the temple wealth who were
proficient in agamic and Vedic scholarship. They gradually emerged as
separate endogamous group called tantrikal and secluded themselves from the
rest of the Brahmanas. Those Brahmanas who received the lands as the
reward of their services in the temple in the form of virutti and jīvitham came
to be known as pattakal [bhatarar] chāttirar and sānti. The internal division
developed among the Brahmans because of the services they performed in the
temple and their entitlement to the landed wealth. It made adhya and asya
groups among the Brahmanas.271 Those who did managerial and executive
functions in the temples as members of the temple committee called vāriyam
and they were rewarded by virutti and they came to be constituted as Potuvāl
and Vāriyar. Other functionaries of the temple such as drummers, dancers,

263
Tirunelli Plate,M G S,A-36,L.7.
264
Ibid.,L.24.
265
Tivalla Plates, M G S,A-80. L.162.
266
Kilimanur plate, L.22.
267
Kilimanur plates, Ls.21-22.
268
Tiruvalla Plates, L.430.
269
Tiruvalla Plate, L.436 and Kilimanur plate.
270
Rajan Gurukkal, Kerala Temple and Early Medieval Agrarian System,[Vllathol
Vidyapeetham, Sukapuram,1992],pp.50-52. K K Pillai, The Sucindaram Temple, [The
Kalakshetra Publication, Adyar, Madras,1953],pp.241-297.
271
Ibid.

470
musicians were rewarded by virutti lands and they too evolved as separate
jātis.

The foremost among the non- Brahmana order was the kārālar. Most
of the temple lands, lands in the Brahman ūrs and the virutti holdings were
leased to them. The cultivating kutis and the artisanal groups who were
already constituted as endogamous groups in both parambu and wetland areas
with hereditary occupation began to function as particular jatis with specific
cultural features. The Atiyār as bonded groups began to develop as separate
endogamous groups. These occupational and cultivating groups were
horizontally deployed in the evolving hierarchy as untouchables and
outcastes.

The socio- economic relations that evolved in the early medieval

period shows that castes had evolved as a material relation embedded in
production relations in which the historical contingency of the social relation
of power and the subjugation of the primary producers was materialized.
Kutis and Atiyār/ Āl were the producing groups in the production process.
Similarly, Urālar, Kārālar, Pāttamālar, Itaiyītar, had specific role in the
production process, though they were not engaged in the production
operations. The artisanal groups like Kollan, Thattān, Chāliyar etc were also
functional groups. The groups like sānti, thēvitichchi, nangaiyar, kuttachchi,
uvachchakal were also service groups who were functionally associated to the
temples and they were related to the process of production as they possessed
certain virutti or jīvitham lands. This was also the case of the number of
intermediary groups like Vāzhkai, Kutipatis, Nizhal, Pani, Prakriti,
Adhikārar, Nātu etc who functioned as the delegators and mediators of
political power of the Nāttutayavar and the Perumāl. They had certain role in
the total relations as functional groups. They were not merely functionally
related one another but historical contingency of the social relation of power

471
that evolved due to the total relation of the production of material and
ideological resources and the the redistributive process made them specific
functional groups.

The various groups who positioned as the producing and non

producing groups groups objectively located in the social relations of power
and they were subjectively related as kinship groups. It indicates that the
objective and subjective relations were developed to define the location and
the functionality of each group. As far as the kutis who involved in the
various production operations are concerned they were objective categories
and they were subjectively related to their settlements as a particular kinship
groups. The objective connotation of kuti was that the kutis engaged in the
cultivation operations or any other occupational activities as objective
functional group. The kuti was subjectively located in the particular area as a
settlement groups with particular kinship descent structure practicing
endogamous familial household relations. The term kuti and the term il /illam
make sense of the objective and subjective relation of the kuti indicative of
the kutil.

The avkāsams on male and female line [ānvazhi and penvazhi] were
permanent rights and the rights of thara, kuti, dēsam and nātu were
transferred or passed on through thalamura. Kuti rights were collective rights;
it provided the material basis for the development of endogamous groups to
form as particular jātis sharing common cultural features. It developed
through hereditary cultural structure of rights called kramam, mura and
thalamura. Hereditary occupation and the hereditary rights over the material
possessions, skill and knowhow developed on the basis of the rights of the
kutis who engaged in various labour activities. Kuti maintained a collective
form of material possession that was collectively belonged to the kuti.
Property rights mean the rights over the resources or means of production,

472
and material and cultural resources. The perpetual rights over the resources
could not be alienated.

The rights possessed by various groups belonged to producing and non

producing class were incorporated into and made part of the legal structure
through kachchams. The hierarchy had a material basis and it developed
particular subjective dispositions in various social groups who were
positioned at different levels in the social relations of power. This was based
on gradation of rights over the landed possessions or other resources or skills
related to occupations or profession or services. This developed a subjective
orientation to the objective structure of the hierarchy in which various groups
were positioned according to the gradation of rights. The hierarchy also
developed a hierarchical legal structure through specific legal-juridical
practices with the support of the political authorities and the temples and the
base of which was the dharmasāstra notions of the Brahmans. However, the
hierarchy existed in a chiefdom is structurally different from the hierarchy
that developed in a state system. The various forms of over lordships called
kōima under the political power of the Nāttutayavar and Chēra Perumāl
indicate the difference that existed in the hierarchical formations.

The Brahmanical canonical literature of the post - Perumāl period like

sānkara smriti and a number of shaucha texts represent the anterior
development of jātis, though it was largely an inverted representation of the
Brahmanical perception of the conglomeration of a number of jātis. The
hierarchical order of caste represented in the dominant Brahmanical literature
was the product of the inverted representation of caste as the Brahmans were
in need of an ideological legitimation of the already developed hierarchical
formation of the social order. The hierarchy was structured by incorporating
large number of rights and the occupational and service gradations. A number
of socal groups were incorporated into the agrarian hierarchy on vertical and

473
horizontal ways. The endogamous social groups with particular cultural
dispositions were incorporated either horizontally or vertically in the already
developed hierarchical social order.

Social groups were positioned in various social and cultural locations

in the horizontal and vertical spaces and this was mediated with the
Brahmanic - sanskritic ideology. Brahmans became the reference society for
endogamous caste groups to define themselves with strict notions of purity
and impurity. Structuring of this hierarchical social order was mediated by the
political power of the Nāttutayavar and the Chēra Perumāl who made use of
the dharmasastra concept and the world view provided by the Brahmans.
Brahmanic-Sanskritic ideology functioned as the cultural practice and system
of knowledge for the legitimization of the hierarchy of caste. The economic
activites and the social relations engendered in this hierarchy were cohesively
operationalised by the political power of the Chēra Perumāl and the
Nāttutayavar. This was ideologically legitimized with the Brahmanic-
sanskritic ideology by the Brahmans and the temples.

There developed an oppositional relation between the jātis who

produced the subsistence and surplus and those who came to be appropriated
it on account of the complex process of redistribution. Those social groups
who had access to material and cultural resources were positioned as
dominant groups in the caste hierarchy. They were in alliance with Brahmans
and the Brahmanic-sanskritic culture and they became the Brahmanic upper
castes. Being the primary producers the Āl /Atiyār /Pulayar/ Parayar and
others were attached to the lands and were structured at the bottom of jāti
hierarchy and relegated to the position of untouchables and outcastes.
Cultivating kutis and the occupational and artisanal groups were deployed
above the Atiyār / Āl, though they were producing class they had access to
material possessions and retained the rights over their resources.

474
Opportunities and resources were locally available to many of the cultivating
groups and artisanal communities to accumulate material and cultural
resources. This was, however, completely sealed off to the primary producers
who were bonded groups attached to the means of production.

Jati hierarchy was indispensable part of the material interest and

ideology of a class who controlled the economy and society. The economic
and cultural base of production process and the mechanism of power were
engendered in the material practice of jātis. This materiality of jātis created
the economic and cultural condition that reproduced the institutions of
endogamy and patriarchy. The Brahmanic-sanskritic culture expressed and
transmitted the ideology of jāti and patriarchy. Since the ideology of jāti and
patriarchy found expression in the material practices, the very existence of its
ideology had materiality in its social practice.

Thus, the gradation among the social groups belonging to the

producing and non-producing class that developed vertical and horizontal
social relations. The vertical relations generated hierarchy and social
subordination.272 The horizontal relations made conflicts, fragmentation,
segregations producing graded inequality. This process created particular jātis
among the producing and non-producing groups. The process of containing
and resolving conflicts and tensions in the social order was mediated by the
political power of the Nāttutayavar and the Chēra Perumāl and the ritual and
ideological power of the temples and Brahmans. It was in this process that the
socio-cultural logic of caste that had taken root in the already developed
occupational and service gradation was integrated to the political power
structure of the Nāttutayavar and the Chēra Perumāl and the ritual and
ideological dominance of the temples and Brahmans. The agrarian hierarchy
272
David Ludden, ‘Caste Society and Unit of Production in Early Modern South India’. In
Burton Stein and Sunjay Subramanyam [Eds], Institutions and Economic Change in
South Asia, [OUP, Delhi, 1998], pp.106-110.

475
and fragmentation developed under the polity of the Nāttutayavar and the
Chēra Perumāl simultaneously took hierarchical forms incorporating various
social groups. It produced social and cultural subordination of the kutis of
cultivating and occupational groups and the subjugation of the primary
producers created multiple forms of suppression. The Brahmanic –Sanskritic
ideology worked through diverse forms of mediation, which not only
legitimized hierarchy developed through ritualisation of space but also
enclavisation and socio-cultural segregation.

Varna was an ideological schema of the cultural universe of the

Brahmans which was used to include and to relegate various jātis in the
hierarchy. Brahmans became a point of reference and the significance of
varna was used as an ideological scheme to relegate the people of producing
class out of the varna schema as out castes and untouchables and to make the
kārālar and Brahmanic upper castes into the sūdra varna. Therefore, the
varna and the jāti system developed in relation to class relations exited in the
period under discussion. The social tensions developed between the producing
class and the non-producing groups, i.e., between the Brahmans and
Brahmanic upper castes on the one hand and the cultivating jātis, the artisanal
communities and the primary producers on the other. However, being the
primary producers the Atiyār / Āl groups like Pulayar and Parayar were
oppositional groups in terms of class relations and cultural dispositions to the
class who dominated the economy and society and percolated the Brahmanic-
sanskritic culture and ideology.

Caste: Ideology and Practice

How did brahmas create their own purity –pollution norms and controlled the
socio-cultural spaces of others?. Why did they develop themselves a secluded
group and make their space a sacred one to control the social groups of
producing castes as their ‘other’? .It shows that population density and

476
dispersed settlement pattern, environment, availability and use of water, etc
influenced to evolve the socio-cultural segregation strategies like purity and
pollution and a number of occupational and cultural codes which were
developed in relation to the former. Brahmans were in need of a subject
population as the former were few in number and developed as a secluded
community. It made them insulated and spaces of their location were also
made sacred distancing others as impure or inferior. However, Brahmans
could not have developed as group with an interpersonalrelationship and
culture without evolving a human and cultural geography of their own. It
forced them to engage with already developed social relations into caste
hierarchy with the concepts of purity and pollutions prevalent in the
normative literature of the Brahmanic tradition.273 Specific and particular
interpersonal and intergroup relations developed among the Brahmans and
Brahmanic upper castes and among the lower groups in relation to Brahmans
as a reference group in the society.

Brahmans themselves became a reference group in defining and

ligitimising the hierarchical formation and codes and norms around the
hierarchy. Being a part of the same hierarchical system they could have
transcendalised the material base of the hierarchical formation into an
ideological system as well. It was made in such a way as to seclude
themselves and to see the rest as the ‘other’. This self seclusion was mediated
in terms of a number of codes and concepts related to purity and pollution
assigned to varna and jātis as mentioned in major Brahmanical canonical
literature. This was materialized by maintaining the producing groups like

273
It is relatively late, in between third and sixth centuries C E, that the exact litaral
equivalent for ‘untouchable’ in Sanskrit [‘aspsrya’] occurs, Aloka Parasher –Sen [Ed],
Introdiction in Subordinate and Marginal Groups in Early India,op .cit.,p.66 ,foot
note,No.6. Bhairabi Prasad Sahu, 'Brahmanical Conception of Origin of Jātis: A Study
of Manusmriti’ in B D Chattopadadhyaya [ed],A Social History of Early India,[History
of Science , Philosophy and Cultue in Indian Civilisation,Vol.2,Part.5],[PHISPC,New
Delhi,2009],pp.43-52.

477
kutis and Atiyār groups as impure and inferior bodies. It indicates that
Brahmanic ideology was developed in accordanc to the strategies of
appropriation of the surplus produce created by the producing castes.
Untouchability and codes related to occupation, dress and meanings attached
to the body were used to create an attributed space for Brahmins and
Brahmanic upper castes and thereby seclude themselves from the producing
castes and to exclude the producing castes as the ‘other’ socially,
economically and culturally. This ‘other’ was represented as the impure and
inferior one and was denied occupation of the attributed sacred space of the
Brahmans and Brahmanic upper castes.

The notion of impure was crucial to the ideology of caste system. Caste
relations developed and structured in accordance with the nadappu and
maryada [local customs and practices]. The Brahmanical ideology played a
dominant role in structuring and maintaining these practices. Local customary
practices were incorporated to the Brahmanical varna and juridical systems.
The concepts of sudhi and asudhi / purity and impurity were developed and
deployed by the Brahmans to maintain their lived spaces called the mana and
illam as sacred spaces. Ritual and religious spaces like the sacred temples
were made insulated entities and were protected from the interference of the
producing groups. Varna- jāti norms and the ritual and religious dominance
of the Brahmans were transformed into cultural practice which was
ligitimised by the political authority legally and juridical. This Brahmanical
ideology was developed as a material practice to transcend the materiality of
jati in an inverted form. This Brahmanical ideology became the knowledge of
the ruling class and was used as system of dominance.

Jāti had subjective and objective dimensions, the land relations and
occupational positions determined the objective structures of jatis. The
cultural economy that came in to being under the polity of the nāttutayavar

478
legitimized the various form of avakāsams that existed as customary relations.
The households developed to wield political and social power. Structure of
maryada or local customary practices developed around the power centers
which functioned to operationalise caste and gender relations in the local
societies. The Nāttutayavar and their functionaries upheld and protected these
maryādas.The dispositions developed within each caste group due to the
cultural and ideological functioning of caste forced the members of particular
caste to accept the subjective orientations to the objective structure of caste
hierarchy. The endogamy practiced within particular caste, the concepts
developed in connection with distancing practices of one caste from the other
caste groups, the behaviour pattern developed within the caste structure in
terms of the avakāsams or rights, privileges and the power over various forms
of resources developed particular caste dispositions among the members of
the caste groups .

The material structure and the structure of relations developed out of

the hierarchy of land relations and occupational gradations engendered
particular understanding of the hierarchy in the mental structure of individuals
and groups who were positioned at the different locations in the caste
hierarchy as well. This was developed as dispositions and world views. The
material structure of caste hierarchy and its subjective dispositions produced
certain mental structure in the members of different caste groups homologous
to the hierarchical structure of the social order. The consciousness of one’s
own caste and of others was produced in relation to the mental structure and
the hierarchy of the social order. The process and pattern of working
mechanism of caste as revealed in the oral texts also show the multiple
processes involved in the formation of caste groups, labour process and
kinship and descent relations of the social groups. This also makes sense of
the servile and non-servile segment in the society and the complex inter-
linkages that developed in multiple economies related to labour relations and

479
the exchange process. Tribal groups were incorporated in a larger process of
transition of tribal groups into agrarian production. Therefore, varna was to
be extended to incorporate many groups and to provide the institutional and
ideological base for the growth of a wider society hierarchically.

Why did there develop the pollution on the basis of touching?. There
developed the pollution concept regarding the touching menestrous women.
Certain form of pollution was attributed on the people who worked in mud.
Those who worked on the soil were treated as polluted groups. Pulaya women
were treated as polluted as she had been worked in mud. It shows that the
touching on human body both male and female was considered as something
which was believed to have created certain form of pollution. It developed in
relation to certain objective content274 in a complex process which made
certain people as polluted group and those who were treated as polluted were
controlled for some other purpose as well.275

The objective content was related to the sexuality and the sexuality of
women was controlled. The control of sexuality meant for creating certain
restrictions on the body of women for the purpose not to make sexual
relations with the members of other clans or groups. There developed certain
notions on the body of the members of opposite group /clan who were
believed to be the ‘other’ of one’s own group/ clan. This developed due to the
fact that procreation with the members of the other clan or group led to the
breaking of the endogamous practice. The pollution concepts must have been
developed to prevent the exogamous relation by which body especially the
female body became an object of control leading to the practice of body

274
The effects of social distance also depend on the function that the social relationship
aims to achieve, Pierre Bourdieu , The Logic of Practice, [Polity
Press,[1990]1992],p.168.
275
Mary Douglas, Purity and Danger: An Analysis of the Concepts of Pollution and Taboo
[1966], [ARK, Paperbacks, New York], pp.2-5.

480
related pollution. Body began to be defined in terms of pollution and this
became a powerful tool to prevent the clan endogamy in early period and
caste endogamy in later periods as well.

The practice of body related regulation of human movements was

started when the kalavu form gender and mating relation began to be
disappeared and karpu form of union of sexual relation was institutionalized
in the form of marriage based on conjugal fidelity as represented in the
classical Tamil texts. This was a kind of regulations developed within clan
groups for the selection of the mating partners. This was used to maintain
endogamy, gendering and controlling sexuality of women. When the karpu
developed there also appeared the concept called thīndal or notions on human
body controlling the sexual relation of women with the members of other clan
or groups. This was meant for the continuation of the endogamous
households and marriage for the sustenance of the endogamous clan group.
There also developed certain notions with regard to the labour and those
bodies which engaged in labour activities were equated with defiling
substance. There also developed the simultaneous practice of endogamy and
the observance of thīndal, the bodily defilement on touch. Jāti began to be
attached to body and it was used to the biological reproduction of particular
endogamous jāti with a view to restrict the procreation with a particular
endogamous jāti group.276 There began to treat the labouring bodies as
defiled bodies which had to be controlled and distanced not only from the
bodies that assumed ascribed status as pure and from the resources which
were created by the labouring bodies. There also evolved certain devises to
reproduce the labouring bodies and the touch on such bodies was also
considered as a defiled act. The labouring and defiled bodies became the
untouchable bodies. The Brahmanical canonical literature and the
276
Partha Chatterjee, ‘Caste and Subaltern Consciousness’ in Ranajith Guha [ed] Subaltern
Studies, Vol.6, [OUP, Delhi,[1989]1994],p.203.

481
dharmasāstra injunctions treated these bodies as impure ‘other’ to be
condemned and despised.

The concept of pēdi or fear is another important aspect which was also
developed with regard to breaking of endogamous marriage or sexual union
leading to the breach of caste endogamy. It developed as the social fear in the
morale of each group and certain mechanism was developed to control such
breaking of endogamous relations. When the Brahmans became the legal and
ritual authority of interpreting the dharmasastras, the society and social
relations began to be regulated on ascribed status and certain distancing
devices based on purity- pollution were incorporated to the varna. The
dharma notions and the purity-pollution concepts became part of the
hierarchy of castes in which endogamous castes were attributed ascribed and
defiled status in relational positions. This was also used to control the sexual
union among the members of endogamous jātis. Therefore, the practice of
thīndal or pollution on touch and the concept of fear on the breaking of the
endogamous relations and marriage rules show the complexity of the
sustenance of endogamous jāti groups and the reproduction of individual
castes.

Class is found to have developed as a relation277 maintained by various

social groups in the multiple economies and the social groups of particular
jātis were positioned at different locations in the hierarchy of castes indicating
the same hierarchy engendered class relations as well. Therefore, Class
relations functioned as mediated relations and it was mediated through a
number of extra economic forms. Class was mediated through a number of
occupational and customary relations and land relations were objectified in

277
G E M .de Ste Croix, Class Struggle in the Ancient Greek World, [Duck Worth, London
[1981]1983], p.32. E P Thompson, the Making of English Working Class, [Penguin
Books, [1963]1986], Preface, pp.8-9.

482
the jāti relations existed in the hierarchy of caste as jātis had taken root in the
already developed agrarian hierarchy in which land relations were important.
The ideology and practice of caste endogamy and patriarchy also engendered
class relations as these power structures had taken root in a society where
class relations were immanently developed. It not only shows that caste
relations and class relations were part of the same hierarchy in which gender
relations and patriarchy engendered both caste and class relations but also
that the caste was to be legitimized through the mediation of the class
relations.

Historical Trajectory of the Primary Producers

The historical trajectory of the Atiyār /Āl groups is important for us to

problematise the historical experiences of the primary producers. One of the
much-discussed terms in the context of the formation of the category Adiyār
is the term Pulaya. Travel narratives and colonial anthropology / ethnology
attributed certain meaning to the term Pulaya. The origin of the term Pulaya is
commonly attributed to either pulam [wet land] or pula [pollution] and these
have certain meanings and significance as well. We have epigraphic
references to the terms pulam and pulaikāval as to give the sense that these
groups were engaged as laboring groups in agriculture and in the protection of
such lands as primary producers. Therefore, the term Pulaya must have
developed from the labour activities involved in the cultivation and the
protection of cultivated lands.

Protection of agriculture lands were necessary and agricultural fields

and its produce might have been either stolen or destroyed by predators or
wild animals. We have references to a group called kāvalar in classical Tamil
texts and pulaikāval in epigraphical records of the early medieval period. It is
in this context we can think of a group who had been given charge of
protecting the pulam, cultivated land or its produce, the labour activity and the
people engaged in it collectively came to be known as pulaikāval. Here kāval

483
is linked with the practice and the concept of pēdi. The cultivation in the land
and the protection of these fields were associated with fear and insecurity. Yet
another term is pollution / pula. Pulayar can also be associated with pollution,
as a polluted group. It is difficult to say exactly how and when did the
category Pulaya had become a polluted group, but it can be seen that pollution
must have been imposed and attributed upon them in the course of a complex
process of making people Atiyār or Āl by which they were being subjugated
as a servile population.

It is important to note that the migrant settlers who reclaimed and

cultivated the lands in the river valleys and wetland plains were the people
who came from the chirukutis in the mullai – kurinchi region. The non-
agricultural labourers, punam cultivators and primordial settlers were brought
from the hilly areas and from midlands were settled for wetland cultivation.
These migrants were treated as polluted groups as they were being brought
detaching from their original clan ties and kinship relations. The conception is
that migrant body is polluted as much as labouring body is polluted. The
dispossessed and displaced people were believed to be polluted groups
moving with polluted body as they were being employed in the cultivation
operations as servile groups. The people who either migrated or were brought
and settled as displaced group had the historical experiences of a polluted and
low born and the descendants of these groups must have been the Pulayar and
Cherumar groups. The former are the descendants of the people who treated
as izhichinan and cultivated in the wetland as the servile groups and the later
are the people who developed from the chirukutimākkals who were brought
from the chirukuti settlements in the hilly areas.

The subjugation of these groups occurred through a process by which

the producing groups became the ‘other’ of the non-producing groups who
were largely mediated by the Brahmanic - sanskritic ideology. Brahmans and
brahmanical upper castes developed the concept of purity and pollution as an
ideological weapon to subjugate the primary producers. The tribal concept of

484
purity which developed in relation to clan endogamy was also used to detach
a subject population from the fruits of their labour. This must have developed
as part of the process of alienation of the primary producers from the surplus
they generated with their labour and they were subjugated by keeping them
below the subsistence level. They were subjugated to the hierarchy developed
on occupational gradation and gradation of land rights and the notion of purity
and pollution were used as powerful mechanism to ensure the institutional
control over the primary producers as polluted groups. When they became
endogamous jāti groups and were placed at the bottom of the jati hierarchy,
purity and pollution became part of the ideology of caste.

The primary producers resisted their everyday subordination through

cultural ways, by way of symbolic and ritual acts. The material aspects of
culture rested on the social world in which caste subordination and oppression
determined the everyday life. The complex social world of the primary
producers was indispensably connected to their material life activities under
the dominant power structures. It is also related to the subjective dimension
of their life. Both these factors influenced in shaping the consciousness and
the worldview of this group. Their culture and world view were organically
linked and was inseparably connected with the process of social labour and
material life activity.

The meanings produced in the world of hierarchical relations and

oppression was created at different levels. The meaning they created of the
social world could not be sealed off from their material life activity and every
day suffering. It produced a negative and oppositional consciousness in
relation to the existing multiple power structure, i.e., Nāttutayavar, Perumāl,
temples, Brahmans, functionaries of the temples and the Nāttutayavar and a
number of local power centers. The social conflicts developed not only
between the primary producers and the cultivating kutis and the artisanal and
other occupational groups but also between the primary producers and the
Brahmans and Brahmanic upper castes which were embedded in ritual

485
inversions. A number of ritual acts and cultural artifacts produced by the
primary producing groups like performances of oracles and thullals both
parayan and seethankan, the theyyam, oral songs of various genres and a
number of ritual acts do reflect upon the social imaginaries of these groups
and most of them have had the cultural roots in egalitarian tradition. There
was no singular mode of dissent and resistance in the cultural tradition of the
primary producing groups, symbolic and cultural ways were adopted to mark
their dissents and protests.

486
 Conclusion

K.S. Madhavan “Primary producing groups in early and early medieval Kerala:
Production process and historical roots of transition to castes (300-1300 CE)”
Thesis. Department of History , University of Calicut, 2012
 Conclusion

As noted in the beginning of this study, l have tried to discuss in the previous
chapters the various aspects of the historical process of the formation of
primary producing groups in the early and early medieval Kerala. For this
purpose, I have problematised certain issues which have more historical
significance in the larger process of social formation in general and the
process of social stratification and the formation of hierarchy in particular.
The basic problem is related to the various forms of spatiality in which the
material production had taken place and on which the entire relation of human
beings with the animate nature developed. This is conceptualized as the
multiple economies in the study consisting of the life activities of hunting
gathering, punam cultivation, parambu and the wetland cultivation along with
the subsistence forms related to collection of forest produce, pasture lands,
and also coastal and marine resources. This has shown the incongruity of the
centrality of one economy, which is the wetland paddy economy, in the
sustenance of a material culture, in which multiple forms of life activities
developed to generate various forms of resources for the survival of
comparatively a sizable number of populations whose material existence and
life world unevenly developed.

Two historical contingent spatial and settlement entities that exited in

the early and early medieval period are the kuti and the ūr. Kutis must have
been developed from long historical past as settlement and occupational
entities. The kutimākkal of various clan groups engaged themselves in various
life activities in different micro-eco zones. Mullai –Kurinchi region was
characterized by the practice of hunting gathering and shifting cultivation.
The fishing and salt manufacturing were confined to the littoral tracts. The
productive life activities were stepped up in chirukutis where the inhabitants

487
were engaged in hunting and gathering and the women were the gatherers
responsible for the instigation of agriculture practice. Women themselves
transformed from the gatherers to the cultivators. The cattle rearing and
punam cultivation, especially varaku, cultivation gave way to the agro-
pastoralism in which mother sex had important role in a pastoral cum
subsistence agriculture economy. Women became the active agents of
material production and they did almost all agriculture operations, especially
the cultivation of varaku and vegetables. They also made impetus to the
fusion of clan relations leading to clan exogamy by which the women helped
to include the other kinship descent groups.

The introduction of cattle drawn agriculture and hoe cultivation in the

punam cultivation enabled the men to dominate the multi crop cultivation and
the exchange of milk products helped them to control women. The gendered
division of labour and the gender relations represented the role and positions
assumed by both women and men in the period of classical Tamil texts. The
kalavu form of male and female relations was part of the clan exogamy in
which women had considerable power and position in the case of productive
life activities at their own disposal when they enjoyed the autonomy of their
biological reproduction. When the men assumed power over the material
production and the exchanges they also began to control women through the
practice of conjugal fidelity and the form of marriage called karpu which led
to the subordination of women and the clan endogamy became a form of
ideological mechanism which got institutionalized so as to practice the clan
endogamy in extended households as well.

The gendered division of labour that characterized the life world of the
kutis which became the base of the socio-economic and cultural life of the
people of the Mullai- Kurinchi region. Kinship determined the nature of life
activities in the kutis. The extended kin groups were divided on senior and

488
junior line and familial kin labour was the principal form of labour which
organized the production operations and the labour process. Cluster of the kuti
settlements constituted the ūr which was the most archaic settlement entity.
When the wealthy households appeared and patrilineal relations developed,
the senior male members also appeared to control the affairs of households.
Though the matrilocal settlements that had existed with kalavu form of male
and female relations receded, still the structure of matrilocality continued to
exist. The gender relations and the possession of material wealth in these
households began to be controlled by the elder male members. The matrilocal
extended households began to function to protect the male dominance through
female lines of succession and the patrilocality, which also institutionalized
the karpu form of marriage and male dominance.

The exchange and trade that developed the chiefs from the ūr
settlements and kutis were the resource base of the Vēl chiefs who developed
from the chiefs. The Vēl chiefs also developed from the kin groups in the kutis
and they made use of the physical power of the Marava / Mazhuva group who
were also living as kinship descent groups that developed from the process of
warfare between the ūr settlements on cattle lifting and booty capturing or
plunder raids. This feuds and conflicts between the Vēl chiefs resulted in the
destruction and capturing of ūr settlements. This was one of the prime
reasons, in addition to natural calamities, for the migration of people to the
river valleys. The people who lived in the chirukutis and practiced the
shifting cultivation in the Mullai- Kurinchi areas migrated to the river valleys
and riparian region in the midlands involving the human movements and
development of communication networks. It resulted in the creation of
settlements near water sources and the formation of extensive cultivation area
in the major river valleys. The migrant settlers began to clear and reclaim the
biomass deposited and silted areas in the river valleys and the estuarine plains
leading to the formation of river valley agriculture and the mixed crop

489
cultivation in the laterite parambus indicating the trans- tinai nature of
settlements and cultivation process.

The productive land spaces for wetland agriculture came to be called

kazhani and vayal and organized form of paddy cultivation required efficient
water management and systematic preparation of land. Use of extensive water
management devices and efficient ground preparations made these lands
specific for wet land production operations. The people who subsisted on
cultivation in the lands so reclaimed / created were called ērin vāzhnar or
Uzhavar, people subsisted on plough agriculture. A number of water
harvesting structures and water management devices developed along with
the appropriation of nature for wetland agriculture. Cultivation of paddy,
sugarcane and other multi culture produces spread across the wetland area.
Multi culture operations in padappai and parambu made possible the further
spread of ūr settlements in the midland. The spread of mono crops and multi
culture cultivations resulted in the development of auxiliary occupations like
craft and metalwork and exchange of produces including the spices and forest
produces collected. A number of settlements or kuti formed part of an ūr
which was the most archaic and basic geographic unit in the Samgam age in
this region. The ūr is a locality where different lived spaces of various clans
are embedded. The ūr was subjected to transition in production of subsistence
and surplus and its re /distribution in each eco zone. A number of ūrs around
hills constituted a nātu within the forest or kādu, but there was no clear
distinction between nātu and kādu as the former remained subsumed by the
latter.

There developed social division of labour as the production process

involved the socially necessary labour and the people engaged in the
ploughing and harvesting activities came to be called Kalamar and Thozhuvar
or Arinar respectively. Labour activities in agricultural operations are

490
indicated by vinai, thozhil and chey and the people engaged in such activities
came to be called Vinainjar indicating the importance of socially necessary
labour. The expansion of agriculture and development of exchange made
possible the growth of people who engaged in the auxiliary activities to
agriculture production like craft and metal working who came to be known as
Thozhuvar. Women did planting the paddy, weeding, harvesting, husking the
paddy and fishing in the inland water. Certain groups engaged in the
protection of paddy field called Kāvalar. The different modes of resource use
existed in multiple economies in which the productive land spaces, forest,
pasture lands, sea, flora and fauna, and aqua – biotic marine species became
the object of the labour of the inhabitants in each eco- zone.

The early migrant settlers were the original settlers who created the
productive spaces and settlements in midland. Their settlements had been
raided and plundered by the predatory chiefs. Those who were dispossessed
of the material resources gradually became part of the labouring clans in the
agrarian operations in the ūr settlements and began to become the permanent
groups of labourers and came to be called kutis having degraded status or low
born origin. The formation of a group called izhichinan was important
indicating their low social and cultural status and they were treated as
izhipirappālan, clans of low born origin. They were denied possession of
productive lands and remained landless as many of their original settlements
and productive lands were lost in plunder raids of the war chiefs and their
kinsmen. Those who possessed the productive lands and other material
resources came to be called uyardōr / mēlōr, the high born and they lived in
manai.

The agrarian localities became the base of the political territories of the
chiefs called Kizhār, Vēlir [hill chieftains] and Vēntar. The chiefdom of Āys
in the south, Chēras in the middle region who centered on the trade

491
settlements like Thondi, Muziris and Nannan was in the north on the ēzhi hill,
pointing to the process of the domination of the chiefs over the production
localities and cultivating kutis in both wet land and parambu areas. This
process of political formation was corresponded to the development various
forms of resource appropriations in multiple economies consisted of hunting
,food gathering - shifting cultivation economy hilly backwoods region and
food producing surplus generating economy of wetland agriculture in river
valleys and water-laden areas, and the multi culture mixed crops cultivation
economy in laterite parambus.

Expansion of both wetland agriculture in the riparian region and the

cultivation of multiple crops in the parambu areas made certain changes in the
production process and labour realization. It incorporated the punam
cultivators, hunting gatherers and other primordial non-cultivating labour
groups in to the wetland and parambu cultivation as labouring groups. When
these groups were incorporated to the process of wetland and multi crop
cultivation in the parambus as labouring groups they became part of the
primary producing groups in the social form that came in to being. The notion
of distinction developed on the basis of birth and kinship in the social milieu
in which the labouring populations were treated with the identity of low born
or low status as izhipirappālan and izhichinan.

Significant transformation is the formation of households of settler

cultivators and the kutis of the cultivating groups and occupational and
service groups in agriculture production. They were kinship groups who
retained their kinship ties when they developed in relation to the expansion of
agriculture in both alluvial and lateirte regions. The surplus production in
wetland paddy cultivation and multi culture crops in the parambu cultivation
area enabled the development of the wealthy households called manai which
were patrilineal households controlled by the ūran and karpu form of

492
marriage and gender relations developed in these households. Though there
developed the matrilocal households the line of succession to the material
possession and control of such households rested on senior male members on
female line.

The social divisions that occurred in the context of the expansion of

multiple economies represented the cultivating kutis and the labouring groups
as kataisiyar, Īzhuvar, izhichinan etc belong to Kīzhōr / Izhainthōr ,the low
born devoid of knowledge, as opposed to Uyarnthōr / Mēlor, the high born
having knowledge. The people mentioned as Kadasiyar,Thīyavar, Kīzhōr,
Iravalar, Izhichinan etc engaged primarily in the process of the production of
subsistence and surplus and they were attributed the status of izhipirapālan,
the low born and ignorant mainly because they did not possess the knowledge
of the condition of their existence.

Development of settler cultivators and the cultivating kutis along with

the primary producers are embedded in the epigraphical material from the
ninth century C E which suggest the emergence of a social form based on the
multiple economies. The expansion of both parambu and wetland agriculture
evolved the instituted process of labour realization in which the Nāttutyavar
emerged from the households of the settler cultivators and the tribal chiefs
and their retinue, and the households of the settler cultivators had dominant
role. This made the spread of cultivation in both laterite and alluvial areas in
the hinter land and to the parambu areas on the one hand and to the estuarine
lands and the coastal plains on the other. Proliferation of ūr settlements of the
cultivating kutis and the settler cultivators in both parambu and wetland areas
made these settlements the production localities in which the agrarian
resources was generated by the cultivating kutis and the primary producers
and the latter are referred to Āl /Atiyār/ Pulayar /Parayar in number of
epigraphical documents. The occupational and spatial meaning of kuti began

493
to be transformed when the land holding households and the chiefs exerted
the overlordship over these cultivating settlements.

The production process and the division of labour became more

complex and diversified in which the cultivating kutis, the kutis of the
auxiliary occupants like craftsmen and metal workers and the menial laboring
population began to be consolidated and their settlements appeared to be
proliferated in the production localities. This resulted in the occupational and
spatial division in which the people who followed different livelihood forms
and settled in the ūr settlements began to be identified either with their
location in the labour process and the instrument they used or with their
settlement localities. It led to the development of the dispersed settlement
localities and habitation sites. The people who associated with the material
production could have retained certain clan identity and they followed distinct
notions of kinship and life world of their own.

The group of servile laboring population had been employed in the

reclaim activities in waterlogged and marshy areas near the river valleys.
Draining water from the water-laden areas for cultivation and construction of
water channels, check dams and anai [dams] were done by this group. Land
spaces were reclaimed from heavy vegetation by cutting down trees and
burning them for cultivation. The agriculture operations in the more water
logging areas like the kari lands in estuarine areas became important. The
labour process involved in sowing seeds, planting the seedlings in the wetland
fields, tending and harvesting crops were done by these servile labourers.
Growth of accessory occupants like carpenter, blacksmith, potter, bamboo
worker etc developed in the ūr settlements and many of them settled as kutis
of occupational groups and they also contributed to the generation of agrarian
surplus.

494
 The production process began to be expanded and consolidated when
the overlordships over the cultivating settlements developed which brought
the cultivating kutis and the kutis of craft groups and metal workers and the
primary producers under the dominance of the Nāttutayavar and dominant
households. The Nāttutatyavar and the dominant households received the
obligatory payment called katamai from these production localities. They
donated a share of the produce they received as obligatory payment from the
cultivating kutis to the temples to meet their offerings in the structural temples
built in the settlements of the Brahmans.

The early Brahman settlements did not originally produce any

documents. In fact, the documents were produced when the members of the
ruling families and private individuals made grants of the share of the produce
and, sometimes, certain attippēr grants of lands mostly to meet the expenses
of their offerings in these temples. These documents mention the activities of
Brahman settlements and the temples. However, the attippēr grants, exempted
all the rights the donors had possessed the lands, donated to the temples and
Brahmans are only very few in numbers and the lion share of the donations to
the temples and Brahmans were donations of the share of the produce from
the lands cultivated by the cultivating kutis rather than the lands itself. What
was actually granted was a share of the produce from the lands cultivated by
the cultivating kutis not the land itself, but the grantees claimed tenurial right
over the land as a major socio-economic force. When the Brahmans were
given the productive lands in the river valleys from the early historical period,
the cultivating kutis who already settled such lands had become the subject
population in these Brahman settlements. However, majority of the
settlements in the region located outside the brahman settlements and these
settlements functioned as the production localities of the settler cultivators
and the cultivating kutis. Individual brahman households called mangalams
began to be developed outside the Brahman villages. The process of

495
proliferation of Brahman settlements was propped up by the expansion of
cultivation in river valleys and estuarine areas on the one hand, and the
development of nādu formation in the midland regions and consolidation of
political authority of the Nāttudayavar over the production localities on the
other. The Brahmans were in need of the political and the physical protection
of the Nāttudayavars and the latter sought the ritual and ideological
legitimacy from the temples and Brahmans. The land holding households of
the settler cultivators were also in need of the cultural resources of the
Brahmans and the ideological legitimacy of the temples. This made the
temples and Brahmans to develop control over the production localities of the
cultivating groups by way of the tenurial dominance over the lands from
where the produce reached the temples in the form of donations and thereby
temples and its functionaries became the parasitic institutional entities.

The tenurial dominance of the temples and Brahmans made the

cultivating kutis and labouring population subservient groups to the non
producing class, in addition to the dominance made by functionaries of the
temples, the Nāttutayavar, their retinue and members of dominant
households; sometimes, to the Chēra Perumāls and their functionaries, to
whom the cultivating kutis had to pay the katamai or vāram. The
Nāttutayavar made control over the cultivating kutis and labouring
populations when over lordship over these cultivating settlements was made
by the former. This brought new groups of people into the production process
and they engaged in reclaim the productive lands and in labour activities in
cultivation operations. This must have increased the number of labouring
population in the agrarian production as servile labouring groups under
various overlords.

The labour of the primary producers was realized in number of ways

by the overlords including the households of the settler cultivators to increase

496
the surplus production in both wetland and parambu areas. The punam
cultivators and non-agricultural groups were also brought to be part of these
labouring groups in course of time and they became the permanent labour
collectives in the production localities. The labour of the primary producers
must have been used to reclaim the water laden and vegetated areas for
cultivation and settlements in addition to laterite parambu cultivation. They
were also used for water management in the flood plains and irrigation
activities in the cultivation of wetland areas. Knowledge of the season and
environ like rain, flora etc preserved by the settler cultivators including the
Brahmans were effectively used to realise the labour of these groups for
reclaiming land spaces and cultivation activities. The resource requirements
of various overlords also necessitated to ensure the labour of the primary
producers that resulted in the exchange and transaction of migrant laboring
population who hitherto were not part of the settled agriculture in both
alluvial and laterite areas. Certain people who were part of the non-
agricultural groups, forest dwellers, punam cultivators, primordial settler
clans and others had increasingly become part of the direct labouring groups
in the settled agriculture in both alluvial and laterite areas. Some people who
were part of the hunting gathering and shifting cultivation activities in the
midland region also became part of the agrarian process of the area and they
were integrated to the nātus of the respective Nāttudayavar and thus became
the subjugated groups and others continued their livelihood forms in the
hinterlands. They were attached to the lands controlled by the households of
the settler cultivators, the Brahman ūrs and the temples and also the chērikkal
lands of the Nāttutayavar and the Perumāl. They were also attached to the
jīvitham and virutti lands held by the retinue and functionaries of the
Nāttutayavar and the Perumāl and the temple functionaries.

The surplus generated by the producing class, the cultivating kutis,

primary producers called Āl /Adiyār/ Pulayar and the auxiliary occupational

497
kutis, was appropriated and re/distributed among a number of non-producing
groups. The Nāttuayavars , their retinue and functionaries comprised of
Vāzhkai, Pathi, Nātu, Pani, Nūttuvar, etc and the Chēra Perumāl, his
Ahikārar, Pathavāramākkal, Āttaikolvār etc, constituted a stratified
assemblage of agrarian hierarchy who became the ruling class in the agrarian
order. The familial households in the Brahman ūrs, the structural temples and
its functionaries were part of the ruling class who appropriated the surplus
produced by the producing class. The dominance of the polity of
Nāttudayavar and Chēra Perumāl was mediated upon the cultivating kutis
and servile labouring population through a number of functionaries like
Vāzhkai , Pathi, Nātu, Pani, Nūttuvar, etc, in which Nūttuvar functioned as
the most powerful agency who suppressed the producing groups.
The political dominance of the Nāttutayavar and the Perumāl and their
retinue, and the tenurial control and ritual authority of the temples changed
the condition of actual cultivators of kutis to the tenant cultivators and the
occupational and laboring population became subservient groups. This
process also made the primary producers into the condition of servility and
bondage. However, kutis controlled the lands they cultivated and gave a share
of the produce to the overlords as kudimai. The overlords received the kutimai
as payment for allowing the kutis to stay in the lands. This indicates the
transformation of the kutis as the actual producers and controllers of the
means of production into producers who were vested with the right over the
lands in lieu of payment of the surplus produce to the over lord
The migrant settlers who settled in the midland region developed the
households with the cultural features of both matrilocality and patriliny and
maintained the clan endogamy and control of material resources within the
clan groups. The restriction imposed upon the movement of women in
particular kutis in the early medieval period was intended to prevent them
making mating relation with men of other clans and thereby control the

498
members of particular kuti within clan endogamy. The cohesiveness among
the cultivating groups was maintained when endogamous marriage relations
developed within the kutis. The head of the extended family in the kutis not
only controlled the junior members in the family by dominating over the
subsistence and the resources, but also by restricting the movement of women
and by controlling their sexuality. The maintenance of the authority of the
elders requires that marriage be prohibited within the clan groups. The
authority of the elder members of the kutis rested on the power to prohibit the
exterior relation in the case of marriage, which provides each kuti the capacity
for endogamous reproduction of the kuti, although endogamy never becomes
the rule in an agriculture community. The clan groups required to hold the
material possession collectively within the clans and to protect their clan
identity as a well-knit kinship group. This was achieved through both the
matrilineal and matrilocal households controlling women by conjugal fidelity
and this was institutionalized through endogamous marriages.

The extended familial households controlled the collective possession

of material resources within the clan and clan endogamy was maintained by
the elder male members in the households. The kinship descent structure
developed in the kutis and the solidarity maintained under the extended
households must have maintained the kutis as organic unit both economically
and biologically. The agriculture operations done by the members in kutis and
the kinship descent structures of the kutis constituted certain dependence
relations between the senior and junior members in the kutis. It is also used
for the domination and exploitation of juniors by the senior members, the
characteristic of descent groups called mūttār and i½aiyār, and controlling the
sexuality of women binding the rule of endogamy. It created a lifelong
relationship between members of the cultivating kutis. Thus, kuti became a
well-defined social cell functioning as an economic unit with kinship descent

499
structure. There continued the simultaneous process of reproduction of kuti as
an economic unit and reproduction of kinship descent structure as a biological
unit. The production operations in agriculture and the producing groups
engaged in the production operations are reproduced. Kutis of kammāla
groups like potters and craft groups who were moving groups engaged in
specialized occupations and crafts developed as endogamous collective
maintaining their professional skill and knowledge as cohesive unit of
professional groups.

The structure of various forms of avakāsams / rights held by the kutis

over the resources available to them and the right to settle in a production
locality was developed due to the expansion of agriculture and the
proliferation of settlements in both parambu and wetland areas. The material
life activities and exchange forms developed along with this process made
gradation of rights. Kutis of cultivating and occupational groups were more
economic units than the structured units of individual families. The rights
called avakāsams of the kutis who did cultivation and the auxiliary occupation
to agriculture were maintained through generations, thalamura, by which the
rights over the resources and the skill and knowledge of the life activities they
followed were sustained and protected. The rights assumed by the kutis as a
kinship and descent groups is meant that the technics and skill of a kuti who
followed a specific life activity in a particular production locality with distinct
socio-cultural life had been protected through generations. Therefore, kuti was
entitled to maintain its rights and to protect the skill and knowledge of a
particular occupation.

There are two stages in the development of the primary producers and
those people who were brought by detaching their clan ties and kinship
relations and were settled in the lands where they had to render their labour
services. Therefore, they were attached to the lands they did their labour as

500
instruments of production. This generic group of population of scattered
labouring groups were employed in the labour activities in cultivation
operations, predominantly in wet lands, came to be called Pulayar. The people
who had settled in chirukutis and endowed with skill and knowledge of
punam cultivation as chirukutimākkal and those who were brought from such
chirukuti settlements to employ in both wetland and parambu lands as
labourers came to be known as cherumakkal. The large mass of the producing
groups consisted of various kutis and Adiyār / Āl were incorporated into the
production process with their kinship and descent structures and distinct life
worlds. Primary producers engaged in the production of agrarian surplus in
multiple economies and various overlords subjugated them. The primary
producing groups were tied to the lands on which they did their labour as
instrument of production. They were transferred along with the land they
attached and were subjugated by the dominant groups consisting of land
holding households that developed from the settler cultivators, the
Nāttutayavar , their militia and the retinue, temples and Brahmans, the
Perumāls and their associates.

This process was more or less developed by the ninth century when the
agrarian expansion and proliferation of settlements began to be consolidated.
The expansion of nātus and political authority of the Nāttutayavar over the
production localities in the nātus were made possible because of the
development of over lordship that was established over the cultivating
settlements by the nāttutayavar. This was achieved through the retinue like
Nizhal, Pani, Adhikāri etc, the kin of the Nāttutayavar called chārnavar and
the militia called Nūttuvar. Number of other groups like Pati, Vāzhkai etc
who were developed from the cultivating kutis was also used by the
Nāttutayavar to dominate the cultivating groups. The nātus thus became the
resource regions and administrative territories of the Nāttutayavar where the
agrarian resource was generated by kutis of occupational groups and

501
cultivating communities. The primary producers engaged in the labour
activities for the production of surplus in the production localities comprised
of both wetlands and parambu areas. Forested spaces and punam cultivating
areas also part of the natus in the mid land and in the hilly areas. Kinship and
clan ties of these scattered labour collectives had already been lost when they
were brought and settled the lands they did their labour and they became part
of the primary producers whose condition of existence is evidently attached to
the lands as represented as Āl / Adiyār / Pulayar.

There developed the gradual process of formation of kinship descent

structure among primary producers like Pulayar that resulted in developing
them as an endogamous collective of servile labourers. It enabled them to
possess the skill and knowledge they historically accumulated through labour
process and retain certain right over their knowledge and skill. They were
settled in particular areas attached to the lands and became endogamous
groups with distinct cultural features and kinship structures, and gradually
became kutis in later period. The rights developed among them to possess and
transmit their skill, knowledge and cultural features through generations.
They were incorporated with their kinship structures and the skills they
possessed into the structures of power as endogamous groups of servile
labourers who were engaged in specific labour activities with particular
cultural features. This integration took place at a time when various overlords
subjugated them into the agrarian order as the instruments of production.
Nāttutayavar, temples and Brahmans and a number of non-producing groups
subjugated the primary producers. This process was mediated by the groups
consisting of militia and functionaries of the Nāttutayavar, temple servants
and other local magnates like Patis and Vāzhkai.

The Pulayar were a generic group of labouring population consisting of

a mass of scattered labouring population attached to the cultivating lands

502
without having the genealogy of clear kinship descent ties as many of them
were settled, detaching their kin relations and descent structures. They
developed more as inclusive exogamous groups rather than discrete labour
units. It enabled to increase their population to meet the labour requirements
as part of the development of over lords and expansion of cultivable areas for
surplus production. The historical contingency was to increase the surplus
production by increasing the population of primary producers. The labour
intensive form production did not necessarily incorporate the inventions in the
field of iron processing especially in the making of efficient tools and
implements into the field of agriculture. This state of agriculture technology
especially in the case of implements of production was compensated with the
labour of the primary producers, predominantly by the Pulayar. The situation
became complex when over lords and a number of non-producing groups who
participated in the appropriation of the surplus by one way or the other. This
situation resulted in keeping the primary producers below the subsistence and
in increasing the surplus production at an optimum level using the labour of
the latter. The increase in the volume of the surplus was materialised only
through increasing the number of the primary producers keeping them below
subsistence. It was this surplus appropriation mechanism which confined the
primary producers in servitude and bondage on which the entire edifice of the
agrarian order and its political structure rested.

The property form that evolved within the households in relation to the
clan endogamy corresponded to the emergence of the stratified agrarian order
and the social relations involved in it. The households and kuti settlements
that developed in both wetland and mixed crop areas constituted the extended
households on matrilineal and patrilineal line which retained the right on
landed possession collectively. The collective form of right retained over the
resources including the landed wealth by the households of the settler
cultivators and the cultivating kutis was succeeded to the next generation

503
through a system called thalamura without breaking the structure of the
households and the kutis. It passed through either male or female line
indicating the existence of both matrilineal and patrilineal extended
households. Even though there developed the matrilineal households, the
system of property developed within these households made the senior male
members control the property on mother line and manage the everyday life
affairs.

The property forms that developed among the Brahmans called

brahmasvam and the temple called dēvasvam are found to have developed as
the collective form of property developed in the brahman ūrs and corporate
nature of the property under the temples respectively. They were also known
as thvam. The viru¶¶i and jīvitham holdings were collective form of rights
possessed over the landed wealth by the functionaries of the temples and the
Nāttutayavar and the Chāra Perumāl. The intermediary tenure holders called
I¶aiyī¶ar also held rights over lands collectively. The property form that
developed among the ruling lineages of the Trippapūr seems to have
developed in line with individual form of rights.

This is not an exclusive study on the caste system in Kerala rather it is

an attempt to understand the labour process, the relation between the human
beings and the labour process and the way in which a stratified system
developed. Kuti became biological unit reproducing the kinship descent
structure through endogamy and kuti also developed as a production unit of a
particular occupational group that sustained the rights over the resources,
knowledge, and skill through junior generation. It also enabled to develop the
occupation hereditarily. The hereditary occupation and endogamous
marriages continued as a mechanism for the biological and social
reproduction of kutis. The process of biological and social reproduction also
developed among the primary producers and they were subjugated under

504
various overlords as endogamous groups. A number of functionaries under
the temples and the Nāttutayavar and the Perumāl developed as social groups
of endogamous collectives retaining their rights over the resources through
the structure of households and integrated to the system of power. Jāti
formation can also be seen in relation to the process of realization of labour
and subordination of producing groups to a number of overlords in an
exploitation system of agrarian hierarchy. Number of functionaries and
service groups formed due to the development of the polity of the
Nāttutayavar and the Perumāl and the institutional structure of the temples
were incorporated as endogamous groups making their service and
occupations hereditary. The occupational and service hierarchies were
incorporated into the structure of property and the household system. The
process of consolidation of occupational and service hierarchies along with
the structure of endogamous households and the forms of collective property
that transformed occupational and service hierarchies into varna jāti system.
Collective form of enjoyment of resources and livelihood pattern gave way to
a property system in which the changes in positions and dispositions of
endogamous groups who followed specific occupation formed themselves
particular jātis. This was materialised through the process of incorporation
and mediation in which brahmanic ideology and dharmasāstra norms played
crucial role.

In the light of the analysis and findings certain issues remains to be

addressed and the following aspects have to be studied in the future
researches. The condition of servitude and bondage of Atiyār / Āl / Pulayar
/Parayar which denied them to have access to the material resources and the
opportunities to accumulate such resources while kutis of cultivating and
occupational groups accumulated it in the form of rights. Atiyār / Āl / Pulayar
/Parayar were being tied to the lands without having the rights to occupation
and settlement. It also shows the fact that those social groups who had been

505
positioned above the primary producers in caste hierarchy including the
cultivating kutis and the kutis of craft groups and metal workers could have
held rights over the material and cultural resources. It shows that social
grouping among the producing class was being made in accordance with the
different positions assumed by various kutis in relation to the uneven ways the
rights held over the material and cultural resources. The hierarchy also
implies the gradation of rights possessed over the resources by various social
groups and the multiple ways the manifold forms of power had been assumed
and deployed. It also make sense of the ways in which the positions assumed
by the various social groups on account of the production and distribution of
material and cultural resources. Caste formation and consolidation is also
involved the process of the subjugation of the laboring body by way of
detaching them from possessing the rights over the material resources and to
reproduce that body to be attached to the lands to be employed as untouchable
labourer. This shows the relation of caste subordination to the process of
labour. It also reveals that those who had assumed the ascribed status in the
caste hierarchy did not participate in the production of material resources and
they became part of the appropriation of resources and accumulated it in
various forms. The formation of property rights and its forms of possession
had developed in relation to the process of appropriation of the surplus
generated by the producing groups as well as the consolidation of caste
hierarchy and the subjugation of primary producing castes. This is also
related to the way in which the collective form of property that had developed
and retained within the households. It indicates the historical relation that had
evolved due to the process of various forms of resources, including the
symbolic form, must have developed in relation to development of various
households as dominant form of power structure. It shows the need to
problematise the relations that developed in connection with the households,
castes, labour and the practice of untouchability.

506
 The primary producing groups called Atiyār/ Āl / Pulayar/Parayar had
been dehumanized because of the experience of bondage and servitude due to
their attachment to the lands as instruments of production and the practice of
untouchability. The practice of untouchability and the historical experience of
social suffering are embedded in the social memory of the primary producers
whose oral tradition and ritual acts can be treated as the repository of the
historical past of these groups. The analysis of the historical experiences of
subjugation and bondage of these groups also involve the process of invoking
the symbolic and cultural forms of protest that had existed in the pre-modern
history of Kerala. The social imagery inscribed in the consciousness of the
primary producers can reveal the material and the cultural dimension of
subjugation and exploitation. The social and cultural experiences of the
laboring population is inbuilt in the practice of untochability and caste
subordination, one has to look into the complex relations that had existed
among the caste and labour and practice of untouchability. The culture of
labour practice indispensably related to the life world of the primary
producing castes and the working class culture historically developed from
the experiences of the caste subordination and servitude indicating intrinsic
nature of the relation that developed between the caste and labour. Attempt
should be made to understand the marginalization of culture of Atiyār / Āl /
Pulayar /Parayar which was part of their subjugation and exploitation and it
was through this culture that they continued to maintain a consciousness in
which their social imagery of protest and dissent was inscribed.

507
 Glossary

A¤unn£rruvar - Six Hundred organization or leader of Six

Hundred
Aµcuvannam - Semi independent trading corporation
A¤ai - Paddy cultivating area
A·iy¡r - Bonded groups
A½ - Agrastic slaves
áabh¡ - assembly of Brahmin landholders in a
settlement
Brahma¿wam - Collective property of brahmins
C®ri - Settlement region, settlements of various
C®rikkal - Land belonging to nattutayavar and the
perumal
Chirukuti - Kuti settlement of the people who
followed different life activities
crafts men group.
D®va¿wam - Lands under the control of the tangles
E½un£rruvar - Seven Hundred organization or leader of
the Seven Hundred
Illam - House of Kerala Brahmins/settlement
location
Ír - Settlement area
Ír¡½ar - Member of a Brahman £r who are also
the member of temple assembly
Íran - those who lived in £r

i
J¢vi¶am - Rights over the lands livelihood or
maintenance
K¡l - Canal a rivery region
K¡r¡¸mai - Tenancy right
K¢l¿¡¸i - The assistant priest
K°¸am - Paddy cultivating region, usually found
in southern Travancore area
K°du - A rocky elevated region
Kachcham - Agreement or pact
Kal - Gem stone, paddy cultivating region
Karai - A kind of throny land
Kari - Land near Kayal
Kaval - Protection
Kazhi - Salt pan
Ko¶¶a - Baskett made out of bamboo to hold
paddy and other grains.
Ku¶i - Space/Occupational groups
Kunru - Hill
Kurinchi-mullai - hilly forested back wood region
Kurumpu - Hut settlement
Kutim¡kkal - Kinship groups who settled as kutis
Kuzhi - Low lying area
M®l¿¡nti - Chief priest
Ma´galam - Place name refers to individual brahman
settlement
Ma¸ - Soil
Ma¸igr¡mam - Trading corporation of merchants
Ma¶¶am - Low land

ii
Malai - Hill
Manai - Structured houses
Menpulam - Wet land cultivation area
Mu¸·akam - The crop reaped in the month of
December-January
Munn£rruvar - Three Hundred organization or Leader of
the Three Hundred
Muram - Seive used to sift grain
Nall£r - A prosperous settlement
Pa¤ambu - Land where multi crops are grown in
laterite region
Pa·ak¡ram - lands denoted to brahmans
Pa·uvam - Variety of grass
Pa½½am - Low lying area
Panambu - A bamboo mat used for drying paddy and
other grains
Payan - Produce
Porari - Hill
Pu¤achai - Suburb of an inhabited area
Puµcey - Dry land crop reaped in summer
Pulam - Jungle tract for slash and burn cultivation
Puram - Town
Purayidam - Compound site
T°¶¶am - Garden land where mono crops
cultivated
Th°du - Stream
Ti¶¶a - Sandy region

iii
Tinai - Micro-eco.zone/five fold division of
spatiality in early historical period
Tina-varaku - Different millet
Tu·av¡i - Garden
Turutti - Island, mainly used to denote estuary
region
Umanar - Salt manufacturers
Uv¡ccan - Drummer
Uzhavar - cultivator
V¡½akam - Land
V¡½kai - Local chief who collected the due from
the cultivators
V¡rier - Temple servant
V¡y - Sluice
V®li - Fence, paddy field
Va½aµciyar - Trading corporation
Vanpulam - Mixed crop cultivation area
Varai - Hill
Vayal - Tract of wet land, paddy field
Vi½ai - Crop
Virippu - The crop reaped in the month of
September –October
Virutti - Lands given as service tenure for servants
of temples and chiefs

iv
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MAPS