Adoor K.K. Ramachandran Nair Kerala State Gazetteer - vol . I First edition: 1986

Table of Contents

PREFACE

The Kerala Gazetteers Department has so far published ten District Gazetteers under the scheme of preparing the District Gazetteers taken up as a national project by government of India in 1957. The printing of the Malappuram District Gazetteer, the tenth and the last in the series of the District Gazetteers of Kerala is in its final phase and slated for publication. The Government of India in 1976 took up the programme of issuing supplements to the District Gazetteers which were prepared and published upto the year 1966, to update the data contained in the concerned District Gazetteers. Adhering to this the supplements of the District Gazetteers of, Trivandrum, Quilon, Trichur, Kozhikode and Ernakulam were published by me after my appointment as State Editor, in December 1979. In addition the department has republished the monumental work on the " History of Travancore" by Shri P. Shungoonny Menon.

Located at the southern extremity of the subcontinent, the state of Kerala is resplendent for its scenic splendour as well as its eminent contribution to the country’s intellectual and cultural landscape. It is a land where nature still hold her own in spite of industrialization, urban influx and high population, where the literacy rate is the highest in the country, where people of diverse fashions and political beliefs have been able to forge a common ethos and find a common identity. Foremost among the advantages that Kerala enjoys is the abundance of educated and skilled man-power that has made its presence felt in other parts of the country as well as abroad.

The total area of the state is 38,855 square kilometers and a coast line nearly 550 kms. long. It is a narrow strip of green stretch along the coast, for the width nowhere is over 100 kms. and  narrows in the south to 12 Kms., the average being 70 kms. The land may be broadly divided into 3 natural divisions, lowland, midland and highland. Few lands of similar extend are watered by so many rivers. They rise from the western Ghats and the landscape of their banks changes from jutting tops, crowned by thick forests in the east, to groves in midland and groves and fields in the lowland. There are 41 West flowing rivers in the state in addition to three east flowing ones which are the tributaries of  the Kaveri. The longest river is the Periyar (244.). The rivers are rich in association regarding Kerala traditions. Kaladi on the banks of the Periyar was the birth place of the great Sankara. Pan-Kerala Assemblies called Mamamkam of great pomp and circumstance were held at Tirunavai under the Zamorin of Calicut till the latter half of the 18th century. Today many rivers have been harnessed for irrigation and power and are making a great contribution to the economic progress of the land. In addition Kerala has a continuous chain of lagoons and backwaters. The backwaters, rivers and the canal system form a navigable inland waterway of about 1960 kms. Which is more than one fifth of the total length of India’s inland waterways.

The sea which gave birth to Kerala also helped in moulding her history. The maritime tradition of the state can be traced to the hoary days of antiquity. Peaceful interaction with far-flung lands through trade had built up a tradition of more than two millennia before the incursions  from modern Europe symbolised by the landing of Vasco Da Gama at Calicut in 1498, changed the temper of the contact., loaded it with conflicts and inflicted a turbulent phase of history which ended only with independence.

Richness of soil, heavy rainfall and damp climate have given rise to a flora and fauna of great variety. The forests abound in timber and flower tracts, in elephants, black leopards, tigers, sloth bears, giant squirrels, bisons, a variety of deer, the charming little honey sucker with glorious metallic colours, the golden beaked wood pecker, the little white eyed lit and the Malabar whistling thrush.

With 25.40 million people (1981 census) living in a small state with an area of 39,000 square kilometers, Kerala has a density of population; 654 persons per square kilometer, the all India average being 216. The tourist who travels either by rail or road will get the impression that the entire land has been urbanised for houses march along both sides of the track without the open spaces that separate villages in the north giving the impression of a continuous conurbation.

Urbanisation however has not resulted in any monotony and bigger cities and towns have their own attractive individual feature. Trivandrum, the capital stands on a hillock sloping down to the sea and therefore washed clean during the rains. With its dense greenery broken by the gabled house tops, its undulating roads, groves and parks, it is  a very picturesque city. It is also an extraordinarily clean township. The other important centers are Quilon, Cochin, Trichur, and Calicut, each with its distinct historical distinction.

The state is  not known to have any resources of oil or coal. The absence of basic minerals like iron, coal, copper is a serious impediment to industrial development. The beach sands are however a good source of titanium bearing ilmenite. Fortunately the State has immense potentiality for the generation of hydro-electric power and if properly developed this can compensate for the absence of fossil fuels. The distinctive characteristic of the agricultural sector in Kerala deserve special emphasis. The high pressure of population on land has rendered  a large part of the rural population traditionally dependent on agriculture either unemployed or employed. The cultivation of cash crops is better organized in Kerala than anywhere else in the country. In Kerala only about 56% of the total area of the state is available for cultivation, the rest being forests and uncultivable lands. In the country as a whole about 70% of the cropped area is under food grains, but in Kerala only about 30% is under food grains. On the other hand more than 50% of the cultivable area is under commercial crops like tea, rubber, coconut, cardamom etc. This cropping pattern has its own advantages and disadvantages. It earns valuable foreign exchange for the country by the export of commercial crops. It also creates a huge deficit in food grains which sustains the population. Only about 55% of Kerala’s rice requirements is produced within. For the balance, it has to depend on supplies from outside.

The basic problem of Kerala is its high density of population which is more than three times the all India average. The larger the population, the smaller will be the income per capita, the smaller will be the ability of the community to save and invest in developmental activities. A further dampening effect on the tempo of development is the increase in expenditure on education, health and housing demanded by steadily growing population. The greater the proportion of the people in the younger age groups in the population the larger will be the expenditure on such items as education and health. Unemployment especially among the educated is of an alarming proposition, the number of work seekers sharply increasing by year. The work seekers as a proportion of the all India work seekers is more than 10%. The proportion of educated work seekers (S.S.L.C. and above) is over 50% of the total number of work seekers. In the context of the large excess of working force, modernization of the existing sectors, perhaps the only means of improving production is beset with conflict interest and confusion. There is an all round awareness of the basic problems and a will to overcome these handicaps.

The vast majority of the population speak Malayalam. The other language spoken are Tamil, Kanarese, Konkani, Gujarathi, Marathi, Arabic, Hebrew etc.

Much attention has been paid in recent years to provide effective and well planned services to the rural areas in different fields like education, medical aid, water supply, electrification, housing, public distributions, communications, public transport, etc. Thus the rural population does not have to migrate to towns in search of these facilities. Such a fairly evenly spread infrastructure development has evidently prevented the overcrowding of cities and towns. Fortunately the cities of Kerala are free of the sores which inevitably characterise other cities of India.

The population of the state is composed of a variety of religions. The traditional religious toleration and amity have been, responsible for the existence of a number of flourishing communities from very ancient times. There are Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Tribal Castes, Jews, Jains, Buddhists, Parsees, and Sikhs according to census enumeration. The Hindu community covers a large number of sub communities like Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Ambalavasis, Ezhavas, Nadars, and Scheduled Castes. The Brahmins include Malayali or Namboodiri Brahmins, Tamil Brahmins. Tulu Brahmins, Gauda Sarswats etc. There are a number of Sub-Castes among Kshatriyas, Ambalavasis, and Scheduled Castes. The Christians include Roman Catholics (Syrian & Latin) Jacobite Syrians, Marthoma Syrians, Chaldean Syrians, Salvationists, Anglican Communionists, members of the united church, and members of the various Missionary bodies like the Protestant Mission, S. D. A. Nadar Christian, Brother Mission, Penteocost, P.R.D.S. Bible faith, Baptist etc. The Muslims are divided into Shias and Sunnies.

By appearance, dress and habits, the people of Kerala can be divided broadly into two classes. The descendants of those who came under the civilizing influence of the Aryan immigrants who occupied from early times, positions of distinction and authority are to be distinguished from the descendants of those who stood outside their fold. The distinctiveness in personal appearance marked by fairness of complexion and regularity of features, clean habits and simple life can be attributed to the social rank, which they enjoyed irrespective of their religious persuasions. The indigenous population herein has been an admixture of foreign blood characterized by dark complexion and features, which are not distinctly pronounced. Even among the apparently homogenous group certain distinguishing features exist to identify the particular sect or class to which each belonged. Thus the tuft with its varying modes of tying differing from sub sect to sub sect and identifying caste marks on the forehead associated with Hindus, the close shave of Christians, the skull cap or the turban of the Muslims have been in vogue for a long time. The Malayali women were noted for their preference of simple white dress though the manner of dressing mix with caste Hindus called Savarnas in educational and other public institutions. Both sight and touch pollution were in vogue with stiff penalties for any breach in observance in tradition. Instances of denial of job opportunity in Government departments to educated entrants from among the avarnas on the basis of birth, were innumerable. Consequent on the powerful movement for social reform and abolition of caste system launched by the great saint Sree Narayana Guru, the observance of untouchability has become a thing of the past. This was accentuated by the Temple entry proclamation in 1936, by the Maharaja of Travancore backed up by legislation for temple entry and removal of social disabilities. This is a glimpse of some of the salient ancient customs and manners of the people of Kerala and the rapid strides in social progress along modern lines. The progress has been notable. One conspicuous characteristic of the progress that stands out is that an intelligent differentiation is distinct in what is jettisoned and what is preserved. To illustrate, the intense religious fervour, impeccable standards of personal cleanliness, simplicity in matters of taste and attire, and a passion for education and learning out stripping the political transformation is a clear-cut example of this trend.

Women in Kerala from early days enjoyed to large extent, the freedom to lead an active outdoor life and to commune with nature. They enjoyed along with men the right for recital of puranas and itihasas, the performance of Sanskrit dramas, and indigenous arts like kathakali, patakom etc. in the family quadrangle and in the temple precincts. Festivals like Onam and thiruvathira were occasions for social contacts and for the exhibition of literary and musical talents and folk dances. Both the high and the low knew to read and to write, to sing and dance. Ancient texts like Chilapathikaram, Chandrotsavam, contain innumerable references to the female prowess in diverse fields such as dance, poetry, music, language, Sanskrit, and Malayalam, martial arts. Today Kerala leads the other parts of India in Women’s education. Women in Kerala occupy high position in every walk of life including athletics, education, judiciary, medicine, and engineering. The bulk of the nursing profession in India and the gulf region is drawn from Kerala. The new woman has a finer rhythm of life, and a wider outlook and a broader vision than her sister of the previous century. She can now boast of not only an intense social empathy but also a civic and national consciousness. She has used her freedom rationally and in spirit of equality. Modesty or feminity has never been at a discount, nor simplicity discarded at the altar of fashion. Education has only aroused the intellect, widened the outlook and intensified the national and civic ethos.

Kerala insulated geographically by the western ghats, has a cultural entity of her own. Nevertheless it shows with the rest of India, a unity of culture having an unbroken continuity between the past and the present. From very ancient days, the Indian continent-Bharata Varsha has had a culture which is basically the same throughout. Differences in language or in political setup had only split the single culture into colourful and diversified spectrum; Sanskrit has been to a considerable extent, the vehicle of our culture, the repository of our spiritual love, philosophy, mythology, law, literature etc. It has shaped and enriched almost all the languages in the country, particularly the Malayalam language, which has assimilated and appropriated Sanskrit sounds, words and idioms in a very large manner.

The cultural affinities of Kerala with the rest of south India are still deeper and more intimate. The territory  South of the Vindhya ranges , comprising mainly the telugu, Kannada, Tamil and Malayalam speaking areas had at one time a common language or Dravidian stock-the parent of the 4 modern Dravidian Languages.

There is yet another aspect of life and history which deserves special mention. The cosmopolitan outlook and character of the Keralite is the result of historical causes-the wide ranging external contacts-dating back to millennium preceding the Christian era. At their nadir, the empires of Egypt, Babylonia, Assyria, Greece, Rome, the Chinese-had trade relations with Kerala. They were later followed by the Arabs, Portuguese and finally the British. The Kerala chieftains and in particular the Cheraman perumals and the Zamorins accorded them all the facilities. The advent of the apostle St. Thomas during the Varies with the women of the various communities. The Nayar ladies had the pudava, rouka and upper cloth, all white in colour and the christian ladies their cloth worn in a distinctive style with a fanlike portion on the back side and long sleaved blouse. The muslim women also have their distinctive dress. The women of this sect used to wear heavy ornaments particularly ear pendants, some of them used to bedeck their head, ears, nose, neck and arms, the waist and ankles with heavy jewelry. But there has been in the last few decades rapid changes in these directions. The outlook on life in general has changed considerably and new ideas resulting in from liberal education has permeated society at large. The tuft is no longer an identifying mark of a Hindu. The wearing of caste marks has become a rarity. The close shave of the Christian has disappeared. There is a tendency to give up the skull cap and the turban among some of the muslims also. Among the nayar ladies, the Puduva and Rauka have mostly given to saree and blouse. Among the Christian ladies the younger generation has taken to sarees and those who used traditional costumes have considerably modernized them. The tendency among the younger generation of women is to limit the ornaments to a gold chain with a pendant of artistic workmanship a pair of ear rings and several bangles of different patterns. Blackening of the eyes and eye brows with antimony was a common practice among Hindu women. The muslim women used Surma. Both certainly added to their comeliness. The practice still continues but is now done more artistically. The Nambudiri women who observed the purda system which no longer finds favour with them.

Of the customs peculiar to Kerala, the most important ones are the Marumakkathayam system and the joint family system. The Marumakkathayam system determines inheritance through the female line. The Kshatriyas, the Ambalavasi, the Samanthars, the Nayars, some of the ezhavas, the Nanjinad Vellalas and some Muslims followed this system. The joint family system where the members live under the same roof without partition and the eldest male member of the family is called Karnavan exercises full powers over the affairs of the family is also peculiar to Kerala. Among the Marumakkathayees, it was the custom that the wife and children of a male member of a joint family used to reside in the joint family of which his wife is a member. As a result of intense social pressure, legislative enactments sanctioned the claim to partition from the joint family and adopt Makkathayam-inheritance through male line. Due advantage has been taken of these legislation by the majority of the communities and the gradual but the steady breakup of the joint family system resulting in individual members leaving their joint family and setting up homes of their own has been a salient feature in the recent past. But legislation has not extirpated the Marumakkathayam customs and traditions. The divided members still cling to their old family names and titles. In the observance of the customary ceremonies and pollutions the affinity of the marumakkathayam system is still evident.

Child marriage once in vogue among several communities has been prohibited. Inter marriages between sub-castes have become more common even among orthodox circles. Marriage ceremonies usually of several days duration has been reduced to almost one day function. Marriage without dowry has become an exception even among the communities which observed the dowry system-thanks to anti dowry legislation. Although in former times the caste system considerably affected social intercourse, conditions have become entirely different now. In respect of social functions like garden parties and at homes there is no communal segregation with the abolition of untouchability and legislation throwing open temples to all classes of Hindus, people have shaken themselves off most of the tentacles of caste which separated one sect from another.

It has to be emphasized that the observance of caste system with all its rigour and formalities was another social peculiarity of Kerala. Though the system prevailed throughout India, no other place was marked by is stringent enforcement than in Kerala, that the great Hindu Seer and sage Swamy Vivekananda referred to Kerala as the ‘mad house of India’. Persons belonging to non-caste Hindus called the avarnas, were not allowed to enter and worship in Hindu temples, were prohibited from walking on the approaches to temples, and were not allowed to  early period of Christianity, helped the spread of Christianity in Kerala, more than any other place in India. The earliest Muslim mosque in India is to be found near Cranganore. Like wise the appearance of Jews in Kerala dates to ancient times. The Jews set up a colony in Cochin and built their synagogue. The Hindus, the Muslims and the Christians live in Kerala side by side each influencing and being influenced by the culture of the other. This accounts for the remarkable degree of religious tolerance and catholicity of outlook which characterize the Keralite.

The preparation of this volume is in conformity with a unified scheme as laid down by the erstwhile Gazetteers Unit, Department of Culture, Government of India.

Trivandrum 1-1-1986

Adoor K.K. Ramachandran Nair State Editor

Table of Contents

Introduction
Preface
Contents
Chapter I General
General-Introductory-Origin of the name of the state Location, General boundaries, Total area and population-History of the state as an administrative unit and changes in its component parts- Divisions, Districts and subdivisions   (1-36)
Physiography- Natural divisions, elevation, configuration, etc.,- Hills:Mountain system to which they belong, main peaks, height, situation, vegetation etc. Plateaus and plains: variations in sea-level and lines of natural drainage-Deserts-Sea-Coast: Length, bays, estuaries, natural harbours, islands etc.,- River systems and water resources-River Systems-Canals, lakes and important tanks, Springs and spring-heads, - Snow fields, glaciers, ice caves etc.- Tidal waterways – wells: Tube wells and other water resources (37-77)

Geology- Geological antiquities- Geological formations- Mineral Wealth- Special features such as earth-quakes and earth tremors   (78-103)

Flora or Botany- Botanical divisions of the state and the nature of vegetation found in them with special reference to rare types of flood   (103-171)

Fauna or Zoology- Zoological types found in the state : Mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fishes; Zoological types which are vanishing. Mortality from reptiles and wild animals    (171-288)

Climate- Location of observators- Climatic divisions and seasons and their duration- Temperature and humidity- Rainfall- Atmospheric pressure and winds, dust-storms, cyclones, etc  (289-321)

Appendices  (321-394)
Index  (321-394)
Illustrations
Maps