The Kummatti at Kunisseri
Nestling between the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea is
the rice bowl of Malabar, todays Palakkad. Its strategic location and rich agricultural
tradition was a cause for many a battle. Primary was its produce being important
for expanding populations and secondly because it was the entry point of the
Tamilakam trade route, i.e. the Palakkad gap. Carts and animals of trade
carried produce back and forth through a domestic highway of sorts. As time
went by and the kingdoms in North Malabar became more and more affluent and
populated, and as import of rice from the Konkan and Coromandel rice traders
came under threat, the southern rice producing areas became even more important.The
Palghat rajas, whom we talked about in the past, were not always the overlords
of the entire district as we know it today, since some parts of it were either
under the suzerainty of either the Zamorin or the Kochi raja.
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