Showing posts with label Malabar Various. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Malabar Various. Show all posts

The Arakkal Swaroopam

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 Its Checkered History

In the medieval history of Malabar, there existed but one Muslim kingdom, and that was known as the house of the Arakkals. Legends about the way it came into its being can be read in the Keralolpathi, the Aithihyamala, various travel diaries, as well as the ledgers of the Dutch VOC and the British EIC. They do hold a reader’s attention, and fleeting reports of the power and wealth it possessed at some stages in the past still pop up now and then, in the news media. Let’s take a look are some highlights and the family’s interaction with the many global players who swooped into Malabar to enrich themselves on its spice produce.

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The Silent Valley Movement

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Eons ago, the slopes and plains adjoining the Sahyadri mountains separating Malayalam from Tamilakam, were home to many dense forests. Most of it is gone now, but some remain in Wynad and Nilambur as well as a region between Nilambur and Mannarghat in Palghat, near the northern rim of the Palghat Gap, the so-called Attapadi, and Silent Valley areas. That is where we are headed.

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The Samiri and Taj-al Din at Dhofar

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Continuing with the Cheraman Perumal myths…

The Keralolpathi, the Zainuddin Makkhdum’s call for a jihad against the accursed Franks, the Fath ul mubiyn, they all mention of a King from the Hind who traveled to Mecca and died on the way back, at Dhofar. We talked earlier about the Cheraman Perumal legends, the Perumal and the pickle and so on, but with additional information at hand, I would like to revisit the topic and also cover the interconnected story of the al-Samiri and Taj-al din tomb’s at Dhofar in Oman.

In an area called Dhofar is buried a person, a king actually who has been venerated over centuries by the locals there. His name is purported to be Abdul Rahiman Samiri. An inscription explained that this person reached Dhofar in 212 and died there in 216 (821-831 AD). Now comes the question, who could this gent be? He has been connected to the Cheraman Perumal who converted and went to Mecca and also one of the earlier Zamorins of Calicut. We do know that the Samuthiripad or Samoothiri, a term which morphed to Samorin or Zamorin dates to the 13th century. During the 821 period or even later to 814 as Logan implies, we had a Eranadu Utyavar, not a Zamorin. But legends mention that this was a king from Malabar. Let’s try to investigate a bit to try and find out if we can get to the bottom of this myth.

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Menon and Menoki – a little study

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Some time ago, we talked about the Nair caste and the various sub castes related to it, as well as their characteristics. Medieval Malabar, Cochin and Travancore had many castes, classifications, do and don’ts, and what not. It was not fun if you did not belong to the top and even if you did, you had to remain in your tramlines (as they say in the US) or dividers. In the Nair caste, there were many more profession related titled classifications as well. Most significant were the Menon and the Menoki titles within the Nair caste, which are not very well understood. Complications also arose due to regional differences between Cochin, Malabar, and Travancore. This little article will provide more details to those interested as well as some background explanation.

Principally all these titles were connected to either supervisory capacities or positions or that of a scribe and accountant in the local chieftain’s Kovilakom or temple, preparing Grantha palm leaf manuscripts! Compared to the foot soldier Nair, these personnel were better educated, were closer in proximity to the ruler or chieftain and were ordained or titled, with the title passing on through generations, in a matrilineal fashion.

In general, Menoki is an overseer — By definition, Menoki in the 1901 Travancore and Cochin Census Reports are classified as a sub-division of Nayars, who are employed as accountants in temples. The name is derived from mel, above, nokki, from nokkunnu which means ‘to look after’.

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The Umbrella Riots

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Out at the islands, long ago - Lakshadweep

Many years ago, a peculiar series of revolts took place in the lovely islands off to the west of Malabar, called the Lakshadweep (100,000 islands), which were and still are sparsely inhabited by Muslim folk who originated from the mainland, moving to settle down there sometime around the 14th century and thereafter. The immigrants carried with them a form of stigmatic caste system separating the affluent upper castes from the working castes which as you can imagine, resulted in a good amount of friction. Caste separatism within this community was the reason for a rebellion, but the triggers are for an outsider, particularly interesting. We had previously discussed the breast cloth movement in Travancore, and this is another tale from a time period, when life was quite a bit different from what it is today!

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The Wandering Y

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A Discussion on genetic deciphering to understand human migration

I have been getting into this subject and out of it so many times, so I finally decided to put down what I gleaned and be done with it, till more definitive answers were available. It was indeed a complicated subject and one which was very subjective. As you may have noticed it started with comments that one can get to our roots easily by studying the genetic makeup and divide it by castes and tribes. Easier said and done and that I agree with after so many forays into the subject. Ethiran kathiravan an eminent blogger and one who like me, loves movies and music had previously written a great article on this subject. I will refer to it often and augment it with inputs from a few other books, papers and a text book my ‘medical student’ son gifted me in exasperation (did not want me to come up with half-baked theories, as he said)after some arguments on migration.

Anthropology is an exacting study exemplified by eminent persons like the late LA Anathakrishna Iyer of Palghat, one of the first to venture into it. However, nowadays the methods have drifted more towards genetic studies and involve microscopes and computers. That such studies provide much insight to migration is amply clear and the methods used are quite interesting. Let us first see what is done from a very superficial level, and please note here that I am neither an expert nor a recurring student of this topic, but just somebody who tried to glean through some of these studies with interest.

Armed with all that I got into a brief study of what they term Proto Dravidians, in an area where much mingling of people occurred, both aborigines, invaders as well as visitors, to create thirty four or so groups. When a man belonging to one such group bonds with a girl of another, the resulting offspring carried properties of both. As time goes by and as generations of people are created by the offspring of this union the genetic sequence that one studies, exhibits what one could term a secret diary of the years and what happened. A genetic Sherlock Holmes puts meat into the study and comes up with startling results by unraveling the gene sequences and structure. How would that be possible? Well, as we note, a child carries chromosomes from both parents in a standard genetic structure or sequence. But then again, there are slight variations and these are called polymorphisms which can sometimes be observed over a wider population.

If parents have differing polymorphisms, the child carries both (John Tainer explains scientifically - For genetics, a polymorphism refers to genetic variants within the population that allow evolution by natural selection. A mutation may create a polymorphism in the population if the resulting variant form is transmitted to subsequent generations without causing major defects in biological functions). There is one other term one has to understand to get going and that is a term called Allele. An allele is defined an alternative form of a gene (one member of a pair) which is located at a certain position on a chromosome. This kind of genetic coding determines very distinct traits which are passed on from parents to their children. Gregor Mendel was the first to study this and formulated what is known as the Mendel's law of segregation (It is also to be noted here that organisms have two alleles defining each trait). Typically alleles of a heterozygous pair have one which is dominant and another, recessive. A study of distinct alleles can help one study migration or events in a specified population over time. These are the signatures or unique codes which a genetic detective studies to get to the point of singular origin.


Perhaps this is all quite confusing to the lay person, so a paragraph on the fundamentals would be useful. As we all know our body comprises zillions of cells. Some cells are somatic which compose the body structure and others are gamate or reproductive i.e. comprising of sperms or eggs. Every cell has 23 chromosome pairs (a genome) and each of these chromosome pairs have some 25,000 genes. The nucleus of a somatic cell thus comprises of 46 chromosomes, 23 from each parent whereas the gamate comprises only 23.  Of the 23 pairs, 22 are termed autosomes and one sex chromosome. Alternative versions of genes account for variations and are based on inherited characteristics - termed alleles. Getting a little deeper, each gene comprises four different arrangement of atoms called bases or nucleotides. These are termed as G, A, T & C, each being a unique arrangement. So when one goes on to decipher a genome, he ends up writing a very long sequence using these 4 alphabets (In addition to the 25000 or so of these genes, there is also a lot of junk DNA).To summarize, genes are made of DNA, a genome is made up of genes and the genome has some 3 million bases or bits of information in them. This field is quite interesting and produces many pointers to where we are headed. As some of you may be aware, males have an X and a Y chromosome and females have 2 X chromosomes. The Y chromosome is gene poor and deteriorating, so will be gone in another 125,000 years, so you never know, males may become extinct!!!


And so looking back into our own history thus far, you will realize that it becomes a story of the wandering Y. But well, a study of alleles (certain specific ones like the HLA or Human leucocyte antigen) and their distribution frequency over a certain area can establish certain conclusions. In general this kind of study is a study of haplotypes. Put in simple words, haplotype is the group of genes that a progeny inherits from one parent. As time goes by you will see many more of these statistical studies to determine community migration paths and family history, triggered by for example Nairs who want to determine their ancestry, Ezhavas who want to determine theirs, each caste tired of the old myths and legends which talk about gods and kings having determined their fate.

Reference paper 1:  One of the first analyses were tabulated in reference paper by Thomas, Nair and Banerjee in 2006. This analysis of HLA-A & C alleles in Pulayas, Nambuthiris, Malabar Muslims, Syrian Christians, Ezhavas and Nairs was conducted using a number of genetic samples. Some very general conclusions on genetic drifts were arrived at by these experts after comparing the HLA alleles. They were
  •          The tribal Dravidians of Kerala stood somewhat pure and isolated compared to a veritable mix in N India. The Pulaya and Kurichiyars seem to the original aborigines or ancestral stock.
  •           Malabar Muslims and Syrian Christians, based on the B35 and CW04 alleles show a characteristic Mediterranean influence showing a migratory pattern more consistent with history.
  •          Nairs show an influence of the European B07 and CW07 more often seen in Belgium Germany and Scottish populations. They also have the highest mix of alleles and corroborate North Indian influence, with connections to the Newars of Nepal.
  •           Ezhavas and Nambuthiri’s also exhibited influence from European as well as central and East Asian genetic pools.
  •           The Ezhava shows an eastern and Mongoloid influence, signifying a possible Buddhist past.
Reference paper 2:  But that was one study, let us look at the study by Seema, Ashwathy and Chippy done in 2011 which focused on the Ezhava population after analyzing the 8Y STR markers on the Y chromosome. They focused on the Y chromosome and its genetic markers. It took a direction that the Ezhava’s were influenced by the East European (60%) and East Asian (40%) genetic pools and pointed to a genotypic resemblance with the Jat Sikhs of Punjab and the Turkish population thus concluding a parental lineage of European origins. However for some strange reason, the paper linked the conclusion relating to the Nairs from the previous study, erroneously to Ezhavas.

Reference paper 3:  Now we look at a third study by the same group, this one focused on the 17 YSTR marker over 168 males which showed a peculiar connection to the males of Vasterbotten in Sweden as well as East Asian (Taiwan, China, Thailand) countries. Some connections were also seen to Afridi’s, Pathan’s and so on.

Reference paper 8:   Ethiran Kathiravan also dwelt on some of these studies and agrees that no definitive pattern could be identified while it becomes clear that Pulayas and other hill tribes were the original aborigines of Kerala whereas all other non-Dravidian groups had much of intermixing, with significant contributions from other wanderers.

Reference paper 9:  Andrew J Bohonak, San Diego State University, San Diego, California, USA states provides an interesting explanation - Genetic drift consists of changes in allele frequencies due to sampling error. Even if all individuals in a population have the same opportunities to mate, their reproductive contributions to the next generation will vary due to random chance alone. In any population of finite size, this sampling error will cause gene frequencies to fluctuate from generation to generation. Genetic changes due to drift are neither directional nor predictable in any deterministic way. Nonetheless, genetic drift leads to evolutionary change even in the absence of mutation, natural selection or gene flow.


Reference paper 4:  While all this was going on, a team of Indian scientists got working on the popular folktale related to Parayi Petta panthirukalam (we will get to it another day - for a detailed account read Dr Rajan Chungath’s book or the Aithihyamala). Ethiran Kathiravan also focuses on this tale and its impact. But for those who do not know, there is an ancient legend in Kerala titled ‘Parayi petta panthirukulam’ and deals with the twelve offspring of a low caste woman and their lineage. As the story goes, Vararuchi, one of the nine wise men in Emperor Chandragupta Vikramaditya’s (375 – 415 AD) court married a Paraya girl (an orphan who came with the raging waters of Bharatapuzha and was raised at the Naripatta mana). As he married a lower caste woman, he excommunicated himself and the couple then set out on a long trip or pilgrimage in the course of which they were blessed with 12 children – 11 boys and a girl. As each child was born, Varuchi would enquire if the child had a mouth and if the answer was in the affirmative, Varuchi would say ‘good, God will take care of him’ and they would abandon him on the way. Each of these children ended up being cared by families of various castes, high, medium or low. It is said that the families which adopted these children were Mezhathol Agnihothri (Brahmin), Pakkanar (Parayan), Rajakan (Dhobi), Naranathu Bhranthan (Elayathu), Karakkal Matha (Nair adopting the girl child), Akavoor Chathan (Vaishya), Vaduthala Nair (Nair), Vallon (Pulaya), Uppukuttan (Moplah), Pananar (Panan, country musician) and Perunthachan (Carpenter). Interestingly the last and 12th child was born without a mouth. Vararuchi sadly buried this child near a hill. This location is supposedly near Kadampazhipuram in Palakkad and known as “Vaayillaakkunnilappan” (Hill Lord without mouth).

The descendants of these children live at Shornur, Pattambi and Thrithala of Palakkad district of Kerala state and despite the differences in their caste and social status, these families are bound together by various rituals and religious customs. These were the subjects of the next study, but when the group headed by Suresh collected genetic samples from these families to study the patterns, they actually found that the results were contrary to the folktale and common haplotypes were not detected across the tested families with the result that co-ancestry could not be proven.

Why mention this? Well it is to prove that genetic sampling and studies are not always conclusive when you span many generations and so hype about genetic studies is not a good thing. The authors concluded thus -  Considering that the survival of a lineage from a single founder through 20 generations (approximately 700 years) is only 9.6%, the chance of survival of Vararuchi’s lineage, which is believed to have originated 1600 years ago (45 generations) is meagre. On the other hand, it is also possible that the haplogroups of different families, who adopted Vararuchi’s children, were different and had multiple own men at the time of adoption. The true descendants of Vararuchi’s sons may have been either extinct through time due to different genetical or social reasons or severely declined in relation to the descendants of the own men of a family lineage. Alternatively, the Vararuchi episode may be a pure myth.

Reference paper 5:  In the next paper covering directional migration, we come across another interesting conclusion - Migrants leaving the high status castes showed a greater probability of entering the middle-status castes than entering the low-status castes. Migrants leaving the middle-status castes showed a greater probability of entering the low-status castes than the high-status castes. Why so? The Hindu concept of anuloma, for instance, occasionally permits men to marry women of lower caste, while women are rarely permitted to marry men of lower caste. This mechanism of movement implies that females should be more “upwardly mobile” than males, and it has been suggested that anuloma is the source of greater female inter-caste mixing inferred from genetic data.

Reference paper 6:  The next paper on genetic affinities covers a wider study and concludes that - No significant difference was observed in the mitochondrial DNA between Indian tribal and caste populations, except for the presence of a higher frequency of west Eurasian-specific haplogroups in the higher castes, mostly in the north western part of India. On the other hand, the study of the Indian Y lineages revealed distinct distribution patterns among caste and tribal populations. The paternal lineages of Indian lower castes showed significantly closer affinity to the tribal populations than to the upper castes. The frequencies of deep-rooted Y haplogroups compared to the upper castes. However, Y-SNP data provides compelling genetic evidence for a tribal origin of the lower caste populations in the subcontinent. Lower caste groups might have originated with the hierarchical divisions that arose within the tribal groups with the spread of Neolithic agriculturalists, much earlier than the arrival of Aryan speakers. The Indo-Europeans established themselves as upper castes among this already developed caste-like class structure within the tribes.

Reference paper 7:  But one has to look at the Tamil areas to compare conclusions. So we look at yet another study where the conclusion is that Genetic data from Y-chromosome, mtDNA, and autosomal STRs are in accord with historical accounts of northwest to southeast population movements in India. The influence of ancient and historical population movements and caste social structure can be detected.


Times Of India article:   But CCMB scientist Kumarasamy Thangarajan states - There is no truth to the Aryan-Dravidian theory as they came hundreds or thousands of years after the ancestral north and South Indians had settled in India. The genetics proves that castes grew directly out of tribe-like organizations during the formation of the Indian society. The study provides an interesting conclusion

Between 135,000 and 75,000 years ago, the East-African droughts shrunk the water volume of the Lake Malawi by at least 95%, causing migration out of Africa. ``The initial settlement took place 65,000 years ago in the Andamans and in ancient south India around the same time, which led to population growth in this part,'' said Thangarajan. He added, ``At a later stage, 40,000 years ago, the ancient north Indians emerged which in turn led to rise in numbers here. But at some point of time, the ancient north and the ancient south mixed, giving birth to a different set of population. And that is the population which exists now and there is a genetic relationship between the population within India.''

Reference paper 11:   And the last paper emphasizes European connections - Our results show the presence of west-Eurasian typical mtDNA haplogroups in Indian tribes, presumably resulting from admixture with Indo-Europeans (i.e. who probably introduced the caste system in India). This interpretation would suggest that caste people initially possessed west-Eurasian mtDNAs rather than Asian mtDNAs. This view is reinforced by the fact that caste groups are more similar to west Eurasians than are the tribals .In summary, although the data support a recent India–Australia connection, we could not find in Indian tribals any unquestionable genetic signature of the approx. 60 000 year-old migration from Africa to Sahul following the postulated southern route. A possible explanation would be that such migration never occurred along that route. Alternatively, the early migrants from Africa may have made their way to Sahul following the southern route without settling in India. Another possibility, which is probably the most reasonable one, is that in India the genetic traces of early migrations along the southern route were erased by the subsequent migrations which shaped the present-day mtDNA gene pool of India

Reference paper 8:   This is all in line with Ethiran Kathiravan’s conclusions that you will find connections to lower caste tribes even in the progeny of the highest classes and there is always certain amount of intermixing in populations. So the notion of purity in races and classes or castes is a bigger myth.

But then again to detect migratory patterns, the study of genetics will help, only that you need access to a large amount of samples coupled with well-funded and dedicated research using proper tools. Presently it is sporadic, based on small amounts of samples and hardly conclusive.

While my own reading of all this was very stimulating, the potential for misunderstanding (If I have already done that please forgive me, for all I wanted to do was make some general summaries on the subject to show its general complexity, but also explaining the general methods adopted) was too much considering my relative lack of in-depth knowledge in the subject. So let us wait and watch as we leave the leg work to the experts….

References
Papers
  1. A crypto-Dravidian origin for the non tribal communities of South India based on human leukocyte antigen class I diversity R. Thomas, S. B. Nair & M. Banerjee
  2. Haplotype analysis of the polymorphic 17 YSTR markers in Kerala nontribal populations - Seema Nair Parvathy, Aswathy Geetha, Chippy Jagannath
  3. Y-short tandem repeat haplotype and paternal lineage of the Ezhava population of Kerala, South India- Seema Nair, Parvathy, Aswathy Geetha, Chippy Jagannath
  4. Co-Inheritance of Y-Chromosome Haplogroups And Lineages In ‘Parayi Petta Panthirukulam’: An Evaluation Of Human Motifs In A Popular Folktale In Kerala, India. Kumar U Suresh, R. V. Ratheesh, Rajan Chungath, George Thomas, George Sanil
  5. Directional migration in the Hindu castes: inferences from mitochondrial, autosomal and Y-chromosomal data - Stephen Wooding, Christopher Ostler, B. V. Ravi Prasad, W. Scott Watkins, Sandy Sung, Mike Bamshad, Lynn B. Jorde
  6. Genetic affinities among the lower castes and tribal groups of India: inference from Y chromosome and mitochondrial DNA Ismail Thanseem1, Kumarasamy Thangaraj,  Gyaneshwer Chaubey, Vijay Kumar Singh, Lakkakula VKS Bhaskar, B Mohan Reddy, Alla G Reddy and Lalji Singh
  7. Genetic variation in South Indian castes: evidence from Y-chromosome, mitochondrial, and autosomal polymorphisms WS Watkins, R Thara, BJ Mowry, Y Zhang, DJ Witherspoon, W Tolpinrud, MJ Bamshad, S Tirupati, R Padmavati, H Smith, D Nancarrow, C Filippich and LB Jorde
  8. Kerala Kaumudi – Ethiran Kathiravan – Pulayar – The great grandfathers of Namboothiris, Christians and Muslims
  9. Genetic Drift in Human Populations Andrew J Bohonak,
  10. Reconstructing Indian population history David Reich, Kumarasamy Thangaraj, Nick Patterson, Alkes L. Price & Lalji Singh
  11. Mitochondrial DNA analysis reveals diverse histories of tribal populations from India - Richard Cordaux, Nilmani Saha, Gillian R Bentley, Robert Aunger, S M Sirajuddin and Mark Stoneking

Times of India article  
Panthirukulathinte Pingamikal – Dr Rajan Chungath
Human Origins – Rob Desalle & Ian Tattersall
The Journey of Man – Spencer Wells
Deep Ancestry – Spencer Wells

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The Gujaratis of Calicut

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Those of you who have lived in Calicut will always remember a Guajarati or two from their days in school or college or daily life. It is simply so, that they have always been around, though they have kept somewhat to themselves and the Gujarati area of Calicut (or lately Mavoor) since so many centuries. We will always remember them fondly and they have always made our lives easier and colorful. In the old days their shops were the ones that brought in fashion from Bombay and it was their attire that people looked at when a fashion change was planned. There was a time when mimics mimed their funny Malayalam accents and many a Malayali lad pined after a comely Gujju lass with no results. Anyway let’s take a look at that community which enriched Malabar.

In the very early times, Brahmins from the North had embarked on a southerly sojourn for some reason or the other, and some perhaps even settled at Cellur near Taliparamba. It is even said that Parasurama himself was born in Anarta in Gujarat (though others say he was from MP Maheswar) and his legend or myth were supposedly propagated by the migrants from Gujarat. Nevertheless, as to when they came in large numbers is not exactly clear though there are some indications that it happened after the Afghan lord Mahmud of Ghazni attacked Gujarat (1025- 11th century) and quite a few Vanias or Banias (Lohanas, Bhatias and Patels) and Brahmins moved southwards to the land Parasurama had established (I will not use the term created – and all that axe throwing bunkum) for the Brahmins between Gokarna and Kanyakumari. As time went by the Muslim traders (Memons, Bohras and Khojas) also moved to Malabar when it acquired importance in the Indian Ocean trade. One must also keep in mind that these Guajarati traders had already been trading with the Red Sea and Gulf traders for a very long time. Recent Geniza fragments with Gujarati text in those scrolls testify to the vibrant trade relationships, and in a recently uncovered scrap, it is clear that the parchment is addressed to one of the earlier nonresident Gujaratis living across the oceans, perhaps Aden where they always had a vibrant community. But we will talk about the Geniza Gujarati scraps some another day and for now concentrate on their presence in Calicut.

According to another source - It is also said that 'Akananuru', a collection of records, refers to people from the North West having settled in Malabar during 4th century AD. The collection speaks a lot about earlier relationship between Kerala and Gujarat. Migration of Gujarati community to Kerala and other places occurred at different stages in different centuries (PS Zaid – rediff article).

Gujaratis of course kept their account books till they were closed and eventually destroyed them in flames, but never made an account of their times or their history, so quite a bit of their hoary past is gleaned from oral accounts and of course, the one and only book of their past in Kerala, written by Dr Jamal Mohammed, which I was thankful to lay my hands on recently. So with many thanks to Dr Mohammed, let me carry on.
It is not that Gujarati’s were only involved in trade of Malabar goods, but one must note that they were also conduits to many other commodities sourced from the Gujarati interiors like cotton, poppy, opium, honey, wax, sugarcane, betelnut, woods and bamboo. Finished textiles and indigo were also staple in addition to leather and tanned goods.

As time went by, it was also a Gujarati who guided Vasco da Gama to Calicut, for more details see my article on the subject. But one of their main reasons for frequent visits to the South was because Malabar in the 6th and 7th centuries was a center for Jainism. In fact it is said that the Calicut Jain temple, supposedly 2,500 years old was an abode for Kalikunt Parasunath, and that is how Calicut gets its name (we will get to some more details in a separate article about how Calicut got its name). During the early Portuguese times, the Zamorin deputed a few Gujaratis to help get the Portuguese settled. According to Pearson, the house where the first Portuguese factory of Calicut was started belonged to a Gujarati. While they were very much in support of the Portuguese in furthering their trade relations, once the Portuguese started restrictions with Cartazes, the Gujaratis went on the offensive with the Moplahs and even joined hands in attacking Portuguese ships. Their (Gujarati merchants – not the ones in Malabar though) fortunes are well documented by Pearson in his book for those interested. In fact many of the Gujaratis then moved to the SE Asian ports like Malacca and that was how the famous though ancient saying came about – Je java jaye pariya pariya khaye…those who visit java would become commercially successful for many generations.

The later day trading Gujarati community of Calicut were primarily comprised of Banias and Muslims and the Banias were mainly Kaira Patels, Bhatias and Jains. Sometimes I wonder how strangely these matters turn out. The Kaira Patels came to Calicut and Cochin in Kerala seeking prosperity. A Malayali named V Kurien from Calicut went to Anand in Kaira district of Gujarat and created Amul and later prosperity for the same lot!! See how fate works. The Patels quickly cornered and monopolized the tobacco business in Malabar. The Bhatia’s on the other hand, established trade with far off lands such as Arabia and Persia and one of the pioneers in Calicut was the Kutchi Hitenda Bhatia. He created the first shipping agency in Calicut around the turn of the 19thcentury, living near the Beach road. He was the main British port agent in Calicut and monopolized later day spice business. The fashionable Hathis and Bhimji’s of Calicut were also Bhatia’s. Another group of 52 Kutchi Lohana’s came to Calicut in 1865 and soon cornered the money lending business of Calicut and Cochin. Famous among them are Jamnadas and Mathurdas. The later day Jains headed by Rameshlal on the other hand were officially granted a plot of land by the Zamorin in 1872 and they established 5 Jain temples in the beach area Jain colony, the most famous being the Kalikund Parasnath temple in the Trikovil lane. Perhaps this was in the general area I mentioned in an earlier comment, about a mosque in Kuttichira.

Let us now look at the Muslim Gujaratis of Calicut. While the Cutchi memons or mumins, an offshoot of the Hindu Lohanas flourished in Travancore (kayamkulam) and Ismail Sait even went on to produce the famous film Chemmeen, Abbas Sait was a famous shop keeper in Calicut dealing in imported goods and among them they had as many as 120 shops in Calicut. But most of them closed down when exchange rates fell after the world war. Many went to Pakistan after the partition. Then there were the Dawoodi Bohras, of which some 25 families lived in Calicut. Among them Ibrahimji was well connected with the Zamorin’s family during his time and helped the declining family tide over many a bad situation.

But they came into much infamy when a Bohra boy named Powderwallah Bohra married Mappila girl Suhra in Calicut. The Bohra community excommunicated Powderwallah who then settled down in the house of Suhra. The powderwallh bohra then became known as Mappila Bohra. Finally to arrive were the Khojas (not to be confused with the Koyas though many still do) and we see Mohiuddin Khoja, another Zamorin associate. These Sufi Chisti khojas came during the reign of Tipu Sultan and started off in Kondotty and continued to produce a number of Thangals of Kondotty according to Jamal Mohammed. In fact there were instances where Manjukutty and Inayat represented the Zamorin at the Madras presidency meetings.

Interestingly, looking at history books, they were termed the betrosians (Portuguese terms for Gujarati) or bedrosians of Calicut, and considered to have moved into the area some 400 years ago. Trisha in her paper however believes it started much earlier in the 6th – 7th century.  Trisha explains – The Gujarati Street is in the vicinity of other commercial streets like Halwa Bazaar, Valiyangadi, Gunny Street, Copra Bazaar, etc. which were olden day Arab Bazaars and Dutch markets. In the 1800s and 1900s, the port city and the Zamorin’s welcoming nature provided several opportunities to agro- based merchants who readily invested in the infrastructure required to carry out their business. - The settlement grew around the already existing Arab Bazaars and Dutch markets, 50-100m from the sea. The Gujarati businessmen lived in Pandikasalas which are typical warehouse– cum- office– cum residential buildings having its own form of architecture, social relations and culture. She concludes - With the closing of the port and the monopoly of government in agro based industry, and because of the supermarket and brand culture, both wholesale and retail options have been closed for many of these small merchants. The very large infrastructure required to carry out those activities have become obsolete spaces.

The opportunity which the Gujaratis seized with open hands came when the American civil war broke out and cotton exports to England ceased. The Gujaratis using their contacts with the British in Calicut and Cochin provided large amounts of raw and finished material. One such firm which rose to the front was the Asghar group dealing with silver, gold and spices. And of course we know from the various historic sources that they were brokers of great skill. With their command over Arabic, Gujarati and local languages as well as a smattering of western languages like Portuguese and English, they managed to be great port agents certifying the delivery quality and quantities as per any given agreement. The ability to credit sales for 6 months allowed them to play decisive roles in the business of Malabar. Manekji, Indulal, Sunderji, Velji and Haribhai were well known names in Calicut. Nagalbhai from Navasari and his son Nagal Parekh were prominent brokers representing Harrison and Crossfield. Ratansai was also a well-known broker representing H and C.

Nagji Saitji rose to fame with cloth sales to Japan and his umbrella assembly company in Calicut, and of course there was Ibrahim Currim.. Most of the saw mills were Gujarati owned, like Devesh’s. But in the years after Independence, when communism took hold of Kerala and labor unrests became commonplace, the Gujarati industrialists moved on to other states.

Sundardas Shamji of Calicut was for example the host of Mahatma Gandhi when he visited Calicut in 1921. He later went on to create the Charka Sangh of Calicut. The creator of the Indian Muslim league of Kerala was Calicut’s Abdul Sattar Sait, who then rose to high levels in that organization. Sattar Sait later moved on to Pakistan after the partition and became the Pakistan ambassador in Egypt. And of course do not forget Mandakini from Bhavnagar who went on to became an activist in Kerala. Moving to Calicut with Kunnickal Narayanan, she became a teacher at the Gujarati school, but again veered away into activism. Ajitha her daughter followed her footsteps in activism.

 There was a time when the Azakodi kavu was also called the Bhavani temple since the Bali pooja was performed there by Gujarati’s during the dasara festivals. Eventually the Gujarati school and the Haveli temple were established.

Today we still have the Pankaj variety hall of Calicut, and the small community continues to do well, though the families are scattered. Their festivals especially during Navarathri and merry lives go on as usual, the school does well, and in fact it has gone ultra-modern with AV facilities in classrooms, according to a recent newspaper report. They still keep to themselves, with hardly any case of inter community marriages reported and otherwise live a harmonious existence with other communities, though the younger generation quickly moves to other metropolises in search of fame, fortune and other luxuries...

References
The Gujaratis, a study of socio-economic interactions, 1850-1950 – T Jamal Mohammed
The Study of a hundred year old Gujarati settlement in Calicut – Trisha Parekh
Calicut city centenary celebration – 1966 souvenir – article by Ramaniklal Jamnadas
Merchants and Rulers in Gujarat: By Michael Naylor Pearson

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The Raja in Ravi Varma

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Raja Ravi Varma - The painter’s ancestry and Calicut, a brief study

Some years ago, Calicut Heritage Forum wrote about theinvolvement of Raja Ravi Varma in the Calicut soap factory. CHF stated - Calicut has another legitimate claim on the works of Raja Ravi Varma - but thereby hangs a tale! In 1904, the Viceroy, Lord Curzon conferred on the great artist the title Kaiser-i-Hind on behalf of His Majesty the King Emperor. The citation mentioned the title, 'Raja' for the first time against the name of Ravi Varma. The Maharaja of Travancore, Sri Moolam Thirunal objected to this 'usurpation'. Ravi Varma, however, defended the title by claiming that his ancestors belonged to the royal family of Beypore, near Calicut.

Anyhow, he continued to use the title 'Raja', since then and both the grand daughters of Raja Ravi Varma were later adopted by the Travancore palace with one of them becoming the mother of the next Maharaja, Chitira Thirunal Balarama Varma!

Ravi Varma, also a businessman knew that the title of Raja would help him when hobnobbing the gentry in North India and Europe, as well as his eventual patron the Gaekwads of Baroda and he found a way to get that with some amount of legitimacy. Let’s first try to figure out how he defended the claim. He told the detractors that his ancestors of the Beypore house of Malabar had the title of Raja, and if that were not sufficient, he could adopt part of his uncle’s (who was also his traveling partner and secretary) name which was Raja Raja Varma.

Ravi Varma actually has yet another interesting relation to the environs around Calicut, that of stopping by in 1870 to execute his first paid commission at Chalappuram, a place I grew up in - the portrait of Sub Judge KP Krishna Menon’s family (a not so flattering piece according to art critics - pictured here), the father in law of Congressman Sir C Sankaran Nair. But that was not the discussion, let us get back to the ancestry of Ravi Varma and for that you to have get a working knowledge of the ancient area called Parappanad and the Parappanad kovilakoms.

The Keralolpatti mentions the seventeen nadu’s and lists them as Tulunad, Kolattunad, Polanad, Kurumbranad, Puravalinad, Eranad, Parappanad, Valluvanad, Ravananad, Vettattunad, Tirumanasserinad, Perumpatappunad, Neduganad, Venganad. In the writings of the Portuguese and Dutch the kovilakoms are called Pappukoil and Repoecoil, in other words, Parppucoil ruling over Beypore and Pappucoil ruling over Parapanangady.  Parapannangadi was termed at times as Purparangari in English accounts. 

Nerumkaitakkotta, near Kadalundi, is incidentally, the ancestral abode of the Parappanad Raja and their family deity (called Paradevata) was the deity of this temple. Another interesting fact is that the Mahadeva Kovil temple of Beypore, south of Calicut, in both design and construction is said to be a copy of a double-roofed Nepalese temple. The various references below point to the connections between the Kolathu Swarupam and the Venad families at Kilimanoor and Anathapuram and their main points of connection from the Parappanad Kovilakom.

In 1425 or thereabout, the areas below, divided broadly into Northern Parappanad (Beypore kingdom) and Southern Parappanad (Parappur Swarupam). Northern Parappanad (Beypore kingdom or Karippa Kovilakam) included Panniyankara, Beypore and Cheruvannur of Kozhikkode Taluk. Southern Parappanad included parts of Tirur Taluk and the town Parappanangadi. Parappanad Kingdom went on to become dependents of the Zamorins of Calicut. During the Portuguese conflicts the Parappanad raja’s nairs fought for the Zamorin. In fact when the Portuguese fort at Chaliyam was captured by the Zamorin, it was turned over to the Parappanad Raja. But during Tipu’s charge, the reigning Raja was forcibly converted by Tipu and circumcised. In the middle of 18th century, the royal families of these kingdoms found refuge Travancore during to the invasion of the Mysore Sultans. The Haripad family in the Travancore region, to which the famous scholar and poet Kerala Varma Valia Koil Tampuran belonged, was originally set up by the members of the Parappanad family who migrated there. The palace remnants were as I understand, located in the Naduva desom of Parappanangadi village.

Ravi Varma the painter, actually claimed lineage to the Tattari Kovilakom of Parappanad. Now I had mentioned the Zamorin’s vassals at Parappanad while talking about the Sha-mi-ti mystery some months ago. So before the Zamorin acquired suzerainty of the Beypore and Parappanagadi region, who were the regional feudal lords or Thampurans? Originally there was just the Parappanad Raja, and later there came into existence two main branches of this family, one settled at Beypore near Calicut and another at Parappanadu near Tirur (the present Parappanangadi). As the Gazetteers explain, the Beypore amsam itself had four Kovilakams called - Manayatt kovilakam, Nediyal kovilakom, Puthiya kovilakom and the Panangat kovilakom belonging to the family of the Beypore branch of the Parappanad family. So we have North and South Parappanad factions to start with, branching off the Parappur lordship. The North faction was further split into Beypore, Cheruvannor and Panniyankara Kovilakoms. Considering that Ravi Varma and his brother mentioned Beypore and the specific Manayyat location, let us for a moment assume he hailed from the forerunners of the present Manayyat kovilakom.

The Manayam rajas were from the erstwhile Thattari or Tattari kovilakom which was deserted when Tipu Sultan and his not so merry crew were making hay while the sun set and shone. We also note from historic renderings that the Parappanad branch known also as Aliyakot line was attacked by Hyder Ali during his invasion of Malabar in the latter half of the 18th century and Kunjikkutty Tampuratti, a female member of the branch, fled from Malabar to Travancore. Keralavarma Valiya Koyil Tampuran, or Kerala-Kalidasa as he is popularly known because of his translating the Sakuntala into Malayalam, belonged to the Parappanad royal family, and was born in Lakshmipuram palace at Carinanasseri. The famous Pazhassi Raja a member of the western branch of the Kottayam royal clan is also connected to the Parappanad Kovilakom and his lineage can be traced back to the Parappanad dynasty.

Raja Raja Varma in his diary states - Near this ‘Beypore’ Kovilakam or house is a temple of Vettakaruman or the Hunter God which it is said and acknowledged by its present owners, the Manayam Rajahs, once belonged to us of the Tattari Kovilakam house, by which our family was known.Based on all the above, I would assume that the original Parappanad rajas named their home the Tattari Kovilakom. It is from this home, which incidentally is further linked to the Kolathunad Rajas (Kolathiris) that various rulers (such as Marthanda Varma) and consorts as well as adoptees to the Travancore kingdom originated. Of course as we see, the ruling kind usually reserved the right on the name raja and took affront to another cousin using the title while a raja was in power and complained, but then again, Ravi Varma in reality had some self-projection in mind, as we note.Now let us study the relations between the Parappanad Kovilakoms and the Travancore royal family to see where and how Ravi Varma fits in.

TSM Vol 2 Nagam Aiya provides the following inputs - The Koil Tampurans, also known as Koil Pandalas form a small community made up of the descendants of the immigrant Kshatriya families from certain parts of Malabar lying north of Travancore and Cochin. There are now ten such families of Koil Tampurans in Travancore, viz., those of Kilimanur, Changanachery, Anantapuram, Pallam, Chemprol, Gramam, Paliyakkara, Karama and Vadakkematom. Of these, the Kilimanur Koil Tampurans were the earliest settlers in Travancore. It is not known definitely when they immigrated into the country. As already stated in the History chapter, four children, two princes and two Princesses, were adopted into the Royal Family in the reign of Umayamma Rani. These were the children of a Koil Tampuran of Tattari Kovilagam and belonged to the Futiapally (puthupalli) Kovilagam house, a branch of the Kolattunad Royal family. The elder of the two princesses having died soon after, the younger was married to a nephew of the same Koil Tampuran, her father, and as a result of this union Martanda Varma the Great was born in 881 M. e. (1705 A. D.,). Again in the reign of Unni Kerala Varma the elder of the two adopted princes, another lady was adopted and was given in marriage to one Ravi Varma Koil Tampuran, another member of the Tattari Kovilagam family. The issue of this marriage was Rama Varma the Kilavan Rajah who was born in 890m. E. (1723 A. D.) and ruled for 40 years. It was while this prince and his mother the elder Rani were being conveyed to Attingal from Trivandrum, under the escort of the Koil Tampuran that a strong party of the rebels who lay in ambush near Kazhakoottam rushed to attack the Royal party. The brave Koil Tampuran who got scent of the plot contrived to send the Rani and the prince in safety to Attingal, himself staying behind to give fight to the enemy. When the insurgents whose main object was the assassination of the Rani and the Prince found that their foul plot had been frustrated they fought furiously but were entirely routed by the Koil Tampuran and his followers. The success, however, was a dearly bought one, for the hero (the Koil Tampuran) received a deep sword-cut across his abdomen and succumbed to it. This was in the month of December 1727 A. D. (903 M. E.)In recognition of this act of heroism and self-sacrifice the estate of Kilimanur was granted as a free-hold to the descendants of the Koil Tampuran. The grant is enjoyed to this day. It was from this time that Kilimanur became the permanent residence of the Koil Tampurans of that name. All the sovereigns of Travancore from Unni Kerala Varma to Parvathi Bayi (Regent) who ruled for a period of more than one hundred years were the offspring of the Kilimanur Koil Tampurans—a fact of which they are so proud to this day.

Thurston provides additional insight of the relation with the Kolathunad and how successive families migrated to Travancore- The first family of Kolasvarupam Rajas immigrated into Travancore in the fifth century M.E. As the Travancore royal house then stood in need of adoption, arrangements were made through a Koil Tampuran of the Tattari Kovilakam to bring two princesses for adoption from Kolattunad, and the first family of Rajas, known as the Putupalli Kovilakam, settled at Kartikapalli. The family is now extinct, as the last member died in 1033 M.E. The next family that migrated was Cheriyakovilakam between 920 and 930, also invited for purposes of adoption. These latter lived at Aranmula. The third series of migrations were during the invasion of Malabar by Tipu Sultan in 964 M.E., when all the Rajas living at the time went over to Travancore, though, after the disturbance was over, many returned home. The Rajas of the Kolasvarupam began to settle permanently in the country, as they could claim relationship with the reigning sovereigns, and were treated by them with brotherly affection. There were only two branches at the beginning, namely, Pallikovilakam and Udayamangalam.

TSM Vol1 Nagam Aiya also provides this information - The Kilimanur Koil Tampurans are the natives of Parappanad in Malabar. Their northern home is known as "Tattari-kovilakam". The great Martanda Varma Maharajah, the founder of Travancore, and his illustrious nephew Rama Varma, were the issue of the alliance with Kilimanur—a circumstance of which the members of that family always speak with just pride, as the writer himself heard from the lips of one of its senior members, a venerable old gentleman of eighty summers.

To summarize, the lineage of Raja Ravi Varma can be traced to the Tattari Kovilagom of Parappanad. But all male members of such families cannot usually assume the title of Raja, nevertheless Ravi Varma did, like many others do these days. Not much of an issue, though at that time, it was a big matter, considered an affront to the reigning Raja.

References
Travancore State Manual – Nagam Aiya
Edgar Thurston. Castes and tribes of Southern India (Volume 4)
The Diaries of Raja Raja Varma
The Locale


Raja Raja Varma Diaries – The Varma’s visit to Calicut (Acknowledged with thanks -Phalke factory)
Monday 12TH Jan 1903- We are the guests of the Raja of Puthya-Kovilakom one of the branches of the Beypure House. We are all relatives though we had separated from each other long long ago. The title of Koil Thampuran is peculiar to Travancore, here we are all Rajas. Beside Puthiya Kovilakom there are three other houses closely related to it, Manayam and Nadial and Panangad. The last house is unoccupied, its members having emigrated and settled in Travancore, Malabar being taken by Tipu. 

Tuesday - We breakfasted at Manayam this morning where there are two male members left now. Near this Kovilakam or house is a temple of Vettakaruman or the Hunter God which it is said and acknowledged by its present owners, the Manayam Rajahs, once belonged to us of the Tattari Kovilakam house, by which our family was known before we settled at Kilimanur in Travancore. We drove to Calicut this evening and are the guests of Ms KC. Shrivirasayan Raja at Chalapuram. 

Wednesday- This morning at 11 we paid a visit to Ms Pinhey the Collector and his wife. Mrs Pinhey is an amateur painter and she showed us many of her paintings and sketches. Some of them were very good indeed. At 4 p.m. Mr T.G. Vargese the Deputy Collector called on us and we requested him to help us in getting on the old accounts in the Huzur office and trace some of our lost property in the Ernand Taluq. He has promised us every help. At 6 p.m. we visited the Cosmopolitan club at the invitation of its members. The secretary of the Calicut Native Society were present to welcome us. We visited next the Putiya Kovilakom and the Railway Station and returned to our lodging.

Thursday - We left Calicut this morning and drove to Nadial where we were to breakfast with our relatives. In the afternoon we started on foot to Nerumkaith Kotta where there is an ancient temple of Sastha, our tutelary deity. The distance is about five or six miles and the way extremely bad. We had to cross two ferries and pass over a rugged hill. We reached the place at sunset. The temple stands on the side of a barren hill and has the appearance from below of a castle with stone walls.

Friday - On the top of the Hill stands another temple dedicated to Bhagavati or Goddess Kali with a solitary mango tree now in bloom to the north west of it. From this point there is a commanding view of the country around and the sea to which the river that winds round the hill empties its waters. When we finally settled at Kilimanur nearly a century and half ago our ancestors took care to build their temples both to Sastha and Kali. It is said that at one period when we all lived in one family we had our palace on the top of this hill near Kali's temple.

Saturday - Early this morning walked two miles to the south west of the temple to the site where our Kovilakam (Tattari) stood before our migration to Travancore. There is no doubt that we owned extensive estates here once, but 'most of them have now passed into other hands. The object of our present visit is to trace and recover the lost property if possible since the settlement is now going on. The greater portion of our property is in the Vallikunnu Amshom.

Sunday - Yesterday was a festive day in the temple of Sastha and at night in the small hours when fireworks [were] being let off a rocket fell on a house close to where we were staying. The house was in flames and we were roused by the screams of the inmates for help. People came for help and put out the fire.We gave the sufferers Rs 10. Left the place.


Monday - We received the arrears of rent from some of our tenants. After breakfast we left Puthiya Kovilakam for Feroke to catch the train. We went in boats. Brother stepped into the sub-registrar's office to register a power of attorney to authorize Purnam Pillay whom we leave behind and another to manage the property in this place.

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The Kollam Calendar Mystery – A discussion

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Kolla varsham- that is what we call the Malayalam calendar. The interesting aspect is that here again we have two versions, the Malabar version and the Travancore version, the former centered on Pantalayani Kollam near Calicut and the latter around Kurkeni Kollam or todays Quilon. In some old records they are mentioned by experts like Kielhorn and Sundarama Pillai as the Trivandrum calendar and the Calicut calendar. The two calendars are separated by a month with the year starting in August in Calicut and September in Quilon. But getting to the well accepted Kurkeni Kollam calendar, how would one explain the origins of this calendar, so different from some of the others of the region, like the Tamil calendar? Let’s take a look at the various legends, theories and stories. None may provide a clinching answer, and as usual, various communities and groups are satisfied by the one they empathise with!

To get to the obscure origins of the Kollavarsham, you have to go to the Gregorian months August or September of 824 AD. Typically anthropologists and historians contend that these things start by commemorating an event. What could it be? Here is where multiple stories and legends get cited, the construction of a Siva temple, the opening of a new port town, the departure of Cheraman Perumal to Mecca or Mount Kailasam, the death of Sanakaracharya and so on. We will get to them one by one after noting that while most calendars are Lunar or Luni-Solar (note that adjustments needed to be made in these calendars for the extra month), the Kollam era is entirely Solar. While most others start with Aries, the Kollam era starts with Leo. Also peculiar is that while other calendars are expired years calendars, the Kollam era is a current system (Note that the year zero does not exist in the Anno Domini system of the Gregorian calendar and the Julian calendar where the year 1 BC is followed by AD 1 and the 20th century for example begins on January 1, 1901. However, all eras used with Hindu and Buddhist calendars, such as the Saka era or the Kali Yuga, begin with the year 0. All these calendars use elapsed, expired, or complete years, in contrast with most other calendars which use current years). The months are named after the rashis in the North of India whereas they are given lunar names named after nakshatras in the South.
One of the popular stories mentioned in oral accounts is that of the departure of the Cheraman Perumal to Mecca. If you for a moment assume that to be the case, then the question comes up about the one month difference between the two calendars. Does it signify the time he took to sail from Quilon to North Malabar from where he eventually veered westwards to the Red Sea? But why would he go to Quilon to sail off when he was possibly based in Kodungallur which was an active and popular port where many vessels bound towards the Arab ports embarked? Then again why would a predominantly Hindu Malabar celebrate an event such as his conversion to Islam? That too after an event which in addition disintegrated the Chera country into petty warring kingdoms! Why would these Hindu kingdoms celebrate such an event? Not quite a justifiable explanation.

Now we get to the other account related to the Perumal (we will talk about this Perumal and his departure in greater detail in the next article), namely the Periya Puranam which is much older than the oral tradition or the medieval Keralolpatti where it says that when it was time for the perumal’s friend and Saivite saint Sundaramurti to leave Tiruvanjikulam (Cranganore), the Perumal also followed him to Kailasa. While it is somewhat farfetched, it does establish that the Perumal disappeared mysteriously, but again provides no reasoning for a new calendar to be established in Quilon or Calicut. Nevertheless, it is a fact that this event is dated pretty close to the start of the Kollam era.
The next legend is connected to the Sankaracharya who died around 820 AD. Now you can see that he died a full 4 years before the Calendar started. Why would one celebrate his death? So it could not have been his death. Keralolpatti mentions that Sankaracharya established the Kerala anacharam or irregular customs on Aug 25th, 825 AD or the new Kollavarsham at both Kollams’s. To lend weight to this is the chronogram A car ya va ga bhed ya (which literally means that the acharya’s word is unalterable) which stands for 0 6 1 4 3 4 1, to be read backwards. If you do that it becomes the Sept 25, 824 which is the first day of Malabar’s Kollam era in the Kali era. Sankaracharya perhaps died in 820 or some time earlier, so we see a 4-5 year difference. The details of the anacharams are mentioned in the Sankarasmriti and this itself was written only after the 12th century or perhaps even later (as it lays down rules for the Portuguese, Dutch, French and the English!). And then again, after considering the 11 day Gregorian calendar adjustment by the British, the Kollam era in reality, started on July 25th 825 AD. And then again, after considering the 10/11 day Gregorian calendar adjustment by the British in 1752, the Kollam era in reality, started on August 15th 825 AD. But why start a new calendar because new rules are being laid?

The only event of some importance in 824 was the appearance of a comet over China, hardly the reason for a New Year establishment unless the Chinese were in control of Quilon at that time or this had something to do with Chinese New Year. Again we see no points of commonality here. There is also a general issue that the Kollam era is mentioned in written records only dated after the 12th Century AD! Why did it take so many years for its acceptance? We do not have a real answer for this as yet.
Consider for a moment that the Nambuthiris and Nairs came from somewhere in North India as legends put it. Would the Kollam year have anything to do with the older era current in places like Jammu and Kashmir, i.e. the Saptarshi era or the Sastra Samvatsara? This was the era where the first two digits had been removed from a 4 digit running calendar, i.e. 4292 would become 92 in writings. But then what happened after 99? Sundaram Pillai explains that the two calendars were the same until the year 99 of the Saptarshi calendar. But even that does not run to a conclusion for the Saptarshi calendar starts in Mesah and the Kollam era started in Simha. Then again the Saptarshi era was Luni-solar while the Kollam calendar is solar. Was the difference a correction to make the former to a solar calendar (Then again the Saptarshi calendar runs with a 25 year difference with the kali yuga)? How would one calculate and drop out a few months? Did the mathematicians of Malabar and Travancore differ about the formula which explains the one month anomaly Simha and Kanya?

Perhaps the answer comes with the next account which is narrated by Shangoony Menon in his History of Travancore – “In the Kali year 3296 when King Udaya Marthanda Varma who was residing in Quilon, convened a council of learned men in Kerala with the object of introducing a new era, and after making some astronomical researches, and calculating the solar movements throughout the twelve signs of the zodiac, and counting scientifically the number of days occupied in this revolution in every month, it was resolved to adopt the new era from the first of Chingam of that year, 15th August 825, as Kollam year one and to call it the solar year." But this was found to be wrong when the source date he used from the Padmanabha Swami temple inscription proved to be 801 years later than originally thought and secondly due to the fact that there was no Udaya Marthanda Varma in the Kollam era origin period.
Pillai goes on to state that this also sounds a little obscure for it was perhaps better to use the Saptarshi year in that case, rather than create a new calendar. But then again, the Kollam era seems to have been devised by somebody who understood the difficulties of adjustments in lunar calendars.

 Herman Gundart however was of the opinion that the “Kolla Varsham” started with the erection of a ‘Siva’ temple at Kollam. But this does not make sense as there is no such temple and the establishment of a temple cannot be the reason to create a new calendar. Others mention that its origination was strictly local and religious, and “Kolla Varsham” was not accepted by the people living in other regions, but, when Kollam or Quilon became a major trade center trading with the east and the West, the traders and the people of other countries began to follow “Kolla Varsham”. But then how do you explain the Northern Quilon? Now could it be to commemorate the establishment of both Pantalayani and Kurkeni Kollam port towns? Unlikely since both of them were popular centuries before the Kollam calendar was formed. But a usage Kollam Tontri allows us to conclude literally that it was after the establishment of a port of Kollam, or perhaps more correctly after the establishment of the Kollam era. Sanskrit texts incidentally mention the Kollam era as the Kolamba era. Tamil texts name the area around Quilon as Kolamaba so it was perhaps associated with Quilon in the South.

The next theory is that it was started by Christian settlers in Quilon. Since it took a month for news to travel to North, the start in Pantalayani differs by a month! But according to Sreedhara Menon, this is not acceptable as the Christian community was insignificant and did not have the weight to create a new system in both Travancore and Malabar.
M.G.S.Narayan in his paper on Cera Pandya conflict in the 8th – 9th centuries which led to the birth of Venad writes, “It is not surprising that the Chera king who was contemplating the development of the new harbor town at Kurakeni Kollam welcomed the foreigner and permitted him to settle down at the new harbor site. This was the period when the Cera-Pandya conflict was developing in the south. Subsequently Vilinjam was retained in the Pandyan sphere of influence while the Vel country with new headquarters at Kurakkeni Kollam became a division of Cera kingdom. The foundation of Kollam in 825A.D. must have coincided with this victory of Cera in the Vel province. Therefore it is easy to understand the anxiety of the Chera king to please foreign merchants and settle them at Kollam so that the harbor might grow quickly and compete effectively with Vilinjam further south which had passed under the control of the Pandya. This incident reveals the practical wisdom of the rulers and throws light on the economic –political motivations of men who promoted ideas of religion and culture. The Syrian Christian merchants who took advantage of the situation were equally clever and resourceful .In the absence of materials for a detailed history, it is difficult to ascertain whether Mar Sapir Iso was a merchant or a (priest) missionary. Perhaps he was both at the same time and there was no inherent contradiction between the two roles.

Logan however opines also that the Kollam era was perhaps established by the Kolathiri rajas, of which two factions existed, one at Malabar and one at Quilon to commemorate events at both places. This again is refuted by astronomers who maintain that it was not a political announcement or change which started the new calendar. This line of thought is also untenable since the Kolathiris rose to the fore only around the 12th century.
Others like Col Warren connected it wrongly to the Parasurama cycles. The era of Parasurama or Parasurama Sacam is a cycle of 1000 years, which is said to have begun in B.C. 1175 ¾ complete, or 1176 B.C. current. It is also mentioned that the Nambuthiris travelling southwards brought it with them and made the necessary adjustments to start the third thousands of the Saptarshi eara which originally started in 1176BC.

Even more theories follow with people trying to exercise their brains to create reasons. One such theory states that Onam celebrations started with the Kollam era, but Onam hardly starts on the first of Chingam and then again this is also not correct since Onam was celebrated even in the Sangam era. Sreedhara Menon concludes his discussion by agreeing with Sundaram Pillai that it was the continuation of the Saptarshi era after it counted down to 100. He adds that it took a few hundred years to be accepted and became popular only by the 10-11th centuries after the Namboothiris gained ascendancy in Kerala and that the month difference between the Malabar and Travancore calendars is accounted for due to the calculation methods used by the North and South astronomers!

Other theories hover around the lost Jewish tribes, with the Namboothiris being actually the Nampthali Jews and so on, but all of them fall on the wayside. Prof Jayaprakash’s theory, the newest is perhaps the closest to reality and has some grounding, but requires more study to reach conclusions. According to him, the Buddhist culture appeared in Cheranad or Cheralam during 3 B.C. and it had an influence on all religions which were later introduced in this land. According to him, after the brutal annihilation of the Buddhist culture by the Brahmins from the North, Cheralam was christened Keralam. Through the annihilation, many of the important Buddhist shrines were converted into Hindu temples. He opined that the biggest influence Buddhism had in the Subcontinent was in Kerala and it was Kollam which was the citadel of Buddhism and that it was after destroying the Buddhist culture that the Brahmin enforced caste system got established in Kerala. Kollam was earlier called Kolam, and when it came under the rule of Jayashimhan Perumal, the land came to be called Deshinganad. He also had specific comments about the establishment of the Kollavarsham.

According to late Historian M.S. Jayaprakash the launch of Kollavarsham marked the complete transition of Kerala from the Dravidian-Buddhist tradition to the Aryan-Vedic system. According to him, Kollavarsham also marked the political transition of the land from the reign of Perumals to a caste-based rule. The commencement of Kollavarsham was in fact the declaration of a political and cultural change in Kerala. He also opines that the Kollavarsham declaration was made by two separate sessions of almanac experts and mathematicians held simultaneously at two places known by the same name Kollam – one the present headquarters of the southern district and the other one near Kozhikode in the north. So that is another train of thinking about the reasons for a new system, we need to get into. The implementation still follows the earlier theories.
In conclusion, one can assume that the rather unique solar, current calendar was developed by the immigrants moving in from the North, perhaps the Namboothiri’s who settled down in Malabar and later in Quilon, and then the calendar got a little bit adjusted to what we know as the Kollam calendar. This has some traction due to the fact the calendar was first established in Malabar and a month later in Quilon, though it does not explain it satisfactorily. Nevertheless, due to the fact that it is also called Kolamba era, it is somehow more associated with Kurakkeni Kollam. But these are all assumptions based on obscure documents and you can perhaps imagine that with more research on the Buddhist – Jainist past of Kerala more facts will slowly come to light including the Sankaracharya aspects and you may even see the conclusions of Dr Jayaprakash gaining more credence.

New input - Please refer linked paper Malayalam Year alias Kollavaṟṣaṃ by Joseph Don Bosco which gives a mathematical explanation and another reason.

References
Dates of the Kollam or Kolamba era – Kielhorn
Miscellaneous Travancore inscriptions – P Sundaram Pillai
Kollam era - KV Sarma
Survey of Kerala History – Sreedhara Menon
HinduArticle
Cera- Pandya conflict in the 8th – 9th centuries which led to the birth of Venad- Narayan,MGS,
Notes – Just to establish some perspective, why did the Buddhists and Brahmins start this big quarrel? Interesting legends and perhaps lots of caste politics – It seems that King Pasenadi (Prasenajit) of Kosala admired the Sakyan clan as Buddha was from that clan and decided to marry into it (second marriage) and strengthen the alliance by asking for the hand of a Shakyan bride. But then, he was sent Naga-Mtinda the daughter of the Sakyan chief whose paramour was actually a naga worshipping slave! Not knowing this, Pasenadi married her; and had a son, Vidudabha and a daughter Vajira.  When the truth came to light, both mother and child lost their royal honors but were reinstated after Buddha pacified Pasenadi. However after Pasenadi’s death and Vidudabha’s accession to the throne, mayhem occurred resulting in the massacre of the Shakyan clan who fled Kapilavastu to various places like Nepal and we also hear mentions of Lanka and the South of India, perhaps Quilon and other locales.
 The Vedic revival during the 8th century A.D. was referred to as the revival of Hinduism by the Western Scholars. This was initiated by Adi Shankaracharya in the Gangetic plains of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. During this time, devotion to the Buddha was sought to be replaced by devotion to Hindu gods such as Rama and Krishna.

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The Iyers of Palghat

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Legends of the PI (Palghat Iyer)

The arrival of Tamil Brahmins to Kerala is shrouded in some amount of mystery. No specific details are available and only general conjectures can be made. While the migrations to Palakkad or Palghat can be summarized to be from Kumbakonam or Trichy, the arrival of Brahmins to the Tali area of Calicut was for other reasons and happened much later. This article will then go on to spend some time on the stone inscription at Kalpatti.

The commonly accepted reasons for the westerly migration follows the events at Madurai and its environs as explained in my article about Malikkafur

Let me once again borrow words from Tamil Tribune. King Maravarman Kulasekhara Pandyan (1268 - 1310) had two sons Jatavarman Sundara Pandyan and Jatavarman Veera Pandyan. The elder son, Sundara Pandyan, was by the king's wife and the younger, Veera Pandyan, was by a mistress. Contrary to tradition, the king proclaimed that the younger son would succeed him. This enraged Sundara Pandyan. He killed the father and became king in 1310. Some local chieftains in the kingdom swore allegiance to the younger brother Veera Pandian and a civil war broke out. Sundara Pandyan was defeated and he fled the country. He sought help from the far off northern ruler Sultan Ala-ud-din Khilji who was ruling much of northern India from Delhi. At that time, his army under General Malik Kafur was in the south at Dvarasamudra (far to the north of Tamil Nadu). Khilji agreed to help Sundara Pandyan and ordered Malik Kafur's army to march to Tamil Nadu. With Sundara Pandyan's assistance, this Muslim army from the north entered Tamil Nadu in 1311. Kafur and his troops created mayhem in the area for a full year, looting and pillaging, finally carrying an immense treasure on 312 elephants, 20,000 horses and 10 crore gold coins.

It was apparently during this period that the Brahmins of Madurai and the surrounding area started to feel insecure about their existence and livelihood. Fearing persecution, these people started to migrate to the Chera country through the well-traveled Palakkad Pass and the routes through Dindigul and Pollachi. The southern route from Karur passes through Dharapuram and Udumalpet to Pollachi and Palghat. This route is remarkable as the line of migration of the Tanjore Brahmin to Palghat through Pollachi. Normally they would have congregated around temples. Nevertheless, the systems of Cheranaad were different since only Nambuthiris were allowed to perform religious rites in temples. Being learned and lettered, these Brahmins settled to perform other duties in the temples sometimes competing with Ambalavasis and also moved on to support the bureaucracies of smaller regional kings as astrologers, accountants, scribes, advisers etc. It is also stated that continuous drought over many years in the Kaveri Delta area also triggered migration of Tanjore Brahmins to Kerala. In some cases, as you will see, they went on to build and conduct their vedic rites in their own temples. However there are also other accounts which point to earlier migrations around the 8th century. Most of these migrants settled close to the Nila river banks around Palghat.

Narayan Murthi on his website states the following - Our own Josier family came from Kandramanickam Village, in Trichy District, and we are identified as Kandramanickam Brahacharanam. Yes, people also came in groups from Madurai, Erode areas, Tiruvannamalai (the whole of Nurani is from there and all are Brahacharanam). Pallipuram and Tirunallayi people came from around Conjeevaram and Sreerangam and brought with them the Vaishnavaite influence on their rituals and practices. They wear the Namam, have mostly Vaishnavaite names and pay obeisance to the Jeer at Srirangam and not to the Sankaracharyas.

 As is commonly understood, Kerala Iyers, like the Iyers of Tamil Nadu and the Namboothiris of Kerala, belonged to the Pancha Dravida classification of India's Brahmin community and mostly belonged to the Vadama and Brahacharanam sub-sects. Iyers were usually employed as cooks, musicians and temple assistants, since they were not allowed to conduct pooja as the priest (shanthi) in Kerala temples which followed Tantric rituals. So Kerala Iyers built their own temples in their Agraharams to conduct their poojas and rites. In Kerala, these migrant Brahmins are commonly referred to as Bhattars. This was one of the earlier surnames used by the Tamil Brahmins and later on got corrupted to Pattar by the Englishman who coined the usage in English.

But let us also look at the story of the Palghat Raja’s which I recounted some years earlier. and the account of Stuart Blackburn quoting an old man whom he met - Sometime in the 1500s when Palghat was a small principality under the Cochin Raja, only Nambudiris lived here. Then a young prince of the Palghat ruling family, I think he was named Sekhari Varma, fell in love with a tribal girl. The Cochin Raja opposed this marriage, but the prince refused to budge and married the girl. Suddenly all the Nambudiris left and the prince sent to Tamil Nadu for Brahmins to conduct temple rites. These Pattars [Tamil Brahmins] had been coming to an annual Vedic scholar’s convention at Tirunavaya [near Pattambi] and so they knew the area. So they decided to settle in Palghat. Then the tribal queen turned all the Bhagavatis into tribal goddesses—Emur Bhagavati, Min Bhagavati, Manapully Bhagavati. The Pattars came from Tanjore, Madurai, and Kancipuram, and even now you can see this history in the names of their agraharams [settlements], for instance Chokanathapuram, after Siva's name at Madurai. He also explains that Tamil Brahmins in Palghat, for example, celebrate Rama's birthday in association with Valmiki's Sanskrit epic or Ezhuttachan's Malayalam text but not Kampan's.

Madhava Menon in his Handbook of Kerala cites the instance of the boycott of the Palghat Raja by the Nambutiris of Palghat in support of the Zamorin when the Palghat Raja asked Hyder Ali help in getting the Zamorin off his back. The Palghat Raja in retaliation brought in Tamil Brahmins and settled them in 64 settlements around Palghat, granting them lands and privileges and allowing them to perform rights in Palghat temples. But Logan goes on to explain further the connection established even earlier between the Palghat Raja and the Pattars - One account states that they (Palghat Rajas or Achans) are descendants of one of the Pandyan Kings of Madura, However this may be, the family has for some reason or other lost caste. There are various stories current as to how this happened, and a mis-alliance with a woman of the Malabar caste on the part of the reigning chief is the generally credited origin of the fact. It appears to have taken place previously to the first influx of East Coast Brahmins (Pattar) into Palghat, for water, which, from the hands of the polluted Raja, would have conveyed pollution to the recipient, was not used in conferring grants of land to the Pattar and flour, a non-polluting substance, it is said, was used instead. Land grants were thus made; it is said, to 96 Pattar villages or agraharams in Palghat.  

 According to the Shashibhooshan's, the word agraharam has various etymological meanings. It indicates the conglomeration (haram) of the first among the four varnas (castes). Agraharam also indicates a cluster of houses with a temple of Shiva on the agram (extreme tip) of the street. Agraharams are inherently inhabited by the Brahmins.

 Logan in his Malabar Manual, lists the 19 gramam’s of Palghat being Kalpathi, Pazhaya Kalpati, Chatapuram, Govindarajapuram, Vaidyanathapuram, Kumarapurama, Lakshminarayanapuram, Mukka, Chokkanathapuram, Puttamkurichi, Sekharipuram, Ramanathapuram, Tarekad, Vadakkanthara, Noorni, Nellisheri, Thondikulam, Pallipuram, Tirunellayi. Mukkai is where the rivers of Palayar, Walayar and Malayar unite to form the Kalpathy River. Out of the 18-19 gramams in Palakkad, Thirunellai and Pallipuram are settled by Vaishnavites, whereas the rest by Saivaites. It is also said that migrants from Madurai established themselves first near Chokkanathapuram, and those from Pollachi and Dindigul established the villages of Kollengode, Koduvayur, Chittoor, and Thattamangalam which were nearer to their travel route. Sekharipuram, was perhaps founded by migrants originating from the village of the same name near Tanjore (It is also possible for Sekharipuram to have been named after Rajashekara Varma of Palghat). Those from Vaitheeswaran Koil called their village as Vaidyanatha puram, those from Madurai called their village as Chokkanathapuram , those from Champa called their village as Chempai and so on. But then, Pallipuram as the name itself indicated, the existence of either a Moslem mosque or a Jain temple in the past, perhaps the latter, and Noorni as a word is also considered to be non-Hindu.

Nevertheless, the lands where they settled in became their Karma bhumi as against the east coast which they consider their Punya bhumi or Gnana bhumi. Interestingly, in a Karma bhumi you attain salvation only by good deeds whereas in a Gnanabhumi you attain it by the mere fact that you were born in it, irrespective of their actions. Nagam Aiyya in his TSM explains that this is the reason why they prefer to die in the Punya bhumi and not in Kerala lest they be born an ass in their next birth!! (That finally explained to me why second and third generation PI’s or Pattars still try to maintain that they are Tamilians and not Malayalis – I always used to think the insistence was due to linguistic ties).

So much for the migration theories, but the Palghat Brahmin community produced many a great bereaucrat, many a great cook, many a great film personality and many famous administrators and secretaries, not to mention musical stalwarts, be it film music or Carnatic music!! So they did take their karma very seriously, as you can see. I admire them a lot.

Now let us get to the Kalpathi stone inscription and Prof SV Venkateshwara’s conclusions. I have not been to this temple myself for a long tinme and I understand most of the inscription is gone, but for those interested, it will be reproduced here again from Prof Venkateshwara’s essay.

 Kalpathi or Kalpathy also known as Dakshin Kasi or the 'Varanasi of the South is an early Tamil Brahmin settlement (agraharam) is close to the Olavakkot ( Now called Palghat) railway station. Like before we will start with a legend. Until the turn of the last century, an Iyer widow was never allowed to remarry. Once her husband dies, an Iyer woman had to tonsure her head. She had to remove the kunkumam or the vermilion mark on her forehead, and was required to smear her forehead with the sacred ashes. Well one such widow tracing the route of Kannagi, ventured out to Cheranad around the early decades of the 15th century. She was obviously wealthy, for she carried with her some 1,400 panams – presumably in gold and naturally did not want to have anything to do with her punya bhumi. Legend has it that this Lakshmi Ammal, a widow of Sekharipuram (Ammal, brought the Shiva Lingam from Kasi (Varanasi) during her visit to that holy place.) and gave the prince Ittikombi Achan, 1320 of those gold coins in 1424-25 AD and requested him to consecrate the Siva Lingam and construct a temple on the banks of Nila River. Legends also say that Lakshmi Ammal handed over the responsibility of managing the temple affairs. While the involvement of the king is confirmed, the donor is still a legend.

The temple, regarded as one of the oldest in Malabar is also known as Kundukovil and of course as mentioned previously, Dakshina Kashi. The temple houses the deities of Lord Shiva and his consort, Parvati, who is worshipped as Visalakshi. The temple as such is built on the banks of the Kalpathy River a tributary of the NIla or Bharathapuzha, and surrounded by New Kalpathy, Old Kalpathy, Chathapuram and Govindarajapuram. The Kalpathy temple is linked to the Kasi Viswanatha Swami Temple, because the main deity here is Lord Siva and the temple is on the banks of river Kalpathy, like Kasi on the banks of river Ganges. This is the reason for the saying, Kasiyil Pathi Kalpathy, that is, half of Kasi is Kalpathy. Towards the end of the year, the PI’s come back on vacation with trainloads of relatives to partake in the Ratholsavam or the chariot festival. The Kalpathy car festival is one of the biggest festivals of Malabar and a week-long Carnatic music festival, in which leading musicians perform, precedes the car festival.

Kalpathy and the other 18 Agraharams in the town are usually spruced up for the festivities. The temples and the houses in the Agraharams are all decked up and it is usually an occasion for family reunion. People who have continued their modern day migrations, in search of jobs and livelihood return for the Kalpathy Ratholsavam, which marks the beginning of the six-month-long car festivals in the temples of the 98 Agraharams in the district.

Kalpathy also got into the news for wrong reasons during the self-respect movement period 1924-26 when caste rivalries took place in South India. An Ezhava police office was supposedly deputed in 1924 to oversee the chariot festival, and the Brahmins of the agraharam took offence. They contended that the Kalpathi streets are not the King's highway but private property. The Arya Samajists got riled up and tried to march through the streets. Arthur Knapp the home member was asked to enquire into the matter. The arya samajists complained that if Christians and Moslems could enter such villages, they as Hindus could.Soon Swami Shraddanand arrived. When a breach of peace was anticipated, the Madras government served prohibitory orders on the Samajists during the event. In 1925, some violence occurred when another attempt was made, but eventually the Samaj movement seems to have fizzled out. But then again, look at the history - The community itself came to Palghat thanks in part to the event when the king married a lower caste person! Interesting turn of events right?

Anyway let’s get back to the historic front and the stone inscription. The stone inscription in front of the Kalpathy Shiva Temple tells the connection between the temple, its upkeep by the local king lttikombi Achan. Now we will spend some time on the inscription itself and its importance in history. Fortunately the Archeological society took an impression of the inscription in 1895 and later around 1914, so we have it here, as posted. The writing itself is made on one side and extends to the other. The stone was placed between the Nandi and the flag staff. The inscriptions are made in vattezhuttu, in Malayalam. It is dated to 1424 or 1464.


As Prof Venkateshwara explains –

The subject-matter of the inscription is the grant to the temple (of Visvanitha-Svamin) of land, income, and precious metal and utensils, and the constitution of ‘marumakan" Ittikombi and (his) younger brother (anantiravan) as trustees thereof. The inscription seems to have been cut at the bidding of Rayiran Kandatt Pangi under orders from his master, who was apparently the then Raja of Palghat (Rayiran perhaps denotes the position or title of a scribe). The name of the donor is not given in the inscription. He may have been an elderly member of the Palghat Raja's family, judging from the references to Ittikombi as marumaka and to mele karanavar. The latter epithet may refer to the Raja himself.

The inscription represents the manas receiving 1320 panams (coins) and bound to give 132 panams every year as interest to the temple. The context here shows that a rate of 10 per cent was charged at interest payable every year on the 10 panams given to each of the Brahman house. We have here a very interesting instance of the way in which endowments to temples were made and worked, a lumpsum was invested with every householder, who was bound by the terms of the contract to pay the interest on that sum every year to the authorities of the temple on whose behalf the investment was made. The contract held good in perpetuity; but the obligation implied in was not personal, but territorial.



Thus, the subject matter of the inscription is the grant to the deity Viswanatha Swamin of the Kalpatti temple of so much property real and moveable and the constitution of members of the Ittikombi section of the Palghat Raja’s family as trustees thereof.

When you study the essay in more detail or try to understand the exemplary study done by Prof Venkateshwara of Kumbhakonam, you wonder at the way these experts get to the bottom of the story by the study of words and script. I have deliberately not gone into those details for fear that such aspects would scare away the interested readers I still have in the study of Malabar’s history. But if somebody is seriously interested, you know whom to contact.

A few words on the Pattars of Calicut and Travancore are also added for completeness. According to Narayana Murthy, some migrants did climb up the Cumbum Hills crossing over Munnar, Peermede etc. and settled in Kottayam, Haripad, Vaikom, Ambalapuzha etc. The Agraharams south of Trivandrum such as Nagerkoil, Vadiveswaram, Sucheendram etc, already existed in the past, as Chola territory.

But how can I forget the Pattars of Tali and the fantastic Lakshmi store which I always visit while in Calicut? The mixture, the sweets and pickles, not to mention, the vadakams and so on are delicious. Well, perhaps they migrated during the periods when the Zamorins had issues with the Nambuthiris over the Tali Siva temple which I wrote earlier (refer the Revathi Pattathanam article) and the Kolathiri prince. Banning Nambuthiri’s from his court, he had invited Brahmin scholars from Tamil Nadu to take their place. These Tamil Brahmins settled around the Tali Siva temple. According to eminent historians, they arrived in Kozhikode as dependents of the chieftains, working as cooks, cloth merchants and moneylenders. Some other day, when I have collected more information on them, I will narrate their story too, perhaps while introducing the stalwart Manjeri Rama Iyer.

References

Epigraphica Indica. v.15 1919-1920, The Kalpatti Stone Inscription – Prof SV Venkateshwara MA, Kumbhakonam
Malabar Manual Volume 2 - Logan
Historic alleys – Malik Kafur in Malabar
Historic alleys – Revathi Pattathanam
Historic alleys – Royalty of Palghat
A video on kalpathy
Inside the drama house- Stuart Blackburn

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