Chapter 2

THE PALAKKAD DISTRICT: AN OVERVIEW

The Palakkad D~strict 1s located between north lat~tude 10' 20' and 1 l o 14' and

east long~tudes 76' 20 ' and 76' 54' The distrlct IS bounded by Malappuram and Ntlglr~

d~str~cts on the north, Co~mbatore dlstrict on the east, Tr~chur d~s t r~c t on the south and

Malappuram and Tr~chur distr~cts on the west Palakkad has an area of 4,480 sq. Kms and

ranks fourth In Kerala state In regard of area The d~s t r~c t headquarter is located at

Palakkad. Recently, the d~stnct Palghat has been renamed as Palakkad

D~vergent vlews are ex~sting regard~ng the orlgln of the name Palakkad One vlew

IS that 11 has been der~ved from the trad~t~onal Tamil class~fications of land on the bas~s of

so11 format~ons and physlcal features The forest reglons were called Kurrnlr The reglons

covered by bushes and hilly jungles were class~fied as Mu1101 Places wh~ch "were for the

most part desert reglons hardly fit for raislng food crops and were In many places barren

and rocky were called the Polo or Polar The cult~vated area was named Marurham land

and the coastal tracks were called the Neyta land 1 The presumption of a sectlon of scholars

therefore IS that the name Palakkad originated from the phys~ograph~c term Polo or pa la^

that denotes the barren and rocky regions combined w ~ t h the word Kadu or forest, meaning

thereby the land covered by rocky regions and forests Conslder~ng the fert~le pla~ns of the

dlstrlct and other phys~cal features of the place, it seems that Palakkad can never come

under the trad~tional classificat~on of Polo region A more sens~ble argument is that the

I AchuthaMenon Kornatt~l, Anetenl Kemh (Tnchur,1962),p 16

whole of Palakkad and ~ t s suburbs were once covered by th~ck forests of Pala [Ahterra

Schnlans] trees; hence the words Pala + Kadu, came to be known as Palakkad.2

The East l n d ~ a companys records mentlon about a Jalnese temple situated in a

place named as Palakkad Thls Important Jainese temple that has stood the ravages of t ~ m e

1s s~tuated near modem Palakkad town Perhaps it 1s one of the few remalnlng Jalnese

temples of Kerala It IS not out of place to presume that the name 'Palakkad' m~ght have

or~glnated from the Jalnese settlement of this area and from t h e ~ r tradit~ons and language

Pall Probably Palighar mlght be spelt to denote the Ghat or place where the language 'Pall'

was spoken Any how no authent~c record is forthcoming to say clearly the der~vat~on of

the name Palakkad

THE HISTORICAL BACKDROP

The sources of lnformat~on for the study of the ancient h~story of t h ~ s d~strlct are

e p ~ g a p h y , numismatics, works of class~cal geographers and the Sangam literature of Tamil

poets, etc Kerulolpathl and Kerala Mahalmyam contaln tradlt~onal h~story of anclent

Kerala lncludlng thls district

The tradlt~on about the orlgln of Kerala 1s connected w ~ t h the mythical hero

Parasurama According to this legend, Parasurama threw his axe to the Arabian sea and

the pelce of land called Kerala came up from the sea and thls land was dlv~ded into 64

Gramums 4 Some of the Gramams [villages] mentioned In t h ~ s t r a d ~ t ~ o n find place In this

dlstrlct Whatever mlght be the historical veracity of this trad~tlon, it is clear that the

terr~tor~ai dlvls~ons mentioned therein continued to exist from the anc~ent to the modem

C K Kareem , Kernla D~srricr Gareiieer-Palghar, Government of Kcrala, (Trlvandmm,l976) p I ' Ib~d,p 3

Ib1d.p 54

periods in some form or the other These terr~torial dtvisions consisted of nadus,

drsams,taras,and cherries, etc

The self-govern~ng popular assembl~es In these divts~ons were called

NattuKuttams, Desa Kuttams, and Tara Kuttams. Taras were virtually independent of the

Naduvazhrs and Desavazhrs [local rulers], who in their turn enjoyed sovereignty over the

territories they held. At a tlme when monarch~cal despot~sm showed slgns of tyranny these

terrttor~al assembl~es acted as an effectwe check. Tara kutram was the organizat~on of

Narr's [Kshatr~as of Kerala]

Adrain Van Rheede, the Dutch Governor of Cochin [1673-16771, made ~t very

clear when he wrote "No King of Malabar has power to make contracts, which are

prejudlcal to the interests of land lords, noble men or Nairs Such king would run the risk of

being expelled or rejected by his subjects" So these Naduvazhrs, Desavazhrs or even the

major sovereigns did not possess unfettered royal authority.

The representattves of the popular assemblies of this traditional territorial

dtvisions met once In twelve years at Tlrunava~ to elect a Rahhapurusha or protector The

Rahhapurusha considered it h ~ s avowed duty not to deviate from the tradtttons and

customs of the country and not to disturb the then existlng soc~al order In accordance wtth

thts trad~tion, the Rakrhopurusha used to give his assent for the continuance of the

hered~tary Naduvazhrs and Desavazhrs In their respectwe places This system thus

continued for a long ttme, but then dissensions arose among the representatlves who failed

to choose unan~mously a Rakshapurusha.s This rift was patched up by the elders who

evolved a formula that would be agreeable to all Accordmgly, it was decided to invite a

Frsncls Buchansn, Ajo~rne~fromMadrm, through the Countries oJMyson,Carnadc and Malabar1 (London,l807), vol2, p 447

member from any of the neighbouring ruling dynasties to look after thelr affalrs Thus the

well known Pemmal era was ~naugurated Each Perumal was expected to rule over a period

of twelve years Tradit~on says that there were twelve such Perumals But the last Perumal,

Cheraman Perumal, who is said to have ruled for three such terms at last dlvided the

kingdom among his c h ~ e h l n s . Thus the country was div~ded into a number of royal

dynast~es and principalities

The Nedumpurayur Dynasty

The earhest dynasty known to have ruled over Palakkad reg~on was the

Nedumpurayur Swarupam. Drfferent versions are ex~sting about the origln of t h ~ s

dynasty The Palakkad Rqahs , it 1s believed, are the offsprings of Namboodlri Brahmins

and K ~ h a t r ~ y a women They were called by the titles Vadakke Naikkans and Thekke

/A1atkkans 6

Another story about the or~gin of thls dynasty IS that it or~glnated from an i l l ~ c ~ t

relation of a Kshatriya prince w ~ t h a low caste women The story 1s that once In the

unmemorable past, the land around palakkad consisted of thlck forests covered by h~l ly

granite heaps, where human hab~ta t~on was impossible. It is s a ~ d that four b ~ g elephants of

Raja of Cochin once ran amuck into the forests of the 'Kuthiran' hills The Raja sent h ~ s

soldiers wtth mahouts In search of these elephants, but in vain At last one of the prlnces of

the Cochln Royal family entered In to the thick forest with four Nair soldiers He got the

ass~stance of some hill t r~bes and w ~ t h thelr help regalned the lost elephants The prince and

Nairs returned to the Raja of Perumpadapu and were received w ~ t h great jubilation But the

prlnce hlrnself felt bad as his heart was we~ghed down with grief The members of the

Refer Report on Cond~fzons ofPalaWrodby Thomas Warden (Kozhlkodc Archlves,l801)

Kshtrrya Royal house found to their dismay that this prlnce was deeply In love with a tr~bal

girl w ~ t h whose help he obtained the asststance of the hill tr~bes. This resulted In the ex-

communlcatlon of the prlnce. He returned to the hill, where he got marr~ed to the tribal

glrl With the help of the tribals who rall~ed round hlm with all sincerity and enthusiasm, the

Raja established a royal dynasty and extended h ~ s sway over these uninhibited regions The

w~sdom and statesmansh~p In htm, combined with the courage and ded~cat~on of the jungle

heroes, released a new lease of I~fe, among them It is believed that t h ~ s prince was the

founder of the dynasty of Palghatcherry.'

The story about the origln of the Nedumpuroyur dynasty has been glven In one of

the Grandhavarres [old book] as follows Palakkad was termed In Tamil as paranad and

parakkad because of the presence of the granlte hills covered w ~ t h thlck forest all over the

dlstrlcr It IS from this term the name, Palakkad was derived. Paronad was pronounced in

Tamllas poralnad from first to thlrd century A.D. The ruler of porarnad was called

poraian Durlng the second centuary A.D., Poraln Perurntevi the only prlnces who

remalned In this dynasty was marr~ed to Anduvan Cheral son of Cheraman Palyana~

Chakravarthy. When their son Cholavakkavungo became the Chera Emperor, Porarnad was

Integrated Into h ~ s empire The successors of Cholavakkavungo took the tltle Cheran

Iramural in comemorat~on of the union of these two royal f a m ~ l ~ e s . W ~ t h the lapse of tlme,

the two tltles Cheraman and Poraian became synonymous. The title Poralon was not

followed after Chenkor Poralan who was the lmmed~ate predecessor of the famous

Cheraman Perumal Nayanar. This was due to the influence of the Pallavas of Kanchi, who

were the patrons of the Sanskr~t language. The constant contact with the Pallavas by the

' Kareem, n2 p 57

Cheras made them change thew names of Drav~dlan ongln into Sanskr~t. Thus the name

Korhar Iravi was changed into Goda Ravr . But the name Porainad was not completely

abandoned The name Nedumporalyur was ment~oned in the royal grants of Goda Ruvr

Varman, and other Chera emperors These records call them Nadwazhl or Nadu

Udayuvars. Nedumparaiyur 1s sltuated near Palakkad where there is an ancient temple In

wh~ch there are many ~nscriptions

Dur~ng the 9th centuary, the relat~on of the Chera rulers w ~ t h the Cholas was

cord~al There were matrimonial alliances and political agreements between them On the

contrary, the Cholas and Rashtrakutas were enemies dur~ng this period Due to this enemlty

the Rashtrakulas lnstlgated the Kongu rulers to Invade the Chera country Durlng the

second year of the accession of Goda Raw, the Chera king , probably In 980 A D, the

Kongu army entered Chittur through Velanthavalam. But the army was defeated by

Nedumporayur w ~ t h the help of Emad,Valluvanad and perurnpadappu [Cochln] rulers

Though the Rqa of Palakkad [Nedumporalyur] defeated h ~ s enemy, he had been

forced to glve some portlons of hls terrltory as presents to the rulers who helped him The

Raja of Perumpadappu [Coch~n], who had come to h ~ s rescue in h ~ s fight agalnst the

Kongus. was glven the present Ch~ttur taluk Thenkurussi, Vilayan,Chattannur and Ka~thala

vlllages were given to Valluva Konathiri. The Zamorrn of Kozhikode recelved Koduvayur

village Chittur, wh~ch was glven to the Raja of C o c h ~ n cont~nued to be detalned by hlm

tlll the formation of modem Palakkad d ~ s t r ~ c t of Kerala after Independence

The Ancient System of Government

In the ancient system of government village [desam] was the lowest unit of the

polltical system The head man of the village was called the Desavazhr Another unit of the

polltlcal system was Nadu or distrlct with its ruler Naduvazhr.lo Thus under the Great Rajas

were Naduvazhrs or the Desavazhrs - the Nayar of the Nadu or Desam. The Nadu or Desam

constituted so many Taras or Nayar village commun~tles For every Tara there was a

'Kurlam' or 'Assembly of Elders' [Karanavas] In each Tara were certaln 'Taravads' [ch~ef

house] and each Taravad house sent one male representative to the 'Tara Kurtam' Several

Tara Kurlarns formed the ;lraltuhrlam' These Tarakutrams and Narrukurrarns provided the

army for the Rajas or Klngs when they were called upon for the same

In thls ancient system of government, each Nadu was ruled by a Raja or

Uduyavan, Whlle as the head of the whole territory there was a Perumal or Emperor

Cheraman Perumal, the last of the emperors, was converted to lslam and went to Arab~a

and dled there in 825 A D After this, several Rajas ruled over their Nadus w~thout any

paramount power over them In short, the political organizat~on revolved round the Raja,

the Nattukurtam, the Tara hrram and the Taravad.

Tarur Swarupam

After the d~ssolut~on of the Chera Emplre, the tributaries became sovereign

Swaroopams Kerala was thus dlvlded Into a number of small pr inc~pal~t~es As a result,

Udayavars or Naduvazhis became ~ndependent rulers. Thus Nedumpurayurnad became

Tharavur or Tarur Swarupam. Tarur is situated about 10 km away from the modem

Alathur taluk headquarters

The country was dlv~ded into three divisions under Tarur Swarupam wlth an army

of 8000 Nalr soldiers, Tenmalapuram 3000 Nairs, Naduvattom 3000 Nalrs and

Vandamalapuram 2000 Nalrs. T h ~ s fam~ly IS also called Shekkury famlly and the Rajas

were called Shekkury Rqos Durlng the 13th century, the Palakkad royal famlly had no

male heir to succeed to the throne and only two Tampuratt~s or princes of the royal blood

rema~ned These princes took shelter In the Perumpadoppu Swarupam where they won over

two members of the Coch~n dynasty as them life long partners The succession of Tarur

Swarupam was thus sought through these all~ances. Durlng thls per~od, the relat~on between

the Raja of Perumpadappu and Tarur Swarupam was very cord~al In the war between

Zamorin of Kozhikode and the Raja of Cochln , Palakkad supported Cochin

The Zamorin Conquest of Palakkad

The landlng of Vasco Da Gama on the shores of Kappad tw~sted the history of

Kerala The fight between the Zamonn and the Portuguese made the Portuguese General to

turn to Krlshna Deva Raya of Vljayanagar E m p ~ r e for help against the Zamorin The Raja

sent an army under the leadersh~p of Ramapayya and Devapayya. T h ~ s army was assisted

by Tarur sold~ers, who were an ally of the Raja of Coch~n. On hearing the arr~val of the

Vljayanagar sold~ers and the devastation done to the country by them, the Zamorrn marched

agalnst the Invaders A severe fight ensued cont~nuously for three days Finally, the

Zamorin emerged v~ctor~ous In t h ~ s decislve battle. The Vljayanagar army ran pell-mell

The Zamorin pulled down the Tarur palace fort. After t h ~ s event, there are no records

available to construct a polltlcal history of this dynasty till 1732

Zamorrn conquered the terr~tor~es of Valluvakonath~r~ and Palakkad Raja many

times durlng the first half of the 18th century At all tlmes, the Zamorrn was successful In

obta~nrng war lndemnrty and demand~ng alleg~ance from these Rajas. In h ~ s extreamlty, the

Palakad Raja requested help from Mysore to repeal the anack of h ~ s enemy the Zamorrn In

the year 173211 Thrs was repeated In 1735 But In the year 1737, Mysoreans atacked h ~ s out

posts and ra~ded h ~ s terrltory ' 2 The enemlty between the ne~ghbourlng states of Mysore and

Palakkad cont~nued for some time

In 1757 Zamorrn sent an army under Chenchery Nambooth~r~ to Palakkad After

destroy~ng Tenmalapuram, one of the three d r v ~ s ~ o n s of the k~ngdom of Palakkad, he

marched towards Yakarakadavu A severe fight ensued between the Zamorrns army and the

Palakkad Raja More than five thousand people were dead in the fight, Chencheri crossed

the rrver and conquered the fort of Chokanathapuram When Thiruvalathur Ka~kathrr~

negot~ated peace, 11 was agreed upon that one fifth of the revenue would be p a ~ d for the

expenses of the Zamorrn as war indemnity Unable to w~thstand the continued hos t~l~ty and

attack of the Zamorrn, Palakkad Raja sent h ~ s em~ssaries to Mysore w ~ t h an appeal to

render mrlltary help agalnst the menace of the Zamorrn The Dalava of Mysore ordered

Ha~der All who was the Faujldar of D ~ n d ~ g a l , to render mrl~tary help to the Raja of

Palakkad Hear~ng of t h ~ s m ~ l ~ t a r y help from Mysore, Chencher~ retreated towards the west

Durlng thrs tlme, the Zamorln had also troubles with the Dutch and the Raja of Cochln

Ha~der Ali, who was seeklng an opportunrty to enter Into Kerala poit~cs and also trying to

enhance his sway over ne~ghbouring places, read~ly responded to the request of Kombi

Achan, the Raja of Palakkad He sent his brother In law Maqdum All with an army of two

thousand horses and five thousand rnfantry and guns to assrst hrm

I ' Refer Trliicherv Con~ulrooons.vol5,nos 257.58. Tamllnad Arch~ver. nos 1725.52, p 42 '* Ibld,vol iO.nor 66 .70 ,~ 52

These forces aided by the Palakkad Nairs camled their arms as far as the sea coast

The Zamorrn forces retreated The Zamorrn sued for peace He agreed to restore his

Palakkad conquest and also promised to pay a war indemnity of 12 lakhs Maqdum saheb

returned sat~sfied with the agreement l 3

Haider Assists the Palakkad King

When the Mysore army returned home, the Zamorrn sent his men for collecting one

fifth of the revenue from the territory of the Raja of Palakkad stipulated in an agreement

between himself and the Raja of Palakkad. The Zamorrn attacked the forts of Palakkad

Raja and occupied a number of Edams where he peopled them w ~ t h h ~ s own men This was

in January 3 1,1761 This prec~p~tated a crisls when a number of Achans were kllled ' 4

Meanwh~le, there were changes in the political setup of Mysore. Haider became the v ~ n u a l

ruler of that state He agreed to help the Raja of Palakkad t o retain his lost territory from

the Zamorrn Three separate agreements were entered ~ n t o between the Raja of Palakkad

and Haidar on t h ~ s account Accordingly, Haldar sent another army to Plakkad Hearing of

the arrival of the Mysorean army, the Zomorrn evacuated from the conquered terr~tory

Hereafier the Palakkad royal family became a tr~butary to Mysore They agreed to pay

annually a sum of 12 thousandfanams to the Mysore ruler.

The Zamorrn, who agreed on a war lndemn~ty of 12 lakhs to Mqdum All, could not

pay a slmple ple and Intrigued aga~nst Ha~der All w ~ t h Deva R ~ J who was then the Dalmvo

of Mysore. As was agreed upon between the two, Devaraj recalled the army under Muqdum

All and directed the Zamorrn to pay only 3 lakhs of rupees to Ha~dar All and the rest to

Kareem, n 2 p 74 l 4 Ibcd, p 74

him The pol~t~cal situation of Mysore changed rap~dly. Soon after this agreement, Devaraj

&ed. In the crlsls that followed, Haidar became the virtual ruler of Mysore in the year 1761

The Zamorrn hoped that the Internal dissensions and political c r i s~s ev~dent In Mysore

would save hlm from g~ving the st~pulated amount agreed upon between hlmself and

Maqdum All When h ~ s hands were free from the Internal and external troubles after

assuming power in Mysore, he turned h ~ s attention towards Malabar to settle his old c lam

w ~ t h the Zamorrn The Raja of Palakkad was also Informed to the effect. Haider reached

Manglore in the month of January 1766 and began h ~ s march towards Malabar

Haider, after occupying Chlrackal, marched agalnst the prlnc~pallty of Kadathunad

where, for the first tlme, he faced an organized and serlous opposltlon. But he easily

d~spelled the Malayall forces and made a triumphant entry Into the Zamorrns terrltory He

sent h ~ s vokkrls to the Zamorln w ~ t h the demand of clearrng the old debt of war lndemn~ty

The Zamorrn came to an agreement w ~ t h Haidar and returned to h ~ s place . But Zamonn

committed sulc~de by settlng fire to his palace

The arr~val of Mysorean army under Ha~dar Ali and h ~ s great success over the

Malaya11 prlnces were reported to the Raja of Palakkad and Colmbatore The news was

rece~ved w ~ t h great jubllatlon by these rulers. The Raja went to the Nawab and followed

hlm to Mankara through Ponnan~ from Kozh~kode. Haider made certaln admlnlstratlve

arrangements In consultation with the elder princes of the Edams Then Ha~der Ali returned

to colmbatore, where he occupied the palace of the Raja of the place In order to watch h ~ s

new conquest.15

By June 1766, Kottayam and Kadattanad prlnces had retaken many places from

Ha~der with the help of the English and the Raja of Travancore. Ha~dar All defeaied t h ~ s

comblned forces after returning from coimbatore. Hatdar Ali, after suppressing thrs

rebell~on, made up h ~ s mind to construct a fort at Palakkad," which is lyrng rn the centre of

the gap in the lrne of Ghats

Thls fort was j u d i ~ i o ~ ~ l y chosen as a defence post and depot to facilitate

communlcatlons wrth the newly subdued provinces". When the erectlon of the fort was In

execution, Hardar Ali's attention was drawn to Mysore where the Nlzam and the Marathas

supported by the Engl~sh threatened his kingdom Therefore, Hardar All left Malabar for

Mysore

The southern drvls~on of Malabar was dlrectly under the control of the Mysorean

officers even when the Zamorrn and others except the R q a of Chirackal were reinstated to

the~r anclent territory on agreement of paying tribute Palakkad portion of Malabar became

a nerve center of all actlvltles of Mysoreans The R q a of Palakkad and the R q a of

cannanore were considered as Hardar's faithful allles

Anglo-Mysore Wars

W ~ t h the help of the fugrtive rebel Rajas of Malabar, Englrsh attacked the cannanore

fort after 1774. But the combined forces of the local Rajas and the Englrsh were repelled

wlth heavy loss by All Raja of Cannanore Reallzing that the capture of the place was not

an easy task the scheme was finally abandoned '6 Thus, the course of the first Anglo-

Mysore war turned rap~dly in favour of Hardar All.

I d W Logan, Mulabur Monwi vol 3 (Madras.1887) p 415

In the second Anglo-Mysore war, Malabar province of Mysore became one of the

important theaters of war The English attacked Mahe. Haidar gave orders to the Raja of

Chlrackal and h ~ s trtbutartes to fight agatnst the English defendtng the French settlement at

Mahe. But by November 1779, the Engltsh who captured Mahe, evacuated it and

concentrated then fprces In Tellicherry for the defence of that town. Strdar Khan was sent

to Malabar wtth a Mysore force to lay siege of Telllcheny settlement. After a protracted

siege of 18 months, Sirdar Khan was defeated by Major Abington on February 8, 1782

Hearlng thls loss Haidar sent Maqdum Ali to the Malabar coast. In the battle on April eight

1782, All was killed and a good pan of the army was destroyed.

Haldar ordered hls son Tipu to proceed to the west coast to retrieve the sttuations

when he heard of the dtsaster. Tipu marched with a dtvision of hts army at an incredtble

speed to oppose the Invaders. Though the English detachment reached Palakkad on October

19, Col Hamberstone finding the place much stronger than he expected very prudently

determined to retreat. When Tlpu reached Palakkad, he found that the enemy had retreated

Wlthout loss of time Tlpu pursued the Englrsh "incessantly harassed and cannonaded", and

a large part of T ~ p u s cavalry, who had preceded the enemy, captured much of thetr baggage

and provtslons But they escaped from Tlpu and took a safe positton in the Ponnan~ town

Ttpu on reachlng Ponnanl encamped In front of the Engl~sh army and made

preparations for an effectual assault But soon he received the sad news of the death of hls

father and returned to Seringapatam He ordered Arshed Beg Khan to take charge of the

government of Malabar and to rematn on the defensive at Palakkad

Agaln the Engl~sh planned some fresh troubles in Malabar to divert the attention of

Tlpu from the Camattc area where they tasted defeat from him Col Fullerton was

entrusted to carry out thls English des~gn W ~ t h the support of the Raja of Travancore and

Zomorrn he marched to Palaghatcherry and Palaghatcheny surrendered wrthout much

resistance When the English forces retrred from Palakkad, lt was occupled by the11 ally the

Zamorrn . But Znmorrn could not hold 11 longer. Zamorrn had run away from the fon In fear

of T ~ p u Sultan On March 11,1784 the treaty of Mangalore was signed. The Malabar

possessrons of T ~ p u thus emerged once more as a pan of his Kingdom

After thrs, the Malabar affarrs were conducted by the Mysorean officers. The

Palakkad fort was garrisoned by the Mysorean army It was the head quarters of the

southern dlvislon of Malabar and the nerve centre of the Mysorean actrv~tles Around the

Palakkad fort, a large town was developed wrth flourishing merchants and rndustr~ous

inhabitants l7 In the per~od when Malabar was under the Mysorean occupatron, Palakkad

played a predominant role in Kerala polltics

T ~ p u requested the allrance of Rajo of Travancore and an amicable settlement of all

t h e ~ r d~sputes Rajo of Travancore drd not accept thrs offer. Tlpu came to Palakkad by the

end of october 1789 On December 24, he marched to Travancore and encamped about 4

m~les from the I~nes. In the early hours of Aprrl 15 1790, T ~ p u attacked the llnes and wlth

lrttle or no resistance occupled ~t The line was completely demolrshed and the whole

Travancore territory lay open before Tipu One after another, Cranganore Ayylconah, Parur

and other places fell into the hands of the Mysoreans

The British Rule

Cornwall~s declared war against T ~ p u under the pretex of his anack on the

"company's ally and fr~end" In the first phase of the war itself the whole of Malabar was

over run by the Engllsh, even though T ~ p u had won some brill~ant victor~es over h ~ s enemy

In the Carnatlc and h ~ s own Klngdom Col. Stuart who was ordered to move to Malabar

appeared before the Palakkad fort, the strong hold of the Mysoreans on September 21,1790

In less than two hours the fort was silenced and before night a practicable breach was

effected Before day light, the garrison called out for cap~tulat~on

By the end of 1790, the Mysore power In Malabar was pract~cally replaced by the

East India company The war ended only in 1792 after the treaty of Serlngapatam. The

cesslon of Malabar to the East I n d ~ a company a place of srmteg~c and commercial

Importance facll~tated the English supremacy In l n d ~ a

Under Brltlsh administration, the d l s a ~ c t ach~eved significant progress In var~ous

spheres However, the per~od also w~tnessed some of the v~olent d~sturbances, known as

'Mapplla r~ots ' . These outbreaks also took place In var~ous parts of the then Valluvanad,

Palakkad and Ponnan~ raluks, major portlons of whlch now form the Palakkad d~satr~ct.

Acoord~ng to Malabar D~strlct gazetteer, the Mapplla outbreaks may be ata~buted to three

maln causes -poverty, agrarlan discontent and fanatlc~sm.

The Freedom Movement

The Congress Was formed In Malabar in 1910, but 11 was inact~ve till the formation

of the Home Rule League In 1915. Srl. K P Kesavamenon took ac t~ve part In the Home

Rule League Movement and the organlzatlon of lnd~an National Congress In Palakkad The

first Nat~onal Conference was held In Palakkad In 1916 under the Presidentship of Annie

Basant The second annual conference was held at Callcut In 1917, the thlrd at Telllcherry

In 1918 The Onapalam conference of dlstr~ct Congress committee held on Aprll 23, 1921

was a turnrng point in the political movement of thrs district. A large gathering of people

affirmed thew support to Khllafar and Non-cooperation movement at t h ~ s conference An

Important feature of this conference was that Muslims and Hlndus, land lords and tenants,

all jolned together agatnst the forelgn rule.

W~thln a perlod of three months afler t h ~ s conference, the whole Malabar was

plunged into the most unfortunate chaot~c condlt~ons with the outbreak of the last Malabar

revolt of 1921-22 On 22nd August 1921, railway lines were broken at many places, most

of the main roads were blocked on the same day, trees were dropped across and brrdges and

culverts were broken The Inspector General of Police reported that In Pattambl and

Palllpuram, a number of bridges were destroyed. In fact, almost the whole southern dlv~slon

of Malabar was freely under the control of the rebels for nearly SIX months It took more

than18 months to suppress the revolt and re-establ~sh the Brlt~sh reglrne. No one can

deiin~tely say what was the total number of rebels kllled in this event It 1s calculated that

more than 12000 were kllled where as more than 14000 were court-martlaled and erther

sentenced for death or transported for I~fe.

After t h ~ s rebeillon the Congress became very inactive In almost all parts of thls

dlstrlct for many years But durlng t h ~ s period of polrtlcal lnactlvrty political journalism

started spreading its roots In Malabar. "The Marhrubhuml", "A/-Amm" ,and "The

Yuvubharatam" played significant role In the propagation and spread of nat~onal splrit

among the people

The people of thls dlstrict partlclpated in the boycott of the Slmon comm~ss~on of

1928 Pand~t Jawaharlal Nehm preslded over the fourth all Kerala provlnclal conference

held at Payyannur in May 1928 The salt Safyagraha of March 1930 had rts Impact In thrs

dlstrlct too A batch of Congress volunteers under the leadenhrp of T K.Krishnaswami lyer

started on foot from Palakkad to Payyannur and vlolated the salt law The pollce arrested

leaders llke Kelappan, T R Kr~shna Swamr lyer, P. Krishna Prllai, K. Madhavan Nair and

others and sentenced them to 9 months rigorous Imprrsonment. The civil drsobedlence

movement dled out In Kerala together with In other parts of lndla after the Gandhr lwln

Pact of 1931 All arrested persons were released from jail. The withdrawal of the Clvrl

Disobedience Movement brought w~despread discontent among the youth of thls district.

Palakkad was In the fore front of the second C i v ~ l Disobedience Movement also In

May1934, Gandhljl agaln wrthdrew the C I V I ~ D~sobedience Movement The progressive

elements all over Indla got dissatisfied wrth this decislon It was durlng thls month that the

All lndra Soclallst party was formed P Krlshna Plllai, E.M Sankaran Nambooth~rrpad

were the founder members of the Kerala Branch of the All lndla Soclallst Party. During thls

perlod, the branch of the All lndla Muslrm League also began to function The Kerala

Branch of the lndlan Communrst Party was establ~shed by the year 1939.18

There were difference of oplnion between the right and left wings In the Congress

In Kerala the left wlng was more ~nfluentlal. They were even ready to fight agalnst the

central leadersh~p on rmportant lssues So the centml leadership decided to reorganize the

I * Kareern, n 2 p 140

Congress in Kerala. The result was that the Soc~alist in the Congress rallied round the

Communist Party of Ind~a.

Durlng the 'Qu~t Ind~a' movement of 1942, many polltical workers were arrested and

detalned from t h ~ s dlstrlct The Communists did not part~cipate In t h ~ s movement After

securlng Independence In 1947, there was a real~gnment of polit~cal forces In this d ~ s t r ~ c t

At present the Marxist party and allies are one of the major pol~tlcal forces in the Palakkad

dlstrlct

GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES

Palakkad, one of the ~nterlor dlstrlcts of Kerala, IS unlque in many respects. The

contlnulty of the majest~c western ghors, whlch stretches over, 1000 kms IS broken at

Palakkad gap w ~ t h a w~dth of 32 kms On e~ther slde of the gap are the glant Nilgirls and

Anamala~s The cl~mate of the dlstrict is greatly influenced by this gap, as ~t enables the

north- east w ~ n d s to blow spreading 11s wlngs r~ght up to the cost through out the breadth of

the gap S ~ n c e the distr~ct gets the benefit of south-west and north east wlnds, ramfall is

heavy In both the seasons and consequently The Palakkad dlstrlct has extenslve paddy

fields and IS aptly known as the granery of Kerala. The eastern reglon of the dlstrict has

h ~ g h mountalns, extenslve ravines and dense forests. In the southern part, there are a

number of estates To the west of thls reglon, is the plains broken here and there by formed

some lsolated hills There IS no low land region In this d~strlct.

The mountalns of t h ~ s dlstrict, ranglng from 914 to 2132.7 metres, form the western

ghat It forms a formidable fortress on the eastern side of the d~strlct. Anglnda is the highest

peak 12,383 metres] followed by Karmala [1,998] Padaglr~ [1,585] and Karmala Gopuram

[I ,4401 Other Important peaks are Kalladlkode, Vellachimudi, and Myanamudl, etc.

Origlnatlng from Anamalai hills at about 610 meters above the mean sea level,

Bharathapuzha, the longest rlver In the state traverses through the Pollach~ taluk of the

Colmbatore d~strict of Tam~lnadu, before enterlng In the Palakkad dlstrict. The maln rlver

passess through Palakkad and Ottappalam taluh and finally ~t emptles Into the sea at

Ponnanl In Malappuram into the sea at Ponnani in the Malappuram dlstrlct

Bhavan~ river rlses from the Kunda mountains near Bhawaniar Betta In Nllglr~s

After flowlng circu~tiously for about 18 km. through the Attappady valley, ~t takes a north

eastem dlrect~on and enters Into Tam11 Nadu.

Siruvan~ IS in fact an important tributary of Bhavani rlver It orlglnates from the

hills on the northern edge of the Palakkad gap and flows Into a deep and legendary lake

called Muthukulam.

The c l~mate of thls dlstrict 1s sl~ghtly different from the rest of the state, as ~t 1s

Influenced by the presence of Palakkad gap The dlstrict has a troplcal cllmate wlth an

oppressive hot season and plent~ful seasonal rainfall Summer starts from February onwards

and temperature rlses steadlly till the end of May. It 1s followed by the southwest monsoon

wh~ch lasts till September. Durlng this season, there is abundant ra~nfall. The north east or

retreating monsoon wlnds flow durlng October and November Because of the Palakkad

gap, the dlstrlct experience heavy ramfall and wlnds during the northeast monsoon season

The per~od from December to February IS generally dry in t h ~ s d ~ s t r ~ c t The meteorological

observatory at Palakkad records that March and April are the honest months In a year

THE ECONOMIC PROFILE

Palakkad IS predornlnantly an agricultural area and Industry backward due to lack of

power supply and communication facll~t~es. Palakkad distr~ct being the granary of the State,

has rice as the most important commod~ty manufactured. It is cultivated In three seasons,

V I Z , Autumn, Winter and Summer Sugarcane, another important crop IS cultivated In a

large scale in Chittur taluk Mangoes, banana, and plantains are the important fresh frults

cultlvated in this d ~ s t n c t Coconut, arecanut, cashewnut, coffee, tea, cardamom, pepper and

rubber are also cultlvated In the Palakkad distr~ct

Agr~cultural implements are the principal commod~ty manufactured In Shomur

town Handloom cloth, matches, fish and earthem vessels are exported from Chinur and

Thathamangalm There are also some metal industr~es, electronic and electrical industr~es,

br~cks and tlles manufacturing unlts In this district. Palakkad and Ottappalam blocks are the

comparatively better developed industrial areas in the district.

THE SOCIAL PROFILE

Total population of the district according to the 1991 Census IS 2382,235 persons,

comprising of 1155,822 males and 1226,413 females Rural population of the dlstrlct IS

2007.658 persons (972,765 males and 1034,893 females) and urban population IS 374,577

persons (I 83,057 males and 191,520 females)

The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tr~bes populat~on of the distr~ct as per the

1991 census IS 378,548 persons and 35,465 persons respectively The rural-urban breakup

of t h ~ s population IS Indicated below.

Rural (I) Scheduled Castes 333881

(11) Scheduled Trlbes 34899

Urban (I) Scheduled Castes 44667

(11) Scheduled Tribes 566

The urban populat~on of the d~strict as percentage of total population In the census

years 1981 and 1991 1s Indicated below It also shows the sex ratlo (females per 1000

males) and denslty ( populat~on of per sq km.) In the urban populat~on of the d~str~ct In

relatlon to the state

TABLE 2-1

THE URBAN POPULATION

Urban populat~on Sex ratlo 1991 Dens~ty State I as percentage of (Females per1000 males) (populatlon Distrlct total population per sq kms )

1981 1991 Total Rural Urban

Kerala 18 74 26 44 1040 1043 1033

TABLE 2-2

Palakkad

SHEDULED TRIBE POPULATION OF PALAKKAD

Source. Census of Indla (1981,1991) 10 1 1 15 75

No.

1.

2

3

4.

5

6

7

8

1063 1066 1046 530

Source S T. Development Department Records

Tr~be

Eravalar

lmlar

Kadar

Kurumban

Malayan

Mudugar

Pan~yan

Ulladan

Total

Total

3615

22,390

902

121 1

2100

4915

304

28

35,456

AS regards language of the peoples of this dlstrlct, Malayalam IS the maln language

Tarn11 and Telugu are also spoken m the dlstrict

Rellg~on-w~se breakup of populat~on IS lndlcated below as per the 1991 census

Hlndus 1679544, Musllms : 684352, Christians . 96953, Sikhs : 24, Bhudhlsts . 1 I, Jams

11, Other rel~g~ons and persuasions : 201, Rellg~on not stated . 1059

According to the 1991 Census , total literates (excluding the population In the age

group of 0-6 years) IS 1658,781 persons Of these, 857,216 are males and 801,565 are

females In the rural areas of the d~stnct,, 1376762 persons (712,088 males and 664,674

females) are llterates and In urban areas 282,019 persons (145,128 males and 136,891

females) are literates The rate of llteracy of thls population to the total populat~on,

excluding 0-6 years age group accordlng to the 1991 census IS shown below :

TABLE 2-3

THE ADMINISTRATIVE STRUCTURE

LITERACY RATE

The growth of Palakkad distr~ct as a d~stlnct admlnlstrative unlt began after the I"

January 1957 When the states of the lndlan Union were formed on linguistic basls under

Total

Rural

Urban

the States Reorgan~zation Act of 1956 [Central Act 37 of 19561, the erstwh~le Malabar

Source : Census of Indla, 1991

Persons

81 27

80 20

86 87

Males

87 24

86 30

92 15

dlstr~ct was separated from the Madras state and Integrated with the Travancore- Cochln

Females

75 72

74.56

81 90

state to form the new l lngu~st~c state of Kerala But due to the unw~eldy nature of the

d~stnct, the Malabar d ~ s t r ~ c t was trifurcated Into the revenue d~strlcts of Cannanore,

Kozh~kode and Palakkad for administrat~ve convenience.

The Palakkad d~strict thus fomled cans~sted of old Valluvanad taluk, Palakkad taluk

and a portlon of Ponnani laluk of Malabar d ~ s t r ~ c t and Chlnur taluk of the erstwhile

Travancore-Coch~n State On the same date, the Valluvanadu taluk was b~furcated Into

Per~nthalmanna and Ottappalam faluks. The old Palakkad taluk was trifurcated Into

Palakkad, Alathur and portion of Chlnur taluk. The present Ch~ttur taluk thus covers taluks

of erstwh~le Travancore-Coch~n State and 14 v~llages of the old Palakkad taluk of the

erstwh~le Malabar d ~ s t r ~ c t The old Ponnan~ taluk of Malabar d ~ s t r ~ c t was also tnfurcated to

form Ponnan~, Chavakad and portlon of Tlrur faluk Of these, Palakkad dlstr~ct was formed

comprlslng 6 taluks, viz., Per~nthalmanna, Ponnan~, Ottappalam, Palakkad, Alatur and

Ch~rtur

The Palakkad distr~ct had undergone some changes In jurisdiction when a new

dlsrnct, namely Malapuram was formed rn 1969. Mannarghat taluk was newly formed

comprlslng 19 reorgan~sed v~llages of the erstwhile Perintalmanna taluk Paradur village of

Tlrur raluk tranferred to the Onappalam taluk, Ponnan~ taluk w h ~ c h hitherto formed part of

the Palakkad d~stricr was transferred to the Malappuram dianct. At present, the d~strict

conslsts of the following taluks, development blocks, and Parl~amentary and Assembly

constltuencles,

Taluks

Ottappalam, Mannarkad, Palakkad, Ch~ttur, Alathur

Development Blocks

Thr~thala, Pattamb~, Ottappalam, Sreeknshnapuram, Mannarkad, at tap pad^, Palakkad,

Koyalmannam, Ch~ttur, Kollengode, Nemmara, Alathur.

Parliamentary Constituencies

Palakkad , Ottappalam

Assembly Constituencies

Sreeknshnapuram, Mannarkad. Malarnpuzha, Palakkad, Chlnur, Kllengode, Alathur,

Thr~thala,Pattarnbt, Ottapalam, Koyalrnannam, Chelakara,Wadakkancherry, Kunnamkularn

In the l~ght of our dlscuss~on of history, geography, soc~o-cultural, economlc and

adrn~n~st ra t~ve profiles of the palakkad dlstr~ct, we now propose to go into details about the

varlous tribal comrnun~t~es of the Palakkad distr~ct in the next chapter