MALABAR.
The province, now called Malabar, is part of the Kerula Rajya, the
kingdom of Kerula, one of the fifty-six _deshas_, or regions, enumerated
in ancient Hindoo history as forming the Bharata Khanda or Land of
India. It is supposed to have been recovered from the sea by the sixth
incarnation of Vishnu, who in expiation of a matricidal crime gave over
to the Brahmans, particularly to those of the Moonsut tribe, the broad
lands lying between Go-karna[71] and Kanya Kumari, or Cape Comorin. The
country is also known by the names of Malayalim, the “mountain land;”
Malangara and Cherun,[72] from the Rajahs, who governed it at an early
period. It is probably the kingdom of Pandion, described in the pages of
the classical geographers.
By Malabar we now understand the little tract bounded on the north by
Canara, to the south by the province of Cochin, having Coorg and Mysore
to the east, and washed by the waves of the Indian Ocean on the west.
Marco Polo (thirteenth century)[73] speaks of it as a “great kingdom,”
and Linschoten (sixteenth century) describes it as extending from Comorin
to Goa. The natives assert that the old Kerula Rajya was divided into
sixty-four _grama_ or districts, of which only eight are included in the
present province of Malabar.[74]
The whole of this part of the coast acquired an early celebrity from
the valuable exports[75] which it dispersed over the Western World.
Nelkunda, the chief port, is mentioned by Ptolemy and Pliny: and the
author of the “Periplus” places it near Barake or Ela Barake, the
roadstead where vessels lay at anchor till their cargoes were brought
down to the sea. Major Rennell has identified the ancient Nelkunda with
the modern Nelisuram, as the latter place is situated twelve miles up
the Cangerecora River—a distance corresponding with that specified in
the “Periplus.” Vincent acutely guesses Ela Barake to be the spot near
Cananore, called by Marco Polo “Eli,” and by us Delhi[76]—the “Ruddy
Mountain” of the ancients.
Malabar, from remote times, has been divided into two provinces, the
northern and the southern: the Toorshairoo or Cottah River forming the
line of demarcation. The general breadth of the country, exclusive of the
district of Wynad, is about twenty-five miles, and there is little level
ground. The soil is admirably fertile; in the inland parts it is covered
with clumps of bamboos, bananas, mangoes, jacktrees, and several species
of palms. Substantial pagodas, and the prettiest possible little villages
crown the gentle eminences that rise above the swampy rice lands, and
the valleys are thickly strewed with isolated cottages and homesteads,
whose thatched roofs, overgrown with creepers, peep out from the masses
of luxuriant vegetation, the embankments and the neat fences of split
bamboo interlaced with thorns, that conceal them. Each tenement has
its own croft planted with pepper, plantains, and the betel vine, with
small tufts of cocoas, bamboos, and that most graceful species of the
palm, the tall and feathery areca. These hamlets are infinitely superior
in appearance to aught of the kind we have ever seen in India; the
houses are generally built of brick or hewn stone and mortar, and those
belonging to the wealthy have been copied from the Anglo-Indian bungalow.
As the traveller passes he will frequently see the natives sitting at
their doors upon chairs exactly as the rustics of Tuscany would do. The
quantity of rain that annually falls[77] covers the ground with the bloom
of spontaneous vegetation; cocoa-trees rise upon the very verge where
land ends, and in some places the heaps of sand that emerge a few feet
from the surface of the sea, look bright with a cap of emerald hue. In
consequence of the great slope of the country the heaviest monsoon leaves
little or no trace behind it, so that lines of communication once formed
are easily preserved. Generally speaking the roads are little more than
dykes running over the otherwise impassable paddy fields, and, during
wet weather, those in the lower grounds are remarkably bad. Some of the
highways are macadamised with pounded laterite spread in thin layers upon
the sand; the material is found in great quantities about Calicut, and
it makes an admirable monsoon road, as the rain affects it but little on
account of its extreme hardness. The magnificent avenues of trees,[78]
which shade the principal lines, are most grateful to man and beast in a
tropical climate. On all of them, however, there is one great annoyance,
particularly during the monsoon, namely, the perpetual shifting to and
from ferries[79]—an operation rendered necessary by the network of
lakes, rivers, and breakwaters, that intersects the country. A great
public use could be made of these inconvenient streams: with very little
cutting a channel of communication might be run down the coast, and
thus the conveyance of goods would remain uninterrupted even during the
prevalence of the most violent monsoons. Water transit, we may observe,
would be a grand boon here, as carts are rare, cattle transport is
almost unknown, and the transmission of merchandise by means of coolies
or porters is the barbarous, slow, and expensive method at present
necessarily in general use.
The practical husbandry of Malabar is essentially rude, and yet in few
countries have we seen more successful cultivation. The plough is small,
of simple form, and so light, that it merely scratches the ground; a pair
of bullocks, or a bullock and a woman or two, are attached to the log,
and whilst the labourer dawdles over his task, he chaunts monotonous
ditties to Mother Earth with more pious zeal than industry. The higher
lands produce the betel vine, cocoa, areca, and jack-trees,[80] together
with hill rice: the latter article is sown some time after the setting
in of the heavy rains, and reaped about September or October. The lower
rice-fields, lying in the valleys between the acclivities, are laid out
in little plots, with raised footpaths between to facilitate passage and
regulate the irrigation. They generally bear one, often two, and in some
favoured spots, three crops a year; the average is scarcely more than six
or seven fold, though a few will yield as much as thirty. The south-west
monsoon, which lasts from June to September, brings forward the first
harvest: the second is indebted to the south-east rains which set in
about a month later. The Sama (Panicum Miliaceum) requires the benefit of
wet weather; it is therefore sown in May, and reaped in August. The oil
plant Yelloo (Sesamum Orientale) and the cooltie or horsegram cannot be
put into the ground till the violence of the monsoon has abated.
* * * * *
The annual revenue of Malabar is about thirty lacs of rupees
(300,000_l._), land is valuable, the reason probably being that it is for
the most part private, not government property.
When the Hindoo law authorizes a twelfth, an eighth, or a sixth, and
at times of urgent necessity even a fourth of the crop to be taken,
specifying the Shelbhaga, or one-sixth, as the rulers’ usual share, it
appears extraordinary that this province was exempted from all land-tax
till 913,[81] or A.D. 1736-7. We may account for the peculiarity,
however, by remembering that the country belonged, properly speaking,
to the Brahmans, who were, in a religious point of view, the owners of
the soil. Moreover, the avowed and legitimate sources of revenue were
sufficient for the purposes of a government that had no standing army,
and whose militia was supported chiefly by assignments of land. The
rulers, however, were anything but wealthy: many of their perquisites
were, it is true, by a stretch of authority, converted into the means
of personal aggrandisement, but the influence of the Brahmans, and the
jealousy of the chiefs, generally operated as efficient checks upon
individual ambition.
Malabar has been subjected to three different assessments.
1st. That of the Hindoo Rajahs.
2dly. In the days of the Moslems, and,
3dly. Under the British Government.
We propose to give a somewhat detailed account of the chief items
composing the curious revenue of the Hindoo rajahs and chiefs in the
olden time.
1. _Unka_, battle-wager, or trial by single combat. Quarrels
and private feuds were frequent amongst the Nairs, especially
when differences on the subject of the fair sex, or any of
their peculiar principles of honour aroused their pugnacity.
It was not indispensable that the parties who were at issue
should personally fight it out. Champions were allowed by law,
and in practice were frequently substituted. The combatants
undertook to defend the cause they espoused till death, and
a term of twelve years was granted to them that they might
qualify themselves for the encounter by training and practising
the use of arms. Before the onset both champions settled all
their worldly matters, as the combat was _à l’outrance_. The
weapons used were sword and dagger: a small shield and a thick
turban being the only articles of defensive armour. This system
of duelling was a source of considerable revenue to the Rajah,
as he was umpire of the battle, and levied the tax in virtue
of his office. The amount of the fee varied according to the
means of the parties. Sometimes it was as high as one thousand
fanams.[82]
2. _Poorooshandrum_—a word literally meaning the “death of
the man”—a relief or sum of money claimed by the ruler from
Nadwallees,[83] Deshwallees, heads of guilds, holders of land
in free gift or under conditional tenure, and generally from
all persons enjoying Sthanum or official position in the state,
whenever an heir succeeded to a death vacancy. The chiefs of
provinces and districts, like the private proprietors, were
exclusively entitled to receive Poorooshandrum from their
own tenantry, as a price of entry paid upon the decease of
either party, lessor or lessee. Sometimes the chiefs claimed
the privilege of levying this tax from the Rajah’s subjects
living under their protection. It is supposed that the Hindoo
rulers were entitled, under the head of Poorooshandrum, to a
certain share of the property left by deceased Moslems, but the
prevalent opinion seems to be that in such cases there was no
fixed sum payable, and, moreover, that it was not claimed from
all, but only from those individuals who held situations or
enjoyed privileges dependent upon the will and favour of the
Rajah. This tax, so similar to one of our feudal sources of
revenue in the West, often reached the extent of one thousand
two hundred fanams.
3. _Polyatta Penna_, or degraded women, were another source
of profit to the Rajah, who exacted various sums from Brahman
families for the maintenance of such females, and for saving
them from further disgrace. These persons became partial
outcastes, not slaves in the full sense of the word; and
yet the rulers used to sell them to the Chetties, or coast
merchants. Their offspring always married into families of the
same degraded class, and, after a few generations, the memory
of their origin was lost in the ramifications of the race into
which they had been adopted.
4. _Kaleecha_—another feudal tax, answering to the Nuzzuranah
of Mussulman India. It consisted of presents made by all ranks
of people to the ruler on such occasions of congratulation and
condolence as his ascending the throne, opening a new palace,
marrying, and dying. The amount expected varied from two to one
thousand fanams.
5. _Chungathum_, or protection. Whenever a person wished to
place himself under the safeguard of a man of consequence,
he paid from four to sixty-four fanams annually for the
privilege. He might also make an assignment on particular lands
for the payment. The sum was devoted to the maintenance of a
kind of sentinel, similar to the belted official Peon of the
Anglo-Indian settlements, furnished by the protector to his
dependent. In cases of necessity, however, the former was bound
to aid and assist the other with a stronger force.
6. _Recha-Bhogum_—a tax differing from Chungathum only in one
point, viz., that the engagement was a general one, unlimited
to any specific aid in the first instance.
7. Under the name of _Uttudukum_, the Rajah was entitled to
the property of any person who, holding lands in free gift,
died without heirs; moreover, no adoption was valid without his
sanction. The feudal chiefs had similar privileges with respect
to their tenants.
8. _Udeema punum_—the yearly payment of one or two fanams,
levied by every Tumbooran[84] or patron from his Udian (client).
9. _Soonka_—customs upon all imports and exports by land or
sea. The amount is variously specified as two-and-a-half,
three, and even ten per cent.
10. _Yela_—the systematic usurpation of territory belonging to
the neighbouring rulers or chiefs, whom poverty or other causes
incapacitated from holding their own. The Hindoo Scripture
affirms that territorial aggrandisement is the proper object
and peculiar duty of a king.
11. _Kola_ or _Charadayum_—forced contributions levied
by Rajahs on occasions of emergency, according to the
circumstances of their subjects.
12. _Tuppa_—mulcts imposed upon those who were convicted of
accidental and unintentional offences.
13. _Pala_—fines taken in the same manner for intentional
crimes, according to their magnitude and the circumstances of
the criminal. They sometimes extended to a total confiscation
of property.
14. _Ponnarippa_—the sifting of gold. Gold dust generally was
a perquisite belonging to the Rajah or Nadwallee, as the case
might be.
15. _Udeenya Oorookul_, or shipwrecked vessels, which became
crown property.
16. _Chaireekul_, or private domains, which the Rajahs
possessed in proprietary right, acquired either by purchase,
lapses, or escheats.
17. _Aeemoola_ } Cows with three and five dugs.
18. _Moomoola_ }
19. _Chengkomba_, or cattle that had destroyed life, human or
bestial.
20. _Kunnuda poolee_—beeves born with a peculiar white spot
near the corner of the eye.
21. _Ana-pidee_—elephants caught in the jungles.
22. _Poowala_—buffalos with a white spot at the tip of the tail.
23. _Koomba_—the tusks of dead elephants.
24. _Korawa_—the leg of a hog, deer, or any other eatable
animal killed in the jungles.
25. _Wala_ } The tail and skin of a tiger.
26. _Tola_ }
27. _Kennutil punne_—a pig that had fallen into a well.[85]
This system of aid and perquisites, rather than of taxes and assessments,
continued, as we have said before, till A.D. 1736. At that time the
invasion of the Ikkairee, or Bednore Rajah, to whom the Canara province
was then in subjection, obliged some of the rulers of Northern Malabar
to levy twenty per cent. on Patum, or rent. The part of the Palghaut and
Temelpooram districts, which belonged to the Calicut house, was subjected
to a land tax, under the name of Kavil, or compensation for protection.
With these exceptions,[86] Malabar was free from any land rent or regular
assessment proportioned to the gross produce before Hyder’s invasion in
A.D. 1777.
Some are of opinion that, during Hyder’s life, the land-tax assumed, in
the Southern division of Malabar, the shape which it now bears in the
public records. Others attribute the principles of the assessment to
Arshad Beg Khan, the Foujdar, or commander of Tippoo Sultan’s forces in
Malabar, about A.D. 1783. His system was carefully examined by Messrs.
Duncan, Page, Bodham, and Dow, who, in 1792 and 1793, were appointed
commissioners to inspect and report upon the state and condition of the
country. To their laborious work[87] we must refer the curious reader, as
the subject is far too lengthy and profound to suit such light pages as
these.