Socio-cultural Processes and Livelihood Patterns at Tirurangadi - CDS

Betel chewing was ritually encouraged by the Nambuthiris and members of the royal
family and became popular among other groups also, and we shall see that this habit
created a riot in the region. But the betel and areca never went beyond status of a
household consumption item. There is some evidence that betel and areca of the region
was popular and was taken to faraway areas, but as pointed out earlier, could never
become more than a household product.
Thus we can see that the prospects of a rapid expansion of the paramba cultivation as a
commercially viable proposition were limited. We have already seen the difficulties
currently experienced in paddy cultivation. The problems must have been double fold in
the British times, particularly as there was no measure to prevent the inflow of saline
water into the river and water logging in the low-lying areas. Excess water had to be
removed by using thekkukotta and chakram in certain areas, or had to be removed
manually. This meant that very few lands yielded three crops, and most of the fields
yielded only one crop. There was an attempt to build a thodu connecting Kadalundi river
with Bharatapuzha, in the manner of Connolly canal in Calicut, which was abandoned.
The Keranallur thodu that linked Kadalundi River and Poorappuzha in the model of
Connolly Canal in Calicut did not appear to have improved matter very much. Hence,
paddy cultivation involved very hard labor in hostile circumstances, and there very little
incentive from the landlords for making cultivation productive. Thus, although endowed
with fertile riverside and coastal alluvial soil, agriculture remained a subsistence level
activity.
The area did not prove to be rich in minerals either, that would have supported the
commercial aspirations of the new regime. Iron was reported in the Kadalundi river
basin, but was not considered useful for industrial production. There were a few Oothalas
or iron smelting devices in the area but less in number compared to the nearby Manjeri
and Perinthalmanna. Iron smelting centers existed in the northern part of the region, but