Socio-cultural Processes and Livelihood Patterns at Tirurangadi - CDS

Fasli Rice (second
sort)
1313
1314
1315
1316
1317
1318
1319
1320
1321
1322
10.2
10.3
8.38
7.2
6.9
6.6
8.4
10.9
7.6
6.7
Table XXXVIII
Number of Seers per rupee
Paddy(second
sort)
16.9
16.6
14.05
12.4
12.0
11.5
13.6
14.0
12.1
11.2
Horse gram Salt
11.6
12.8
13.31
10.5
11.7
10.8
9.8
11.8
11.7
10.2
..
12.9
15.95
16.3
16.9
19.8
16.7
18.5
20.3
20.2
Source: Innes and Evans, Statistical appendix for Malabar District Gazetteer, Madras,
1915 Table XVIII
The table clearly shows that the rice and paddy prices, and that of horse gram were
increasing in the immediate decade before the war, and the rise in prices continued after
the war also (Panikkar 1989: 38-9). The rise in prices favored the landlords and other
large cultivators who had surplus to sell and made the condition of the subsistence farmer
and laborer miserable.
.
People do not remember the conditions in the immediate post-war period, but they
remember prolonged periods of misery, in which they were forced to live by grass and
tuber crops. As already pointed out, the condition of the merchants was better and the rise
in prices also might have helped them, and they played little role in the rebellion.
Memories of rebellion were vivid in the rural areas like Kundoor, Kodinji, Tirurangadi,
Munniyur, Ullanam and Palathingal, and less vivid in Neduva and Parappanangadi town.
Naturally, those who suffered also remembered the most.