Socio-cultural Processes and Livelihood Patterns at Tirurangadi - CDS

Keranallur thodu or Connolly thodu. Obviously, all these were instruments of the British
rule. There is no evidence for electricity or other facilities in the area, which developed
only recently, This meant that the development of ‘modern’ infrastructures have been
comparatively slow during the immediate post-rebellion period, and began to pick up
only towards the later half of twentieth century. The informants generally regarded the
formation of the Kerala state in 1956 as the turning point in the creation of ‘modern
facilities’ in the region.
This means that livelihood patterns of the people did not substantially change during the
post- rebellion period. This does not mean that nothing changed, and the society was
stagnant. In the resurvey of lands conducted during 1935, although most of the old
landlords continued, a new set of landholders appeared, most of them Muslims. For
example in the Trikkulam amsam, the kottayamparambath family who were one of the
most powerful landlords during the 1905 survey, apparently disappeared, or reduced to
minor landholders. In Parappanangadi, new landholders, such as a Keyi family,
presumably from Thalassery, and a Sheik Mohammed labbai, appear. Labbai appears to
hold in lands in other parts also. We have seen the increase of small holders, and a
number of middle level landholders appear in the records, who might have been kanakkar
or even Verumpattam holders in the earlier land relations. It should be mentioned that the
testimonies of number of landholders today date their holdings back to the 1930s, if they
are not pointing to the land reforms after 1956. These features point to the emergence of a
new set of landholders in this period. The testimonies also point to the early days of
misery, showing that the prospects of these new landholders were far from certain.
We have also seen that a shift to paramba cultivation was taking place. There is no
indication that organized cash crop farming and the transformation of land as a
commodity began to dominate the land relations. Moreover, there is also no indication
that the condition of the verumpttam holders and the laborers changed substantially. The