Socio-cultural Processes and Livelihood Patterns at Tirurangadi - CDS

such jack and mango. They also produced some commercial crops like pepper, ginger,
coconut, areca nut, gingelly, and betel. This variety of products not only gave additional
means of consumption , but also products for exchange, a factor that resulted in the
growth of various chanthas at Tirurangadi, athanikkal in Vallikkunnu, Chelari,
Kunnummal and other places. It is network of chanthas that brought merchants and
migrants from outside, and it should be remembered that these chanthas would not have
developed, if there had not been efforts at mobilization of internal resources. It should
also be noted that Tirurangadi became one of the most important chanthas in south
Malabar.
We have already seen the major obstacles to the sustenance of the developing network of
production and distribution. One was the growth of landlordism, in the form of
concentration of land in the hand of a few devaswams, manas, and Nayar and Muslim
households. The growth of these households meant that a large part of the surplus was
utilized for the ritual, political and household consumption of the landlords, which
included provision for the temples and kavus, maintenance of kalaries and the personal
entourage, and landlord lifestyles and tastes. This redistributive process was abetted by
the British revenue system, which siphoned of another part of the surplus to maintain
their state apparatuses. The repressive system introduced by the British in South Malabar,
especially Tirurangadi was based on the surplus generated by the oppressed farmers
themselves. Once British rule and landlordism disappeared, this form of redistributive
economy also disappeared, and there was the possibility that the landholders would be
able to develop a more sustainable system of production and distribution.
Landlordism and the British state were not the only obstacles. Religion has played an
equally powerful role, by preventing the human beings in the area from their inner
capabilities. The tradition of Mamburam Thangals provided the necessary impetus to
fight against the British and the landlords, but it also persuaded the people that any