Socio-cultural Processes and Livelihood Patterns at Tirurangadi - CDS

Valllikkunnu and from pantharangadi to Kakkad and further east. Some of the oldest
roads appear to have survived even today. The significance of these roads for trade and
commerce in the region will be discussed later. The roads seem to have been made to
allow a bullock cart to pass by; otherwise they were used by pack-bullocks or men
carrying loads. Most of the major roads were built along the old roads.
Water-logging appears to have made land travel difficult, and the only alternative was to
use boats. Water transport appears to have been in vogue until recently, and people of the
low-lying regions used boats to reach places like Feroke and Calicut, particularly during
rainy season. Places like Chiramukku, Kundoor, Kaduvallur, Thirutti, Kodinji, and
Thazhechena in Tirurangadi, Pantharangadi, Ullanam, Kunnathaparamba, Chuzhali, and
Velimukku have several places called kadavu where boats used to come until recently
and Kadalundi River was studded with kadavus throughout the course of the river in the
field area. Boat travel is still used by the people of some of the islands such as
Balathirutti to reach the mainland. Now bridges have appeared in most of the places, such
as the Olipramkadavu Bridge, Mannittampara, Chuzhali-Palathingal Bridge,
Kundankadavu Bridge, Parakkadavu Bridge and Panampuzha Bridge and the foot bridge
to Balathirutti, which have made travel from one region to other easy. Bridges, like roads,
have corresponded to the changing material milieu, a point that has to be discussed at a
later stage.
Flora and fauna
Other resources concentrate on biodiversity of the region. Apart from paddy, Coconut,
areca nut and plantains, of which mention has been made earlier, the area produces a
wide variety of trees and plants. Parambas which were covered while walking had the
following trees in general. They were jackfruit, mango, Tamarind, Elanji, Ayani, Erukku,
Muringa, kanjiram, Avanakku, sandal, karimaruthu, Ungu, payan, Jnaval, betel nut apart
from mangrove and kaitha, which were mentioned earlier. A number of medicinal plants,