Tag: in the land of kerala

The nadus were the places where the people established their agriculutral settlement. The Nadus were under the Perumals who ruled Kerala with their capital at Mahodayapuram. There were 14 Nadus and all the 14 nadus from Kolathunadu in the north to the Venad in the south accepted the rule of the Perumals.

The Perumals had a centralised nature of administration. In the matters of administration the Perumals were assisted by Naluthali, the council of Brahmins.

The Perumals ruled Kerala during 800-1122 CE with their capital at Mahodayapuram. Perumals had a militia called Ayiram which means Thousand in Malayalam.

There were three broad types of land based on the ownership right during the Medieval period in Kerala. They were Cherikkal, Brahmaswam and Devaswam. 

The Nadus were under the Perumals who ruled Kerala with their capital at Mahodayapuram. All the 14 nadus from Kolathunadu in the north to the Venad in the south accepted the rule of the Perumals, thus creating a centralised rule in Kerala for the first time.

Kuzhikanam was a kind of tax rebate that existed during the 12th and 18th centuries CE. According to this, all the plants which had not yet started yielding were exempted, when the pattam was calculated by the Janmis who had ownership of the Janmam Lands.

Owners of devaswam land were called Ooralars. The rulers, Brahmins or the people of the temple did not directly cultivate in this land. They used to give the land for cultivation to middle men called, Karalar. According to the power hierarchy, Naduvazhis were at the top, and Ooralars and Karalars were below them.

The Jenmi, consisting mainly of the Nambudiri Brahmins and Nambiar chieftains, were the highest level of the hierarchy, and a class of people given hereditary land grants by the Naduvazhis or rulers'. The rights conveyed by this janmam were not a freehold in the European sense, but an office of dignity. Owing to their ritual status as priests ( Nambudris ), the jenmis could neither cultivate nor supervise the land but would instead provide a grant of kanam to an individual from the Kanikkaran ethnic group in return for a fixed share of the crops produced. Typically, a jenmi would have a large number of kanikkaran under him.

There were many changes in the land ownership rights between the 12th and 18th centuries CE in Kerala. The rights over the land passed on from one generation to another and became a birth right. This kind of land came to be known as Janmam Land and the people who had the ownership right over those lands as Janmis.