Tag: study of kerala

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.

The Panayapattam system which was also known as Kanam and Otti became prevalent after the period of the Perumals. According to this, the person who took the land on lease known as Kanakudiyan used to give an amount as security to the landlord when he leased the land for cultivation. The Kanakudiyan did not have the right to sell or transfer this land. He just had the right to cultivate in this land.