The Formations and Policies of Colonial Agriculture in Malabar

Abstract

Till the second half of eighteenth-century Malabar was under the rule of Mysore Sulthans and was ceded to the British by the treaty of Seringapattom. During this period the cultivating land was owned by numerous landlords and chieftains in Malabar. The land was leased for cultivation to tenants called kudiyans, kanakudiyans, pattakkaran, verumpattakkaran etc. for cultivation. One of the interesting facts in Malabar was that different persons had rights on a same piece of land based on tradition.The British started revenue assessment and for the collection of taxes the landlords acted as their agents.For this and for the administration of law and order the British established so many law courts and enacted numerous laws.By these laws the traditional land relations were disappeared and the new class of jenmis who had absolute ownership on land came into existence. In the guise of revenue collection excessive levies and charges were imposed on the tenants and these extortions was resulted in to various protests and peasant revolts in different parts of North Malabar. The consequences of colonial policies in agrarian relations in Malabar is examined in this paper.