Certain Excerpts From The Book Of Nilgiri Gazette W. Francis Pages 102-105. Latter History Of The Wynaad

Certain Excerpts From The Book Of Nilgiri Gazette W. Francis  Pages 102-105. Latter History Of The Wynaad

            Stormy years followed on the Wynaad. One of the most important families in Malabar, of which the Wynaad then formed part, were the Kottayam Raja or Kotiote Rajas whose territory included the whole of the Wynaad and much of the Kottayam taluk. This territory had long been governed jointly by different members of the family, each of them ruling over a particular division.  The head of the family was Vira Varma, commonly known as th Kurumbarnad Raja, but its most celebrated member was Kerala Varma Raja, who belonged to its Padinyara Kovilagam or `western branch` located in the Palassi or `Pychy` amsom of the Kottayam taluk, and who soon became notorious under the name of the `Pychy rebel`.

          He had already been engaged in disputes with Tippu.  In 1787, that monarch had compelled the head of the Kottayam family to hand over to him the Wynaad, which was part of the particular division of Kottayam territory which had belonged to its `western branch`. Kerala Varma was the leading member of that branch; and from 1787 to 1790 (when the Second Mysore War between the Company and Tipu began) kept up a desultory warfare with Tipu`s troops.

          On the opening of hostilities in 1790, the Company’s Chief at Tellecherry promised Kerla Varma that if he would `enter heartily into the war against Tipu Sultan and act rigorously against him` the Company would do everything in their power to render him independent of Tipu.  The war ended in 1792 and Tipu was compelled to cede certain  territory to the Company.  Malabar (including the Wynaad ) was held by the Company to be comprised in the country  then transferred and was placed under the charge of Government of Bombay. One of the first acts ently refused to come to any agreement about the revenue settlement  of the country  and moreover got into trouble with the authorities in 1795 by impaling certain Mappillas alive. An attempt to capture him resulting in his fleeing to the Wynaad, but on his begging forgiveness and the Kurumbrnad Raja giving a  security bond for his good behavior he was allowed to return.  He however began intriguing with Tipu`s officers and preventing the collection of the pepper revenue, and at the end of 1796 a proclamation was issued against him and letter sent to him warning him that `not a sepoy shall rest this province till you and all your adherents are utterly extirpated.`

          Fighting followed in the beginning of 1987 in which Kerala Varma had much the best of it, surprising a detachment  and killing its officer; cutting up a havildar`s guard at Palassi and all their women and children; and compelling some of the posts to withdraw and others to put themselves in a state of siege.  He also now obtained support and ammunition  from Tipu (who had always declared hat the Wynaad had never been ceded to the Company and was still his territory) and during jungle-fighting in March 1 inflicted a loss of about half its numbers on one detachment of two companies sent against him and killed four English officers belonging to another, of which he captured the guns, baggage and ammunition.  The Governor and the Commander-in-Chief of Bombay eventually came down. to Malabar and troops were pushed up and captured Kerala Varma`s headquarters. Negotiations were then opened with him and eventually in 1797 he was pardoned and granted a pension of Rs. 8,000 per annum.

          In 1787 Lord Mornington declared by proclamation that the Wynaad had not really been ceded to the Company by the treaty of 1792.  In 1799 however, as has been, it was so ceded by the treaty of Srirangapatnam, and from that 1st June 1800, It was placed under the Government of Madras.

          But Kerala Varma declared that the Wynaad had always belonged to the family and that its cession in 1790 was ultra vires; and he once more went out on the war-path.  The Government of India ordered that his presumptuous conduct should be severely punished and placed the military control of the district, with Canara and Mysore, under Colonel Arthur Wellesley, afterwards Duke of Wellington.  That officer’s hands were full elsewhere for some time, and Kerala Varma made the most of his opportunities by attacking the low country of Malabar.  At the end of 1800, however, Colonel Wellesley was free to deal with him and began regular operations to that end.  By May 1801 every post both above and below the ghat was held by British troops and Kerala Varma was a wanderer in the jungles.  It  was found impossible actually to capture him, however, and meanwhile the Macleod, had thrown the whole district into a ferment and enormously increased the number of the malcontents.

          These insurgents quickly became so bold that they even threatened the Todanad and the country round Masinagudi, then called `the Devarajapatnam hobli`.  The Board of Revenue reported in June 1803 that the latter had been deserted in consequence, the officer commanding a portion of  the  Madras force recently brought into Malabar, offered rewards for the seizure of Kerala Varma  and eleven  of his followers and declared all their property confiscated.  This proclamation was the basis of the Wynaad and is referred to on p. 280 below.

          Meanwhile every effort to capture Kerala Varma continued to be made by the authorities and he was at length killed, residing to the last, in November 1805.  Thus ended the days of a man who, as the Collector wrote, `for a series of years has kept this province in a state of confusion, and agitated it with the most intricate and perplexing warfare in which the last of officers and of troops have at various times been engaged to the melancholy loss 0f many valuable lives and the expenditure of as many lakhs of rupees`. With his death ends the history of the Wynaad.

                                                         //TRUE EXERPT//

                                                                      

                                                                  

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Pages 120 OTHER CHANGES BY HIS GOVERNMENT.

          Changes in the administration  of the hills were also made. The existing arrangement was undoubtedly unsatisfactory.  The plateau was divided between the Collector of Malabar and Coimbatore and subsequently neither took much interest in its affairs, while the authority of the military Commandant was continued  to Ootacamund itself. The failure to apprehend the perpetrators of a massacre in 1855 by the hill people of  58 Kurumas suspected of witchcraft drew attention  forcibly to the matter, the Government desired to vest in one officer the powers of a Collector, Magistrate and Justice of the Peace [and also certain civil jurisdiction] throughout the hills. This was however found to be impossible without special legislation, and such legislation the Government of India refused to sanction, holding that the necessity for it was not sufficiently proved . In July 1837, therefore, the idea was abandoned and Ootacamund remained a military bazaar,` the equivalent, in those days, of a cantonment.

          Other acts of Sir Frederick Adam`s Government were the fixing of the assessment to be paid for lands taken up by settlers,  and virtual acknowledgment of the rights of the Todas in  the plateau  both of which subjects are referred to again in Chapter XI.

          Though succeeding Governors evinced a less personal and enthusiastic interest in the Nilgiri a than had been shown by Mr. Lushington, the advantages  of the hills were now so widely known and appreciate that they progressed rapidly none the less.  A detailed account of the steps by which this was achieved would occupy for more space than is here available; especially since Sir Frederick Price`s forthcoming work treats so exhaustively of the fortunes of Ootacamund, the hub of the district.

          Lord Elphinatone became Governor in 1837, and during his rule the hills first began to be opened up for coffee estates.  In 1839 Mr. Sullivan, who was now a Member of Council, re-opened the question of the transfer back in Coimbatore of the western portion of the district which had been added to Malabar in 1830,  Much correspondence ensued  and in the end the Commandant of Ootacamund was appointed Joint Magistrate to the Magistrate of Malabar an Coimbatore and also District Munsif. His designation was changed to Staff Officer [it was changed back again in 1843] and he was given two assistants, one to be in charge of the roads and the other of post offices an miscellaneous work.

          In 1843, however, the Marquis of Tweedldate, who had succeeded Lord Elphinstone, adopted Mr. Sullivan`s original proposal and retransferred to Coimbatore the tract taken from river and the Kundas,  The Marquis` rule is also memorable for the decision to establish [see p. 341] the depot at Wellington.

          In 1855 a Principal Sar Amin`s Court was established at Ootacamund and the Commandant ceased to be District Munsif. His duties, however, were still sufficiently varied.  He was Magistrate and Justice of the Pease; Director of the Police; Civil, Military and Pension Paymaster; and Station Staff Officer; while in addition, as he complained, the public, particularly the European portion of it, insisted upon his fulfilling self assumed  offices similar to the functions of banker, solicitor, notary public, arbitrator and land surveyor. The Union Jack used to be hoisted on a flagstaff near his office when he was there, and this custom survived until the seventies, by which time a whole series   of different flags was necessary  to denote the presence of the various officials, and also the arrival of the mails an of the money for pay and pensions.  The Joint Magistrate and then to be content with a white and blue flag, the Union Jack being reserved to indicate that  the Council was sitting at Stonehouse.  In 1855 an Act was passed empowering the Judge of Coimbatore to hold criminal sessions on the hills.  In 1859 the post of Commandant was at lenth altogether abolished, that of Joint Magistrate continuing, and the military police of Otacamund were placed under the civil authorities

In 1858 the Principal Sadr Amin was replaced by Subordinate Judge and the part of the plateau west of the Paikara, the Kundahs, and the low country to the north of the plateau were part .put under hiss jurisdiction.  In May 1860 these areas were annexed to the Coimbatore district for revenue purposes.  In 1863 the absence of the Coimbatore Judge on the salubrious hills for criminal sessions were found to be so `frequent and protracted to interfere with his work at his head-quarters, and a special Civil and Sessions Judge for the Nilgiris was appointed.

He, however, had almost nothing to do and to 1868 the post was abolished by an Act which separated the Nilgiris altogether from Coimbatore and placed to under a Commissioner and Assistant  Commissioner who had combined revenue, criminal and Sessions Judge and the Principal  Sadr Amin, and the Assistant Commissioner became Assistant Collector, District Munsif and District Magistrate.  The latter officer was added inn his magisterial work by Joint Magistrate s for Ootacamund and for Wellington and Coonoor. Both of these were military men., had full magisterial  powers, and  were assigned a definite  territorial jurisdiction ; and the th former presided regularly at the sittings of the Ootacamund Bench and the latter occasionally the Kotagiri Bench.  The latter , in addition, was Cantonment Magistrate of Wellington and had small cause powers.  By the Act of 1868 the Commissioner and his Assistant had also been invested with small cause powers.  Their authority in all matters was conterminous, the district and being split into divisions.

In 1873 the OuchterlonyValley, and in 1877 the South-east Wynaad, were added to the district. In other ways also its importance increased rapidly.. Coffee, tea and cinchona had been planted on large areas; Ootacamund and Coonoor had been growing daily; the native population of the hills advanced in numbers and wealth; and the district had become the recognized hot-weather residence of Government.

In 1882, therefore, it was put on the same footing as other district and the Commissioner became Collector and the Assistant Commissioner became Head Assistant Collector; while a Deputy Collector was appointed to look after the treasury work and a deputy tahsildar to take charge of the Ootacamund taluk.  For purposes of civil and criminal justice the district was put under the Judge of Coimbatore, the Collector was made an Additional Sessions Judge, and a Subordinate Judge, who had also the powers of a first-class magistrate and a small cause court, was  appointed  to Ootacamund.  The office of Joint Magistrate of Ootacamund was abolished; the similar post at Wellington had been done away with shortly before.

These arrangements still continue.  The details of revenue and judicial administration are referred to in Chapters XI and XIII respectively.

                                                   // True Extract//

                                                                 

Pages 123                                  CHAPTER III

                                                   THE PEOLE

          The Nilgiri district contains far fewer people than any other Collect orate in the Presidency-fewer, indeed than many taluks in the plains and less than a fourth of the population of Madras town- and the number of persons to the square mile there is less than in any other part of the Province except Kurnool district and the wild jungle ` Agencies` of the three northern districts.  The population is least sparse 9220 persons to the square mile] in the Coonoor taluk, but even there it is 50 per square mile below the average for the Presidency as a whole. ,while in the Ootacamund and Gudalur taluks it is as small as 80 and 75 persons respectively to the square mile.  Even the Ganjam Agency is less sparsely peopled than this.

          During the twenty years 1881-1901 [the census of 1871 did not include the Ouchterlony Valley or the South-east Wynaad , which then belong to Malabar, so its figures are of no use for purposes of comparison] the population increased at the rate of 22 per cent.  This is by no means a rapid advance; but the chief reason why the figure was not higher was that between 1891 and 1901, owing to the decline in the coffee-planting industry, the inhabitants of the Gudalur taluk decreased by nearly 17 percent,-a greater falling off than occurred in that period in any other taluk in the Presidency.

          In the ten years 1801-1901 the people of the Coonoor and Ootacamund taluks increased by 22 and 20 per cent respectively, against the average for the Presidency as a whole of 7 per cent; but over one-quarter towns [the inhabitants of both of which have more than doubled since 1871] and was due largely to immigration from the Tamil districts, especially Coimbatore.  The marginal figures show that the castes indigenous to plateau increased less rapidly.  The people of the Nilgiris consist, indeed , very largely of immigrants.  At the census of 101, out of every 100 of them only 59 were born within the district, while he remaining 41 came from elsewhere.

POPULATION IN PERCENTAGE

              1891                                         1901                                                   

Badagas                  29,362                                        34,152

Kotas                         1,201                                          1,267

Todas                            739                                             805

Kurumbas                  3,966                                          4,083

          The district contains a smaller proportion of females to males than any other in the Presidency, there being only 84 of the former to every 100 of the latter.  The chief reason for this is that the coolies on the tea and coffee estates and the other immigrants often leave their women kind behind them; but in three of the indigenous castes there are also fewer women than men. Among the Todas there are only 78 females to every 100 males; and among the Kurumbas and Irulas only 90 and 98 respectively. The Badagas however, include 110, and the Kotas 120, females to every 100 males.

Languages spoken

          The Nilgiris are the most polyglot area in the Presidency, Not only do the Badagas, Todas, Kotas and Kurumas each speak a tongue which has been classified as a  separate language or dialect but the plateau stands where three vernaculars meet the Tamil of Coimbatore, the Malayalam of Malabar and the Canarese of Mysore.  No less than eight  different languages are spoken by at least three percent of the people.  These, to give them in the order of the frequency of their occurrence  Tamil, Badaga Canarese  Malayalam, Telugu, Hindustani, English and Kurumba.  In the Coonoor and Ootacamund taluks Tamil and Badaga are each the home-speech of between 30 and 40 percent of the people, while in Gudalur taluk about a third of the population speaks Tamil, a fifth Malayalam and another fifth Canarese .

RELIGION

          The education and occupations of the people  are referred to in Chapter IX and VI below. By religion 81 in every 100 of them are Hindus or Animists (that is, those who reverence spirits and the like, and do not worship the orthodox Hindu Gods), thirteen are Christians and five are Musalmans.

Xxxxxxxx  pages 124 to 157xxxxxxxx

Pages 158-159.

MANDADAN CHETTIS

          `Mandadan` is supposed to be a corruption of Mahavalinadu, the traditional name still applied to the country between Nellakottai and Tippakadu, in which these Chettis principally reside and over which the Valuvannvars of Nambalakod once held sway. These Chettis recognizes as many as eight different headmen who each have names and a definite order of precedence- the latter being accurately marked by the varying lengths of periods of descendants in the nearest direct line of  the original ancestors of the caste and they are shown special respect on public occasions and settle domestic and caste disputes.

          Marriages take place after puberty and are arranged through go-between called Madhyastas.  When  matters have been set in train the contracting parties meet and the boy’s parents measure out a certain quantity of Paddy and present it to the bride’s people while the Madhyastas formally solicit the approval to the match of all the nearest relatives.  The bride is bathed and dressed in a new cloth and the couple are then seated under a pandal.  The priest of the Nambalakod temple comes with flowers, blesses the tali and hands it over to the bridegroom, who ties it round the bride’s neck.  Sometimes the young man is made to work for the girl as Jacob did for Rachel, serving her father for a period [generally of from one to four years] the length of which is settled by the panchayat.  In such cases the father-in-law pays the expenses of the wedding and sets up the young couple with a house and some land.  Married woman are not prohibited  from conferring favours on heir husbands` brothers, but adultery outside the caste is severely dealt with.

          Adoption seem to be unknown.  A widow may remarry.  If  she weds her deceased husband’s brother, the only ceremony is a dinner after the happy pair are formally seated on the same mat; but if she marries any one else a pandal and tali are provided.

          Divorce is allowed to both parties and divorcees may remarry.  In their cases, however, the wedding rites are much curtailed.

          The  dead are usually burnt; but whose who have been killed by accidents or epidemics are buried.  When any one is at death’s door, he or she is made to swallow a little water from  a vessel in which some rice an a gold coin have been placed  The body is bathed and dressed in a new cloth, sometimes music is played and a gun fired., and  in all cases the deceased`s family walk three times round the pyre before it is fired by the chief mourner.   When the period of pollution is over, holy water is fetched from the Nambalakod temple and sprinkled all about the house.

          These Chettis are Shaivites and worship the Betarayasvami of Nambalakod, the Airu Billi of the Kurumbas and one or two other minor gods, and certain deified ancestors.  These minor gods have no regular shrines, but huts provided with platforms for them to sit upon, in which lamps are lit in the evenings, are built for them about the fields and jungles.

          Chetti women are often handsome.  In the house they wear only a waist-cloth, but they put on an upper cloth when they venture abroad.  They distend the lobes of their ears, and for the first few years after marriage wear in them circular gold ornaments somewhat resembling those affected by the Nayar ladies.  After that period they substitute a strip of rolled-up palm-leaf.  They have an odd custom of wearing a big chignon made up of plaits of their own hair cut off at intervals in their girlhood.