With the help of freed slaves the Christian agricultural entrepreneurs reclaimed marshy land and portions of backwaters for the purpose of extending rice cultivation in Kuttanadu area and several new Christian settlements were set up in the newly reclaimed land, which soon became major centers of wealth accumulation. On the one hand there were the new agrarian villages that came up in Kuttanadu area like Thayankary ( 1864), Mithrakary( 1869), Puthukary( 1869), Kavalam (1869), Karuvatta(1874), Punnapra( 1892)4 ; on the other hand a large number of agrarian villages of St.Thomas Christians came up in mid-upland parts of Kerala like Arpookara( 1852), Koothrappally( 1874), Ayarkunnam( 1885), Thuruthy( 1885), Payippadu( 1887), Cheruvandoor( 1889), Vettimukal( 1894)5. The movement of St.Thomas Christians to the bushy upland regions, forests and hill-slopes for spice cultivation led to the establishment of agrarian villages in places like Plasnal( 1848), Vilakkumadam( 1849), Kuruvinal( 1862)Palayam( 1864), Thidanadu( 1865) Edamattam( 1869) , Kanjirathanam( 1869), Mannarappara(1871) Kakkoor( 1881), Edappady(1884) Poovathode( 1887) , Kudakkachira( 1888) Chittar( 1890), Anthyalam( 1891), Maniyamkunnu( 1891) Poovarani( 1891), Mutholappuram( 1892), Kaveekunnu( 1893) , Kunnonni( 1893), Kurumannu( 1893) , Neeranthanam(1897), Pizhaku(1897), Mattakkara( 1898), Ullanadu(1898) and Karur( 1899)6. These places became the major production centres for a variety of spices including pepper, ginger, turmeric and lemon grass . It is almost during the same period that the agriculturist segment of S.Thomas Christians started migrating to the upland regions near Kanjirappally including Anikadu (1869) , Thamarakunnu (1891), Ponkunnam(1891), Manimala (1892), Elangulam (1896), Kottangal (1901), Elikulam (1908) and Thambalakkadu(1912) on the one side7 and on the other side to Peringuzha(1864), Kaloor(1882), Arikuzha(1889), Vazhakulam(1895), Ayavana(1895), Kaloorkad (1898) in the east near Muvattupuzha8. Read more: nasrani.net/2012/09/16/saint-thomas-christians-in-the-shaping-of-modern-kerala/#ixzz36ODOc88i
Posted on: Thu, 03 Jul 2014 07:49:28 +0000
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