PUNNAPRA VAYALAR :A REVOLT

AGAINST OPRESSION

First Degree Program in History Under CBCC System

All Saint’s College, Thiruvananthapuram
Re-Accredited With A+ Grade by NAAC
2023-2024

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PUNNAPRA VAYALAR ; A REVOLT AGAINST
OPRESSION

Dissertation submitted to the University of Kerala in partial fulfilment of the Degree of

Bachelors of Art

Name of candidates with candidate codes

1.Ann das.J 14021100016

2.Ashni.G.Ubalt 14021100027

3.Meenakshi.S.R 14021100041

4.Riya Najeeb 14021100051

5.Ann Sneha Mathews 14021100071

COURSE CODE: HY1645

All Saint’s College ,Thiruvananthapuram

2023-2024

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 CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the dissertation titled “PUNNAPRA VAYALAR: A REVOLT
AGAINST OPRESSION” is a record of study conducted by Riya Najeeb, Ann Sneha
Mathews , Ann Das , Ashni G Ubalt , Meenakshi S R from the department of History , All
Saints College , under my guidance and submitted to the University of Kerala in partial
fulfilment of the Degree of Bachelors of Arts First Degree program in History under CBCSS
System

Dr.LEKHA RANI.ML Dr. VIJAYA KUMARI.K

Head of the Department of History Supervising Teacher

All Saint’s College All Saint’s College

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 DECLARATION
We hereby declare that the Dissertation Program “PUNNAPRA VAYALAR: A REVOLT
AGAINST OPRESSION” is a record of research work carried out by the students at the
Department of History , All Saint’s College , under the guidance of Dr.Vijaya Kumari.K and
submitted to the University of Kerala in partial fulfilment of requirement of the award of Arts
, Art Degree Programme in History

NAME AND SIGNATURE OF CANDIDATE

1.Ann Das .J

2.Ashni .G .Ubalt

3. Meenakshi.S.R

4.Riya Najeeb

5.Ann Sneha Mathews

Thiruvananthapuram Department of History

Date: All Saint’s College

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
With genuine modesty, we are obediently thankful to God almighty, praise and glory to him,
for all his untouchable bounties and guidance, without which, this work would never ever be a
reality. It is our pleasure to express our profound gratitude to all those who made this project
possible.

The study entitled “ PUNNAPRA VAYALAR: A REVOLT AGAINST OPRESSION” is a

reality due to the contributions from many quarters . We sincerely express our deep-felt
gratitude to all those who have helped us in accomplishing this task . This study is conducted
under the guidance of Dr.Vijaya Kumari.K , Assistant Professor of Department of History , All
Saint’s college . Without her guidance and Encouragement , this project would have remained
incomplete . We are very much indebted to our family members for their constant
encouragement and support

Ann Das .J

Ashni . G.Ubalt

Meenakshi.S.R

Riya Najeeb

Ann Sneha Mathews

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 PREFACE

The study entitled “PUNNAPRA VAYALAR:A REVOLT AGAINST OPRESSION”, Is a

1946 revolt for responsible government

Punnapra Vayalar is a revolt organised by the working class of Travencore against the
oppressive policies of Dewan C.P.Ramaswamy Iyer . The revolt occurred on October of 1946
in Punnapra and Vayalar under the leadership of communist party . The revolt is characterised
by the use of arecanut spikes against Dewans military and police . The struggle lead to the
death of about 2000 comrades, who are now recognised as freedom fighters .

Apart from Dewan who was a despot the people was also fighting against caste system and
land lordship prompting people to ask for suffrage and responsible government

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 CONTENTS

CONTENTS PAGE

INTRODUCTION 8

SOURCE ANALYSIS 10

REVIEW OF LITERATURE 10

OBJECTIVES 10

HYPOTHESIS 11

METHODOLOGY 11

RELEVENCE 11

CHAPTER DESIGN 12

CHAPTER 1 :LIFE OF PEOPLE IN PUNNAPRA 13

AND VAYALAR

CHAPTER2:SPREAD OF COMMUNISM 25

AMOUNG THE OPRESSED

CHAPTER 3 :PUNNAPRA VAYALAR 36

CHAPTER 4 :ANALYSIS 47

CONCLUSION 50

BIBLIOGRAPHY 54

APPENDIX 55

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 INTRODUCTION
Punnapra Vayalar occurred in 1946 in the princely state of Travencore. The fact that fascinates
many is as to why a group of people would decide to fight off police and military who are aided
with guns and ammunition with wooden spikes, well the truth is people wasn’t fighting off the
police or the military but in fact was fighting the generational trauma caused to them by the
chains of cast system and landlordism . The oppression in one way or other was supported by
the government under Dewan C.P.Ramaswamy Iyer who had established despotism and
anarchy in Travencore where Punnapra and Vayalar was part of , any of the proletariats who
took the courage to speak against their condition was either beaten up by the gundas or the
police as the landlords or janmis or bourgeois had direct support from the government

Thus people who were working in different arena of jobs such as coir factory workers who
flagshipped the revolt had face atrocities from the factory heads named Moopan , they also had
to work for 16 hours for just 4 anas , the agricultural labours of Kuttanad who were bonded
labours under the janmis these labours were denied basic rights such as right to life, the
fishermen of Punnapra who had to face countless atrocities from landlords wo paid them little
to nothing and was expected to work under the scorching sun in the middle of ocean , the
toddy tappers and coconut climbers who came from the Ezhava community who were treated
in inhumane ways came together to fight against the bourgeois who received support from the
government

By 1946 the people all around Travencore was literate and was understanding the hardships
they were facing for generation due to caste system and landlordism the change of thought was
brought about by the education of Christian missionaries and the working of communist party
. By the 1930s the communist party took active involvement in the lives of people in Punnapra
Vayalar they did grass root work by interacting with everyone in the area the active work of
P.Krishnapilla brought about the unorganised independently existing groups to the mainstream
of political involvement

It is very hard to separate Punnapra Vayalar revolt and the involvement of communist party
because it is the party that organised the Coir factory workers , Fisherman , Tenants , toddy
tappers, cashew workers , press workers and many more to come to the forefront by organising
camps and providing training and education . Punnapra Vayalar is in the edicts of history with
slogans such as American Model Arabi kadalil as people was ready to fight against Sir

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C.P.Ramaswamy Iyer and attain responsible government the need for Adult suffrage and
Responsible government was the main aim behind the struggle

In the end Punnapra Vayalar struggle costed the life of at least 2400 people[ the number to this
day is unclear] . But the Government has declared the movement as a freedom struggle .

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SOURCE ANALYSIS
There are a lot of sources in the form of Primary and Secondary sources which can be regarded
as the most valuable sources for the understanding of the Punnapra Vayalar revolt . Primary
sources include field study , Interviews , Survey . Which was conducted on 18th February 2024
. Surveys and interviews were conducted with the family members of the freedom fighters , the
local communist leaders , researchers of the Punnapra Vayalar . Secondary sources include
various books on the revolt

REVIEW OF LITERATURE
1]PUNNAPRA VAYALAR SAMARAM ANUBAVANGALILOODE :Is a book written
by Fr.Aloysius.D.Fernandes and was published by Chinta Publishers provide first hand
account of people who participated in the revolt and also an insight in to the socio economic
condition of the period.

2]K.V.PATHROSE KUNTHAKARANUM BELIYADUM: is a biography of Pathrose who

in his later years moved away from the communist party . It provide a wider perspective on the
Punnapra Vayalar revolt from a leader who moved away from the communist party

3]CHOORAMANNILE SAHAJEEVITHYAM: is a book written by A.Ashraff under

Mythri books talks about the life of A. Meenakshi a freedom fighter and the evolution of
Punnappra Vayalars political mainstream to be dominated by woman due to the absence of
men in the area.

4]REVOLT OF THE OPRESSED: This book is written by P.K.V.Kaimal and published

under Konak publishers. It provides us a rundown towards the entire political history of
Travencore .

5]IMMORTAL PUNNAPRA VAYALAR: This book is written by K.C.Ben . The book is

published by South Asia Books . It details about the atrocities of dewan rule and the actions
adopted by the communist party

OBJECTIVES

• To understand the significance of Punnpra Vayalar struggle

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 • To understand peoples grievances under Dewans rule

• To understand the impact of cast system and landlordism in the life of the people

• To analyse the involvement of communist party in the Revolt

HYPOTHESIS

• Punnapra Vayalar struggle was basically a class struggle against exploitation.

• People had faced extreme economic problems mainly exploitation, poverty in the
state of Travancore
• Caste system and existing social evils of Travancore created wide socio economic
gap among people led to social oppression.
• Political, social , economic systems existed in the State of Travancore and the role of
Dewan CP, exploitative nature of land lords and bourgeoisie had crucial impact on
life of people and led to Punnapra Vayalar struggle.
• Role of communist party was influential in inspiring the minds of people in freedom
movement as well as revolts like Punnapra Vayalar struggle.
• Trade union movements had organized working class people and strengthened people
struggle and freedom movement.

METHODOLOGY
The present study is an attempt to bring the details about the history, importance and
significance of Punnapra Vayalar struggle . The primary and secondary sources have been in
this dissertation . Primary sources such as field study , interviews were held with the family
members of the freedom fighters as well as various leaders in the area . Secondary sources were
collected from published sources . Several books relating to this project were taken to
understand the actual rundown of events regarding the struggle

RELEVENCE OF THE TOPIC

The study of Punnapra Vayalar revolt is of tremendous importance . Firstly The revolt is an
organised effort of working class men who joined to fight their common oppressors who were

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doing an anarchic and despotic rule , It is one of the few occasions in history where proletariat
take arms against the bourgeoisie. Secondly the finding in the study would help to fight of
myths that had been finding its relevance in popular media in favours of political parties .
Thirdly the project strives to explain the circumstances that lead to a mass of people to hold in
wooden spikes to fight against the military and hence desperation felt by people who were
oppressing them for centuries

CHAPTER DESIGN
Punnapra Vayalar : A Revolt Against oppression is organised in to four chapters . The First
chapters is entitled The life of people in Punnapra Vayalar , this chapter explains the condition
of Travencore that ultimately lead to the people to fight against the government this include
caste system . Second chapter Spread Of Communism In Punnapra Vayalar , It explains how
the communist party was able to assert its influence on the life of people in Punnapra and
Vayalar and make them participate in mainstream politics . The third chapter Punnapra Vayalar
explains the actual rundown of events in Punnapra and Vayalar and several other places like
Muhamma . The fourth chapter is entitled Analysis provide different perspectives of the
struggle .

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 CHAPTER: 1
LIFE OF PEOPLE IN PUNNAPRA AND VAYALAR

Punnapra and Vayalar are situated in Alappuzha district of the state of kerala , Punnapra is
a major costal area facing Arabian sea and lies west to Kuttanad [the rice bowl of Kerala] and
Vayalar lies 33.3km away from Punnapra both these places were under the kingdom of
Travencore before independence , Travencore was incriminated with a lot of social evils which
in turn shredded its way in to Punnapra Vayalar uprising

CLUTCHES OF CASTE SYSTEM

Caste system was prominent in Travencore and it was practised without any form of remorse.
People who belonged to the lower caste had to face generational trauma ,Slavery was
recognised by law in Travencore until 1855, by then Travencore was the biggest slave owner
where the slaves were called “Cherumakkal” this section of people were inflicted with plague,
and were controlled by janmis who were feudal lords , they sold slaves or cherummakal at a
cost lower than that of cows .These slaves could be even killed by the Janmis ,these people
couldn’t harvest the rice they cultivated with their blood sweat and tears ,they couldn’t wear
nice clothes or even use metallic utensils up until the independence .People who belonged to
the lower caste had to eat porridge from a banana leaf placed inside a hole dug upon the ground
, most of the times the food would be consumed by animals before they could eat . Children
couldn’t even be named, as it was reserved for the members of upper caste , the lower caste
men could only address their children as monkeys . Duravasta is a book written by Kumaran
Asan that discusses the conditions of this section of society 1Bonded labours became a regular
site in Kuttanad were works were divided as ” Onappani” and “sthirampani ” the onappani
was not regular and the workers earned meagre wage ,much less than a regular labour at that
time and often times these workers were manipulated to work without a wage in the name of
debt payment by the janmis . T.V Varghese have recounted that once a landlord asked him
“Look Vaidyan , cant I beat my Pulayan”2. The agricultural labours often came from the pulaya
caste .This section of society was often beaten and canned if they failed to show up to work
even for a day , often times they were beaten first and asked about the reason of their absentia
later . These people were considered to be polluting and had to move away and hide from the

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path in case if anyone belonging to the upper caste was on the same path as them , the upper
caste men often chanted “hoy hoy” to make their presence known , the people who belonged
to the lower caste had to often use the terms such as Thambran to address the uppercaste men
, In a census of 1931 reports 500caste in Travencore the three main namely Brahmins ,Other
Hindus and the depressed caste even within the Brahmins untouchability existed within
subcastes , untouchability existed in low caste hindus also wherein a Pulayan should maintain
34ft from an ezhava .Lower caste people weren’t allowed to enter public buildings the
documents that had to be given were placed on the ground rather than handing it towards the
officials directly , The lower caste hindus couldn’t even attend their own court hearing or give
victim statements or any form of statements as they were expected to stand outside the court
due to the presumed “impurity” they might bring in so in order to extract the statement a
middleman peon was setup but many a times the peons miscommunicates the statements given
,creating misjudgements

Since untouchability was very much part of daily life a person belonging to lower caste could
be given death row without penalising for touching an upper caste person , Even temple entry
was prohibited many lower caste men weren’t even allowed to navigate the path closest to the
temple, temple entry for lower caste men was prohibited in Travencore up to 1936 some
subcastes of the Nair community wasn’t allowed beyond certain points in temple .Travencore
imposed the most nerve wrenching law humanly possible called the breast tax were in lower
caste woman had to pay tax in order to cover their breast on the note that the lower caste woman
shouldn’t imitate upper caste woman a bloody Reverend Mateer has said “The proper salutation
from a female to persons of rank was to uncover the bosom”3

“Ozhiyam” Is a system by which a lower caste men had to do compulsory labour without a
pay . the lower caste men also had to pay tax for growing out their hair K.N Koran , A state
congress leader from Kuttanad was unable to process the fact that after the coming of the
communist party his bonded labours weren’t untying the cloth wrapped around their head after
seeing the janmis [in this case it’s K.N Koran ] and that they aren’t loweing their lungis 4. Most
lowercaste people were expected to melt and kneel down towards the presumed ‘Upper caste
men’

The caste and subcaste started merging by 1903 ,the subdivisions considerably reduced
by 1931 this happened because the subcastes of Nairs and Ezhavas started merging together
,along this time a lot of socio religious reform movement started happening in Travencore one

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of the most prominent one is the SNDP [Sri Narayana Guru Dharma Paripalana Yogam] under
the guidance of one of the greatest reformer Sri Narayana Guru. Many people like Ayyankali
( for upliftment of the Pulaya caste) Sadhu Jana Paripalana Yogam also organized reform
movements. Coming of SNDP was benevolent as Ezhavas was considered to be less polluting
and Travencore had a huge Ezhava population this lead to the rise of middleclass among the
Ezhavas who earned government jobs but still a major section of the Ezhava community was
suffering especially the one residing in rural areas had to depend on the meagre wages from
toddy industry [Ezhavas was the most educated amoung the lower caste]

EDUCATION
Towards the beginning of 20th century the subjects in Travencore started receiving
education , the maharajas of Travencore was excited about his subjects getting educated ,By
the time of 1905 around 20 newspapers were circulating all around Travencore people had
basic literacy and knew to read and write this was one of the reason for the Punnapra -Vayalar
uprising as people started reading about the Russian and Chinese revolution and started to free
themselves from the chains brought upon them by the caste system , The coming of Christian
missionaries also played a huge role in the increase in literacy in Travencore . By 1834 English
education started in Travencore , education was technically free and students could win
scholarship and receive rupees 2 as a nominal amount ,By 1901 aaround 3,64,810 people were
literate out of which 14,869 were educated in English , The national literacy rate around that
time was around 22 % But Travencore had a literacy rate of 36% higher than that of Calcutta5

AGRARIAN SCENE
Travencore was an agrarian state and by 1788 the English East India Company came to
Travencore and the kingdom had to pay around 8,00,000 per annum, the state came to an hault
and had to increase the tax levied on people .Travencore went to conquer the northern regions
and the newly conquered region came to be called Sarkar Land and hence 0.7 million acres of
cultivable land came under state and state became the chief janmi By the 1850s around 80% of
the total land came under sarkar land ,Land was divided as devaswamvaka [land owned by
private hindu temple ],Brahmaswamvaka land [land of brahmin janmis] ,Madampivaka [land
of chieftains], Karamozhivu land [land granted to selected families]

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During the Punnapra Vayalar Uprising the group of agrarian population who participated are
the landless agricultural labourers, Them participating in the uprising strengthened the
movement on the cause of proletariat fighting against the bourgeoisie .In Alappuzha and
Cherthala the communist party held hands to eliminate the atrocities committed by janmis , In
Travencore the number of agricultural labours were more compared to that of Assam and
Punjab the major agricultural hub of India at that time. The main reason behind this is the above
mentioned so called caste superiority enjoyed by certain sections. These people were called
gentleman farmers as they only owned few cents but wont take plough in their hands ,
communities like Nairs , Ezhavas , Vellalars , and the Syrian Catholics were notorious for this,
they formed the bulk of the farmers but the work was done by people belonging to the Pulaya
, Paraya caste

PROPORTION OF AGRICULTURAL LABOURS TO CULTIVATORS 6

PROVINCE No:OF AGRICULTURAL LABOURS

PER 100 CULTIVATORS
Assam 3
Punjab 12
United Provinces 16
Bengal 19
Bihar and Orissa 28
Burma 29
Travencore 45

This was possible because the labours in Travencore was paid almost nothing the labour
was almost free , the wages the workers earned by working in the scorching sun by suffering
the atrocities that was implicated in the name of caste system wasn’t even sufficient to feed
one person let alone the family. The pay was low and these men and their families were almost
living their whole life in utter poverty, almost all members of the family involved in agriculture.
The wage structure is shown in the table below 7

NATURE OF MEN WOMEN BOYS GIRLS

AGRICULTURAL
WORK
Ploughing 10 - - -
Trimming 10 - - -
Manuring 10 - 5-1/2 5-1/2
Bailing out water 9-1/2 - - -
Sowing 9 - - -
Transplanting 8 7-1/2 - 4-1/2
Weeding - 7 - 4-1/2

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 Harvesting 11-3/4 - - -
Threashing paddy 11 -1/2 - - -
Making pitts for 11-1/2 - - -
planting coconut
palm
Irrigating coconut 7-3/4 - - -
palm
Digging round the 12-1/2 - - -
coconut palm
Harvesting coconut 17-1/2 - - -
The wages are in chakras

The average wage earned is ½ rupees that is 101/4 , an average meal during this time was priced
around at 51/2 as one can see the wage was so meagre that it wasn’t even enough for one meal
this is where communist ideology sparked among the landless agricultural labour . The labours
suffered especially after the outbreak of second world war the wages saw a slight increase but
was compensated due to the inflation the arrival of second world war lead to the hoarding of
foodgrains that eventually lead to the spike in the price of rice pushing people with low wages
towards starvation and death by famine

THE INDUSTRIAL PROTERAIT

COIR FACTORY

The first coir factory was established in 1859 called Messrs Darragh Smail and Co.Ltd
established for the manufacture of coir mats and matting as they were popular in Europe . The
company was established by James Darragh , By 1922 a lot of cottage coir industry also sprang
up in Alappey many companies were also started by natives ,Willian Goodcare, Pierce Leslie
&Co , Aspinwall ,Empire .People preferred to work in the coir factory as it paid more and they
got to work on every day except the Sundays ,however the working conditions of the labours
were pathetic they had to work for 14 hours a day earning only 4 anas daily8, The factory
workers had to go through harsh treatments under the arms of supervisors called Moopans who
took every chance to exploit the workers they were the once to distribute the wages , they acted
as the link between the company and the labours ,They were keen on deducting wages one such
incident is that of a labourer named Kittapa he had an habit for humming songs named
‘Jayajaya Gokulapala’ one day he was humming a song during his work and the factory
moopan imposed 1 rupee fine on him , Kittapan hymned the second word of song and received
a 2 rupees fine and by the third word he was fined of 3 rupees. The labour had to derive

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permission to do almost everything even to attend the local temple festival , Once a worker
was fined because he attended a local temple festival without the prior permission from the
company ,These factory workers were also forced to attend and pay tickets for the wrestling
matches organised by the company in the name of recreation The wage earned by a worker was
expected to go through a lot of wage cut including Moopukasu also called the share that had to
be paid to the Moopan , the factory owners consented to cut around 2 anas from the wage of
worker as moopukasu ,There were other wage extorsion policy called Dharmavu which meant
money that had to be paid to the god ,The workers had to buy their daily nessicities from a shop
arranged by the Moopan often a shop owned by the relatives of the moopan and this shops sold
items at prices higher than that of the market price . The moopan always provided the workers
with banana when they came to his home the workers couldn’t say no to this banana by the
time the workers were paid the price of the banana would be deducted from their wages which
was around 1 ana , Moopan and his wife grew banana around their house and was served to the
labours solely for this purpose [ during this time a person could buy 10 to 12 bananas with 1
anas] also the money paid to the workers were kept on the floor and the son of the moopan can
take the money that is placed this was to be considered the privilege enjoyed by the moopans
son and no one questioned it .So after paying all this the labours are left with little money.
Moopans always employed people belonging to their caste and woman was also subjugated to
several hardships from the moopan . A worker could be beaten without any reason , could be
let go off of work without any reasons some weren’t even paid by the company , the workers
often zipped their mouths because the bourgeoisie was supported by the police and they always
kept around some gundas to shut their mouths9

The Great Economic Depression of 1920s hit the coir industry quiet hard as the prices fell
down by 50% this lead to the company letting go of many workers and the salary getting
deducted by 50-75% . When the Second World war hit all parts of Travencore was sinking
with famine and death due to starvation , the living condition of the workers were depleting ,
Hoarding became a daily scene and the workers were made to work for long hours in order to
fulfil the war supplement like the Celleta , matting etc . During the same time the trade with
America came to a halt as the traders there wanted the prices of coir to go down this made the
local producers to let go of 50% workers .Even though the production was high the owners of
the factory was determined to exploit the workers by reducing the wage and changing to
monthly salary plan . Most labourers worked for only 8 anas with when at that time was

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insufficient due to the inflation , This repressive social system forced the proletariats of
Travencore towards the frontline of Punnapra Vayalar struggle

CASHEW FACTORY

The workers at cashew factory especially at Quilon had workers who were suffering with low
wages and extreme working conditions but was still extremely poor , they worked 12-16 hours
a day . Once a pregnant worker in cashew factory ate a cashew nut because of her pregnant
craving she was made to wear a funny looking garnet and her face was drawn with charcoal
and she was made to walk on the street with a group of children verbally harassing her and
after that she was made to stand on a stool making everyone known of her ‘mistake’. Woman
were expected to provide sexual favours to the contractors as one person recollect “The only
work the contractor did was to sit at an arm chair and to rest and sleep at noon he would get
massaged by a woman with pretty face10”

AGRO-INDUSTRIAL SECTOR

The agro-industrial workers were the next group of people who actively participated in
Punnapra Vayalar struggle, this group of people included fisherman ,toddy tappers , coconut
tree climbers and plantation labourers . Punnapra was a barren land with majority of people
working as fisherman , the major population of fisherman were put under the janmi system the
fishermen didn’t had any gadgets to go for fishing ,they didn’t had any fishing nets, boats. The
fishermen didn’t earn much even though they had to combat the scorching sun and the harsh
coldness of night, they earned just enough to fill their tummy . The janmis organized a system
of pangu and pangu kash , according to which a certain amount of money that fishermen earned
went to different pangu including nerchapangu ,karnapangu etc, The owner of the boat
received around 14 pangu ,the one that lead the boat received 2 pangu the one that helped with
the fishes received 1 ½ pangu .The fishermen didn’t knew how much pangu was there and for
generations haven’t questioned the legitimacy of the situation or the wage they got , In fact the
fisherman didn’t even knew the price of the fish or the fishes they captured , Men worked 6
days a week .The workers had to bring the fish to the janmi and they had to wash and preserve
the fishing net and take care of the aids . The men always showed some form of submissiveness
to the rich they took the cloth that covered their head to protect the sun or loosen the lungi
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when they saw their janmi .People lived In the land of the janmi as tenant they would have
a small place to stay and each family would receive a coconut tree called “Anubavathengu”
The next set of people are the fishermen who suffered a lot and had to face generational trauma

19
due to the Janmis .The janmis owned most of the land and made people lived as tenants
[kudiyiripukar].Woman were made to work as domestic labors without a pay they helped
around the domestic activities of the janmis house they also were used to carry huge amount
of husk the back to the house of the janmi . Punnapra had a few rich janmis one amoung them
is Eppolith people like him owned land and in those land they had coconut tree, none of the
families were allowed to access the coconut If anyone is touching or using coconut apart from
their anubavathengu they would be beaten humiliated and also would be stripped away from
their home . Often times many neighboring families fought with each other on the account of
who owned the anubavathengu .People often lived on the edge .There was a major family that
controlled the fishing community the Arashar family was divided in to two prabala and
pollayil , the Prabala stayed away from fishing and mainly concentrated on white collar jobs ,
Pollaykar concentrated on fishing business one among them is Epollith he owned the largest
boat and a godown for trading and preserving fishes

People faced discrimination even in churches ,the rich and the poor were treated differently
the rich were given even special place in the church for prayers . In Mararikulam church a
special turkey towel would be laid on the floor when visited by women of the Erasherry family
,these woman even had a special place for worshipping and one day a woman from the
fisherman class decided to pray on the place where these rich woman were praying this
ultimately lead to some form of violence within the church .The church authorities often
preached about how men are equal before god but they themselves turned a blind eye towards
the fisherman and proceeded to show partiality towards the rich , The main father of the church
came from the prominent families of Puunapra ,the people who received favoritism were
related to this church authorities in one way or other ,everyone from the main father to the one
who chimes the bell were all related to these families , The church received funds from these
families In order to conduct the annual festival of the church called palliperunal in this manner
there was class favoritism on something as sacred as church itself

These janmis were extremely cruel , one day on good Friday the brother of K.J.Arulappan
was ordered to go to sea and catch fish on good Friday being a devote Christian he said he cant
go to the sea, the janmis ordered his rowdies to beat up and his brother by tying him up to the
coconut tree12

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TODDY TAPEPERS

Toddy tappers were another group that participated in Punnapra Vayalar struggle , the toddy
tappers were majority belonging to the Ezhava community and was stereotyped to be a job of
the Ezhava community , toddy tapping was a labor intensive job . there were 2 types of toddy
tappers . the one who got employed on salary basis and the one who tapped their own coconut
tree and sold it to the toddy shop . The most one can get paid is around 8-9 annas a day . The
one who tapped their own coconut tree fetched only low as rupees 15 for 100 kutti , that is
about 1 ½ litres in 1 kutti , in this low price too the contractors refused to pay them siting that
the toddy isn’t pure and that it is mixed with water apart from this the weighing machine used
to measure the toddy was manipulated so as to show low values that is 10 liter of toddy would
be seen as 7 and 8 liters thus cutting the price earned by them to meagre. The toddy tappers
were also made to pay a special form of tax called ‘vrikshakaram’ or tree tax , they were also
expected to give a portion of their income known as ‘shappadikaram’ , apart from this another
system existed in Punnapra Vayalar in which a toddy tapper was expected to work free on the
last day of the month and this system was called ‘muppatham theyati kallu’ . This men were
expected to work for 14 hours and were treated in conditions like that of a cattle

PLANTATION

Woman worked in plantation along the eastern belt of Travencore they worked for 12-14
hours and earned only 5 anas . The most miserable condition was that of the coconut tree
climbers this job was dominated by people belonging to the paravan (velan) caste , they were
expected to climb around 100 trees a day and the system was that the janmis paid them as they
wished , this group of people weren’t expected to question the janmis , somedays after climbing
these many trees they never even got any wages

GREAT DEPRESSION AND WORLDWAR

From 1928-1934 the prices of all goods fell from copra , turmeric, ginger . By around 66-55%
this has been caused by the great economic depression around 50% of the population had been
directly hit by the great economic depression that is around 25 lakh people .The entire
agricultural population was in huge debt

The debt of a single village at that time was around 2.44 lakh . During this time the labors
who worked at rubber and tea plantation was also let go off around 40000 lost their job . The
working class in Travencore was unorganized during this time often times the labors were paid

21
in kind rather than actual money , the labors almost had to choose being unemployed or get
paid in kind , the laborers were let go off , the wages were reduced , unemployment was peeking
so as starvation

Shortly after this tragic incident the second world war broke out and the workers in coir
factory was soon loosing their jobs , the workers went from 14,890 in 1938 to 4,959 in 1940.
The war brought in acute shortage of food , the prices of essential commodities were sky
rocketing in Cherthala the price of an entire meal for a whole day was below half a anna but it
rose up to a rupee for a meal.

YEAR AVERAGE NUMBER OF lbs. OF FOOD

STUFF FOR BRITISH RUPEE13
1938-39 53.3
1939-40 53.8
1940-41 45.5
1941-42 28.5
1942-43 20.6
1943-44 18.1
1944-45 20.6

FAMINE

During this time period Travencore was going through famine according to many scholars it
is the combined effect of famine and oppression that ultimately fueled communism in Kerala,
The government tried to amend the situation of unemployment and the resulting starvation by
introducing schemes of providing employment through public works Rs 500,000 was allotted
for this purpose , Rice was also imported to Travencore .The majority of population in
Travencore consumed rice , Travencore wasn’t self sufficient in case of rice production it
imported rice from Burma but when Burma was invaded by the Japanese Travencore went in
to panic mode around this time Travencore was deficient in around 50,000 tonnes of rice .
Because of this situation this situation the price of locally produced rice sky rocketed . Paddy
was withheld as the producers expected the price of rice to explode the government tried to
curb the situation by a rigorous procurement policy under this system a rationing scheme was
introduced with a lot of officers employed for the post of Village Officers, Taluk Officers, and
a few Division Peishkars [with the power of village magistrate]

But this came out to be a total flop with rampant corruption in between the officials , These
officials were assigned in a manner by which they were immune to all the criticism , the

22
government during this time was bombarded with accusations against the officials , the officials
sold the paddy secured to the black market and the population was starving . The ration shop
owners also started to hoard foodgrains and sell them to black market .The major rice consumer
during this time was the devasam., Devasam had a gross annual income of 102,500, of this
around 50000 were obtained from the tenants of Varapuzha , The entire income was spent on
the temple expenses such as Nithyamithanam ,Ulsavam,, even though the entire Travencore
was going through acute shortage of foodgrains the chief secretary and government made
statement to not to touch any of the devasam paddy

The next group were the Brahmans or the group of brahmins they considered themselves
above all and believed that they belonged to ‘ A class society’ these people complained about
the rice they received and said it wasn’t as par to their standard so during the time of black
market and famine government imported superior quality of rice to please the brahmins. In
Cochin the imported rice was sold at Rs 17bag , but the same thing was sold at Rs 26 in
Travencore . The government of India provided equal supply of rice to both Cochin and
Travencore but the residents of cochin received 340 g per person and the residents of
Travencore only received around 170g per person

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 END NOTES

1
P.K.V.Kaimal,Revolt of the oppressed,1994, pg8
2
G.Yadukulakumar,K.V.Pathrose Kunthakaranum
Baliyadum,D.C.Books,1996,pg33
3
P.K.V.Kaimal,Revolt of the oppressed,1994,pg10

4
P.K.V.Kaimal,Revolt of the oppressed,1994,pg22

5
P.K.V.Kaimal,Revolt of the oppressed,1994, pg26
6
Census Report 1931
7
P.K.V.Kaimal,Revolt of the oppressed,1994,pg40
8
Interview with Meenakshi
9
Interview with C.N.Babuji
10
G.Yadukulakumar,K.V.Pathrose Kunthakaranum Baliyadum,D.C.Books,1996
11
Interview with Joseph Patathil
12
Interview with Meenakshi
13
Fr. Alosius. D. Fernandez,Punnapra Vayalar Samaram, Chinta Publishers,2006

24
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