Epilogue
By Pallikonam Rajeev
The following is an account based on the facts that have emerged from investigations into the Trade centres of Old Kottayam that remained active until around the middle of the eighteenth century. During the reign of the Thekkumkur dynasty, Kottayam had three major markets within the town itself—Thazhathangady, Valiyangady and Puthanangady—along with the local market of Thaliyanthanapuram Chantha. These markets, which functioned primarily for the collection and export of cash crops and the distribution of goods brought from outside regions, earned Kottayam a reputation as a commercial town even though it had no seaport. The Travancore invasion of 1749 and the subsequent fall of Thekkumkur brought these markets to a virtual standstill.
The Malayalam word angady refers to a commercial centre where commodities produced in a region through agriculture, mining and other productive activities are purchased and stored by resident merchants and then either sold at a higher price in larger markets with greater storage capacity or transported to ports for export. Local distribution of goods also took place in these markets. A chantha, on the other hand, was essentially a local marketplace. Trade there was limited and regulated, primarily serving the day-to-day needs of the local population.
The beginning of Kottayam’s urban development can be traced to the emergence of Thazhathangady, which outsiders referred to as Kottayathangady. There are reasons to believe that it developed as a centre for the spice trade in connection with Purakkad, which was already an active port during the Perumal period. This commercial centre existed even before the emergence of the Thekkumkur kingdom, but gained greater importance when Thekkumkur shifted its capital to Kottayam in the fifteenth century.
Pepper, other spices and forest produce brought by boat along the Meenachil River could be purchased and stored at Thazhathangady. When large sailing ships from western countries arrived at the port of Purakkad, these commodities could then be transported across Vembanad Lake in large sailing boats. Thazhathangady was therefore probably established as an inland market at a strategically convenient location for this trade.
There are historical indications that, during the early centuries of the Common Era, an inland port town called Kodiyur existed near the confluence of the Kodoor and Meenachil rivers, south of present-day Kottayam. Some historians identify Koraiyura, mentioned in ancient travel literature, with Kodiyur, which is believed to have been located on the banks of the Kodoor River near present-day Kodimatha.
The formation of the low-lying wetlands and later paddy fields in this region was caused by the continuous deposition of silt carried by rivers, particularly during major floods believed to have occurred in the third and tenth centuries and in AD 1341, as well as by numerous smaller floods over the centuries. The harbour and trading centre at Kodiyur may have disappeared from history because the channel through which vessels entered the port became shallower and the river mouths became narrower. As Vembanad Lake gradually assumed its present form, the area near the mouth of the Meenachil River became a suitable location for an inland commercial centre, and Thazhathangady emerged there.
Until the beginning of the twelfth century, Kottayam was under the rule of a local dynasty known as the rulers of Munjhunadu. Athichan Kotha, who ruled Munjhunadu, governed as a subordinate of the Thaliyathiri, the Brahmin head of Kottayam Thali. When the Perumal rule came to an end in the early twelfth century and the local swarupams grew stronger, smaller principalities such as Munjhunadu were gradually absorbed by larger powers. Munjhunadu was incorporated into Vempalanadu, which subsequently divided into Thekkumkur and Vadakkumkur. The descendants of the Munjhunadu rulers later served as military commanders of Thekkumkur and were eventually reduced to the position of Madambi (Local Ruler).
Oral traditions suggest that the Thazhathangady Juma Masjid may have been established even earlier. This raises the possibility that Muslims had already settled in the area as traders. However, the more historically supported view is that large-scale Muslim settlement began only by the fifteenth century.
Goods brought by boat along the Meenachil River from the hill markets of Aruvithura, Pala and Punnathura had to pass through a customs point when they entered the boundaries of Kottayam town. The place is still known as Chungom, meaning toll. At Thazhathangady, merchants known as Tharakans purchased the commodities and stored them in warehouses called "Pandikashalas". The storage and trade of spices such as pepper, dried ginger and cinnamon were largely under the control of the state. Other agricultural products were purchased and traded by private merchants. They were also permitted to deal in limited quantities of spices, but mainly traded commodities such as jaggery, oil, areca nut and copra. They were required to pay the prescribed trade taxes. Family records from Thazhathangady provide some fragmentary information about this commercial activity.
These commodities were transported to the foreign ships that arrived at the port of Purakkad. After the monsoon, when ships arrived, the warehouses would be filled with goods awaiting shipment. Large sailing native boats from Purakkad would cross Vembanad Lake, enter the Meenachil River and reach Thazhathangady.
Before the sixteenth century, traders known as Thariyachettis, along with Arabs and others, came to this region in search of pepper. Merchants from Syria, Persia and China were among the major foreign traders who frequented Kerala’s ports during this period. Some of the people who came to Thazhathangady may have been their commercial agents based at Purakkad. It is not known to which other ports, apart from Purakkad, goods from the markets of Thekkumkur were transported. After the rise of the port of Kochi in the latter half of the fourteenth century, goods were also transported there by water. There is evidence that, after the arrival of the Portuguese in the sixteenth century, pepper from Thekkumkur was transported to Kochi for them. Nevertheless, Thekkumkur’s extensive commercial relationship was primarily with Purakkad, a port with evidence of activity dating back to the first century and which eventually declined after the emergence of Alappuzha as a major port under Travancore. At that time, Purakkad was also the principal port of the Chempakassery kingdom.
The possibility that a small number of Syrian Christians settled at Thazhathangady by at least the twelfth century, attracted by its commercial opportunities, cannot be ruled out. Markets at Athirampuzha and Changanassery, neither of which had direct access to a major river, were already active around this period, and the foundation histories of their churches indicate a significant presence of Syrian Christians there. For this reason, the claims of some historians that the first Syrian Christian settlement in Kottayam occurred only in the sixteenth century need to be reconsidered. It may be true that their population did not become large enough to establish a church until much later. Therefore, the argument that the first settlement of Syrian Christians in Kottayam occurred immediately before the establishment of Kottayam Valiyapalli around AD1550 also deserves reconsideration. It is plausible that for several centuries before the establishment of a church, Christian worship centred around crosses may have taken place in the markets. There are several historical indications that support such a possibility.
The Thekkumkur dynasty began ruling from Vennimala and developed Manikandapuram as its capital during the first half of the twelfth century. At that time, it is unlikely that Thekkumkur had yet developed a system for systematically collecting a share of the revenues generated by trade at Thazhathangady or for regulating its commercial activities in an organized manner. The responsibility for local administration may have remained with the Munjhunadu Panikkars of Veloor, who held the rank of Madambi under Thekkumkur and were descendants of the earlier ruling family. Some family records suggest that, during the three centuries before Thekkumkur established its capital at Kottayam in the early fifteenth century, the Munjhunadu Panikkers of Veloor may have played a leading role in attracting various communities to settle in the commercial centre.
The Thekkumkur dynasty shifted its capital to Changanassery in the fourteenth century and built a fort at Thaliyanthanapuram about a century later. By then, Brahmin influence had declined and the Thali had largely lost its earlier importance. A political centre was established on the hilltop of Thaliyanthanapuram, incorporating the Mahadeva temple complex at Thali. The western slope of the Thali hill led down to the market. Since it lay below the political centre, Kottayathangadi came to be known as Thazhathangady, literally the market below. After the construction of the fort, people from other parts of Thekkumkur gradually stopped using the older name Thaliyanthanapuram and began referring to the royal capital as Kottayakam. In time, not only the area inside the fort but the surrounding settlement also came to be known as Kottayakam, from which the modern name Kottayam evolved.
The decision to make Kottayam the capital of Thekkumkur was closely connected with the desire to control and expand the trade centred on Thazhathangady. The shift strengthened the movement of goods through the Vembanad waterways, helped suppress piracy on the backwaters and improved internal security.
In addition to spices, grains, jaggery and oils, local markets also had traders selling fish, meat and alcoholic beverages. There was also trade in intoxicants such as tobacco and opium, as well as chemical substances such as salt, saltpetre, sal ammoniac and Copper sulphate. Syrian Christian merchants had a dominant position in these areas of trade.
With the objective of developing commerce, the rulers of Thekkumkur invited merchant communities belonging to different castes to settle in Kottayam at different periods. They also brought in people engaged in various crafts and other productive occupations from different regions. By the seventeenth century, Konkani merchants belonging to the Gauda Saraswat Brahmin community, who had come from Purakkad as commercial representatives of the Dutch, had become active in the trade of Thazhathangady. Gradually, several Konkani families settled there. Later, members of the same community migrated from different places in successive periods and, along with Syrian Christians, acquired a prominent position in the commercial life of Kottayam.
A map prepared in AD 1691 by the Dutchman Sir George Tharant and his team after travelling from Kodungallur to Kollam marks Kottayathangady as “Basaar Cottate.” The Valiyangady, established in the sixteenth century, and Puthanangady, established in the seventeenth century, were later developed by the rulers of Thekkumkur as extensions of the commercial tradition of Thazhathangady.
Around AD 1547, the arrival and settlement of the Thekkumbhagar, the group commonly identified with the Knanaya Christians, increased the Christian population of Kottayam.
Recognizing the growing commercial opportunities at Kottayathangady, the ruler of Thekkumkur appears to have invited about twelve Thekkumbhagar families, accompanied by the priest Cherian Mathu Kathanar of Moozhiyil. The then ruler of Thekkumkur, Adityavarma, granted permission for another market to be established to the north of Thazhathangady. This commercial centre later came to be known as Valiyangady, or the “Big Market.” Unlike the more state-controlled trade at Thazhathangady, merchants here engaged in commerce more independently. In addition to spices, Valiyangady became a centre for the sale of luxury goods and gold ornaments. The establishment of Kottayam Valiyapalli, the first Christian place of worship in Kottayam, followed the development of this market.
In the seventeenth century, some Vadakkumbhagar Syrian Christians settled in the eastern part of Kottayam town. They became known as the Pathinettara (“eighteen-and-a-half”), consisting of eighteen Syrian Christian families and one Ezhava family. They had leased paddy lands in the Kuttanad region and cultivated wetland rice, while some of them also held high positions in the administrative system of Thekkumkur.
Puthanangady became an important centre for transporting rice, paddy, beaten rice (aval), copra and oil, especially to the hill markets in the eastern region. This was also a period when goods began to be transported by road in bullock carts. The traders of this market began worshipping a cross erected in the marketplace, and this eventually led to the establishment of Puthanangadi Kurishupalli, or the St. Thomas Church. Dr. Susan Viswanathan’s book "The Christians of Kerala: History, Belief and Ritual among the Yakoba (Oxford University Press, 1993) gives a detailed account of the history of Puthanangady and the traditions of its Syrian Christian community.
Following the trade agreement signed at Kottayam on June 16, 1664, between Ludolf van Coulster, representing the Dutch Governor Jacob Hustaert, and Kotha Varma, the then ruler of Thekkumkur, the commercial sector of Thekkumkur experienced unprecedented growth. There is documentary evidence that these agreements, renewed every ten years, remained in force until around 1744.
Another important agreement was signed on August 14, 1674, between Captain Burghart Uytter, appointed by Hendrik van Rheede, the Commander of Cochin, and Udayamarthanda Varma, the ruler of Thekkumkur. The trade agreements between the Dutch East India Company and Thekkumkur also led to the establishment of a school for interpreters at Kottayam in AD 1668, intended to facilitate communication in the commercial activities centred on the markets and ports of the various principalities. It was during this period that the forests of the central regions of Thekkumkur were cleared on a large scale for pepper cultivation, while new roads and routes developed to support the expanding trade.