¹ The present writer is engaged in producing a thesis on this rebellion.

² In a paper presented to the Institute of Commonwealth Studies seminar on Comparative Economic History (India and Africa), 1973–1974. The Athlone Press is to publish this and other papers given at this seminar in its ‘Commonwealth Papers’ series.

³ Wye, J. W., Collector of Velatre [to Malabar Commissioners?] 4 February 1801, P/275/45, M.R.P. 20 February 1801, p.178; report of Malabar Commissioners to Board of Revenue, 28 July 1801, P/286/65, M.B.R.P. 10 August 1801, p. 9253;Google ScholarWalker, A., ‘History of Malabar’, n.d., but possibly 1801–1802, Vol. 3, p. 339, Walker Papers, 184a2.Google Scholar

⁴ Report of Joint Commission of 1792–93, Vol. II, p. 4.

⁵ Offices for public business.

⁶ Report of Joint Commission of 1792–93, Vol. I, p. 174.Google Scholar

⁷ Ibid., Vol. I, p. 163. See also Farmer, W. G., Malabar Supravisor, to Malabar Commissioners, 14 July 1793, P/366/15, B.R.P. 8 October 1793, pp. 354–5.Google Scholar

⁸ Voucher No. 39, W. G. Farmer's report on the nature of ancient Malabar tenures and of rent and revenue in Malabar, 25 February 1793, Appendix No. 1 in Government of Madras, Malabar Land Tenures, 1885 [henceforth, Farmer's report], p. 152.

⁹ Report of Joint Commission of 1792–93, Vol. I, p. 179.Google Scholar

¹⁰ Ibid Vol. I, pp. 179–80, and Vol. II, p. 65.

¹¹ Farmer's report, p. 154.

¹² Ibid, pp. 153, 154; and Report of Joint Commission of 1792–93, Vol. I, p. 173.Google Scholar

¹³ ‘Report of Messrs. Duncan and Boddam [Malabar Commissioners] to Sir John Shore [Governor-General of India] on their arrival in Calcutta’ 2 February 1794,Google Scholar supplement to Report of Joint Commission of 1792–93, Vol. II, p. 211.Google Scholar

¹⁴ Ibid.

¹⁵ Abercromby, Robert, Governor of Bombay, to Malabar Commissioners, 20 April 1792, P/E/5, B.P.S.P. 22 05 1792, p. 341.Google Scholar

¹⁶ Farmer's report, p. 153.

¹⁷ ‘Articles settled with regard to the JELMKAARS and to their share of the Revenue for [Malayali year] 969 [1793–94]’, from the Diary of the Malabar Supravisor, 28 October 1793, in Logan, W. (ed.), A Collection of Treaties, Engagements and Other Papers of Importance relating to British Affairs in Malabar (Madras, 1891), p. 208.Google Scholar

¹⁸ The fullest discussion of this point appears to be in Warden, T., Malabar Collector, to Board of Revenue, September 1815, P/291/53, M.B.R.P. 25 September 1815, p. 11080. Warden's first-hand experience of Malabar dated back into the eighteenth century. See also Murdoch Brown [a planter, trader and official of long experience in Malabar] to Francis Buchanan n.d. [1801], P/286/58, M.B.R.P. 27 April 1801, pp. 4822–3, and Malabar Commissioners to Board to Revenue, 28 July 1801, P/286/65, M.B.R.P. 10 August 1801, p. 9075.Google Scholar

¹⁹ ‘Articles settled’, Diary of Malabar Supravisor, 28 10 1793, in Logan, (ed.), Collection of Treaties, p. 208,Google Scholar and Report of Joint Commission of 1792–93, Vol. II, pp. 68–9.Google Scholar

²⁰ ‘A List of the Districts of the Province of Malabar according to their usual Political Divisions’, enclosure in Malabar Commissioners to Government of Madras, 14 August 1800, P/286/48, M.B.R.P. 29 December 1800, p. 10791. See also Capt. A. Walker, Military Secretary, to General Stuart, 24 August 1799, Add. 13682, p. 88, and Walker to General Stuart (Private), 17 March 1800, Walker Papers, 182d18, Box 1782–99, ‘Private Papers’ collection, no page numbers.Google Scholar

²¹ Malabar Commissioners to Government of Madras, 14 August 1800, P/286/48, M.B.R.P. 29 December 1800, pp. 10781–2.Google Scholar

²² Ibid.

²³ Wye, J. W., Collector of Velatre, Shernad, Betutnad and Parappanad, to Board of Revenue, 4 Febuary 1801, P/275/45, M.R.P. 20 February 1801, p. 184.Google Scholar

²⁴ Farmer's report, p. 154.

²⁵ Report of Joint Commission of 1792–93, Vol. I, pp. 87,163.Google Scholar

²⁶ Ibid. Vol. I, p. 87.

²⁷ Report of Major Walker, 15 April 1800, P/381/12, B.P.S.P. 17 June 1800, pp. 3193–4 [henceforth, Report of Major Walker]. See also opinion of J. W. Wye, Assistant in charge of Shernad, quoted in ibid., pp. 3179–80, and Walker to General Stuart, 24 August 1799, Add. 13682, p. 97.

²⁸ Report of Joint Commission of 1792–93, Vol. I, pp. 200, 261, 267, and Vol. II, pp. 63–4.Google Scholar See also ‘Revenue Regulations Established for the Administration of Malabar’, ibid., Vol. III, Regulation X, no page numbers. The names of the 25 parbutties (revenue collectors) of Ernad district given in the unheaded enclosure, n.d., in John Law, Ernad Collector, to Secretary, Board of Revenue, 5 February 1801 (P/286/54, M.B.R.P. 2 March 1801, enclosure pages 1–2 opposite vol. page 2392), reveal that about three-quarters were Moplahs.

²⁹ Farmer's report, p. 154; Report of Joint Commission of 1792–93, Vol. I, p. 162.Google Scholar

³⁰ Farmer's report, p. 154.

³¹ Opinion of Wye, J. W. Assistant in charge of Shernad, as quoted in Report of Major Walker, p. 3180.Google Scholar

³² Farmer's report, p. 154.

³³ James Stevens, Malabar Supervisor, to Government of Madras, 22 March 1794, P/E/7, B.P.S.P. 22 April 1794, p. 256;Google ScholarWalker, A., ‘Essay on Malabar’ [1798?], Walker Papers, 182c5, p. 57.Google Scholar

³⁴ The record of the relations of the Mysorean administration of Malabar with the ‘Jungle Moplahs’ is by no means without its instances of conflict, probably because the Mysoreans were responsible for the introduction into Malabar for the first time of a regular land revenue. See, for example, Walker, A. ‘Transactions in Malabar’, Vol. I, Walker Papers, 184a9.Google Scholar

³⁵ Opinion of J. W. Wye, Assistant in charge of Shernad, as quoted in Report of Major Walker, p. 3180. See also Walker's ‘Memoir on the Actual State of Malabar in regard to its Revenues and Civil Government… in September 1801’, October 1801, Add. 13682, pp. 121–2.Google Scholar

³⁶ Report of Joint Commission of 1792–93, Vol.I, pp. 265–6.Google Scholar

³⁷ Ibid., p. 261.

³⁸ Ibid., p. 264.

³⁹ Ibid., Vol. II, p. 52; Peile, C., Southern Superintendent, Malabar, to Malabar Commission, 7 March 1799, P/381/2, B.P.S.P. 29 March 1799, p. 1838.Google Scholar

⁴⁰ ‘Translate Ola [leaf writing] from Yelambullacherry Unie Moota to Mr. Mellingchamp the officer for his personal information’, n.d., received 9 April 1798, P/366/23, B.R.P. 16 October 1798, p. 1590.

⁴¹ James, Stevens, Malabar Supervisor, to Government of Madras, 22 March 1794, P/E/7, B.P.S.P. 22 April 1794, p. 256;Google ScholarReport of Joint Commission of 1792–93, Vol. I, pp. 261, 264–5;Google ScholarPeile, C., Southern Superintendent, Malabar, to Malabar Commission, 7 March 1799, P/381/2, B.P.S.P. 29 March 1799 p. 1838–9;Google Scholar‘Information as to the Connection and strength of such Mopillahs as have lately assembled to resist the Authority of Government, obtained through the medium of Mr.Wye, J. W. Translator, Kakooke Uny Moidene etc.’, 25 February 1800, P/381/10, B.P.S.P. 2 April 1800, pp. 1287–8Google Scholar. See also ‘petitions from Golaum Mahomed Moossa [Unni Mutta] to Tippoo Sultaun’, n.d., apparently discovered at the fall of Tippu's capital of Seringapatam in 1799, item 29, Walker Papers, 180a1, unbound correspondence, 1754–99, Box I.

⁴² ‘List of names given by the Cotiote Paripanaad Rajah of those to whom Tippoo Sultaun has sent Phirmaunds [presumably ‘firmans’, edicts]’, signed Peile, C., 9 February 1799, P/381/2, B.P.S.P. 22 March 1800, p. 1634.Google Scholar

⁴³ A kettle-drum, a mark of state.

⁴⁴ Corruption of ‘naubat’, musical instruments sounding at the gateway of a great man at intervals.

⁴⁵ Report of Joint Commission of 1792–93, Vol. I, pp. 260–1.Google ScholarSee also James Stevens, Malabar Supervisor, to Government of Bombay, 25 March 1794, P/E/7, B.P.S.P. 22 April 1794, p. 253;Google ScholarPeile, C., Southern Superintendent, Malabar, to Malabar Commission, 7 March 1799, P/381/2, B.P.S.P. 29 March 1799, p. 1839;Google Scholar‘Examination of Purtumpidiakel Marcar’, 11 August 1799, enclosure in Waddell, G. Acting Southern Superintendent, Malabar, to Malabar Commission, 11 August 1799, P/381/9, B.P.S.P. 21 February 1800, p. 732; Malabar Commissioners to Government of Madras, 14 August 1800, P/286/48, M.B.R.P. 29 December 1800, p. 10791.Google Scholar

⁴⁶ See Stevens, James, Malabar Supervisor to Lt. Col. Macpherson, O/C Malabar, 28 September 1795, P/E/8, B.P.S.P. 23 October 1795, p. 376;Google ScholarKuruppa, Kannu [apparently to James Stevens, Southern Superintendent, evidently the son of the Malabar Supervisor of the same name], n.d., P/E/8, B.P.S.P. 26 October 1795, p. 425;Google ScholarWye, J. W., on deputation to Manaar, to Peile, C., Southern Superintendent, 15 December 1798, P/380/74, B.P.S.P. 28 December 1798, p. 5215.Google Scholar

⁴⁷ See Waddell, G., Acting Southern Superintendent, to Malabar Commission, 7 June 1799, P/366/25, B.R.P. 19 July 1799, p. 632;Google ScholarMalabar Commission to Waddell, 10 June 1799, , p. 633;Google Scholaribid.Malabar Commission to Major-General Hartley, J., O/C Malabar, 10 June 1799, , p. 635;Google Scholaribid.Duncan, J. [Governor of Bombay] to Earl of Mornington [Governor-General] (Private), 9 October 1799, Add. 13698, p. 274. Before hostilities with Tippoo had ended the Gvt of Bombay had warned the Malabar Commission (22 March 1799) to be ready to seize the principal Moplah ‘Disturbers of the Peace’ as soon as circumstances permitted (Add. 13696, p. 125).Google Scholar

⁴⁸ ‘Considerations on the late Mapilla Disturbances’ by Wye, J. W., Malabar Translator, 5 February 1800, enclosure in Report of Major Walker (P/381/13), pp. 3343–4.Google Scholar

⁴⁹ Report of Major Walker, p. 3149.

⁵⁰ Unni Mutta was described as a ‘farmer’ (see above, p. 548) and Chemban Poker as a ‘kudian’ (cultivator). See, for example, Waddell, G., Acting Southern Superintendent, to Malabar Commission, 5 November 1799, P/381/9, B.P.S.P. 21 February 1800, p. 574. Both were without doubt kanamdars.Google Scholar

⁵¹ Unni Mutta's brother was executed in July 1799 after sentence by a criminal court for ‘harbouring an outlaw and other heinous crimes’ and in October 1799 the Muppan himself had seen his rice crop, arms and other effects seized for long-standing revenue arrears (see Malabar Commissioners to Major Walker, 12 March 1800, P/381/11, B.P.S.P. 8 April 1800, pp. 1557–8). Poker, in late 1799, had been driven into outlawry and his house destroyed by Mr Baber the Shernad Assistant (see Report of Major Walker, p. 3112) after complaints from Nairs of Poker's oppressive behaviour, including the ‘plundering’ of their property (see ‘Deposition of Purutiny para Moossa of Ramnaad’, 17 March 1800, enclosure in ibid. (P/381/13), pp. 3199–200).

⁵² ‘Ola addressed by Uny Moota and Chembum Poker to the Inhabitants of Ariacotta, 10 Makaram’ (January–February 1800), quoted in ‘Deposition of Chembatta Kuty Rayen and Uroonen Pokoo, Inhabitants of Ariacotta’, 25 March 1800, enclosure in Report of Major Walker (P/381/13), p. 3227.Google Scholar

⁵³ Government of Bombay to Malabar Commission, 10 February 1800, P/381/9, B.P.S.P. 10 February, p. 400.Google Scholar

⁵⁴ Wye, J. W., Velatre Collector, to Board of Revenue, 4 February 1801, P/275/45, M.R.P. 20 February 1801, pp. 178, 185. As darogah in Shernad, Chemban Poker had also acquired a good deal of land (see , p. 185 and ‘Information as to the Connection and strength of such Mopillahs as have lately assembled to resist the Authority of Government, obtained through the medium of Wye, J. W. Mr., Translator, Kakooke Uny Moidene etc.’, 25 February 1800, P/381/10, B.P.S.P. 2 April 1800, pp. 1288–9).Google Scholar

⁵⁵ Report of Major Walker, p.3110.

⁵⁶ ‘Considerations on the late Mapilla Disturbances’, Wye, J. W., 5 February 1800, enclosure in (P/381/13), pp. 3344–5.Google Scholaribid.

⁵⁷ Report of Major Walker, p. 3114.

⁵⁸ Walker, Major to Spencer, J.,President, Malabar Commission, 27 March 1800, Walker Papers, 182d18, Box 1782–99;Google ScholarWalker, to Spencer, , 7 April 1800,.Google Scholaribid

⁵⁹ Walker to Colonel Close (Private), 2 November 1800, item 53 in folder 1, Walker Papers, 180a2, unbound correspondence, 1800–03, box II.Google Scholar

⁶⁰ Watson, J. [a police chief] to Macleod, W. Principal Collector, Malabar, 29 April 1802, P/287/4, M.B.R.P. 14 May 1802, p. 4975; Warden, T., Sub-Collector, Malabar to Macleod, 15 June 1802, P/275/55, M.R.P. 9 July 1802, p. 2365.Google Scholar

⁶¹ See, for example, ‘A Publication from the Diary of the Malabar Joint Commissioners, 5 June 1793’, XLIII in Logan, (ed.), Collection of Treaties, p. 188.Google Scholar

⁶² Report of Major Walker, p. 3150. For Baber's report of his action see Baber, T.H. to Waddell, G., Acting Southern Superintendent, December 1799, P/381/9, B.P.S.P. 21 February 1800, p. 626Google Scholar. For other evidence of bias towards the ‘Nair interest’ before 1800 see Wye, J. W., on deputation to Manaar, to Peile, C., Southern Superintendent, 15 December 1798, P/380/74, B.P.S.P. 28 December 1798, p. 5215;Google ScholarWaddell, G., Acting Southern Superintendent to Malabar Commission, 7 June 1799, P/366/25, B.R.P. 19 July 1799, p. 633Google Scholar; Walker, to General Stuart, , 24 August 1799, Add. 13682, p. 97; Peile, C. to Duncan, J., Governor of Bombay (Private), 25 August 1798, , p. 151.Google Scholaribid.

⁶³ Wye, J. W. to Board of Revenue, 4 February 1801, P/275/45, M.R.P. 20 February 1801, pp. 176–7.Google Scholar

⁶⁴ Marquis Wellesley to General Stuart, Commander in Chief, 12 January 1800, letter-book, 1783–1812, of Colonel Alexander Walker, [later] Resident at Baroda, MSS Eur C 198, p. 12.

⁶⁵ Walker, A., ‘Hints for Collection of Land Revenue’, [possibly 1802], Walker Papers, 184a4 ‘Memoir on Malabar, in 1790 [sic, but certainly later, possibly 1797] with Correspondence and Documents respecting the same country’, Appendix to Walker's ‘History of Malabar’, Vol. V, pp. 521–2.Google ScholarFor examples of remarks after the start of the 1800 insurrection of a similarly anti-Moplah purport see also Macleod, W., Principal Collector, Malabar, to Board of Revenue, 18 June 1802, P/287/8, M.B.R.P. 15 July 1802, pp. 7039–41 and 7043–4;Google ScholarWarden, T., Principal Collector, Malabar to Board of Revenue, 31 August 1804, P/288/5, M.B.R.P. 27 September 1804, p. 9658.Google Scholar

⁶⁶ Wye, J. W., Collector of Velatre etc., to Board of Revenue, 4 February 1801, P/275/45, M.R.P. 20 February 1801, pp. 184–5;Google Scholarunheaded, undated enclosure in Law, John, Ernad Collector, to Board of Revenue, 5 February 1801, P/286/54, M.B.R.P. 2 March 1801, p. 2 of enclosure, after p. 2394;Google ScholarWarden, Thomas, Principal Collector, Malabar, to Secretary, Revenue, 16 December 1805, P/276/4, M.R.P. 3 January 1806, p. 35.Google Scholar

⁶⁷ Wye, J. W. to Board of Revenue, 4 February 1801, P/275/45, M.R.P. 20 February 1801, pp. 184–5.Google Scholar

⁶⁸ The opinion of Wye, J. W., Assistant in charge of Shernad, as quoted in report of MajorWalker, , p. 3180Google Scholar; unheaded, undated enclosure in John Law to Board of Revenue, 5 February 1801, P/286/54, M.B.R.P. 2 March 1801, p. 2 of enclosure, after p. 2394.Google Scholar

⁶⁹ Report of MajorWalker, , p. 3183.Google Scholar

⁷⁰ Ibid. See also Warden to Secretary, Revenue, 16 December 1805, P/276/4, M.R.P. 3 January 1806, p. 35.

⁷¹ See, for example, petition of 29 Hindus of Ernad, Walluvanad and Shernad, 12 August 1851, enclosure in Conolly, H. V., Malabar Collector, to Secretary, Judicial, 16 October 1851, P/327/42, M.J.P. No. 720, 2 December 1851, pp. 4352–3; Conolly to Secretary, Judicial, 23 December 1843, P/326/35, M.J.P. No. 69, 27 January 1844, p. 248; Conolly to Chief Secretary, Judicial, 29 December 1841, P/326/15, M.J.P. No. 15, 4 January 1842, pp. 61–2. Conolly himself, whilst a partisan of the formation of a police corps on the lines of Watson's irregulars, was emphatically opposed to recruitment on a communal basis: see Conolly to Secretary, Judicial, 16 January 1844, P/326/36, M.J.P. No. 187, 8 March 1844, p. 722.Google Scholar

⁷² In fact the Corps was ‘composed of Naiars chiefly and of a few Tiers and Mopillas’; Macleod, W., Principal Collector, Malabar to Board of Revenue, 7 May 1802, P/287/5, M.B.R.P. 17 May 1802, p. 5102.Google Scholar

⁷³ Warden, Thomas, Principal Collector, Malabar, to Secretary, Judicial, 17 March 1808; P/322/31, M.J.P. 17 March 1808, p. 1358.Google Scholar

⁷⁴ Report of Major Walker, , p. 3188;Google ScholarMinute of Duncan, J., Governor of Bombay, 26 May 1800, P/286/52, M.B.R.P. 29 January 1801, p. 949.Google Scholar

⁷⁵ Rickards, R., Malabar Collector, to Government of Madras, 27 March 1803, P/275/63, M.R.P. 15 April 1803, p. 1372Google Scholar; Warden, T., Malabar Collector, to Secretary, Revenue, P/276/4, M.R.P. 3 January 1806, p. 37.Google Scholar

⁷⁶ Waddell, G., Acting Southern Superintendent, to Malabar Commission, 7 June 1799, P/366/25, B.R.P. 19 July 1799, p. 633;Google ScholarMalabar Commission to Waddell, 10 June 1799 , p. 635; Walker to General Stuart, 24 August 1799, Add. 13682, pp. 87, 98 and 99; ‘A Genealogical Table of the Ernaad Inhabitants’, John Law, Collector, 6 April 1800, P/286/57, M.B.R.P. 2 March 1801, p. 2408;Google Scholaribid.Memorandum of Walker, A., 19 November 1800, Walker Papers, 181d12, Letter-book 1796 and 1800, no page numbers.Google Scholar

⁷⁷ Baber, T. W., Collector of Kirakumpuram etc., to Board of Revenue, 31 January 1801, P/286/54, M.B.R.P. 2 March 1801, pp. 2361–2.Google Scholar

⁷⁸ Gillio, G. W., Collector of Calicut and Beypore, to Board of Revenue, 14 April 1801, P/286/58, M.B.R.P. 27 April 1801, p. 4754Google Scholar; Wilson, James, Collector of Cotiote etc., to Board of Revenue, 15 February, 1801, P/286/55, M.B.R.P. 5 March 1801, p. 2585; Murdoch Brown to Malabar Commissioners, 13 07 1798, P/286/58, M.B.R.P. 20 April 1801, p. 4315.Google Scholar

⁷⁹ Gillio, G. W. to Board of Revenue, 14 April 1801, P/286/58, M.B.R.P. 27 April 1801, p. 4746Google Scholar; Brown, Murdoch to Malabar Commissioners, 13 July 1798, P/286/58, M.B.R.P. 20 April 1801, pp. 4315–16.Google Scholar

⁸⁰ Baber, T. W. to Board of Revenue, 31 January 1801, P/286/54, M.B.R.P. 2 March 1801, p. 2362.Google ScholarSee also fragment of Walker's ‘Report on Malabar Land Tenures’, 1 July 1801, item 68, Walker Papers, 180a2, unbound correspondence. 1800–03, Box II.Google Scholar

⁸¹ This, the British observed, was the case. See Murdoch Brown to Board of Revenue, 9 May 1801, P/286/60, M.B.R.P. May 1801, p. 5806Google Scholar; Baber, T. W. to Board of Revenue, 31 January 1801, P/286/54, M.B.R.P. 2 March 1801, pp. 2361–2;Google ScholarBrown, Murdoch to Malabar Commissioners, 13 July 1798, P/286/58, M.B.R.P. 20 April 1801, p. 4316.Google Scholar

⁸² Wilson, James to Board of Revenue, 15 August 1801, P/286/55, M.B.R.P. 5 March 1801, p. 2585.Google Scholar

⁸³ The ‘different intelligent Natives’ of Malabar interrogated by Walker (probably in 1801) on questions of the land system of the district were quite clear that, according to their traditional conceptions, the jenmi could not raise the tenant's rent; Walker, A., ‘Account of Malabar’, Walker Papers, 184c9, p. 592. See also the discussion of this question in the present writer's seminar paper alluded to in note 2.Google Scholar