| Sample Survey of a Village: Toponymical
observation on the HABITAT. Local History Study :First part of the paper
publihed in the E-Journel Vijnanacinthamony ,26-7-2007Pattambi A brief
toponymical analysisof ARAMBRAM village in the erstwhile Eranadu Taluk of
Malabar district based on British settlement records of 1902 AD: Click
maps,reports,papers link Special features of Toponyms and Anthroponyms of
Kerala in brief. Revenue divisions of Kerala are: District, taiuk, Amsom
Village, Desam Vaillage and Fields in Desom villages. Kerala village of
dispersed type. Hence each field in a village carries a name. The field
name has three parts. Specific, generic and a general generic. The general
generic indicate whether the land is Garden or Wet. The first generic
reflects topography, geography, geology, nature of soil etc. Specific
reflects caste, religions, structures in the field, occupation and all
aspects related to settlements. The field names originated in the medieval
period, and even earlier, when settlements spread over the land. They are
carried through records till this period with oputr much changesand hence
the indication of names are immensly valuable in the study of cultural
history. Anthroponyms also reflect some specialities. The names of higher
caste reflect caste name at the end. Muslim and christian personnel names
have their own patterns. Hindu names without caste names also reflect
certain features by which identification of caste, occupation etc are
possible.Anthropnyms are also carried through ages with out much changes.
This brief analysys is based on field name specifics, generics, personnel names, caste names, density of generics, their distribution patterns, distribution of settlements and their relation to habitat. Cultural geography maps / historical geography maps etc are given here. They are self explanatory. Data related to the analysis are avoided here for brevity of the matter. A) Revenue details of the village ARAMBRAM.
Arambram is a Desom village, where 57 fields are distributed in 331.77 acres of land. 57 fields (Field No’s 1- 57 in Map1) are divided in to 127 subfields. The nature of land as per revenue records is 3.23% wet land; 46.8% garden land; 23.5% Unoccuppied dry landand 26.1 % occuppied dry land. This reveals the major feature of the land. Paddy cultivation is very low whereas Garden land cultivation is high in the village. B) Geography, Topography, Nature of the Soil, Cultivation Distribution of details in the map are based on toponyms. A few specifics and all generics are taken into consideration. Total generics: 127: Generics indicative of wet land' Generics indicative of Garden Generics indicative of undulating nature Generics indicative of fertile paddy fields Generics indicative of hills Generics indicative of hillocks Generics indicative of low lands and depth 24 47 55 15 5 3 7 Explanation of specifics and generics distributed in Map Topography, Geography, Bio system, Economic geography, Economic geology etc. of comparatively early period are indicated in field name generics and specifics. D) Nature of habitat and settlements Fields Nos. 30,11,27,5,42,51 indicate paddy: fertile paddy fields in general - Vayal E) Paddy Cultivation: Kantom, nilam and vayal indicative of paddy fields are generally close to water sources. F) Water sources: Fields 6,14,12,11,5,43,42,48,33,34 and 55 refelected "Pula" (river) Chalu (rivulet or man made Canal) Kuli (depth) tatom (low land) aal ( Water sources) Kulam(tank or pond) for growing fish etc. Field Nos.12, 5 and 55 refele€t river courses ere paddy cultivation is extensive. A fish growing natural or artificial tank is in field No II. close to the river. Vettuvans are residing close to it in field 13, who were traditional salt panning groups. A few specifices in field 36 and 50 refelect marshy, salty low lands, where paddy cultivation exist even though it is unfertile. G) Dry, rocky, dusty and un fertile areas .. There Elre unfertile arable land in fields 13. 53, 32, 40, 41, 9, 7 and 15. These are comparatively extensive fields where parra (rocky) and dusty areas exist. Field 32,43, 13, 15 and 53 are such type. Fields 7 and 4 are highly rocky where Para (Rock) refelected in many parts. Mala or hills exist in field 7, 9 and 49. Rocky nature in the area adjoining to these hills are important because fields NO.9 and 7 refelect availability of gold dust, or sand or gold content in rocks. Field names with' pon' (Gold) as specific and nam'es indicative of gold mines( Pon Kuli) are there. Taccan ( Gold smiths) Cettl ( Traders and goldsmiths) had residences in felds 7 , 9 , 39 and 26 close to the mining area. Kaatu (forest or uncultivated fields with bushes or uninhabited fields) and Tottom (large estates or extencive garden land of cash crops) are reflected adjacent to river in field 13 and close to hills in 9 and 15. Hillocks are there in fields 23,27 and 52. The central part of the village, is thus almost elevated with table lands having hills and hillocks. Thus north en , eastern ,western and southern areas are comparatively plain fields and fields with slopes. The lower fields are close to rivers, rivulets where paddy grows. All other plains are garden lands where cocoanuts, gingilly ( spices) grow largely. These plains are reflected in generics like parampu, kanti etc. It is significant that uur genericsare distributed in areas where water and fertile paddy fields are available. uur means areas of settled cultivation and they are the earlist humen settlements. They are seen in fields 6 and 5. The tribals, aborginals or lower castes of Dravidian nature lived in such areas, where their worshping shrin8s by name' Kaavu' exists. Field No.2, 3,51,15 and 14 are significant in this aspect . These fields are highly fertile as the uur is prefixed with 'kari' indicating high fertility of the soil. The area seems to be occupied by Mannan,a tribel group, since vast areas are settled by them. Field no. 5, 42, 40, 46 show these settlements. Paracheri (Field No.7, 39) on the top of the hills, also show the tribal settlements of very early period. H) indications of pre historic settlements: There are two field names which reflect prehistoric burial grounds. Kota or umbrella stones are mentioned in toponyms in field no. 54 close to river bank .These are to be assumed as the earliest habitation on the northern riverbanks. Vettuva groups are seen settled in field no. 13 close to river banks where salt panning and fishing possible. Settled cultivation and habitation are also seen close to these fields in 15, 14, 2, 3 51, 5 and 6. A Shrine of Tribal deity Pottan and worshiping centre Kotta are seen reflected in 2,3 and 15 and another shrine is reflected in 15 and 14. These are indicative of emergence of large scale settlements of earlier type. Settlements of this early stages are seen closely related to the nature of the habitat, and resources available. i) Primary stage of settlements, and land ownerships Growth of settlements in the next stages are also reflected in toponyms of the area. The area seems to have highly dense settlements of Mannan, a . tribal group. They perform ritual dances etc in temples and shrines. It is significant that ownership of lands goes to Mannans in large scale. Fields no's 47,41,40,39,3, 51 and 46 are owned by Pallikkottu Mannan family. Another early settlers of lower castes are iiluvas and they also have land ownership in the area The pre historic stage and settled agriculture and habitation related to early tribes and aborigines reflected in the area combined together give the situation of primary habitation of the village. J) Later Stages of habitation and growth of settlements: 1). Toponyms reflect Jaina migration and their settlements: Field No's 56,47, 4, 11,13 reflect aryan (Jain or Buddihistic groups) Cenan (Jaina) Cenanmarteru (Street of Jainas) etc. Probably these groups migrated to these areas due to the availability of forest resources, spices, gold dust etc for their trade. These settlements superimpose and surround the settlements of tribal groups and their shrines in field 2,3, and 4. Jains and Buddihists migrated to South India from northern parts of the sub continent and spread in Kerala in the begning of Christian era. 2). Migration of Brahmins from north India also took place in the early centuries of christian era. Their migration is also reflected in toponyms. "Ampalam" (temple) infields 4 and 5 where Kavu exixted. The land ownership goes to Brahmin sub groups Moosad of Arambram illam (House Name). Village name had its origin after this Brahmin family. Thus the early settlements of the area were known as Karippur, a village of high fertility . After the emergance of Brahmins in the area, they established their temple and converted the early shrines to temple of Puranic deity. Uur in field No. 40 is Perur, which means settlement of great importance Land holdings of Brahmin Moosad, and Nayars, who are upper calss Hindus are very extensive Toponomy - SYNOPSIS (1975-1988) FIRST study of village history PART I - PAPER LOCAL HISTORY - TOPONYMICA STUDIES CALICUT DISTRICT
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