Wayanad district


Wayanad district, or Wynad, is a district in the north-east of the Indian state of Kerala, with its administrative headquarters at the municipality of Kalpetta. It is the only plateau in Kerala. The Wayanad Plateau forms a continuation of the Mysore Plateau, the southern portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is set high in the Western Ghats with altitudes ranging from 700 to 2,100 meters and some areas resemble to Eastern Ghats including Kolagapara, Kurumbalakotta and some parts of Vadakkanad and Chekadi. Vellari Mala, a high peak situated on the trijunction of Wayanad, Malappuram, and Kozhikode districts, is the highest point in Wayanad district. The district was formed on 1 November 1980 as the 12th district in Kerala, by carving out areas from Kozhikode and Kannur districts. An area of 885.92 km2 in the district is forested. Wayanad has three municipal towns—Kalpetta, Mananthavady and Sulthan Bathery. There are many indigenous tribes in this area.
The Kabini River, a tributary of the Kaveri River, originates at Wayanad. Wayanad district, along with the Chaliyar valley in the neighbouring Nilambur in Malappuram district, is known for natural gold fields, which are also seen in other parts of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. The Chaliyar river, which is the fourth longest river of Kerala, originates on the Wayanad plateau. The historically important Edakkal Caves are located in Wayanad district.
Wayanad district is bordered by Karnataka to the north and north-east, Tamil Nadu to the south-east, Malappuram to the south, Kozhikode to the south-west and Kannur to the north-west. Pulpally in Wayanad boasts the only Lava-Kusha temple in Kerala and Vythiri has the only mirror temple in Kerala, which is a Jain temple. Varambetta mosque is the oldest Muslim mosque of Wayanad. Wayanad is famous for its role in the Cotiote War, where Pazhassi Raja with the help of the Kurichya tribe in association with Hindus and Muslims of the Malabar region launched a revolt against the British. Kaniyambetta and Muttil Panchayaths are the centrally located Panchayaths with the best access from all corners of Wayanad, while Tavinjal Panchayath is on the northeast border with Kannur district. The edicts found in the caves of Ambukuthi Mala are evidence that occupation dates from the beginning of the New Age Civilisation.

Etymology

The name 'Wayanad' is derived from 'vayal nāḍŭ' which translates to 'the land of paddy fields' in English.

Formation

Wayanad district lies in the Bayalu Seeme region of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. Geographically it is similar to the neighbouring districts of Kodagu and Mysore of Karnataka, and Nilgiris of Tamil Nadu. Wayanad plateau forms a continuation of the Mysore Plateau.
During the British Raj, Wayanad was a taluk in the erstwhile Malabar District. The regions included in the taluks of Gudalur and Pandalur in the present-day Nilgiris district, also known as Southeast Wayanad, formed part of the erstwhile Wayanad taluk. Southeast Wayanad was part of Malabar District until 31 March 1877, when it was transferred to the neighbouring Nilgiris district due to the heavy population of Malabar and the small area of Nilgiris. Wayanad was a separate revenue division within the Malabar District until 1924.
During the States Reorganisation of 1956 after the independence of India, the Mysore state claimed Wayanad due to its historical and geographical peculiarities. However the linguistic survey of the 1951 census of India found that 87.5% of the total population of Wayanad were native speakers of Malayalam at that time, while just 6.2% of the total population spoke Kannada.
On 1 January 1957, the erstwhile Malabar District was divided into three: Kannur, Kozhikode, and Palakkad. On the same day Wayanad taluk was split up into North Wayanad and South Wayanad. Initially both of the taluks of Wayanad were included in newly formed Kannur district. However, two months later on 15 March 1957, South Wayanad taluk was transferred into Kozhikode district. The North Wayanad Taluk was transferred to Kozhikode district on 1 January 1979.
Wayanad district was formed by incorporating the taluks of North Wayanad and South Wayanad on 1 November 1980 as the 12th district of Kerala. On the same date, North Wayanad Taluk was renamed as Mananthavady, and South Wayanad was split to form the taluks of Sultan Bathery and Vythiri. Kalpetta in Vythiri taluk became the headquarters of the new district.

History

Pre-history

Historians believe that human settlements have existed in these parts from at least 1,000 BCE. Much evidence of New Stone Age civilisation can be seen in the hills throughout the present-day Wayanad district. The Edakkal Caves have 6000-year-old rock engravings from the Neolithic age. The recorded history of this district is available only from the 18th century. In ancient times, this land was ruled by the Rajas of the Veda tribe.

Ezhimala kingdom

In the earliest part of the recorded history of Wayanad District, Kasaragod-Kannur-Wayanad-Kozhikode Districts in the northern part of present-day Kerala were ruled by the Nannans who later came to be known as the Kolathiris. Politically the area was part of the Ezhimala Kingdom, with its capital at Ezhimala in present-day Kannur district. The most famous king of Ezhimala was Nannan, whose kingdom extended up to Gudalur, Nilgiris and northern parts of Coimbatore. It is said that Nannan took refuge in the Wayanad hills in the 5th century CE when he was lost to Cheras, just before his death in battle, according to the Sangam works. Wayanad was part of the Karkanad, which included the eastern regions of the Ezhimala kingdom. Karkanad along with Poozhinadu, which contained much of the coastal belt wedged between Mangalore and Kozhikode was under Ezhimala kingdom with a headquarters at Ezhimala.
Some linguists say that an inscription found in the Edakkal Caves in Wayanad, from the 3rd century CE, is the oldest known inscription in Malayalam, as it contains two modern Malayalam words, Ee and pazhama. Historian M. R. Raghava Varier, a specialist in Edakkal cave inscriptions, stated that this would be a 'dangerous interpretation of the script'. Varier, who discovered the inscription read it as 'Sri Vazhumi' meaning 'Sri Brahma' in Tamil and dated it to 3rd–4th century CE, whereas Vedachalam, read it as 'Vazhumi' and dated it to 5th–6th century CE.

Kolathunadu

The Mooshaka kings were considered descendants of Nannan. By the 14th century, Mooshaka Kingdom was known as Kolathirinad and its rulers as Kolathiris. The Kolathunad Kingdom at the peak of its power reportedly extended from the
Netravati River in the north to Korapuzha in the south with Arabian Sea on the
west and Kodagu hills on the eastern boundary, also including the isolated islands of Lakshadweep in Arabian Sea.

Kingdom of Kottayam

The Kolathiri Dominion emerged into independent 10 principalities i.e., Kadathanadu, Randathara or Poyanad, Kottayam, Nileshwaram, Iruvazhinadu, Kurumbranad etc., under separate royal chieftains due to the outcome of internal dissensions. The Nileshwaram dynasty on the northernmost part of Kolathiri dominion, were relatives to both Kolathunadu as well as Zamorin of Calicut, in the early medieval period.
The origin of Kottayam royal family is lost in obscurity. It has been stated that the Raja of Kottayam set up a semi-independent principality of his own at the expense of Kolathiris. In the 10th century CE, the region comprised erstwhile Taluks of Kottayam, Wayanad and Gudallur was called Puraikizhanad and its feudal lord Puraikizhars. The Thirunelly inscriptions refer to the division of Puraikizhar family into two branches viz., Elder and Younger in the beginning of the 11th century. In the 17th century Kottayam-Malabar was the capital of Puraikizhanad Rajas. It was divided into three branches i.e., Eastern, Western and Southern under separate dignitaries known as Mootha, Elaya and Munnarkur Rajas. The Kottayam Rajas extended their influence up to the border of Kodagu. By the end of the 17th century, they shared the area of Thalassery taluk with the Iruvazhinadu Nambiars and were in possession of North Wayanad and the small Village of Thamarassery which formed the Eastern portion of the present Vadakara, Quilandy and Thamarassery taluks.
Thamarassery pass which connects Wayanad with the city of Kozhikode was laid in the 18th century by Tipu Sultan, the ruler of Mysore.
In 930 AD, emperor Erayappa of Ganga dynasty led his troops to south west of Mysore and after conquering, called it Bayalnad meaning the land of swamps. After Erayappa, his sons Rachamalla and Battunga fought each other for the new kingdom of their father's legacy. Rachamalla was killed and Battunga became the undisputed ruler of Bayalnad. In the 12th century CE, Gangas were dethroned from Bayalnad by Kadamba dynasty of North Canara. In 1104 CE, Vishnuvardhana of Hoysala invaded Bayalnad followed by Vijayanagara dynasty in the 16th century. In 1610 CE, Udaiyar Raja Wadiyar of Mysore drove out Vijayanagara General and became the ruler of Bayalnad and the Nilgiris. This Bayalnad is the native Kannada name from which Wayanad, its Malayali version, the present name of the district, is derived.

The Early Kadambas

Historian Sanu Kainikara states that with the end of the Sangam period, the 4th and 5th centuries brought trouble for the Cheras, in that they lost control over some parts of Kerala which included Wayanad District due to the growing Kadamba power and superiority. This is indicated by the Kadamba inscriptions in Edakal caves of Wayanad.
A contemporary Buddhist work claims that the Kalabhra king Achuta Vikkanta defeated the 3 traditional southern dynasties – Pandya, Chera, and Chola, and even held all their three kings captive. For nearly five centuries, from 5th–10th century CE, the Cheras were reduced to the status of insignificant rulers due to their inability to avoid foreign invasions. They barely clung on to power with very minimal territory and had to survive at the mercy of their northern powerful imperial empires from Karnataka like the Kadambas, the Badami Chalukyas, the Rashtrakutas and the Kalyani Chalukyas, who invaded and moved through their realm as and when they pleased.