Open AccessKuzhikkanam (Tomb-fee & Land Tenure): A Re-Discovery from Historical Palm Leave Manuscripts
Author(s) -
Pat Dorsett,
Julie Clark
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
artha journal of social sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 0975-329X
DOI - 10.12724/ajss.27.2
Subject(s) - land reclamation , palm , land tenure , deforestation (computer science) , archaeology , geography , business , agricultural economics , economics , agriculture , physics , quantum mechanics , computer science , programming language
This article is an attempt to explore and analyse the practice of levying Kuzhikkanam (tomb fee) for the burial of dead bodies in the Syrian church cemeteries in Kerala. There are eighteenth and nineteenth century palm leaf records in the Syrian churches which provide a lot of interesting information on this practice. This term is borrowed from the secular practice of levying Kulikkanam (Kuzhikkanam), that is, rent paid for cultivating the land that was newly brought under cultivation by land improvements either through reclamation or deforestation.Keywords: Kuzhikkanam, Kulikkanam, tomb-fee, Land tenure, Palm-leaf record, Kaikkaran (Trustee), Panayam (Mortgage)