Kuzhikkanam (Tomb-fee & Land Tenure): A Re-Discovery from Historical Palm Leave Manuscripts

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)