Kadathanadu

Kadathanadu, also rendered Kadathanad, Katattanad, and, academically, Kaṭattanāṭǔ; alternately known as Vatakara or Badagara, was a kingdom in northern Malabar just north of the Korappuzha River, and ruled by the Porlathiri dynasty after their dispossession from their native realm of Calicut and Polanad.

Kerala in the Late Middle Ages

The establishment of the kingdom dates to the flight of the Polathiri to seek asylum in Kolathiri territory; where a chance lakeside encounter led to a Kolathiri prince of the Southern Regency scandalously espousing the Porlathiri heiress, who traditionally would only have hypergamously contracted sambandham with a Namboodiri Brahmin. The dynamics of the marriage led to significant carveouts from the Southern Regency, with the hereditary governance matrilineally vested in the line of the Porlathiri princess and her Kolathiri groom.

Traditionally defended by a sworn royal guard of 10,000 Nairs, who had been suborned and defeated by the attacking Zamorin in his conquest of Calicut, the Porlathiri Raja was granted was granted 3,000 Nairs to attend him, and thirty square miles as the initial territory of Kadathanad, although European visitors recorded that the Kadathanad lands constituted 150 square miles (96,000 acres), with an estimated population of 33,683 (although this assessment does not specify whether it is estimating jenmi estates owned by the monarchy and the number of tenants, or the whole polity. Thus established, Porlathiri Kadathanad was feudatory to Kolathunad: while the kingly title of Porlathiri was retained in the succession, the Kadathanadu rulers abandoned use of the title of Raja, instead using Vazhunnor, in deference to their suzerain, the Kolathiri Raja, until resumption in 1750, with the encouragement of the Kolathiri.

Internal Structure of the Royal House

The royal house ultimately divided into branches, or kovilakoms; the senior taking the name of Ayanchery, and the junior that of Edavilath, with the succession to the sovereign sthanam of the Porlathiri Valiya Raja of Kadathanad, determined by seniority among male dynasts per Marumakkathayam. Lesser sthanams with their own distinctive titulature and dedicated appanages. The heir apparent was styled Elaya Raja. Under British dominion, the Porlathiri Raja received a malikhana, or privy purse of 6,610 rupees annually, although some sources report the British-negotiated revenue allowance higher at 26,441 rupees, or 30,000 rupees. The royal family of course had its own domestic sources of income: as a jenmimar the Raja personally owned roughly 32,000 acres in fertile estates and valuable forests. T. J. S. George estimated the value of the forested hunting estate Kuttiyadi Sri Porlathiri Udaya Varma, Valiya Raja, gave his son and his new bride as a wedding present to exceed two million in worth. In addition to the kovilakoms and core palace maintained within Kadathanad, an early Raja had the luxurious townhouse Harivihar constructed in Calicut as a beachhead for young Kadathanad princes attending higher education or simply enjoying city life. Substantial wealth aside, though, the Kadathanad dynasts were typically known for erudition and intense, sophisticated academic interests. Being learned in Sanskrit, literature, and mathematics was the minimal expectation.

Sankara Varman, last canonical figure of the famed Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics, composed the Sadratnamala in 1819, employing and distilling native formal techniques exclusively at a time when western mathematics was beginning to see uptake in India. Composed wholly in Sanskrit, with the literary device of a Malayalam commentary also written by Prince Sankara, the Sadratnamala summarizes many of the innovations of the Kerala school, definitely articulates the kaṭapayādi alphanumeric cryptologic technique and its myriad abilities, and contains a unique infinite series computation of π yielding 3.14155265358979324 - correctly to seventeen digits. Much Western interest in the Kerala school came courtesy of C.M. Whish's painstaking reading of the scholastic works and subsequent introduction of Malayali mathematics into the Western scholarly literature.

Valiya Raja Udaya Varma, b. 1864, had an astonishing literary career while on the throne, publishing thirty-nine works in Malayalam and one in Sanskrit; with Mahakavi Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer] featuring nine of his Malayalam works as canonical classics in Sahitya Charitram, his definitive and comprehensive critical review of the Malayalam language and its literature.

Malabar and South India in the aftermath of the final Mysorean invasions by Tipu Siltan

Malabar, including Kartenaad, mapped in 1854

The region is most known for being the area where the events of the Vadakkan Pattukal, a set of warrior ballads from Kerala, took place, and for being one of the heartlands of Kerala's native martial art, Kalarippayattu.

Geographical location

Geographically, Kadathanadu is situated to the south of Thalassery and north of Koyilandy on the Malabar coast, beside the historical Kottakkal river. The area roughly six kilometers from Vatakara is known as Kadathanadu. The place is now part of Puduppanam in Vatakara.

Kadathanadu is also the site of the famous Hindu Lokanarkavu temple.

History

The erstwhile princely state of Kadathanadu was ruled by Rajas of Kadathanadu, who were of Nair origin and was feudatories to the Kolathiri. Around 1750, the ruler of Kadathanadu had adopted the title of Raja, with the explicit consent of the Kolathiri. Harivihar is the 150-year-old residence of the Kadathanadu royal family. Legend has it that the sons of the Kadathanadu rulers were sent to Calicut to be educated in institutions set up by the Zamorin of Calicut, and hence a city house was built for the young princes.

During Malayalam Era 965, corresponding to 1789-90, Tipu Sultan crossed over to Malabar with his army. A small army of 2000 Kadathanadu soliders resisted the invasion from a fortress in Kuttipuram near Nadapuram for a few weeks. This land, whose Sanskrit name is Ghatolkachakshiti, mainly included parts of the present Vadakara taluk. The king of Katthannad was addressed as Vazhunnor.