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HISTORY
Lying on the north western coast of the State, Kasaragod
was famous from time immemorial. Many Arab travellers,
who came to Kerala between ninth and 14th centuries
AD, visited Kasaragod as it was then an important
trade centre. They called this area Harkwillia.
Barbose, the Portuguese traveller, who visited Kumbla
near Kasaragod in 1514, had recorded that rice was
exported to Male Island whence coir was imported.
Dr. Francis Buccanan, who was the family doctor of
Lord Wellesly, visited Kasaragod in 1800. In his
travelogue, he has included information on the political
and communal set-up in places like Athipramba, Kavvai,
Nileswaram, Bekal, Chandragiri and Manjeshwaram.
Kasaragod
was part of the Kumbala Kingdom in which there were
64 Tulu and Malayalam villages. When Vijayanagar
empire attackedKasaragod, it was ruled by the Kolathiri
King who had Nileshwaram as his headquarters. It
is said that the characters appearing in Theyyam,
the ritualistic folkdance of northern Kerala, represent
those who had helped King Kolathiri in the fight against
the attack of the Vijayanagar empire. During the
decline of that empire in the 14th century, the administration
of this area was vested with the Ikkery Naikans.
They continued to be the rulers till the fall of the
Vijayanagar empire in 16th century. Then Vengappa
Naik declared independence to Ikkery. In 1645
Sivappa Naik took the reigns and transferred the capital
to Bednoor. Thus they came to be known as Bednoor
Naik. Chandragiri and Bekal forts are considered
to be parts of a chain of Forts constructed by Sivappa
Naik
.In 1763 Hyder Ali of Mysore conquered Bednoor. His
intention was to capture entire Kerala. But when
his attempt to conquer Thalassery fort was foiled
, Hyder Ali returned to Mysore and died there in 1782.His
son, Tippu Sulthan, continued the attack and conquered
Malabar. As per the Sreerangapattanam Treaty of
1792, Tippu surrendered Malabar except Thulunadu
(Canara) to the British. The British got it, only
after the death of Tippu Sulthan in 1799
.Kasaragod was part of Bekal taluk in the south Canara
district of Bombay presidency. Kasaragod taluk came
into being when Bekal taluk was included in the Madras
presidency on 16th April 1882. Though Vengayil Kunhiraman
Nayanar moved a resolution in 1913 on the floor of
Madras Governor's Council demanding the merger of
Kasaragod taluk with the Malabar district, it had
to be withdrawn because of the stiff opposition of
the members from Karnataka. In1927, a political convention
held at Kozhikode, passed a resolution stressing the
above demand. In the same year, an organisation titled
Malayalee Seva Sanghom was constituted. Thanks
to the efforts made by many eminent persons like K.P.Kesava
Menon, Kasaragod became part of Kerala following the
reorganisation of states and formation of Kerala
on the first November 1956.
National
Movement
Kasaragod
played a prominent role in the National Movement for
the freedom of the country. Mohammed Sherul Sahib
and Kandige Krishna Bhat were the frontline leaders
of the independence movement. Umesh Rao, K.M. Krishnan
Nambiar, Shreesankarji, Naranthatta Raman Nair, A.C.
Kannan Nair, T.Gopalan Nair and Meloth Narayanan Nambiar
were prominent freedom fighters.
The agrarian struggle to end the exploitation and
oppression by landlords and chieftains were part of
the National Movement. The Kadakom Sathyagraha
was started following the arrest of Gandhiji in 1932.
The Palayi Harvest Agitation (1941), Cheemeni Estate
Struggle (1942), Kayyur Agrarian Riot (1944), Eleri
Estate Agitation (1946), Karinthalam Paddy Seizure
Revolt (1948) and many other struggles waged by the
peasant organisations accelerated the tempo of the
freedom movement. Besides the agitation of the peasants,
the various struggles unleashed for the uplift of
the scheduled castes and tribes also supported and
enlivened the National Movement.
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