Slavery in Colonial Malabar: A Socio- Historical Study

This paper is an attempt to understand slavery in erstwhile Malabar, which was a part of former Madras Presidency. Madras Presidency was one of the earliest Presidencies formed by the British along with Bombay and Calcutta. Malabar district was annexed to Madras Presidency in 1800.As an interface between Europe and India, Malabar – henceforth to be understood in its strict sense, i.e. the northern part of today’s Kerala – had to go through major transformations during the transitional period from pre- colonial to colonial rule. In the Indian context , the region of Malabar exhibits particularities in its socio- political ,social and economic structure. The society was highly stratified on the basis of caste system. All the social evils like untouchability, unapproachability and unseeability existed in the society. Along with this, oppressive taxes, forced labour and slavery was part of the social structure. Slavery, one of the most in human institutions of human history, appeared in different forms and continued for several centuries among many nations. . Malabar was not an exemption to this. The characteristic features of Malabar society permitted the growth of slavery. This study will address the issue of slavery in Malabar district in then Madras Presidency.

Slavery, Caste system, Social evils, Madras Presidency, Malabar, Jenmi

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