Pulamanthole
Grama Panchayat

Social History

This riverside village, blessed with abundant water resources and fertile land, has a long history and is believed to have been a cradle of ancient human civilizations. Pulamanthole and Kuruvambalam were among the 26 administrative divisions that formed part of Velathiri, or the ancient Valluvanad, ruled by Valluvakkonathiri, one of the prominent rulers of South Malabar. The region later came under the Mysorean invasion.

In earlier times, the Muslims, the majority of Hindus belonging to Scheduled Caste communities, and other backward communities in the area lived as impoverished tenants and agricultural labourers under the local landlords. Land ownership and most of the authority in the region were concentrated in the hands of a few upper-caste landlord families.

The untold stories of exploitation and oppression under the landlord system, as well as the suffering of the marginalized communities, were largely forgotten over time. During the Wagon Tragedy of 1921, 41 of the 70 people who died were from the Kuruvambalam, Valapuram and Chemmalassery areas of Pulamanthole Panchayat.

The Indian freedom struggle was a major movement that transformed Indian history and deeply influenced the social and cultural life of the country. Pulamanthole played a significant role in this movement. Several people from the region participated in the Congress conference held at Ottapalam under the leadership of Annie Besant. Prominent among them were Pokker Haji, Moithukutty Haji and Marakkar Haji.

The Khilafat Committees had begun functioning in the area as early as the beginning of 1921. K. P. Pokker Haji served as its secretary. In connection with the uprising, the bridge at Kattuppara was demolished and the ferry across the Pulamanthole River was destroyed. Subsequently, British authorities shot and killed Pattukuth Moitheen Kurikkal, Kanakkavanthodi Alavi, Pallithodi Unnippa, Parappulayan Moitheenkutty and Njeliathodi Mammu alias Bapputty at Kattuppara. Kolliyath Mammadu and Kanjirakkadavath Kunjunnyan were also killed in the Pulamanthole area. Invoking the Arms Act, the authorities also set fire to several houses in Kattuppara.

An important feature of this period was that the Mappilas extended protection to Hindu landlord families who had neither acted as British agents nor displayed hostility or upper-caste domination towards their tenants. It is said that Mappila youths from even Kattuppara went to protect Elamkulam Mana, the ancestral home of E. M. S. Namboodiripad.

In the early 1930s, a major conference was held on the banks of the Pulamanthole River, attended by leaders such as K. Kelappan, M. Karthiyayani Amma and Mohammed Shafi. Another important development of the period was the emergence of the Youth Association. Under its leadership, a public library was established, making newspapers such as Mathrubhumi, Al-Ameen and Prabhatham, along with numerous books, available to the public.

The same organization played an important role in starting the first Upper Primary (Higher Elementary) School in the Panchayat. Madavatath Muhammad Haji was its first student.

In connection with a conference led by Kattilassery in 1933, efforts began to establish the first madrasa in Pulamanthole. In 1936, a reception was organized for M. P. Narayana Menon after his release from prison. It was one of the largest public gatherings in the history of Pulamanthole.

In 1935, the Youth Association started a handwritten monthly magazine called Nava Yugam. In 1933, an important social reform incident known as the bell-ringing and worship incident at the Pulamanthole Temple took place. Paloli Vasudevan Namboodiri, Cherukara Ramunni Pisharody, Narayana Pisharody, Pulamanthole Achutha Pisharody and Achoorathodi Madhavan Nair, after attending the Thiruvegappura Anti-Untouchability Conference, bathed in the Pulamanthole River and visited the Dhanwanthari Temple. During worship, the others also rang the temple bell along with the Namboodiri.

The years 1942–43 witnessed a major disaster in the form of widespread cholera deaths. In the Harijan colony at Thiruthinmel, where the death toll was particularly high, there was a time when nobody was even available to bury the dead. Members of the national movement who were active at that time came forward to undertake this difficult task, an act that remains worthy of remembrance.

The early Congress Socialist Movement, followed by the Communist Movement, became deeply rooted in the region. Teacher organizations also established themselves during this period. The Kuttinikkari struggle, arising from the landlord–tenant issue, deserves special mention. Landlords evicted tenants for arrears of rent and cultivated the land themselves. In protest, the Peasant Association intervened and began cultivation by ploughing the land. This gave further momentum to the activities of the Peasant Association.

One of the important events in the teacher-organization movement during the 1940s was the boycott of the Gurujana Samajam. Another major factor that influenced the history of the 1940s was the activity of the Communist Party. Since the party was banned, its activities were initially conducted underground and later openly. These activities influenced not only the political sphere but also various other areas of public life.

The Majlis movement also emerged during the 1940s alongside the freedom struggle. The influence of leaders such as Abdurahiman Sahib and Kattilassery was also evident in this movement.

After independence, Pulamanthole was part of Malabar District in the undivided Madras State. Following the formation of Kerala in 1956, the history of Pulamanthole largely reflected the broader transformation of Kerala. The formation of Malappuram District in the late 1960s, however, was particularly significant. Until then, Pulamanthole had been part of Palakkad District; it subsequently became a border Panchayat of Malappuram District.

The migration of farmers from the former Travancore-Cochin region to Malabar had a major impact on various aspects of life in Pulamanthole Panchayat, particularly agriculture. Beginning in the 1950s, hardworking migrant settlers established themselves in the hilly areas of the Panchayat and contributed to significant changes in the local culture.