History of Wayanad

Wayanad is one of the loveliest hill stations of Kerala. It is a part of Western Ghats. It lies about 700 to 2200 m above the sea level. It is in the north eastern side of Kerala neighbouring Kozhikkode (Calicut) district.

The story behind the name ‘Wayanad’ says that once it was a land of paddy fields. In Malayalam ( the language of Kerala) paddy fields are called “vayal” and the land of fields as “vayal nadu”. This through ages became Wayanad. There is no single place called Wayanad. It is the name of district which came into existence on November 12 , 1980. Being a high range area ,it is the land of cash crops like various spices , tea, coffee, pepper  and cardamom.

A large population of the district belongs to tribal community. They include Paniyas , Kurichyars, Kattunaikkans and Kurumas. State’s reserve forest’s lion part lies in this district and hence tribes has suitable habitat here.

Wayanad is told to be a land of ancient civilization. According to historians human life existed in an organized manner at least  ten centuries before Christ !!! As a proof they point out the carvings in the caves found in Wayanad. The important being the carvings in Edakkal Caves near Ambalavayal. When I visited there it was told that the inscripts  seen in Edakkal caves is found in one more place in the world . It is in Iran. That means some relation existed between the people of these far separated areas!! And when we realize that it existed ten centuries before Christ where there was no means of communication and transport our surprise increase.

The Rajas (Kings) of Veda tribe were the rulers of this land. But later it came under Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja belonging to Kottayam Dynasty. Later the Mysore king Hyderali invaded Wayanad and his son Tippu Sulthan continued as the king of this region also. But when Tippu defeated by British and signed the Srirangapattanam treaty whole Malabar including Wayanad came under Britishers.

So Pazhassi Raja has to fight to Britishers for his land. He cleverly used the tribal people especially Kurichiyars for fight against British. He adopted the guerilla war strategy which was unfamiliar to British. But he cannot sustain before the strength and new war strategies of British for more and killed himself when it was about to be surrendered by British.

Actually the British rule turned the history of Wayanad. They realized the fertility of soil of Wayanad and began cultivation of tea and other crops. Also they built roads to connect this remote land to sea port in Kozhikkode and Thalassery. They also built roads to Mysore and Ootty. Thus people began to flow from all these places for cultivation of crops and to settle here.