Edakkal Caves & the History of Wayanad

Title: Edakkal Caves & the History of Wayanad
Editor: O K Johnny
Publisher: Mathrubhumi Books, 2008 (First)
ISBN: 978-81-8264-642-1
Pages: 224

Both domestic and international tourists visiting the idyllic hilly district of Wayanad in Kerala make a beeline to Edakkal Caves, where a reportedly prehistoric engraving on the wall arouses interest. Though not yet completely undeciphered, some of the pictures represent scenes from hunting and tribal customs. Most people would find their interest waning within a few hours. But there might be a few people, whose curiosity would be aroused by the mysterious pictures and considerations about the equally mysterious artists who wrote the pictures on the cave wall in a distant past. This book is intended for exactly those, and the brief history of Wayanad adds icing on the cake. The author is a noted journalist, documentary maker and writes on film and cultural history. He is an editor of Mathrubhumi Publishing, this book’s publishers. Johnny has compiled in this book a few essays written around a century ago, and adds his own contribution on the inscriptions in Edakkal and Thovari caves. This chapter alone is in Malayalam and written in a scholarly and well researched way.

The chapter on Edakkal rock carvings by Fred Fawcett published in Indian Antiquary’ in 1901 brings to light the early work done by British administrators around 1890s in cataloguing and disseminating information about the carvings. Fawcett himself was the Superintendent of Police of Malabar district. Though he assigns the Neolithic age (4000 BCE – 1700 BCE) for the inscriptions we may leave it to professional archeologists for making a more intelligent guess on the time period. However, it doesn’t mean that Fawcett’s exposition is below par with that of professionals. It is very precise, but brings out all salient points, along with graphical illustrations. Not for nothing is the exam to admit aspirants to the Indian Civil Service kept so tough. Those who get past it must be capable of faithfully representing more than one field of academic knowledge with some authority. However, ordinary people may not find the description appealing. Fawcett has only reproduced the pictures, without hazarding to suggest its meaning. As such, the narrative is of interest only to the professionals.

Chapters on the history of Wayanad are simple and easy to read by, but lack any depth or insight. References are taken from government gazettes and even hearsay or local legends. It is highly doubtful whether the story of Vedar chieftains taking a Kshatriya king captive and forcing him to marry a princess of their clan, is authentic. The rebellion of Pazhassi Raja, for which Wayanad is rememberd in Kerala history, is rather neatly presented, though there is repetition of Thomas Harvey Baber’s memoirs in two chapters. Excerpts from the letter of Baber, who was the assistant collector of Malabar to his superior and under whose leadership the British intercepted the Raja and killed him, makes the reader stand in awe at the mutual respect commanded by the rebel and his pursuer. This narrative also brings to light the strict rules of caste in force at that time. We read that Pazhassi Raja, even when he was shot and was dying, asked his assailants not to come near him lest he should be ceremonially defiled! We need not judge the Raja’s action contemptuously in the light of the moral enlightenment of a future era. He was simply following the moral codes in force in the kingdom and that he was not above the intellectual horizon of the times.

The chapter by Rhodes Morgan, who was the forest officer and a commendable ornithologist titled ‘A journey through the forests of Wayanad’ offers a lovely description of his entourage’s journey from Kozhikkode to an assignment in the deep forest. Morgan paints the entire flora and fauna of the district in a humorous and absorbing way, by carefully describing the birds, animals, trees and flowering plants. The reader feels like travelling along with Morgan. This captivating narrative indirectly points to the imperativeness of deputing people having a genuine interest in the fields of wildlife and botany in the forest department.

The book, especially its latter half, is littered with a disgustingly high number of typos. It may safely be asserted that some of the pages were not even submitted to proof reading, as the meaning is obscured by indecipherable errors. We expected something better from Mathrubhumi Books, which is a leading publishing house in Kerala. The good numbers of photographs, even though monochrome, add convincing visual detail to the text.

A curious point to note is that in the excerpts from William Logan’s Malabar Manual is the point of time when the Nair community was identified and assimilated by the British into their bureaucratic cadre on account of their submissiveness and help in hunting down Pazhassi Raja. He says, “The Sudra or Nair part of the community were more to be depended upon; there was an honest frankness about them which you could not but admire, and which is a surety that in proportion to our increasing influence, these people will prove themselves worthy of the confidence of the government” (p.124).

The book is recommended.

Rating: 3 Star