http://eap.bl.uk/ http://clac.hypotheses.org

CASTE, LAND AND CUSTOM EAP 458 –

Constituting a digital Archive of Tamil

Agrarian History in the colonial period (1650-1950)

Idea behind the project

2

A wealth of documents not contained in:

the colonial Revenue Records,

the “Village notes”

of the Settlement Surveys

Are rapidly deteriorating in private homes of document owners

who are not willing to deposit them in local district archives

who do not have the means to preserve them.

Their study can contribute to the field of micro-historical analysis of social and legal features of rural Tamil Nadu over a period of three centuries.

3

To locate

vulnerable

documents scattered

in private

homes and

small

institutions

To help the owner preserve and organize his original documents

To digitize

the documents (in situ) in order

to provide

a

durable copy to its

owner

and to make

them

available

for

research.

Objectives of the project

4

Fieldwork locations

Two target sites for fieldwork: Kallar

Nadu and Kongu Nadu

Both these areas are the traditional territories of two locally dominant groups

Between and within these two regions, the traditional agrarian power structures have shown variations over time

5

On the way to meela uRappanhuur

A couple in kallar nadu

Men at the chavadi meela uRappanhur

Site 1: Kallar

Nadu

6

Bag containing the documents

Document holder in his house - Ponnamangalam

Examining a collection in Mela Urappanur

Street in Nadu Mudalakulam

Site 1: Kallar

Nadu

Bag containing the documents

Document holder in his house - PonnamangalamExamining a collection in Mela Urappanur

Street in Nadu Mudalakulam

7

Zamindar and zamindarini of Uthukuli

Puravipalayam Zamin Palace

Emblem of Zamin Uthukuli

Site 2: Kongu Nadu

Emblem of Zamin Uthukuli

8

Discussion at Puravipalayam Zamin

Arunagiripalyam Aadeenam

Zamindars of Puravipalayam

Sellankula Aadeenam at TiruchengodeSite 2: Kongu Nadu

Discussion at Puravipalayam Zamin

Arunagiripalyam Aadeenam

9

Storage conditions and Preservation

10

Assembling the photo stand

11

Digitization in the villages

Digitization at Siruvalai Zamin at Madurai

Digitization at Sivagiri kula guru at Erode

12

Documents bundled together Condition of the documents before digitization

From the bundle 13 notebooks are separated Sample of the digitized notebooks

Digitization process

13

land act notices ( nilaccaTTa

aRivippu)

land leases (nilakkuttakai)

land sale ( nilaviRppanhai)

legal (caTTam)

loan ( kaTanh)

magistrate court judgment ( niitimaNRa

tiirppu)

panchayat

judgment ( nyaya

panchayat

tiirppu)

petition ( manhukkaL)

tax receipt ( variraciitu)

village lease ( kiRaamankaL

kuttakai)

astrology (jotiTam)

EIC records (kizakkintiya

kampanhi

aavaNangkal)

invitation (azaippitalkaL)

land deed (nila

oppantam)

auction, (eelam)

customary law (tamil

vazakkaaRRiyal)

temple documents (kooyil

aavaNangkaL)

old

photographs

(pazaya

pukaippaTangkaL)

tax

documents of Kula Gurus (vari vacuul

aavaNangkaL)

rules related to Temples (aakama

vitikaL)

medicine

(vaittiya

nuulkaL)

mandram

(maantiriika

nuulkaL)

literature

(ilakkiyangkaL)

Scope of topics addressed in the collected documents by CLAC

14

Sample

of documents

15

The collections

Over 70 000 photos

40 collections

Web site : http://clac.hypotheses.org

Dr Zoe Headley S. Ponnarasu Dr.N. Ganeshan V. Krishnasami V. Muthukumar P. Chandran

Present team members

Past team members

Dr M. Thanuja S.Selvakumar D.Chakravarthy