Feudalism in malabar was brutal. The landlord's words were unquestionable No
one dared to raise any voice against them. The peasants were driven
to fields without food. They were not allowed to wear dress above
waist or wear chappals and ornaments. Everything including women were
considered to be the wealth of the landlord. Girls attaining puberty
were summoned to the landlords without exception. Two part out of
ten of all agricultural products and hunted animals have to reach the bungalow of the Nayanars in power without fail. Narayanan Nayanar and Krishnan
Nayanar were the most dreaded. The punishment for defaulters was death.
It
was the beginning of twentieth century. Karshaka Sangham, (the
organisation under the communists which played a pivotal role to stop
these atrocities), were yet to evolve. But two true revolutionaries questioned these practices with their lives- Kodilon Raman and
Vannathan Raman- These two Ramans terrorised the Nayanars to such a
degree that they hired scores of goondas and British police to combat
them.
The
two Ramans were close friends. Both belonged to Kutoor. Kodilon was a
born revolutionary He asked the same questions raised by karshaka
sangham two decades later. He refused to work for the landlord. He
asked his wife and sister to wear tops. He threatened to rape the
landlords wife and daughter if he dared to summon his wife or
daughter to his bungalow. wearing chappals he walked in front of the Nayanars. In short Raman became rival number one of the landlord. His
property was confiscated and he was barred form cultivation. But he plaughed and sawed his field without heeding the landlords orders.
The Landlord himself came forth with a gang of goondas. A terrible
fight followed. Raman confronted the goondas successfully in the beginning but his strength soon gave away before a score of
merciless villains. Raman was tied up and brought to the boarder of
the field. The goondas struck his head with tender coconuts and threw
him in the mud beneath the plaugh. The bullocks alarmingly pulled him
submerged in mud. He died a martyr's life.
Vannathan
Raman, hearing the news dashed to the sight only to see the corpse of
his friend. He ran through the hills, crossing rivers and valleys to
taliparamba some 25 kms away to the Magistrate court at Taliparmaba
and reported the death to the magistrate. The Magistrate was a good
man. He visited the sight immediately and charged a case against the
Nayanars. Vannathan Raman's efforts to bring the culprits to the law
took an unexpected turn when the Nayanars shamelessly used kodilon's
wife to give evidence against her husband. She told in the court that
his husband fell in the mud and the bullocks unknowingly pulled him to
death. Thus the first accused was left free.
Vannathan
Raman continued his lone strike against the landlords. He used to
visit a nearby toddy shop. The Nayanars forbid the owner from giving toddy to Raman. Infuriated, Raman took a large 'cherangathode' and
stormed the bungalow of the landlord warning dire consequences if
anyone touched him. Nayanar withdrew to the interior and his wife
came forward and requested Raman to pacify. Raman demanded five litres of toddy and told the lady that the toddy shop owner had
been forbidden to serve toddy to him by her husband. The lady went
inside and came out with a five rupee note and asked some of the
attenders to accompany Raman to the toddy shop to buy him toddy. The
landlord was taken aback. He bribed a circle inspector to arrest
Raman with the charge of stealing five rupees from his house.
The circle inspector came to the village in a motor cycle with two
constables. The constables caught Raman and produced him before the
Circle. The circle slapped him. How can Raman suffer this atrocity?. He
beat the circle Inspector and constables. They ran off and took
refuge in the landlords bungalow.
The
landlord hired some twenty goondas to kill Raman. One day when Raman
was taking bath in the kuttoor river the goondas attacked him from
all sides with thorn poles. He resisted the attack and killed one
goonda. Finally he was beaten to unconscious and tied up and brought
to the police station. He was sentenced for life. After thirteen
years of imprisonment he came back. By that time karshaka Sangham was
established. He participated in its activities. Once in kandonthar a
meeting of the sangham was being held. The landlord sent some goondas
to disperse the crowd. Raman dashed to the scene with his knife. The
goondas ran off.
Once
Raman garlanded the great KPR Gopalan who was released from jail. KPR took the garland and put it on Raman saying that he deserved the garland better than him.
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