Historic Immigrations
Historic immigration's into North Malabar The 3 important waves of immigration's of historic significance are enumerated below:
Tulu Brahman Immigration
Tulu Brahman immigration In 1617 A.D Kolathiri Raja, Udayavarman, wished to become Kshatriya by performing Hiranyagarbham. Since the Namboothiris were not prepared, Udayavarman brought 237 families of ShivallyTulu Brahmins from Gokarnaand settled them in five counties namely Cheruthazham, Kunniriyam, Arathil, Kulappuram and Vararuchimangalam of North Malabar. For the 237 families to worship, Sree Raghavapuram temple (Hanuman Kavu) at Pilathara was assigned and they considered it as their village temple. The 93 Edukunchi families out of it had the hereditary trusteeship of Cheruthazham Sreekrishnapuram temple, 62 Gunavantham families that of Arathil Sreebhadrapuram temple and the 82 Vilakkoor families that of Udayapurath Haripuram temple. These 237 families adopted the customs of local Nambudiri Brahmins and came to be referred to as Embranthiris.
Christian Immigration
Christian immigration The landlords in North Malabar were the largest land-holders in Kerala, however the introduction of Kerala Land reforms bill in 1957 sent these landlords into panic driven selling spree of their dry lands and forest lands. This was followed by immigration of the Knanite-Christians into the North Malabar Region in search of virgin land to cultivate and to get relief from the poverty and financial strain caused by the Second World War under the direction of Prof. V.J. Joseph Kandoth, Bishop Mar Alexander Chulaparambil. The Diocese of Kottayam bought 1,800 acres (7.3 km) of land in the Kasargod area in 1942. The new venture was announced in all the parishes of southern Kerala and applications were invited and each family was allotted 11.5 acres (47,000 m) of land 1943. The emigrants from all southern Kerala parishes reached Cochin by boat and from there by train to Shornur and Kanhangad. A team of priests, especially of the O.S.H. Society and laymen were sent ahead to prepare the ground and to receive them on their arrival and the local area name was changed from Echikkol to Rajapuram.In the same pattern of the project of Rajapuram the diocese organized another settlement at Madampam near Kannur. The Diocese bought 2,000 acres (8.1 km) of land and 100 families migrated to the new area on May 3, 1943. The settlement was called Alexnagar after the name of Bishop Mar Alexander Chulaparambil. Madathumala in Kasargod District at its eastern border with the Karnataka state was the venue of a third settlement of 45 families. The land was purchased on September 26, 1969 and the settlement inaugurated on February 2, 1970 was dedicated to Bl. Virgin Mary, and was called Ranipuram. Though there were initial difficulties due to wild animals, Ranipuram gradually prospered and today there is also a Government tourist center at Ranipuram. The Diocese of Kottayam made also arrangements with the Latin Ordinaries to have pastoral ministry and liturgical celebration according to their own Syro-Malabar Rite. Presently, one third of the Knanaya Catholic population is in the Malabar area.
In addition, taking advantage of the selling spree of landlords of Malabar in general and more particularly the larger landlords of North Malabar, several other Travancore Christian families also immigrated into Malabar to purse agriculture. These migrations peaked during 1960-71.
Immigration of Teaching Staff
The number of large land owning private-Tharavad-owned schools proliferated in North Malabar in the first half of twenth century in colonial Malabar due to (1) the lure for government grant-in-aid for such enterprises from 1939 (2) corporate expansion of land owning Tharavads (3) to decrease European engineered proletysing of depressed classes. These schools often had teaching staff from educated family members. In democratic Kerala however many of these schools evolved as public and government enterprises and lead to recruitment of teachers from southern provinces which led to the immigration of teaching staff of all ethno-religious backgrounds, many of whom preferred to settle in the area permanent