Malabar History journal

It was reported that a large percentage of people died from diarrhoea, cholera, dysentery, oedema and many other diseases. Hence it can be argued that the majority of the people died due to epidemics which were caused due to famine conditions. A phenomenal rise of diseases such as anaemia, ulcers, scabies and many other digestive problems were reported during that period, primarily due to the rise of consumption of tapioca without supplementing it with a protein diet.

Cholera outbreak started in February 1943, followed by a massive spread in the later months. As the municipal authorities decided to send the beggars afflicted with cholera away from the cities, the outbreak also spread into the interiors and rural areas of Malabar. This led to one of the biggest human miseries in the history of Malabar. To mitigate some of its effects, Food Committees were set up by various civil society, relief and political organizations throughout the region. The Malabar Food Committee was headed by the Maharaja of Nilambur. Similarly, many community kitchens were set up by the peasant associations to mitigate the effects of famine and food scarcity. It is believed that these efforts also led to the popularisation of wheat and millets from northern regions in the south, as ration was distributed along with these and rice was limited after the famine.

Malabar was highly dependent on the taluk of Wayanad for its grain requirements. With the gradual rise in the population of Malabar along with the shifting of land in Wayanad to predominantly coffee estates and plantations, Wayanad could no longer cater to the grain requirements of the district as before. Colonial policies favoured the setting up of estates instead of paddy cultivation in this hilly region. Similarly, a series of flash floods due to increase in rainfall along with drought conditions in the previous year had made the situation ripe for famines in Malabar.

The onset of WW2 in 1939 led to what can be termed as a period of popular distress with increased presence of the military, rising prices of essential goods along with inflation. The situation had deteriorated and peasants and workers were considered to be the worst affected. With the capture of Burma by Japan in 1942, on whose imports Malabar was highly dependent, fluctuations in prices of rice became even more, owing to both lesser availability as well as changing transport costs of bringing rice from Burma. With the onset of war, rice imports had fallen to 13000 tons in 1941 instead of the 32000 tons in the previous two years, forcing the government to take measures to incentivize the use of wheat in these places.

The migration of hundreds of people to the jungles of Malabar because of inflation in Travancore also led to the exacerbation of the situation with hundreds of settlors dying from malaria and fever. Many of these people were pushed into further debt bondage in context of the distress period, leading to more death from malnutrition.

Many popular literature of that time, including writings of Bashir has references to the famine conditions and corresponding poverty in Malabar. Vallathol is believed to have given a speech in Bombay in which he described the famine conditions in Malabar.

Major Contributions

Malabar War Years 1941–1944 – Historical Alleys

P Priya. “Popular Distress and the Second World War- Malabar 1939-45.” *Proceedings of Indian History Congress*, Vol. 74 (2013): 602–610.

P Priya. “Malabar Famine of 1943: A Critique of War Situation in Malabar (1939–1945).” *Proceedings of the Indian History Congress*, Vol. 75 (2014): 628–638, p. 629.

K G Sivaswamy and others. *The Exodus from Travancore to Malabar Jungles*. Kerala Relief Centre, 1945.