Malabar History journal

Kumaran was drawn to the moderate group and decided to start a journal with that name. Thus, Mithavadi was born in 1907 as a weekly journal printed at Tellicherry Vidyavilasam Press and owned by T. Sivasankaran, a businessman.

However, in 1909, Moorkoth left his position as an editor. He later edited a number of publications, including Gajakesari. After Kumaran went, Mithavadi was made to run for some more time using the articles sent by C. Krishnan from Calicut until it was stopped completely in 1913.

Under the direction of Adv. C. Krishnan, Mithavadi resumed publication from Calicut. It was Krishnan who branded it as a journal for the Thiyya community and spoke against the injustices against Thiyyas. He included a single page for just English news in the journal. Krishnan was earlier the editor of Kerala Sanchari which was then owned by his brother-in-law, C.M Rarichan Mooppen. In order to pursue a legal education in Madras, he had given up that position, which he resumed with the resumption of the Mithavadi journal as a tool for improving the conditions of the Thiyya community.

On November 29, 1938, C. Krishnan passed away. Sometime before his death, Mithavadi stopped its publication. Later, Krishnan’s son-in-law K.R. Achuthan, resumed it as a weekly, but the publication stopped shortly.

Contents

Murkoth Kumaran contributed a particular form and style to Mithavadi. In Mithavadi, along with the news breaks, the reasons for the cause and consequences were also highlighted.

A regular column for book reviews in Mithavadi called pusthakaabhiprayam (book review) introduced the then recently released books to readers. The journal offered concise biographies of numerous individuals who have demonstrated their abilities in a variety of fields, such as O Chandu Menon’s biography It also printed literary works, including the well-known poem “Veenapoovu” (The Fallen Flower), followed by other poems of Asan such as “Karshakante Karachil” (The Cry of a Farmer), “Oru Ulbhodhanam” (An Enlightenment) etc. The weekly advances in Western science were tabulated and published in Mithavadi to introduce the Malayalis to modern life. When the country’s first railway, steam engine, tile factory, post office, and telegraph were introduced, Mithavadi provided an interesting explanation of how these systems and engines functioned.

Mithavadi fought not only for the rights of the Thiyyas of Malabar but for the rights of the Ezhavas of Travancore and Cochin as well. Ezhava women actively wrote in it. It also stood in support of the right to education. It condemned the government of Cochin when the Kochi Ezhava Samajam submitted before the Maharaja of Cochin, a memorandum condemning the denial of admission for Ezhava children in some girls schools, in 1917.

References

Stella Joseph. (2008). Print and Public Sphere in Malabar: A Study of Early Journals (1847–1930) [PhD Thesis, Department of History, University of Calicut].

M. V. Thomas. (2012). The Role of Malayalam Newspapers in the Freedom Movement in Kerala [Doctoral Thesis, Department of Communication and Journalism, University of Kerala, Karyavattom Campus].

R. Kavyasree. (2021). Entangled Histories: Gender and the Community Mobilisations of the Ezhavas in Colonial Kerala. Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities, Vol. 13, No. 4.
https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v13n4.05

Mithavadi. (2023). In Wikipedia. Accessed on 08.06.2023 from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithavadi

Kerala PSC Crash Course – Role of Press in Renaissance in Kerala. Accessed on 08.06.2023 from
https://www.facebook.com/PSCA2Z/posts/role-of-press-in-renaissance-in-kerala-7-mithavadi-established-by-t-sivashankar-/124976279325358/