THE MANNAN COMMUNITY
It
is one of the ancient tribal communitys in India .Their specialty is they are
the only community in india having their own king. The name of present king is Raman
Raja Mannan. The head quarters of the king is Kozhimala near Kattappana
in Idukki district.
He
is the 24th king of this
community. Under him there are 9 ministers and the kingdom is divided in to
four subordinate states.
1. Thekkode – contain Kumally area ruled by Chintrandimoopan
2. Nadukkuda-the Udumbenchola area, ruled by Thalambilamoopan
3. Athalorupuram-Thodupuzha area, ruled
by Maniyaranmoopan
4. Chenkanattumala-Devikulam, Ernakulam,Thrissur areas.ruled by Manappadanmoopan.
The hierarchy
The minister is known as Kanikkaran. Under him aayiramkudiyanavan,
periyakudiyanavan, varikudiyanavan, illayavattam, etc …are there .they are
helping the king to take decisions about day to day activities. Also they are
controlled the law and order of the community. The king has all powers to
prosecute one.
Population
Total population of Mannan community is 40000
distributed among Idukki Ernakulam Thrissur districts. They are distributed
among 49 colonies .here 112 families are lived.
History
They are reached here before 20 generations. It is
believed that during pandya- chola war they helped the Pandya king .as a reward
of this Pandya king gave them the kings position.Their main occupation is agriculture.
They cultivate vegetables, pepperetc their main food is kurrumpullu. Honey meat
of wild animal, fish, underground seeds, rice etc are their foods.
Religion and
culture
They worship many goddess .Their main god is Ayyappan.
Other gods arekanjiyar muthiamma, Ayyappankovil ganapathi.
In Kumily region there is one temple for the tribes to
worship. That is Vanadevan Vanadevi- Siva Parvathi temple Mannakudy.
This temple is established here before 50 years. The idol of this temple is a
stone. Daily rituals are there.The main festival of this temple is Sivarathri
festival. That day there are special rites and rituals here.
They follow maruumakkathayam. The main festival of
them is kaalavotu. This is the harvest festivel.At the time of this festival
they worship goddess earth. Their main ritual is koothupatu. It is a
traditional song of them. Now it is published by a book.
Sword, silk and ring are the official dressing of the
king. Their priest is called Vichakkaran.
He knows the traditional medicines.
In the field of education they are not aware of
education .they are not willing to send their children to school. There is one
tribal school in Mannakkudy area that is government tribal U.P school
Mannakkudy.
In mannakkudy region the Mannans are living in the
colony under the control of the forest department. Now in Mannakkudy region
they are cultivating vegetables like cauliflower, pumpkin, beans, cabbage etc.
Their main occupation is fishing, collection of fire woods from there reserve
forest.
There are three roads to Mannakudy colony.
The
Kumily- Anavachal – Mannakudy road- 3km.
The
Kumily Panchayat – Mannakudy road- 2km
The
Kumily govnt. Hospital- Mannakudy road- 3km
Accessible by two wheelers, auto, car, jeep
etc. only with the prior permission of the forest department.
