Kannur:

Kannur central prison, the first central prison in the State that was established in 1869, is all set to create history, with the first jail museum in the State, which would come up in its quarantine block soon.

“The government has approved the project, and now we will have to consult an expert regarding the curatorial aspect as well as the interior design and selection and display of the items,” said jail superintendent Ashokan Arippa.

The museum, which is the first of its kind in the State, will showcase rare items like the uniform of the jail staffers since the British period, guns, important documents, as also the model of the gallows and the noose that were used to hang the prisoners in those days.

“We have a whole lot of records, and other items that would arouse the curiosity of the common man as well as history enthusiasts, and these would be displayed in the quarantine block of the jail, which is no longer in use,” he said.

The prison has a huge collection of gazettes from the British period to the post-independence period. The gazettes range from the St George Fort Gazette to the ones with the emblem of Tamil Nadu and Kerala governments. The ones with Kerala government emblems give a picture of its transformation from a single elephant and coconut tree in the emblem to its present form, said jail officials. The jail which executed 75 convicts after 1947, the last one being Ripper Chandran who was hanged in 1991, would also display the convict record.

Since the documents are very old, and also highly valuable from a historic perspective, they have to be preserved carefully for which the support of an expert would be sought.

A segment of the records with the details related to the leaders imprisoned during freedom struggle, and also the records pertaining to the 1921rebellion apart from the Kayyur struggle have already been retrieved and this would also be part of the exhibits. Also, there are some rare items like an old water pump manufactured in Manchester, England, by Crossley Brothers, which was recently recovered from the junk. Similar articles would also find place in the museum.

The quarantine block was established at a time when the medical facilities were limited to check communicable diseases. So the prisoners were first made to stay here for a few days to confirm they have no contagious disease before shifting them to the cells.

The authorities selected this double-storey building with twenty cells, because it is no longer in use and also because of its vintage value. Once they get the expert opinion about the way the museum should be designed, the budget would be fixed and the work would begin, said the jail authorities.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Kozhikode / TNN / April 29th, 2016

The departments have joined hands not only to interpret the manuscripts belonging to the 11-18th century, but also to conserve the rare documents of significant historical value. Apart from the palm leaf manuscripts, bundles of rare documents, bills and books were recovered from the temple premises.

‘‘All these documents are of immense historical value as they can throw light on the social history of the region during the British and pre-British regime,’’ said P. Sivadasan, head of department of history, Calicut University.

Historians who gathered at the temple as part of a three-day workshop on conservation of the documents said the manuscripts and other documents would have the potential for a re-reading of Kerala’s social history. ‘‘We have rare documents mentioning a lot about Tipu Sultan’s expeditions,’’ said Dr. Sivadasan.

Inaugurating the workshop, Calicut University Vice Chancellor K. Mohammed Basheer read out a few lines from an 1892 diary of Sankaran Namboothiri, a radical Brahmin who challenged the orthodoxy. The diary found from the temple storehouse, along with several others, was a reflection of the period the Namboothiri lived.

Archives Department Director J. Rejikumar and Archaeology Department Director G. Premkumar said that Karikkad, a well-known Namboothiri settlement in Kerala, would get the historical significance it deserved. It would be protected, they said.

The team of historians and researchers will prepare an index of the documents found at Karikkad and will script eight papers in the next two days. ‘‘We are encouraging our students to depend on the primary source of information to interpret history,’’ Dr. Sivadasan said.

He said that when professionals handle the documents and artefacts from yesteryear, the results would be fruitful and rich.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Kerala / by Abdul Latheef Naha / Malappuram – March 12th, 2016

Several reasons have been cited to make this possible, particularly the enthusiasm shown by a young archaeological-anthropologist N.K. Ramesh, who is a senior assistant, Museum Project, Cultural Heritage Department of Thunchath Ezhuthachan Malayalam University at Tirur.

He has been credited with the discoveries of many Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, Megalithic, and Neolithic tools and several Megalithic sites in North Kerala. Findings such as the typical Palaeolithic hand axe from Vanimel river basin (Kozhikode) and pointed choppers and side scarpers from Anakkayam and Cheerkkayam river basin of Chandragiri (Kasaragod) are some of the first-time evidence of Palaeolithic implements in these districts. This revealed that hand-axe fabrication technique in quartz raw material was also familiar among the prehistoric man in north Kerala. “In fact, archaeologist Killingworth Richard Utten Todd (KRU Todd) had discovered Mesolithic tools from Chevayur (Kozhikode), perhaps the first Stone Age evidence in Kerala during 1930-35.

But detailed studies then failed to take off,” says P. Rajendran, archaeologist, whose works since 1974 brought to light rich Palaeolithic evidence of myriad cultures in Kerala.

Giving the lie to Foote’s view

Dr. Rajendran said that Foote had argued that Kerala was unsuitable for prehistoric habitation citing primary causes such as the absence of quartzite raw material, thick forest and heavy rainfall in the State. “Today the situation is different with more people coming to the forefront in archaeology. But only a few succeed in identifying the implements of the prehistoric era,” he says.

Mr. Ramesh, who does research under Dr. Rajendran’s guidance, has discovered Mesolithic tools from Panom forest region, which lies 1,500 feet, above sea level, bordering Kozhikode-Wayanad districts. “It is a Mesolithic factory site as waste material and hammer stone were discovered near a stream inside the forest,” he said.

He has been certified for the discoveries of Megalithic sites at Valayam, Varikkoli, Chekkad, Kuitheri, Ummathur, Perumundacheri, Mullankunnu, Pannimukku, and Muippra. The evidence include black and red ware, eagle head-like figures made of clay, iron chopper and dagger, black ware, smoke pipe, iron knife, iron sickle and several iron ingots.

The well-polished symmetrical shaped Stone Adzes made of quartz showed the high expertise in quartz fabrication of Neolithic people in Kozhikode, Mr. Ramesh said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kozhikode / by Biju Govind / Kozhikode – March 08th, 2016