Question

The people who had the ownership of Janmam were called Janmis
A. True
B. False

Answer 1

Hint: The land rights were passed from one generation to the other. The Janmis were from Kerala and they were the landed aristocracy.

Complete answer: The Janmi is referred to a landlord who had ownership over the property known as Janmis. The land share was called Janmabhogam. The Janmis belonged to the Nair and Nambudiri castes. They usually owned up to 20,000 acres of land. The Janmis were as offensive as landlords. The King of Calicut, Maharaja of Cochin and Travancore became Janmis in their own rights. The Vengayil were the largest landlords in Malabar. They owned up to 20,000 acres of land.
With the presence of Communism in Kerala, there has been violence against the Janmis. They were:
1. The Kayyur incident: In the small village of kayyur a rebellion rose against the landlords under the leadership of some Communist leaders. Many people were killed and the Communist leaders were found guilty.
2. Mattannur incident: This incident occurred as a rebellion between Muslim tenants who were called Mophlas and the Nair caste. 200 Mophlas entered the house of the local landlord with arms and killed 18 of his family members.

Note: At present no one can own land in Kerala. Although the Government is supposed to pay a small pension to those landlords who have returned their lands, they have refused to do so. Several violent incidents against the Janmis have taken place because they exploited and oppressed the labourers.