Jewel hidden in the greens

Shardul Bhardwaj

Nestled between Karnataka to the north and northeast, Tamil Nadu to southeast and districts of Kerala to the south, Wayanad seems to be the most talked about place in Kerala. This is owing to the fact that AICC President Rahul Gandhi contested and won from this constituency in the recently convened Lok Sabha elections. According to residents of this not-so-popular tourist destination, which is located at an altitude of 700-1200 metres, “Now people from all over the country seem to know more about Wayanad than we do.”

It is not very common to find Wayanad on the itinerary of an average North Indian tourist to Kerala. When it comes to a hill station, tourists prefer Munnar over Wayanad. Well within the city limits, one may encounter lush green forests and cover of tall rocks. The beautiful red soil with its green cover and grey rocks seem to soothe the eyes. Then one emerges into a city centre like Kalpetta City. The results are not disorienting. The city seems to run at a pace where it offers its visitors ample space to stay on their own. The economy here is mostly agriculture. The non-tribal population of the city settled to reap the benefits of a rich soil and planted coffee, spices, tea, ginger, etc. Tribal populations are understood to be the original inhabitants of the area. Recorded evidence of human settlement goes back to the New Stone Age.

Among these tribes, the Kuruchiyas has played a major role in one of the most important rebellions against the British in India. This rebellion saw a temporary defeat of the British under Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington in 1803 who would later vanquish Napoleon in the Battle of Waterloo. This rebellion was led by Pazhassi Raja, who, along with long-term hostilities with the British, did not agree with their taxation policy. It was in these deep jungles of Wayanad that Wellesley experienced guerilla warfare of the Raja and the Kuruchiya that he later used in Spain to defeat Napoleon.

Mananthvady where Raja’s tomb stands was also a site of one of his four major forest forts. It is said it could house almost all of his troops. Deep in the jungles, one might find many other places of great historical importance like the Edakkal caves. This cave, which lies on an ancient trade route connecting Mysore to the Malabar Coast, is full of exquisite pictorial writings believed to be dating to 6,000 BC. The uniqueness of the cave petroglyphs is that the caves have been inhabited at various points of time. So when one looks at the pictorial writings, one sees different civilisations interacting with each other for a period of 8,000 years.

Wayanad seems to bear witness to a constant interaction between the human civilisation and natural flora and fauna. In its limited capacity in a market economy, Wayanad has been able to maintain harmony between the natural and the artificial. Wayanad borders the Bandipur tiger reserve and is the site of discovery of the narrow-mouthed frog. Offering the best of both worlds to its visitors, Wayanad is natural unfettered nature. Perhaps all that is beautiful in Kerala might be offered to the visitor in a microcosm in Wayanad, except a coast and the backwaters.