1. A BRIEF HISTORY OF VELLICODE

1.

A BRIEF HISTORY  OF VELLICODE

            The name of present Vellicode until about 1800 AD had been Thippili. A house of a  then- called Brammakula Shathriyan was the first house to appear in Thippili.
              It is said that a plant called thippili cured cough. There were many thippili plants in that area. Therefore, that place acquired the name Thippili.
          Then the Brammakula Shathriyans were chased away and some others occupied the place. Some Brammakula Shathriyans returned to the nearby area. This area is  now called Vellicode.
           The land documents until 1949 mention this place as Vellicode Pandarakkattu Vilai , presumably because Brammakula Shathriyans belonged to the Royal clan. Pandarakkattu Vilai area was exempt from land tax.
              The present R.C. Middle School, Vellicode, had been called Thippili School. A number of documents support this inference. 

               The people living around the Thippili pond and some people at the Vellicode junction even now consider Vellicode as Thippili.           

          There exists a strong belief that St. Thomas, one of the twelve disciples of Jesus Christ, landed a Colachel and came to this village in 63 A.D. They say that he had constructed a small church near to the present Thippili pond. The church was dedicated to Heavenly Mary. After some struggles, it was shifted to Kovilvilai in Vellicode before moving to Thiruvithancode - a place about 5 km south. The church at Kovilvilai was dedicated to Our Lady of Seven Dolours. Historians say that Kerala had maritime business links with the Mediterranean countries from  77 BC. The coins found in the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple at Thiruvananthapulam reinforce this view.
               

          
          According to a - real or imaginary- story, a King of  Venad , one day, paid a visit to the temple at Thippili in Vellicode. It was the festival day in the church at Kovil vilai. Kovil vilai is just 700 metre east of Thippili. The King -on that day -issued  an order to shift the temple to the western part and the church to the eastern part of Thippili. Accordingly, the church was shifted to the present place and the temple to Valvachagostam.
         Mr. B. Soosai Michael (Retd.Teacher) and one or two old people say that St.Thomas had built the church by the side of  the temple at Thippili and it was temporarily  shifted to Kovil vilai in deference to the wishes of the King. In support of this, they point out that the original name of the present R.C. Middle School,  Vellicode until 1940 had been R. C. Primary School, Thippili.  Therefore, they say, the  school had been shifted from Thippili. Alternatively, it indicated the importance of Thippili.

     Further, it is believed that St.Thomas preached to the elite. Therefore, he might have constructed a church near the temple. 
          It must be noted that even now some families belonging to the Nair community live in Thippili and also in the Vellicode junction. In those days the ancestors of Nair community were considered  as the elite. Now there exists a claim that their ancestors had been the original inhabitants of Thippili and therefore Vellicode. 
    However, it must be noted that the people of a particular community got the name Nair only in 1875. Before 1875 they were called Suudrar.
    There is a pond-  temple tank –  in Thippili. Near to this pond, some big stone slabs of an ancient structure lie even today  - 1 November 2011. They surfaced in January 2011 while digging the place  for planting rubber saplings. 
      The above stone slabs do not possess any inscriptions, sculptures, carvings  or   writings although one or two contain long narrow cuts on the surface. 

A stone with a narrow cut.

Stone slabs dug up at Thippili in Vellicode in 2011. A narrow cut can be seen on the surface.

      

Some other stone slabs that surfaced at Thippili in Vellicode

           Retired Teacher Mr. Thobias,  from the Mela-vilai area of Vellicode, says that the stone slabs do not convey any religious  message. 

Mr. Thobias (Retired Teacher) from the Mela-vilai area of Vellicode standing at Thippili

   My close examination confirms his conclusion. In fact, these archaeological remains do not portray any deities. Perhaps, they belong to the 1st century - before the advent of Hindu religion.

Mr. V. Sabarimuthu at Thippili

      However, Mr. R. Justin of Kalanvilai area of Vellicode says that some of these stone slabs resemble the stone - steps present in the Valvachagostam temple given in www. temples-and-churches.blogspot.com
           I saw a few stone steps in the pond about 50 years ago. Therefore,  a temple might have existed at Thippili.

The pond near to the temple/church at Thippili

      However,  the quality  of the stone slabs is comparable to the stone baptism-tub present in the church believed to have been built by St. Thomas at Thiruvithancode and hence a church might have existed in that  place. 
           Did any technology exist in 63A.D. to make such stone slabs? The experts say that the rock workers in ancient days used to create big cleavages in suitable rocks using chisels.

         
   Whatever happened in the past, no one in this village -except the Nair                   families at Thippili  - now considers anyone as a descendant of the people who lived in this place  in 63 A.D.  None in this place claims that his ancestors had been Hindus either. Even in the case of Nairs, some people believe that they came from Kerala. 


            

          Now, Vellicode is considered as a village of immigrants. There exists a belief that the earliest immigrant - called Mallan Asan - came from  Thenkasi in the Tirunelveli District of the Tamil Nadu State during the reign of King Mathanda Varma ( 1728 -1758) and settled  in Vellicode. Most of the people are his descendants. They now live in different areas of Vellicode namely Puthu Vilai, Erattan Vilai, Kizhakku Vilai, Kattu Vilai, Mela Vilai and Thiruvatti. They are collectively called Arapparai family.
            However, even in this matter, some people say that Mallan Asan - due to a disturbance in Tenkasi- came to Vellicode  in 1300.
       Some others say that Mallan Asan was a decedent of  Moni Asan who lived in Vellicode long before Mallan Asan. They refute the Tenkasi origin story.
              The origin of the word Arapparai may be noted. A house - in those days - had four parts corresponding to the four directions. They are Padipparai,Vadakkathu, Thekkathu and Arapparai. They correspond to the eastern, northern, southern and western parts respectively of a house. 
        A Mr. Innasimuthu - a descendant of Mallan Asan- had been living in a house at Oothankkara area. He had been a physician. When the people went to his house for treatment, his wife used to say that her husband was sitting in Arapparai.  The people later called his descendants and the children of his ancestors living in this area as ones belonging to the Arapparai family.
    Innasimuthu had five sons- Mariakkon, Mathodian, Mariandran, Savarimuthu and Swamiyadian. Son of Mariakkon was Vyakappan, his grandson was Sabastian, and his great grandsons are the present day -2012- Mr.Mariakkon and Mr.Sinkarayan born at Erattan vilai area.  
          A man called Swamiyadian settled down at Swamitharavilai. Some of his descendants are now present at Thattamkonam. Some others live at Avarivilai. 
             A prominent member of Thattamkonam was Innasimuthu. He had been a teacher in the school in Vellicode.  He died as a bachelor about 70 years ago. He had translated some inscriptions found in palm tree leaves into the modern Tamil.  I possess some of them.
                 A Mr. Rayappan was the brother of the above Innasimuthu. He had two sons -Maria Sebastian and Maria Michael - and three daughters - Viakulamariyal, Veronica and Theresammal. Veronica died as a nun. Viakulamarial was  my mother.  

          A man called Viakan alias Mickael came from Mulavilai and married a woman from Vellicode. He lived at Pazhaya Veettadi in Vellicode. The name of his son was Savarimuthu. Savarimuthu had a son called Dharmanathan through his first wife. After the death of his first wife, he married another woman. She also died. Then he married another woman.
        The above mentioned Dharmanathan married a woman from the Thuruvatti area of Vellicode. He had three sons - Varuvel, Vyakappan and Maria Susai - and a daughter- Viakulamariyal. Vyakappan had three sons - Dharmanathan, Sabarimuthu -the present writer- and John Bosco.

          About 20 per cent of the people of Vellicode - mostly educated people - have migrated to other parts of India. A few people are living in other countries. The population is  steadily decreasing. 
      Now (2011), there are about 500 houses in this village. 90 per cent of the people are Catholic Christians . The rest are Hindus of various castes.
      A Middle School is functioning under the Bishop of Kottar.  The poor standard of this school, affected the progress of the village for about 30 years since 1980. 
            There is a catholic church in Vellicode.  
           There exists  a co-operative society.
           A water supply scheme was started in 1984. 
          A private Higher Secondary School has been established recently.
         A small library-cum-reading room and a market have also been started recently. 
       Some voluntary organizations function for social works. 
      The village has been conducting a joint feast from time immemorial. 
      There had been  a Devasahayam Pillai carnatic drama till the recent past. 
       A reading room had been functioning for about 30 years under different names- Xavier's Reading Room, Students Association and Gent's Federation.

By V. Sabarimuthu
2011.


     About 50 per cent of the people live below the poverty line. About 40 per cent belong to the middle class. The rest moderately rich. There are three or four rich people.



By
V. Sabarimuthu
26-3 Thattankonam
Vellicode
Mulagumoodu P.O.
PIN:629167


Note:  Now (2016) many people are falling below the poverty line. This is due to the low prices of rubber and coconut. Unemployment problem also haunts many. A rough estimate shows that about 50 percent of the people are below the poverty line.

V. Sabarimuthu