Colonial Salt Regulation and Social Transformation in the Princely State of Pudukkottai

Abstract

During the British colonial period, the Princely State of Pudukkottai was a semi-autonomous region in the Madras Presidency covering 1178 square miles with a population of 411,886 according to the 1911 Census. Though ruled by the Tondaiman kings, the state remained under British political and revenue influence. Today, Pudukkottai is a district of Tamil Nadu covering 4663 square kilometres with a population of 1,618,345 as recorded in the 2011 Census, and it continues to retain its rural character. Heavy colonial taxes limited access to sea salt from the Bay of Bengal coast, forcing inland communities to depend on earth-salt production for local use. The Uppiliyar community possessed specialised knowledge in this traditional family-based occupation, in which women played a major role. This paper investigates with evidences how the women especially from Uppiliyar community were able to be skilled in this occupation, and later threatened and subjected to judicial actions by the concerned authorities. The discussion further attempts to go deeper into the context of salt-based economy which was dominant during the era under the strict supervision of the colonial rulers. The producers and poor consumers of earth-salt were denied their right of occupation and consumption in order to sell the highly taxed sea salt by force. The study attempts to deepen the understanding of the exploitation of the colonial rule and the resistance of the marginalised. Different sources of data reveal the prolonged hardships faced by the women, legal action to criminalise a traditional occupation and consequent migration.