4 SOCIAL SCIENTIST old fedual system ofjenmi overlordship. The levies commonly prevalent in north Malabar were vasi, nun, mukkal and thirumulka^hcha. Some involved extra payments over and above the stipulated rent while measuring in the paddy brought for rent. Others were payments of customary tributes in kind to the jenmis on festivals like Onam and for conducting kathakali performances. Apart from these economic levies, the social coercion manifested itself in customs of certain forms of dress, methods of salutation to the jenmi and so on.2 In the worst affected areas, mainly the hilly tracts of ihe two taluks, the women of the peasantry were at the beck and call of the landlords. Therefore the karshaka sangham took up the demand for ending feudal levies, and the struggle against these practices assumed a powerful force. By striking at the extra-economic social oppression, it hit at the very edifice of the feudal structure in the villages. New Shapes and Forms All the pradesh (regional) karshaka sanghams formed in 1937-38 took up the question of feudal levies and passed resolutions to mobilize the peasantry to end them. At the second Chirakkal taluk conference of the sangham held in 1938, it was decided to organize peasant jathas (marches) to landlords to present demands. One of the first jathas was taken out by the peasants of Alavil under the leadership of their pradesh sangham to the Chirakkal Raja in October 1937. Prior to this a karshaka sangham was founded in Alavil in July 1937 with a 15-member committee. At its first meeting a resolution was passed against the four-paisa levy collected by the Raja for every seer (0.93 kg) of paddy given in as rent. At the call of the sangham, peasants from Alavil and nearby villages went to the Raja's premises in a jatha under the leadership of Vishnu Bharateeyan. They demanded that the practice of measuring 11 seers as equivalent to 9| seers of rent must be stopped. At the negotiations with peasant representatives, the Raja offered to increase the measure to 10 seers. This was rejected by the representatives, who later reported to the peasants at a meeting held on the spot.8 Scores of such jathas took place in 1938. Some of the more important are recorded here as they illustrate the form of struggle adopted. The jatha, to the Kurumathoor Namboodiripad, of peasants from Keyralam, Kurumathoor and surrounding areas numbered 2000.4 In the negotiations, the landlord refused to give up any of the levies. At a conference held after talks in a nearby field, the peasants decided that unless the jenmi relented, they would pay their rent only after ten days and after consultations with the taluk sangham. In November, 7000 peasants went in a jatha from Morazha, Kalliasherri and 23 other villages to the landlord Karakatidathil Nayanar. All the small jathas from the villages congregated at Ellerenhi and marched together in a disciplined manner to the field adjoining the landlord's house. Nayanar