DETERMINING INDOOR THERMAL COMFORT CONDITION OF KUTAI HOUSE THROUGH BIOCLIMATIC ANALYSIS

Conserving the traditional Malay Kutai houses as our building heritage is important before they perish due to neglection. For maintenance purposes, the palm leave roofs are replaced with more durable materials such as zinc or onduline roof sheets. Replacing the building materials without understanding their properties could cause harmful effect on the indoor thermal comfort. Previously, there is minimal quantitative research done to prove that the traditional Malay house is thermally comfortable. Thus, this research intends to measure the thermal comfort parameters of Kutai house and analyse the result using a bioclimatic chart. The results revealed that the average thermal comfort conditions of the Kutai houses are within the boundaries of comfort zone as recommended for natural ventilated buildings despite using zinc roof.

Kuzhikkanam (Tomb-fee & Land Tenure): A Re-Discovery from Historical Palm Leave Manuscripts

This article is an attempt to explore and analyse the practice of levying Kuzhikkanam (tomb fee) for the burial of dead bodies in the Syrian church cemeteries in Kerala. There are eighteenth and nineteenth century palm leaf records in the Syrian churches which provide a lot of interesting information on this practice. This term is borrowed from the secular practice of levying Kulikkanam (Kuzhikkanam), that is, rent paid for cultivating the land that was newly brought under cultivation by land improvements either through reclamation or deforestation.Keywords: Kuzhikkanam, Kulikkanam, tomb-fee, Land tenure, Palm-leaf record, Kaikkaran (Trustee), Panayam (Mortgage)

Man Slaving to Divine: A Socio-religious Custom Gleaned from the Nineteenth Century Palm Leaves

This paper is an attempt to explore and analyse the practice of the institution of slavery observed by the Syrian Christian communities in Kerala. There are eighteenth and nineteenth century palm leaf (manuscript) records in the Syrian Christian churches in Kerala establishing the same which needs to be understood in its secular and spiritual senses since these records are evidence of both the secular practice of slavery as a social custom and a religious practice of adima (slave) offering as a spiritual activity. So also, this paper is an attempt to explore and analyse the origin of adimappanam or adimakasu found in the Church records. Keywords: Syrian Christians; Slavery; Palm leave records; Adima; Adimappanam; Slave offering

Mapping Dowry Exchanges: Snapshots of Nineteenth Century Palm Leaves

The Palm leave records of the Syrian Christian communities in Kerala, belonging to eighteenth and nineteenth century, remain as evidences of the practice of dowry (Stridhanam) among the Syrian Christians and donations such as passaram, nadavazhakkam, kurippanam, kudappanam etc made to the churches and priests in relation to the marriage. Records say that this social custom, also known as Stridhanam was a crucial point of marriage and it was very often a matter of dispute and family problems. In spite of all disputes and difficulties existed in the Syrian Christian families and in the society at large because of this custom, no church record could be traced against this system. This paper is an attempt to explore and analyse the nature and practice of this social custom among Syrian Christians in the nineteenth century, who are Christian in faith and religion but are not different from the Hindus in their social customs and practices. Likewise, this paper is an attempt to analyse the social and cultural impacts of dowry (stridhanam) and the attitude of the society as well as that of Church authorities towards this custom and how did they tax the people in connection with the marriage. Keywords: Dowry; stridhanam; syrian christians; passaram; nadavazhakkam; palm leave records; christian marriage