Agrestic Slavery in Colonial Kanara

Slavery in Kanara existed in two forms, domestic and agrestic. The number of domestic slaves appears to have been very small. Agrestic or prædial slavery, known as adami (aboriginal or indigenous serfs) refers to slaves attached to the land. It had its origin in very remote times, by which slaves were generally held under the same tenures and terms as the land itself.

In Kanara, Ravenshaw, collector of South Kanara, observed in 1801, that nearly all the cultivation was done by slave labour, and that an estate without slaves was of little value, because day-labourers were unavailable. Buchanan, however, observed cultivation was chiefly carried by hired servants (Culialu), and some slaves (Muladalu).

Stating that several landlords had suffered considerable loss when their slaves had enlisted into sepoy corps, Ravenshaw asked the board of revenue whether it was wise to allow slaves to enlist, whether the British had a right to recruit them, whether they could be recruited without the consent of their owners, or without compensating owners for the loss of their services. Recruitments would not only undermine the very fabric of the agricultural system, but jeopardize a landlord’s loyalty. Besides, slaves, being attached to their native land, were sure to desert. Such was this attachment, that no purchaser employed a slave at a place more than 20 or 30 miles distant from the place of his birth.

Ravenshaw described Kanara’s agrestic slaves (Daerds, Dhers, slaves by birth and caste, divided into 12 classes), as "conditional servants for life or forever." He estimated their numbers at 52,022, out of a total population (South Kanara) of 396,672, divided into three classes, Moondaul, Magore, and Mavey Daerd. The former two didn’t eat beef. Mavey Daerds ate beef but did not kill cows. Magores and Moondauls sometimes ate together, but never intermarried. Neither sect associated with Mavey Daerds. Among Moondaul and Mavey Daerds, property passed on from uncle to nephew, and a father gave his children to their uncle. In the Magore sect, property descended from father to son.

Moondaul Daerds were not purchased, but bound themselves to service to a landlord who had paid their marriage expenses. When distressed for money, they sometimes mortgaged themselves, agreeing to serve his creditor until the debt was repaid. A landlord gave three to four pagodas (10 to 14 rupees) for expenses, and cloths worth Rs 13 annually. The couple was bound to serve the landlord and his heirs so long as the husband lived. They had no claim over their children, who were the exclusive property of their uncle. He could allow them to remain with their father till they are grown up, or take them away when he wished after compensating their master. If their uncle agreed, a daughter was allowed to remain with the father until marriage. They were then bound to serve their husband's owner. His master had no right over the mother and children when the husband died. It was then the uncle’s responsibility to provide for them, and they were bound to serve his master if he had work for them. If a man wanted to marry a second time, his master supplied him with money, but because of the extra expense, he stopped the annual allowance, and paid only the daily allowance.

Magore Daerds were bought and sold. They and their male heirs were bound to serve their master and his heirs forever. Females remained with their father till married when they become the property of their husband's master. The average price of a man and his wife when purchased together, was from four to five pagodas (14 to 17 rupees). They were sometimes mortgaged as well. At the time of purchase, a small piece of land, with a cocoa-nut and jack tree upon it, was allocated to them, and sometimes a bullock. They received the same daily allowance of rice and the same cloths as the Moondauls, but not an annual allowance, the land and trees being considered equivalent. 

If a person purchased a Mavey Daerd man and woman, and arranged for and paid the expense of their marriage, the couple and their male heirs are bound to serve their owner and his heirs forever. If a Mavey Daerd widow married again, her children by her new husband become the property of her owner, but he has no claim on the new husband. In cases where a Mavey Daerd was not purchased, but was bound to serve a master who had paid his marriage expenses, the same rules as applicable to Moondauls were observed.

Despite being bought and sold, Daerd service was conditional on the male side. Slaves were prohibited from borrowing money from any but their master. The landlord could neither sell nor mortgage them, nor could they, without the landlord's consent, mortgage themselves or their children. Daerds could go to work for another person without their owner's consent, and they are bound to return whenever he had work for them. They were allowed to leave service if an owner failed to give them the usual allowance of rice, and cloth, and recover the balance of allowances due to them and their children.  A Daerd could ask his owner not to sell him to any man he had reason to fear. Daerds could not be put up for public sale, or transported to any place where there were no people of their caste. They could not be sent, or sold, out of the land in which they are born and bred.

In 1819, Thomas Harris, collector of Canara, reported the number of slaves at 82,000, of whom 20,000 were descendants of persons captured in battle, or concubines, or Brahman women who had lost caste through relations with men of inferior castes. Baber’s estimate (1825) of the total number of slaves, agrestic and domestic, in Kanara was 80,000, or about one in twelve of the general population.

Babington, a magistrate of Kanara, wrote that the condition of the slaves in Kanara was better than in others parts of the world, being as good, if not better than that of free labourers. A slave was supported by his master whether ill or well, and always had shelter. His food was wholesome, and generally adequate. Punishment, when imposed, was not severe, or disgraceful, and his work was not oppressive or beyond his strength. Instances of cruelty were now punishable by the police, and an exception to the general practice.