Introduction
Kochi is a cluster of islands at the mouth of the backwaters of Vembanad Lake that stretches out onto the Arabian Sea to create perhaps, the finest natural harbor in the world. Popularly known as ‘The Queen of the Arabian Sea’ for its significance in the Indian spice trade, it has now become the commercial capital of Kerala, India.
Kochi in a span of 500 years has grown from a small port settlement in Mattancherry to the most cosmopolitan city of Kerala, India with over 2.1 million people. Its long history as a trading center and a major port have shaped the layout and development of the city into a dense and vibrant urban environment around the port comprising residential, commercial, and industrial land use. Being involved in global trade from very early on, the city’s long history of merchants and traders also makes it home to several markets and bazaars, social spaces that have been influential in creating a rich and diverse ethnic environment in the city and an integral part of the city’s identity and fabric, playing a vital role in its economy and the society today. The surrounding roads, railways, and other infrastructure that connects Kochi to the region were a result of the significant movement of goods and people facilitated by the port.
While this has had a significant impact on the production of space in the city, the port became the gateway for different colonial powers into India. This essay explores how space is produced in Kochi in light of different colonial rules to different degrees for different periods of time and studies how this has affected changing built and non-built environments today. It analyzes how Kochi is a ‘cultural construction’, and how this storehouse of hybrid cultures and customs, brought in by ancient traders, colonial rulers and migrant communities became what it is today, a ‘microcosm of the world’.
History of Kochi
This ‘cultural construction’ is a result of several episodes of colonization.
“Every political power creates its own space” (Lefebvre 1991)
Kochi, or as it was formerly called- Cochin, was formed in 1341 AD when “a great flood streaming from the Periyar river” silted up the Muziris, a major trading center for a variety of spices, cloth, metal work and precious stones between local Cheras with Romans, Greeks & Arabs. The flood marked the end of the Muziris, making Cochin the new trading hub. Merchants who had moved to Muziris including “Chetties, Kelings, Muslims, together with St. Thomas Christians and Jews” moved to Cochin.
After Vasco da Gama’s visit to Calicut in 1498, the Portuguese were looking for opportunities for expansion. Not being able to establish anything significant due to the Zamorin of Calicut’s reluctance to trade with them, under Pedro Alvarez Cabral, a Portuguese navigator, they turned to the Rajas of Cochin, The Perumpadappu Swaroopam. The Portuguese for years took an active part in socio-cultural life and married local women. The Portuguese helped the Raja in the battle against the Zamorin in 1502, and in return got permission to build a fort, The Manuel Fort. This marked the beginning of the Portuguese occupation of Cochin. They began developing the fort and built churches and convents nearby to bolster up a Catholic community.
In 1663, The Dutch captured Fort Cochin. They demolished, burnt, or converted most of what the Portuguese had built. They reorganized the city, invested in town planning, the renovation of The Paradesi Synagogue, and construction of a new palace, the Mattancherry-Dutch Palace, for the Raja of Cochin, Veera Kerala Varma. Unlike the Portuguese they lived secluded, away from all the natives, taking part only in trade. They also erected The Bolgatty Palace and several country houses along the coast.
In 1795, The British took over Fort Cochin upon the decline of The Dutch East India Company. In 1840, The Raja moved out of Cochin onto the mainland when trade was gradually redirected to other ports controlled by the British. Fort Kochi was made a municipality under the Madras Act 10. After years of declining trade in Cochin and the consolidation of The British East India Company, Lord Willingdon appointed Robert Bristow to construct a safer inner port in Cochin. By 1936, after 21 long years of planning and construction, he had completed this port alongside a nearby island, Willingdon Island. It was built using soil dredged out to accommodate the new inner port and became the largest artificial island in India. This renewed trade in Cochin and resulted in major infrastructure improvements.
Soon after, India became independent in 1947 and, Cochin, now Kochi, became a part of the wider Corporation of Kochi in the Ernakulam district of Kerala.
Space as a social product
Even after 75 years of independence, several indicators point to subsisting economic and cultural dependencies in former colonies such as Kochi. While the process of colonialism consisted of hegemonic and violent conquests of physical, economic, and intellectual spaces, certain progressions brought about unparalleled forms of advancements, creating a ripple effect in terms of space in modern-day Kochi. Cities and towns have given up their anglicized names to revert to their vernacular version, from Cochin to Kochi, yet spaces continue to point towards a strong cultural influence, be it through their impressions, their conceptions, or their representations. Lefebvre in ‘The Production of Space’ argues that space is a social product affecting social practices and perceptions and that the organization of space is not natural, nor neutral, but rather molded by structures and power dynamics of the society. Kochi is an amalgamation of this. In Anjali Antony’s words, “The memories of robust trade, conquest by three European colonial powers and plurality of existence is woven into the very fabric of the geographic space of Kochi.”
“Strategic space makes it possible simultaneously to force worrisome groups, the workers among others, out towards the periphery; to make available spaces near the centers scarcer, so increasing their value; to organize the center as the locus of decision, wealth power, and information; to find allies for the hegemonic class within the middle strata and within the ‘elite’; to plan production and flows from the spatial point of view; and so on” (Lefebvre 1991, 375)
Spaces are periphrastic but very real entities with tangible and sensual qualities determined by their respective relations. They locate themselves within these relations where each space has a “differential position” in an urban system of relations. Kochi has its very own identity that distinguishes it from other cities, and so do spaces within Kochi on their own, and these are defined by notions, experiences, and expositions of them. There exists in Kochi today under the guise of heritage, ‘The Pepper Exchange’. Located in Jew Town, Mattancherry, it is the only place in the world where pepper is an exchange currency. Pepper, also known as ‘black gold’, was the main commodity that was traded from Kochi, due to the abundance of which it fell into the hands of European kingdoms. Laurajane Smith in ‘The Uses of Heritage’ describes heritage as an abstract cultural construction against insidious workings of a dominant, Euro-American, and materialist heritage discourse. What is deemed heritage is certainly a product of selection by society, and this selection is carried forward by following generations simply due to the fabric of tradition. As a parallel, it is pertinent to note that there is potentially a significant influence that the colonists’ architectural innovations could have on the local communities. Studies conducted verified that colonial buildings evoke the subduction of the locality to foreign rule and that they potentially affect the self-esteem of nearby residents. However, despite the artificial, proxy-oppression that continues, foreign practices continue to be followed, languages spoken and the built and non-built preserved in Kochi. Thus, the proposed framework of interrelations has social and political relations but also has the power to tap into one sociological and spatial realm. This breeds a cycle in which space is a social product and all the social elements within which it influences. This makes Kochi an assemblage, one of the integrated social spaces that keep changing constantly and consistently, between its physical qualities and its perceived qualities.
Kochi as a cultural construction:
Social spaces in Kochi
“Each living body is space and has its space: it produces itself in
space and it also produces that space” (Lefebvre, 1991)
Kochi recorded 15,765,000 visitors in 2017, both domestic and foreign. Heritage monuments, colonial ruins and remains, food, and hospitality all merge to make Kochi a prominent source of social production, helping boost the economy and society. A popular walk amongst tourists is one along the Vasco Da Gama square, which would introduce them to a fusion of innovations brought forward by various ethnic communities at different points in time. Huge Chinese fishing nets hang from teakwood and bamboo poles, one of many things in Fort Kochi influenced by the Chinese and Chinese traders alongside its name, Kochi, meaning ‘small China’. Then as you walk by the famous Cochin Club, you see the Church of St. Francis, built by the Portuguese in 1503 as a part of the Fort Manuel compound that also served as the burial place of Vasco Da Gama. Further ahead lies The David Hall, built in 1695 by the Dutch as a residence for the governor that later became a symbol of the Dutch-Jewish relationship after it was handed over to the family of David Koder, a Jewish businessman after whom it was named. The walk ends at the famous Parade Ground.
In taking such a walk, one can note how people don’t just form social relations but in doing so produce social spaces. This forms a close-knit relationship between social relations formed as a result of social spaces. In the example of Kochi, the stark difference in the usage of spaces such as Parade Ground and The Cochin Club in the present day and the past are testament that in settings of the rule of the empire, the oppressors, the royalty, are influential in shaping spaces and instrumentalizing them as means to enforce control, power, and capital accumulation. While the space itself has evolved in terms of its use, its past is still brought about through dialogue. Laurajane Smith writes on how the past is remade through communication in the present, “this does not mean to say that the past does not exhibit its own influences on the present, but rather those influences will entirely be understood and remade through the dominant discourses of the present day.” While history is not the sole factor in the production of space, it is one that is widely discussed. This discourse helps maintain social relations and it is by means of speech that we produce sociality and social spaces.
The social spaces hence produced serve multiple uses simultaneously in line with Lefebvre. From the examples discussed above clearly, they can be used as a political instrument to constitute control over society. They can be consumed and used as a resource to engage in productive activities and could potentially also then become a part of the factors of production, displacing the role of nature. They can live on as ideological and symbolic structures among many. In Kochi, they also serve as major means of production. This can be seen from very early on when development in the harbors of Mattancherry and Willingdon caused rapid urbanization in areas around it. These spaces then reproduce labor forces enlarging both the space as well as the settlements around it.
Housing and settlements in Kochi
The organization of these spaces also points towards a strong influence from the past, affecting how space is produced in the city. The settlements started along Mattancherry, much closer to the harbor, and spread east as transportation linked islands to the mainland. These developments created an urban corridor that followed communication links in the city, and this explains why most streets in Kochi run east-west in the direction of commercial activity. Retail markets near the port slowly turned into wholesale markets that supplied goods to retail stores elsewhere on the mainland as means of predominant transport changed from water to rail and road. The city and spaces within are everchanging, and there is a constant fear that historical buildings may fade into history when their present occupants leave. There are now less than five Jewish families in the city in settlements around the synagogue.
This is not the only fear, however, as the population of the city rises, we notice a stark contrast in the sizes of houses and settlements in Kochi. Rapid urbanization has caused quick and effective growth in the size of the city but at the expense of private and semi-private spaces. Spaces that belong to individuals or families seem to be shrinking in Kochi. While houses and palaces that belonged to colonial powers and their rulers are not a representation of houses of the general public these are remnants that serve as a reminder of the space that Kochi once had. This is a vital part of the constitution of space, it is to understand that space is a social product and is not resistant to constant change, in fact, it is the opposite, it is affected by and affects many aspects of social life.
Kochi as a lived space
While the sections above explored how Kochi, as a space, was constituted and how its perceived, here we look at Kochi as lived/living space, a bustling city full of culture and heritage that has centuries of recorded history associated with its existence. It has a strong influence from many parts of the world rooted deep in its soil and a diverse group of people call it and have called it home, including ancient merchants, colonial rulers, and diverse ethnic communities. Kochi, to them, is inseparable from themselves, the city is a part of their story as much as their story is a part of what the city is today. It carries with it the memories and experiences of several millions of people tied to it.
The Gowda Saraswat Brahmins and Gujaratis moved here 500 years ago, followed by Tamilians and Urdu Ghazals of Dekhnis two centuries later. Agarwals, Jains, Vishukarmas, Goan Sonars, and Kutchi Memons, all from different parts of India all moved here 100 years ago to call this place home. There are cultural and social factors connected to space that give the experience of space a certain qualitative dimension. Perhaps, it is this that makes Kochi feel welcoming to all communities alike. From the story of Kochi and its people, it is true, you become the space in that you reside in. A stroll around Kochi and you will hear stories of Hindu, Christian, and Muslim neighbors helping Elias revive a synagogue for fellow Malabari Jews and that of Christian artisans working tirelessly day and night to help build community mosques.
From stories such as that of Sarah Cohen who was the oldest living member of the Paradesi Jewish community of Cochin, it is evident that the very essence of the city resides within its inhabitants. Kochi evolved from this small port settlement, which underwent three different colonial rules, to become what is now a unified community that prides itself on its keen sense of diversity and celebrates the differences between its citizens. This in turn caters to the very soul of Kochiites and has been the product of centuries of tolerance, mutual respect, and unified progression, regardless of the origins of its people.
Conclusion
Kochi is a social product, no matter what scale you look at it from a human scale or at a city scale, it is a space where factors, cultural, economic, and social have all come together to make it what it is today. Its geographical location gave it a strategic position in global trade; the same factor also made it a space of oppression, undergoing conquests of three colonial powers in less than half a millennia. This made Kochi a ‘cultural construction’, one whose public, semi-private, and private spaces all contribute to how people understand and navigate Kochi through their knowledge and how they experience it through their senses. Its reception of a medley of cultures and societies continue, perhaps due to accounts of people of Kochi as a lived space, and this concert of backgrounds in turn encourages the highest form of modernization and development in the arena of space and its usage. Kochi, as space is thus multifaceted. It doesn’t just exist physically, nor just in perceptions of people or solely dependent on how its inhabitants make use of that space, but as a perennial combination of all three.
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