CALICUT, a district of Hindustan, in the province of Malabar, which extends along the sea coast, between the parallels of 10 and 12 degrees north latitude, about sixty or seventy miles, but is of inconsiderable breadth. It is fertile and productive, abounding generally in all sorts of Indian commodities, such as rice, cocoa nuts, betel nuts, black pepper, ginger, turmeric, &c. which are exported in exchange for articles of clothing. This district is inhabited by the sect of the Nairs, whose habits and customs are so singular. It was governed by the Tamuri rajahs until the Mussulman invasion; and Calicut became a flourishing city, owing to the success which its lords had in war, and the encouragement they gave to commerce. These princes were regularly crowned. All the males of their family are called Tamburans, and all the females Tamburetties. The children are also entitled to these appellations; and, according to seniority, rise to the highest dignities that belong to the families. These Tamburetties are betrothed in their infancy, and are married at the age of ten; but it would be reckoned scandalous to cohabit with their husbands; and they accordingly live in the houses of their brothers and mothers, and cohabit with Nambu-ris, or Brahmins of high caste, whose sacred character is preferred, and sometimes by Nairs of the higher rank. The husband allows his wife clothes, ornaments, and subsistence; and she lives in the house of his mother or brother, cohabiting indiscriminately with Brahmins and Nairs, so that, according to this system of promiscuous intercourse, no man knows his own father. The oldest man of the family by the female line is the Tamuri. The English first began to frequent the zamorin’s dominions in 1664. In 1766 Hyder Ali invaded the country in person, and the Cochin rajah quietly submitted to pay tribute. But the pride of the rajah or zamorin, who pretends to be of a higher rank than the Brahmins, refused any kind of submission; and after an unavailing resistance, being made prisoner, he set fire to the house in which he was confined, and was burned along with it; while several of his attendants who were accidentally excluded when he shut the door, threw themselves into the flames, and shared the fate of their master. Hyder being called away by a war in the dominions of the nabob of Arcot, the rajahs embraced the opportunity, and repossessed themselves of their lands, which they held for seven years. They were afterwards driven into Travancore. After nine years the British entered the country and took Palighat; but on the approach of Tippoo they were obliged to retreat. The rajahs continued in exile until 1790; but in the war with Tippoo they joined the British army; and in 1792 the country was ceded to the Company.

Calicut, the capital of the preceding district, was formerly a magnificent and extensive city. The ancient town has long been submerged by the sea; and at very low tides the waves are said to break over the tops of the highest temples and minarets. The present town stands on the sea-shore, in a low and unsheltered situation, with narrow and dirty streets. It is, however, populous, and the seat of a considerable trade. The port is frequented by vessels from Arabia and the Red Sea for wood, which is the principal commodity; as also spiceries, cardamums, piece goods, &c. It was at this city that Vasco de Gama arrived in May 1498, ten months and two days after he had departed from Lisbon. In 1509 the Portuguese attacked Calicut with 3000 troops; but they were repulsed with great loss, and the general was slain in the attack. This town was taken in 1773 by Hyder Ali, who expelled all the merchants and factors, destroyed the cocoa-nut trees, sandal-wood, and pepper vines, that the country, reduced to ruin, might present no temptation to the cupidity of Europeans. It was afterwards taken and destroyed by his son Tippoo Saib, who carried off the inhabitants to Beypoor. When the country was conquered by the English, they returned and rebuilt the town, which, in the year 1800, consisted of 5000 houses, for the most part mean edifices, inhabited by Moplays. The proper name of the place is Colicodu, which means the cock-crowing; the district of Colicodu being meant to include all the territory in which a cock crowing in a small temple could be heard. It is 76 miles W. of Coimbetore, and 95 S. W. of Seringapatam. Long. 75. 50. E. Lat. 11. 15. N.