Malayanma

Malayanma script was a writing system used in Thiruvananthapuram. It was used to write the Malayalam language. Malayanma belongs to the same script family like Kolezhuthu and Vattezhuthu. ^[1][2]

Iravikuttipilla Por is one of the classical works in the Malayalam-Tamil or Malayanma in the 17th century. Iravikkutti Pilla was the brave General of the Travancore kingdom who fought against the invading forces of Vittalaraya of Vijayanagara kingdom in 1547 . This battle was witnessed by Francis Xavier at Kottar. Iravikutty Pilla Por written in Malayanma can be considered a classical Tamil work too which contains very few Sanskrit words.

IravikuttyPilla Por

Padai pokathirunthal paarilullor nahaiaro?

Inthappadai pokathirunthal Iravikkulathukkizhukkallavo

Ezhu kadalppurathirumparaikkullilirunthalum Emaraja thoothar vanthalillaiyental viduvaro?

Kallale Kottai ketti Kallaraikkullilirunthalum Kalanudai alu vanthal naalaiyental viduvaro ?

Nama Raja thoothar vanthal naalaiyental viduvaro ? Villaintha Valaaruppathukku visanappeda vendam Kel.^[3]

Malayanma a form of Malayalam-Tamil which was the ancient language of Kerala. Malayanma was purely a Dravidian language closely resembling Tamil and used Tamil Grammar to write it.Malayanma either used Tamil alphabet or Vatteluttu alphabet to write it.Portuguese printed books in Lingua Malabar Tamul in the 16th century from Ambazhakkadu near Angamaly,Quilon and Thalassery.Thousands of copies of Flos Sanctoram otherwise called Thamburan Vanakkam was printed by Jesuit (Eeso Sabha in Malayalam) missionaries of Angamaly even after Portuguese left in 1660 AD. Malayanma and Malalyalm-Tamil were replaced by the British as ruling language of Kerala when they started promoting the Tulu-Grantha Bhasa spoken by Nambudiris in the early 19th century.Various subcastes of Tulu Bunt (community) such as Nayara Menava,Kuruba and Samantha established Matriarchal dynasties in Kerala after the invasion of Malik Kafur in 1310AD.After 1310 Tulunadu dynasties which practised Matriarchy unlike the earlier Tamils brought with them Tulu writing system and Sanskri-Prakrit language to Kerala. However Dravidian Malayanma or Malayalam-Tamil was the ruling language of Kerala until British established their Paramountcy in Kerala at 1805 AD. After the invasion of Tipu Sultan largescale exodus of Nairs from the Kolathiri and Samuthiri kingdoms led to strengthening of Matriarchy and Tulu traditions in Travancore leading to decline of Malayanma. Tulu Script originally a writing system of Tulunadu was promoted by the British as the writing system of Malayalam too.Sanskrit was also promoted by the British missionaries like Benjamin Bailey (missionary) Hermann Gundert. British promotion of Tulu-Grantha (Sankrit) Malayalam led to the decline and loss of all the ancient Malayanma books and documents written in Palm leaf books (Olakkettu).

References

1. ^ Old Scripts of Malayalam
2. ^ http://c-radhakrishnan.info/alphabet.htm Grantha, Vattezhuthu, Kolezhuthu, Malayanma, Devanagiri, Brahmi and Tamil alphabets
3. ^ Ravikuttipilla Por