History of Kerala

This article concerns itself with the history of Kerala, a state in South India.

First mention

Kerala is first mentioned (as Keralaputra) in a 3rd-century-BC rock inscription left by the Mauryan emperor Asoka the Great. [ "Kerala." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2008. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 8 June 2008]

Mythological origins

There are myths concerning the origin of Kerala. One such myth is the creation of Kerala by Parasurama, a warrior sage. The Brahminical myth proclaims that Parasurama, an avatar of Mahavishnu, threw his battle axe into the sea. As a result, the land of Kerala arose and was reclaimed from the waters.(Government of Travancore 1906, pp. 210–212).]

Parasurama was the incarnation of Maha Vishnu. He was the sixth of the ten avatars (incarnation) of Vishnu. The word Parasu means 'axe' in Sanskrit and therefore the name Parasurama means 'Ram with Axe'. The aim of his birth was to deliver the world from the arrogant oppression of the ruling caste, the Kshatriyas. He killed all the male Kshatriyas on earth and filled five lakes with their blood. After destroying the Kshatriya kings, he approached assembly of learned men to find a way of penitence for his sins. He was advised that, to save his soul from damnation, he must hand over the lands he had conquered to the Brahmins. He did as they advised and sat in meditation at Gokarnam. There, Varuna -the God of the Oceans and Bhumidevi - Goddess of Earth blessed him. From Gokarnam he reached Kanyakumari and threw his axe northward across the ocean. The place where the axe landed was Kerala. It was 160 katam (an old measure) of land lying between Gokarnam and Kanyakumari. Puranas say that it was Parasuram who planted the 64 Brahmin families in Kerala, whom he brought down from the north in order to expiate his slaughter of the Kshatriyas. According to the puranas, Kerala is also known as Parasurama Kshetram, ie., 'The Land of Parasurama',as the land was reclaimed from sea by him.

This legend, however, may be a Brahmin appropriation of an earlier Chera legend where a Chera King, Velkezhu Kuttavan, otherwise known a Chen Kuttuvan flings his spear into the sea to claim land from it. [cite book |last = Menon |first = A. Sreedhara |title = A Survey Of Kerala History |origyear = 1967 |url = http://books.google.it/books?id=N7WaZe2PBy8C&dq=Survey+Of+Kerala+History+Sreedhara+Menon+books&ots=SmthEBkYQ3&sig=Tv-5lZPS3Bo04GiDq3rjDdTyYUk&prev=http://www.google.it/search%3Fhs%3DK9R%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla%253Aen-US%253Aofficial%26q%3DSurvey%2BOf%2BKerala%2BHistory%2BSreedhara%2BMenon%2Bbooks%26btnG%3DSearch&sa=X&oi=print&ct=result&cd=1&q=Survey%20Of%20Kerala%20History%20Sreedhara%20Menon%20books&pgis=1 |publisher = Sahitya Pravarthaka Co-operative Society (Sales Deptartment); National Book Stall] The myth of Parashurama is debatable as the legendary king Mahabali, under whose rule Kerala was the land of prosperity and happiness, was granted rule over hell ("Patalam") by "Vamana" the "avatar" of "Vishnu", who actually comes before the "avatar" of Parashurama according to the avatar stories of Hindu mythology.

One legend of Kerala even makes Parasurama a Pandya ruler. [ Saletore, P. 29 "Ancient Karnātaka" ] In another legend, the Pandyas themselves are the manifestations of Parasurama. [ P. 39 "Gadyakarṇāmr̥ta of Sakala-Vidyācakravarttin: Text and Study" By S. S. Janaki, Sakala-Vidyācakravarttin ] P.N. Chopra writes, "Parasurama is deemed by the Keralites as the father of their national identity." [ P. 14 "History of South India" By P.N. Chopra ] The Kollam Era is also known as "Parasurama-Sacam". [ P. 423 "The History of India from the Earliest Ages" By James Talboys Wheeler ] Travancore Rajas claim descent from Chera King Bhanu Bikram, who according to legend was placed on the thrown by Parasurama. [ P. 80 "India and Jambu island, showing changes in boundaries and river-courses of India and Burmah from Pauranic, Greek, Buddhist, Chinese, and western travellers' accounts" by Amarnath Das ] Scholar K. Narayanan Sivaraja Pillai mentions, "Even as the West Coast owes its very rudiments of civilized life to Parasurama...". [ P. 30 "Agastya in the Tamil Land" By K. Narayanan Sivaraja Pillai ] In the "Keralolpatti", Parasurama is said to have selected goddess Durga (Kali) to be the guardian of the sea-shore of Kerala. [ P. 365 "A manual of the Salem district in the presidency of Madras" By Henry Le Fanu ] According to legend, Chera King Kuttuvan Chera (also called Kota Varman) once enraged, threw an into the sea, thereby causing it to retreat and the land to dry. [ P. 515 "History Of The Tamils: From the Earliest Times to 600 A.D." By Iyengar P. T. Srinivasa, P. T. Srinivasa Iyengar ] According to another legend, a Pandyan called "Vadimbalamba ninrapandyan" threw his spear into the sea, hereby causing the same effect. [ P. 515 "History Of The Tamils: From the Earliest Times to 600 A.D." By Iyengar P. T. Srinivasa, P. T. Srinivasa Iyengar ] There is another story of Ukkira Pandiyan obtaining a spear from the Sivan of Madura, and throwing it into the sea, causing the shore to retreat. [ P. 515 "History Of The Tamils: From the Earliest Times to 600 A.D." By Iyengar P. T. Srinivasa, P. T. Srinivasa Iyengar ] Tradition says that Parasurama minted gold coins called Rasi and that in Travancore,he sowed them and buried the surplus in Cairns. [ P. 1931 "Encyclopaedia of Hinduism" By Nagendra Kumar Singh ]

Early history

The earliest written record mentioning Kerala is contained in the Sanskrit epic known as the "Aitareya Aranyaka". Later, such figures as Katyayana (circa 4th century BC) and "Patanjali" (circa 2nd century BC) exhibited in their writings a casual familiarity with Kerala's geography. Megasthanes, the Greek Ambassador to the court of Emperor Chandra Gupta Maurya (4th Century BC) mentions in his work Indica on many South Indian States, including Automela (probably Muziris), and a Pandian trade centre. Ancient Roman Natural philosopher Pliny the Elder mentions in his "Naturalis Historia" (N.H. 6.26) a Muziris (probably modern-day Kodungallur or Pattanam as India's first port of Importance. Later, the unknown author of the "Periplus of the Erythraean Sea" notes that "both Muziris and Nelkunda (modern Neendakara) are now busy places".

Malayalam, Kerala's main native language, believed to be originated as an offshoot of Tamil, the principal native language of neighboring Tamil Nadu. Malayalam (Derived from the local words: "mala"(means Forest) and "aalam" (means Kingdom)) as a composite phrase means the "living/inhabitants of Forest Kingdom". This phrase, which in earlier times implied the geographical location of the region, was later replaced by "Kerala".Kerala and Tamil Nadu diverged into linguistically separate regions by the early 14th century. The ancient Chera empire, whose court language was Tamil, ruled Kerala from their capital at Vanchi Karuvur (modern Karur in Tamil Nadu). Kerala at that time was composed of two Koduntamizh (deviant Tamil) regions, Venadu (later called Travancore) and Kuttanadu (Malabar). Allied with the Pallavas, they continually warred against the neighbouring Chola and Pandya kingdoms. Until the Bhakti age, the Sangam Tamil Cheras of the Kongu Nadu region in Tamil Nadu controlled both these regions. History says that (recorded im Mackenzie records) a Chozha princess was married to the Chera of Karur and he got a dowry of 48,000 agriculturists from the Chozha country. These people were settled in the then forested region of Venadu and Kuttanadu and thus the first agricultural settlements arose in what is called Kerala today.

A Keralite identity, distinct from the Tamils and associated with the Kerala Varmans empire and the development of Malayalam, subsequently evolved sometime during the 8th–14th centuries. Meanwhile, both Buddhism and Jainism reached Kerala in this early period. As in other parts of ancient India, Buddhism and Jainism co-existed with early Shaivite beliefs during the first five centuries. It was only after the Sangam period that Kerala saw large-scale immigration of Brahmins from the north. These influxes may have coincided during the Kalabhras, Rashtrakuta, Chalukya, Pallava and Hoysala invasions. By the 8th and 9th centuries, 2nd Chera kings inclined to Vaishnavism and some of them wrote great literary works in the stream of Vishnu Bhakthi. When Hinduism was revived by intellectuals like Shankara and by Bhakti movements all over India, Buddhism and Jainism merged into their mother religion.

Overseas contact

The significant presence of West Asians - primarily traders - on the Malabar coast has been recorded in many RomanPliny's Natural History] and TamilSilapadhigaaram, Manimekalai, P.T.Srinivasa Iyengar's "History of the Tamils: from the earliest times to 600 AD", Madras, 1929] sources. They were encouraged to settle and set up trading outposts and factories by the local kings. Many migrations into Kerala were to escape religious and/or racial persecution. The Nasrani MappilaMuslim Mappila communities of today originate from these contacts. "Mappila" literally means "groom". It could point to the origin of these communities as the result of West Asian families settling here and providing brides to trader West Asian "grooms" who in turn settled here as well. Others may have taken Indian wives. These practices over millennia resulted in the thriving mercantile Mappila communities of Kerala, their social privileges and status guaranteed by filial and trade links to their West Asian mercantile counterpartsTrade in Early India, Oxford University Press. Chapter 16: From Aden to India] . In the last centuries BC this region became famous among the Greeks and Romans for its spices (especially pepper) [Encyclopædia Britannica] . Brown Jews of Kerala claimed to be remnants of the Jews that left the northern Kingdom of Israel following the Assyrian invasion of 721 BCE. The white Jews were refugees from Spain following the promulgation of the Edict of Expulsion. Nasrani and some Eastern Christianity writings claim Thomas the Apostle visited this region in 52 CE to proselytize amongst the brown Jews. The earliest known migration of Christians into Kerala is by a contingent of Jewish Nasranis led by Knai Thoma (Thomas of Cana) who arrived in 345 CE, resulting in the Knanaya community. Another well recorded (in the Tharisappally records) migration is from Syria in the 9th century CE. With the advent of Islam in West Asia the traders visiting Kerala's shores contained ever larger proportions of Muslims. Malik Ibn Dinar created the first Muslim settlement in Kerala in the 7th century CE. Arab Muslims eventually dominated the sea trade with Kerala until the arrival of the Portuguese in the 15th century CE. As the Muslim settlers gained strength clashes erupted between them and the Christian & Jewish settlers in the 9th century CE. This resulted in Muslim control of trading centres and the latter communities scattering to places such as Angamaly and others further southThe Indian Christians of St Thomas, Leslie Brown, page 81] .

Colonial

Vasco da Gama's voyage to Kerala from Portugal in 1498 was largely motivated by Portuguese determination to break the Arabs' control over trade of spices grown in Kerala. The spice trade with the Middle East pre-dates Islam. Da Gama established India's first Portuguese fortress at Cochin (Kochi) in 1503 and, taking advantage of rivalry between the royal families of Calicut and Cochin, ended the Arab monopoly. Conflicts between Calicut and Cochin, however, provided an opportunity for the Dutch to come in and finally expel the Roman Catholic Portuguese from their forts.

The Dutch were, in turn, routed by the Nairs of Travancore (Thiruvithamcoore) ruler Marthanda Varma at the Battle of Kulachal in 1741. Hyder Ali of Mysore conquered northern Kerala in the 18th century, capturing Kozhikode in 1766. Hyder Ali and his successor, Tipu Sultan, (but Nairs under the capable Diwan of Travancoore Raja Keshavadas (Keshava pillai Diwanji) defeated Tippu near Aluva ) came into conflict with the British, and the four Anglo-Mysore wars were fought across southern India in the latter half of the 18th century. Tipu Sultan ceded Malabar District to the British in 1792, and South Kanara, which included present-day Kasargod District, in 1799. The British concluded treaties of subsidiary alliance with the rulers of Cochin (1791) and Travancore (1795), and they became princely states of British India, maintaining local autonomy in return for a fixed annual tribute to the British. Malabar and South Kanara districts were part of British India's Madras Presidency.

Organised expressions of discontent with British rule were relatively infrequent in Kerala. Uprisings of note include the rebellion by Pazhassi Raja, Velu Thampi Dalawa, and the Punnapra-Vayalar revolt of 1946. Mass protests were mainly directed at established social evils such as untouchability. The non-violent and largely peaceful Vaikom Satyagraha of 1924 was instrumental in securing entry to the public roads adjacent to the Vaikom temple for people belonging to backward castes. In 1936, Sree Chithira Thirunal Balaramavarma Maharaja, ruler of Travancore issued the Temple Entry Proclamation, declaring the temples of his kingdom open to all Hindu worshippers, irrespective of caste.

Modern post-colonial

After India's independence in 1947, the princely states of Travancore and Kochi were merged to form the province (after 1950 a state) of Travancore-Cochin on July 1, 1949. Madras Presidency became India's Madras State.

The state of Kerala was created on November 1 1956 when Malabar District was merged with Tranvancore-Cochin state and Kasargod taluk of South Kanara District to form the State of Kerala, based on the recommendations of the State Reorganisation Commission set up by the Government of India.Harv|Plunkett|Cannon|Harding|2001|p=24.] Elections for the new Kerala Legislative Assembly were held in 1957; this resulted in the formation of a communist-led governmentHarv|Plunkett|Cannon|Harding|2001|p=24.] headed by E.M.S. Namboodiripad. Many Indians consider this the first democratically elected communist governmentHarv|Jose|1998.] in the world; however, both San Marino (in 1948) and Guyana (in 1953) had elected communists to power years earlier. Radical reforms introduced by the Namboodiripad government in favour of farmers and labourers helped change, to a great extent, the iniquitous social order that had prevailed in Kerala for centuries.

See also

Notes

References

* Harvard reference
Author = Government of Travancore
Surname1 = Government of Travancore
Year = 1906
Title = The Travancore State Manual
Publisher = Travancore Government Press
URL = http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&id=RdzaPW-kEvQC
Access-date = January 12, 2006.
* Harvard reference
Surname1 = Jose
Given1 = D
Year = 1998
Title = EMS Namboodiripad dead
Journal = Rediff
URL = http://www.rediff.com/news/1998/mar/19ems.htm
Access-date = January 12, 2006.

* Harvard reference
Surname1 = Plunkett
First1 = R
Surname2 = Cannon
First2 = T, Davis, P, Greenway, P
Surname3 = Harding
First3 = P
Year = 2001
Title = Lonely Planet South India
Publisher = Lonely Planet
ID = ISBN 1-86450-161-8
URL = http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&id=JmL9KqczbRYC
Access-date = January 12, 2006.