This article concerns itself with the 'History of
Kerala' state,
south India.
Ancient
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.
[1] 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.
[2] The myth of Parashurama is debatble as the legendary king Mahabali, under whose rule kerala was the real socialist land of prosperity and happiness, was sent to hell (''Patalam'') by ''Vamana'' the ''avatar'' of ''Vishnu'', who actually comes before the ''avatar'' of Parashurama according to the avatar stories of hindu mythology. 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-Cheranalloor region 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 Niranam) 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. However the language also some peculiar similarities with Costal language of Karanataka. 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. Allied with the
Pallavas, they continually warred against the neighbouring
Chola and
Pandya kingdoms. A Keralite identity, distinct from the
Tamils and associated with the second
Chera 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 tribal 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 Roman
[3] and Tamil
[4] 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 Mappila[Muslim 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 counterparts][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 south[6].]
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 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, 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.[7] Elections for the new Kerala Legislative Assembly were held in 1957; this resulted in the formation of a communist-led government[7] headed by E.M.S. Namboodiripad. Many Indians consider this the first democratically elected communist government[9] 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
1. (Government of Travancore 1906, pp. 210–212).
2. A Survey Of Kerala History, , A. Sreedhara, Menon, Sahitya Pravarthaka Co-operative Society (Sales Deptartment); National Book Stall, ,
3. Pliny's Natural History
4. Silapadhigaaram, Manimekalai, P.T.Srinivasa Iyengar's "History of the Tamils: from the earliest times to 600 AD", Madras, 1929
5. Trade in Early India, Oxford University Press. Chapter 16: From Aden to India
6. The Indian Christians of St Thomas, Leslie Brown, page 81
7. .
8. .
9. .
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References
External Links
Detailed history of Kerala
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