History Of Malayalam

Part I - Introduction

The Proto-Dravidian family of languages can be divided into 3 main branches:

1. North Dravidian 2. Central Dravidian (includes Telugu. Telugu is considered the bridge between central and south Dravidian as it shows both features.) 3. South Dravidian (Tulu, Kannada, Tamil and Malayalam)

South Dravidian bhaashagal 1000BC muthal aanu proto-dravidianil ninnum verthirinjathu.

Aadhyam Tuluvum Kannadayum verthirinju. Malayalam Tami hum cure koala ore bhaashayaayirunnu. 7 A.D muthalaanu Malayalam, Tamil ennu randu bhaasha ayathu

chapter 2

The Kulashekara kingdom was established in around the year 750AD, with Mahodayapuram (modern Kodungallur) as the capital. Ithine palarum 2nd Chera Empire ennum vilikunnu. Ee samayathu Malayalam vere, Tamil vere ennu undaayirunnilla.

Pakshe Kulashekhara Kingdom veena samayathu the languages had become separate (Chanakya's arthashastra has been translated into Malayalam at around this time - 12th or 13th century A.D)

The official Chera language was therefore Tamil. Tamil was also the language of most of the Sangham Age people (their compositions were either in Sanskrit or in Tamil...e.g: Chilappathikaaram)

About Mahodayapuram - first it was called "vanchi nadu" - a Tamil name. Later, it was Sanskritised. Therefore, there was a Sanskritising tendency. This led to independence of the languages.

According to linguist and historian Dr. E.V.N.Namboodiri, it was not until the 9th century A.D that inscriptions were first written in Malayalam. This was under the reign of Raja Sekhara Varma, the Kulashekara king.

Part 3.

Old Malayalam aayirunnu appol Tamilil ninnum verthirinjathu (9th century A.D) This was the first phase of Old Malayalam (800-something A.D to 1100 A.D)

Malayalathil appol vanna maattangal - changes in vowels, consonants, grammar etc njan ivide postunnilla - athu "phonetics" aayathu kaaranam manassilaavaan budhimuttaanu. Athinte historical kaaryangal maathrame njan ivide parayunnullu.

Anyways,

According to L.V Ramaswamy Iyer, Raja Raja Varma and Caldwell, "there is not a single native feature of Malayalam phonetics or Malayalam morphology* which can be shown to be nearer related to any Dravidian speech than to Tamil."

They also feel that Malayalam was developed from "middle Tamil".

However, Namboodiri disagrees. He feels that:

1. "onnu" (one) in Malayalam is directly derived from "ondu" in Kannada than from "onru" in Tamil.

2. "nin-" in ninakku (yours) in Malayalam has the same pronunciation as the "nin-" in ninage in Kannada. The Tamil word for yours/for you is "unakku"

There are tonnes more examples.

Part 4

Old Malayalam had 30 phonemes (sounds, for lay people) - 12 were vowel sounsd, and 18 consonants.

They are given below, transliterated into English:

a aa i ii u uu e (pronounced ey) eee (long form) ooo (oh long form) ai au

Consonants: k n' c n"" (the transliteration is different, but my keyboard doesnt have this key)

t' n'' r' n (underlined N - like na in manam = smell) t n p m y r l v l' z

As you can see, this is very different from the ka-kha-ga-gha-nga of today.

Enough technicalities - now back to History.

Malayalam, though an offshoot of Tamil, and the last Dravidian language to originate, came under the influence of the Indo-Aryan family of languages. This was possibly the result of the migration of Aryans (Namboothiris and other Brahmins) into Kerala, and their domination, influence and commanding position and high status in society.

Thus, Malayalam was influenced by Sanskrit and Prakrith. Here, Malayalam discarded the old "Vattezhuthu" script and adopted a new script. This new script was based on "Grantha" which was used to write Sanskrit, in South India. (In the North, the devanagari script's variation was used to write Sanskrit)

At this point, a new language called "Manipravalam" came into being. This was a mixture of Tamil and Sanskrit, and was used for all literature at the time.Part 5

At this point, there was a major change in the language (Old Malayalam). There was a massive "vowel shift". The technicalities of this are too difficult to explain in lay-language, so just understand that this was a change in some vowel sounds.

Eg: e > i

Velakku > Vilakku. Got it?

Nelam > Nilam.

o>u

Pothappu > Puthappu (blanket)

(Pothappennum Velakkennum parayunnavar undennu ariyaam...athente re-shift and speech corruption will be explained when we reach the 19th-20th centuries)

Consonantsilum maattam vannu. "y" sound was nasalised :

Tamizhil "Naan" (I) ennu parayunnathinekkaalum nasalised aanu Malayaalathile "Njaan".

The third change during the Great Shift was the emergence of "Sandhi":

naazhi + um = naazhiYum (Y aanu ivide sandhi)

pothu + aal = pothuVaal

kara + il = karaYil

aa + idam = aVidam

This era also saw the emergence of the masculine suffix -an (sundaran).

Pakshe, feminine forminu 3 suffix undu - -al, -tti and -i (aval, arasiti, sundari)

Ini adutha chapter (ente favourite part) Kulasekhara Kingdomine kurichaanu. Athu pinne postaam.

Part 6

Old Malayalam was first written in 832AD.

Now for some politics:

From the 6th to the 9th century, Kerala was under Tamils including Chalukyas, Pallavas, Rashtrakuthas and Kalabras, who conquered the state. (Till 6th, it was ruled by Cheras from TN etc)

In the early 9th century - about 800AD, the Cheras rose again. There is a school of thought which says that the new powers were NOT the old Cheras (I dunno which is right)

Since it was Kulashekhara Varma who established the new kingdom, this was called the Kulashekhara dynasty. K'Varma was an Alwar - a Vaishnavite saint. This proves that they were Tamil in origin. He wrote a number of works in Sanskrit.

His works say that he was the King not only of Kerala, but also of Madurai, Trichy, Coimbatore, Selam etc.

The capital of the Kulashekhara empire was near Kodungallur in Central Kerala.

The second K'sekhara king was Rajasekhara Varman.

Idehathinte bharanakaalathil aanu aadhyamaayi Malayalathil enthengilum ezhuthappettathaayi kaanunnathu - the first written record in Malayalam - 832AD. Ee recordiney "Vazhapalli inscription" ennu vilikkunnu. Ithil annathey Raajaavinte perum mattum rekhapeduthiyirunnu.

Rajasekhara Varmante kaalathil thanneyaanu "Kollam Era" athava "Kolla varsham" aarambhichathu. Now we are in Kolla varsham 1181, so you can see that it was begun around 825AD, in Chingam.

Moonaamathe K'sekhara Raajaavinte peru - Sthaanu Ravi Varman. Godha Ravi Varmante kaalathil ivarum Chola raajyavum thammil 100-years-war undaayirunnu. At the time, the cholas were ruling south kerala, which means that the Travancore Royal Family was based in TN, while the Cochin Royal Family had been based in Kerala for more centuries.

Malayalam under the K'sekharas will be posted later.

Part 7

Language under the Kulasekharas

It is considered that Malayalam first originated in Central Kerala. Before the Kulasekharas, there was no Malayalam - only Tamil. As written before, the Kulasekhara empire, which was in Central Kerala, saw the first use of indigenous Malayalam, so Malayalam probably originated in Thrissur/Cochin. Today, the purest M'yalam is considered to be that spoken in Valluvanad/Cherpulassery etc, in Central Kerala.

The book, Bhasha Kautaliyam (spellings differ in different sources) was a free translation, in simple Malayalam, of Chanakya's Arthashastra.

How did Malayalam develop from Tamil? At first, Tamil wa the official - and only - language of Kerala. During the K'sekharas, there was a tendency to replace Tamil with Sanskrit. Namboodiri feels that it was during this process of replacement that the new language developed.

I must have mentioned a few million times about M* having been first written in 832AD, in the Vazhapalli inscription. The inscription is written in a very mixed script, and begins like this:

"Namashivaaya. Sree Raajaadhiraaja Parameswara Bhattaaraka Rajasekhara devarkku..."

As you can see, it began in Sanskrit, but the ending was somewhat Tamil/M'yalam = "devarkku"

Also, it is hard to differentiate between the Tamil and the M'yalam words.

Rest later.

*M = Malayalam. I have been writing this in the form of short lecture notes, so I might

use short forms for Malayalam, such as M., M'yalam or Mallu. No offence meant - just to save time and typing.

Part 8

Shaalas (then called Salais) were set up during the K'shekhara kingdom - Moozhikulam salai, Kandalur salai, Parthivasekharapuram salai etc. These gave free food, clothing, education in philosophy, grammar, theology, law etc - all for free for hundreds and hundreds of young people. These were centered around Temples.

The K-s kingdom saw the rise of the Temple as the centre-point of society. The social structure within the Temple was also established at this period - Nambuthiris, Poduvals, uraalar, kaaraalar....

Temple arts also developed (when they evolved is a subject of major debates) during this period. kOOTHU, Koodiyaattam, devadasi institution all came into being then (at least, gained popularity then)

A word about the devadasi cult - this was a highly respectable institution. Even Kulasekhara Alwar gave his daughter to Srirangam Temple as a devadasi. (Sreedhara Menon, 1996, p.161)

Mural paintings also were popularised during this period.

In Kadavallur, 3 major proficiency tests were conducted in Rig Veda. Namboodiri students proved their proficiency in these. The cleverest would reach the front row. The tests were called Kadavallur Anyonyam.

Temples even maintained hospitals (ayurvedic, of course) and dispensaries!!

By 999A.D, this Golden Empire in Central Kerala faced agression from the Tamil Cholas (who had reached south kerala by then) The Chola-Chera war lasted a hundred years. Every single resource of C.Kerala was used - Nambuthiris gave up priesthood and took up arms. Salais were converted into military schools. Kalaris flourished. Chaver padas were established.

Results of the war in a nutshell:

1. Establishment of a janmi/feudal system (owing to mismanagement of wealth distribution during the wars)

2. Development of Marumakkathaayam - matrilineal system. Contrary to belief, this was NOT existing before the 12th century. Friar Jordanus in 1324 is the FIRST foreing traveller to mention it. Also, matrilineal system emerged in Central Kerala.

3. Decline in foreign contact, and therefore, loss of foreign income

4. Break up of Kulasekhara Empire.

Mind you, the Kulasekharas did NOT lose and the Cholas did NOT conquer Central K. But the kingdom disintegrated and minor chiefdoms sprang up, under naaduvaazhis (feudal system)

Later, the Perumbadappu swaroopam (Royal House of Cochin) was to bring Central Kerala together again, and they were supposed to have descended from the K'sekharas - avide ethumbol parayam.

Part 9

After the fall of the K'sekharas, there were a number of minor principalities. Ithil moonennam kurachu koala kazhinju thaarathamyene powerful aayi: Cochin, Calicut and Venad. (The history of these 3 will be briefly dealt with in the next chapter)

In the 10th century, one Tholan, a minister in the court of Bhaskara Ravi Varma wrote some aattaprakaarams and kramadeepikas. But these were modified so many times that we do not know what the original text was like.

The oldest text in Malayalam, (prose) avaialable in the original form, was Bhaasha kautilyam. This was a translation of Kautilya's Arthashaahtra. This is the oldest prose text in malayalam [Prof. Elamkulam Kunju Pillai(1953, p.150), Dr. E.V.N.Namboothiri (2004, p.56), Sreedhara Menon].

Period of translation: mid-12th century. That means, 11**, 11-something. Which is before 1251 of Venad.

After the fall of the K'sekhara kingdom, several newcomer-kings got the power. They were ignorant of governance and running a kingdom. This translation was a blessing for them. These new kings did not know sanskrit. The translation was in very simple old malayalam, without tamil/sanskrit influence. This shows that from 832AD (Vazhapalli) to the 12th century, malayalam developed so much that by the 12thC, it could deal with subjects such as government functioning, economics, politics etc.

According to K.N. Ezhuthachan (1970, '71-72), these are the pecularities of the Mal used in B'kautilyam:

1. Prose style was not fixed 2. Sometimes, the wrong use of conjuctions and cases were seen 3. Contaction of vowels, palatisation and nasalisation were not always co-operative.

Eg.: For elephant, Aanai, aane and aana were used in this text.

Of all the 12th C inscriptions, the most imporatnt was the Thiruvalla inscription (Elamkulam 1953, p. 101). This has been dated to the year 1211.

More on the 3 kingdoms to follow.

Part 10

The 3 kingdoms which rose after the fall of the KS empire were Cochin, Venad and Calicut. Now mind you, the K'sekharas did NOT lose the 100 yrs war, BUT they couldnt hold on to the empire so it disintegrated into minor principalities.

Cochin Established by a nephew of Rama Varma Kulasekhara. Capital: first, in Perumbadappu village. That is why the Cochin Royal Family was known as Perumbadappu Swaroopam. Later, it was shifted to Mahodayapuram, and then to Cochin in 1405 (Thrippunithura Hill Palace)

Not going into so much detail about the other 2 kingdoms for the time being - not much to do with formation of Mal. Suffice it to know that the following were some of the petty principalities:

Kolathunad (Ruler: Kolathiri), Venad, Calicut (Zamorin/Saamoothiri), Attingal, Kottarakkara, Idappally, Kayamkulam, Chempakasheri, Valluvanad, Kottayam, Thalapally,

Kadathanaad, Pandalam etc etc etc.

Next, we will move on to the Namboodiris, Sanskrit, Manipravalam and Mal.

Part 11

I'm not going into the coming of Aryans into Kerala - there is a lot of debate on the subject, with people saying that the Brahmins have been here since 900BC, and others saying it's 9AD. (The LAST major migration was in AD - 9thC. The first could very well have been in 900BC. Full stop)

The Namboothiris established a number of Temples in Kerala (this does NOT mean there were no temples before that). This led to the development of language and literature throught Temple arts. For eg: Paathakam was telling mythological stories to the devotees.

The Nambuthiris also developed Manipravaalam, which I have mentioned before. Before coming to Kerala, it is believed that the N'thiris spoke a Sanskrit tongue mixed with Kannada. After they came to Kerala, this N'thiri language was mixed with the then language of Kerala (the Tamil which was changing into Mal). This change was too much a mixture of so many different languages.

According to Leelathilakam, a Mal grammar work of the 14th century, there were thus 2 dialects - the Brahmin one and the non-Brahmin one.:

1. Trivarnika dialect - spoken by Brahmins, sub-Brahmins (Savarnnars??) and kings.

2. A second dialect, which L'thilakam refers to as "low" (spoken by avarnnars??)

The trivarnika developed into Nambyan Tamil and Manipravaalam

The second one developed into what is known as "Paattu" dialect.

More about Nambyan Tamil, Manipravalam and Pattu later. Happy Vishu!

Part 13

A large number of words were borrowed from Sanskrit into Mal. They were classified as 2:

1. Tatsamas - those that retain Sanskrit spelling (Eg: bhoomi, prakruthi, Swami, santhathi, etc)

2. Tatbhavas - those that retain dravidian spelling (Eg:naazhi, thevar, manushyar, adhikaarar etc)

Manipravaalam:

M'p developed into a major literary school in the 13th c. Several aataprakaarams were written in M'p then - eg: Unnineeli sandesham Vaisika thanthram (early quarter of 13thC, and the earliest aatakatha in original form)

Leelathilakam, I said earlier, was a grammar, right? It was a grammar of Manipravaalam. It defines M'p as an aesthetic mixture of Mal and sanskrit.

Words in M'p:

Manasaa is Sanskrit Manassil is Mal cos the suffix -il is Malayalam.

This is where M'p and Nambyan T differ. N.T never uses such inflected forms of sanskrit words whereas M'p uses such words frequently. In fact, some word forms like "dhatiyan" (somewhat like today's thadiyan, fat man) were found only in the dialects of the upper castes (Savarnnar) Language, therefore, was primarily based on the words' affixes rather than the roots.

Paattu:

This is composed in the Dravidian alphabet alone. Tamil elements are used more than any other element. Most important work: Ramacharitham (beginning of 13thC). Here, any sanksrit words used must be tadbhavas - in dravidan forms/spellings.

Next week we will go to the emergence of modern malayalam.

Part 14

Paattu and manipravalam blended very VERY gradually, through the 14th century on. You can see the blending in Ezhuthachan, Ramayanam Champu, Ramakatha paattu, Krishna Gatha, Kannassa works etc. A new Malayalam emerged by the mid 16th century.

Sanskrit phonemes used in Manipravalam were included in this new Mal alphabet:

1. Nammude a-aa-e-ee-u-uu -ile rrrr sound ille? athu samskruthathil ninnum pokkiyathaanu. 2. kha, ga, gha, cha, ja, jha, tha, da, dha, pha, ba, bha, sha ennivayum samskruthathil ninnumaanu.

Sanskritised forms of words were used in this new mal - Achan (Father) Aphan (uncle)

Tamilism disappeared in the 15th century, with Krishna Gatha - onru (one) kaattru(wind) unkal (your) all have now completely disappeared from Mal.

Contractions appeared in Mal - Naattil ninnu -> Naattinnu Ammayude -> Ammede

Imperative forms -> vannaalum, thannaalum etc came into existence. (past + aalum)

These are some of the linguistic/phonemic changes. Next, we will look at the history of Kerala and literature (Cherusseri etc)

Ethinte edayil alpam Thunjan Chrithram -- By Ambika

Thunchaththu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan

Thunchaththu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan (Thunjath Ezhuthachan) is known as the "Father of the Malayalam language". He was born around 450 years ago in Malappuram district of Kerala, south India.

Birth The story of his birth is mixed with myths and truths. He traveled extensively in search of knowledge and returned to Thrikandiyur, after mastering the religious sciences. Ezhuthachan tried to propagate the universal nature of the language. He wanted to bring language to level of a layman’s understanding. Although Cherushery, another prominent

writer, lived before Thunjath, Thunjath is revered as a cultural icon.

Father of Malayalam language There may have been many keerthanas, namam or japam, but is was impossible to find a single house in Kerala without a copy of his Adhyathmaramayanam during the dark times of war, disease and famine. There is no doubt about his contribution to the literary level of the common man. The great teacher taught the people to respect and worship the language and the alphabet, a level of culture which is difficult to find even in the modern era. He refined the Malayalam language style and wrote his works for ordinary people, incorporating whatever is good with a strong sense of righteousness and worship. His contribution to the language through the Adhyatmaramayanam and Mahabharatham is unparalleled, and his contribution in the cultural level is immense. There may have been scholars and poets before or after him, but Ezhuthachan is everything in Malayalam, eventhough his contribution to the alphabet system is not very clear still.

Ezhuthachan and alphabet system in Kerala Till Ezhuthachan’s time, the following was the situation in Kerala:

1. The 30 letter Vattezhuthu was taught as the Malayalam alphabet by the various Kalaries or schools to the common people.

2. Alphabets which are equivalent to those in Sanskrit (Grandhakshara) must have been used by scholars to write their works in Sanskrit.

3. Sanskrit alphabets were used by Namboothiri priests and a few great scholars only.

4. As the influence of Sanskrit in Malayalam increased, Vattezhuthu was used commonly to write Sanskrit words and other derivations, though distorted. The names of parts of Vedas like Samhita, Ashtakam, Varggam, Anuvakom were written as changatha, attam, vakkom, anam respectively, in Vattezhuthu. What was written, was not exactly what was read. Works were also written in this way.

5. Vattezhuthu was used with interposition of letters of the Grandhakshara to denote essential Sanskrit phonetics. (Eg. - In important Decrees or Shasanas.)

6. Various combinations of Vattezhuthu and Grandhakshara may have been tried by some schools, with the result of more confusion and less unanimity.

We can visualize the glaring inadequacies which were prevalent.

What Ezhuthachan did To establish an alphabet system for all people, which is equivalent to Sanskrit and which encompasses all these alphabets in all schools, instead of the 30 letter alphabet set for Malayalam (Vattezhuthu), the first step would be to take the best from the existing systems, and form common derivations etc. It was not sufficient to form just an alphabet set, as it will not be accepted in all places easily. Most probably there were different views at that time. The most practical way out was to establish the set by a Keerthanam, so that it will be standardized everywhere. Ezhuthachan must have thought it auspicious and total for the alphabet set to have 51 characters. (See Harinamakeerthanam) “Hari Sree Ganapathaye Namah” is also 51 according to the system of counting with alphabets. This method of initiating children to the alphabets was also begun by Ezhuthachan according to Prof. [[K. P. Narayana Pisharody[[. Ra and zha were used as parishishtam after the 51 alphabets. (Malayalam does not have words which begin with these characters, but these alphabets are essential in the language.)

(However Vattezhuthu continued to be taught in various places as the Malayalam alphabet till the British regulations relating to registration of bonds and deeds eventually led to its disappearance.)

Thunjan Parambu It was in Thunjan Parambu that Ezhuthachan modified the Malayalam alphabets and wrote the Harinamakeerthanam to popularize them. Even after centuries people from various parts of the state come to take sand from Thunjan Parambu to initiate their children to the alphabet. Every year, hundreds of people bring their children to write their first alphabets during the Vijayadasami festival, to Thunjan Parambu.

"Anpathoraksharavum oronnithenmozhiyil

Anpodu cherkka Hari Narayanaya Nama"

- Harinamakeerthanam 14th stanza

There is no controversy that the great teacher was the strongest sponsor of the 51 letter alphabet for Malayalam instead of the 30 letter Vattezhuthu

VEENDUM CHARITHRAM

Part 15...I think!

Kerala was still undr several chiefdoms. The principal kingdoms were now Calicut (Zamorin), Kolathunadu (Kolathiri), Cochin and Tvavancor.e

Among the kings, the Zamorin and the Kolathiri fought each other very frequently. They patronised several poets and the chief poet of the Kolathiri (Udaya Verma Kolathiri) was Cherusseri, author of Krishna Gaatha. The Zamorin (Manavikrama Raja) patronised the 18 and 1/2 poets. The 1/2 poet was of course Punam Nambuthiri, author of Ramayanam Champu.

Meanwhile in 1498, a certain Portuguese bloke whose surname rhymes with Dalai Lama landed in Kappad, Calicut. He was unable to establish supermacy over the Saamoothiri who fought him with help from Kunjali Marakkars. The P'guese therefore joined hands with the Kolathiri and the kings of Cochin and got several parts of Kerala under their control (indirectly, and sometimes even directly)

The P'guese period lasted 1 and 1/2 centuries till mid-17th century. The poor social, economic, political and cultural conditions at the time led to rise of the Bhaktih movt. This was the preiod when Ezhuthachan, Melpathur Bhattathiri and Poonthanam composed their masterpieces.

More on language and literature (1400-1600) next time. Sorry about the typing mistakes I might have overlooked - bit difficult to do this properly.

Part 16

Malayalam literature of the period (15th century onwards) developed very much through several works, and it was a landmark period.

Description of some of the literature of the time:

Ramakatha Paattu:

Author : Ayyipilla Ashaan This was the first deviation from the M'pravalam vs Paattu trend of the time, and it was written in the veginning of the 15th century (before 1405, they say) This deviated from Ramacharitham of the previous centuries - while Ramacharitha

followed Dravidian phonology, Ramakatha utilised Sanskrit phonemes and consonant clusters as wel. Therefore, this work violated the definition of Pattu given in Leelathilakam. By adopting Sanskrit Tatsama forms, the Paatu style was made similar to the M'pravalam style.

Kannassa works: There were 4 great poets in the Kannassa Panickar family from Niranam in Central Kerala (also called Niranam Kavikal). The most famous of their works are Ramayanam and Bhaaratham. These works also bridged the gap between M'pravalam and Paattu. The Kannassa Panickars therefore developed a new Mal literary style by mixing features from both genres.

Krishna Gaadha: Author: Mahakavi Cherusseri Period: 3rd quarter of the 15th century.

Krishna Gaatha is different from all other previous works. It is the FIRST poem to be written in simple Mal without any artificial elements from M'pravalam or pATTU. Tamil elements are not found anywehre in this poem,a nd sanskrit elements are few. Very few simple sanskrit words are used in between.

K'Gaatha is neither Pattu nor M'pravalam nor a mixture of the two, but a NEW school representing simple and pure Mal, near to the 20th present-day Malayalam.

Next post on Champu school to follow later.

Engil ithaa part 17-um custodyil edutholu ammava:

Manipravalam changed very much in the 15th century - until then it was mainly love-stories. But a new school - Champu school - was introduced by Poonam Namboodiri (NOT a girl). M'p works changed into Puranic stories. The first work after the change was Ramayanam Champu by Punam himself. The last work in the older M'p was Chandrolsavam, by a friend and contemporary of Punam's.

Prof. Elamkulam has mentioned that the chief differences b/w old and new M'pravalam are:

1. Some grammar found in Snaskrit, Prakrith, Thulu nd Kannada are found in old M'p.

2. Sandhi of sanskrit words are per sanskrit rules in new M'p.

3. Mallu words were compounded with s'krit words in old M'p, but not in the new M'p.

4. Sanskrititsed words such as "keezh" - to weep [keezhanthi - she weeps] were NOT found in new M'p.

5. Writing some words with an initial vowel glide stopped completely in new M'p. [yirandu was written as randu as we know it today. randu = 2]

Language used in Ramayanam Champu is mainly modern Mal but contains a few (very few) features of the older one as well.

Next, we will go to folk songs of the 15th century and then to my fave section - kilipaattu

and Poonthanam

Some Mal folk songs are at least as old as the language itself. Several of these old ones are not available in their original form now. But they retain many features of old Malayalam so we know how they have changed.

The folk songs can be classified into:

1. High Class Songs: Yaathrakali-paattu and Brahmanipattu sung by Namboothiris and sub-Brahmin castes respectively. These have Sanskrit phonology, Sanskrit words, personal endings and NO Tamil-isms.

2. Middle Class songs: Here also, there are several types. a. Bhadrakaalipaattu, Paana-pattu - these show some sanskrit influence as they have been associated with kings/Temples. b. Kurattipaattu, Kaanipaattu and Thekkan paattu show Tamil influence. c. Pure Malayalam songs - some of these are also said to high class: Kaikottikali-paattu, Ona-paattu, Shashthampaattu, etc.

3. Low class songs: There are several categories in this. Some are sung by agricultural labourers (krishipattu). Other categories include Pulluvarpaattu and Mappilapaattu which shows Arab influence and Kristhyanipaattu which shows influence of Latin and Syrian.

Kilippaattu school - NOTHING to do with the above categories - to follow soon

Part...er...19, I think.

KILIPAATTU

Kilippaattu, introduced by Thunchath Ezhuthachan is perhaps the most important and widely spread poetic style in the history of Mal. The most important K'paattus are Ramayanam and Mahabharatham by Ezhuthachan. Mahabharatham is more modern and simpler. Both are composed in "modern Mal". Apart from these, Ezhuthachan has compsoed several other K'paattus including Harinamakeerthanam and Bhagavatham Kilipaattu.

These were devoured by the people influenced by the Bhakthi cult of Kerala. The language used in all is more or less fixed. Therefore, Ezhuthachn who shaped modern Mal is popularly called the "father of Malayalam language".

L.V Ramaswamy Iyer suggests that Ezhuthachan ushered in the modern Mal period, but there was no complete break with the past - several older features continued to be used. Eg: Datives such as "Kaalkku, viralkku" continued to be used besides the modern forms of the datives - "Kaalinu, viralinu"

On comparing E'achan with Cherussery (krishna Gaadha)one can find many features in common. However, E'achan's language shows several conspicuous differences. Eg: ulloonee -> ulloovee Rare use of Ennal.

More on Bhakthi - Poonthanam Poonthanam Namboothiri was an elder contemporary of E'achan. He was a great devotee of Lord Krishna of Guruvayur. His most famous works are Jnanapana and SreeKrishna Kranamritham. They are both in modern mal and in simpler language than that used by E'achan. There is inclusion of colloquial forms and modifications. E'achan's works are more classical as there are no modifications.

Next part - 16th century, Colonisation of Kerala (political history)

Part 20 Continuation of Modern Mal upto the present (Political History first)

Well, Portuguese were the first to land in Kerala. A certain V dG landed in Calicut (Kappad) etc etc. Ini ee kadha vaayichalo paranjalo njan bore adi kaaranam karayum.

The Portuguese dominated Kerala until the Dutch challenged them. The Dutch East India Company sent an expedition to Kerala in 1603. They then signed a treaty with the Zamorin (Saamoothirippad) The Dutch alliance with the Zam was to expel the P'guese from kerala. Instead, the Dutch were allowed to trade anywhere in the kingdom.

Portuguese Cochin was captured by the Dutch in 1663, when the Dutch attacked it from 3 directions. By then, most P'guese possessions had been blockaded one by one. Now the Dutch had Purakkad, Vadakumkur, Edapalli, Alangad and Parur (!) under their protection. The kingdom of Cochin was fully under Dutch control by 1673, when a treaty was signed with the princes of Cochin.

However, Dutch dominance lasted just for a century. The zAMORIN tried to form an all-kerala alliance against the Dutch. The English East India company posed a serious threat with their ambitions to control the whole of India. Travancore under King Marthanda Varma was becoming powerful. All these led to the decline of the Dutch empire in Kerala in the middle of the 18th century.

Part 21 : English Power in Kerala

The English East India Co under Captain Keeling arrived at Calicut in 1615 with 3 ships. They acquired the right to trade from the Zamorin. Although they got access to Cochin and T'v'core, their centre was in Malabar. They built warehouses/factories at Calicut, Ponani and Tellichery. (Later, in Anjengo and Attingal).

In 1723, they signed a treaty with Marthanda Varma of T'v'core. This is the first treaty signed between the British and ANY Indian state/ruler and it led to Brit supremacy over Kerala.

The main rivals for the Brits were the French. When they fought in 1744 in Europe, they clashed in Kerala also. After the war in Europe, they signed a treaty which restricted French pwr in Kerala to Mahe alone.

During the 2nd half of the 18th century, the Mysorean invasion of Kerala under Hyder ALi and Tipu Sultan took place. The Brits helped all 3 kingdoms - Malabar, Cochin and Tvcore to fight the Mysoreans. Kerala won, of course. However, when Tipu attacked, the Zamorian fled to TVcore and got asylum there. Therefore, Malabar came directly under the British. Direct rule over Malabar led to a lot of developments/changes in the area, into which we will go later.

The Brits also signed a treaty with King Rama Varma a.k.a Shakthan Thampuran (an article on him will follow sometime soon) of Cochin in 1791, and a treaty with Dharma Raja of Tvcore in 1795. So it wasn't till the 19th century that Cochin and Tvcore came under direct British rule and even then, both had monarchs while Malabar didn't.

Sick of typing. More on British rule over Kerala later.

Part 22.

Dutchukaarum Englishukarum Portuguesekare pole aayirunilla - avar nalla oru bharanaghadana sthaapichu. Kaikooliyo achadakkam illaaymayo undaayirunilla. Ella sthaapanangalilum krithyanishta paalikkapettu. Mathaparamaaya karyangalil Englishukar aayirunnu ettavum sahishnutha kaanichirunnathu. Prof E.K.P parayunnu: Indiakkaar kaanichathinekaalum sahishnuthayum chittayum Englishukar kaanichu.

AAAAAAAAAARGH! Someone find me an automatic Anglo-Mal translator.

There were challenges from several quarters - Pazhassi Raja (1973-1805), Veluthampi Dalawa (1805), Kurichians (1821), Malabar etc. Oronnineyum kurichulla vishadeekaranam "History of Kerala" threadil undaayirikkum.

King Rama Varma (Cochin, 1895-1914) abdicate cheyyendi vannu. King Ayilyam Thirunal (1860-80) swantham aliyane house arrest cheyyendi vannu - British sammardathinu vazhangi.

With the British looking after several of the administrative issues, conditions were favourable for the promotion of literature and arts. Palaces became centres of artistic activities. Kings of Chempakasseri, Ambalappuzha, Venad, Kottarakkara, Kottayam and the Zamorin were in competition for the promotion of arts and literature. Manavedan Zamorin(1655-1658) wrote Krishnanaattam and the King of Kottarakkara wrote Ramanaattam (story of Kathakali)

This was also the era of Maharaja Swathi Thirunal (1829-47). Apart from music, he was also a multi-linguist and scholar. It was Swathi who made Kerala also a part of the Carnatic music tradition.

More on English education in Kerala and Mal later.

Part 23.

Malabar was directly under british rule after The Brits defeated Tipu Sultan. English education was introduced in Kerala with missionary schools first being set up in Malabar - Basle Evangelical Mission Schools (BEMP), Brennan cOLLEGE in Tellichery, Victoria College in Palghat etc were set up.

After Malabar, educational institutions were set up in other places in Chn and Tvcore as well.

Irayimman Thambi of the Tvcore royal famliy composed many attakathas and poems. Kerala Varma Valiya Kovil Thampuran is considered Kerala's Kalidasa and Raja Raja varma Koyil Thamburan was known as Kerala Panini. Appan Thamburan, a member of the Chn royal family wrote 2 novels, some poems and essays.

EUropean missionaries started coming to kerala in large hordes towards the end of the 18th C. They published several books and journals. Robert Drummond's Grammar of Mal language and Benjamin Baily's Mal-Eng dictionary are among the earliest publications. However, Dr Hermann Gundert's grammar and dictionary are given more importance.

The political movements in Kerala as part of the so-called "freedom struggle" saw the rise of many writers such as Swadeshabhimani Ramakrishna Pillai and Aasthana kavi Vallathol. KP Kesava Menon started the Mathrubhumi daily.

Missionary Malayalam later.

Missionary Malayala

It was the missionaries' need to learn colloquial Mal to speak to the common people in their own language. They also wanted to write some books in Mal to spread religion. Asa result, a new style of Mal called Misiionary Malayalam was evolved A printing press was started in Cochin in 1577 - the first press in Kerala.

The first Missionary Mal book printed is Katholikka Mata Praarambhann'al (not sure about the pronunciation - will ask my tutor asap). This was printed in Chn in 1577. The types (Malayalam) used in this book were made by Joannes Gonsalvez of Spain. Other early books included Krithiya Mahatvam and Krithiya Vanakkam (?)

An important publication is Udayamperur Suunahadoodinr'e Kaanoonakal of 1599. This is the report of a nmeeting convened by the P'guese at U'perur to discuss the faith and practices of the newly converted X'tians. It was published in Mal and Syrian. The Mal version was by a man from Palluruthy, named Chako.

Part 26

Prose style of original Mal as seen in Keralolpathi (17th century, History of Kerala including Perumals and Parasurama) is totally different from the prose style of the missionaries. It is considered that the missionary style is the inferior one.

Hortus Malabaricus was written in Latin and published by the ductch but contains many passages in Mal types. Veeda tharkkam (1768), Samkshepa Veedaartham (1772, Rome), Jnaana muthumaala (1784) and Varthamanapusthakam are some missionary Mal works.

The Archbishop of Verapoly, one Angelo Francis was the first missionary to write a grammar of colloquial Mal. One father Arnos was the first missionary to compile the Malayalam lexicon.

That concludes Missionary Mlayalam. Next is a longer chapter on further development of Paattu, Aattakatha etc.

Engil pidicho Part 27:

It was Ezhuthachan who introduced the Kilipaattu school. This school was developed further in the 17th century. The mpst imp' Kilipaattu of the time was Valmiki Ramayanam or Kerala Varma Ramayanam written by King Kerala Varma. He was a great warrior who composed more than 10 k'paattus. Patappaattu is another famous k'paattu which deals with the history of Cochin between 1646 and 1670. The words "mantiri" (minister), "bhiranki"(cannon) etc were used for the first time in this work. Maamankam Pattu is a kilipaattu which narrates the history of the zamorins from 1684.

Surprisingly, the MOST famous kilipaattu after Ezhuthachan is Kunchan Nambiar's Panchathantram. This is followed by Unnayi Warrier's Girijakalyanam. It is interesting to note that both these authors were actually better known writers in other genres of literature (thullal and aattakatha respectively) rather than in Kilipaattu.

Other paattu works also continued to flourish - Kuchelavritham vanchipaattu by Ramapurathu Warrier is a classic (If anyone has the MP3, could you pleeeeeease post it?) This was written to be sung by boatmen. R'p Warrier's Bhaashaastapadi was also a renowned work.

Other popular songs of the time included Anjana sreedhara and Mavile nadu vaaneedum koala (MP3??)

Aattakatha next time.

Aaatytakathas are stories used in Kathakali performances. THe first Aattakatha is Raamanaattam. It consists of 8 stories based on the Ramayana. It was written by a king of Kottarakkara.

Another king of Kottayam composed 4 very famous aattakathas - kalyanasauganghikam, Baka vadham, Kirmeera vadham and kaalakeeya vadham. However, the most famous and popular aattakatha of all time is "NALACHARITHAM" written by Unnayi Warrier in the 18th century. Nalacharitham aattakatha is performed in four days.

Part 29

The Manipravalam school of literature diminished after Ezhuthachan. Between the 16th and 18th centuries, only two writers contributed anything else to this genre. Kunchan Nambiar wrote Sree Krishna Charitham Manipravalam in the 18th century - his most famous work in a non-thullal style. Chelapparambu Namboothiri also wrote some single shlokams and small poems in Manipravalam style.

VADAKKAN Paattukal

There are several hundreds of songs known as Vadakkan Pattukal on local heroes and heroines. The period of these songs is around the 17th century, based on the vocabulary (Vedi - shot, kaappi - coffee etc are found in these songs, and are considered to have originated in around the 17th century).

Some of the heroes and heroines mentioned in these songs include Thacholi Othenan, Thacholi Chandhu, Paalaattu Kooman, Aaromal Chekavar, Unni Aarcha, Kunji kanni etc. All these warriors lived in and around Kadathunaadu. Othenan, about whom many songs have been written, is described in one of the songs to have been shot dead by one Mayan Kutty.

The language and vocabulary used in these songs is the pure colloquial Malayalam spoken in Northern Kerala. So these songs were probably composed by the locals of these areas during and after the 17th century.

Syllables have been reduced in these songs - Ivideninnu -> Ividennu Vaa eda -> Vaada Cheruppamalle -> Cheruppalle

Thullal coming up in the next chapter.

Part 30

THULLAL

(At last!)

THULLAL is the MOST popular school of literature in Malayalam of all time. It is also the most humorous school. It was introduced by Kunjan Nambiar (refer separate thread on Kunjan Nambiar {1720-1780}for more on this)

The first Thullal was Kalyana Saughandhikam featuring the famous "Nokkada nammude maargey kidakunna Markkada nee angu maarikidaa sheda!" This was performed by Nambiar himself.

Thullal was introduced by Nambiar in competition with Koothu by Chakkiars. Thullal outshone Koothu completely and immediately. Although Koodiyattam and Koothu were the oldest performing theatre forms, Thullal had more spectators and supporters.

The language of Thullal was very simple and could be understood even by very ordinary uneducated people. Thullal had more satire than Koothu and dealt with everyday issues.

Kiraatham, Sabhapravesham, Ghoshayathra are all of extreme humour. Nambiar has 64 Thullals to his credit and several other poems belonging to almost all other schools of literature in Malayalam upto that time. His Sreekrishna Charitham is in Manipravalam style.

Renu's personal favourite Kunjan Nambiar verse:

"Maddalam arayil urappicheedina Vidwan oduka paaram dandham"

from Ghoshayaathra ;)

Part 31

New Trends

Literature through old schools except Manipravalam had very little development during the 19th and 20th centuries. There were some Kilipaattus by Purayannur Parameswaran Namboothiri, some thullals by Venmani Makan, songs by Swathi Thirunal (refer Great Indian Composers -I http://thattukada.net/portal/viewtopic.php?t=20015), Irayimman Thambi, Machad Elayathu, and Aattakathad by Karthika Thirunal and Irayimman Thambi.

The Venmani School of poetry made some changes in the Manipravalam style. The Venmani poets, father and son, held that the use of Sanskrit words must be minimised. This gave Manipravalam an even more Malayali character. They also said that inflected Sanskrit words must not be used at all. (As per the definition in Leelathilakam, Manipravalam MUST contain inflected Sanskrit words)

Malayali words of alien origin such as harji and goosayi could be used in Manipravalam according to Venmani style. It is considered that the Venmani school was actually introduced by Punthanam Achan Nambudiri with the lines, "Moodillaathoru Mundu kondu..."

Other Venmani poets include Naduvattu poets, Kochunni Thamburan, Kathullil Achuthan, Sivolli and Oravankara.

Pacha Malayalam School

This school was started by Kunjikuttan Thampuran and developed by Kundur Narayana Menon. It insists that only native Malayalam words can be used. A few poems, Koomappan, Pakkanaar etc are composed in this way.

Part 32

The Twentieth Century

Kerala Varma Valiya Koyil Thamburan revised Manipravalam with all the classical features. The alliteration known as dwithyaakshara praasam was made compulsory. Manipravala shakunthalam and Mayura Sandesham are two works in this style. However,

Kerala Varma School later shifted style to join with the Raja Raja Varma school.

RajaRaja Varma School:

20th Century Malayalam is shaped by Raja Raja Varma, who is also known as Kerala Panini. He is the Royal Architect of Malayalam (Malayalathinte Rajashilpi). He was the nephew of Kerala Varma. He wrote Bhaasha bhushanam, vritha Manjari, Sahithya Saahyam and the famous Malayalam grammatica - Kerala Paanineeyam. All this gave a definite shape to the grammar and composition of Mal language.

Panini suggested the following changes in the Manipravala style: 1. Avoid inflected Sanskrit words as far as possible 2. Use of sanskrit words to be resistricted only to those understood by common people. 3. English and colloquial words could be used in poetry (!!!!!!!!!!!) 4. Dwithyaakshara Praasam need not be compulsory.

All these practically converted Manipravalam into Malayalam. The original Manipravalam was followed only by a few people like Mahakavi Ulloor (umakeralam).

LAST CHAPTER - 33

From the last quarter of the 19th century, prose literature continued to progress. K.V Mappilla published Kerala Mithram in 1881 and C. Kunjirama Menon published Kerala Pathrika in 1885. In 1886, C V Raman Pillai published Malayali. Later publications were Malayala Manorama, Vidya Vinodini, Bhaasha Poshini, Rasika Ranjini etc. Today, Malayalam journals have greater circulation than the journals of any other Indian language.

In this period, Kerala Varma Valiya Kovil Thamburan was the patron of all the literary activities. Under his initiative, many associations, committees, village libraries etc were started all over the state, for the promotion of the language - so much so that even today, Malayalis are proud of their literary, scholarly and cultural activities which are greater than those of any other state in India.

Kerala Varma continued to write biographies, essays and stories. He translated Akbar - a monumental novel. At first, his prose style was somewhat complex, but later on it became simple.

In the second half of the 20th century, a standard Malayalam has been developed - mainly through various types of prose literature. Forms like "Manthrikal" fell out of usage and have since been replaced by standard forms like "Manthrimaar". This is the Malayalam we see today. From a language that emerged as an off-shoot of Sanskritised Tamil, or Tamilised Sanskrit, it has developed to become one of the most active and respected tongues in the world today.