KAVYA MADHAVAN-THE MOLLYWOOD'S GIRL NEXT DOOR

Kavya Madhavan born in 9September 19, 1984 in Kasargod,Kerala, India.)is a popular Malayalam cinema actress . Though she normally does regular unimportant heroine roles, she has proved her ability in handling serious roles as well.Kavya Madhavan belongs to the Shaliya community who are traditionally engaged in weaving. Born in the village of Nileshwaram in Kasaragod district, Kerala, India to P. Madhavan and Shyamala. She started to learn dance while studying in Nileswaram Rajas High School. She was the kalathilakam (A title bestowed to the artist who proves her skills in most artistic fields during a Sub District youth festival.) in Kasargod.Kavya entered the industry as a child artist in the film Pookkalam Varavayi (1991) doing the role of a School Girl. She came to public attention when she did the childhood part of the heroine character in Kamal's Azhakiya Ravanan (1996). Since then, she has acted in over 25 films in Malayalam and a few in Tamil. She is noted for having retained her rural Nileshwaram accent. She is not allowed to dub for her movies because her voice does not fit the usual "sweet and soft" voice of typical dubbers. However, she recently has begun to dub for some of her roles, such as Perumazhakkalam.

MEERA JASMINE-THE SOUTH HEROINE SANS PAR

Jasmine Mary Josephy - or more popularly known as Meera Jasmine was born on 15 February 1984. Born and brought up in Kuttappuzha, Thiruvalla, Kerala. She has not family background neither she is from the family of actors! She was not a model or participated in beauty pageants like Trisha or Namitha. She was not known to anybody until she was introduced by Lohithadas in Malayalam movie Soothradharan in 2001. Though film bombed, but she got noticed.

She accepted movies offers despite opposition from her father. Meera joined the film industry without much expectation. Meera was ready to return to her studies if her films fails. Despite her debut failure she was noticed and offered movies after Soothradharan. And she went to receive National Award - apart from 4 Filmfare Awards - Best Female Debut (Run, Tamil) 2002, Best Actress (Malayalam) in 2003, 2006 and 2008.

Meera also received several Kerala State Awards. She has acted in a dozen Malayalam films. She is simple, but good looking actress. Never acted in glamour roles! Nation Award for Best Actress was given to her for excellent portrayal of a 15-year-old Muslim girl married to an older man. She was pitted against contenders like Aishwarya Rai and Sushmita Sen. She has paired against all big stars in Malayalam - Mohanlal, Dileep, Mammootty etc.

She gave some successful Tamil movies as well. After the success of Run in 2002, she worked with Mani Ratnman's Aayudha Ezhuthu. Mercury Pookkal was another successful movie. She has acted with Dhanush, Vijayakant, Bharath.

She is famous in Telugu film industry too. Her debut film was dubbed from Tamil, Run. Later in 2004 she gave some good films in Telugu as "Ammayi Bagundi" and "Gudumba Shankar". She also worked in Kannada film industry... co-starring with Puneet Rajkumar in Maurya. Her another Kannada film Arrasu is also a hit. Bhadra (Telugu) with Ravi Teja is the biggest hit in Telugu. Her other Telugu films are Raraju, Maharadhi, Yamagola Malli Modalaindi, Gorintaku and Maa Aayana Chantipilladu, in which she is paired for a second time with Sivaji.

She is in love with U. Rajesh, a mandolin artist and they planning to marry soon.

She draw ire from devotees of Lord Raja Rajeshwara Temple in Kerala when she prayed and bowed to the Lord. Here non-Hindus are prohibited. The controversy sparked off a protest by devotees. Later she paid ten thousand as penalty to temple authorities

MAMMOOTTY-THE MALLU MEGASTAR OF MOLLYWOOD

Mammootty is the mega star of Malayalam cinema. He is an actor in all senses of the word. It was his childhood dream to act in a movie and become a great star. Mammootty's father, Mr.Ismail is an Agriculturist and his mother, Mrs. Fathima is a housewife. He has a daughter, Surmi and a son, Dulquar Salman

Although a lawyer by qualification, Mammootty always wanted to be an actor. His entry into filmdom was rather late. As bad luck would have it, his first film, Devalokam ('World of Gods'), never saw the light of the day. None other than the colossal figure in Malayalam cinema M. T. Vasudevan Nair discovered him and it was veteran director K. G. George who brought Mammootty's career graph is dotted with highs and lows. His career saw a spectacular rise after the release of Joshi's New Delhi. This film was based on the story, "Almighty" by Irving Wallace. It heralded the arrival of Mammootty the super star. His performance as a victimized journalist, who systematically took revenge on politicians who beguiled him, caught the imagination of many in the film world.Then came his Oru CBI Diary kurippe ('A CBI diary entry'), which was a sort of a landmark, in Malayalam cinema. It brought to fore a new concept of villainy and a refreshing idea of a hero. Without even a single song or dance number, Oru CBI Diary kurippe went on to create box-office history in Kerala. For all these, major credit goes to Mammootty for his enactment of the role of an upright CBI officer .The film made such an impact that two more films Jaagratha, Sethurama Iyer CBI and Nerariyan C.B.I starring Mammootty as Sethurama Iyer, the CBI officer, were made and received very well. This in itself is a record of sorts in the Malayalam film industry, with four movies with the same lead character.

Mammootty touched higher pinnacles of his career in Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha again a M T creation. His depiction of a 'Chekavan'(Usually a person of a warrior clan who would fight for a king or other nobles of the land) won him the top honors of the country, National Award for best acting. It was his acting talent, coupled with his willingness to go to any extent to rationally portray the roles, that helped enabled him to act in both offbeat and commercial movies and other in art movies. Mammootty became almost a regular face in Adoor Gopalakrishnan's films. He starred in three of his movies, Anantharam, Mathilukkal, and Vidheyan .The ease with which he acted as the protagonist in Mathilukkal was also instrumental in winning his first National award for best acting. His performance in a commercially off-beat movie, Ponthan Mada, and Adoor Gopalakrishnan's 'Vidheyan' won him the award for the second time. His performance in "Ambedkar", a Hindi movie by Jabbar Patel, won him the National award for a third time. He is also a recipient of Padma Shri, one of the topmost civilian awards in India.

K.J YESUDAS-THE MALLU MUSICAL MAESTRO

Padmashree Dr. Kattassery Joseph Yesudas


One of the greatest South Indian musicians of all times, was born in Fort Cochin, Kerala, India. His father Mr. Augustine Joseph Bagavathor, was a well known malayalam classical musician and stage actor of his time . His mother, Mrs. Alikkutty Joseph, devoted her time and energy in bringing up her children. In his childhood Yesudas had to face a great deal of hardships because of the meager financial resources of his parents. His father could recognize the boy’s musical talent at a very young age and decided to provide him musical education at any cost. Augustine Bhagavathor himself was his first music Guru. The boy was taught the fundamentals of Carnatic music at the tender age of five. Indian music world soon began to witness the appearance of a new bright star in the horizon. Later several music teachers in and around Cochin gave him valuable guidance he was seeking. It is his passion for music, hard work and dedication that created the musical legend we call Yesudas or more intimately "Dasettan".

Music came as divine grace and paternal inheritance to K.J.Yesudas, one of India’s foremost exponents of classical carnatic vocal music and leading playback singer in all-Indian languages. His classical concerts and film songs programs continue to captivate millions of listeners at home and abroad.

Kattassery Joseph Yesudas was born on January 10, 1940 in Fort Cochin, the ancient port city of Kerala. His father, Augustine Joseph was himself a well-known singer and stage actor who rode the Kerala stage like a colossus for over a quarter of a century. Eldest of the four sons and one daughter of the Joseph couple, Yesudas took to music at a very early age. His first Guru was his beloved father himself, who lovingly and painstakingly led little Yesudas through the basic precepts of Carnatic Music while he was hardly five years old. From there, the budding singer took lessons under several musical wizards in and around Cochin and nurtured his native talents with discipline, dedication and determination.

Yesudas is a reciepent of the Padmabhushan Award from the president of India and progress each day towards achieving musical knowledge through Classical Indian Music, Carnatic Music, Challenging Film and Independent compositions.

Role Models:

Shri.Narayana Guru’s great message, "One caste, One Religion and One God for all Humans", influenced young Yesudas in his dealings with his fellow men. He had his own heroes among the musicians too. Mohammed Rafi, Chembai Vaydhyanatha Bhagavathor and Bala Muralikrishna are the ones he admired the most.

Honors & Awards:

He has already sung more than 30,000 songs for thousands of Indian films in various languages. In 1965, he was invited by the Soviet Government to perform music concerts in various cities of the U.S.S.R. Yesudas is the recipient of The Kerala State Playback Singing Award 16 times since 1970. The President of India conferred on him the coveted title of Padmashree in 1973. Other titles and prestigious awrds he has received include, `Sangeetha Raja' in 1974, `Sangeetha Chakravarthy' in 1988 and `Sangeetha Sagaram' in 1989. He received the award for the best playback singer for the year 1988 from Tamil Nadu Government and Andhra Pradesh Government respectively. Annamalai University honored him with a Doctorate in 1989. The Government of Kerala and `The Sangeeta Nataka Akademi' conferred the title of `Aashtana Gayakan’ – to Yesudas in 1992. The Government of Madhya Pradesh gave the `Annual Latha Mangeshkar Award’ to Sri Yesudas in 1992. Yesudas is the receipient of the 1991 National Award for the best Playback singer. This is the 6th National award that Yesudas has received. The 1992 Tamil Nadu State Government award for the best playback singer was given to Yesudas. For his unique contribution in the field of Music, he was selected for the prestigious NATIONAL CITIZENS AWARD in 1994

Family:

Dr. Yesudas is happily married to Prabha for more than 30 years. They have three sons, Vinod, Vijay and Vishal. The second son Vijay Yesudas, is a budding musician . The family is currently settled in Madras, India and visit Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA time and again for business reasons.

MOHANLAL-THE SUPER DUPER STAR OF MOLLYWOOD

Mohanlal is the superstar of Malayalam Cinema. Born on May 21, 1960, Mohanlal has completed 25 years in Malayalm film industry. Still he is the most popular actor in Kerala.

Beginning of the Great Actor
A B.com graduate from M.G. College, Thiruvananthapuram, Mohanlal started his acting career in the film Thiranottam. But his first released movie is Manjil Virinja Pookkal(1980), in which he played the role of a villain. The film directed by director Fazil was a superhit.

Popular Mohanlal Movies
Famous director Priyadarsan is his good friend and college mate. Mohanlal has worked in the maximum number of films with him. Most of them were major hits. He has acted in different roles in films like Sanmanassullavarkku Samadhanam, Nadodikkattu, Pattana Pravesham, Kilukkam, Poochakkoru Mookkuthi, Vellanakalude Naadu, TP Balagopalan MA, Gandhinagar Second Street, Mukundetta Sumithra Vilikkunnu,Chitram, Rajavinte Makan, Irupatham Noottandu, Devasuram, Sadayam, Kireedam, Chenkol, Ulsavappittennu, Kanmadam, Dasharatham, Rajasilpi, Thazhvaram, Manichitrathazhu, Mukham, Ulladakkam, Nirnayam,Yodha, Narasimham, Spadikam, Ravanaprabhu, Kilichundan Mambazham, Balettan and many others. Mohanlal acted in many music based films which include Bharatham, His Highness Abdullah and Aaram Thampuran.

Awards and Honours received by Mohanlal
He was conferred with Padma Shri in 2001. He bagged National Awards for the Best Actor twice in 1991 and 1999 for the fims Bharatham and Vanaprastham. Mohanlal has also won Jurys Special Award for Kireedam and Producer of Best Film for Vaanaprastham at National Level. He also won the Kerala State Film awards for five times in the Best Actor category for the films T .P. Balagopalan M.A, Ulladakkam, Kilukkam, Abhimanyu, Kalapani, Spadikam, Vaanaprastham and Thanmatra and also Jury Special Award in 1999. He was presented with International Indian Film Academy Awards (IIFA) for the Best supporting Actor for the film Company in 2003. He won FilmFare awards for 6 times and National Film Academy award for Best Actor in 2000 for the films Narasimham and Life is beautiful.

Recent Movies
His latest films are Madambi and Kurukshetra

Mohanlal's Family
Mohanlal is married to Suchitra and has two children Pranav (Appu) and Vismaya(Maya).

Mohanlal's roles in films includes the serious, comedy, romance and action. He is rated as one of the most talented actors in India.

He is also into Business. He has a Film Distribution company, Pranavam, a Film Production Company, Pranavam Arts and he is a Partner of Royal Marian Exports.

ACTRESS PRIYAMANI

PRIYAMANI-PROFILE

Name: Priyamani
Born: 1984
Birth Place: Palakkad
Debut film: Kangalal Kaithu Sei
Mother Tongue: Tamil
Favourites: Music, Ice creams, Chocolates
Priyamani is a model/actress who started her career with the film Kangalal Kaithu Sei, which was a flop at the box-office. Afterwards, she was paired with Dhanush in Balu Mahendra’s Adhu Oru Kana Kaalam, which flopped at the box-office as well.

BACKGROUND
Priyamani is a Tamil born in Palakkad in 1984. She was brought up in Banglore. She started her film career with her debut film in Kollywood called Kangalal Kaithu Sei alongside actor Vaseegaran. The film was a flop at the box-office and she moved on to Malayalam and Telugu films owing to a lack of offers in Tamil films. She made her Telugu debut in Pellaina Kothalo with Jagapati Babu. Priyamani rose to fame with this film. Priyamani has made her Tamil comeback with her film Paruthiveeran starring debutant Karthik Sivakumar. She has also signed on for another Tamil film in which she plays the lead role with actor Jeevan.Priyamani was born in Palakkad to Vasudeva Mani Iyer and Latha ManiIyer . She is the most notorious one in her school days and she has done modeling for Kancheepuram silks, Erode silks and Lakshmi silks. After her 12 th standard it was the famous Tamil Director, Bharathiraja who introduced her into this marvelous Film Industry. Priyamani has a great craze for acting and her favorite actors include Mammooty, Mohanlal and Dilip. Being as very smart talkative girl, she loves chatting with people and her hobbies include music and dance.

Priya Mani made her debut in Tamil as heroine in Kangalal kaithu sei. Though directed by Bharathiraja the film did not do well and Priya Mani shifted over to Malayalam films. She is currently acting opposite Prithiviraj in Sathyam directed by Vinayan. Her second Tamil film is with Balu Mahendra’ Oru kana kalam with Dhanush as hero.

FILMOGRAPHY


YEAR FILM - CO-STARS - LANGUAGE - ROLE
2008 Chintakayala Ravi - Venkatesh - Telugu
2008 Sivavin Manadhil Sandhya - Jeeva - Tamil - Sandhya
2008 Panduranga - Balakrishna - Telugu
2008 Thotta - Jeevan - Tamil
2007 Malaikottai - Vishal - Tamil - Malar
2007 Nava Vasantham - Tarun - Telugu
2007 Yamadonga - Jr. NTR, Mamta Mohandas - Telugu - Maheswari
2007 Toss - Raja, Upendra - Telugu
2007 Paruthiveeran - Karthik Sivakumar - Tamil - Muthazhagu
2006 Madhu - Githan Ramesh - Tamil - Mercy
2006 Pellaina Kothalo - Jagapati Babu - Telugu - Lakshmi
2005 Adhu Oru Kana Kaalam - Dhanush - Tamil - Thulasi
2004 Satyam Prithviraj - Malayalam - Sona
2004 Kangalal Kaithu Sei - Vaseegaran - Tamil - Vidya
2002 Evare Atagaadu - Vallabha - Telugu Priya

ACTRESS SHOBANA -PROFILE

Shobana Chandrakumar
Born March 21, 1970 (1970-03-21)
Kerala, India
Awards won
National Film Awards
Best Actress, Manichithrathazhu (1994)
Best Actress, Mitr, My Friend (2002)

Shobana Chandrakumar (Malayalam: born March 21, 1970) is an exponent of the Bharatanatyam dance and a leading actress of South Indian motion pictures. She was born into a Malayalam speaking family from Kerala, India. Shobana is the niece of the Travancore sisters Lalitha, Padmini and Ragini, all of whom were renowned for their skill in classical Indian dance. She has acted in over 200 movies in 5 languages.

Shobana acted for the first time in a leading role in the Malayalam motion picture "April 18" in 1984, directed by Balachandra Menon. She also acted alongside the Malayalam actor Mammootty in the film Kanamarayathu (1984). Shobana won her first National Film Award for Best Actress from the government of India in 1994 for her performance in Fazil's movie Manichitrathazhu, which was a Mohanlal starrer. She bagged a second National award for best actress in the year 2001 for her role in an English language film Mitr, My Friend, directed by Revathi. Revathi is her very close friend, philosopher and guide.


As a Dancer
Shobhana is an accomplished dancer of Bharatanatyam. She did her dance training at the Chidambaram academy in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Her guru is the legendary Bharatanatyam dancerChitra Visweswaran Shobhana is famed for her Abhinaya, a pivotal element in Bharatanatyam.[citation needed] She performed in Kuala Lumpur before the King and Queen of Malaysia.[citation needed] Shobhana's skilled execution of dance movements and her extraordinary beauty has led many people to consider her as the most beautiful South Indian actress from the 1980s through the 1990s.[citation needed] She is often equaled to the curvaceous beauty of Indian sculptures.[citation needed] Shobhana has founded a school for classical Bharatanatyam dance in Chennai- kalarpana. She was also a part of Mani Ratnam's stage show, Netru, Indru, Naalai. In 1994, Shobana founded Kalarpana. The aim of Kalarpana is to organize annual festivals throughout India. Shobana is well recognized by her performance in the movie Rudra Veena(Telugu movie, 1988) with Chiranjeevi as a great dancer and Social reformer. This will include performances of nationally and globally known artistes to help raise funds that will be ploughed back into training talented artistes who are financially insecure. Under its umbrella, Kalarpana extend its support to the handicapped and the environmental movement.

In 2006 January, the Indian government honored Shobana with Padma Shri title for her significant contributions to cinema and Bharatanatyam.


Personal Life
Shobana is the daughter of a doctor, Anandam and the late Mr Chandrakumar- She is single and is involved in her school as well her creative pursuits full time.

ISLAM IN KERALA-HISTORIC FEATURES

ISLAMThere had been much trade and commerce between India and Arabia even before the time of Prophet Muhammad. Unlike the Jews and Christians, the Arabs settled down primarily on the West Coast, which indicates that they arrived in large numbers only in the eighth and ninth centuries.

The first Muslim merchant who visited Kerala was Sulaiman in 851 A.D. As trade between Kerala and the Muslim countries increased, many Arab Muslims came to Kerala and settled down on the Malabar Coast where the Zamorin of Calicut welcomed them. He encouraged them to marry with the local women and serve on his armed forces. Mention must be made here o-f the legend that the last of the Chera emperors, the Cheraman Perumal, became a convert to Islam and went on a pilgrimage to Mecca. There is among the Malabar Muslims a tradition about a devout Arab Muslim, Ibn Dinar. He was like Apostle Thomas before him. He came to Kerala to spread Islam; he established the first mosque in Cranganore; afterwards he built mosques in Quilon, Madayi, Kasargod, Srikantapuram, Dharmapattanam, and Chaliyam.

The travelogue of Ibn Battuta who visited Kerala between 1342 and 1347 gives detailed information on Muslims in different parts of Kerala. His journey from Calicut to Quilon lasted 10 days. He writes: "At all the halting places ... there are houses belonging to Muslims at which Muslim travellers stop and buy food and other provisions. Muslims are the most highly honored people." During the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries Muslims flourished economically and numerically. Many untouchables were attracted to Islam. At one point (twelfth century) the Muslims even had their own rulers; the Arakkal royal family of the All Raja; he was the son of a wealthy Arab and a princess of the Kolathiri royal house. One of his descendants, Azi Raja (master of the sea) conquered in 1183-84 some of the Maldive Islands for the Kolathiri Raja.

During the Mysorean invasions of Tipu Sultan (1782-1792), many Keralites willy-nilly became Muslims. Many Nairs and high-caste Hindus were seized and forcibly converted to Islam. The Mysore Sultan Tipu is the reason why there are so many Muslim Mappilas in the districts of Cannanore, Tellicherry, Calicut, and Malappuram. The Mysorean invasions and Muslim conversions deeply affected the old caste-controlled social order of Malabar. It shattered the myth of the social superiority of the Brahmins and the Nairs and improved the self-image of the lower classes.

In this century, Muslim leaders like Vakkam Abdul Kadir, Ummer Kazi, Seethi Sahib,; and E. K. Maulavi Sahib tried to bring the relatively back-ward Muslim community to the twentieth century through educational and social reforms. They opened service-oriented institutions like orphanages, Madrasas (school for teaching Arabic and Islam), primary schools, high schools, and Arabic colleges. Of all the institutions the most important under Muslim management is Farook College established in 1948. The Thangal Kunju Missal-iar College of Engineering has also done great service to the Muslim community by training engineers and technicians. The recently established (1964) Muslim Educational Society is running colleges, schools, and hospitals today. The Mappila Muslims are increasingly becoming more Indian and less Islamic. Most Kerala Muslims are Sunnis and patriotic Indians. Indeed, Muslims of Kerala, have come a long way since the ninth century and the nineteenth century.

CHRISTIANS OF KERALA-ORIGIN AND SECTS

St. Thomas Christians and other Christian sects in Kerala History

The St. Thomas Christians of Kerala firmly believe that St. Thomas the Apostle is the father of Christianity in India. According to their tradition, he landed at Maliankara, near Cranganore in 52 A.D. He preached Christianity first among the Jews and then converted twelve Brahmin families from whom the Syrian Christians trace their genealogy. St. Thomas also founded seven churches at the following places: Maliankara, Palayur, Kottakavu, Quilon, Niranom, Nilakkal, and Chayal. After several years of work in Malabar, the Apostle went to the Coromandel Coast (East Coast) where he was assassinated by irate Brahmins (or by a hunter) in 72 A.D. This tradition along with many others legends is found in ancient Christian songs (seventeenth century and later) like the Veeradian Pattu, Thomma Parvom, and Margom Kali Pattu. The Acts of St. Thomas, an apocryphal work by the Syrian Bardesan (220 A.D.) also mentions the missionary work and martyrdom of St. Thomas in India.

There is no historical evidence -for the missionary work of St. Thomas on the West Coast of India. But there is enough evidence to believe that St. Thomas probably was buried at Mylapore. It is, then more likely that he preached Christianity and made Christian converts at Muziris on the mouth of Kaveri in Tamil Nadu rather than in Kerala. The early Christians were probably from the Jewish community, and the mainstream of the St. Thomas Christians are most likely composed of Munda-Dravidian converts and of Jewish converts, but not of Brahmins. These St. Thomas Chris^tens fled west across the Western Ghats in the sixth and seventh centuries, carry-ing with them their religious traditions except the tomb of St. Thomas. The Portuguese records of the sixteenth century say that the St. Thomas Christians told them that they originally came from Tamil Nadu and settled down in Kerala. Most likely the early Kerala Christians are not descend-ants of Nambutiri Brahmins because, as mentioned before, the Aryan Brahmins arrived in Kerala only in the eighth century. Further, there is no archeological evidence for the presence of any pre-eighth-century churches or temples in Kerala.

It is important to mention here that a group of Christians in Kerala, the Thekkumbhagar (Southists), call themselves Jewish Christians. They claim that their ancestors made up of 72 Jewish Christian families from around Baghdad, Nineveh, and Jerusalem came to India under the leadership of one Thomas of Cana (the place where Jesus turned water into wine), a blood-relative of Jesus. These new colonists settled down on the south-ern shore of the Periyar; hence they received the name "Southists," as opposed to the local "Northist" Christians who lived north of the river in Cranganore.

These St. Thomas Christians followed the Aramaic language in their liturgy and were under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Oriental Patriarch of Celusia-Ctesiphon of Persia (Babylon) up until the arrival of the Portuguese in the fifteenth century. Until that time the Christians of Kerala were very Indian in their culture, though Middle-Eastern in worship. The Portuguese considered it their duty to bring these Oriental Christians under the supremacy of the Pope of Rome by Latinizing their Syrian liturgy and by purging them of their errors or "heresies." Dom Menezes, the Arch-bishop of Goa, convened a Synod at Udaimperur in 1599 for changing the Syrian Christians into "true" Roman Catholics. Dom Menezes persuaded the Synod delegates to pass several decrees which admitted that their Church had been heretical in some tenets and practices. The Synod severed the connection between the Kerala Church and the "heretical" Persian Church and declared their fealty to the Pope of Rome. Oom Menezes then appointed a Portuguese bishop over the Syrian Church.

A large number of the Syrian Christians resented this foreign incur-sion in the internal affairs of their Church. They wanted their own Syrian bishops. In 1653, Ahatulla, A Syrian bishop, arrived in Kerala, but he was detained illegally by the Portuguese, who — it was rumored — even assassina-ted him on his way from Mylapore to Kerala. The enraged Syrian Christians believing the rumors were true, assembled in thousands in front of the ancient cross (koonan kurisu) at Mattancherry and took a solemn pledge with oath that they would never again obey the Latin Archbishop or the Jesuits. These de-fiant Christians came to be called Puthencoor (Protestant) Syrians and those who remained loyal to the Roman Pontiff came to be called Pazhayacoor (Orthodox) Syrians. This basic division, with many subdivisions among the Puthencoor Syrians, persists even today.

The Portuguese missionaries introduced the Latin Church in Kerala and made many converts from among the untouchables of the coastal area. Today the Latin Church has several dioceses and parishes in Kerala. Numerically, however, the Syrian Christians -form about 80% of the total Christian population of Kerala, which is about 22% of the total population of Kerala.

Protestant missionaries from England came to Kerala with the English colonists in the seventeenth century. The Church Mission Society of London (CMS) made many converts from among the untouchables and the Syrian Christians. Some Syrian Christians who were impressed by Protestant Christians wanted to introduce like them the vernacular language in the liturgy. For this purpose they formed a reform Church called "The Marthomite Church," which is a very progressive and prosperous Church today. The Christians of Kerala today are divided into several branches: (1) the Latin Catholic Church, (2) the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, (3) the Jacobite Syrian Church, (4) the Nestorian Church, (5) the Anglican Church which is now part of the Church of South India, (6) the Marthoma Syrian Church, (7) the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church. In addition, there are also a number of minor Churches and Missions.

The early Christians have, indeed, made significant contributions to the culture of Kerala. The Portuguese missionaries introduced printing in Kerala besides opening several theological seminaries for the education of the clergy. Chavittunatakam is a Portuguese-Christian art-form. The Protestant missionaries from Germany and England laid the foundations of western education in Kerala by opening English grammar schools, high schools, and colleges. Some of the early Christian missionaries had performed valuable services for the development of the Malayalam language; the grammatical works and dictionaries by Arnos Patiri (Johann Ernestus Hanxleden), Angelo Francis, Rev. Bailey, Rev. Richard Collins, and Dr. Gundert are substantial contributions to the study of Malayalam.

THE JEWS OF KERALA

THE JEWS OF KERALA

There is no consensus of opinion on the date of the arrival of the first Jews in India. The tradition of the Cochin Jews maintains that after 72 A.D., after the destruction of the Second Temple of Jerusalem, 10,000 Jews migrated to Kerala. A second tradition says that the Jews are the descendants of the Jews taken into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar and then released by Cyrus of Persia in the sixth century B.C. A third theory holds the view that they came to India
in 370 from Majorca where they were exiled by the Roman Emperor Vespasian. A fourth tradition, the Christian tradition, says that when St. Thomas the Apostle visited Muziris in 52 A.D., he stayed in the Jewish quarter. The only verifiable historical evidence about the Kerala Jews goes back only to the Jewish Copper Plate Grant of Bhaskara Ravi Varman of 1000 A.D. This docu-ment records the royal gift of rights and privileges to the Jewish Chief of Anjuvannam Joseph Rabban.

The Jews, like the rest of the Keralites, came from the East Coast in the sixth century and after. They came to India as political refugees and/or as traders. Because of the paucity of their numbers at any time in their his-tory in India, it is very likely that they came only in small numbers to India and remained small unless most of them became Christians at one time. According to one tradition, St. Thomas converted many of them to Christianity. It seems likely that the fate and fortune of the Jews were tied in with the fate and fortune of the Christians. In my view, the early Christians of India were converts from Judaism. The clearest evidence for their view is found in the Aramaic language once spoken by the Kerala Christians and used even today in the prayer books of Kerala's Syrian Christian community. It was the language of the Iraqi Jews and of some Iraqis even today. In the sixteenth century White Jews from Spain and Portugal came to Kerala.

The Portuguese did not look favorably on the Jews. They destroyed the Jewish settlement in Cranganore and sacked the Jew town in Cochin and partially destroyed the famous Cochin Synagogue in 1661. However, the tolerant Dutch allowed the Jews to pursue their normal life and trade in Cochin. According to the testimony of the Dutch Jew, Mosss Pereya De Paiva, in 1686 there were 10 synagogues and nearly 500 Jewish families in Cochin. During the British times, too, the Jews enjoyed peace and protection. After the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, most Jews (85%) decided to depart for Israel. All the Black Jews and Brown
Jews, about 3,000, went to Israel between 1948 and 1955; they are known as Cochini in Israel today. Only a -few hundred Jews remained in Kerala; they were all white Jews. In 1961 there were only 35'9 Jews in Kerala with only two synagogues open for service: the Pardesi Synagogue in Maltancherry built in 1567 and the synagogue in Parur.

Today the number of the Jews has dwindled down to a mere 50; most of them are elderly people, and women outnumber men. According to the prominent Jewish businessman of Kerala, S. S. Koder, the main problem for the Kerala Jews is to find bridegrooms and brides for their young people in Kerala. When it is time for them to get married, they leave for the Kiriath Shemona settlement in Israel where most of the Cochin Jews resettled. Another problem is the absence of a good shoeth (butcher) to prepare kosher meat after ritual slaughter. Fortunately, they have found one recently.

BUDHISM IN KERALA-HISTORICAL FEATURES

The Buddhist History of Kerala

Tamil Sangam-works like Manimekhalai indicate that there were Buddhists in Tamil Nadu and that the Buddhist missionaries were active in spreading their religion. According to the Sangam tradition, there was a famous Buddhist chatty a (temple) at Vanchi (Karur) and a Palli Bana Perumal became a Buddhist.

The Cheras were originally Mundas, many of whom were Buddhists even before their arrival in Tamil Nadu. It was they as well as the Buddhist missionaries from the Maurya Empire that brought the religion of Buddha to the South. They were distinctly a powerful minority in Tamil Nadu and were subjected to per-secution by the Brahmin Counsellors of the Dravidian Hindu Kings during the ascendancy of Brahminical Hinduism in the South. Aalavaipathikam records that around 640 A.D., Sambanda Murti, a Brahmin, won over the Pandya royal family and caused the massacre of 8,000 Buddhist monks in Madurai; Buddhist nuns were reportedly made into devadasis and relocated in the Hindu temple precincts. The persecution and eventual exodus of Buddhists from Tamil Nadu to Kerala in the seventh century was occasioned by the fall of the Buddhist Kalabhras at the hands of the Pandyas.

The Buddhists came to Kerala and established their temples and monasteries in different parts of the country. The following Hindu temples were once Buddhist shrines: the Vadakkunnathan Temple of Trichur, the Kurumba Bhagavathi Temple of Cranganore, and the Durga Temple at Paruvasseri near Trichur. A large number of Buddha-images have been discovered in the coastal districts of Alleppey and Quilon; the most important Buddha-image is the famous Karumati Kuttan near Ambalappuzha. Buddhism probably flourished for 200 years (650-850) in Kerala. The Paliyam Copper Plate of the Ay King, Varaguna (885-925 A.D.) shows that the Buddhists enjoyed some royal patronage even in the tenth century.

The decline of Buddhism started in the eighth century with the arrival of the Aryan missionaries and the Brahminical religion. As mentioned earlier, the Brahmin scholars defeated Buddhist monks in debates and established the superiority of the Hindu religion. Adi Sankaracharya, the Hindu revivalist, was also responsible for the fall of Buddhism; he founded Hindu monasteries and trained Hindu priest-scholars to combat his Buddhist adversaries. Buddhism faded away gradually and completely disappeared during the reign of the Vaishnavite Kulasekharas in the eleventh century. What actually happened was that Buddhism was reabsorbed into Hinduism from which it broke away. Many Keralites, like the Ezhavas, who were most likely Buddhists once, gradually became Hindus.

Buddhism has left its impact on Kerala. The images and tall rathas (cars) used in temple processions, and utsavams (fairs) are said to be Buddhist legacies. The Ayurvedic system of medical treatment is also a gift of Buddhism. Buddhists opened schools [in pallikudam and ezhuthupally. Pally is the Buddhist term for school) near their monasteries. Kerala temples show traces of Buddhist art and architecture. Amarasimha, the author of the popular Sanskrit text-book used in Kerala schools until recently, was a Buddhist. Kumaran Asan, the great Kerala poet, was influenced by the great Buddhist religion and wrote the famou, Buddhist poems: Karuna. Chandala Bhikshuki, and Sri Buddha Charitam.

JAINISM IN KERALA

JAINISM
The Jain religion was brought to the South in the third century B.C. by Chandra Gupta Maurya (321-297 B.C.) and the Jain saint Bhadrabahu, according to Jain traditions. These men came to Sravanabelgola in Mysore. Later more Jain missionaries came to Tamil Nadu and converted many Cheras to their religion. Prince Ilango Adigal, the author of Shilappadikaram, is believed to be a Jain. The Jains came to Kerala with the rest of the Chera immigrants starting in the sixth century. The only evidence of their presence in Kerala is the incontro-vertible fact that some Hindu temples of today were originally Jain temples.

In Matilakam was a famous Jain temple which Hindus shunned as late as the fourteenth century according to Kokasandesam, though at present it is a Hindu temple. Today, the presiding deity of Kudalmanikkam Temple near Irinjalakuda is Bharata, the brother of Rama; originally it was Bharateswara, the digambara Jain saint. Kallil, near Perumbavur, has a rock-cut cave in which we can still see the images of Parswantha, Mahavira, and Padmavati; the local Hindus worship Bhagavati in this temple today. Several places in wynad have Jain temples -an indication that North Malabar was once a flourishing center of Jainism.

Historians believe that the decline of Jainism started about the eighth century during the Aryanization period of Kerala when Vaishnavism and Saivism were active and aggressive. Jainism seems to have completely disappeared from Kerala by the sixteenth century; the foreign visitors from Europe do not mention the Jains at all. One lasting contribution of Jainism to Kerala, according to wi'lliam Logan, is that the architecture of the Hindu temples and the Muslim mosques of North Malabar was influenced by the architecture of the Jain temples.
I may add here that there are some old Jain families in the Wynad-Kasargod area even today.

HINDU HERITAGE OF KERALA

The Hindu Heritage of Kerala

In the earlier chapters I have discussed the Aryanization process, the Brahmins, the Nairs, the Ezhavas, and their festivals. Those sections deal with some aspects of Hinduism. It is impossible to treat the riches of this great religion and its historical evolution in a short study like this.

However, a few important observations on Kerala Hinduismare in order simply because Kerala Hindus are quite different from Northern Hindus. This difference is built into the very fabric ofHHiiniil'fi.i's-m which is not an organized system or creed but a congeries of loosely related traditions and cults. In this sense, Hinduism can be compared to Christianity which is made up of numerous denominations like the Roman Catholics, the Russian Orthodox, the Greek Orthodox, the Lutherans, the Baptists, the Methodists, the Jacobites, the Marthomites, and so on.

There is much in common in the beliefs and practices of these Christians just as among the Hindus of Kerala and the rest of India. Today the Brahmins, Nairs, Ezhavas, and the various other castes and tribes of Kerala consider themselves Hindus though long ago Ezhavas and the Scheduled Castes and Tribes were really not Hindus at all. Most of them had their own tribal religions, as many tribes still do, in spite of the overwhelming influence of Hinduism.

Among the many features of their religious belief, Kerala Hindus recognize not just the thirty-three Vedic deities but many more; according to popular counting, there are 330 million godsl The major deities have a number of manifestations or incarnations known as Avatars. The essence of all things is Brahman, the impersonal universal soul, which is never represented by an image; he is like the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim God ~ only in appellations is this God different in all these religions. Of the Hindu Trinity (Trimurti), Brahma has always remained cold and aloof, like God the Father of the Christian religion. Vishnu, the Preserver) is represented as a god of pleasant countenance, with four arms, eternally sleep-ing on his couch, the many-headed serpent Ananta as in the An antasay an am of the Padmanabhaswamy Temple of Trivandrum.

Among the best-known of the ten Avatars. the most popular in Kerala are Krishna and Rama. Like Vishnu, Shiva is extremely popular in Kerala. But among the three major sects of Hinduism--Vaishnavism, Saivism and Saktism (derived from the worship of Sakti, the divine mother)--Vaishnavism is the most popular in Kerala. More Hindus take the Vaishnavite names than Saiv'ite names, and more temples are dedicated to Vishnu than to Shiva. The divine mother (Bhagavati), however, seems to have more temples in her honor as the Virgin Mary has more churches in her honor than Jesus Christ in the Catholic Church.

Among the ethical concerns of the Hinduism of Kerala are the important concepts of ritual purity, Dharma. Karma, and Moksha. Ritual purity implies that contact with impure matter (including low-caste people) defiles or pollutes a person and this pollution or sin necessitates physical and spiritual cleansing. Keralites tend to bathe about two times a day for the sake of physical cleansing; they go to temples for spiritual cleansing. It is interesting to point out that the cow, one of the purest of substances for orthodox Hinduism, is not so sacred in Kerala, which I attribute to Keralites' Munda origins; for the Mundas, cow is not a sacred animal. Dharma, the moral imperative, which is absolute, universal, and immutable in orthodox Hinduism, is rather relative in Kerala Hinduism except for the Brahmins. Karma or the acceptance of fate is becoming less and less a formidable force in the lives of most Keralite Hindus; most persons no longer believe that Brahma writes an individual's fate on his forehead when he is born except when it is impossible to get out of a tragic situation. Moksha, liberation from the wheel of Karma and reabsorption into Brahman is still the ultimate personal goal of all Hindus; this is pre-dicated upon the fulfillment of the three paths of Jnana (knowledge), jihakti (devotion to a personal god). Karma (devotion to duty).

HISTORY OF KERALA-EARLY RELIGIONS

RELIGIONS OF KERALA
Kerala is a pluralistic society where no one ethnic community or religious group dominates the scene. They are all minorities, and all minorities have their place. All are Keralites first; then they are Brahmins, Nairs, Ezhavas, Muslims, Christians, and Jews. The extinct religious communities of Jainism and Buddhism also have made their contributions to Kerala's culture.

EARLY RELIGION.

The Cheras, the ancestors of present-day Keralites, were at one time Indian Mundas and later Indian Dravidians, but not Hindus. They worshipped many gods and goddesses, among whom the most important one was Lord Shiva, the Supreme God, who was specifically adored as the Sun God. They did not have idols and icons; they worshipped lingam-shaped stones as abodes of the divine presence; they believed that some of these self-grown stone pillars, as opposed to man-made structures, were physical transformations of invisible gods. Besides praying in front of these stones located usually under the sacred Pepal tree, they used to anoint vh with water, alcohol, oil, and colored powder. Occasionally they would sacrifice a chicken and pour the blood on the stone. This form of worship is still practiced in many villages in Kerala. The Hindu temples also have taken over this form of worship and per-fected it with elaborate rituals and Sanskrit hymns and prayers.

The early people also worshipped the Mother-Goddess and various manifesta-tions of her, besides a number of minor gods and ancestors. The reason for all this worship-ritual is their belief that the universe is inhabited by super-natural beings and powers. All the rituals and prayers are designed for coping with this religious world which is not always consistent, but arbitrary; the gods control the destiny of man and the universe. Therefore, it is necessary to propitiate these deities and spirits so that they may be benevolent to the living or that they may not at least bring harm to the people.

The remarkable thing about the early religion is that it was never a static institution. It constantly evolved by the addition of new gods and new rituals and by the dropping of some old gods and old rituals. The early Indians gradually absorbed many Vedic gods or identified their own gods with the Vedic gods; for instance,the Shiva of the primitive religion was identified with the Vedic Rudra and was absorbed into Brahminical Hinduism; Murugan became identical with Subramonya/Kartikeya and Madura Meenakshi with Parvati, and so on. As a result of this contact with the Brahmins and their religion, a new pan-Indian religion called "Hinduism" evolved in India. It was neither purely Aryan/Vedic nor purely Munda/Dravidian; it was a healthy synthesis of the early religion and Vedic Hinduism; the brilliant Brahmin theologians created new mythologies and rituals to fit the needs of this new religion; they did not destroy the old, pagan, primitive religion, but rather baptized it, enriched it, and found a place for it in the new religious universe of Hindu India.

The best way to study the primitive religion is to study the religions of the tribals who still retain the basic beliefs and basic rituals of the early religion in spite of their exposure to Hinduism. The few remarks on early religion made above are the result of my fieldwork among the various tribes in India and particularly of Kerala; one of my current research projects is the study of the religion of the Kadar of Kerala.

SABARIMALAI PILGRIMAGE OF KERALA

PILGRIMAGE TO SABARIMALAI

Most believers in Kerala feel that they should go to Sabarimalai at least once in their life time to redeem a pledge, to realize a life-long desire, or to fulfill a sacred duty. Here I shall describe only the cult of Ayyappan and the history behind it.

Though the actual pilgrimage takes place during the months of December and January every year, tradition prescribes the following preparations for the spiritual success and physical safety of the pilgrims. However, it should be mentioned here that the emphasis today is on the spirit rather than on the letter of traditions.

Forty-one days before the day of the pilgrimage -- about November 15 or Vrischikam 1 of the Malayalam Era--the prospective pilgrim goes to a temple near his house and declares his intention to make the pilgrimage before the gods, the priests, and the community by wearing the garland of Tulasi or Rud-raksha beads (maladharan) round his neck. Two purificatory baths — before sunrise and after sundown --.are prescribed; twice should he recite prayers before the icon of the Lord by incensing it with camphor. He should not cut his hair or shave his face; he should wear black, blue, or ochre garments; he should abstain from eating meat and fish. Most importantly, the obser-vance of purity requires that he abstain from all sex, in thought, word/and deed. The insistence on purity means that no menstruating woman, over twelve and under fifty, is permitted to make the pilgrimage lest their "impurity" bring death and disaster on themselves and other pilgrims during their trek through jungles infested by elephants, tigers, bears, leopards, and poisonous snakes.

On the eve of the pilgrimage, during a special ceremony called kettumurrukku (backpacking) held at home in a pandal made of banana trees and coconut leaves, the pilgrim prepares his headload (irumuti) which is a cotton bag with two compartments. The front part of the 1rumut i contains a coconut filled with pure melted butter from cow's milk; it is the offering to the Lord. The rear part of the bag holds all the food -- from salt to camphor, to use an expression from the Malayalam language — and the personal things, like sleep-ing bag and clothes, the pilgrim needs during his long journey, which used to take several days depending upon the distance and means of transportation.

The Sabarimalai Temple is built on an elevation of about twenty feet. The pilgrim has to climb the Eighteen Sacred steps (pathinettampadi); the first-year pilgrim must break his coconut on the first step; the second-year pilgrim on the second step, and so on. After mounting the Eighteen Steps with the i rumut i on the head, devoutly and prayerfully, the pilgrims go round the temple, worshipping at the shrines of Ganesh and Kartikeya, the other two sons of Shiva. And then they stand in front of the golden statue of Lord Ayyappan for a few moments to adore him and to make their wishes known to him. In this temple the Lord is seated on a golden throne in kurmasan without any weapons in his hands; the left hand rests on the left knee and the right hand is raised in benediction (chinmudra); a silk sash is wrapped round both knees since the Lord is in a squatting posture; the crowned head wears long hair; the youth's very adult face radiates peace and serenity; round the neck there hangs a tiny bell along with all kinds of jewelry. After the darshan (vision) of the Lord, the devotees remove the headload (irumuti), and make the offering of the melted butter which is to be used for the anointing of the statue of the Lord (abhisheka). In thanksgiving the pilgrims offer gold, silver, and money for favours received from Lord Ayyappan.

FESTVALS OF KERALA-ONAM

The Meaning and Origins of Onam and Other National Festivals


Like every other culture, the Kerala culture also celebrates some important festivals. Since Kerala is composed of several ethnic and religious groups, the country has a wide variety of festivals. Some of these are not just special for Keralites, but common feasts, like Christmas and Easter, which are celebrated by Christians of all denominations all over Kerala, India, and the world. Like-wise, Muslims celebrate their festivals of Id and Bakrid all over India. The Hindus also celebrate certain festivals like Divali, Dasara, and Holi in most parts of India while certain regions have their own special feasts like Pongal in Tamil Nadu and Durga Puja in West Bengal. Keralites celebrate one festival as their national festival irrespective of caste and creed; Onam. There are a few other minor festivals that are dear to certain sections of Keralites like Thiruvathira, Vishu, Teyyam and Sabarlmalai Pilgrimage which will be briefly described below. It is impossible to describe all the other important local festivals; their name is legion; every temple and church have their own annual festivals.

ONAM

Thiru Onam (from Sravana?) is celebrated in the second half of August (the Chingam month of Kollam Era) when the August monsoon rains come to an end and the summer heat gives way to the pleasant warmth of the Kerala autumn. Anthropologists see in Onam a great fertility rite, the ceremony of Thanksgiving for a plentiful harvest. For Keralites Onam is the celebration of the return of Mahabali, their once and future king. This king once ruled over the Keralites during the Golden Age before caste existed, "when all men were equal, when no one was poor, when there was neither theft nor dread of thieves" (Maveli natu vanitum kalam/Manusharellam onnu pole ... ). The complete folk-song is given below in its English version:

When Maveli, our King, rules the land,
All the peoples form one casteless race.
And people live joyful and merry;
They are free from all harm.
There is neither theft nor deceit,
And no one is false in speech either.
Measures and weights are right;
No one cheats or wrongs the neighbor.
when Maveli, our King, rules the land,
All the peoples form one casteless race.The celebration of the return of Mahabali takes four days for the Hindus. The house and yard are cleaned; a temporary mud stall is put up and washed with cow-dung solution for the royal visitor; flowers are strewn over it for the king to sit upon; pyramid-shaped images of the king called Trikkakarappan, made of wood or clay, are placed upon it as the onlookers applaud and cheer in sheer welcome. Pujas (worship service) are performed during the four days of Onam every morning; parents give children presents, especially dresses on the occasion. Large scale feasts are held at this family reunion -- increasingly Onam is becoming a holiday like Thanksgiving which is characterized by family reunion and feasting. Three foods used to be essential for the festival: split bananas, pappadam (wafer) and payasam (rice pudding). After the sumptuous midday dinner, all the family members dressed in fine clothes amuse themselves: adults and boys play hand-ball, chess, dice, and/or cards -- wrestling and display of swordsmanship are not common any more —; women and girls sing and dance. In the backwaters of Kerala, young men race the long snake-boats (chundan vallom) — a reminder of snake-worship (?).

Onam celebrates the legendary King Bali. Only two versions are told these days. According to the orthodox Brahminical version, Mahabali was a wicked demon (asura) king who was yet "good" enough to become a yogi by virtue of his austerities (tapas). He controlled earth and heaven; the gods, of course, felt threatened by Bali. So they sent Vishnu to get rid of this menace; Vishnu assumed the form of a holy beggar, the comical dwarf Vamana, and asked for the gift of as much land as he could cover in three paces. Vamana grew into cosmic size and in three strides encompassed the whole earth and heaven and Bali was forced to retire to the only space left,
patalam, the nether world.

In the Kerala version, Bali is Mahabali, the benevolent ruler who aroused the jealousy and envy of the gods. He gave up his kingdom not just because he was the victim of a trick but because he was too generous to refuse a request and too honorable not to fulfill a promise. He asked Vamana to place the third stride on his head; Vamana-Vishnu kicked him down into the nether world. Mahabali, however, was granted the wish, before he retired, that on a day each year he be allowed to return to his dear people, the Keralites, to see them and to be with them as father and friend.

KERALA-SOCIAL & POLITICAL HISTORY-A BRIEF ACCOUNT

In the General Election of 1967, the United Leftist Front won 117 out of 133 seats and the Marxist leader E. M. S. Nambutiripad (CPM) became Chief Minister. However, in October 1969, the £. M. S. Ministry fell and the CPI leader C. Achuta Menon was sworn in as Chief Minister on November 1, 196 But in August 1970, the Menon Ministry resigned and Kerala was placed once again under President's Rule--the General Election of September 1970, a Communist (CPI) Government with the support of Congress Party and Kerala Congress Party assumed office, and Achuta Menon continued as Chief Minister till 1977. After the April 1977 elections, the Congress Party, the leadership of A. K. Antony, formed a new coalition government, which was soon followed by the CPI Ministry of Nayanar. The Moslem League was also able to have Muhammad Koya made Chief Minister for a few weeks before Presidnet's Rule was again imposed on Kerala. After the 1982 elections, a non-Communist coalition ministry has taken over state administration with K. Karunakaran as Chief Minister.

Social Developments

This century witnessed some most remarkable changes or revolutions on the social scene of Kerala. This region which was the most caste-ridden of all the regions of India is today the least caste-ridden area. However, this volt-face did not happen all of a sudden, by means of a bloody revolution, but gradually by means of new laws under the impact of many cultural factors.
Since the arrival of Aryan Brahmis in Kerala in the eighth century, the society was hierarchically restructured on the principles of caste. The high castes enjoyed privileges and immunities: the Brahmins, the Kshatriyas (the royal families of Kerala who were Sudra Nairs were elevated to Kshatriya-status by the Brahmins who in turn were richly rewarded by the ruling Kshatriya caste), and the Nairs owned most of the land and oppressed the tenants who were mostly Muslim Mappilas, Ezhavas, Pariahs, and Pulayas.

Like the Medieval Catholic Church and its clergy in Europe, the upper castes exemption from paying taxes; the Brahmins enjoyed immunity from death penalty--after all, the Brahmins made the laws and applied them differently to different castes. The law was extremely cruel toward castes; they were sub-ject to the death penalty for offenses like theft and cow-slaughter; capital punishment took the forms of being trampled to death under an elephant, being blown from the mouth of a cannon, by hanging which lasted for three days (Citravadham), and by mutilation. Slavery was practiced with impunity even in the twentieth century at least in the form of bonded labor.

The land owners had the power to put their slaves to death. Most tenants could not keep milch-cows, wear fine clothes, live in tiled houses, use metal utensils, wear gold ornaments, and travel in palanquins, trains, and automobiles. Violators were punished by fines. There was marriage tax for the low castes, probably to prevent them from increasing and multiplying. Occupational classes had to service for the Brahmins often without compensation; their looms, oil-mills, fishing-nets, and boats were all taxed. The use of public highways was forbidden to outcastes, and anyone daring to pass within polluting distance of a Nair (unapproachability) would be cut down at once; Ezhavas had to keep a distance of 32 feet from a Brahmin! Low castes could not wear shoes and carry umbrellas in public even in heavy rains. The proper salutation from a woman to persons of rank was to uncover the bosom. The practice of pollution (untouchability) was widespread even to the point that members of the lower castes had not the right to walk along the approach roads leading to temples.

The British administration did not want to disturb the hierarchical caste-system too fast and too radically. They gradually abolished blatant forms of slavery. The Christian missionaries were given the responsibility to bring about gradual social changes by means of education and conversion of the low castes to the Christian religion -" Christians were not subject to caste laws even though they too were discriminated against. The Shanar women of South Travancore who became Christians began covering their upper bodies with blouse (kuppayam) and towel like the upper-caste-women in the1850's; these women were persecuted for their defiance of traditional caste law on dressing. The Shanar agitation eventually led to the Royal Proclamation of July 26, 1859, abolishing all restrictions on covering the upper parts of the body by Shanar women.

Western education provided in missionary schools created a new sense of equality and an awareness of the injustice of caste discrimination not only among members of the lower castes but also among members of the upper class. Even some Brahmins like Swami Agamananda (1896-1961) of the Ramakrishna Advaita Ashram of Kaladi were champions of the civil rights of lower castes. The great reformers were the Nair, Chattampi Swamikal (1854-1924), and the saintly Ezhava, Sri Narayana Guru (1854-1928). The former encouraged the Nairs to resist Brahmin dictatorship in government, religion, and society. The latter worked for reforms within the Ezhava community. He, too, defied Brahmin authority and started consecrating Ezhava temples and Ezhava priests all over Kerala. He preached and practiced the ideal: "One caste, one religion, -airi- one God". To organize the Ezhavas and to achieve social reforms, Narayana Guru founded the organization: Sri Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP) in 1903.

Primarily, the reformers wanted an end to untouchabiiity by opening not only the approach roads of temples to the avarna (low-caste) Hindus but also the doors of the temple to the a yarn as or Harijans, as Mahatma Gandhi called them. The Vaikom Satyagraha (1924-25) and the Guruvayoor Satyagraha (1931-32) helped create a change in public perception on untouchabiiity. As a result, on November 12, 1936, the Maharaja of Travancore issued his famous Temple Entry Proclamation which opened the doors of Hindu temples to Hindus of all castes. Ten years later. Cochin and Malabar also enacted their versions of laws on temple entry for Harijans.

The Kerala Society has come a long way since the days of the Temple Entry Proclamation of 1936. India became independent in 1947 and a United Kerala came into existence in 1956. With industrial revolution, planned development, agrarian reforms, labor movement, and democratic government, Brahmin supremacy has come to an end and new economic and professional classes have emerged. The traditional Kerala Society in which land property owned by an individual determined a person's worth and wealth has become a thing of the past. Its place has been taken over by leadership in political parties and political connections. Businessmen, lawyers, teachers, workers, doctors, engineers, aflrt" government officials, and farmers all have become pawns at the hands of the new power-brokers of Kerala Society: the party politicians and government ministers. They are the new royalty, the new aristocracy, the new Brahmins. Much has changed, but much remains the same.

MODERN KERALA-A BRIEF POLITICAL HISTORY

Modern Kerala: A Brief Political History

The effective way of controlling a nation is by keeping it divided. All conquerors from the time of the Greeks to the Americans and the Russians have tried it and for a time succeeded until the enslaved nations united themselves as one and threw off the yoke of slavery. Divide-and-Conquer was the basic policy the British followed--a history lesson they learned from the Romans, their erstwhile overlords from 44 B.C. to 410 A.D.--all over India and particularly in Kerala. They kept Kerala divided in three political units: Malabar, Cochin, and Travancore, with the present Kasargod and Hosdurg Taluks forming part of another administrative unit, the district of South Canara.

The people of Kerala, since the State Peoples' Conference of Ernakulam, April, 1928, demanded the formation of an all Malayalam-speaking United Kerala (Aikya Kerala). This movement gathered momentum during the forties, during the struggle for independence, and after. On July 1, 1949 the state of Travancore-Cochin came into existence under the guidance of Home Minister
of the new state; the legislatures were combined; while the capital remained at Trivandrum, the High Court was moved to Cochin.

The first elected govern-ment was headed by T. K. Narayana Pillai. The internal dissensions within the ruling Congress Party led to the formation of a new ministry in 1951 under C. Kesavan whose chief-ministersnip lasted only a few months. After the Nair and Ezhava chief ministers, came the Christian Chief Minister A. J. John. He could stay in office only for about two years simply because Congress-legis-lators from the Tamil-speaking Kanyakuinari District withdrew their support and demanded the merger of Kanyakumari with the Tamil-speaking Madras State. The John-ministry was succeeded by the Praja-Socialist-Party ministry of the former chief minister Pattern Thanu Pillai in March 1954.

The Tamil agitation in the South took a violent turn when police opened fire on violent demonstrators killing seven people. As a result, the PSP ministry was voted out of office and replaced in February 1955 by a Congress ministry headed by Panampilly Govinda Menon. This Cabinet fell in March 1956 due to internal discussions within the ruling party, which resulted in the imposition of President's Rule in the state — the state was ruled directly by the President of India through the Governor. It was during the President's Rule that the states of the Indian Union were reorganized on linguistic basis.

Under the States Reorganization Act, four Tamil-speaking southern Taluks were separated from Kerala and ceded to Madras. The District of Malabar and the Kasargod Taluk of South Canara District were added to Travancore-Cochin to constitute the new State of Kerala. The united Kerala came into existence on November 1, 1956 with a governor as titular head of the state; the princely Rajapramukh was forced to retire.

With the general elections of 1957, the Communist Party of India came to power with E. M. S. Nambutiripad as Chief Minister. There was widespread DDDuIar ODOosition to thp rule of the Cnmmunists. which came to be known as Liberation Struggle (Vimochana Samararm). Fifteen persons were killed by the police, and law and order broke down. The President of India dismissed the Communist Ministry and imposed President's Rule on the state on July 31, 1959 according to Constitutional provisions. After fresh elections in February a non-Communist coalition government of the Congress, PSP, and Maslan League took over administration with Pattom Thanu Pillai as Chief Minister. In 1962, R. Shankar became Chief Minister after Pattom was appointed Governor of Punjab. In September 1964, the Shankar Ministry was voted out of power, and Kerala was again placed under President's Rule. Meanwhile the Congress party was split into Indian National Congnsss and Kerala Congress (a Christian Party); the Communist Party also was split into two: The Communist Party Marxist (CPM) and the Communist Party of India (CPI).

BRITISH INFLUENCE IN KERALA AND REBEL MOVEMENTS

The British Hegemony and Kerala's Opposition

Ralph Fitch was the first Englishman to visit India in 1583--of course, after the visit of King Alfred's Ambassadors to St. Thomas' Tomb in Mylapore in the ninth century. After him came Captain Keeling in 1615 to Calicut and entered into a commercial and political treaty with the Zamorin. The English built trade centers and factories at Vizhinjam in 1644, at Anchengo in 1684 along with a fort, and at Tellicherry. During the time of Mysore invasions (1766-1782) the English helped the Zamorin. By 1801, Malabar became in its entirety part of the Madras Presidency. By the end of the eighteenth century the British became the undisputed power in the whole of India. In 1791 Cochin became a vassal of the British, paying an annual tribute. By the treaties of 1795 and 4-805, the Travancore Raja also accepted British suzerainty. The British promised to help the state in the event of external aggression. The state agreed to pay the British 800,000 rupees a year in tribute. Lord Cornwallis, formerly Governor of Britain in North America and at this time Governor General in India, negotiated a favorable settlement for Travancore; Velu Thampy Dalava represented Travancore in the negotiations for the treaty of 1805. Because the Travancore government granted power to the British to intervene in the internal affairs of the state and because the state accepted to follow British advice in administration, the king and his subjects lost their political independence.

OPPOSITION TO THE BRITISH

The British had to pay a great price in the loss of lives to bring Kerala under their power. In North Kerala, Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja of the Kottayam royal family led two revolts (1793-97, 1800-05) against the British in North Malabar. On March 18, 1797 a company of 1,100 men under Major Cameron was ambushed and many killed while they were making their way through the Periya Pass. The East India Company needed the military leadership of the great Sir Arthur Wellesley, later Duke of Wellington and commander-in-chief of British forces in Malabar, to crush the revolt of Pazhassi Raja.

General Wellesley came to Tellicherry to plan his strategy against the Raja's guerilla war tactics; We'llesleybuilt a network of roads to deploy troops, and set up military outposts in different parts of the coastal area and built forts in the hills.

In Travancore, Velu Thampi Dalawa led a rebellion against the British in 1808-09 because Colonel Macaulay' demanded that the state pay arrears of tribute promptly especially when the state was in serious financial difficulties and because the British Resident rejected the Dalawa's actions against Mathu Tharakan. His lands were taken over illegally by the state in lieu of payment of taxes. The Dalawa was assisted by Paliath Achan, the Chief Minister of Cochin, who was disappointed by the British settlements of pro-perty claims which were unfavorable to Cochin.

Velu Thampy unsuccessfully sought aid from the United States and the French against the British. First, the joint forces of Achan and the Dalava stormed the British Resident's house in Cochin, but the Resident escaped in a ship to Malabar. Second, the Dalava issued his famous Kundara Declaration of Independence on January 11, 1809 and exhorted the people to fight the British. In a battle fought in Quilon, the British destroyed the rebel army and the Dalawa's house. Col. St. Leger entered Travancore through the Aramboli Pass and encamped on the outskirts of Trivandrum with a strong army. Meanwhile Paliath Achan in Cochin defected to the British side. The Raja of Travancore found himself in a no-win situation and sued for peace; he ordered the arrest of the Dalawa who sought asylum in the Bhagavati Temple at Mannadi. Before the king's men could arrest him, the Dalawa committed suicide. His dead body was taken to Trivandrum and displayed on a gibbet. The Dalawa's relatives were later exiled to the Maldive Islands.

HISTORY OF KERALA-PORTUGUESE AND DUTCH CONNECTION

The Portuguese and the Dutch Period

Vasco Da Gama landed at Calicut in May 1498 and put Kerala on the map of the modern world. At first the Zamorin treated the new-comers with traditional hospitality. Later, when the Zamorin refused the Portuguese monopoly on pepper trade--the local Arabs vehemently opposed the new competitors in trade--the Portuguse went to Cochin and entered into an alliance with the Raja of Cochin. Soon war broke out between the Arabs and the Portuguese on land and sea; the Zamorin supported the Arabs. He declared war also on Cochin because that state refused to expel the Portuguese. In one battle with the Portuguese (1504), the Zamorin lost 19,000 men. The Portuguese captured the town of Cannanore and fortified it. The hostilities between the Zamorin and the Portuguese went unabated during the campaigns of Kunjali Marakkars who supported the Zamorin. Later the Zamorin made an unholy alliance (1540) with the Portuguese and turned against his former allies, the Kunjalis. He destroyed the Kunjali fortress and arrested Kunjali and turned him over to the Portuguese, who later executed him in Goa. The Portuguese decline, however, began with the arrival of the Dutch.

The Portuguese contact affected not only the political landscape of Kerala but also its cultural life. The Portuguese ended the Arab and Chinese monopoly of the spice trade. They introduced the Latin rite Roman Catholic Church through their missionaries. European fashions and luxuries also came with them. The church architecture and house construction were also influenced by the Portuguese style. The Portuguese introduced into India the following agricultural products: cashew nut, tobacco, the custard apple, guava, the pineapple, and the papaya, and an improved variety of coconut seeds. They opened theological schools and colleges at Cochin, Cranganore, Ankamally, and Vaipicotta; they also set up printing presses at Cochin and Vaipicotta. The Chavittunatakam, the Christian dance-drama, originated with the Portuguese missionaries. They also Latinized the Syrian Church
of Kerala, but in this process they alienated many local Christians who broke away from communion with Rome with the "oath of the Coonan Cross."

The Dutch

The Dutch East India Company, formed in 1592, sent Admiral Van der Hagen to India in 1603; the admiral entered into a commercial and political treaty with the Zamorin of Calicut who wanted to expel the Portuguese from Kerala. In 1662 the Dutch captured Cranganore from the Portuguese and in 1663 they captured the Fort of Cochin and installed their partisan as King of Cochin. In 1664 they acquired monopoly of pepper trade in Cannanore. In 1613 the Dutch brought the state of Cochin under their effective political control. The Mysore invasions of Hyder All and the coming of the British spelled the doom of Dutch power in Kerala. In 1795 a British force under Major Petrie from Calicut marched against Cochin and forced the surrender of the Dutch fort of Cochin. Marthanda Varma (1729-1758) of Travancore also crippled the Dutch power is a series of encounters, especially in the battle of Koiachel. The Dutch sued for peace, withdrew from Kerala, and left for the East Indies.

Like the Portuguese, the Dutch also introduced new agricultural products and scientific techniques of cultivation. They improved the agricultural economy of Kerala; they cultivated coconut, rice, and indigo on extensive scale. They are most remembered for the celebrated botanical work on the medicinal value of Kerala plants, Hortus Malabaricus.

HISTORY OF KERALA-MEDIEVAL KINGDOMS

The Medieval Kingdoms


The period after the dissolution of the Second Chera Empire of the Kulasekharas witnessed the rise of several small kingdoms in Kerala. The important ones are Venad {Travancore), the Perumpadappu Swarupam (Cochin), The Nediyirippu Swarupam of the Zamorins of Calicut. The minor principalities are Desinganad, Attingal, Karunagappally, Karthikappally, Kayamkulam, Purakkad, Pantalam, Tekkumkur, Vadakkumkur, Punjar, Karappuram, Anchi Kaimals, Edappally, Parur, Alangad, Cranganore, Airur, Talappilly, Valluvanad, Palghat, Kollengode, Kavalappara, Parappanad, Kurumpranad, Kottayam, Cannanore, Nileswaram, and Kumbla.

VENAD (TRAVANCORE)

The royal house of Venad, which later came to be called Travancore, claims Rama Varna Kulasekhara as its founder and Quilon as its capital. Venad became a power in the fourteenth century under Ravi Varna Kulasekhara (1299-1314), the conqueror, who claimed lordship even over the Pandyas. He assumed the Sanskrit title sangramadhira (strong in battle). Quilon acquired great prosperity and prominence at this time that travellers like Marco Polo visited the city at the end of the thirteenth century. According to Marco Polo, "the merchants from China and from the Levant went there with their merchandise in their ships and made huge profits from the import-export business."

In the eighteenth century, Venad was blessed with two great rulers, Marthanda Varma (1729-1758) and his nephew, Kartika Tirunal Rama Varma or the Dharna Raja (1758-1798). The former annexed several neighboring states to Venad and the latter consolidated the gains by maintaining the independence of the state from the external aggressions of Hyder Ali and Tippu, the Sultans of Mysore. One of the most important acts of Marthanda Varma the Conqueror was the dedication (Trippatidanam) of the newly organized kingdom to his household deity Sri Padmanabha (Vishnu)
of Trivandrum on Wed-nesday, January 3, 1750. As Marthanda Varma is remembered for his construction of the great Sri Padmanabha Temple of Trivandrum, Dharma Raja is commemorated by the Nedumcotta of Central Kerala (the Great Mall) built to prevent the Mysorean invasion -- it was the Dutch-General D'Lannoy who supervised the construction of the Great Mall. The great poets, Kunjan Nambiar and Unnai Harrier, lived during the time of Dharma Raja. When the Raja passed away in 1798 after a long reign of forty years, he was seventy-four years old; his subjects bestowed on him the affectionate title Kizhavan Raja (the Old Man King). The following successors of Dharma Raja continued the policy of enlightened administration under the guidance of British Residents; Bala Rama Varma (1798-1810), Rami Gouri Lakshmi Bai (1810-1815), Gouri Parvati Bai (1815-1829), the scholar-composer-polyglot Svati Tirunal (1829-1847), Sri Mulam Tirunal (1885-1924), and Sri Chitra Tirunal (1931-1949).


COCHIN

Nothing much is known about the Cochin royal house (Perumpadappu Swarupam) until the arrival of the Portuguese in the fifteenth century. The Cochin ruler claims to be a descendant of the Kulasekharas. The only important ruler of Cochin was Saktan Tampuran (1790-1805) who introduced the system of central administration with the advice of the British Resident Colonel Munro.

CALICUT

The Zamorins (Samutiri) of Calicut are descendants from the Ernad Utaiyavar and are supposed to have received land and a broken sword (otimaval) from the Cheraman Perumal. The kingdom of Calicut came to be known as Nediyirippu Swarupam after the original house of the Eradis. Under the patronage of the Zamorins, Calicut became an important sea-port and trade rpnt.er from the fourteenth century. The Arabs and the Chinese were the major trading partners of Calicut. With revenues -from trade, the Zamorins embarked on the path of aggressive expansion by conquering and annexing the principalities of Beypore, Parappanad, Vettat, Valluvanad, Nilambur, Manjeri, and Malappuram. Finally, the reigning Zamorin victoriously marched into Tirunavai and assumed the role of patron (Rakshapurusha) of the Pan-Kerala Meet (Mamankam). The later history of Calicut is characterized by constant conflicts with Cochin and by interferences from foreign powers like the British. On May 21, 1800, the British, after crushing the opposition of the Zaniorins and Pazhassi Raja, annexed Malabar to the Province of Madras. During the period 1836-1856, the Malabar District had reported twenty-two bloody Muslim Mappila riots in which the poor Muslim tenants murdered many cruel Hindu Janmis (landlords) and burned Hindu temples. The riots came to an end with increasing opportuni-ties of employment for the unemployed and with land reform acts which pro-vided protection for poor tenants from unjust eviction.

HISTORY OF KERALA-MEDIEVAL KINGDOMS

The Medieval Kingdoms


The period after the dissolution of the Second Chera Empire of the Kulasekharas witnessed the rise of several small kingdoms in Kerala. The important ones are Venad {Travancore), the Perumpadappu Swarupam (Cochin), The Nediyirippu Swarupam of the Zamorins of Calicut. The minor principalities are Desinganad, Attingal, Karunagappally, Karthikappally, Kayamkulam, Purakkad, Pantalam, Tekkumkur, Vadakkumkur, Punjar, Karappuram, Anchi Kaimals, Edappally, Parur, Alangad, Cranganore, Airur, Talappilly, Valluvanad, Palghat, Kollengode, Kavalappara, Parappanad, Kurumpranad, Kottayam, Cannanore, Nileswaram, and Kumbla.

VENAD (TRAVANCORE)

The royal house of Venad, which later came to be called Travancore, claims Rama Varna Kulasekhara as its founder and Quilon as its capital. Venad became a power in the fourteenth century under Ravi Varna Kulasekhara (1299-1314), the conqueror, who claimed lordship even over the Pandyas. He assumed the Sanskrit title sangramadhira (strong in battle). Quilon acquired great prosperity and prominence at this time that travellers like Marco Polo visited the city at the end of the thirteenth century. According to Marco Polo, "the merchants from China and from the Levant went there with their merchandise in their ships and made huge profits from the import-export business."

In the eighteenth century, Venad was blessed with two great rulers, Marthanda Varma (1729-1758) and his nephew, Kartika Tirunal Rama Varma or the Dharna Raja (1758-1798). The former annexed several neighboring states to Venad and the latter consolidated the gains by maintaining the independence of the state from the external aggressions of Hyder Ali and Tippu, the Sultans of Mysore. One of the most important acts of Marthanda Varma the Conqueror was the dedication (Trippatidanam) of the newly organized kingdom to his household deity Sri Padmanabha (Vishnu)
of Trivandrum on Wed-nesday, January 3, 1750. As Marthanda Varma is remembered for his construction of the great Sri Padmanabha Temple of Trivandrum, Dharma Raja is commemorated by the Nedumcotta of Central Kerala (the Great Mall) built to prevent the Mysorean invasion -- it was the Dutch-General D'Lannoy who supervised the construction of the Great Mall. The great poets, Kunjan Nambiar and Unnai Harrier, lived during the time of Dharma Raja. When the Raja passed away in 1798 after a long reign of forty years, he was seventy-four years old; his subjects bestowed on him the affectionate title Kizhavan Raja (the Old Man King). The following successors of Dharma Raja continued the policy of enlightened administration under the guidance of British Residents; Bala Rama Varma (1798-1810), Rami Gouri Lakshmi Bai (1810-1815), Gouri Parvati Bai (1815-1829), the scholar-composer-polyglot Svati Tirunal (1829-1847), Sri Mulam Tirunal (1885-1924), and Sri Chitra Tirunal (1931-1949).


COCHIN

Nothing much is known about the Cochin royal house (Perumpadappu Swarupam) until the arrival of the Portuguese in the fifteenth century. The Cochin ruler claims to be a descendant of the Kulasekharas. The only important ruler of Cochin was Saktan Tampuran (1790-1805) who introduced the system of central administration with the advice of the British Resident Colonel Munro.

CALICUT

The Zamorins (Samutiri) of Calicut are descendants from the Ernad Utaiyavar and are supposed to have received land and a broken sword (otimaval) from the Cheraman Perumal. The kingdom of Calicut came to be known as Nediyirippu Swarupam after the original house of the Eradis. Under the patronage of the Zamorins, Calicut became an important sea-port and trade rpnt.er from the fourteenth century. The Arabs and the Chinese were the major trading partners of Calicut. With revenues -from trade, the Zamorins embarked on the path of aggressive expansion by conquering and annexing the principalities of Beypore, Parappanad, Vettat, Valluvanad, Nilambur, Manjeri, and Malappuram. Finally, the reigning Zamorin victoriously marched into Tirunavai and assumed the role of patron (Rakshapurusha) of the Pan-Kerala Meet (Mamankam). The later history of Calicut is characterized by constant conflicts with Cochin and by interferences from foreign powers like the British. On May 21, 1800, the British, after crushing the opposition of the Zaniorins and Pazhassi Raja, annexed Malabar to the Province of Madras. During the period 1836-1856, the Malabar District had reported twenty-two bloody Muslim Mappila riots in which the poor Muslim tenants murdered many cruel Hindu Janmis (landlords) and burned Hindu temples. The riots came to an end with increasing opportuni-ties of employment for the unemployed and with land reform acts which pro-vided protection for poor tenants from unjust eviction.

ARYAN PHASE OF HISTORY OF KERALA

Aryan Period in Kerala History

The Sangam Age was followed by a long dark night in Chera history; Chera history of the sixth, seventh, and eighth centuries is buried in obscurity except for a few glimpses from the records of the South Indian powers like the Chalukyas, Pallavas, Pandyas, Kalabhras. and Rashtrakutas who claim that they destroyed Chera power. There is every reason to believe their testimonies because the Cheras ceased to exist as a political power east of the Western Ghats. They had to leave their home in the plains and flee across the Ghats to a new home in the jungles of Kerala. Naturally, it took the Cheras some 200 years to clear the forests, fight the wild animals. and build new homes -- first with the abundant wood available on the new land--and later sturdier homes with granite and laterite. It was during their long wandering and nomadic life in the jungles of the Western Ghats that they left many of their megaliths behind to honor their dead ancestors and deceased heroes. The fact that no valuables are found in these burial sites indicates that they did not have many valuables with them, for they were poor, despoiled wanderers.

My claim that the Keralites came from the eastern plains has linguistic support in the plain fact that Malayalam is very closely related to Tamil, an early form of which both Keralites and Tamilians once spoke, and especially in the expressions that "the sun rises kizhakku" (east, literally "from below") and "sets meekku" (west, literally "above the hills"); only people who lived east of the western Ghats could use such expressions, as Bishop Caldwell had pointed out.

It was only after the arrival of the Cheras on the West Coast in the seventh and eighth centuries that Cranganore and Quilon became major trade centers. It is very likely that foreign trade centers shifted from the East Coast to the west Coast. This way all the claims of early historians about the importance of the West-Coast ports can be supported and substantiated-The West Coast of Kerala became important and prosperous only in the eighth century; there is no substantial evidence at all to support the claim for an earlier civilization south of Ezhimala and north of Ay.

The major impetus for the rise of a new civilization among the Cheras on the West Coast came with the arrival of the Aryan Brahmin missionaries.

The Aryanisation process, of course, started earlier and was well underway during the domination of the western Chalukyas who were Vaishnavites and the Rashtrakutas who were Saivites. As mentioned earlier, six outstanding Brahmin scholars arrived with a batch of new immigrant Brahmin families and humiliated Buddhists in debates in the eighth century and established the supremacy of the Hindu religion. They opened a seminary for the teaching of the Vedas and the Vedanta. Sankaracharya in the ninth century became the great champion of Orthodox Hinduism not only in Kerala but in the whole of India. The spread of the Bhakti-cult in the ninth century under the patronage of Kulasekhara Alwar, alias Cheraman Perumal Nayanar, further advanced the cause of Hinduism among the masses.

1. The predominance of Brahminism in Kerala society was like the domin-ance of the Catholic Church in Europe in the Middle Ages. The priests established themselves first as the highest and privileged class of society. The Brahmins, like the Catholic clergy, controlled the political and social institutions by being advisers and ministers to kings, the cultural activities by initiating and directing them, the information system by establishing and maintaining all education-al institutions, and the masses by the oracle of religion and the magical power of the sacraments. As historian Sreedhara Menon puts it, "the caste system was foisted on a casteless society by the Aryan immigrants who worked with extraordinary missionary zeal in spreading the Aryan ideology based on the primacy of Chaturvarnya .... The princely and merchant classes ... were made to believe that they constituted two superior castes, the former the ruling caste (Kshatriyas) and the latter the trading caste (Vaisyas)" (A Survey of Kerala History, pp. 94-95).

2. The Brahmins also succeeded to some extent in changing the dietary habits of the people. Beef and liquor became taboo for all people who professed Hinduism. Many Keralites, however, decided that they could eat meat (even beef) and drink alcohol according to their ancient Munda traditions and yet be Hindus, as it is the custom even today.

3. The members of the Sudra Caste were denied educational and other civil rights. The social status of a person came to be determined by the prestige of or lack of the prestige of his occupation. Physical labor was given a low status while Brahmin" priesthood and military service were given high status.

4. Female education was neglected and child-marriage encouraged. widowhood became a curse.

5. The Brahmin priests persecuted Buddhists and Jainists and destroyed Buddhist Viharas and images.

6. The Brahmin priests established many Hindu temples in honor of Vishnu and Shiva, but they also incorporated non-Aryan gods and goddesses into the Hindu pantheon. The national hero Ayyan Thirvatikal of Venad of the ninth century who had already been deified by the Keralites was redeified as Hariharasutan, the son of Vishnu-Mohini and Shiva, by the Brahmin theologians; Ayyappan, thus, became accept-able to both the Saivites and the Vaishnavites.

SANGAM AGE IN HISTORY OF KERALA

A Historical Perspective on Kerala's Ancient History

The true history of a nation is not just its political history, religious history, or economia history; it is also the story of the structural evolution of that society. Every society, like every living individual, changes constant-ly. It is extremely difficult to trace all the changes that take place every year in an individual and in a society made up of hundreds of thousands individ-uals and hundreds of ethnic groups. However, it is possible to attend to some significant structural changes that have affected all these individuals and groups at certain periods. This chapter will deal with the political and social history of Kerala: the Sangam Age, the Aryan Period, the Chera Times of the Kulasekharas, the Medieval Period (of Travancore, Cochin, and Malabar), Foreign Powers in Kerala (Portuguese, Dutch, and British), and Modern Kerala (political history and social developments).

The Sangam Age (1-500 A.D.)

The Tamil Sangam works like Patittupattu, Purananooru, Akananooru, and Shilappadikaram are our major source, apart from tribal folklore, for informa-tion on the Cheras who eventually became Keralltes. During this time the Cheras lived primarily in Tamilakam or In the plains of Tamil Nadu. In the north on the coastal tract between Badagara and Mangalore, there was a kingdom with its capital at Ezhimala or Mount Eli; it was also known as Konkanam, south of Tulu Nadu. The Ezhimala people were Dravidians, but not Cheras. The powerful King Nannan of Ezhimala was able to defeat the Cheras in many battles and ex-tend his kingdom as far as Coimbatore. The Ays had a kingdom in the South extending from Kanyakumari to Nagercoil to Trivandrum. They had their capital at Aykudi on the Podiyil Mountain. They too were not, strictly speaking, Keralites because they were also not Cheras.

The Cheras established themselves as an important political power in the South alongside of the Pandyas and the Cholas. They are sometimes identified with the Kongus and had their capital at Karur or Vanchi or Tondi. Sangam works use Karur and Vanchi as synonyms. All these places can be and should be identified in Tamil Nadu and not necessarily in Kerala. The simple reason is that there is no archeological or literary evidence for the presence of a major civilization west of the Western Gnats, south of Ezhimala and north of the Ays before the eighth century. Indeed, the Sangam works refer to the Cheras, but the Cheras lived east of the Western Ghats on the plains between the Pandyas in the south and the Cholas in the north. It is important to bear in mind that Vanchi is the name of the land of the Cheras. Travancore is called Vanchi Nadu or Vanchj Bhumi as in Vanchi Bhum pathee chiiram; there are several places in Kerala that bear the name Vanchi. what does Vanchi mean? "Boat"? No. It is the name of the ancestral home of the Cheras.

Earlier I have pointed out that the Cheras lived for a long time in the Vindhya Mountains. Vanchi is Vindhya; the aborigines of the Chotanagpur area still call Vindhya, vanchi. So, naturally the Cheras who travelled south gave the name Vanchi to their new capital of Karur and later to their capital near Cranganore and later to Travancore itself. It is significant to note that Quilon came to be called Ten Vanchi (the Vanchi of the South)--in Tenkasi we have a parallel--in the twelfth century by Rama Varma Kulasekhara (1090-1102).

From the Sangam works we can make the following observations about the Chera society during the first five hundred years of the Christian Era.

SANGAM AGE IN HISTORY OF KERALA

A Historical Perspective on Kerala's Ancient History

The true history of a nation is not just its political history, religious history, or economia history; it is also the story of the structural evolution of that society. Every society, like every living individual, changes constant-ly. It is extremely difficult to trace all the changes that take place every year in an individual and in a society made up of hundreds of thousands individ-uals and hundreds of ethnic groups. However, it is possible to attend to some significant structural changes that have affected all these individuals and groups at certain periods. This chapter will deal with the political and social history of Kerala: the Sangam Age, the Aryan Period, the Chera Times of the Kulasekharas, the Medieval Period (of Travancore, Cochin, and Malabar), Foreign Powers in Kerala (Portuguese, Dutch, and British), and Modern Kerala (political history and social developments).

The Sangam Age (1-500 A.D.)

The Tamil Sangam works like Patittupattu, Purananooru, Akananooru, and Shilappadikaram are our major source, apart from tribal folklore, for informa-tion on the Cheras who eventually became Keralltes. During this time the Cheras lived primarily in Tamilakam or In the plains of Tamil Nadu. In the north on the coastal tract between Badagara and Mangalore, there was a kingdom with its capital at Ezhimala or Mount Eli; it was also known as Konkanam, south of Tulu Nadu. The Ezhimala people were Dravidians, but not Cheras. The powerful King Nannan of Ezhimala was able to defeat the Cheras in many battles and ex-tend his kingdom as far as Coimbatore. The Ays had a kingdom in the South extending from Kanyakumari to Nagercoil to Trivandrum. They had their capital at Aykudi on the Podiyil Mountain. They too were not, strictly speaking, Keralites because they were also not Cheras.

The Cheras established themselves as an important political power in the South alongside of the Pandyas and the Cholas. They are sometimes identified with the Kongus and had their capital at Karur or Vanchi or Tondi. Sangam works use Karur and Vanchi as synonyms. All these places can be and should be identified in Tamil Nadu and not necessarily in Kerala. The simple reason is that there is no archeological or literary evidence for the presence of a major civilization west of the Western Gnats, south of Ezhimala and north of the Ays before the eighth century. Indeed, the Sangam works refer to the Cheras, but the Cheras lived east of the Western Ghats on the plains between the Pandyas in the south and the Cholas in the north. It is important to bear in mind that Vanchi is the name of the land of the Cheras. Travancore is called Vanchi Nadu or Vanchj Bhumi as in Vanchi Bhum pathee chiiram; there are several places in Kerala that bear the name Vanchi. what does Vanchi mean? "Boat"? No. It is the name of the ancestral home of the Cheras.

Earlier I have pointed out that the Cheras lived for a long time in the Vindhya Mountains. Vanchi is Vindhya; the aborigines of the Chotanagpur area still call Vindhya, vanchi. So, naturally the Cheras who travelled south gave the name Vanchi to their new capital of Karur and later to their capital near Cranganore and later to Travancore itself. It is significant to note that Quilon came to be called Ten Vanchi (the Vanchi of the South)--in Tenkasi we have a parallel--in the twelfth century by Rama Varma Kulasekhara (1090-1102).

From the Sangam works we can make the following observations about the Chera society during the first five hundred years of the Christian Era.

EZHAVAS AND TIYAS -DOMINANT CASTE OF KERALA

Origin of Ezhavas and Tiyas

Ezhavas form the most numerous ethnic group (40%) of Kerala. For long they were treated as outcastes by the Brahmins and the Nairs; nevertheless, these earliest sons of the soil--the first Munda-Dravidian immigrants--retained their pride and ethnic identity and rose above adversity by means of Hindu religion which was first used to reduce them to the status of outcastes. They gradually accepted the Hindu religion and followed the teachings of their leaders like Sri Narayana Guru; they sought education and established their own schools; in all this they were encouraged by the British who admitted them into civil service in Malabar. Many of them sought advancement through political parties; for decades now Ezhavas have remained the hardcore supporters of the Marxist parties in Kerala. Today they are no longer an "untouchable" scheduled caste, but a proud and powerful ethnic group to be reckoned with in Kerala.

The origin of Ezhavas is shrouded in mystery. One of their folk ballads (Vadakkan Pattukal), which celebrates the twelfth-century Aromal Chevakar, says: "Our ancestors of old/Had their home in the land of Lanka." The poem in question dates only from the eighteenth century, and as such it is not a reliable guide to the prehistoric origins of the Ezhavas; their profession of tapping the palm for toddy has created the legend that they brought the coconut palm from Sri Lanka to Kerala.

In North Malabar they are called Tiyans, but in the south they are known as Ezhavans and Chovans. The etymology of the words Ezhavan and Tiyan is traced to Izham, an old name for Sri Lanka
and Dweepan (Sanskrit), "islander." The word Chovan is supposedly derived from sevakan (servant). One thing about them is certain: they are as old or even older than any other ethnic group in Kerala; they are referred to in the ninth century Tharissa Pally Charter, and in the Thanjavur Charter of Raja Raja Chola. Their profession was not restricted to tapping coconut palms for toddy. They were primarily farmers, as indicated by the Tharisa Pally Charter. They were also soldiers by profession all over Kerala.

Many historians point out the connection between the Buddhists and the Ezhavas. For instance, the two gods of the Ezhavas, Cittan and Arattan are respectively Buddhist-Sidhan and Arhatan, according to C. V. Kunjuraman. Further, the Pandarams who perform priestly duties in Ezhava temples are considered to be successors of Buddhist monks. T. K. Veluppillai, the author of The Travancore State Manual, believes that during Buddhist ascendancy in Kerala, before the arrival of Tulu Brahmins, "the Ezhavas enjoyed great prosperity and power" (II, 845). It is very unlikely that the Ezhavas came from Sri Lanka and spread all over Kerala in large numbers from the south to the northern boundary. They were rather the mainstream of Munda-Drsvidian immigrants who left Tamil Nadu in the fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries to avoid persecution at the hands of their political enemies.

TRIBAL PEOPLE OF KERALA

Scheduled Tribes

The tribal people of India are called "Scheduled Tribes" in the Indian Constitution. The designation, invented by the British, covers somewhat arbitrarily 255 ethnic communities which are economically and socially least advanced and are the earliest inhabitants of India. The English called them aborigines.

Most Indians consider the tribal communities, which live in isolated and self-contained communities as wholly distinct from them culturally and ethnically. They are right and wrong at the same time: culturally, Scheduled Tribes and Castes are distinct from the plainspeople; ethnically, they are not. Mostly, these aboriginal tribes and castes are less Aryan or totally non-Aryan, for they are predominantly Munda and Dravidian.

Out of the total one billion Indians, the tribal population accounts for nearly 6% of the population. The tribal people are a vast majority in the Northeastern States and some Union Territories: 88% of Nagaland, 80% of Meghalaya, 70% of Arunachal Pradesh population is tribal. Half of the country's tribal population is found in the three states of Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, and Orissa. The numerically dominant tribes are the Dravidian Gonds of Central India, the Munda Bhils of Western India, and the Munda Santals of Eastern India.

In Kerala there are still 37 Scheduled Tribes out of 48 tribal communities; their number is only 1.26% of the state's population. What this figure indicates is that the rate of the assimilation of the aboriginals of Kerala has been extremely rapid. In the past few years 11 tribal communities have been declassified on account of the social and cultural porgress they have made.

Among the Scheduled Tribes of Kerala the numerically dominant ones are the Pulayans, Paniyans, Maratis, Malayarayar, Kurumans, Kurichiyans, and Irulas. The numerical strength of each remaining tribes is more or less 1,000. I am happy to record that my anthropological, linguistic and folklonstic research has been primarily among the Kadar, Cholanayikkar, Mudugar, Irular, Pulayar, and Kurumbar. I have also worked among the Santals of West Bengal.

Most of these tribes are forest-dwellers and food-gatherers. Increasingly, they are found living on the fringes of the forests near the highways and the villages of the plainspeople, yet apart from them. This frontier existence of the tribals is highly symbolic. They are caught between two worlds. Their forest home cannot support them any longer, for food in forests is getting scarce because of the state policy against deforestation.

There are fewer and fewer wild animals to hunt; there is also a legal ban on hunting. For rice and clothes they have to depend on the plainspeople who continue to exploit the helplessness of the tribals. The few tribesmen who go to towns looking for jobs soon find it difficult to cope with the demands of civilization and return home to jungles to live on the edge of culture and nature.

EZHAVAS & TIYAS OF KERALA

Origin of Ezhavas and Tiyas

Ezhavas form the most numerous ethnic group (40%) of Kerala. For long they were treated as outcastes by the Brahmins and the Nairs; nevertheless, these earliest sons of the soil--the first Munda-Dravidian immigrants--retained their pride and ethnic identity and rose above adversity by means of Hindu religion which was first used to reduce them to the status of outcastes. They gradually accepted the Hindu religion and followed the teachings of their leaders like Sri Narayana Guru; they sought education and established their own schools; in all this they were encouraged by the British who admitted them into civil service in Malabar. Many of them sought advancement through political parties; for decades now Ezhavas have remained the hardcore supporters of the Marxist parties in Kerala. Today they are no longer an "untouchable" scheduled caste, but a proud and powerful ethnic group to be reckoned with in Kerala.

The origin of Ezhavas is shrouded in mystery. One of their folk ballads (Vadakkan Pattukal), which celebrates the twelfth-century Aromal Chevakar, says: "Our ancestors of old/Had their home in the land of Lanka." The poem in question dates only from the eighteenth century, and as such it is not a reliable guide to the prehistoric origins of the Ezhavas; their profession of tapping the palm for toddy has created the legend that they brought the coconut palm from Sri Lanka to Kerala.

In North Malabar they are called Tiyans, but in the south they are known as Ezhavans and Chovans. The etymology of the words Ezhavan and Tiyan is traced to Izham, an old name for Sri Lanka
and Dweepan (Sanskrit), "islander." The word Chovan is supposedly derived from sevakan (servant). One thing about them is certain: they are as old or even older than any other ethnic group in Kerala; they are referred to in the ninth century Tharissa Pally Charter, and in the Thanjavur Charter of Raja Raja Chola. Their profession was not restricted to tapping coconut palms for toddy. They were primarily farmers, as indicated by the Tharisa Pally Charter. They were also soldiers by profession all over Kerala.

Many historians point out the connection between the Buddhists and the Ezhavas. For instance, the two gods of the Ezhavas, Cittan and Arattan are respectively Buddhist-Sidhan and Arhatan, according to C. V. Kunjuraman. Further, the Pandarams who perform priestly duties in Ezhava temples are considered to be successors of Buddhist monks. T. K. Veluppillai, the author of The Travancore State Manual, believes that during Buddhist ascendancy in Kerala, before the arrival of Tulu Brahmins, "the Ezhavas enjoyed great prosperity and power" (II, 845). It is very unlikely that the Ezhavas came from Sri Lanka and spread all over Kerala in large numbers from the south to the northern boundary. They were rather the mainstream of Munda-Drsvidian immigrants who left Tamil Nadu in the fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries to avoid persecution at the hands of their political enemies.

NAIR CASTE OF KERALA-PECULIARITIES

Nair Polyandry

The Nairs used to practice polyandry reminiscent of the Pandava-Panchali relationship, a custom that can be traced to Tibet. The following is a summary of the custom as recorded by L. K. A. Iyer in his Cochin Tribes and Castes. II, 39: "At ten or twelve years of age of a girl, her mother begged someone of their relations to marry her (the daughter) and they did so by tying a marriage badge (tali). Then the bridegroom would leave her and go away without any consideration of his new relationship (often back to the army and the battle field). She might also remain with him if he wished. If she was not inclined to do so, the mother would then go about seeking someone else to take her daughter to live with him. If the girl happened to be pretty, three of four Nairs would agree to live with her, and the more lovers she had, the more highly she was esteemed. Each man had his appointed time from midday to the next day at the same hour, during which some sign was placed at the door so that the others might not enter. She was at liberty to dismiss whomever she disliked ... The fathers [of the children] were named by the mothers. It is said that the kings made this law in order that the Nairs might not abandon their service. According to this system, the fathers were not succeeded by their sons but by their nephews (sons of sisters)."

Nair Matriarchal System

The Nairs had the matriarchal system of family called Tarawad or Marumakkathayam family. It consists in theory of all persons who can trace their descent in the female line from a single ancestress. In its simplest form the family consists of a mother and her children living together with their maternal uncle, that is the mother's brother as the Karanavan (senior male) of the family. In its complex form it consists of a mother and all her children, both male and female, all her grandchildren by her daughters, all her brothers and sisters..and the descendants on the sisters' side -- in short, all the relatives of the woman on the -female side living together in the same block of buildings, dining together in the same hall, and enjoying the property in common. There were instances of families containing a hundred or more members living in different buildings in a large compound. All the members, however many their generations, should be able to trace their common descent from one ancestress.

In such a family the woman senior to others in age was the head of the family, and she reigned as queen bee. Her eldest daughter was prime minister. The son recognized the supremacy of the mother; the brother obeyed the elder sister and respected the younger sisters. The sister of the man came first in affection and responsibility before his own wife.

Today the situation is different. The senior woman is no longer the head of the family, and she has yielded her authority to the oldest male member who is Karanavan. Thus patriarchy has superseded matriarchy in extended Nair families. In the joint family, family property is joint property and no member can claim or appropriate or expropriate any portion of it; the property is held in trust for the support of the females and their descendants in the female line. The property can be disposed of only with the consent of all the members. Sometimes when the Tarawad or family grows extremely large, the descendants of the family are divided according to various female lines [Tavazhi: ta = mother; vazhi = line]; they would live in separate buildings and own that portion of the joint property which is theirs in partition and which is managed by the woman's brother as Karanavan. Legally, it is to the woman the fortune of the family belongs; yet, practically, she is no longer the mistress of the house, but only one of the many dependants of the Karanavan.

Nairs and Marumakkathayam

The Nairs follow the system of inheritance called Marumakkathayam as opposed to the traditional Makkathayam system according to which property belongs to the father and which property is ceded to the oldest son or sons, and the son succeeds the father as head of the family. The Marumakkathayam law regulates succession through the female line. For instance, in Travancore the heir apparent is the reigning Monarch's sister's oldest son (nephew) and not the king's own son. Marumakkathayam (marumakan == sister's son; dayam= inheritance) could have arisen as an alternative norm to patrilineal inheritance in a system where a man's sister's son was supposed to marry his daughter anyway. The Karanavan who has lately taken over from the female, is entitled to the full possession and management of the property. The junior members legally have no claim to residence and maintenance. The Karanavan is not accountable to any one member; he is not under obligation to support any member of the Tarawad (family). The only restraint on him is that he cannot alienate the family lands without the consent of all. When the family divides, it divides along the female line (Tavaztu). But the female inheritor lets one male member, like her brother, manage the new Tarawad. Needless to mention that the Marumakkathayam system is no longer a viable system. It was outlawed in the early part of the twentieth century.

NAIRS OF KERALA

The Nair Heritage

K. M. Parinikar justly remarks: "The Nayars [Nairs] were not a caste, they were a race." Few historians will reject this contention because many customs and traditions distinguished the Nairs from the other Keralites. They had their own marital customs (Sambandham), their own form of inheritance (Marumakkathayam). their own art of warfare, their own war goddess (Bhadrakali), their own cult of ancestor worship, and their own art form, the Kathakali. (dance drama). In swordsmanship and suicidal squads (Chavers), they are similar to the Samurai of Japan; as the warrior class they used to look down upon manual work and entrust their lands to tenants to till and plant. Though Nairs were once technically classified by the Brahmins under the name of the pure Sudras of Malayala, they were always an honored caste. Some think nair is the honorific plural of nayan which is derived from the Sanskrit nayaka (leader). Others derive nair from the naga (snakes) which they worship. The Brahmin-inspired Keralolpathi regards them as the descendants of the Sudras who accompanied the Brahmin immigrants from outside Kerala.

Obviously, like all Keralite tribes, the Nairs came from outside. There is a great deal of truth in the theory that they came from the Nepal Valley, adjacent to Tibet. Some consider them to be early descendants of the Newars of Nepal. The Kathakali which is a Nair art-form is closely related to Tibetan dances; Nair polyandry is very similar to Tibetan marriage customs; in the mode of inheritance the Newars are like the Nairs; like the Newars, the Nairs are distinguished by their lighter coloring, Mongolian features, and smooth hair. The most remarkable thing about the Nairs is their style of pagoda-like temple architecture and house construction which are almost identical with the Newar style of temples and houses found all along the Kulu and Nepal Valleys. Serpent worship is another common custom between the Newars and Nairs. As mentioned earlier, the settlers of Kerala came from the northwestern parts of India and the Nepal Valley. My theory is that groups of Newars who were partially Aryanized and would be later Dravidianized joined the Munda exodus and finally settled down in Kerala after a long period of sojourn in the eastern plains of Tamil Nadu. It is the Newar-Nair builders who have given Kerala both the pagoda-type architectural style of the Hindu temples and the angular roof and dormer of Kerala houses.

One fact appears to be certain: the Nairs were in Kerala before the Brahmins arrived in the seventh century A.D. The Chera kings were Nairs, and the Nairs were also Dravidians and not Kshatriya Aryans; the Brahmins, in fact, considered them as Sudras. However, the younger sons of Brahmin families could form morganatic relationships (Sambandham) with Nair women, the children remaining Nairs and thus introducing a new element in the race. This helped the junior members of the Brahmin family to be relieved of their life-long bachelorhood without the responsibility for supporting their wives and children from their family property. It was, on the other hand, to the advantage of the children to carry the genes of the Brahmins, apparently. It does not mean that the Nairs had loose marriage morals; it only means that this type of relationship was tolerated as an exception for its advantages for the Brahmins and Nairs; the rule of real marriage was endogamous monagamy between Nairs especially between the daughter of a maternal uncle and his nephew.

KERALA-THE ARYAN CONNECTION

The Coming of the Aryans and the Brahmin Story

The Harappan Civilisation, "the vastest political experiment before the advent of the Roman Empire" (Mortimer Wheeler), suddenly came to an abrupt end around 1700 B.C. All the reasons for its demise are not yet known, but it was probably directly related to the Aryans, invading tribes-men from the Russian and Central Asian steppes. The newcomers called them-sleves Aryas, a term meaning "superior" and surviving in Iran and Eire/ Ireland. There are references to the battles of the Aryans with the Dasas in the Vedic hymns, to the occupation of the Dasas1 land, to the capture of their possessions, and to the destruction of their cities. The Indo-Aryan war-god Indra is known as puramdara, "the destroyer of cities." Agni, the fire-god, is also prominently mentioned in this capacity, understandably, since many of the Indus cities were destroyed by fire. The conclusion seems to be inescapable: the destruction of the Indus cities of the Dravidians and/or Mundas was the work of the Aryans.

While the superiority of the Dravidians lay in their urban civilization, the superiority of the Aryans lay in their military strength. The invaders relied more on wood for their homes than on stone and preferred villages to cities at least till the end of the Vedic period.

The invading Aryans were divided into a large number of independent tribes often fighting each other when they were not fighting the Dasas (Dravidians and Mundas), their common enemy. The Aryans were highly conscious of their ethnic unity, based on a common language (Sanskrit is the literary expression of it), a common religion (Brahminism is its classical form), and a common culture (love of war and adventure is an integral part of it). the white Aryans were well aware of the contrast between themselves and the colored natives who either became Sudras or servants and dependents of the conquerors or withdrew to the forests and mountains and to regions beyond the Aryavarta (land of the Aryans) across the Vindhya Mountains to the South. That the Aryans were able to maintain their identity implies that they came in large numbers, in waves of migration, lasting a long period. The Aryans expanded from the Indus Valley and Punjab eastwards to modern Uttar Pradesh down the Ganga Valley. The main group of migrants followed the foothills of the Himalayas, driving the Mundas to the hills and the Dravidians south to Deccan. All this time they were still living among the conquered Mundas called Nishadas or forest tribes.

The next stage in the Aryan occupation of India falls within 800-550 B.C. At this time Aryavarta had for its boundaries the seas in the east and the west and the Himalayas in the north and the Vindhya in the south. The advance to Bengal and Orissa and Gujarat and Maharashtra and the Dravidian lands of the south took place not behind battle standards but under the banner of civilizing missions. The Brahmins, the Aryan missionaries, spread the Brahminic religion, Vedic culture, and the Sanskrit language; the Brahmins also increased their status or strengthened their organization. Alone or in small numbers and away from home, the wandering Aryans mixed with the Dravidians and Mundas, and their hybrid descendants moved farther to Dravidian South. It was at this time that the Pre-Aryans considerably influenced the Aryans and that the transition from Vedic religion to later Hinduism had its beginnings. Throughout, the Tamils .of the extreme South remained independent and standoffish.

The penetration of the South and Kerala by the Aryans began only during the Buddhist and Jainist times. It was a slow, gradual process which was accomplished in a gentle, subtle manner by the missionaries. It was a conquest, all right; but it was accomplished by the arts of peace and not by the force of arms. Though the Buddhists came at the wake of Emperor Ashoka's evangelizing missions, most of the Vedic Brahmins came only in the seventh and eighth centuries by way of the West Coast from Tulu Nadu.

KERALA-DRAVIDIAN CONNECTION

DRAVIDIANS

There is general agreement among ethnologists that the Dravidian population is a branch of the Mediterranean race, or at least a closely allied one. while the Mediterranean race is White, the Dravidians are much darker, ranging from the dark Greek and Italian complexion to black. There is also a wide range of difference in the shape of the skull, the color and texture of the hair, the color of the eyes, and the shape of the nose. These deviations can be explained with a probable interbreeding between the Dravidians and Mundas, as it is still taking place in the Chotanagpur region between the Dravidian Oraons and the neighboring Mundas.

The Dravidians entered India before the Aryans, before 2000 B.C., after passing through Mesopotamia, Iran, and Baluchistan where the Brahuis, a Dravidian race, still live. On grounds of cultural affinities such as inheritance through women, snake cults, organization of society, and structure of temples, some historians connect the Dravidians with the Elamites and Mesopotamians. The evidence of Indian skulls from the Indus Valley indicates that the Mediter-ranean stock became established in north India before the Harappab Civilisation came into existence around 2000 B.C.

Granted that the Dravidians were,originally Mediterraneans and that they passed through Mesopotamia, Iran, and Baluchistan, exactly from which Mediter-ranean region did they come?

Of particular significance is archeologist B. B. Lal's contention that the Dravidians probably came from Nubia, Upper Egypt. This theory would give them among other things their Mediterranean features and dark complexion. Lal writes: "At Timos the Indian team dug up several megalithic sites of ancient Nubians which bear an uncanny resemblance to the cemeteries of early Dravidians which are found all over Western India from Kathiawar to Cape Comorin. The intriguing similarity extends from the subterranean structure found near them. Even the earthenware ring-stands used by the Dravidians and Nubians to hold pots were identical." According to Lal, the Nubian megaliths date from around 1000 B.C.

The linguistic studies of scholars like S. K. Chatterji have discovered many cognate words in ancient Egyptian and Nubian languages and Tamil. Fur-ther, the new findings on the Indus heiroglyphics by M. V. N. Krishna Rao, Fateh Singn, H. S. Parpola, K. A. Parpola, S. J. Koskenniemi, and Yu. Knorozov claim to have deciphered the script in terms of Proto-Dravidian and thus confirm the findings of the venerable Indian historian Father Heras that the Harappan people spoke a Dravidian language in the third millennium B.C.
Comparative analysis of the Dravidian myth of Kovalan and Kannaki celebrated in the ancient Tamil Shilappadikaram with the ancient Egyptian myth of Osiris and Isis confirms the Egyptian origin of the ancient Dravidians. These two myths are very similar in content and help explain each other and argue for a common ethnic origin. The long ships used by the Egyptians in the third millennium B.C. could have easily carried the Dravidians to the banks of the Indus River and/or all the way to South India. The sea-route-however, does not exclude the possibility of the early Dravidians taking a land route from the Phoenician shores through Iran and Baluchistan to India. No wonder, similar hieroglyphic writings are found both in Egypt and India.

ORIGIN OF PEOPLE OF KERALA-SOME FACTFILES

Origins of Kerala People

Man came late to Kerala even though Kerala today is the most heavily over-populated region of India --4% of all Indians live on 1% of India's land. It seems that Stone-Age people deliberately avoided the forests of Kerala infested by Malaria-bearing mosquitoes and man-eating tigers. No relic of the Stone Age, not a single authentic Neolithic implement, has been discovered in any parts of Kerala. Mankind appeared on Kerala soil as an Iron-Age builder of megaliths.

Megaliths or huge burial stones carved by iron implements are scattered all along the ghats of Wynad in the north to Trivandrum in the south. My research shows a pattern of distribution for these stones extending all the way from Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh along the Nepal Valley down through the Vindhya Mountains to Tamil Nadu and the High Ranges of Kerala. This pattern indicates that Kerala'searly people were originally from the Northwest of India.

The megalithic types of Kerala -- similar to those of Brittany and Cornwall--are isolated and multiple dolmens, port-hole cists, menhirs, kudakallus or umbrella stones, topikallus or cap stones, and rock-cut caves. In many caves archeologists have found, especially during the Varkala Tunnel construction, old pots of the "black-and-red-ware" variety and human bones. At some sites even terra cotta figurines have been discovered. Topikallu and kudakallu are sepulchral monuments under which are found burial urns in pits. The remarkable thing about the Kerala megaliths is that they are not as old as the Harappan culture (2500-1500 B.C.). According to Sir Mortimer Wheeler and many historians, the megalith culture was introduced into Kerala between 300 B.C. and 50 A.D. Megalithic evidence shows that the builders came originally from Northwestern India and entered Kerala's High Ranges around 200 B.C.

Though we are unable to identify these early inhabitants of Kerala with any certainty, we can be certain that their descendants are alive and well in Kerala today. These people, Keralites of Kerala and elsewhere, are, in the view of anthropologists, "an ethnological museum." Several racial strains are easily recognized in the racial composition of the Keralites of different communities. There are still a number of "white" or fair-skinned Brahmins of the Aryan stock; according to the Kannada tradition. King MayuraVarma sent Brahmin families to Kerala from Ahichatra in North India.

Some point out the Negrito element as representing the earliest inhabitants of Kerala; some members of the hill tribes of Kadar, Kanikkar, Uralis, and Paniyar have curly to frizzy hair, black skin, broad noses, thick lips, and round heads that are characteristic of the Negroes of the Andaman Islands, Malay Peninsula, and Africa. However, the Australoids also have similar features; the Australoid group is the major racial element in the Munda or Kolarian population of North and Central India and in the Dravidian population of South India. Some anthropologists even notice distinctive Mongoloid features in Kerala Dravidians.

Race Mixing

It is a truism to say that to a greater or lesser extent mankind is a mixture of races. But it is true. Pure races do not exist in the human species. Everywhere racial mixing is taking place just as sex-mixing is taking place among different breeds of cows and dogs. All human races cross easily and produce normal, healthy progeny with generally improved physical and mental qualities.

ORIGIN OF PEOPLE OF KERALA-SOME FACTFILES

Origins of Kerala People

Man came late to Kerala even though Kerala today is the most heavily over-populated region of India --4% of all Indians live on 1% of India's land. It seems that Stone-Age people deliberately avoided the forests of Kerala infested by Malaria-bearing mosquitoes and man-eating tigers. No relic of the Stone Age, not a single authentic Neolithic implement, has been discovered in any parts of Kerala. Mankind appeared on Kerala soil as an Iron-Age builder of megaliths.

Megaliths or huge burial stones carved by iron implements are scattered all along the ghats of Wynad in the north to Trivandrum in the south. My research shows a pattern of distribution for these stones extending all the way from Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh along the Nepal Valley down through the Vindhya Mountains to Tamil Nadu and the High Ranges of Kerala. This pattern indicates that Kerala'searly people were originally from the Northwest of India.

The megalithic types of Kerala -- similar to those of Brittany and Cornwall--are isolated and multiple dolmens, port-hole cists, menhirs, kudakallus or umbrella stones, topikallus or cap stones, and rock-cut caves. In many caves archeologists have found, especially during the Varkala Tunnel construction, old pots of the "black-and-red-ware" variety and human bones. At some sites even terra cotta figurines have been discovered. Topikallu and kudakallu are sepulchral monuments under which are found burial urns in pits. The remarkable thing about the Kerala megaliths is that they are not as old as the Harappan culture (2500-1500 B.C.). According to Sir Mortimer Wheeler and many historians, the megalith culture was introduced into Kerala between 300 B.C. and 50 A.D. Megalithic evidence shows that the builders came originally from Northwestern India and entered Kerala's High Ranges around 200 B.C.

Though we are unable to identify these early inhabitants of Kerala with any certainty, we can be certain that their descendants are alive and well in Kerala today. These people, Keralites of Kerala and elsewhere, are, in the view of anthropologists, "an ethnological museum." Several racial strains are easily recognized in the racial composition of the Keralites of different communities. There are still a number of "white" or fair-skinned Brahmins of the Aryan stock; according to the Kannada tradition. King MayuraVarma sent Brahmin families to Kerala from Ahichatra in North India.

Some point out the Negrito element as representing the earliest inhabitants of Kerala; some members of the hill tribes of Kadar, Kanikkar, Uralis, and Paniyar have curly to frizzy hair, black skin, broad noses, thick lips, and round heads that are characteristic of the Negroes of the Andaman Islands, Malay Peninsula, and Africa. However, the Australoids also have similar features; the Australoid group is the major racial element in the Munda or Kolarian population of North and Central India and in the Dravidian population of South India. Some anthropologists even notice distinctive Mongoloid features in Kerala Dravidians.

Race Mixing

It is a truism to say that to a greater or lesser extent mankind is a mixture of races. But it is true. Pure races do not exist in the human species. Everywhere racial mixing is taking place just as sex-mixing is taking place among different breeds of cows and dogs. All human races cross easily and produce normal, healthy progeny with generally improved physical and mental qualities.

ORIGIN OF KERALA-MYTHICAL CONNECTION

The Parasurama Tradition

How was Kerala created? Geological evidence points to the continuing growth of the land within proto-historic or even historic times. There were at least two phases of upward movement of land from the sea. The first is represented by erosion surfaces on the laterite of the midland region at about 250 and 600 feet. The second stage of some eight-mile wide shore-creation is reflected in the legend of Parasurama and the literature of place-names. There is a line of villages in Kerala eight miles from the seashore in whose names "sea" or "island" is prominent.

Again, the existence of marine fossils at Vazhappilly near Changanacherry is pointed out as evidence for the aforementioned theory. The first land-rise probably was the result of volcanic operations or seismological factors. The second land-creation was most likely accomplished by the numerous rivers which brought along large quantities of silt and mud from the mountains while ocean currents deposited quantities of sand on the shore. The geological theory seems to receive support from the Parasurama legend.

According to the legend, Parasurama, the son who killed his mother in obedience to his father, atoned for the crime of his massacring of the Kshatriyas by doing penance for years (one of the Kshatriyas apparently killed Parasurama's Brahmin father!). To protect the Brahmins from the encroachments of their enemies, Parasurama decided to create some land and donate it to the Brahmins. Accordingly, he threw his battle axe from Gokarnam (Goa?); the weapon fell in Kanyakumari; all the sea between Gokarnam and Kanyakumari became dryland which the hero gave to the Brahmins.

Obviously, the idea of the donation of the land to the Brahmins is like the papal claim and the forged documents on Emperor Constantine's donation of lands to the Pope; Brahmins, of course, told the story to suit their needs. The remarkable thing about the legend is that it is also popular in the Kulu Valley of Northwestern India and the Chotanagpur region of Central India among the Mundas.

As a folklorist and ethnologist, I would argue that the people of Kerala who originated in the Northwest and moved through Central India carried with them their local traditions and applied them to Kerala's creation by their folk-hero, Parasurama, when they finally settled down in Kerala. According to another tradition, it was Parasurama who made a gap in the Western Ghats at Palghat with his axe (parasu).

The Parasurama-legend is found in the Mahabharata and the Puranas;Kalidasa refers to Parasurama in Raghuvamsa (canto 4. verse 53); the Thiruvalangad plates of Rajendra Chola (1012-1044) also refers to the hero. The story of the creation of Kerala by Parasurama is also found in the 18th century Keralolpathi, the Malayalam work, which all Kerala children study in their schools.

KERALA-AGRICULTURE,OTHER OCCUPATIONS,HUMAN RESOURCE,FLORA AND FAUNA

Agriculture

Over 15,000 square miles of land live a population of some 24 million people with an overall density of 1,600 persons per square mile. About one-sixth is forest; of the rest, most of the land is cultivated often with maximum efficiency according to current Indian standards. Rice still dominates,being the staple food of the masses. Rice cultivation is becoming extremely expensive due to high wages and high price of fertilizers; often cheap rice can be purchased from neighboring AndhraPradesh and Tamil Nadu,Kuttanad, the rich alluvial coastland is no longer considered the granary of Kerala;

the soil is no longer fertile; and labor troubles and socialist land-reforms have driven hard-working farmers out of business. Farmers are paying increasing attention to cultivating tea, coffee, pepper, cardamom, and rubber in the High Ranges and the middle laterite hill region. After rice, coconut is the chief crop; the coconut acreage is nearly equal to that of rice. Next to rice as the essential food. coconut palm is the basis of economy for a very large number of people. The chief products of coconut are coir, copra, oil, and oil-cake. Coconut is used as a staple article of diet in meat curries, vegetable curries, and pastries. The coconut-leaves are frequently used as thatch, for the manufacture of brooms, baskets, umbrellas, tattis (screens kept soaked to cool rooms), fans, and firewood. A large number of cottage industrial workers are employed in the production of coir-yarns (rope) which will later be used to make coco-mats (coir-mats).

Tapioca or Cassava is the next important crop which like potato has saved millions of people from starvation during times of famine; people eat less tapioca these days. Spices like cardamom, pepper, gingelly, cloves, and ginger are important peasant-produced cash crops. Nearly every homestead still has its plantains (banana), areca-nut palms, and mango trees. In the past ten years the Gulf countries of the Middle East have become avid buyers of Kerala's agricultural products, so much so, greedy farmers ship the best of all their products including livestock abroad leaving the natives with only the second best produce. The cashew industry, once the monopoly of Kerala, is still going strong in spite of stiff competition from China and Africa.

Other Occupations

Fishing- plays a big part in Kerala's cultural and commercial life. Motorization of boats, better storage, and more efficient marketing have been undertaken during the past twenty-five years. They all have helped the fishing industry. Because of the lack of minerals, coal, and iron ore, Kerala can never become an industrial state like Maharashtra,Gujarat, and Punjab. However, the abundance of forest products, availability of electric power, efficient supply of water, and the abundance of skilled workers have attracted many industries to Kerala, notwithstanding the businessman's fear of the ever-looming specter of Communism that Kerala flaunts.

Except for local clay and laterite, the only minerals of Kerala are ilmenite, monazite, and zircon sands on the beaches from Quilon to Kovalam. These contain 8-10% thorium oxide which is of strategic importance in relation to atomic power. Titanium from ilmenite and cerium from monazite are essential in some electrical and chemical industries -- for electrodes, tracer bullets, and benzine synthesis, among others. The Titanium Plant near Trivandrum is a profitable undertaking. The Keltron Plant that manufactures radios and television sets makes Kerala's name synonymous with T.V. The Space Research Center of Thumba is one of its kind in all of India. In short, like India, Kerala also has entered the world of high technology and the age of space exploration.


Human Potential Export

The major export of Kerala today is its skilled workers and college graduates who go to most parts of India and abroad to places like the Gulf countries. When immigration to Europe and America opened up in the fifties and sixties, a large number of educated Keralites went abroad seeking employment and fortune. Their financial success in foreign lands resulted in increasing inflation in Kerala due to higher wages and short supply of indigenous products and the rising cost of real estate. The Gulf emigres hope that they would some day build a mansion and retire in glory in Kerala, Though the rate of immigration to the Gulf countries has leveled off, immigration from Kerala to other parts of India continue. This immigration phenomenon and the spread of education and prosperity have succeeded in checking Kerala's population growth. Kerala has almost achieved zero population growth.

Flora and Fauna

Kerala's forests abound in a variety of rare animals and birds. The elephant, tiger, lion-tailed monkey, Indian gaur, python, striped mountain goat, and wild fowl are still found in Kerala's forests, though in reduced numbers because of man's encroachment on animal territory.. Mahogany, sandal-wood, teak-wood, and rose-wood are still the proud products of these forests. During the past thirty years, the forest department has been taking meticulous care to plant new teak-wood trees and eucalyptus trees to prevent deforestation. It is to be mentioned that teak-wood from Kerala had found its way before the Christian era for the construction of buildings in places like the Ur of Chaldea; Kerala's teak-wood went into the construction of British ships used by Admiral Nelson in the battle of Trafalgar against Napolean.

KERALA-PHYSICAL FEATURES

Physical Setting

Kerala occupies a narrow strip of land, not more than 360 miles (555 km.) long and 80 miles (120 km.) wide, with a total area of 15,002 sq. miles 38,855 sq. km.). The land lies between 8° 18' North Latitude and between 74° 52' and 77° 24' East Longitude. On the west it is washed by the Arabian Sea, in the, east hedged in by the western Ghat mountains, in the north bordered by the state of Karnataka, and in the south joined by the state of Tamil Nadu.


Mountain Passes

The Western Ghats that range along the highland are called Sahyadris which rise in elevation between 3,000 feet and 8,000 feet above sea-level. The Anamudi Peak in Idukki District rises to a height of 8,841 feet and represents the ha'ghest point in India, south of the Himalayas. The Agastyakutam, connected to Sage Agastya of the Mahabharata tradition, is 6,132 feet above sea-level. Many of the hills in the region have religious and political significance: Sabarimala is the hallowed seat of the Lord Ayyappan of pilgrimages; there is the famous St. Thomas Church located on top of Malayattoor Hill; Ezhimala or Mount Eli. the conspicuous hill overlooking the Arabian Sea or the Cannanore Coast,was the seat of a powerful kingdom and a landmark for mariners in the early centuries of Christianity; the Puralimala in Tellicherry Taluk was the center of the Pazhassi revolt (1793-97; 1800-1805) against the British in the nineteenth century. These tall hills covered by rain forests which are infested by wild animals prevented large-scale invasions of Kerala.The continuity of the Sahyadri hills is interrupted by the presence of several gaps which have prevented the total isolation of Kerala from the eastern countries. The major gap is the Palghat Gap which is about 20 miles wide. William Logan writes in his famous Malabar Manual:

Here by whatever great natural agency the break occurred, the mountains appear thrown back and heaped up, as if some overwhelming deluge had burst through, sweeping them left and right. On either hand tower the giant Nilgiris and Anamalas, overtopping the chain of ghats by several thousand feet, while through the gap, the southwest winds bring pleasant moist air and grateful showers to the thirsty plains of Coimbatore, and roads and railways link the Carnatic to Kerala. The unique character ... of this gap ... is only equalled by its great economic value to the countries lying on either hand of it (p.3).

In addition to the Palghat Gap, there are others like the Perambadi Ghat linking Kerala and Coorg, the Perlya and Thamarasseri Gaps linking Wynad and Mysore, and Bodinayikannur, Kambam, Aryankavu, and Aramboli Passes connecting Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Tamil powers often invaded Kerala through the Aramboli Pass.

Sea and Ports

On the one hand, the Arabian Sea prevented some invaders, traders, and intruders from visiting Kerala; on the other hand, it attracted mostly traders from Europe and the Middle East. From historical records we know of Arabs from the eighth century and the Portuguese (1498). the Dutch. and the British from the sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries establishing trade centers in Kerala. Such ports as Cranganore,Quilon,Alleppey, Cannanore, and Cochin became prominent in later Kerala history. Most of the ancient port cities, except Cochin, are on the decline due to the lack of docking and berthing facilities as well as the expansion of other ports like Bombay and Goa, Remnants of European forts can be seen at Anjengo.Thankasserri. Pallippuram, Tellicherry. and Cannanore.

KERALA HISTORY -SOME INTERESTING FACETS

Though physically and culturally Kerala is part of India, it is one of the distinctive regions of the area. Historically it has been isolated from the rest of the Peninsula. It is hard for many Keralites to admit that once Kerala was more caste-divided than any other area; it was only here that "untouchability" developed into "unapproachability" and "unseeability"; on the other hand, today it is one of the least caste-conscious and communally tranquil areas of India. Many young Keralites even do not know that the Nair gentry with its matrilinear organization (Marumakkathayam) once practiced polygamy and polyandry, Kerala has a high percentage (22%) of Christians whose traditions go back to St. Thomas the Apostle. The "white Jews" of Cochin are another cultural rarity. The first democratically elected Communist Party came to power in Kerala for the first time in the whole world.


The people of Kerala have always considered themselves Indians first, not only when they live outside India but also when they reside in Kerala. In this case they are significantly different from the other Dravidians like the Tamils who seem to consider themselves Tamils first and Indians next. There are, of course, many reasons for this unique phenomenon of Kerala: one with the larger Indian culture and yet distinct from the mainstream, while receiving much from the rest of India and contributing much to it. The main reason for it is that this once distinct ethnic Munda-Dravidian group of Keralites became Aryanized or Sanskritized to such a degree that they became culturally and racially very Aryan and less distinctly Dravidian like the Tamils who remain more Dravidian and less Aryan. The evidence for this can be easily seen in the physical features of Keralites and particularly in the Malayalam.

Malabar and Kerala

The word Malabar used first by Al-Biruni (973-1048 A.D.) and the Arab writers seems to be derived from mala (hill) --Cosmas Indicopleustus (6th century) refers to the Kerala Coast as male-- and varam (country); medieval Tamil writers called the land malainadu (the land of hills). The term Malayalam, which is the language of Malabar, is the indigenous word for denoting the country; it is composed of mala (hill) and alam (land). The word Keralam is found in the Ashoka inscriptions of the third century B.C. The word is formed from Chera (the Kera/Chera people) and alam (land) meaning "the land of Cheras." The second rock-edict of Ashoka (circa 273-236 B.C.) refers to "Keralaputra" along with the Cholas, Pandyas, and Satyaputra as the border kingdoms of the Maurya Empire. In the first century A.D., the Roman historian Pliny refers to Caelobrothas and the author of Periplus of the Erithryan Sea mentions it as Cerobothra; the second-century geographer Ptolemy calls the land Kerobothro. In certain languages and dialects the ch-sound becomes k (the Southern English church is spelled and pronounced as kirk in Scotland), which would explain why Cheralam became Keralam, for instance, in the Kannada language.

KERALA HISTORY-A QUEST FOR SPICES

Kerala's history is closely linked with its commerce, which in turn was wholly dependent until recent times on its spice trade. Kerala was celebrated as the Malabar Coast, known for its spices, and travellers from around the world journeyed here to trade and to gain control over this rich land. The first travellers were the Greeks, the Romans, the Arabs and the Chinese, latter day traders included the Portuguese, the Dutch, the French and the British. Almost all of them have left their imprint on this land in some form or the other - architecture, cuisine, literature.

Spice Trade.

It is believed that the spice trade dates back three thousand years. Certainly it was responsible for Vasco da Gama's quest for the Indian subcontinent, and its discovery via a sea route. Pepper still remains the king of Kerala's spices, but the state also has a very rich produce in cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, ginger and turmeric, it has a rich cultivation of cashewnuts, and is India's home state for coconut ! As in the past, the state continues to be the spice capital of the world.

The first known mention of KERALA occurs on one of the rock inscriptions left by Asoka, emperor of INDIA , during the third century B.C. It was then an independent kingdom known as KERALA Putra, which was ruled by the powerful Chera dynasty until the 5th century A.D.

Isolated by land, the MALABAR coast was open to the ancient world on all sides by sea and this explains the cosmopolitan aspect of present-day KERALA . The Phoenicians came here to trade for spices, ivory, and sandal wood. Biblical Ophir, visited by King Solomon's ships about 1000 B.C. is believed to have been the village Puvar south of TRIVANDRUM, the present capital of KERALA . They were followed by traders from Egypt, Babylonia, Greece, Rome, Arabia, and China. This was the period when Aryans migrated to KERALA .

There were many Jews, some of whom are supposed to have fled here when Nebuchadnezzar occupied Jerusalem in 587 B.C. For the native Christians, European missionaries and other post-medieval colonizers were late comers. Christianity in KERALA dates back from A.D. 52 when Apostle THOMAS arrived in KERALA (MALABAR Coast). St. THOMAS was one of the twelve apostles or disciples of JESUS CHRIST .

He is the founder of the Christian Church in INDIA . He was assassinated in MADRAS , where St. Thomas Mount and San Thomas Cathedral are located. He was buried in MADRAS. Apostle Thomas established 7½ churches (seven and a half) in KERALA and converted many Brahmins to Christianity. A group of 400 Christians came from Syria in A.D. 345 under the leadership of Thomas of Cana.

Christians are commonly called as Syrian Christians. The local Christians were quite a surprise to the Portuguse, who followed VASCO DE GAMA . They told the newcomers that they had never heard of the Pope and the native Christians were persecuted by the Portuguese. It is to the credit of the Hindus, however, that neither Christian nor Jew has ever suffered any persecution during 2000 years in KERALA . KERALA has a unique record in INDIA for harmonious coexistence of diverse religions.

Today in many places you can see temples, MUSLIM mosques, and Christian Churches in close proximity and prayers are conducted harmoniously. The first emigration of Jews to KERALA took place in the 6th century B.C. There was a much bigger wave in the 1st century A.D., when Jews fleeing Roman persecution in Jerusalem came to Cranganore and settled there. A good example of the tolerance of Hindu Kings can be seen in the Synagogue of Mattancheri.



Burial Place of Vasco De Gama

Some copper plates have been presented to the Jewish community by King Bhaskara Ravi Varma in the 11th century A.D. It awarded the village of Anjuvanam shall be the hereditary possession of Joseph Rabbaan and his descendants "so long as the world and moon exist". But the Portuguse persecuted Jews and native Christians. Muslims rebelled against the Portuguese intolerance.

Malayalees are proud of their cultural heritage. Hindus, Christians, Muslims , all form part of the human tide flowing through KERALA . They are good natured and famous for their hospitality. KERALA'S cultural heritage contains elements of ancient Hindu culture that have been enriched by the best in Sanskrit and has a prolific literature. The year 1498 when VASCO DE GAMA landed at Calicut marked the beginning of the era of foreign Intervention. The Dutch preceded the Portuguese, although, their stay was short. The British East INDIA Company had been on the MALABAR coast since 1684.

UNIQUENESS OF KERALA

Kerala is one of the smallest states in the Indian union. Its area 38.855 square kilometers is just 1.3 percent of the total area of India. The land of India comprises the narrow coastal strip bounded by the Western Ghats n the east and the Arabian Sea on the west. In the words of Sreedhara Menon “Its unique geographical position and peculiar physical features have invested Kerala with a distinct individuality.” Hence it has played a vital role in the commercial and cultural history of India. Kerala has been describes “as the favorite child of nature.” Like Kashmir in the north, Kerala in the south is famous for its breath-taking natural beauty.

With its evergreen mountains, dense forests stately palms, swift flowing rivers, extensive backwaters and blue lagoons, it looks like a fairyland. This atmosphere of beauty and peace has nurtured religion and art in Kerala and enabled her to become a precious gem in the necklace of Indian culture. Indian poets of eminence have showered their praises for the abundance of its peppers, the fragrance of its sandal and the wealth of its coconuts. No part of India is so widely known or has played so important a part in world history as Kerala.

Kerala Map-Natural Divisions: Physical features demarcate the state into three natural divisions. They are the lowland adjoining the sea, the midland consisting of the undulating country east of the lowlands and the forest -clad highland on the extreme east. The lowland bordering the sea is dotted with innumerable coconut palms and the expansive stretches of paddy crops. The midland regions comprise valleys, punctuated here and there by isolated hills.

This rich and fertile region bears the largest extent of agricultural crops. The Western Ghats which range along the eastern border constitute the highland. They form a natural wall of protection to the state. Extensive tea and cardamom plantation dominate the higher elevations; while ginger, rubber, pepper, and turmeric flourish at the lower elevations. The hilly portion is broken up by long spurs, deep savines, dense forests and tangles jungles.

Geographical Isolation: The geographical position of Kerala as a narrow strip of land ensconced between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats has considerably influenced the course of its history. From the dawn of history it has created a kind of insularity. As a result, Kerala seldom felt the impact of many foreign invasions which had ravaged North India form time to time. Owing to this insularity, it took nearly two centuries for Buddhism to reach Kerala. She also evolved “its own way of life and social institutions unhampered by excessive interference from outside.

Long ago in the mists of time as it were, Lord Vishnu descended from the heavens in his incarnation of Parashuram. After slaying the evil kings 21 times over to repeal their force from earth, he did penance for waging the terrible war, and threw his axe into the sea. The area where the axe land- ed, from shaft to blade, rose from the sea as Kerala, a land of plenty and prosperity. Its geographical position has been responsible too for Kera- la's historic ebb and flow. The strip of land found a natural defense in the hills that sealed off one longitudinal section, leaving it open to access from the sea alone.

Sea trade started with the Phoenicians, and in 1000 BC Kerala was visited by King Solomon's ships that travelled to `Ophir' in all probability the modern Puvar, south of Trivandrum. Then followed the galleys of other far-off countries : Greece, Rome, Arabia, China. A fresh wave of trading history started with the Europeans : the Portuguese were forced out of the area. By 1795, however, the Dutch too had to move out, for the British traders had become the strongest power in India by that time. In all this period of prosperity and strife, the region's identity existed as the Malabar Coast and Cochin Travancore. It was only in 1956 that it gained recognition as an independent state, Kerala

KERALA PEOPLE-ETHNIC CLASSES

Kerala - People And Ancestry

The people of Kerala, known as 'Malayalees' (People speaking Malayalam), is polygenetic and belong to different ethnic groups and religions. Few, if any, can claim to belong to any particular stock. The Keralites of Kerala and elsewhere, are, in the view of anthropologists, "an ethnological museum".


Kerala Tribes, people

Negritos : The earliest known inhabitants of Kerala were the Negritos (People of the Negroid race). Members of this race lived by hunting and by gathering plants and fruits. These people have dark skin and tightly curled brown hair and are less than 1.5 metres tall. Descendants of this race still inhabit the mountain regions of the state. They have a good knowledge of herbal medicine and were skilled in interpreting natural phenomena.

Australoids : After the Negritoes came the Proto-Australoids (Austrics), who spread over the whole of India. These belonged to the same race as the present-day Australian Aborigines. They represented a race of medium height, dark (in some cases black) complexion with long heads and flat noses. They laid the foundation of They introduced the cultivation of rice and vegetables and made sugar from sugarcane. They introduced snake-worship in Kerala.

Dravidians : By 700 B.C., the Dravidians (The Mediterranean People), who migrated from the Mediterranean region, spread to the whole of India especially in the south, supplanting the Austrics and Negritoes alike. The Dravidians are the ancestors of majority of the present day Malayalees. They absorbed many of the beliefs of the Negrito and Austric people, but they were strongly inclined to the worship of the Mother Goddess in all her myriad forms: Protector, Avenger, Bestower of wealth, wisdom and arts.

Aryans : After the Dravidians came the Aryans who had already settled over northern India from the Mesopotamian region. They migrated to south India during circa 300 B.C. The "white" or fair-skinned Brahmins belonged to this stock. By the advent of Aryans, caste system also formed in Kerala. The Aryans have made a deep impression on Kerala in late proto-historic times.

Today, Kerala population is the melting pot of various races, religions and ethnic groups. The vast majority of Keralites carry three racial strains in their genetic make-up; Munda, Dravidian, and Aryan. Of this, majority of today's Keralites have a Dravidian ancestry. Nevertheless, many of them pride themselves on their Aryan descent.
The major tribes who inhabit the mountains of Kerala are Kanis, Uralis, Kadar, Kanikkar, Paniyar etc.. They are considered to be the descendants of the Negrito race.

A KNOW-HOW ON IMPORTANT POLITICAL PERSONALITIES OF KERALA

Sri. V.S.ACHUTHANANDAN-THE HONOURABLE CHIEF MINISTER OF KERALA

PORTFOLIOS
General Administration, All India Services, Planning and Economic Affairs, Science, Technology, Information Technology, Scientific Institutes, Personnel & Adminstrative Reforms, Elections, Adminstration of Civil & Criminal Justice, , Sainik Welfare, Distress Relief, State Hospitality,Airports, Inter State River Transports, Information & Public Relations, Non-Resident Keralites Affairs Department, Subjects not mentioned elsewhere.

PROFILE
Son of Shri Sankaran and Smt. Accamma; born on 20th October 1923, Velikkakathu Sankaran Achuthanandan,is a Communist politician, Polit Bureau member of Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) since 1985. He is popularly known as "Comrade VS". VS had to give up his studies after finishing VII standard. He entered into the world of politics through Trade Union activities and joined State Congress in 1938. Like many young men of his age, he became disillusioned with the policies and politics of the Congress and became a member of the Communist Party of India (CPI) in 1940. He was imprisoned for five years and six months during Freedom Struggle period and has gone under-ground for four and half years in his struggled political career. He was active in the Punnapra-Vayalar uprising. He was one among the 32 comrades who left the CPI National Council in 1964 to form the CPI(M). Achuthanandan had served many postitions in long political career. He was the Kerala State Secretary of the CPI(M) between 1980 and 1992 and he became the member of the Polit Bureau since 1985. He was also active in parliamentary politics as he became the member of Kerala Legislative Assembly in 1967, 1970, 1991, 2001 and 2006. He was the Leader of Opposition in the Kerala Legislative Assembly from 1992 to 1996 and from 2001 to 2006.

Now Elected From Malampuzha Constituency

Languages known : Malayalam and English
Wife : Smt. K. Vasumathy
Children : 1 son and 1 daughter
Travels abroad : Russia, China, Mangolia and United Kingdom.
Hobbies : Reading

OFFICE ADDRESS
Room No.141,Third Floor,
North Block, Govt. Secretariat, Tvm 1.
Thiruvananthapuram 1
Ph.0471- 2333812,
2333682,2332148,
2332184, 2333591, 2333610
Fax. 0471-2333489

RESIDENCE
Cliff House, Nanathancode, Thiruvananthapuram - 3
Phone : 0471 - 2314853, 2318406

PERMANANT ADDRESS
Velikkakathu House, Punnapra North P.O., Alappuzha -4



Sri. M A Baby

PORTFOLIOS
General Education, Collegiate Education, Technical Education, Universities except Agricultural University, Entrance Examinations, Literacy Movement, National Cadet Corps, Cultural Affairs, Archives and Archaeology, Museum & Zoos, Kerala State Film Development Corporation.

PROFILE
Son of Shri. P.M.Alexander and Smt.Lilly Alexander, born on April 5, 1954, completed BA degree course in Political Science. Baby could not write the final year examination, and during emergency after having been arrested under DIR and jailed, he abandoned formal education. Baby entered in politics through Kerala Students Federation, the predecessor of Student Federation of India, while Studying at NSS high school Prakkulam. Held many responsible positions in Student Federation of India, Democratic Youth Federation of India, and CPI (M). Imprisoned and tortured during Emergency. Elected to Rajysabha at the age of 32 and became one of the youngest members of Rajya Sabha.
Achievements
Member in the Preparatory Committee of World Federation of Democratic Youth in the year 1978
Active Participant in the formation of Cuban Solidarity Movement Represented India in the General Assembly of United Nations in the year 1997, Jana Munnetta Yatra which traveled over 500 km by foot. Participated and led many student and youth struggles, including activities against emergency.

PERSONAL DETAILS
Date of Birth : April 5, 1954
Birthplace : Prakkulam
Father : P M Alexander
Mother : Lilly Alexander

EDUCATION
Primary and UP School : Prakkulam LP School
High School : NSS High School, Prakkulam
College : SN College, Kollam
Educational Qualifications : Completed BA degree course in Political Science
Extra Curricular Activities : Participated in many Reading, Debates, Essay Competitions, elocution Competitions and winner of much recognition.
Football and Badminton Player
Areas of interest : Reading,
Languages known : Malayalam, English and Hindi (partially)
Wife : Betty Louis
Son : Ashok Betty Nelson

OFFICE ADDRESS
Room No.208, Second Floor,
North Sandwich Block,
Govt. Secretariat, Tthiruvananthapuram 1.
Ph. 0471 - 2327759, 2327561

RESIDENCE
Ushus
Cliff House Compound
Nanthancode, Thiruvananthapuram - 3
Phone : 0471 - 2725671, 2725673

PERMANANT ADDRESS
A 4, AKG Quarters, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
Phone Numbers 0471-2305731 (O)
0471-2468822 (R)
9447163453





Sri. KODIYERI BALAKRISHNAN

PORTFOLIOS
Home, Fireservices, Jails, Tourism, Vigilance, Integration

PROFILE
Son of Shri Kunhunni Kurup and Smt. Narrayani Amma; born at Kodiyeri on 16th November 1953; B.A.; Social, political and Trade Union Worker.

Entered Politics while a student; was an active worker of SFI; served as State Secretary, SFI. (1973-79 and Joint Secretary, SFI National Committee; was, President, DYFI, Kannur District Committee; Secretary, CITU Area Committee; Secretary, Toddy Tappers Union, Thalassey Range; Secretary, Lorry Drivers and Cleaners Union, Thalassery; Joint Secretary, Karshaka Sangham State Committee; Secretary, CPI (M) Kannur District Committee. Founder President of Thalassery Co-operative Hospital and Thalassery Co-operative Press; arrested under MISA and imprisoned for 16 months during the period of Emergency. Now CPI (M) State Secretariat Member; CPI (M) Parliamentary Party Deputy Leader.Previously elected to KLA in 1982 , 1987 and 2001. Now elected from Tellichery

Language known : Malayalam, English and Hindi
Wife : Smt. S.R. Vinodini
Children : 2 sons
Travels abroad : China, Cuba, UAE, Oman and Bahrain.
Hobby : Reading

OFFICE ADDRESS
Room No.216, Third Floor,
North Sandwich Block,
Govt. Secretariat, Thiruvananthapuram 1.
Ph. 0471- 2327976, 2327876

RESIDENCE
Munmohan Bunglow
Kowdiar, Thiruvananthapuram - 3
Phone: 0471 -2 2727842, 2727882

PERMANANT ADDRESS
Mottemal House
Moozhikkara P.O.,
Kannur.





Sri. A. K. BALAN

PORTFOLIOS
Welfare of Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes, Electricity

PROFILE
CPI-M Kuzhalmannam

Son of Shri. Kelappan and Smt. Kunhi; born at Nadapuram on 3rd August 1948; B.A., LLB; Advocate; Social and Political Worker.

Entered Politics through students movement; was the President and the Secretary of SFI State Committee; College Union Chairman, Brannan College, Thalassery (1973-74); Member, Calicut University Senate (1975-76); Actively participated in the strike for shift system in Colleges and for Thalassery University Centre; took lead in Nadapurram Thottilpalam – Thottukod Surplus land Agitation and imprisoned for 30 days in Kannur Central Prison. Elected to Lok Sabha from Ottapalam Constituency (1980-85); Member, Estimates Committee, Lok Sabha (1982 – 84); was first president of the district council, Palakkad (1990-92); served as Chairman, Kerala State Financial enterprises (1996-2001). Previously elected from Kuzhalmannam 2001

Now, Palakkad District Secretary, State Vice-President and National Working Committee Member of CITU; Member CPI (M) State Committee.

Languages known : Malayalam and English
Wife : Dr. P.K. Jameela
Children : 2 sons
Hobbies : Reading, Plamistry, Magic, etc
Literary activities : Writing Articles in Magazines and Dailies

OFFICE ADDRESS
Room No. 731
Ground Floor. Speakers Old Chamber
Govt. Secretariate, Thiruvananthapuram - 1
Ph; 0471-2335766, 2328440

RESIDENCE
Prasanth
Nanthancode
Thiruvananthapuram-3
Ph : 0471- 2313347,2312329

PERMANANT ADDRESS
Janani, Parakunnam, Palakkad – 678 001

Sri. BINOY VISWAM

PORTFOLIOS
Forest, Wild life protection,Environment, Housing

PROFILE
Son of Shri C.K. Viswanathan, Veteran Communist Leader and Ex-MLA and Smt. C.K. Omana; born at Vaikom on 25th November 1955; B.A. LLB; Writer; Political, Cultural and Trade union Worker.

Entered Politics through AISF; was AISF. Unit Secretary, Vaikom Government Boys High School; State President and All India Secretary of AISF; State Secretary, AIYF; served as Vice President, World Federation of Democratic youth and Head of its Asia Pacific Commission; Became CPI member at the age of 18; was Member, National Council of CPI (1992-98).

Served as Union Chairman, St. Paul’s College, Kalamassery; Member Krala University Union; Syndicate member, Cochin University of Science and Technology; Senate Member, Kerala Agricultural University; Director Board Member, KTDC.

Received several prizes in Elocution and Essay writings in University Youth festivals and Intercollegiate debates; Won ‘Ambassador of Friendship Among World Youth’ award instituted by the ‘Young Communist League’ of Soviet Union; also received ‘Banner of Youth Unity’, and ‘Diploma’ awarded by World Youth Federation.

Now working as Secretary, AITUC. Kerala State Committee; Editor, ‘Trade Union Magazine’ Published by AITUC; former Editorial Board Member, CPI State Executive; State office bearer of various Trade Union including Kerala State Transport Employees Union and All Kerala Milma Officers Federation.

Previously elected from Nadapuram in 2001.

Language known Malayalam and English

Wife Smt. Shyla C. George

Children 2 daughter

Travels abroad Visited 76 countries in Asia, Africa,

Europe and Latin America

Literary activities Was Editor, ‘Janayugam’ Kozhikode Edition. Now Editor, Trade Union Masika; written articles in English and Malayalam giving emphasis to the current Socio – Political issues; translated poems from foreign literature. published translated articles and speeches of Ho-Chi-Min and a book by Georgey Dimitrov.

OFFICE ADDRESS
Room No.501, Fifth Floor,
Secretariat Annexe, Thiruvananthapuram 1.
Ph.0471 - 2335366, 2326677

RESIDENCE
Nest
Cliff House Compound, Nanthancode, Thiruvananthapuram 3
Ph: 0471 - 2312330, 2312331

PERMANANT ADDRESS
Muthuchippy
Thndayadu,
Kozhikode, Pin-673 016



Shri. C. Divakaran

PORTFOLIOS
Food & Civil Supplies, Consumer Protection, Dairy Developments, Milk Co-operatives, Animal Husbandry

PROFILE
Son of Shri. C.K. Shivarama Panikkar and Ammukuttyamma; born at Manacaud in Thiruvananthapuram on 1945 March 29; B.A., B.Ed.

Joined CPI in 1964 and became a fulltime trade union leader. He was a teacher earlier and resigned the profession for joining fulltime politics. Jailed in connection with Job or Jail agitation. Serving as CPI National council member, CPI State secretariat member; AITUC State General Secretary, National Vice President.

Wife – Hemalatha (PRO, Sree Chitra Medical Centre), Children – 2, Travels abroad – China, Germany., Permanent Address – Deepam, Thottam, Manacaud, Thiruvananthapuram.

OFFICE ADDRESS
Room No. 131,
Second Floor, North Block
Govt. Secretariat,
Thiruvananthapuram 1
Ph: 0471- 2333254, 2333294

RESIDENCE
Xanadu
Vazhuthacaud,
Thiruvananthapuram 14
Ph. 0471- 2325200, 2322415


Shri.P.K. Gurudasan

PORTFOLIOS
Labour, Employment and Training, Rehabilitation, Factories and boilers, Insurance Medical Services, Industrial Tribunals, Excise, Cashew Industry, Labour Courts.

PROFILE
Son of Krishnan and Yesodha born on 1935 July 10 at Paravoor in Kollam District. After completing his school and college education joined in the communist party at the age of 19. When CPI (M) was formed in 1964 became the first secretary of the Chathannoor area committee. Jailed during the emergency period for 19 months in Poojappura Central Prison; a veteran trade union activist and leader, currently serving as State president of CITU and Central Committee member of CPI (M); was CPI(M) Kollam District Secretary from 1981 to 1998; serving as CITU National Vice President since 2003.

Wife – C. Lilly,
Children – 4.

OFFICE ADDRESS
Room No. 648,
Third Floor, Govt. Secretariat,
Thiruvananthapuram - 1
Phone ; 0471-2327135, 2326772

RESIDENCE
Kaudiar House,
Kaudiar
Thiruvananthapuram
Phone: 0471-2320451




Shri. ELAMARAM KAREEM

PORTFOLIOS
Industries (Including Industrial Co-operatives), Commerce, Mining and Geology, Handlooms and Textiles, Khadi and Village Industries

PROFILE
Son of Shri Ismalutty; born on 1st July 1953 at Elamaram; Pre-degree; Full time Political and Trade Union Worker. Jailed for one week during the agitation against the closure of Mavoor Gwalior Rayons Factory in 1985; participated in the march from Mavoor to Thiruvananthapuram, demanding reopening of that factory.

Now, Member, C.P.I.(M) Kozhikode District Committee; Secretary, C.I.T.U. Kerala State Committee; Secretary, All India Road Transport Worker's Federation; General Secretary, Kerala State Road Transport Worker's Federation; President, Mavoor Grasim Industries Workers' Union.

Previously elected to KLA in 1996 and now represents from Beypore. Languages known: Malayalam and English
Wife :Smt. Rahamath
Children : 2 daughters
Hobbies : Reading

OFFICE ADDRESS
Room No.522,
Second Floor, South Sandwich Block,
Govt. Secretariat, Tthiruvananthapuram 1.
Tel: 0471-2332868, 2327574,2327495

RESIDENCE
Malabar House,
Vellayambalam,
Tthiruvananthapuram

PERMANANT ADDRESS
Elamaram House, Perumanna P.O., Kozhikode District.


Sri. Mathew T. Thomas

PORTFOLIOS
Road Transport, Motor Vehicles, Water Transport, Printing and Statioonery

PROFILE
Son of Rev. T. Thomas; born at Thiruvalla; September 27, 1961; Graduate, completed Post Graduate Course; Social Worker.

Entered politics while a student; served as Member of Kerala University Union (1980-81) and Gandhiji University Union (1984-85); Secretary, National Service Scheme; Secretary and Speaker of Brain Trust; Hon. Secretary of YMCA, Thiruvalla (1981-82); Also served as Secretary of Kerala Prohibition Council; Member Janatha Party State Council; National Committee Member, Yuva Janatha. Earlier elected to KLA in 1987.

Languages Known : Malayalam, English

Wife - Smt. Sudha, Hobby - Reading, Permanent address - Thoompumpattu, Thiruvalla.

OFFICE ADDRESS
Room No.619,
First Floor, South Block,
Govt. Secretariat, Thiruvananthapuram 1.
Ph.0471- 2335866, 2333160

RESIDENCE
Thycaud House,
Thycaud
Thiruvananthapuram



Sri. PALOLI MOHAMMED KUTTY

PORTFOLIOS
Panchayats, Municipalities and corporations, Town Planning, Regional Development Authorities, Kerala Institute of Local Administration, Rural Development, Wakf & Haj Pilgrimage, Welfare of Minorities

PROFILE
Minister for Local Administration; born on 11th November, 1931 at Kodoor, Malappuram District; Upper Primary Education; Social and Political Worker.

Interested in politics while a student; became a Member of the Communist Party in 1951; Palakkad District Committee Members of the party from 1958; after the formation of Malapuram District, became the Party’s District Committee Member, District Secretary; actively participated in the Farmers Movement; worked as State Secretary and President of Kerala Karshaka Sanghom during different periods of Kerala Karshaka sanghom during different periods for 15 years; led the farmers rally in 1989.

Became president of the Puzhakkattiri Panchayat in 1964; served as Director Board Member of the K.S.F.E during 1987-91; was a Director of the Desabhimani Printing and Publishing Company; was a pioneer in the Library Movement in Malabar area; was the Secretary of Kottoor Chemmankavu Library for a long time; participating in various agitations; led an underground life for 16 months during emergency period;

Now, State Committee Member and Central Committee Member of the C.P.I. (M)

Elected to K.L.A in 1965 from Mankada, (that Assembly was not convened), in 1967 from Perinthalmanna and in 1996 from Ponnani- He served as Minister for LDF from 1996-2001.

Languages known : Malayalam
Wife : Smt. Khadeeja
Children : 2 son and 2 daughter
Travels abroad : China, Bahrain, UAE and Muscat
Hobbies : Reading and Social activities
Recreation Football, Watching Movies
Library activities Wrote and presented many political satires

OFFICE ADDRESS
Room No. 506,
Fifth Floor, Govt. Secretariate (Annexe),
Thiruvananthapuram -1
Phone:0471-2327895,
2327796

RESIDENCE
Asoka
Cliff House Compound
Thiruvananthapuram 3
Phone: 0471-2312326, 2313295

PERMANANT ADDRESS
Chattipparambu P.O., Kadoor, Malappuram District.



Sri. N. K. Premachandran

PORTFOLIOS
Irrigation, Command Area Development Authority Ground Water Development, Water Supply and Sanitation

PROFILE

Father's Name : Late N. Krishna Pillai
Mother's Name : Late Maheswary Amma
Date of Birth : 25 May 1960
Place of Birth : Navaikulam, Distt. Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala)
Marital Status : Married on 10 February 1991
Spouse's Name : Dr. S. Geetha, Tutor, NSS Homoeo Medical College, Changanassery.
Children : One Son, P.G. Karthik Studying in IXth at Infant Jesus School, Kollam.

Educational Qualifications

BSc. LLB Educated at F.M.N. College, Kollam and Government Law College, Thiruvananthapruam (Kerala), Ist Rank Holder – LLB – Kerala University, 1985.

Profession

Advocate, Political and Social Worker, Advocate and Trade Unionist

PERMANANT ADDRESS
‘Maheswary’, Rail Gardens, Cantonment P.O,
Kollam – 691001. (O) 0474 2769922,
(M) 9447799400
0471 – 2318601, 2317651

OFFICE ADDRESS
Room No. 532, South Sand witch Block, Secretariat, Thiruvananthapuram.
e-mail:minister-irrigation@kerala.gov.in

Positions Held – Official

1987-96 Member, Grama Panchayat, Navaikulam, Thiruvananthapuram District, Kerala.
1991-93 Member, Ist District Council, Thiruvananthapuram.
1992-95 Director Taluk Agricultural Development Bank, Kilimanoor.
1995 onwards Member, District Panchayat, Thiruvananthapuram.
1996 Elected to 11th Lok Sabha – Kollam Constituency.
1996-97 Member, committee on Science and Technology Environment and Forests.
1998 Re-elected to 12th Lok Sabha (2nd term)- Kollam Constituency.
1998-99 Member, Committee on Labour and Welfare. Member, Joint Committee
on Salaries and Allowances of Members of Parliament. Member, Consultative Committee, Ministry of Tourism.
2000 onwards Member, (Rajya Sabha)

Positions Held – Political

1. State President PSU
2. State Secretary RYF
3. State President RYF
4. National Secretary RYF
5. Member RSP National Secretariat
6. Member UTUC National Working Committee.

Positions Held – Trade Unions

1. General Secretary Travancore Mineral Workers Union
2. President Titanium Employees Union
3. President Cashew Workers Federation
4. President Mineral Workers Union
5. President Parvathy Mills Employees Union
6. President FACT Employees Union
7. President HMT Employees Union
8. President KAMCO Employees Union
9. President Cochin Refineries Employees Union
10. President Plantation Workers Union.

Literary, Artistic and Scientific

Accomplishment Contributed articles in periodicals
Social and Cultural Activities Member of various voluntary organizations, Involved in
organising library and other Connected activities.
Special Interest Keen Interest in delivering speeches]
Favourite Pastime and Recreation Cinema, Traveling, Reading and playing cards
Sports and Clubs Cricket, Football and Volleyball
Sri. K. P. Rajendran

PORTFOLIOS
Land Revenue, Land Reforms, Survey and Land Records, Legal Metrology

PROFILE

Son of Shri K.P Prabhakaran and Smt. K.R. Karthiyani; born at Thrissur on 3rd November 1954; B.A., LLB; Advocate; social, Political and Trade Union Worker.

Now, working as State Executive Member of CPI. Legislature Party Leader; State Secretary of AITUC; National Working Committee Member of AITUC; Member of various Sports and Cultural Organisations.

Previously elected to KLA in 1996 and 2001
Now elected from Cherpu.
Received Dr. Ambedkar Master Award

Personal Details

Language known : Malayalam and English
Wife : Smt. Ani
Children : 2 daughters
Travels abroad : Germany and Russia
Hobbies : Reading, Listening music and watching T.V
Recreation Gardening and Sports
Literary activities : Writing articles in Periodicals

OFFICE ADDRESS
Room No. 358 - B, First Floor, Main Block,
Govt. Secretariat, Thiruvananthapuram 1
Ph. 0471-2333176, 2332021, 2335366
email: minister-revenue@kerala.gov.in

PERMANANT ADDRESS
Kuttankulangara, Punkunnam P.O.,
Thrissur – 2


Sri. Mullakkara Ratnakaran

PORTFOLIOS
Agriculture, Soil Conservation, Soil Survey, Agricultural University Warehousing Corporation

PROFILE
Son of Shri. Purushothaman and Smt. Sulochana; born at Mullakkara, Chadayamangalam in Kollam District in 1955.

Became a member in Communist party in 1978; served as AIYF State President, Secretary; CPI Kollam District Asst. Secretary; now CPI State Secretariat member and in charge of CPI cultural wing. Jailed manytimes in connection with aggitations including Job or Jail strike.

Wife Geetha (School Teacher)

OFFICE ADDRESS
Room No.603, Sixth Floor,
Secretariat Annexe, Thiruvananthapuram 1.
Ph.0471- 2335466, 2335457
email: minister-agriculture@kerala.gov.in

PERMANANT ADDRES
Ragam, Ambalakkara, Chadayamangalam, Kollam.


Sri. S. Sharma

PORTFOLIOS
Fisheries, Harbour Engineering, Registration

PROFILE
Son of Shri Sekharan; born on October 24, 1954; S.S.L.C and ITI; Social and Political Worker.

Started political life through Students Federation (1972); involved in various agitations led by SFI and DYFI; served as District Secretary, DYFI (1984); Member, District Committee of CPI (M) (1985); State President of DYFI; State President of DYFI (1986); Central Committee Member, DYFI. Now served as State Committee Member CPI(M), Previously elected to KLA in 1987, 1991 and 1996. He served as minister for electricity and Co-operation from 1998 October to May 2001.

Languages known : Malayalam, English and Hindi
Wife : Smt. Asha
Hobbies : Reading

OFFICE ADDRESS
Room No . 149, Third Floor, North Block
Government Secretariat, Thiruvananthapuram -1
Tel: 0471-2332700, 2333059
Pabx Extn. 202
email: minister-fisheries@kerala.gov.in

RESIDENCE
Pournami, Cliff House Compound
Nanthancode, Thiruvananthapuram 3
Ph: 0471- 2313308, 2312349

PERMANANT ADDRES
Manappasseril House, Ezhikkara (P.O.), N. Parur.


Smt. P.K. SREEMATHI TEACHER

PORTFOLIOS
Health, Family Welfare,Medical Education,Indigenous Medicine, Drugs Control, Pollution Control, Homoeopathy, Naturopathy, Social Welfare

PROFILE
Daughter of Shri.T Kelappan Nambiar and Smt. P.K. Meenakshi Amma; born at Mayyil (Kannur) on 4th May 1949; Pre-degree; Worked as school Teacher; Active in Political and Social Work for over 3 decades..

Served as Standing Committee Chairpeson,Kannur District Council and also as President, Kannur District Panchayat from 1995 to 1997.

Now, State Secretary, All India Democratic Women’s Association and Member, CPI (M) Central Committee. Previously elected to KLA in 2001 from Payyannor. Now reelected from the same constituency.

Languages known : Malayalam, English and Hindi
Husband : Sri. Damodaran Nambiar. E
Children : 1 son
Travels abroad : London and Cuba
Hobby : Reading

OFFICE ADDRESS
Room No. 397 First Floor, Main Block,
Govt. Secretariat, Thiruvananthapuram-1
Phone:0471- 2335266, 2333833
email: minister-health@kerala.gov.in

RESIDENCE
Selma, Pandits Colony
Kuravankonam
Thiruvananthapuram

PERMANANT ADDRES
Edathil, Athiyadam
Pazhayangadi P.O., Kannur – 670 303


Sri. G. SUDHAKARAN

PORTFOLIOS
Co-operation, Coir, Devaswoms

PROFILE
Son of Shri. P.Gopalakurup; born at Vederaplavu ward of Thamarakulam on November 1, 1946; M.A., LLB.; Social, Political, Trade Union and Educational Worker.

Actively participated in politics while studying in College; was best Speaker and best Essayist among College and University Students of Kerala State; joined CPI (M) in 1967; became State Joint Secretary of Kerala Student Federation; first State President of SFI in January 1971;one of the first Members of the Central Executive Committee of SFI; office bearer of KSYF at State level and Alleppey and Quilon district level; participated in a procession against Emergency defying ban orders from University College to Secretariat on 1st July 1975; suffered police brutality and got imprisoned for 3 months under DIR in Trivandrum Sub-jail and Central Jail Was Alappuzha District President of CITU; District Secretary of Agricultural Workers Union and its State Treasurer; President, CITU Union of (1) Kerala Spinners Ltd., (2) Scooters Kerala, (3) KSDP; (4) Excel Glass; (5) Lorry
t ransport Union, Alappuzha District; (6) Kuttanadu Rice Cultivators Protection Convention; (7) Tagore Memorial Comparative Literature Society; was Member of Executive Committee of K.A.U. for 3 years; Syndicate Member of University of Kerala for 11 years (1984-95) and its Finance Committee Chairman for 5 terms; Member of Kerala University Central Co-operative Society; Member of Urban Development Bank, Alappuzha; Member, Agriculture Development Bank, Alappuzha; Kalarcode Co-operative Society; Kayamkulam Spinning Mill from 1986; First President of Alappuzha District Council (1991-94); was the Working Chairman of the Kerala University Golden Jubilee Celebrations Committee. Appeared positive writings on G. Sudhakaran in International literature like “Om-An Indian Pilgrimage” by Jeofery Moore House. General Convenor of All-India Vice – Chancellors Conference at Thiruvananthapuram in 1991; General Convenor of the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of the Foundation of Agricultural Workers Union, Kuttanadu; Secretary, CPI (M) in important Taluks of Kuttanadu and Ambalapuzha during 1980-82 and 1993-94; Chairman, Alleppey District Co-operative Spinning Mill, Kayamkulam from 1996 May onwards.

Arrested many times and put in lock up during 1967-74 in connection with student agitations, Cashew worker struggles and NGO-Teachers struggles.

Now State Committee Member, Alappuzha District Committee Secretary, and Secretariat Member of CPI (M). Earlier elected to KLA from Kayamkulam in 1996; Now elected from Ambalapuzha.

Languages known : Malayalam and English
Wife : Smt. Jubily Navaprabha
Children : 1 son
Hobbies : Reading, Writing, Setting Home Library, Watching Films, Sports and Games especially Football, Hockey and tennis

OFFICE ADDRESS
Room No.647, Second Floor, South Block,
Govt.Secretariat, Thiruvananthapuram 1.
Ph.0471- 2333091, 2333775
email: minister-cooperation@kerala.gov.in

RESIDENCE
Ajantha, Vellayambalam,
Thiruvananthapuram 10
Phone: 0471 -2317952, 2314503


Sri. Dr. THOMAS ISAAC

PORTFOLIOS
Finance, National Savings, Stores Purchase, Commercial Taxes, Agricultural Income Tax, Treasuries, Lotteries, Local Fund Audit, Financial Enterprises, State Insuarance, Stamps & Stamp Duties.

PROFILE
Son of Shri. T.P. Mathew and Smt. Saramma Mathew; born at Kottappuram, near Kodungalloor on 26th September 1952; Ph.D. in Economics; Economist; Political Worker.

Started Political activities while a student; Vehemently participated in the activities of SFI from 1971; was SFI office bearer of Ernakulam Maharajas College Union (1973-74); SFI Ernakulam District President (1974-80);SFI State Committee; Senior activities of Kerala Sasthra Sahitya Parished from 1977; Professor at the Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram; was State Planning Board Member from 1996 to 2001. Previously elected to KLA in 2001.

Published a number of articles on Economics, Planning and Politics in the leading Regional, National and International periodicals.Presented Lectures and Papers in National and International Conferences and Seminars like (1) Seminar Organized by ILO-A.RT.E.P. Held at Colombo (1993), (2) Institute of Social Science, New Delhi (1996), (3) Montclair State University Faculty Seminar (1998), (4) Colmbia University South Asian Institute Seminar (1998) (5) Conference on Decentralized Planning in Calcutta (1999), (6) Seminar held at Havens Centre University of Wisconsin, Madison (2000).

Published many books in Malayalam and English including (1) The Withering Coconut (1985), (2) Political Economy of Poverty (1985), (3) Economics Crisis in the Capitalist World (1987), (4) ABC of Political Economy (1987), (5) The World Bank and IMF (1988), (6) Kerala and Man (1998), [Won Kerala Sahitya Academy Award], (7) Science and Revolution (1989), (8) Political Economy of Surrender (1992), (9) Peoples Planning: Questions and Answers (1998), (11) Modernization and Employment: The Coir Industry in Kerala (with R.A.Van Stuijvenberg and K.N. Nair) (1984), (12) Local Democracy and Development: Peoples Campaign for Decentralised Planning in Kerala (with Richard W. Franke), (1) Democarcy at work in an Indian Industrial Co-operative: the story of Kerala Dinesh Beedi (with Richard W. Franke and Pyaralal Rraghavan) (1998). Now represents Mararikulam constituency.

Languages known : Malayalam and English
Wife : Sri. Nata Duvvury
Children : 2 daughters
Travels abroad : China, USA, UK, Srilanka, UAE, Norway Belgium, Netherlands, Thailand, and Sweden

Activities : Published a number of Articles and Books on Economics, Planning and Politics

OFFICE ADDRESS
Room No. 118, First Floor, North Block,
Govt. Secretariat, Thiruvananthapuram - 1,
Phone: 2333849, 2333772
email: minister-finance@kerala.gov.in

RESIDENCE
Rose House, Vazhuthacaud,
Thiruvananthapuram

PERMANANT ADDRES
A.K.G. Centre
Thiruvananthapuram


Sri. M. Vijayakumar

PORTFOLIOS
Law, Sports and Youth Affairs, Ports, Parliamentary Affairs, Post and Telegraph, Railways.

PROFILE
Son of Shri V. Madhavan Pillai; born at Nedumangad; October 5, 1950; B.A., LL.B.; Advocate and Political Worker.

Entered politics through student’s move­ments; led agitations against the bribe and corruption prevailing in Private Educational Institutions; actively participated in the struggle for parity in fee; took active part in the formation of S.F.I. in 1970 and D.Y.F.I. in 1980; served as District President, Secretary and State Secretary of the S.F.I.; District Secretary and State Secretary of D.Y.F.I.; was arrested several times; beaten by the police three times during the Emergency Period (1975-77); jailed for 4 months at Central Jail, Trivandrum during Emergency. Led Parliament March in September 15, 1981 raising the slogan “Education for all and job for all"; on December 20, 1982, led D.Y.F.I., which gheraoed the Secretariat and Collectorate for getting unemployment wages; led the Religious Harmony Parade in 1984; in August, 1986 actively participated in the 'way blockade' agitation for getting unemployment wages and recruitments to be made through P.S.C. and brutally beaten by the police.

Served as All India President of the DYFI. Now State Committee member and Trivandrum District Secretary of CPI (M). Previously he was elected to KLA in 1987, 1991 and 1996. He served as speaker of 10th KLA.

Languages known : Malayalam, English and Hindi
Wife : Smt. Sreekala.
Children : 1 Son and 1 daughter
Travels abroad : USSR, China, Thailand and Hong Kong
Hobbies : Reading, Recreation - Sports and Games
Literary activities : Editor of “Ahwanam” and “Yuvadhara” Monthlies

OFFICE ADDRESS
Room No. 118, First Floor, North Block
Govt. Secretariat, Thiruvananthapuram - 1
Ph. 2333460, 2333487
email: minister-law@kerala.gov.in

RESIDENCE
Lyndhurst
Devaswom Board Junction,
Nanthancode, Thiruvananthapuram - 3
Ph: 0471 - 2318602, 2314652

PERMANANT ADDRES
TC 25/1573, Puthenchantha, Trivandrum 11.
Shri. V. S. Achyuthanandan

Shri. RADHAKRISHNAN.K
Speaker

PORTFOLIOS
Welfare of Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes, Electricity

PROFILE
Son of Shri M.C. Kochunni and Smt. Chinna; born at pullikanam, Idukki District on 24th May 1964; BA; social and Political Worker.

Entered politics while a student; an active worker of SFI held positions in the organisation as Sree Kerala Varma College Unit Secretary, Chelakara Area Committee Secretary, Thrissur District Committee Member and Thrissur District Secretariat Member. In DYFI worked as Chelakkara Block Committee Secretary and Thrissur District Executive Committee Member; led students agitations against the Education Policy of the Government during 1982087 and brutally assaulted by the police; actively involved in the problems of Agricultural labourers and organised them and later elected as the President KSKTU. Chelakara Area Committee; Also involved in the activities of Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad and Literacy Movement.

lected to Thrissur District Council in 1991 from Vallathol Nagar Davison, served as Minister for the Welfare of Backward and Scheduled Communities from 1996 to 2001.

Now, member, DYFI State Committee and CPI (M) Chelakara Area Committee.

Previously elected to KLA in 1996 and 2001. Now Elected from Chelakara.

Languages known : Malayalam and English
Marital Status : Unmarried
Travels aborad : Russia and Cuba
Hobbies : Watching Sports and Cinema

OFFICE ADDRESS
Room No. 731, Ground Floor. Speakers Old Chamber
Govt. Secretariate, Thiruvananthapuram - 1
Ph; 0471-2335766, 2328440
email: minister-scst@kerala.gov.in

RESIDENCE
Prasanth, Nanthancode
Thiruvananthapuram-3
Ph : 0471- 2313347,2312329

PERMANANT ADDRES
Janani, Parakunnam, Palakkad – 678 001


Shri. Oommen Chandy-THE HONOURABLE LEADER OF OPPOSITION -KERALA LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY

PROFILE
Sri Oommen Chandy was the 19th Chief Minister of Kerala. He has served as the State Minister for Labour from 11.4.1977 to 27.10.1978; Minister for Home from 28.12.1981 to 17.3.1982; Minister for Finance from 2.7.1991 to 22.6.1994. He has been elected to Kerala Legislative Assembly in 1970, 1977, 1980, 1982, 1987, 1991, 1996, 2001and 2006(from Puthupally constituency). He has visited a number of countries like USA, USSR, UK, Germany, Rome, Austria, Netherlands, Switzerland, Kuwait, UAE, Doha and Maldives. He was born at Kumarakom in Kottayam on October 31, 1943.

RESIDENCE
Puthupally House, Jagathy,
Thiruvannathapuram
Ph: 2342602
MONS JOSEPH
Portfolio : Public Works.
Office : Room NO. 140, Second Floor, North Block
Govt. Secretariat, Thiruvananthapuram 1.
Residence Phone: 0471-2311238, 2729117
Mobile: 9447799300, 9447306270
Phone : 0471 - 2333350, 2333670, 232
Email : minister-pwd@kerala.gov.in


Son of Shri. O. Joseph and Smt. Mariamma Joseph, born at Aappanchira in Kaduthuruthy on 30th May 1964, M.A.LL.B, Advocate, Social and Political Worker.

Entered politics through K.S.C while a student. Was Chairman and General Secretary of K.S.C., Baselios College, Kottayam, President and General Secretary of Students Congress. Was President, Youth Front (J) State Committee and Kerala Congress Kottayam District Committee.

Was President, Post Graduate Students’ Association and Office bearer of various Trade Unions. Also served as Member, Kerala Youth Welfare Committee. Consumer Protection Committee, Mahatma Gandhi University Senate. Led many Students’ agitations.

Now, General Secretary, Kerala Congress State Committee, Member, LDF Kottayam District Liaison Committee, Gandhiji Study Centre Executive Council, President of Kerala Research Centre.

Previouly elected to KLA in 1996. Now elected from Kaduthuruthy

Languages Known : Malayalam, English & Hindi
Wife : Smt. Soniya
Children : One son and one daughter
Travels abroad : U.S.A., U.A.E and Switzerland
Hobbies : Reading and participating in elocution and debate competitions
Recreation : Volley Ball
Literary Activities : Writing articles in periodicals
Permanent Address : Narimattathumyalil, Poozhikol P.O.,Kaduthuruthy.

MALAYALIS-THE PEOPLE OF KERALA

People of Kerala-Malayalis

Malayalam is the language of Kerala. Keralites are popularly called "Malayalees" for the language they speak. The people of Kerala form a well educated society. Kerala is the first state in Indian with 100% literacy.

The women mostly dress themselves in those wonderful six meters of silk or cotton called SARI. The more convenient dresses like Churidar and Western fashion styles are popular among the younger generation.

The men mostly subscribe to trousers and shirt like the rest of the world. How ever you shouldn't be surprised if you find them dressed in the traditional "Kasavu Mundu", a three to four meter long cotton twin cloth with silk border, as formal dress and a colourful cloth called "Kaily" or "Lunky" at home as the informal dress. Mundu is more popular in the rural areas. The typical style of a Malayalee is "Mundu", top covered with a silk cloth called "Melmundu" and wooden slippers called as "Methiyadi". The very interesting thing about a Malayalee is his Moustache. Almost 90% of the men having a nice Moustache. It is very easy to identify a Malayalee. Most of the Malayalees love to have a nice Beard too.

Malayalees are living all over the world. About 2.5 million people, that means about 8% of the total population, in the Gulf Countries are Malayalees. Also a large number of Malayalees are employing in USA, UK and other European countries. A survey showing that about 30% of Computer Software professionals in USA are from India among them 20% are from Kerala.

A good joke about Malayalees is there which is very famous. When Neil Armstrong put his foot in Moon then he heard a sound "Choodu Chaya Kappy ..... Chaya Kappy" (in English - hot tea, coffee) there. (With in a short period we will provide jokes about Malayalees through this site).

The Hindus account for nearly 60% of the population. The rest of the 40% is almost equally divided between the Christians and the Muslims.

Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy. Exports and tourism also plays an important role.

The official language of Kerala is Malayalam but English too is widely spoken and is taught in schools and Universities. Malayalam is considered to be a very complete language it has 56 alphabets and many more vowels, making every word and accent in the world easily pronounceable to the Malayalees. Kerala is one of the most progressive state in terms of social welfare and physical quality of life. The matriarchal system here is a unique social heritage as the women of Kerala enjoy a better status than there counter parts else where in India.

The people of Kerala enjoy a unique cosmopolitan outlook, which is reflected in there tolerance towards other races and religions. So it has been called Kerala as "God's Own Country"

MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTION(MT)-OFFERING A BRIGHT FUTURE FOR TECH-SAVVY KERALITES

Medical Transcription – a high-end career in service sector
In the 1990s, there was a great deal of hype around expectations that the electronic medical record (EMR) and speech recognition (SR) would likely replace nearly all of medical transcription by the year 2000. To the distress of investors, developers, and early adopters, both EMR and speech recognition technologies saw dismal numbers as we rounded the millennium, while the medical transcription industry experienced considerable growth. Regardless of the promises, hopes, and advances of these new technologies and vendors, it appears that the replacement technologies may even be losing ground in the healthcare industry as some users retreat to the comfort of a process that has been around for generations – medical transcription.

Predicting the future of medical transcription in 2003 may yield results no different than those from the predictions in the 1990s. This author may have to follow the example of early fortunetellers and eat his words; however, it is again time to step up to the line, pick up the darts, and take aim at the target. It is hopeful that these predictions may come closer to the mark by learning from past projections, examining early replacement solutions, understanding the industry as it exists today, and making an objective and educated prediction on the evolution and longevity of the medical transcription industry.

PAST PROJECTIONS AND EARLY REPLACEMENT SOLUTIONS

Healthcare industry and technology experts, almost unanimously, predicted and believed that electronic medical record and speech recognition applications were sure to replace medical transcription as the primary, and in many cases, the only method of documenting the clinical encounter. Vendor marketing materials and salespeople went so far as to promise cost savings through the creation of paperless offices and increased practice efficiencies, increased revenues through higher coding, real-time access to data, and reduced personnel costs and headaches by “getting rid of the medical transcriptionists FTEs” (full-time equivalents).

Whether EMRs or speech recognition, the race was on to build the biggest and best set of products. Vendors competed to see who had the most bells, whistles, and flashing lights. Companies surfaced everywhere — either through new company birth or through mergers and acquisitions. In every product and with every vendor, developers all built their applications on the same basis. The industry believed that point of care documentation by the physician was the key to successfully delivering on the promises of reduced costs, increased revenues, and reduced FTEs. In all of the hustle and bustle, one very important factor was forgotten – the physician is central to both the delivery of care and, by industry creation, the immediate capture of data for the systems.

As physicians and organizations began to purchase these systems and try to implement them, an unexpected wrinkle emerged. Physicians who began using the systems found them difficult to learn, cumbersome, and significantly more time-consuming to document an encounter than dictation. Physicians are the foundation and conduit for the vast majority of all revenues in health care. These new technologies turned these revenue generators into data entry personnel and added cost center functions to the duties of the individual with the highest cost per hour.

Physicians quickly recognized that their productivity and efficiency were dramatically decreased — they were seeing fewer patients and still dictating records, all resulting in equal or higher costs, reduced revenues from fewer patients, and increased frustration and anxiety for themselves and their staff. Physicians also pointed out that real-time access to data was a nice benefit, if the data were there, but that they really only needed real-time access to historical data, which their paper charts easily provided. The wrinkle quickly became a canyon that has been nearly impossible to traverse.

These technologies have even seen some legal issues arise that have deterred adoption. Both EMRs and speech recognition use standardized content. It is well documented that creating and modifying a report using these technologies typically takes more time than physicians would like. Concerns exist that physicians may accept templates or predetermined “normal” values as is, rather than take the time to note the exceptions. This has led to overly standardized patient records and records that look exactly the same from patient to patient. Investigators have been concerned that exact and even very similar reports could mean that physicians aren’t documenting actual findings. These investigations have resulted in disciplinary actions against physicians.

Although adamantly denied by industry players, as the millennium neared its end, the EMR and speech recognition landscape had a dramatic new look. Of the hundreds of companies who were industry pioneers, the majority of them are lying on the roadside with arrows in their backs from unsuccessful products and unhappy customers. Finally, as the millennium turned, some companies began to acknowledge low industry penetration and user adoption and utilization.

However, denial still rears its head in some companies, as claims of users and installations are not always as portrayed. Still today, in 2003, the companies offering these products, who are considered the best in the industry and award winners, are charging off revenues as contracts with customers are canceled due to low or no user utilization.

Most current research and beliefs about EMR and speech recognition (SR) market penetration point to 5% to 8% for EMR and 1% or less for SR. Some industry experts contend that, in actuality, a current negative net exists as providers ceasing the use of these applications exceed the number that are purchasing and implementing them. Clarification is important here: these figures are for actual user utilization and not users registered on the system or simply using non-core functionality such as content, contacts, or general calendars.

Although riddled with low adoption, decreasing user bases, and floundering technologies, both the EMR and speech recognition systems do promise benefits in the future. As technologies evolve, processes change, and needs arise, these applications will, at some point in time, offer many of the benefits that were promised in the 1990s. History has shown that for these applications to succeed, they must not interfere with the physician’s ability to practice medicine. This author feels strongly enough about this prediction that, even as a transcription company executive, he recognizes the potential in the EMR industry and has founded a new technology company to build an EMR that addresses the problems of the past and focuses on physician clinical workflow as key to successful and mass adoption.

THE MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTION INDUSTRY TODAY

Today’s medical transcription industry eludes detailed definition. It has only been in the past several years that there have been any real attempts at examining the size of the industry. Even with these efforts, the industry size still escapes detailed examination and precise estimation. Although fairly well understood, attributes of the industry such as composition, technology position, personalities and concerns have received very little formal discussion. These attributes, along with industry size, are likely to hold important information that will help us to predict the future of the medical transcription industry.

Industry Size Within the past few years, the Medical Transcription Industry Association (MTIA), the industry’s vendor-centric association, conducted a survey for the purpose of determining the size of the industry. The results of the survey yielded a very large industry, but most felt the findings were substantially low. Questions abound around the method of the survey, classification criteria of the intended audience, and the organizational representatives who were presented with the survey. The survey was a brief telephone survey, segmented by small and large facility, and often directed to chief information officers (CIOs). Many believe that facility size should have had more and better distributed classifications, that CIOs were unlikely to know the cost of transcription for their facility, and that a fifteen to thirty minute survey likely resulted in guesses at the cost of transcription. Later, the survey results were adjusted much higher after reexamining the data. The resulting size of the industry was determined to be in the vicinity of $25 billion per year. Other methods of extrapolating the size in dollars of the industry yield a similar result and even show $25B to be a bit conservative. It is also generally accepted by transcription company executives that the industry is growing by an annual rate of 10% to 15%. Consensus is that this growth is due to increasing documentation demands to support reimbursement, risk management, and the need for more data. Of significant interest is the company size fragmentation of the industry. The medical transcription industry is the epitome of a “cottage industry”. The industry has one massive company with revenues at $400M, 3 to 4 companies with revenues each of $100M to $200M a handful of companies in the $10M to $100M range, and a couple of handfuls of companies in the $3M to $10M. The combined revenues of the $10M to $400M companies total between $800M and $900M. The remaining $24.1B resides with transcription departments, employee transcriptionists, individual contract medical transcriptionists, “mom & pop” transcription companies, and the 200 or so companies with revenues ranging from $500,000 to $3M. Industry Composition Again, the industry has not seen adequate research into the number of active medical transcriptionists. In the 1990s, the American Association for Medical Transcription (AAMT), the industry’s practitioner-centric association, estimated the number of medical transcriptionists in the industry at 250,000. Today, industry executives and experts feel this number, too, is a bit conservative. It is now believed that the industry is likely to have between 350,000 and 400,000 FTE transcriptionists, with the total number, including part-timers, near 500,000. Many also contend that there may be as many as 80,000 to 100,000 additional transcriptionists who have entered the market without adequate experience or education to obtain a job or who are working as interns or under mentors. Here too, “cottage industry” fragmentation can easily be seen as the largest transcription company in the industry has between 7,500 and 10,000 transcriptionists, then the employee base of the remaining transcription companies spirals downward to 4,500, then 2,500, then 1,500, ending with the companies with 1-5 transcriptionists. A very large number of transcriptionists still work as employees within provider organizations and many work as full-time provider employees and part-time or independently for transcription services or themselves. Industry Demographics Medical Transcriptionists Well above 90% female with an average age of 49 Most were on-the-job trained for years prior to the development of formal transcription curricula Majority of new entrants receiving too little education and/or training Retiring faster than qualified transcriptionists are entering the market The vast majority resides in the US; however, increasing quantities of entrants are from offshore including India ,Pakistan ,Philippines , the Caribbean, etc. Numerous quality problems suggest that a large number of offshore transcriptionists have language barriers or do not have adequate training or transcription/medical education. Upper Management – Companies larger than “Mom & Pop” Majority male with ages generally above 35 Most with at least a 4-year college education, management experience, and often moderate to good information technology knowledge. At least one with detailed HIPAA knowledge Likely to have corporate counsel for compliance issues Middle Management – Companies larger than “Mom & Pop” Mixed female and male with ages generally above 35 Most are likely to have some formal education and on-the-job training in transcription. Management - Mom & Pop Company or Contract Transcriptionist Majority female with ages ranging from 18 to 70+ Experience and education is hit and miss. Most are likely to have been on-the-job trained as a medical transcriptionist. Most likely to have a high school education and possibly some junior college or vocational technical school Some may have a 4-year college education A frightening number have as little as a few months of transcription education and no transcription experience of substance. Likely to have little or no HIPAA knowledge and many have inaccurate understanding of HIPAA. Participation in industry organizations is spotty at best. If you include the number of individual transcriptionists who claim to be a transcription company and mom and pop companies, MTIA probably has a membership of 1% of the industry’s companies. This number is not scientific and only speculative, as there is no way to formally determine the number of individual transcriptionist companies and mom and pop companies that exist. AAMT has less than 10,000 members and has seen several consecutive years of declining membership, resulting in a 1% to 3% representation of the industry participants. There is a notable history of conflicts between medical transcriptionists and their employers, whether healthcare providers or transcription companies. There have also been notable conflicts between medical transcriptionists and replacement technologies such as EMRs and speech recognition and between US-based transcriptionists and offshore companies. There is a valid basis for the medical transcriptionists’ positions and animosity. Medical transcriptionists have striven for increased respect from their employers. Early on, they were referred to as medical secretaries, then became medical transcribers, then medical transcriptionists, and in the past five years were designated as “medical language specialists”; however, the vast majority of the industry still refers to these practitioners as medical transcriptionists. In the past couple of years some medical transcriptionists have again begun looking at a new name. Medical transcriptionists’ animosity towards EMR and speech recognition technologies and vendors stems primarily from early claims by vendors that these technologies would “replace the medical transcriptionist”. Seeing threats to their jobs and livelihoods, medical transcriptionists have taken firm stands against companies offering these products. US transcriptionists also feel the threat to their livelihood from offshore transcription companies. Strong discussions attempting to curb the sending of work oversees are common in the industry. The majority of offshore companies wholesale their production to US-based transcription companies. Industry and Technology Just as new technologies are slow to penetrate healthcare providers’ operations and processes, technologies haven’t made much headway into the transcription industry either. For the most part, only the transcription companies larger than the “mom and pop” organizations have really integrated technology into their suite of services. Provider organizations with in-house transcription are also slow to adopt new transcription technologies, and many are using dated versions of their medical records systems. WordPerfect 5.1 is still one of the most widely used word processors in the industry. Whether using WP51, Microsoft Word, WordPerfect Office, or even occasionally WordStar, the majority of the industry has no standardization in production, format, indexing, or storage. The majority of the industry produces the transcription in the word processor alone, with no interfacing to practice management systems and no formal indexing or storage in databases. The files are typically stored in a flat word processor file and without a structured naming convention. It is also true that the majority of the industry still prints the transcribed documents for storage in paper form, comparatively few use or own more recent technologies that provide electronic storage, distribution, and signature. With this lack of specifically designed transcription software, concerns abound around the industry’s ability to protect patient privacy and provide audit trails of access to the patient information. Transcription is not the only function that is performed just as it has been for years. Vast amounts of dictation today continue to be recorded on microcassette tapes rather than new digital media, by microphone and recorder rather than telephone, etc. Even when digital recorders are offered to physicians and organizations free of charge, many of them still prefer to use “old faithful”: the tape and recorder. This slow migration to technology is due to two primary reasons — physician resistance to change, and more significantly, a transcription providers’ inability to provide new technologies. In some ways this slow migration may be a blessing in disguise. There are numerous documented and anecdotal accounts of transcriptionists providing services using new technologies without taking precautions to protect patient confidentiality. The average medical transcriptionist has minimal to no experience or understanding of important data security and privacy concepts, such as encryption, firewalls, authentication, and access controls. Even outside of these new technologies, there have been accounts of medical transcriptionists sending patient files via email to unintended recipients. Concerns about the Present Industry Industry experts, provider organizations, and many physicians have numerous concerns about the current condition of the medical transcription industry. These concerns are based on valid issues and are increasing in intensity. Diminishing Labor Force and Quality Today, forty-nine is the average age of the medical transcriptionist. Many medical transcriptionists are retiring due to age and health problems like carpal tunnel syndrome. As these transcriptionists retire, the new entrants are typically far from qualified to fill the void. Large numbers of transcriptionists have fallen prey to the “quick way” advertisements and transcription curriculum. Many (of course not all) online schools and at-home courses fail miserably to adequately teach the student even close to what is needed to get a job, and few do a good job. Some courses are as short as nine weeks. One physician recently commented, “Nine weeks turns someone into a risk to my practice; they think they know enough, but aren’t even 5% prepared for the quality of work I need from them. I spend more time answering questions and fixing errors than I would if I typed all of my own reports.” Online and at-home courses are not the only problem with the educational process for medical transcription. Even the many of vocational technical schools aren’t preparing their students properly for a career in medical transcription. Many medical transcription curriculums last no more than nine months and have as few as one class in transcription and no classes in English. Even the most basic understanding of the career is often left out of vocational, online, and at-home courses. A medical transcription certification (CMT) is available from the Medical Transcriptionist Certification Commission (MTCC). There are just a few thousand transcriptionists who have been able to successfully obtain their CMT. Many say that the CMT test is harder than the registered nurse (RN) nursing licensure examinations. It concerns many in the industry, that “graduates” of vocational, online, and at-home courses often are of the belief that they have their CMT. The unwary employer or physician may not realize that they have only obtained a certificate of completion of the course. Trusting that a graduation certificate is a CMT could lead to dire circumstances for patients and physicians. It is also of great concern that many of these “graduates” enter into the industry without ever hearing about HIPAA. As schools fail to present such an important regulation in health care, physicians are the unfortunate recipients of medical transcriptionists who are not prepared to adequately protect a patient’s privacy. This becomes a significantly larger concern as many new “graduates” enter their transcription career as a “transcription business owner”. Running their business without an inkling of how to meet HIPAA requirements puts everyone at risk. Although a new labor force is emerging in offshore companies, major concerns exist over the quality of work coming from these companies and how this may increase the risk to patients and physicians and how it is likely to increase susceptibility to malpractice. There are numerous accounts of transcription that is filled with errors, many of which are clinically significant. Although a few offshore companies are producing quality work, the remaining can’t deliver on their promises of quality. Independent tests have found that claims of 98.5% accuracy are regularly contradicted and, in some cases, accuracy rates of 60% were found. HIPAA It wasn’t long ago that self-proclaimed transcription industry experts stated that HIPAA would not have any effect on the medical transcription industry. Either in a state of denial or ignorance of the law, many transcriptionists and mom and pop companies have continued on their existing course of providing medical transcription. It is only now that many in the industry are realizing the fact that they must comply. Many providers are concerned that the majority of the transcription industry will not be able to meet several specific requirements: namely, access controls, policies and procedures, and audit trails of access to the patient information. Without the knowledge or resources to comply, many in the industry are claiming to comply and signing their business associates agreements without taking the measures required. Many will argue that they only have to sign the documents and that most of the regulations don’t apply to them; however, many attorneys are expecting that civil litigation will result from their lack of action. Some may claim that if the transcriptionist or transcription company didn’t offer compliance while signing agreements that they have compliance, this action would constitute fraud and the signer would have sole responsibility. However, trial lawyers are already predicting that physicians’ ignorance will not be a defense and that the patient/physician contract obliges physicians to verify that their business associates have complied with the regulations. Trial lawyers also state that a physician’s failure to select and use a compliant transcription company is likely to constitute negligence and expose the physician to litigation under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). These lawyers make it a point to comment that their position is strengthened by the fact that physicians “have no excuse” not to choose a company that more than adequately meets all the HIPAA requirements. They cite the fact that choosing a compliant company is as simple as picking up the phone book or getting on the Internet. Mom and pop companies and individual transcriptionists are not the only ones who face major compliance issues. Many providers overlook their own transcription departments and employee transcriptionists. Providers are now rushing to bring these systems and individuals into compliance. Providers who use offshore companies are facing an unusual twist on the HIPAA issue. Offshore companies are not subject to US regulations, but the physicians who use them are. Of the hundreds of new offshore transcription companies popping up each year, it is expected that only a few of the established companies have met the necessary requirements regardless of their claims. Many providers are concerned that if a patient requests access to their records and the entities who produce or maintain their records, as provided by HIPAA, the patient’s or agent’s inability to access the facilities offshore or the physician’s inability to unequivocally verify that the offshore company is in compliance will lead to charges of noncompliance and litigation. Professionalism While transcription departments and reasonably sized transcription companies operate within the expectations of normal business operations, it has been found that a huge number of independent transcriptionists who claim to be a transcription company and a large number of mom and pop transcription companies operate their businesses in a manner that may put themselves and their physician clients at risk. More often than not, these “companies” lack most or all of the typical elements of running a business. They were found to be operating their “business”: Without Using A business license A computer that is used to surf the web Liability insurance A computer that is used by others in the household including children Property insurance Family members to assist in various duties including sorting, delivery, etc. Errors & omissions insurance A taxpayer ID Adequate home security Adequate computer security Regard for confidential information Technological Immaturity Plain and simple — the bulk of the industry doesn’t produce transcription using advanced technologies or structured data. HL7 and XML are unknown to the large majority of the industry. Digital equipment and electronic signature have little penetration. INDUSTRY FUTURE AND EVOLUTION The longevity of the transcription industry is likely to depend on its ability to evolve to meet the dynamically changing healthcare environment. Evolution, Recognition, Acceptance, and Industry Longevity The medical transcription industry has shown poor success in adapting to change over the past ten to fifteen years. Regardless of the position or beliefs of the industry, there will come a time within the next three to seven years where technologies like the EMR and SR will begin to make significant penetration into the healthcare market. It is not likely that that they will fully penetrate the market within seven years, and medical transcription may never fully disappear, as there will always be some need for freedom of expression. If the transcription industry does not recognize the opportunities and accept transition to new technologies, its demise will be more rapid. Medical transcription, its companies, and its labor will have opportunities to become involved in these new technologies. Transcription companies can become service bureaus for speech recognition or may evolve into EMR companies. Transcriptionists can move into similar positions as editors, template designers, etc. Transcription itself could become the catalyst to advance the movement of the EMR. Industry Size It is unlikely in the short term that the industry will see a reduction it its size. In fact, the industry could see substantial growth over the next three to five years. Even as EMRs and SR begin to take hold, there is likely to be an increased demand for transcription due to increases in documentation to support reimbursement and risk management. Furthermore, it is likely that the relationship between handwriting of charts and medical errors will be studied just as handwritten prescriptions were studied by the Institute of Medicine. The study would likely reveal risks associated with illegibility of the handwriting, loss of charts, and lack of usable data. Evidence continues to mount that the values of square footage and infrastructure are much higher when they are generating revenue than when they are used in a cost center such as transcription. As this evidence continues to mount, more providers will outsource their transcription and the ratio of dollars, number of transcriptionists, and distribution between in-house and outsourced will change. The industry as a whole is likely to see its growth to as much as $35B in the next five years. Need for Data Industry associations, researchers, federal and state governments, and patients are all recognizing the need for more “useable” health data. Data really aren’t usable unless they can be electronically processed to assist in monitoring, decision support, diagnosis, research, and so on. Transcription is already an excellent source of data. This source will become more useful as new technologies like XML and natural language understanding (NLU) evolve. It is important for the industry to adapt to the needs for this data. It is not likely that mom and pop companies and independent transcriptionists will be able to implement technologies that support the data acquisition. This lack, combined with other issues, will likely result in independent transcriptionists and mom and pop companies joining the employee ranks of larger transcription companies. Rather than rebel against this trend, transcriptionists should recognize that the many entities driving this need for data will are not likely to be patient and to accommodate them for the sake of their job independence, especially when the quality of care is likely to be increased by the increase in data. One alternative does seem to appear however, and that is application service provider (ASP) transcription. ASP transcription products have, for the most part, been miserable failures. Their business model sought to get revenues from all sides: the transcriptionists, the physicians, and the data (via data mining). With new business models, ASP transcription businesses could provide methods and technologies that would allow independent transcriptionists and mom and pop companies to remain independent while providing standardized and structured data to the resources that desire it. Industry Standardization Ultimately the industry must begin standardizing, including file structures, document formats, and interfaces. This standardization will provide benefits to patients, research, physicians, and others. The industry should adopt the principles outlined in the Report from the Consensus Workgroup on Information Capture and Report Generation, which can be accessed on the Medical Records Institute’s website (www.medrecinst.com). For optimal information capture and report generation, it is important to establish a set of documentation principles to be implemented on a national/international basis. The Report recommends that all healthcare documentation must meet the following “Essential Principles of Healthcare Documentation.” Unique identification of patient Systems, policies, and practices should: Provide unique identification of the patient at the time of recording or accessing the information Provide within and across organizations: Simple and easy methods to identify individuals and correct duplicate identities of the same individual. Methods to distinguish among individuals, including those with similar names, birth dates, and other demographic information Linkages between different identifications of the same individual Accuracy Systems, policies, and practices should: Promote accuracy of information throughout the information capture and report generation processes as well as during its transfer among systems Require review to assure accuracy prior to integration in the patient’s record Include a means to append a correction to an authenticated document, without altering the original Require the use of standard terminology so as to diminish misinterpretations Completeness Systems, policies, and practices should: Identify the minimum set of information required to completely describe an incident, observation, or intent Provide means to ensure that the information recorded meets the legal, regulatory, institutional policy, or other requirements required for specific types of reports, e.g., history and physical, operative note Link amendments to the original document, i.e., one should not be able to retrieve an original document without related amendments (or vice versa) or notification that such amendments exist and how to access them Discourage duplication of information Discourage non-relevant and excessive documentation Timeliness Systems, policies, and practices should: Require and facilitate that healthcare documentation is done during or immediately following the event so that: Memory is not diminished or distorted. The information is immediately available for subsequent care and decision-making. Promote rapid system response time for entry as well as retrievability through: Availability and accessibility of workstations User-friendly systems and policies that allow for rapid user access Provide for automatic, unalterable time-, date-, and place-stamp of each: Documentation entry, such as dictation, uploading, and scanning (original, edits, amendments) Access to the documentation Transmittal of the documentation Interoperability Systems, policies, and practices should: Provide the highest level of interoperability that is realistically achievable Enable authorized practitioners to capture, share, and report healthcare information from any system, whether paper- or electronic-based Support ways to document healthcare information so that it can be correctly read, integrated, and supplemented within any other system in the same or another organization Retrievability Systems, policies, and practices should: Support achievement of a worldwide consensus on the structure of information so that the practitioner can efficiently locate relevant information. This requires the use of standardized titles, formats, templates, and macros, as well as standardized terminology, abbreviations, and coding. Enable authorized data searches, indexing, and mining Enable searches with incomplete information, e.g., wild card searches, fuzzy logic searches Authentication and Accountability Systems, policies, and practices should: Uniquely identify persons, devices, or systems that create or generate the information and that take responsibility for its accuracy, timeliness, etc. Require that all information be attributable to its source (i.e., a person or device). Require that unsigned documents be readily recognizable as such Require review of documents prior to authentication. “Signed without review” and similar statements should be discouraged Auditability Systems, policies, and practices should: Allow users to examine basic information elements, such as data fields Audit access and disclosure of protected health information Alert users of errors, inappropriate changes, and potential security breaches Promote use of performance metrics as part of the audit capacity Confidentiality and Security Systems, policies, and practices should: Demonstrate adherence to related legislation, regulations, guidelines, and policies throughout the healthcare documentation process Alert the user to potential confidentially and security breaches[2] Technological Advancement Over time the transcription industry must embrace advancement of technologies. These technologies will evolve to increase efficiency, decrease turnaround time, increase accuracy, and support data capture. While many of these technologies exist today (such as digital dictation and electronic signature), several technologies are still on the horizon. Although natural language understanding is showing promise, it still has issues that will take time to resolve. Natural language understanding will enable physicians to use their transcription in ways never before possible. Today’s methods of producing transcription are a clutter of systems, applications, and processes that cannot be represented with ease. To remain a viable industry, it must adapt to the changes, fine-tune the methods, and simplify the overarching processes. Figure 1 shows a simplified high-level process of producing transcription while capitalizing on new echnologies. Figure 1: A simplified high-level process of producing transcription Legislative Acceptance and Compliance HIPAA is not likely to be the only legislation to affect medical transcription. Patient privacy, with compliance required by April 14, 2003 , has already begun to show movement in the transcription industry. The final security regulation is likely to affect transcription even more as it will require that the chain of trust and its security requirements are far more robust than currently exist in the majority of the transcription industry today. Independent transcriptionists and small companies should consider complying fully today with patient privacy to prepare them for security. If they are not able to comply, they should consider taking employment with a company that is compliant. Medical transcription is a fairly unique industry as transcriptionists go into the career with the intent of being an independent business. Physicians should be watchful for other responsibilities and liabilities that can arise as a result of HIPAA noncompliance or using a company that is not compliant. Physicians should weigh the risks and consider avoiding civil litigation by: Bringing their transcription department or employee transcriptionist into compliance Verifying a transcription company’s or independent transcriptionist’s compliance Don’t take their word for it. If they don’t meet and preferably exceed requirements, the physician’s choice is simple — provide resources and financial assistance to bring them to compliance, bring transcription back in-house, or switch to a company that is already compliant. It would be better to exceed compliance requirements than put themselves at significant risk of litigation and large civil damages. Verifying that transcription is produced in the US If it is produced offshore, verify compliance rather than taking their word for it. If it cannot be verified, weigh the risks of facing verification of compliance, bringing transcription back in-house, or switching to a compliant service. Centralization The industry must be prepared to centralize its resources as more providers outsource transcription to free up space and migrate from individuals and mom and pop companies to larger companies. The industry will need to support changing demographics and distribution of transcriptionists as more companies of substantial size are formed and transcriptionists become employees rather than their own boss. CONCLUSION The transcription industry survived and actually grew when it had been projected to dwindle to almost nothing. We are again challenged to predict the future of this very large and established industry. We should recognize that technologies such as EMRs and SR will continue to advance. This advancement will likely yield systems that are more user friendly and address previous problems with adoption. However, our prediction is not as aggressive as those of the past. The transcription industry is likely to increase in size over the next few years. It will see centralization of labor and resources in response to technology, production, and legal issues. As technologies move forward, proactive and visionary companies will adapt their services and business models to take advantage of the changes and insure the companies’ longevity. As provider needs and demands for data and services change and increase and as legislative issues continue to surface, those players who don’t adapt to the system or accept changes in their career are likely to be put out in the cold. The transcription industry will never fully disappear; however, it will take a very different form in the next three to five years, begin to diminish in size in five to seven years, and be much smaller in seven to ten years.

KERALA-SOME GLOWING FACTS AND FACETS

Kerala, better known as ‘God’s Own Country’ is bounded by the Arabian Sea on the west and the Western Ghats on the east. The states of Karnataka in the north and Tamil Nadu in the east are Kerala's immediate neighbours. Geographically Kerala is divided into three regions:

• Highland or Mountain region
• Midland or the rolling hills
• Lowland or the coastal plains

There are 44 rivers flowing through Kerala, most of them are small and entirely fed by the Monsoons. The Kerala Backwaters, an interconnected system of brackish water lakes and river estuaries, lies behind the coast and runs virtually the length of the state.

Kerala came into existence on Novemebr 1, 1956 with Thiruvananthapuram as the capital
Major Achievements
First Indian State to achieve universal literacy.

The first in India to implement land reforms.

State with highest life expectancy.

State with lowest birth rate.

State with lowest infant mortality.

Only state with hospital facility in every village.

State in which the communication infrastructure is the highest in the country.

Kerala is picked by National Geographic as ‘50 Places of a Lifetime’

Population and General Information

Area ( in sq.km)


38,863

Population


3,18,41,374

Males


15,468,614

Females


16,372,760

Sex ratio : Females/1000


1058

Sex ratio : Females/1000


1058

Density of Population


819

Per Capita Income 2002-2003 (in Rs)


25,764

Literacy rate


90.86%; Male 94.24%; Female 87.72%

Principal Language


Malayalam

Coast line in km.


590

Water bodies area in ha.


108,760

Forest area in ha.


1,081,509

Parliament Constituencies


20

Assembly Constituencies


140

No of Districts


14

No of Taluks


63

No of Revenue Divisions


21

No of Rural Blocks


152

No of Villages


1467
The modern State of Kerala was formed by the amalgamation of three regions, the Kingdom of Thiruvithamcoore (Travancore), the Kingdom of Kochi (Cochin) and Malabar District. Thiruvithamcoore and Kochi, former princely states, were merged to form Thiru-Kochi on July 1, 1949. Thiru-Kochi was merged with Malabar District and Kasargod taluk of South Kanara District to form the State of Kerala on November 1, 1956, based on the recommendations of the State Reorganisation Commission set up by the Government of India.

Modern Kerala was created in 1956 when Malabar, which had been part of the Madras Presidency, was merged with Travancore and Kochi. The latter two were princely states, distinguished in that they had concerned themselves with the education and provision of basic services to the residents of their Kingdoms. The first Assembly elections in Kerala took place in 1957 and the first elected Communist government of Asia came into power headed by Shri. E.M.S.Namboothirippadu. The radical reforms introduced by that government in favour of farmers and labourers changed the social order which prevailed in kerala for centuries to a great extent.

Kerala is divided into 14 districts. They are (from north to south) Kasargod, Kannur (Cannanore), Wayanad (Wynad), Kozhikode (Calicut), Malappuram, Palakkad (Palghat), Thrissur (Trichur), Ernakulam (Cochin), Idukki, Alappuzha (Alleppey), Kottayam, Pathanamthitta, Kollam (Quilon) and Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum). Thiruvananthapuram is the state capital. Kochi is the largest city and considered the commercial capital of the state.

Malayalam is the official language of Kerala. The state also has a large Tamil-speaking population. The major religions followed in Kerala are Hinduism (56.1%), Islam (24.7%), and Christianity (19%). Kerala also had a tiny Jewish population till recently, said to date from 587 BC when they fled the occupation of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. The state has many famous temples, churches, and mosques.
Kerala has a rich tradition in the arts, both classical and folk. In addition to the classical art forms like Koodiyattom (UNESCO Human Heritage Art), Kathakali, Kerala Natanam, Koothu, Mohiniyaattam Thullal, Padayani and Theyyam, Kerala has several folk art forms performed by people in various regions of the state. The region also has a tradition of Christian and Muslim performing arts. Malayalam Cinema is another mode of artistic expression.

In music, the dominant classical stream is Carnatic music, the classical music of South India. Travancore king and music composer Swathi Thirunal was instrumental in popularising Carnatic music in Kerala. Kerala has its own music system called Sopanam which is a slow, step-by-step rendition of raga based songs. This is the music style used in Kathakali.

Kerala also has a unique and varied heritage in the percussion instruments genre. Classical styles of percussion music known as 'Melam' ( major categories are 'Paandi', 'Panchari') are performed using the unique Kerala instrument 'Chenda' during temple festivals. These are performed by large ensembles of percussion artists numbering up to 150 in numbers, each performance lasting up to 3 to 4 hours. Another major percussion ensemble of Kerala is 'Panchavadyam' consisting of 5 percussion instruments, again played by around 100 artists in major festivals. In addition to these major percussion orchestras, there are other varieties of percussion instruments / percussion methods associated with different folk and classical art forms of Kerala - all of them unique and found to be used only in this region.

Apart from such performing arts, Kerala has made its mark in fine arts as well. Modern Indian art scenario is blessed with the presence of Kerala.

Kerala ranks highest in India with respect to social development indices such as elimination of poverty, primary education and healthcare. Kerala was declared the world's first "baby-friendly state" under WHO-UNICEF's Baby Friendly Hospital initiative. The state is known for Ayurveda, a traditional system of medicine which has found a new market in the growing tourist industry.

As per the 2001 census, Kerala is the only state in India with a female-to-male ratio higher than 0.99 (the ratio for Kerala is 1.058 while the national figure is 0.933). It is the only state in India to have sub-replacement fertility.

The literacy rate in Kerala is the highest among Indian states, and so is the unemployment rate. Education and early influences of Arabs, Jews, Chinese and Portuguese have also made Kerala one of the most religiously diverse states in India.

Kerala has an ancient solar calendar called the Malayalam calendar which is used by various communities primarily for Agricultural related activities and religious functions. Kerala has its own form of martial art, Kalarippayattu. Theyyam and Poorakkali are popular ritual arts of North Malabar, the northern part of Kerala. Oppana is most popular among Mappilas,the Muslim community in Malabar. Onam, associated with the legend of Mahabali is a state festival, but Keralites celebrate many other religious festivals, including Eid-ul-Fitr, Christmas, Easter, Deepavali and Vishu.

The economy of Kerala is predominantly agrarian in nature. In terms of per capita GDP and production Kerala lags behind many Indian states, but in terms of the Human Development Index and the standard of living of the people, Kerala is well ahead of most of the rest of India. In fact, in certain development indices Kerala is on par with some of the developed countries. This paradox is often termed the “Kerala Phenomenon” or “Kerala model of development” by experts and is mainly due to the state's strong service sector.

Kerala's economy can be best described as a socialistic welfare economy. However, Kerala's emphasis on social welfare has also resulted in slow economic progress with few major industries. Remittances from Keralites working abroad, mainly in the Middle East, make up over twenty percent of State Domestic Product (SDP).

Agriculture is the most important economic activity. Coconut, tea and coffee are grown extensively, along with rubber, cashew and spices. Spices commonly cultivated in Kerala include pepper, cardamom, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg. Much of Kerala's agriculture is in the form of home gardens.

Kerala is a popular tourist destination for both domestic and foreign travellers. Among the tourist attractions are great beaches, serene hill stations, wildlife sanctuaries and beautiful Kerala Backwaters, as also the marvel of Kerala building art revealed in many landmark structures that dot the landscape.. National Geographic Society described Kerala as one of the 50 must-see destinations of a lifetime. Kochi, the commercial capital of the state is known as the Queen of the Arabian Sea. Alappuzha, the first planned town in Kerala is called the "Venice of the East". Tourism plays an important role in the state's economy. (For more details please visit www.keralatourism.org).

The livestock sector plays a vital role in the economy of Kerala, and offers great potential for alleviating poverty and unemployment in rural areas. The majority of livestock owning farmers are small and/or marginal or even landless. In view of its suitability for combination with the crop sub-sector and its sustainability as a household enterprise with the active involvement of the farm women, livestock rearing is emerging as a very popular supplementary vocation in the small farm segment. Rural women play a significant role in the development of the livestock sub-sector and are involved in operations such as feeding, milking, breeding, management, health care and running micro-enterprises. It is estimated that about 32 lakh (3.2 million) out of the total number of 55 lakh (5.5 million) households in Kerala are engaged in livestock rearing for supplementing their income. The homestead settlement pattern, the relatively high level of literacy - particularly among women, the highly favourable agroclimatic conditions conducive for biomass production and the long tradition in livestock rearing are inherent strengths which the Kerala economy possesses in favour of livestock rearing.

Road network in Kerala has the distinction of achieving connectivity to all the villages in the state. Length of roads in Kerala is 145704 km (4.2 percent of that in India). Kerala has 4.62 km of road per thousand population, against the national figure of 2.59 km.

Traffic in Kerala has been growing at a rate of 10 to 11 percent every year, resulting in excessive pressure on the roads. Total road length in Kerala increased by 5 percent during 2003-2004. The road density in Kerala is nearly four times the national average, and is a reflection of the unique settlement patterns in the State.The National Highway network in Kerala is 1524 km, only 2.6 percent of the national total. There are eight National Highways in the State.

KERALA-THE NEW INDUSTRIAL HOT-SPOT OF SOUTH ASIA

KERALA-INDIA'S MOST ADVANCED SOCIETY
Kerala, the progressive land with immense opportunities for investors, bestows an investor-friendly environment with well-structured policies and pioneering initiatives. The world-class infrastructure and the support make way for a successful venture. Among the leading commercial and trading centres of India, Kerala offers conducive environment for setting up any industry.

ADVANTAGES OF KERALA

* Strategic Location
* Easy Accessibility
* Excellent Communications Network
* Highly Skilled Manpower
* World Class Infrastructure
* Total Support
* Extremely Low Operating Costs
* India's Most Advanced Society

This is what the rest of the world is saying about Kerala:

"Best Performing State"
-Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India

"One of the 10 exotic Paradises in the world and one of the 50 'must-see' destinations of the world"
- National Geographic Traveler

"One of the 10 best sites in India"
- PC World (about www.keralatourism.org, the official site of the Department of Tourism, Kerala)

Kerala has had a commendable record in terms of the Physical Quality of Life Index. Indicators of PQLI like infant mortality (13%), female literacy (86%), and life expectancy at birth for males (69) and females (72), are well above all India levels. The major reason for this achievement is Kerala's focus on the service sector. About 37% of the total annual expenditure of the State is earmarked for health and education. Another reason for this is the existence of a larger network of health infrastructure with 961 primary health centres and 5094 sub centres.

Transport system

The public transport system in the state consists of government buses, private buses, taxis and autorickshaws. Almost every nook and corner of the state is connected by a road network. Three National Highways - NH 47, NH 17 and NH 49, link the state with other parts of the country. There are around 200 railway stations and 101 train services connecting the state to almost all major cities of India.

Inland water transport system is available in the districts of Kollam, Alappuzha, Kottayam and Ernakulam. Boats are used in certain areas for public transport. Under consideration is an inland waterways project for linking the southern and northern tips of the state.

The airports in the state are the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport, the Kochi International Airport and the Karipur Airport at Kozhikode. Along with Indian Airlines other private airlines too operate services through these airports to different destinations. Thiruvananthapuram boasts of a number of international flight connections.


Strategic Location

Strategically located midway on the corridor connecting Europe and the Far East countries, the entire State of Kerala is one extended urban neighbourhood.



Easy Accessibility

The State has three airports, all operating International flights. The Container Port of Kochi has the most modern facilities, and is one of the best natural harbours in the world. There is no congestion at the port; it is increasingly sought after as a port-of-call for cruise ships.

Communication Network

Kerala provides high international connectivity and instant data transfer facilities. Investment bases such as Technopark, even provide an in-campus dedicated satellite earth station, which offers global information links that are quite inexpensive.

What is more, Kerala is one of the only two locations in India where both the optic fibre submarine cables SEA-ME-WE-3 and SAFE converge, giving superb Global Connectivity at unbelievably low rates.

In addition, Kerala not only has the highest tele-density, but also the highest penetration of optic fibre cable in the country. Kerala also comes across as the cell phone circle with the highest density in India, with an unparalleled connectivity across 70 different towns. Even in the most remote part of Kerala, state-of-the-art digital exchanges provide voice communication to every nook and corner of the world.



Manpower

Kerala has the highest literacy rate in the country and it offers educated and trained manpower in abundance. Several reputed universities and a wide range of technical institutes such as the College of Engineering, Trivandrum and the Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management, churn out world class engineers, scientists, technicians, analysts and programmers, making Kerala the most dense cluster of Science and Technology personnel in India.



World Class Infrastructure

In order to promote the core competency areas of Kerala, dedicated sector-specific industrial parks are rapidly being set up across the State. These parks offer walk-in-and-manufacture environments with state-of-the-art, infrastructure, thus making locating industry hassle-free.
Technopark - Trivandrum is a glittering example in the above stated scenario.

Kerala-The Preferred Industrial Destination
Power Tariff Lowest
Water Tariff Lowest
Water Quality Good
Telecommunication Network Throughout the state
Air-connection An airport can be reached in less than two and a half hours from anywhere in the State
KINFRA Export Promotion Industrial Park - Common Facility

KINFRA Apparel Park - Common Facility

Total Support

In order to promote industrial growth, the Government of Kerala offers a host of pro-active policies and pro-enterprise incentives. The Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation provides total support and single-window-clearance facility.



Low Operating Costs
Compared to other competitive locations, start-up costs are substantially low; almost as low as 75% in walk-and-manufacture environments like Technopark. Low starting salaries, along with low rentals, power, water and transport tariffs keep operating costs minimal



India's Most Advanced Society

The living standard of Keralaites too is high when compared to the national level. With a population of about 30 million, the state is India's most progressed society in terms of education, literacy and health. In fact, Kerala has the highest Physical Quality of Life Index (PQLI) in India and the highest Human Development Index.

With highest literacy rate in country, highest life expectancy, least population growth, lowest infant mortality, Kerala, not surprisingly, has been adopted by the world bodies as the role model for developing countries.

ECOTOURISM- THE KERALA STYLE

Ecotourism in Kerala


Ecotourism is a growing area in the tourist friendly state of Kerala. Ecotourism in Kerala has taken off in a big way because Kerala has many destinations known for their natural beauty and exquisite landscape. Kerala is one of the greenest destinations in India. The landscape is covered with coconut palms in the coastal areas. The paddy fields shimmer with the emerald green of new shoots. The banana plantations are filled with the whisper of waving green banana leaves. The tea plantations are a green blanket that cover the hill ranges as far as the eye can see, in the Western Ghats in Kerala and the backwaters are fringed with Pandanus plants that trail the tips of their long leaves in the rippling water, as you float by. You can appreciate the verdant beauty of Kerala on Kerala tours with Kerala backwater.


The wildlife sanctuaries of Kerala are popular ecotourism destinations. Tourists from all over the world come to see tigers, elephants, deer and animals native to the Malabar region, such as the Nilgiri Tahr, in the wildlife sanctuaries of Kerala including Periyar, Wynad, Silent Valley and Eravikulam wildlife sanctuary on Kerala tours with Kerala Backwater.

In recent times the rubber plantations and tea estates have also opened their doors to tourists who travel to Kerala, seeking a green getaway. The Portuguese, Dutch, French and English colonial rulers of Kerala established the plantations of Kerala during colonial times. The crops they introduced to Kerala include rubber, grown for its latex, and tea - England's favorite drink. These crops grew and flourished in Kerala's pleasant climate. Sheltered from the sun by tall trees, the plantations and their lodges, offer tourists a relaxing getaway on Kerala tours. You can visit the plantations of Kerala on ecotourism vacations in Kerala.

Some of the ecotourism attractions that you will see on Kerala tours with Kerala Backwater are:

Rubber Plantations in Kerala

Tea Plantations in Kerala

Spice Plantations in Kerala

BACKWATER HONEYMOON IN KERALA-WHAT AN IDEA

Honeymoon in Kerala Backwaters



Begin your life together with an unforgettable journey to a green paradise, when you enjoy a honeymoon in Kerala Backwaters. Imagine you and your loved one relaxing on a houseboat and floating along a tranquil Kerala Backwater. Feel as if you're the only people in the world as you travel through the placid waterways. Hear no voices other than the murmur of rippling water, the whisper of the wind rustling among the palm fronds and the sound of birds calling as they fly across an azure sky. Lie back and count the stars in the velvet sky of the tropical night, as you anchor on the banks of a Kerala backwater.

Wake up and see breath-takingly beautiful countryside on your honeymoon in Kerala Backwaters. The fertile green land, abundant sparkling water and clear blue sky come together in harmony, in the mesmerizing scenery of Kerala Backwaters. Visit the beautiful destinations of Kumarakom, Vembanad, Kuttanad and Cochin, when you travel with Kerala Backwater. Lie back on your houseboat and trail your fingers
through the warm ripples of the backwaters, where the river and the sea combine. Take a boat cruise in Cochin harbor and see the sun sink below the horizon, as the Chinese fishing nets form delicately beautiful silhouettes on the backdrop of the vermilion sky, on your honeymoon in Kerala Backwaters.

Be amazed by the natural beauty of the landscape around you in Kerala backwaters. Verdant paddy fields shine with an emerald glow in the early morning sunshine. Bright new banana leaves and palm fronds sway in the breeze, children laugh and wave as you pass by on your houseboat, and the lives of the local people, in the villages along the Kerala backwaters, continue in a timeless flow of the river of life.

Flow along with the backwaters of Kerala and experience a journey like no other, when you enjoy a honeymoon in Kerala Backwaters. Build a lifetime of memories of your journey together, through a Garden of Eden in God's Own Country.

PRACTICING YOGA IN THE SERENE BEAUTY OF KERALA

Yoga in Kerala


Yoga is a way of life, a philosophy of living that strives for balance between the mind, body and spirit and seeks to maintain all these aspects of a person in a healthy and active state. The word Yoga means union and suggests the union of the body, mind and spirit. Yoga as it is commonly practiced around the world is called Hatha Yoga and was formalized by the sage Patajali in his work the Yoga Sutras. Patanjali is therefore known as the Father of Yoga. You can learn more about Yoga in the land of its birth - India, on Kerala tours with Kerala Backwater.


Hatha Yoga consists of a series of postures or asanas, which provide flexibility to the body and tones its muscles. The combination of various asanas can provide a complete workout and provide both physical and mental relaxation. The concentration and mental discipline as well as the breathing exercises of Yoga are an essential part of the practice of Yoga. The Ashtanga Yoga devised by Guru Patanjali is a complete plan for the holistic development of an individual. These eight steps are Disciplined Behavior (Yama), Self Purification (Niyama), Bodily Posture (Asana), Breath control (pranayama), Sensual control (Pratyahara), Concentration (Dharana), Meditation (Dhyana), Absolute state of tranquility and eternity (Samadhi). Feel the power of Yoga on Kerala tours with Kerala Backwater.

Today there are various schools of Yoga around the world, including Iyengar Yoga and Bikram Yoga. The practise of yoga by celebrities has added to its popular image. Asanas such as Savasana which produces a state of relaxation and Suryanamaskara, which involves stretching all the muscles of the body in a prayer to the Sun God, are of tremendous help in combating stress and keeping the body flexible.
You can experience the healing powers of yoga in yoga ashrams in Kerala, on Kerala tours with Kerala Backwater.

The advanced practitioner of yoga can control his or her blood pressure, and yoga has been proved to help patients with diabetes, hypertension and arthritis. The healing powers of yoga, when practiced correctly with the help of a guru can help you achieve a better union of mind, body and spirit.

Some of the Yoga Centers in Kerala which you can visit on Kerala Tours with Kerala Backwater are Ayur Health Center Fort, Sivananda Ashram, Neyyar Dam, Sivananada Yoga Vedanta Centre in Trivandrum; Kollam Yoga Kendra, Uilyakoil, Jawahar Balabhavan and Holistic Eastern Advance Research Temple (Heart) in Kollam; and Prajapahi Yoga center, Kacheripady, Life Yoga Center, Edapally, Adithya Yoga Institute, Thrikkakara, Pathanjali Naturopathy & Yoga Clinic, Kaloor and Kerala Yoga Centre, in Kochi, Kerala India. You can feel the holistic positive energy of yoga in these yoga ashrams in Kerala.

ETHNIC KERALA CUISINE-A REAL TREAT TO ANYBODY'S TASTEBUDS

CUISINE OF KERALA Kerala is known worldwide as a wonderful tourist destination. The backwaters, beaches and hill stations of Kerala are known for their calm and serenity, which provide a relaxing holiday in God's Own Country. Kerala Backwater offers tours to Kerala, India, that showcase the best of Kerala. One of Kerala's popular attractions is its delicious Kerala cuisine.


Kerala is a coastal state, it is a covered with emerald green paddy fields and has plantations where spices that have been exported worldwide for centuries, are grown. Add to this mixture a touch a coconut and a bunch of bananas and you're halfway to a recipe for Kerala cuisine, which you can try on Kerala Backwater tours.

The cuisine of Kerala is characterized by the use of coconut, either chopped or grated and used as garnishing, coconut milk or paste is used to thicken gravies and coconut oil is used for cooking. Breakfast specialties of the cuisine of Kerala are usually made from ground rice and pulses that are steamed or fried in different ways. "Puttu", a dish of steamed rice powder is a popular breakfast. Garnished with coconut and eaten with stew, curry, or bananas, Puttu is best eaten by hand, though it can be eaten with a spoon. Traditional south Indian specialties, such as dosas, idlis, sambhar and uttapam are part of the breakfast cuisine of Kerala, which you can enjoy, when you travel on Kerala tours with Kerala Backwater. Typically Kerala breakfast dishes include "Vallepam" - a frilly pancake made from fermented rice paste, cooked in a curved pan and served with stew or coconut milk. Also called hoppers, Vallepam is also made with egg and meat curry.


Lunch and dinner are similar in the cuisine of Kerala. Rice is the staple diet of Kerala, India. A typical lunch or dinner meal would consist of rice, dal - a gravy made of pulses, various seasonal vegetables cooked with coconut and different spices for flavor, a seafood curry and a sweet dish for desert, such as "payasam or "pradaman." Sweet dishes are usually made using rice, milk, sugar or jaggery and bananas and cooked to form a thick custard like consistency.

Seafood is very popular in Kerala and consumed with every meal. Various fish including sardines, mackerel, tuna, rays and shark are eaten, as are crabs, mussels and oysters. "Karimeen" or fried fish is a popular dish as is fish curry called "Fish Moilee."

Various locally available vegetables such as tapioca, cassava and yam form part of the cuisine of Kerala. Seasonal fruit such as papaya, jackfruit, mangoes and lime are eaten at different times of year. Bananas and coconut are available year round and are a staple of the Kerala diet. The refreshing juice of the tender coconut is a delightful drink, which you can enjoy on Kerala Tours with Kerala Backwater.

Apart from meals, various snacks are part of the cuisine of Kerala. These include banana chips, murku (friend rings made from a batter of rice, pulses and spices), shakaruperi (banana chunks coated with jaggery and ginger) and various kinds of halwa (thick pudding made from flour and sugar and flavored with fruits), which are eaten during the day. The best Kerala cuisine can be had during the festival of Onam. A grand lunch called "Sadya" is the highlight of Onam day.

Two of the integral constituents of Kerala cuisine are

Coconuts in Kerala

Bananas in Kerala

BEACHES OF KERALA-NATURE'S GIFT TO GOD'S OWN COUNTRY

Beaches in Kerala



Kerala is known throughout the world as one of the world's best beach destinations. The beaches of Kerala are beautiful stretches of clean sand, fringed by swaying palm trees on one side and rippling waves on the other. You can have a memorable beach holiday on the beaches of Kerala on Kerala tours with Kerala Backwater.

Relax on the golden sands of the beaches of Kerala, stretch out in the shade of the rows of palm trees along the beaches, drink the refreshing juice of a tender coconut and have an ayurvedic masseur, treat you to an ayurvedic massage while on Beach tours of Kerala. Feel completely rejuvenated after a tour of the beaches in Kerala with Kerala Backwater.

Some of the best-known beaches of Kerala that you will see on beach tours of Kerala with Kerala Backwater are:

Kovalam Beach: Consisting of three crescent shaped beaches, called Lighthouse, Hawah and Samudra Beaches, Kovalam is one of the best beaches in Kerala with golden sand, waving palm trees and rolling waves. Have fun at Kovalam on Kerala beach tours with Kerala Backwater.

Varkala Beach: Located 40 km from Thiruvananthapuram, Varkala Beach is a calm sandy beach with a background of rocky cliffs. Known as the Papanasam beach, this beautiful locale is situated near a 2000-year-old temple and a popular Ayurvedic treatment center.

Kappad Beach: Located 16 Km from Kozhikode town, Kappad Beach is known throughout Kerala as the site where Vasco do Gama, the Portuguese explorer, landed in 1498, beginning a new era in the history of Kerala.

Marari Beach: Named after Mararikulam, a nearby fishing village, Marari beach is located between Cochin and Alappuzha. The beaches here are breathtakingly beautiful with long stretches of pristine beaches fringed with graceful palm trees. You can see fisher folk from the fishing village practice their traditional occupation while on Marari Beach in Kerala.

Bekal Beach: Bekal Beach is located 14 Km from Kasargod. This beautiful beach in Kerala has the well-preserved Bekal Fort as a backdrop, with a hill slope, rocky coast and then a stretch of beach leading down to the sea.

AYURVEDA-THE KERALA CONNECTION

Ayurveda in Kerala


Ayurveda is an age-old system of healing that has been practice in India for centuries. Ayurveda means "the Science of Life" and is practiced widely in Kerala. Ayurveda is a holistic system of healing which treats the body and mind and brings about complete rejuvenation. You can discover a younger and more refreshed you, after Kerala Ayurveda tours with Kerala Backwater.


In the Ayurveda philosophy all living organisms are made up of five elements. These are called Panchamahabhutas and are earth, water, fire, air and vacuum. When these five elements are in harmony, a body is in a state of good health. When the harmony of these elements is disturbed the body is in a state of negative health and requires the intervention of Ayurvedic therapy. Massage is the most common form of Ayurvedic therapy. Essential oils and extracts of healing herbs are used in the formulation of various oils. The application of these oils to the body by the trained hands of a Kerala Ayurveda masseur can provide relief to the patient from stress and various physical ailments such as sprains, spondylitis, back injuries and joint and muscle injuries. Experience the healing powers of Ayurveda on Kerala Tours with Kerala Backwater.


Some of the various Ayurveda therapies are Abhyanga, Dhara, Elakizhi, Nasyam, Pizhichil, Njavarakizhi, and Udhwardhanam. These are various ways of applying ayurvedic medications and remedies to the body of the patient. Ayurveda is gaining popularity worldwide as a holistic and natural form o treatment and as an effective alternate form of healing. Ayurveda can also be used to effectively treat lifestyle condtions such as stress and chronic fatigue syndrome. You can try the time-tested methods of Ayurveda on Kerala Tours with Kerala Backwater.

There are many ayurvedic resorts in Kerala including the famous Kottakal Kerala Arya Vaidya Shala and the Somateertham Ayurvedic Resort. Most hotels and spas in Kerala offer Ayurvedic therapies and Ayurvedic masseurs offer their healing touch along the beaches of Kerala.

BACKWATERS -A UNIQUE FEATURE OF KERALA

Backwaters in Kerala


The backwaters in Kerala are a world of serenity and wonderment. The coastal regions of Kerala have a network of waterways, inlets from the sea, estuaries of over forty rivers, lakes and natural canals connecting coastal towns. This interlinked body of waterways is known as the backwaters in Kerala. Over 900 Km of the Kerala backwaters are navigable and have been used for centuries by the local people for transportation. You can travel on these waterways on a traditional houseboat and enjoy the scenic beauty of the backwaters in Kerala, while on Kerala tours with Kerala Backwater.


The backwaters of Kerala have a unique ecosystem - freshwater from the rivers meets the seawater from the Arabian Sea in the backwaters in Kerala. Many unique species of aquatic life including crabs, frogs and mudskippers, water birds such as terns, kingfishers, darters and cormorants, and animals such as otters and turtles live in and alongside the backwaters in Kerala. Palm trees, pandanus shrubs, various leafy plants and bushes grow alongside the Kerala backwaters, providing a green hue to the surrounding landscape. You can see the amazing flora and fauna of the backwaters in Kerala, while on Kerala tours with Kerala Backwater.

The fisher folk and people who live along the backwaters in Kerala have a unique relationship with the Kerala backwaters. The backwaters in Kerala are the source of the local people's livelihood. The fish caught from its waters, the paddy, coconut and other crops harvested along its banks, the boats they build and use to transport them across the labyrinthine backwaters in Kerala, are all an integral part of their traditional way of life. You can see the traditional lifestyle of the backwaters in Kerala on tours to Kerala with Kerala Backwater.

BACKWATER DESTINATIONS OF KERALA

Kerala Backwater Destinations



Kerala has over 900 Km of interconnected waterways, rivers, lakes and inlets that make up the Kerala backwaters. In the midst of this beautiful landscape there are a number of towns and cities, which are the starting and end points of Kerala backwater cruises. These Kerala backwater destinations are a mixture of historic and modern towns and scenic holiday getaways in the backwaters of Kerala. Tourists from all over the world come to these Kerala backwater destinations to see their scenic attractions.

Some of the scenic Kerala backwater destinations that you can see on Kerala tours with Kerala Backwater are:

Cochin: This historic port city called "the Queen of the Arabian Sea," is known for its natural harbor. Consisting of a cluster of islands Kochi as it is now known, is the starting point for many Kerala backwater cruises and has many historic buildings, making it one of the most popular Kerala backwater destinations.

Alappuzha: This Kerala Backwater destination is also known as the "Venice of the East," because of its surrounding waterways and canals. Alappuzha, previously known as Alleppey, is famous for the annual Nehru Trophy Snake Boat race held here every year, around the festival of Onam. Large Snake boats called" Chundanvalloms" propelled by teams of rowers compete for the trophy instituted by Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minster of India.

Kasargod: Kasargod a town in North Kerala is known for the Valiyaparamba stretch of backwaters, an incredibly beautiful and green corridor along the coast of Kerala. You can travel through this scenic backwater on Kerala backwater destinations tours with Kerala Backwater.

Kollam: Situated just over 70 Km from the capital of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam is an ancient seaport on the banks of the Ashtamudi Lake. The cruise from Kollam to Alappuzha, which lasts eight hours, is a magical ride along the scenic backwaters of Kerala. Kollam is also known as the "Gateway to Kerala's Backwaters."


Kottayam: Kottayam in Kerala is known for its fascinating backwaters on the seacoast and beautiful hills further inland. Crops such as rubber are grown in plantations in Kottayam district. You can see the backwaters and plantations of Kottayam on Kerala tours with Kerala Backwater.

Kozhikode: Kozhikode in North Kerala, is an important port, previously known as Calicut. Calico - a variety of checked cotton cloth derives its name from Calicut. It was at Kappad beach just 16 km from Kozhikode, that Vasco da Gama landed in Kerala in 1498.

Kumarakom: Situated in the beautiful Vembanad Lake, Kumarakom is a paradise on Earth. The bird sanctuary, the scenic beauty and the tourist resorts along the backwaters make Kumarakom one of the most sought after Kerala Backwater destinations.

Kuttanad: Known as the "Ricebowl of Kerala" Kuttanad brings to mind images of verdant paddy fields. A unique feature of Kuttanad is that the fields are below sea level and are barricaded from the surrounding backwaters by earthern bunds similar to the dykes of Netherlands.

Thiruvallam: Located 6 Km from Thiruvananthapuram, Thiruvallam is a beautiful backwater destination at the conjunction of two rivers - the Killi and the Karamana and near the scenic Veli Lagoon.

Thiruvananthapuram: The capital of Kerala, previously known as Trivandrum, is a starting point for your tour of Kerala Backwater Destinations. Thiruvananthapuram is also known for its museums, Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple and proximity to the beautiful Kovalam Beach.

ONASADHYA -INIMITABLE DELICACY OF KERALA-MALYALI CUISINE AT ITS BEST

ONASADHYA-A REAL TREAT



Onasadhya is the most delicious part of the grand festival called Onam. It is considered to be the most elaborate and grand meal prepared by any civilisation or cultures in the world. It's a feast which if enjoyed once is relished for years.

Onasadhya is prepared on the last day of Onam, called Thiruonam. People of Kerala wish to depict that they are happy and prosperous to their dear King Mahabali whose spirit is said to visit Kerala at the time of Onam.

Legend goes that Mahabali who was so attached to his people that he requested Gods to allow him to visit Kerala every year. People of Kerala wish to convey that they are enjoying the same age of prosperity as was witnessed during the reign of King Mahabali by preparing a grand Onasadhya.

Rich and the poor, everybody prepares Onasadya in a grand fashion as people of Kerala are extremely devotional and passionate when it comes to Onasadya. So much so that, it has lead to saying, 'Kaanam Vittum Onam Unnanam'. Meaning - men go to the extend of selling all their possessions for one Onam Sathya.

The Meals
Rice is the essential ingredient of this Nine Course Strictly Vegetarian Meals. All together there are 11 essential dishes which have to prepared for Onasadya. Number of dishes may at times also go upto 13. Onasadya is so elaborate a meal that it is called meals, even though it is consumed in one sitting. Onasadya is consumed with hands, there is no concept of spoon or forks here.

Traditional Onam Sadya meal comprises of different varieties of curries, upperies - thigs fried in oil, pappadams which are round crisp flour paste cakes of peculiar make, uppilittathu - pickles of various kinds, chammanthi - the chutney, payasams and prathamans or puddings of various descriptions. Fruits and digestives are also part of the meal.

The food has to be served on a tender Banana leaf, laid with the end to the left. The meal is traditionally served on a mat laid on the floor. A strict order of serving the dishes one after the another is obeyed. Besides, there are clear directions as to what will be served in which part of the banana leaf.

These days Onadaya has toned down a little due to the urban and hectic living style. Earlier, Onasaya used to be even more elaborate. There were about 64 mandatory dishes - eight varieties each of the eight dishes. At that time three banana leaves were served one under the other to accommodate all the dishes. How exactly they were accommodated in the tummy..is a food for thought!

How is it Served
There is a distinct order of serving the the grand feast of Onam. Pappad or Pappadum is to be served on the extreme left. On top of the big pappadum banana is served. The banana can be 'Rasakadali', 'Poovan', 'Palayankodan'. From the right pappad - salt, banana wafers, sarkarapuratti fries are served. After this, ginger lime and mango pickles are served. Next comes 'vellarika', 'pavakka', beetroot and 'ullikitchadi'. 'Kitchadi' made of pineapple and banana splits or of grapes and apple is served along with this. On the right, 'cabbage thoran' is served. Then comes a thoran made of beans and avil followed by bread and green peas mix 'thoran'. The meal will be complete with the 'avial' and 'kootu curry'.

Rice is served when the guests seat themselves and just two big spoons is considered enough. After this 'parippu' and ghee is poured. Then comes Sambhar. Desserts are to begin with adaprathaman followed by 'Kadala Payasam'. This colourful arrangement on the lush green banana leaf makes the food look even more tempting and irresistible .

Hold on...Be a little patient....you need to wait a little before you start gorging the lip smacking meal. There are some rituals which need to be followed. First full course meal is served for Lord Ganapathi in front of a lighted oil lamp (Nila Vilakku). This is in accordance with the Malayalese trend of starting everything in the name and presence of God.

More About the Meal
For a better understanding of the Onasadhya meal let us now go through all the dishes in a little more detail. If that temps you too much, take a look at the recipes section and enjoy your Onam whenever you want.

Erissery
This is either prepared from pumpkins/red beans or from yam and raw bananas cubes. The spices used in this include split green chillies, ground coconut, cumin seeds, turmeric and red chillies. Erissery is seasoned with mustard seeds spluttered in oil. This is a main stay for the occasion, though not very popular these days.

Kalan or Pulisseri
This is prepared from buttermilk. Ingredients consist of sliced plantains called nenthra-kaya and yams or chena. These are boiled in water with salt and chillies. It is flavoured with ground coconut and mustard seeds spluttered in oil. Some even add cucumber cubes to Kalan.

Olan
Olan is prepared from sliced cucumber and brinjal. Sometimes pulse is also added. They are boiled in water with salt and no chillies. When properly boiled, some fresh coconut oil is poured. The dish is seasoned with flavour kariveppila (curry leaves).

Aviyal
This is kind of a mixed vegetable as all sorts of available vegetables are added to it. All vegetables are first boiled in water with salt and chillies. Tamarind and well ground pulp are added at proper time. Aviyal is flavoured with coconut oil and Kariveppila.

Thoran
Thoran is prepared by slicing beetroot and several other vegetables into very small pieces. These are then boiled in water with some salt and chillies till all the water dries up. Water can also be strained away. For seasoning, ground coconut pulp and mustard fried in coconut oil is used.

Mulakoshyam
This resembles olan. It is a special Onam delicacy from the state of Kerala and has been recently added to Onam Sadhya.

Koottukari
This is a curry consisting of a variety of vegetables and some Bengal gram. It differs from Aviyal as it does not contain tamarind.

Sambar
This is an extremely popular recipe from South India and relished by the whole of India. It consists of dal and a variety of vegetables like brinjal, drum-sticks, pavakkai (bitter gourd), etc. All vegetables are first boiled in water with salt and chilies. Tamarind is also added to enhance the taste. Other spices like coriander, cumin seed etc. are fried in oil and powdered. Sambhar is flavoured with mustard seeds and asafoetida.

Pachchati, Kichchati

These are types of curry consisting chiefly of cucumber, mustard and sour butter milk or curds. In Kichchatim, young and tender cucumber is added

Rasam
This lip smacking recipe is prepared from tomatoes treated with tamarind juice. It is seasoned with bay leaves and mustard seeds spluttered in oil. Some people take rasam with rice. Rasam also helps in digestion.

Payasam
This is an extremely delicious dish and is a sort of pudding. It is prepared from boiled potatoes mixed with molasses and coconut milk. The mixture is flavoured with spices. There is another type of payasam called 'Pal Payasam' in which rice is boiled with milk and sweetened with sugar.

Prathaman
There is a whole variety of Prathamans such as ata, pazham, parippu and palata prathamans.

Beverages
A special drink is prepared for Onam in which water is boiled with a combination of cumin and dried ginger (chukku). This is beneficial from health point of view.

Upperi or Chips
Upperi is prepared from various things like raw bananas (kaaya), yam (chena), jack fruit (chakka), bitter gourd (pavayka) and egg plant fruit (vazhuthanga). Slices of the ingredient are fried in coconut oil to a crisp condition.

Pickles (Achaar)
These are prepared well in advance of Onasadhya. Pickles are chiefly made from mango, lemon, ginger, chillies and curry naranga.

Pappads (Pappadam)
These are prepared from black grams and are fried in oil. Pappadams are usually served in three sizes - small, medium and large.

Fruits
Chiefly plantain fruits of various kinds are served along with other articles of food at meals.

ONAM SONGS(ONAPPATTUKAL)-REVELATION OF CULTURAL RICHNESS OF KERALA

ONAM SONGS(ONAPPATTUKAL)



There is a rich collection of Malayalese folk and traditional songs to be sung during the grand carnival of Onam. These Onam songs are collectively called Onappaattu. The songs are being religiously carried forward from one generation to other as people take great delight in singing them.

Music loving people of Kerala have created songs for every major event of the festival. Onappattu help to add colour to Onam. It is a treat for eyes and ears to watch young men and women, sing melodious songs dressed in their traditional attire.

Onam Songs in Praise of King Mahabali
As Onam is celebrated to welcome the spirit of legendary King Mahabali, most of Onam songs are centred around him. Traditional folk songs extol the reign of King Maveli when everyone was happy and prosperous. English translation of one such popular folk song goes like :


' When Mahabali ruled the land
Everyone was equal
Happily they lived
Danger befell none
There was no falsehood, or fraud
And no untruth.'

These lines aptly portray the golden era witnessed in Kerala's most loved king, Maveli's rule.

On the last and the main day of Onam, Thiru Onam, special Onam songs are sing in praise of King Mahabali. It is believed that the spirit of King Mahabali visits the state of Kerala on this day. English version of an extremely popular song says, "Long live Maveli, the bringer of peace and happiness."

Another captivating Onam song goes like this -


"Vaninnevam asuya valarthi
Vazka maveli mangalamoorthy.."
This means, 'Long live Maveli, provider of peace and prosperity, inciting jealousy in the heavenly beings!'.

A scintillating Onam song sung by maidens, usually during the performance of Kaikottikkali celebrates the golden period witnessed in the reign of benevolent King Mahabali.


"Maveli Nadu Vaneedum Kalam
Manusharellarum onnu pole…"
English translation of this beautiful Onam song:


' When Maveli, our King, rules the land,
All the peoples form one casteless race.
And people live joyful and merry;
They are free from all harm.
There is neither theft nor deceit,
And no one is false in speech either.
Measures and weights are right;
No one cheats or wrongs the neighbor.
when Maveli, our King, rules the land,
All the peoples form one casteless race.'
Vanchipattu or Boat Songs
Apart from songs related to Mahabali, several other types of songs are also sung on Onam. Most cherished of them all are the Boat songs, collectively called, Vanchipattu. These songs hold all the more importance in Onam festivities as Snake Boat Race or Vallamkali is an integral part of the festival. There is a good arrangement of music in the large and decorated boats called chundan vallams. Seven drums are carried in the boat and also a good number of singers. Singers and musicians sit in the centre of the boat. They help to boost the confidence of the oarsmen and encourage them to row fast. Boatmen row the boat in the rhythm of Vanchipattu presenting a lyrical extravaganza for the thousands of onlookers. A very famous song sung by boatmen is 'Kuchelavritham Vanchipattu'. It is a devotional song written by Ramapurathu Warrier.

Oonjal or Swing Songs
Swing or Oonjal is another important part of Onam festivities and there are a large number of folk songs dedicated to this particular tradition. Boys and girls dress themselves in their tradition attire for the occasion. They sing traditional songs (Onappaattu) while doing Oonjalattom (swinging). The swing is hung from high branches and decorated with flowers, presenting a memorable sight and experience.

Devotional Songs
Some devotional songs are also sung during the carnival of Onam. Lyrics of a famous devotional Onam song goes like:

"Mulla mallike nalla malathi malla lochane undo kandu?"
The song beautifully describes the pain and agony of 'Gopis' who are searching for Lord Krishna. They are not able to find the Lord in their midst in Vrindavan. In their shock and bewilderment they are inquiring the whereabouts of their beloved from each flower and plant they pass by.

Thumbi Thullal Song

"Onnam thumbiyum oru pattam makkalum
koode para para thumbi thullu...
thumbi erumballa, chemballa, odalla...
thumbicku orumani ponmaala.. ""Entha thumbi... thullathe.. poovu poranjo, pookudam poranjo ?
entha thumbi thullathe ? "

"randam thumbiyum oru pattam makkalum...

Repeat the remaining lines of first paragraph. Similarly with MOONNAM THUMBIYUM.. Song should be repeated from one to ten Thumbi...

ONAM - THE GREAT CULTURAL EXTRAVAGANZA OF KERALA

RITUALS OF ONAM


Onam is the biggest and the most important festival of Kerala. Festivities of Onam continue for ten long days. Of all these days, most important ones are the first day, Atham and the last or tenth day, Thiru Onam.

Religious and traditional people of Kerala sincerely follow all the customs and traditions set by their ancestors. A number of cultural programmes, dances, songs and feasts mark the festival.

Rituals for the Atham Day
Celebrations commence from the first day, Atham. The day is regarded holy and auspicious by the people of Kerala. People take early bath on the day and offer prayers in the local temple.

Notable feature of this day is that making of Pookkallam or the flower carpet starts from this day. Attha Poo is prepared in the front courtyard by girls of the house to welcome the spirit of King Mahabali in whose honour Onam is celebrated. Boys play a supporting role and help in gathering flowers. In the following days, more flowers are added to Pookalam. As a result Pookalam turns out to be of massive size on the final day.

Preparations for the Thiru Onam starts in a big way and everybody gets engaged to mark the festival in their own style. House cleaning starts on a massive scale and everything is made to look neat and tidy. There is also a set breakfast consisting of steamed bananas and fried pappadam (pappad). This remains the same till the day of Thiru Onam. A swing is also slung on a high branch of a tree. It is decorated with flowers and the youngsters take great delight in swinging and singing, that goes simultaneously.

Rituals for the ninth day-Utradam
A day prior to Onam is the ninth day of the festivities and is known as Utradam. On this day tenants and depends of Tarawads (traditional large joint family sharing a common kitchen and consisting of more than hundred people) give presents to Karanavar, the eldest member of the family. These presents are usually the produce of their farms consisting of vegetables, coconut oil, plantains etc. This gift from the villagers to Karanavar on Onam are called 'Onakazhcha'. A sumptuous treat is offered is offered by Karanavar in return for Onakazhcha. Village artisans also offer a specimen of their handicrafts to the Karanavar of Nayar Tarawads. They receive gracious rewards for this courtesy.

The Big Day - Thiru Onam
Kerala appears in its grandiose best on this day. Cultural extravaganza, music and feasts add colours of merriment and joy to the God's Own Country. There are celebrations all around the state and everybody takes active participation in them; Onam has assumed a secular character and is celebrated by people of all religions and communities.

Morning Rituals
People wake up as early as 4 am on the day of Onam. Day begins with cleaning of the house. In the earlier days, front courtyards were smeared with cow dungs. The custom is still followed in villages, where the houses are not cemented.

On the day of Thiruvonam conical figures in various forms are prepared from sticky clay and are painted red. These are decorated with a paste made of rice-flour and water and are placed in the front court yard and other important places in the house. Some of these clay figures are in the shape of cone and others represent figures of Gods. Those in the shape of a cone are called, 'Trikkakara Appan'. The tradition of making clay cones for Trikkara Appan has its roots in mythology, which says that festival originated at Trikkakara, a place 10 km from Cochin. Trikkara is also said to be the capital in the reign of legendary King Maveli.

Elaborate prayers ceremonies and poojas are also performed on this day. A senior member of the house plays the role of the priest and conducts the rituals. He wakes up early and prepares ata; Ata is prepared from rice flour and molasses for Nivedyam (offerings to God). Lamps are lit up in front of the idols and all members of the house join in for the ceremonies. Priest offers ata, flowers and water in the names of the God. As Onam is also a harvest festival people thank God for the bountiful harvest and pray for the blessings in the coming year. A peculiar custom is followed after this, wherein male members make loud and rhythmic shouts of joys. The tradition is called, 'Aarppu Vilikkukal'. This represents the beginning of Onam.

It is now the time for members of the house to dress up in their best attire and offer prayers in the local temple. Most people wear new clothes on the day. There is also a tradition of distributing new clothes on Onam. In Tharawads (traditional large family consisting of more than hundred people), Karanavar, the eldest member of the family, gives new clothes as gifts, called Onapudava, to all family members and servants. Other members of the family exchange gifts amongst each other.

The Big Feast - Onasadya
After completing the morning rituals, it is time for the family to get ready for the grand meal called Onasadya. The biggest and most prominent place in the house is selected to lay the meal which is traditionally served in a row on a mat laid on the floor.

The central place in the row is occupied by the eldest member of the family. In front of him is placed a lighted brass lamp at a distance. Towards the west of the lamp is placed a small plantain leaf on which the food is served. This is an offering made in the name of Lord Ganapathy.

Thereafter, the meal is served to all present. The elaborate meal consists of 11 to 13 strictly vegetarian dishes and is served on banana leaves. There is a fixed order of serving the meal and a set place to serve the various dishes on the leaf. A lot of preparation and hard work goes in making of the scrumptious Onasadya.

Time for Fun - Dances and Games
After the grand meal, it's time for people to indulge in recreational activities and enjoy the festival. Men of strength and vigour go in for rigorous sports while senior and sober members pass time by playing indoor games like chess and cards. There is a set of traditional games to be played on Onam which are collectively called, Onakalikal. It includes ball games, combats, archery and Kutukutu (Kerala version of Kabaddi).

Women go in for dancing activities as there are specific dances like Kaikottikali and Thumbi Thullal for the festival of Onam. Women performing the graceful clap dance called Kaikotti kali in their traditional gold bordered mundu and neriyathu presents a splendid sight. Besides, there is also a tradition of playing on a decorated swing hung from a high branch. Onappaattu - Onam Songs, are also sung on the occasion.

Celebrations and cultural programmes are held all across the state to mark the festival of Onam in which a large number of people participate. Prominent amongst them are Vallamkali- the Snake Boat Race and entertaining events like Kummatti kali and Pulikali. The other highpoint of Onam is the dazzling display of fire works. The state of Kerala can be seen engulfed in light and spirit of merriment when people burst patassu or fire crackers.

WHEN COMES THE ONAM IN OUR CALENDARS

Onam 2008 is on September 12, Friday




Onam Festival is celebrated in the beginning of the first month of Malayalam Calendar (Kolla Varsham) called Chingam. This month corresponds to August-September in Gregorian Calendar and Bhadrapada or Bhadon in Indian (Hindu) Calendar.

When is Thiru Onam?
Onam carnival continues for ten days, starting from the day of Atham and culminating on Thiru Onam. Atham and Thiru Onam are the most important days for Onam festivities. The day of Atham is decided by the position of stars. Onam festival commences from lunar asterism (a cluster of stars smaller than a constellation) Atham (Hastha) that appears ten days before asterism Onam or Thiru Onam. Atham is regarded as auspicious and holy day by people of Kerala. Thiru Onam corresponds to the Shravan day in the month of August or September, hence it is also called Sravanotsavam.

At this time sun is in the Zodiac sign of Leo (Simha rasi), which happens to be the sun's house as well.

Significance of Onam Day in Mythology
The dayof Onam is decided in accordance with the legend of King Mahabali in whose honor Onam is celebrated. People believe that it was this particular day in the month of Chingam when Lord Vishnu took his fifth avatar as Vaamana, appeared in the kingdom of King Mahabali and sent him to nether world.

People believe that it is on the last day, Tiruonam that the spirit of King Maveli visits Kerala, hence the day is marked by feast and festivities. Devotees of Maveli celebrate the golden era witnessed in Maveli's reign during Onam. To welcome their revered ruler, people lay flower mats (Pookalam) in the front courtyard, prepare a grand meal (Onasadya), dance, play and make merry. All this is done to impress upon King Mahabali that his people are prosperous and happy.

A Brief History of Onam
It is believed that Onam celebrations started during the Sangam Period. Record of celebrations can be found from the time of Kulasekhara Perumals (800 AD). At that time Onam celebrations continued for a month.

Harvest Time
As it is a harvest season, the beautiful state of Kerala can be seen in its magnificent best. Weather is pleasantly sunny and warm calling for mirth and celebrations. Fields look brilliant as they glow with golden paddy grains. It is also the boom time of fruits and flowers. After the month of deprivation, Karkidakam (last month of Malayalam Calendar), farmers are happy with a bountiful harvest and celebrate the festival to the hilt.

TEN DAYS OF ONAM-DAYS OF ATHAM

Ten days of Onam

Carnival of Onam continues for ten days in the state of Kerala. In some regions of the state festivities are restricted to four to six days only. However, scholars say, the festivities have toned down a lot in the present time. In earlier days, Onam was celebrated for a month and much more lavishly.

Nevertheless, Onam is still celebrated with gaiety and joy on all the ten days of the festivities. There are set rituals for each day and the traditional people of Kerala dutifully follow them. The mood of the people is upbeat all through the carnival and the high spirited people of Kerala are ever ready to indulge in merriment.

Of all these days the first day Atham and the tenth day Thiruvonam are the most significant ones. Ninth day Uthradam is also considered to be extremely important from the point of view of celebrations in several parts of Kerala.

Atham - Day One
First day is an important one and is considered holy and auspicious by the people of Kerala.

Chithira - Day Two
On the second day of Onam, people add to the size of the Pookalam with different flowers.

Chodhi - Day Three
Size of the Attha Poo gets further increased with an addition of design with a different flowers.

Visakam - Day Four
Brisk activities in the market and households can be witnessed on the day of Visakam.

Anizham - Day Five
High point of the day is the grand boat race event called Vallamkali.

Thriketa - Day Six
People, who may be staying away from their homes, start coming to their homes as the main day approaches.

Moolam - Day Seven
With just two days left for the festival now, enthusiasm grips the state of Kerala.

Pooradam - Day Eight
The day holds significance in Onam festivities. Devotees create clay idols in the shape of small pyramids.

Uthradam - Day Nine
It is a day prior to Thiruvonam. Some people begin festivities on a large scale on this day.

Thiruvonam - Day Ten
The biggest day of all, is the tenth day called Thiruvon.