History of Kerala

Legend states that Kerala was created by an act of Parasurama, an avatar of Mahavishnu.Meanwhile, historians note the 10th century BCE emergence of prehistoric pottery and granite burial monuments - which resemble their counterparts in Western Europe and the rest of Asia. These were produced by speakers of a proto-Tamil language.[1] Thus, Kerala and Tamil Nadu once shared a common language, ethnicity, and culture.

Later, Kerala became a linguistically separate region by the early 14th century. The ancient Chera empire, whose court language was Tamil, ruled Kerala from their capital at Vanchi and was the first major recorded kingdom. Allied with the Pallavas, they continually warred against the neighboring Chola and Pandya kingdoms.

A Keralite identity, distinct from the Tamils and associated with the second Chera empire and the development of Malayalam, evolved during the 8th-14th centuries. In written records, Kerala was first mentioned in the Sanskrit epic Aitareya Aranyaka. Later, figures such as Katyayana, Patanjali, Pliny the Elder, and the unknown author of the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea all displayed familiarity with Kerala.

In subsequent centuries, settlers from abroad established Kerala’s Jewish community. Later arrivals included Muslim Arab merchants in the 8th century, while a disputed theory has Christianity arriving with Apostle Thomas in 52 CE. Later, in 345 CE, Kerala’s Nasrani community was founded by Jewish Christian settlers under a Jewish merchant Knai Thomman.

More than 1,100 years later, Vasco da Gama’s 1498-05-20 arrival inaugurated a period of Portuguese colonial administration, with the goal of controlling a lucrative spice trade. While seeking to convert Nasranis to Roman Catholicism, they also established fortresses and settlements, thereby ending an Arab trade monopoly. Later conflicts between the cities of Kozhikode (Calicut) and Kochi (Cochin), however, provided an opportunity for the Dutch oust the Portuguese.

In turn, the Dutch were ousted at the 1741 Battle of Kulachal by Marthanda Varma of Thiruvithamcoore (Travancore), who received aid from the British. Meanwhile, Mysore’s Hyder Ali conquered northern Kerala, capturing Kozhikode in 1766. Ali’s successor, Tipu Sultan, launched in the late 18th century numerous campaigns against the growing British Raj, resulting in two of the four Anglo-Mysore Wars.

However, Tipu Sultan was ultimately forced to cede Malabar District and South Kanara, (including today’s Kasargod District) to the Raj in 1792 and 1799, respectively. The Raj then forged tributary alliances with Kochi (1791) and Travancore (1795). Meanwhile, Malabar and South Kanara became part of the Madras Presidency. Kerala saw little mass defiance against the Raj - nevertheless, several rebellions occurred, including the October 1946 Punnapra-Vayalar revolt.[3] Many mass actions instead protested such social mores as untouchability; these included the 1924 Vaikom Satyagraham. Due to this pressure, outcastes were allowed admittance to temples across Kerala.

After India’s independence in 1947, Travancore and Kochi were merged to form the province of Travancore-Cochin on July 1, 1949 - on 1950-01-26 (the date India became a republic), Travancore-Cochin was recognized as a state. In the same time, the Madras Presidency became Madras State in 1947. Finally, the Government of India’s 1956-11-01 States Reorganisation Act inaugurated a new state - Kerala - incorporating Malabar District, Travancore-Cochin, and the taluk of Kasargod, South Kanara.[4] A new Legislative Assembly was also created, for which elections were held in 1957. These resulted in a communist-led government[4] - one of the world’s first[5] - headed by E.M.S. Namboodiripad. Subsequent radical reforms introduced by the Namboodiripad government favoured tenants and labourers - this facilitated, among other things, improvements in living standards, education, and life expectancies.

Ancient

Traditional Keralite legend proclaims that Parasurama, an avatar of Mahavishnu, threw his battle axe into the sea. As a result, the land of Kerala arose and was reclaimed from the waters.[1] The earliest written record mentioning Kerala is contained in the Sanskrit epic known as the Aitareya Aranyaka.

Later, such figures as Katyayana (circa 4th century BC) and Patanjali (circa 2nd century BC) exhibited in their writings a casual familiarity with Kerala’s geography. Ancient Roman Natural philosopher Pliny the Elder mentions in his Naturalis Historia (N.H. 6.26) a Muziris (probably modern-day Kodungallur or Pattanam) as India’s first port. Later, the unknown author of the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea notes that “both Muziris and Nelkunda (modern Kottayam) are now busy places”.