Part- 1 : Sources Of Information

The political history of the region that later became known by such names as Venad, Kochi, Malabar, Travancore-Cochin and finally as Kerala state begins in the hints of poets and legend-makers .Greek, Roman and Chinese writers provide some facts about the long period between some undisclosed time before Christ and the 9th century AD when the first Chera   kingdom existed. After the 9 th century AD more reliable information is available from stone writings and copper plates which replaced palm leaves for writing.

The oldest record about Kerala is in a rock edict by emperor Asoka between BC272 and BC 232.Many myths about ancient Kerala are contained in a book called Keralolpathi printed by Gundert in AD 1890.The original book was perhaps written in the middle of the 17th century. The reliability of this book as a historical record has been seriously compromised as a result of contradictions. The story that  Parasuraman created Kerala is difficult to believe. In any event the book claims exactly that and describes the time up to AD 216 as Parasurama period.AD 216 to 428 is described as the age of 'Perumals' . Apparently it was Parasuraman's idea to bring in these rulers from the outside. He ordered that each new Perumal be enthroned in Thirunavai at the time of the festival for Thevar. This is the origin of 'mamankam'. The first Perumal was 'Keralan' .A Perumal named Bana Perumal accepted Buddhism. The last Perumal was Cheraman Perumal. He served two terms of twelve years each and accepted Islam and went to Mecca.

Microlithic artifacts have been recovered from near Calicut from BC 4000.Megalithic monuments are various kinds of burial stones and urns. Some man- made underground chambers have also been found.

Stone records and copper plates have provided a lot of information about the past. Till the end of  the 14 th century records were kept on stones or copper plates. After that till the beginning of the 19th century records were kept on palm leaves. From the 16th century onwards paper records were used. Many records are in Tamil or Malayalam. One of the most important copper plates is called "Tarisa palli shasanam" and was issued by Sthanu Ravivarman around AD 844.Other important records of this type are Parthivapuram edict by a Karunanthadakkan in AD 866, the copper plate given to Jewish Joseph Rabban in AD999 by Bhaskara Ravivarma and Veeraraghavapattayam of AD 1225. A record dated AD1236 by Kerlavarman details tax collection techniques of the time.

Temple records are another valuable source. In Travancore the best records are from Sri.Padmanabha Swami shethram. Unfortunately some records have been ruined by vermin and some by a fire in AD1686.Raja Marthanda Varma brought to Trivandrum records from territories he conquered except in the case of the kingdom of Kayamkulam where the fleeing king submerged his records at the bottom of lake Ashtamudi.

Since Vascode Gama's arrival in 1498 there are numerous records by visiting foreigners. The Dutch rulers wrote their memoirs and two of them have been published in English by Galletti in The Dutch In Malabar. There is also a published list called Press Lists Of Dutch Records.

Records from the Portugese, the Dutch and the English may contain distortions, but are helpful. Portugese records are in their language and are kept in Goa and Lisbon. The English have printed a book called The Tellicherry consultations. Logan's A collection of treaties, engagements, etc concerning Malabar is another useful resource. There is a book called A journey through Mysore, Canara and Malabar. In AD 1887 Logan who was the governor of Malabar wrote Malabar manual which was revised as Malabar Gazetteer some 30 years later. Similar to that we have Travancore state manual written by mr. Nagamayya and Cochin state manual written by Mr. Achuta Menon. In 1940 mr.T.K.Velupillai revised the Travancore state manual into four volumes. A list of pre-British laws can be learnt from a book called 'Vyavaharamala' by Mahishamangalam Narayanan Namputhiri.

From the first century to the 9th century was the Tamil period. During the first 300 years of this period -the so called samgakalam- there are several literary works of historical importance. A collection of poems called pathittupath is one of them .Purananooru is another collection of 400 song Chilappathikaram an epic poem written in four parts was written by Ilamkoadika, a nephew of king Cheran Chenkuttuvan. The book gives insights in to the conditions at that time in the Chola , Pandya and Chera capitals.

Mani Mekhala was a subsequent work. Another work called Perumalthirumozi gives information about the Perumal rulers. In the Sanskrit literature there are some valuable resources. One of the important ones is Mukundamala believed to have been written by Kulasekara Alwar a predecessor of Cheraman Perumal.

Amongst Malayalam works there are unniadicharitam and unnichirudevicharitam which give insight in to the thirteenth and fourteenth century Leelathilakam gives hints about the rulers of that time. Unnuneelisandesham describes the times of a ruler Adityavarman who stayed in Thovala.

Gundart in 1868 published the story of Portugese rule from 1498 to 1551.There are many native song collections such as Iravikuttipillai patt', padapattu, Mamankam kilipattu, puthuram pattukal, thacholipattukal and Chaverpattukal

Foreign literature:-
The historical references before 16th century to the area that became Kerala have been summarized
in a book by Prof. Neelakanda Sastri .It is called Foreign Notices Of South India.

Other references are as follows:-
Strabo's Geography-Information about the beginning Roman trade with the east Plini's Natural History AD 77 --Roman connections with Kodungallore and Purakkadu

The Periplus Of The Erythrean Sea-Ad 90-Trade centers and imports and exports with the area that became Kerala later.

Ptolomy's Geography-AD 125-Alist of important trade centers in South India.

Peutinger Tables-AD 225-Records a Romam base and a Roman temple of Augustus in Kodungallore. A detachment of Roman soldiers were stationed there.

Cosmos Indico Pleustes- AD 525 gives a list of five centers of pepper trade namely Patri, Mangaruth, Dharma Pattanam, Vala Pattanam and Puthu Pattanam.

From the 9th century Arab sources give information about the region. S.M.H.Ninan discusses this in a book called Arab Geographer's Knowledge Of South India .

Jews started arriving from the first century AD . Some of the sources are Benjamin Of Judela AD1175, and Rabbi Nissam 14th century. Abraham Ibn- Ezra a poet visited Kodungallore between AD 1092 and AD 1167 but has not written about it. Among the Chinese who have written there are Wang- ta-Yuan (AD 1349), Mahuan(AD1409) and Fei-Hsin (AD 1436)

Amongst Christian writers before the 16th century are :-
Marco Polo AD 1292-93
John Of Monte Corvino AD 1293
Odoric AD 1318
Father Jordanus AD 1323- a note about Matrilineal system
Nicolo Condi AD 1425 to AD 1441
Athanosius Nikitin AD 1474 and
Stephano Covilho

Amongst references of the Portugese era the following are noteworthy:-
Book Of Durate Barbosa
Travels Of Ludovic Varthema
Commentaries Of Alffonso Albuquerque
Castenhada's History Of The Discovery And Conquest Of India By The Portugese
Gundert's Keralapazama
Shiek Zeinuddin's Tohuft-ul-Mujahidin
Ceasar Frederick's and Ralph Fitch's Travels
Pyrard De Lavel and Pietro Della Valle (description of Calicut in the 17 th century )

Amongst books of the Dutch period the following are important :-
Baldeus
Lingchotten
Nieuhoff
Itty Achutan's 12 volume Hortus Malabaricus, an ayurvedic treatise submitted to Van Rheed a
Dutch officer

Other documents:-
Notice Of The Cochin Jews AD 1686
Hamilton's A New Account Of East Indies(end of 17th century to beginning of 18 th century )
A.Fryer's A New Account Of East Indies And Persia
Letters Of Malabar Chaplin Vissher 18th century-mr. K.P.Padbanabhan's 4 volume History Of
Kerala is based on these letters.

Coins:-
Roman coins dating from BC 40 to AD 98 have been recovered from the area. In 1962 Egyptian
coins of 7th and 8th century were found in Kothamangalam.

Ancient ruins:-
Ruins of jain and Buddhist monuments date back to the period before 7th and 8th centuary. The largest and most important Hindu temples were Trivandrum's Sri. Padbanabha Swami shethram, Vaikkam's Mahadeva shethram and Shuchindram shetram which is in Tamil Nadu since 1956.

Ancient drawings:-
Historical portraits are rare. Amongst the portraits that exist there are the following :-
A meeting of Attingal Rani and Neuhoff (Dutch)
The surrender of the Dutch To Marthanda Varma AT Kulachal
Tippu's attack on 'Nedumkotta' (fort)
Joint offensive against Tippu by the English and native armies

Go to Part-2 : Myths & Legends

© Kerala History Series : Dr P K John