Pallikoodam or Ezhuthupally Pally is a word in

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

and

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

that denotes a

school A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the Educational architecture, building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most co ...

. These were mostly village schools run by individual teachers (Ezhuthu pally Aashaans or Asans or

Guru Guru ( ; International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ''guru'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian religions, Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: tr ...

s) and were distinct from

Kalari A kalari is a gymnasium or training space primarily associated with the martial art of Kalaripayattu. The word ''kalari'' comes from Tamil. In the past, village schools in Tamilnadu, typically run by the traditional astrologer families, were k ...

s that taught martial arts.

Etymology

The real meaning of ''Pallikkoodam'' is ''a sacred place for education''. In medieval Kerala, Jain Derasars and Buddhist viharas were known as 'Ezhuthupally. When Budha bhiskhus started small schools, they were called Pallikkoodam. A generally accepted explanation of the

etymology Etymology ( ) is the study of the origin and evolution of words—including their constituent units of sound and meaning—across time. In the 21st century a subfield within linguistics, etymology has become a more rigorously scientific study. ...

of this Malayalam word is that it is a

blend word In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

formed out of two Malayalam words ''Palli'' and ''Koodam''. The word Palli means small village in Tamil, Sanskrit & Malayalam. Koodam means Gathering in Tamil and Malayalam. Pallikoodam means village gathering. The Malayalam word for Mosque and Church is also later referred to as "Palli" as they borrowed these words. In Keral, Tamil Nadu, and Sri Lanka village schools are called ''Pallikoodam (''

Sri Lankan Tamil Sri Lankan Tamils ( or ), also known as Ceylon Tamils or Eelam Tamils, are Tamils native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. Today, they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, form the plurality in the Eastern Province a ...

Types

There were different forms of Pallikoodams that were established across

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

offering different levels of education, with some regional variations. Kudippallikoodam was by far the most important, popular and wide spread form, since most of the students except clerics, priests or scholarly professionals would usually stop after receiving elementary education and start working on their professions.

Kudippallikoodam

Kudippallikoodam ( കുടിപ്പള്ളിക്കൂടം) also known as 'Aashan Pallikoodam' (ആശാൻ പള്ളിക്കൂടം) was a popular form of schooling. This was an indigenous elementary schooling method where an instructor or ''aashan'' (ആശാൻ) would teach young children about alphabets, numbers, elementary arithmetic, writing as well as general aspects of life such as personal discipline, cleanliness, morality and general knowledge. Young students are initially trained in writing by making them write on the sand. Once they are comfortable with writing on sand, the students would upgrade themselves to reporting on the standard writing medium i.e. palm leaves ( Thaliyola or

Palm-leaf manuscript Palm-leaf manuscripts are manuscripts made out of dried palm leaves. Palm leaves were used as writing materials in the Indian subcontinent and in Southeast Asia dating back to the 5th century BCE. Their use began in South Asia and spread to ot ...

s) as the writing material and iron pen ( Narayam) as the writing instrument (stylus) to scribe on them. In the 20th century CE, the writing medium mostly got upgraded into wooden slates and chalk. This continued to be the case until the system almost entirely died out by the dawn of the 21st century CE.

Revival Efforts

Recent efforts have been undertaken to revive traditional teaching methods and tools. A noteworthy example is an initiative titled ''Malayalam Pallikoodam'' proposed by the famous Malayalam Poet V Madhusoodanan Nair. This initiative tried to revive the use of wooden slates instead of paper notebooks and pencils for teaching Malayalam and has received significant attention from parents.

References

"The Buddhist History of Kerala". kerala.cc. Retrieved 4 April 2016. Link:{{reflist Education in Kerala Malayalam terms Schools in Kerala Tamil

Etymology

Types

Kudippallikoodam

Revival Efforts

See also

References