''Kerala Pathrika'' was the first and earliest

Malayalam language Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry ( Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam wa ...

newspaper based in

Calicut Kozhikode (), also known as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. Known as the City of Spices, Kozhikode is listed among the City of Literature, UNESCO's Cities of Literature. It is the nineteenth large ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. Its first issue was published on 19 October 1884. Chengalathu Kunhirama Menon was the founder and chief editor of the paper.

History

The first issue of ''Kerala Patrika'' was published on October 19, 1884. Kunhirama Menon started the newspaper for the supporting the national movement. Financial help to start a newspaper was provided by two important persons of Malabar,

Appu Nedungadi Appu Nedungadi (11 October 1863 – 6 November 1933) was an Indian writer and banker best known as the author of '' Kundalatha'', which was published in 1887, making it the first novel published in the Malayalam language. He was associated with ...

and Kannambra Valiya Unni Nair. Kunhirama Menon also attended the 1890 editors’ conference in England with

S. Kasturi Ranga Iyengar S. Kasturi Ranga Iyengar (15 December 1859 – 12 December 1923) was an Indian lawyer, Indian independence activist, politician and journalist who served as the managing director of ''The Hindu'' from 1 April 1905 until his death. He opposed t ...

of ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...

''. The editor placed emphasis on promoting nationalistic feelings and opposing the autocratic functioning of the government. Menon was highly impressed with the working of the

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

-based ''

Amrita Bazar Patrika ''Amrita Bazar Patrika'' was one of the oldest daily newspapers in India. Originally published in Bengali script, it evolved into an English format published from Kolkata and other locations such as Cuttack, Ranchi and Allahabad. The paper ...

''. It is said that ''Kerala Patrika'' was the first Malayalam newspaper aligned with the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

. After a short interruption in 1930, the paper resumed publication in 1938. Later this newspaper continued publication from Cochin in 1947 for some time.

Sanjayan Mannikoth Ramunni Nair (1903–1943), better known by his pseudonym, Sanjayan, was a Malayalam writer, journalist and one of the pioneers of satirical writing in Malayalam literature. Along with E. V. Krishna Pillai, another of the notable Mala ...

, the noted satirist, was the editor of the newspaper for a short period from 1935.

References

External links

''KERALA PATHRIKA'' PVT LTD

പത്രം, ചരിത്രം
Defunct newspapers published in India Malayalam-language newspapers Publications established in 1884 Publications disestablished in 1947 1884 establishments in India 1947 disestablishments in India Defunct Malayalam-language newspapers {{india-newspaper-stub