The Keralolpathi ( ml, കേരളോല്പത്തി;
IAST:''kēraḷōlpatti''; ) is a
Malayalam
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 ...
Brahmanical
The historical Vedic religion (also known as Vedicism, Vedism or ancient Hinduism and subsequently Brahmanism (also spelled as Brahminism)), constituted the religious ideas and practices among some Indo-Aryan peoples of northwest Indian Subc ...
literary work that deals with the origin and legends of the land of
Kerala
Kerala ( ; ) is a 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 regions of Cochin, Malabar, South C ...
. P. Shungunny Menon ascribes the authorship of this work to
Thunchaththu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan
Thunchaththu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan (, ) (Malayalam: തുഞ്ചത്ത് രാമാനുജൻ
എഴുത്തച്ഛൻ) ( ''fl.'' 16th century) was a Malayalam devotional poet, translator and linguist from Kerala, south India. ...
, a 17th-century scholar of the
Malabar region of India.
A. Sreedhara Menon dates the work to 18th or 19th century. The Keralolpathi is mostly an expansion from an earlier
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominalization, nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cul ...
work known as the ''Kerala Mahatmayam''. That work is classed among the
Hindu Purana
Purana (; sa, , '; literally meaning "ancient, old"Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature (1995 Edition), Article on Puranas, , page 915) is a vast genre of Indian literature about a wide range of topics, particularly about legends an ...
s as an ''Upa Purana'' (or sub Purana) of the ''Bhoogola Purana''.
The Keralolpathi covers the ancestry of the
Namboodiri Brahmins and other castes of Kerala and is sometimes called the "Kerala Ulpathy". While the "Kerala Mahatmayam" deals with the origin of Kerala and its people alone, the Keralolpathi gives a history of Kerala down to the modern age, including reference to the
British in Kerala.
Perumals mentioned in Keralolpathi
Perumals of Keralolpathi
*Keyapperumal
*Cholapperumal
*Pandipperumal
*Banapperumal
*Thulubanperumal
*Indrapperumal
*Aryapperumal
*Kundranperumal
*Kottipperumal
*Madapperumal
*Ezhipperumal
*Kombanperumal
*Vijayanperumal
*Valabanperumal
*Harichandranperumal
*Mallapperumal
*Kulasekharapperumal
Criticisms
Historians doubt the reliability of this collection of legends as it contains many discrepancies. For instance it states that a certain
Viceroy
A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning "k ...
of Kerala went to
Mecca
Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow val ...
and met the
Islamic prophet
Prophets in Islam ( ar, الأنبياء في الإسلام, translit=al-ʾAnbiyāʾ fī al-ʾIslām) are individuals in Islam who are believed to spread God's message on Earth and to serve as models of ideal human behaviour. Some prophets a ...
Muhammed
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monot ...
there. However the corresponding date mentioned is such that the prophet was not even born till more than a century later. It also mentions that the King
Krishnadevaraya of the
Vijayanagara empire
The Vijayanagara Empire, also called the Karnata Kingdom, was a Hindu empire based in the region of South India, which consisted the modern states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa and some parts of Telangana and Mahar ...
appointed a Viceroy over Kerala in 428 AD. However the said king reigned between 1509 and 1529 AD.
[Travancore State Manual by V.Nagam Aiya, Volume I, page 223]
Likewise even the origins of most of the
caste
Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultural ...
s and clans of Kerala varies from the ancient Sanskrit Kerala Mahatmayam. Besides, by the 18th century modified versions of the work started appearing, varying from kingdom to kingdom and region to region in Kerala. Therefore, according to Shungunny Menon (a native historian of
Travancore
The Kingdom of Travancore ( /ˈtrævənkɔːr/), also known as the Kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor, was an Indian kingdom from c. 1729 until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvananthapuram. A ...
, Kerala) one cannot place, in the Keralolpathi, the value of a historical source. Shungunny Menon, stated that:
William Logan, who was the author of the ''Malabar Manual'' also refutes the validity of the Keralolpathi and describes it as:
[A survey of Kerala history by A. Sreedhara Menon, page 17]
K.P. Padmanabha Menon
KP may refer to:
Businesses and organizations
* ''Komsomolskaya Pravda'', a daily Russian newspaper
* ''KP'' (newspaper), a Ukrainian newspaper
* KP Snacks, a United Kingdom food manufacturer
* Kaiser Permanente, a U.S. health maintenance orga ...
, another native historian calls the Keralolpathi:
See also
*
Parasurama
Parashurama (), also referred to as Rama Jamadagnya, Rama Bhargava and Veerarama, is the sixth avatar among the Dashavatara of the preserver god Vishnu in Hinduism. He is believed to be one of the ''Chiranjeevis'' (Immortals), who will appear ...
*
Nair
The Nair , also known as Nayar, are a group of Indian Hindu castes, described by anthropologist Kathleen Gough as "not a unitary group but a named category of castes". The Nair include several castes and many subdivisions, not all of whom histo ...
External links
*
Keralolpathi: The Origin of Malabar' at the
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music ...
References
{{Commons category, Keralolpathi
Hindu texts
Indian chronicles