Ramanthali inscriptions, also known as Ezhimala-Narayankannur inscriptions, are two medieval stone epigraphs from

Ramanthali Ramanthali is a village in Kannur district in the Indian state of Kerala. It boasts the gateway for Indian Naval Academy in Ezhiamala. Demographics India census, Ramanthali had a population of 21937 with 10173 males and 11764 females. Anja ...

, near

Ezhimala Ezhimala, a hill reaching a height of , is located near Payyanur, in Kannur district of Kerala, south India. It is a part of a conspicuous and isolated cluster of hills, forming a promontory, north of Kannur (Cannanore). The Indian Naval Ac ...

in Kannur district,

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 ...

. The first inscription, mentioning Mushika (

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 ...

: Ezhimala) Validhara Vikrama Rama and the merchant guild

manigramam Manigiramam, or manigramam, typically refers to a medieval merchant guild, organised by itinerant ethnic Indian traders, primarily active in south India.Noburu Karashmia (ed.), ''A Concise History of South India: Issues and Interpretations.'' Ne ...

, is dated to 929 CE and the second inscription, mentioning Alupa king Kunda Alupa, is dated to 1075 CE. Both inscriptions are written in

old Malayalam Old Malayalam, inscriptional language found in Kerala from ''c.'' 9th to ''c.'' 13th century AD, is the earliest attested form of Malayalam. The language was employed in several official records and transactions (at the level of the Chera Peruma ...

with

Vattezhuthu ''Vatteluttu,'' popularly romanised as ''Vattezhuthu'' ( ta, வட்டெழுத்து, ' and ml, വട്ടെഴുത്ത്, ', ), was a syllabic alphabet of south India (Tamil Nadu and Kerala) and Sri Lanka used for writing t ...

script (with some Grantha characters).Narayanan, M. G. S. ''Perumāḷs of Kerala.'' Thrissur (Kerala): CosmoBooks, 2013. 475-76.Narayanan, M. G. S. ''Perumāḷs of Kerala.'' Thrissur (Kerala): CosmoBooks, 2013. 483. * The first inscription can be found on a single granite slab in the courtyard of the Narayankannur Temple. It records the original endowment to the temple by Mushika Validhara Vikrama Rama in 929 CE. He donates land for nanda vilakku (the permanent lamp) and nivedyam (the food offering) to the deity Narasinga Vinnakar Thevar. The so-called Agreement of Muzhikkulam is quoted in the record. Merchant guild

was appointed as the guardian of the temple. * The second inscription, dated to 1075 CE, is engraved on obverse sides of three granite blocks in the base of central shrine of Narayankannur Temple. This is the second dated inscription of Alupa king Kunda Alupa who probably extended his influence to northern parts of the Kannur district in the 11th century CE. The temple inscription shows the time of the renovation of the temple (including construction of the image of the deity, and the srikoyil, and the shrine). The srikoyil (central shrine) of the temple was built in granite with the help of king Kunda Alupa. King Kunda Alupa is also mentioned in a Sanskrit record (dated 1068 AD) from Kadri Manjunatha Temple,

Mangalore Mangalore (), officially known as Mangaluru, is a major port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bangalore, the state capital, 20 km north of Karnataka– ...

also.

References

{{Reflist Kerala history inscriptions Vatteluttu Malayalam inscriptions 10th-century inscriptions 11th-century inscriptions