Thirunizhalmala ("Garland of the Sacred Shade" or "Grace") is a c. 13th century " pattu" genre poem in

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 ...

. Along with "Ramacharitham", it is one of the earliest extant poems in Malayalam. It is generally considered as a work associated with the

Vaishnavite Vaishnavism () ), also called Vishnuism, is one of the major Hindu denominations, Hindu traditions, that considers Vishnu as the sole Para Brahman, supreme being leading all other Hindu deities, that is, ''Mahavishnu''. It is one of the majo ...

bhakti ''Bhakti'' (; Pali: ''bhatti'') is a term common in Indian religions which means attachment, fondness for, devotion to, trust, homage, worship, piety, faith, or love.See Monier-Williams, ''Sanskrit Dictionary'', 1899. In Indian religions, it ...

movement in south India. It is sometimes called "the first religious work in the Malayalam". "Thirunizhalmala" was discovered by scholar M. M. Purushothaman Nair in 1980. "Thirunizhalmala" is composed, most probably by a high caste poet (from certain "Kurumur Palli"), in local meters and with Dravidian orthography. It is assumed that the work predates the famous "Ramacharitham" by around a century. The manuscript of the poem was discovered from northern Kerala. Central topic of the poem is the description of the ritual life of Aranmula Temple in

Pathanamthitta Pathanamthitta (), is a municipality, city in southern Kerala, India, spread over an area of . It is the administrative capital of Pathanamthitta district. The town has a population of 37,538 (as of 2011 census). The Hindu pilgrim centre Sab ...

. The main rites described are the ancient rituals of the Malayar/Malayarayan or Malayan community (performed to remove the various impurities of the gods). It also describes the temple and its environs, the families of the temple-villages’ owners and the protecting soldiery. "Thirunizhalmala" is linked to the north Kerala art-form

Theyyam Theyyam is a Hindu religious ritual practised in the North Malabar Region of Kerala and some parts of Karnataka. Theyyam is a ritual performance involving extended chanting of mantras and ceremonial preparations that typically span 8 to 10 hou ...

and the community of its performers. The poem contains the earliest instance in Malayalam of the legend of

Parasurama Parashurama (), also referred to as Rama Jamadagnya, Rama Bhargava and Virarama, is the sixth avatar among the Dashavatara of the preserver god Vishnu in Hinduism. Hindu tradition holds him to be the destroyer of the evil on Earth. According t ...

"founding" Kerala and the sixty-four settlements of Brahmins. It also mentions the medieval Tamil poet

Kamban Kambar, or Kavichakravarthy Kamban (1180 CE–1250 CE), was an Indian poet and the author of the Ramavataram, popularly known as ''Kambaramayanam'', the Tamil version of the epic Ramayana.The Cyclopaedia of India and of Eastern and Southern A ...

. Modern editions of "Thirunizhalmala" are by M. M. Purushothaman Nair (1981 & 2016) and R. C. Karippath (2006)

References

{{Malayalam Literature, state=collapsed Malayalam-language literature Bhakti movement