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Malayalam is the language spoken predominantly in the state of Kerala, in southern India. It is one of the 23 official languages of India, spoken by around 37 million people. A native speaker of Malayalam is called a 'Malayali'. Malayalam is also spoken in Lakshadweep and Mahé (Mayyazhi) in Puducherry.
The language belongs to the family of Dravidian languages. Both the language and its writing system are closely related to Tamil; however, Malayalam has a script of its own.
With Tamil, Toda, Kota and Kannada, Malayalam belongs to the southern group of Dravidian languages. Its affinity to Tamil is most striking. Proto-Tamil Malayalam, the common stock of Tamil and Malayalam apparently diverged over a period of four of five centuries from the ninth century on, resulting in the emergence of Malayalam as a language distinct from Tamil. As the language of scholarship and administration Tamil greatly influenced the early development of Malayalam. Later the irresistible inroads the Namboothiris made into the cultural life of Kerala, the trade relationships with Arabs, and the invasion of Kerala by the Portuguese, establishing vassal states accelerated the assimilation of many Romance, Semitic and Indo-Aryan features into Malayalam at different levels spoken by different castes and religious communities like Muslims, Christians, Jews and Hindus.
The term ‘Malayalam’ as referring to the language of Kerala is of comparatively recent origin. To begin with, it denoted the land itself. It is probable that the term is the resultant of a combination of two words, mala meaning mountain and alam meaning the land or locality (which lies along side the mountain).
Subsequently the synonyms Malayanma and Malayayma came into being as denoting the language of the Malayalam county and finally the name of the land itself was taken over as the name of its language.
Evidently Malayalam belongs to the Dravidian family of languages, but there is considerable difference of opinion about the exact nature of its relationship with the other languages of the stock, with Tamil in particular towards which it bears the closest affinity. Quite a few scholars are of the opinion that Malayalam is but an offshoot of Tamil, or rather, a daughter. This view, first held by Bishop Caldwell, has since been elaborated and substantiated by a well-known grammarian of Kerala, A.R.Raja Raja Varma. The intimacy that subsisted between the two languages all through the centuries, the identity that the grammars and vocabularies of both the languages evince, and the old practice of using the term ‘Tamil’ as a synonym for Malayalam have all lent considerable support to this theory. But in the light of the increasing application of scientific methodologies in the assessment of affinities between languages and the comparative studies since carried out in respect of the two languages , thi s theory would seem to require further examination.
Malayalam is classified as a South Dravidian language. It is the official language of Kerala. About 31.8 million people consider Malayalam as their mother tongue. Possessing an independent written script, it also has a rich modern literature. There are at least five main regional dialects of Malayalam and a number of communal dialects. It belongs to the Dravidian family. Many words have been borrowed from Sanskrit. There are 37 consonants and 16 vowels in the script. Malayalam has a written traditional dating back from the late 9th century and the earliest work dates from 13th century. The script used is called Kolezhethu (Rod-script) which is derived from ancient Grandha Script. Malayalam differs from other Dravidian language as the absence of personal endings on verbs. It has a one to one correspondence with the Indo Aryan Devanagari syllabarry.
Introduction Culturally, Kerala presents a pageant not found anywhere else in India. The famous pantomime dance-drama, Kathakali, the Sopana style of music, the contributions of Swathi Thirunal and Raja Ravi Varma in the realms of music and painting respectively are some of Kerala’s unique contributions which have enriched the cultural heritage of India. Kerala’s folk music, though not refined, is rich with a rugged beauty that is really genuine, with its rhyme and rhythm.
These are mostly devotional in nature, like the Sarpapattu, Bhadrakalipattu, Ayyappanpattu etc. The Thullalpattu demands the skill and artistry of a professional. Among the instrumental performances, Thayampaka, Panchavadyam and Kelikottu deserve special mention. The chenda, and chengala are some of the typical percussion instruments of Kerala. Although Carnatic music is in vogue in Kerala as the classical music, Kerala appears to have evolved a somewhat distinctive style of singing known as the sopana style. It is believed that this style derived its name from the sopana or flight of steps leading to the sreekovil (sanctum sanctorum) the place for the ritual singing of Ashtapadi. Kathakali has adopted this style of singing which is low in tempo and emotional in content. Kerala has produced great masters in the realm of music. The greatest composer is Swathi Thirunal, the Maharaja of Travancore (early 19th century) who left a rich legacy of songs in six languages-Sanskrit, Malayalam, Ta mil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi. They represent the finest flowering of the Carnatic tradition in Kerala. Irayimman Thampi, a contemporary of Swathi Thirunal, was another great composer Kerala has produced. The greatest musician in Kerala history, Shadkala Govinda Marar, who lived during the days of Swathi Thirunal, was a wonderful genius who elicited admiration even from the great Thyagaraja. The dance forms of Kerala can roughly be divided into five categories, viz; tribal dances,folk dances, classical dances, neo-classical dances and modern dances.
Malayalam is classified as a South Dravidian language. It is the official language of Kerala. About 31.8 million people consider Malayalam as their mother tongue. Possessing an independent written script, it also has a rich modern literature. There are at least five main regionaldialects of Malayalam and a number of communal dialects. It belongs to the Dravidian family. Many words have been borrowed from Sanskrit. There are 37 consonants and 16 vowels in the script. Malayalam has a written traditional dating back from the late 9th century and the earliest work dates from 13th century. The script used is called Kolezhethu (Rod-script) which is derived from ancient Grandha Script. Malayalam differs from other Dravidian language as the absence of personal endings on verbs. It has a one to one correspondence with the Indo Aryan Devanagari syllabarry.
Introduction Culturally, Kerala presents a pageant not found anywhere else in India. The famous pantomime dance-drama, Kathakali, the Sopana style of music, the contributions of Swathi Thirunal and Raja Ravi Varma in the realms of music and painting respectively are some of Kerala’s unique contributions which have enriched the cultural heritage of India. Kerala’s folk music, though not refined, is rich with a rugged beauty that is really genuine, with its rhyme and rhythm.
These are mostly devotional in nature, like the Sarpapattu, Bhadrakalipattu, Ayyappanpattu etc. The Thullalpattu demands the skill and artistry of a professional. Among the instrumental performances, Thayampaka, Panchavadyam and Kelikottu deserve special mention. The chenda, and chengala are some of the typical percussion instruments of Kerala. Although Carnatic music is in vogue in Kerala as the classical music, Kerala appears to have evolved a somewhat distinctive style of singing known as the sopana style. It is believed that this style derived its name from the sopana or flight of steps leading to the sreekovil (sanctum sanctorum) the place for the ritual singing of Ashtapadi. Kathakali has adopted this style of singing which is low in tempo and emotional in content. Kerala has produced great masters in the realm of music. The greatest composer is Swathi Thirunal, the Maharaja of Travancore (early 19th century) who left a rich legacy of songs in six languages-Sanskrit, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi. They represent the finest flowering of the Carnatic tradition in Kerala. Irayimman Thampi, a contemporary of Swathi Thirunal, was another great composer Kerala has produced. The greatest musician in Kerala history, Shadkala Govinda Marar, who lived during the days of Swathi Thirunal, was a wonderful genius who elicited admiration even from the great Thyagaraja. The dance forms of Kerala can roughly be divided into five categories, viz; tribal dances,folk dances, classical dances, neo-classical dances and modern dances.
At present Malayalam has a script of its own, but in the early centuries it used a form called the vattezhuthu which had currency all over the regions of the Cheras and the Pandyas. It disappeared from the rest of the peninsula by about the fifteenth century, but in Kerala it continued to be in use for three more centuries. Documents, letters, books and inscriptions were mostly written in this script, and even after giving it up, children first initiated into the study of the language were required to learn the vattezhuthu characters also, besides those of Malayalam and Tamil.
From the vattezhuthu was derived another script called the kolezhuthu. It is said that the ezhuthu or writing was done with a kol, a stick, and hence the name kolezhuthu for the script. There is no fundamental difference between the two scripts except that in kolezhuthu there are no specific symbols for endings in u and for a and o. This script was more commonly used in the Cochin and Malabar areas than in Travancore. Yet another script derived from the vattezhuthu was the Malayanma, which was in common use to the south of Thiruvananthapuram. Malayanma also does not differ fundamentally from the vattezhuthu.
With three scripts in current use the writing and reading of Malayalam must indeed have been a difficult affair. Vattezhuthu was perhaps the better form, for it had currency all over Kerala and did not have any regional variations. But the absence of character combinations, the vowels a and o and conventions for symbols were real difficulties. The trouble with kolezhuthu was still more considerable, for it knew regional variations also. And in the case Malayanma, the complexity of the script, Tamil usage and conventional abbreviations for words were handicaps which made it unintelligible to the rest of the region. It is likely that in course of time these difficulties contributed to their disappearance and brought in the grandhalipi which is the basis of the present script.
It is held that grandhalipi-the term literally means ‘book-script’-was in use all over South India since the seventh century AD The advent of Manipravala literature must have been the major factor that paved the way for its introduction in Kerala.
Malayalam, the mother tongue of nearly thirty million Malayalis, ninety per cent of whom live in Kerala State in the south-west corner of India, belongs to the Dravidian family of languages. Like the speakers, the languages also has been receptive to influences from abroad and tolerant of elements added from outside.
Malayalam literature too reflects this spirit of accommodation and has over the centuries developed a tradition which, even while rooted in the locality, is truly universal in taste. It is remarkably free from the provincialism and parochial prejudices that have bedeviled the literature of certain other areas. To its basic Dravidian stock have been added elements borrowed or adopted from non-Dravidian literature such as Sanskrit , Arabic, French, Portuguese and English . The earliest of these associations was inevitably with Tamil. Sanskrit, however, accounts for the largest of the "foreign" influences, followed closely in recent times by English. This broad based cosmopolitanism has indeed become a distinctive features of Malayalam literature.
According to the most dependable evidence now available to us, Malayalam literature is at least a thousand years old. The language must certainly be older, but linguistic research has yet to discover unmistakable evidence to prove its antiquity. Historical accuracy has often been a problem since the records in most cases show no reference to the exact date of their composition. Legends and folklore have often taken the place of historical facts and chronology has been consciously or unconsciously tampered with. Modern research on scientific lines, however, has gone a long way to explain the origin and early development of the language.
A comprehensive literary history of Kerala should take into account the works produced in the region not only in Malayalam language, but also in Tamil, beginning with the fourth century BC and continuing to the end of the first millennium AD It should also trace the evolution of the works in Sanskrit produced by writers in Kerala. The contribution of Kerala to Tamil literature which includes Chilappadikaram produced in the 2nd century BC, should be perhaps find its proper place in the history of Tamil literature just as Kerala's contribution to Sanskrit, which includes the works of Sankaracharya and Kulasekhara Alwar of the early 9th century AD, should come within a history of Sanskrit literature. The contribution of Kerala writers to English and Hindi in recent years, in the same way is part of the literature in those languages.
The earliest written record of Malayalam is the Vazhappalli inscription (ca. 830 AD). The early literature of Malayalam comprised three types of composition:
* Classical songs known as Pattu of the Tamil tradition
* Manipravalam of the Sanskrit tradition, which permitted a generous interspersing of Sanskrit with Malayalam
* The folk song rich in native elements
Malayalam poetry to the late twentieth century betrays varying degrees of the fusion of the three different strands. The oldest examples of /Pattu/ and Manipravalam respectively are /ramacharitam/ and /vaishikatantram/, both of the twelfth century.
The earliest extant prose work in the language is a commentary in simple Malayalam, Bhashakautaliyam (12th century) on Chanakya's Arthasastra. Adhyathmaramayanam by Thunchaththu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan is one of the most important works in Malayalam Literature. Malayalam prose of different periods exhibit various levels of influence from different languages such as Tamil, Sanskrit, Prakrit, Pali, Hebrew, Hindi, Urdu, Arabic, Persian, Syriac, Portuguese, Dutch, French and English. Although this may be true, Malayalam is strikingly similar to Tamil, akin to the similarity between modern Dutch and German. Modern literature is rich in poetry, fiction, drama, biography, and literary criticism.
