User:Wangond/keralahistory

Findings of the earliest times of Kerala include a series of Dolmens from the Marayur town area, which belong to the Neolithic period, dating back 10.000 years. Rockpainting was also prevalent during these ages. The most famous ones were found in the Edakkal Caves in Wayanad. These carvings date back to the early Stone Age period of 5000 B.C. A more recent finding is an Indus script symbol, which appears also in the Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilization. The prominent Indus script expert Iravatham Mahadevan said, that these findings were very significant and he called it a "major discovery". A cave near the Edakkal Caves in Thovarimala Ezhuthupara, Wayanad district, known locally as "Ezhuthupara" also carries pre-historic carvings dating back many millennia.

The Sangam age

Kerala and Tamil Nadu once shared a common language and culture; this common area was known as Tamilakam. Tamilakam was ruled by different Tamil royal dynasties. The most prominent rulers were the Cholas, the Pandyans and the Cheras. Among these, the Cheras and Pandyans were rulers of Kerala in the classical Sangam period. In unknown antiquity the Chera Dynasty was established by a Villavar (lit.: "bowmen") clan, an old Tamil-speaking community. According to Sangam literature, the capital of the Cheras was Vanchi and southern Kerala was ruled by the Pandyan Kingdom, who were Minavars (lit.: "fishmen"), with their capital at Nelcynda. From archaeological sources it is known, that the traditional emblem of the Cheras carried the bow and the emblem of the Pandyans a fish.

Evidence from recent excavations in Pattanam show the first major trade activities of Keralite people. This site was known to classical sources as Muziris, a world famous trading port in antiquity. It has been shown through the C14 method, that the earliest period of an urbanised Muziris date back to 1500 BCE. The first contact with foreign merchants was conducted with the Phoenicians, who were a maritime seapower in the Near East and controlled all important sea trade routes. The merchants from Egypt, China, West Asia, Greece and Roman Empire kept deep trade links with the kings of western Tamilakam. The Pandyas capital Nelcynda was leading in the pepper trade, while Muziris has been a hub for goods of all kind. It became a meeting point for the people of the Western and Eastern hemisphere. The Sangam literature from the period has descriptions of the Roman ships coming to Muziris, laden with gold as exchange for pepper.

Political map of Kerala and Tamil Nadu during the Sangam period at ca. 210 BCE

Kerala is represented as the eastern tip of the known world in Tabula Peutingeriana, the only known surviving map of the Roman cursus publicus. The west Asian-semitic Jewish, Christian, and Muslim immigrants established Nasrani Mappila, Juda Mappila and Muslim Mappila communities. The Jews first arrived in Kerala in 573 BC. The works of scholars and Eastern Christian writings state that Thomas the Apostle visited Muziris in Kerala in 52 CE to proselytize amongst Kerala's Jewish settlements and convert them to Christianity. However, the year of his arrival is widely disputed due to lack of credible historical evidence. Muslim merchants led by Malik ibn Dinar settled in Kerala by the 8th century CE and introduced Islam. The Later Chera Kingdom (c. 800–1102), also called the Kulasekhara dynasty, was founded by Kulasekhara Varman who was also a Vaishnavaite saint. Ay kings ruled southern Kerala, but by the 10th century the Ay kingdom declined and became a part of the Chera Kingdom. A Keralite identity, distinct from the Tamils became linguistically separate during this period. The Kulasekhara dynasty came to an end by twelfth century, weakened due to the invasions by Pandyas and Cholas. In the absence of a strong central power, the state became divided under small principalities governed by Nair Cheftains. The kingdoms of Kochi, Venad, Kolathiri and Kozhikode Samuthiri emerged powerful.

The colonial era

After Vasco Da Gama's arrival in Kappad Kozhikode in 1498, the Portuguese began to gain control of the lucrative pepper trade which was revived in the Thirteen century AD to some extend. On 25 March 1505, Francisco de Almeida was appointed the Viceroy of India with his headquarters at Kochi. The period from 1500 to 1571 saw constant battles by the Saamoothiri and his navarch Kunjali Marakkar against the Portuguese until the latter were defeated and their fort destroyed by the Zamorin's forces at Chaliyam. The fall of Chaliyam fort marked the beginning of the end for the Portuguese in the great game of the East. Elsewhere, the Portuguese had established forts at Kannur, Cochin and Kollam {{citation}}: Empty citation (help).

Dutch commander De Lannoy surrenders to Marthanda Varma at the Battle of Colachel. Depiction at Padmanabhapuram Palace

The Dutch East India Company like the Portuguese before them took advantage of the conflicts between Kozhikode and Kochi and ousted the Portuguese to gain control of the trade. However, the Dutch were weakened by constant battles with Marthanda Varma of the Travancore Royal Family, the most prominent of them the Battle of Colachel in 1741. The Dutch finally surrendered to the British on 20 Oct 1795 when the latter marched from Calicut as part of the larger Napoleonic Wars between Holland and England in Europe. In 1766, Hyder Ali, the ruler of Mysore invaded northern Kerala. In the late 18th century, Tipu Sultan, Ali’s son and successor, launched campaigns against the expanding British East India Company, resulting in two of the four Anglo-Mysore Wars. He ultimately ceded Malabar District and South Kanara to the Company in the 1790s. The Company forged tributary alliances with Kochi in 1791 and Travancore in 1795. Malabar and South Kanara became part of the Madras Presidency.

A nineteenth-century map of Madras Province in British India. Kerala was formed by merging Malabar, Cochin, Travancore and the South Kanara district

Kerala was comparatively peaceful under the British Raj; only sporadic revolts such as the 1946 Punnapra-Vayalar uprising and the 1921 Malabar Rebellion. The Dewan of Travancore Velayudan Thampi Dalava, and Pazhassi Raja, among others, vied for greater autonomy or independence. Many actions, spurred by such leaders as Vaikunda Swami, Sree Narayana Guru and Chattampi Swamikal, instead protested such conditions as untouchability; notable was the 1924 Vaikom Satyagraham. In 1936, Chitra Thirunal Bala Rama Varma of Travancore issued the Temple Entry Proclamation that opened Hindu temples to all castes; Malabar soon did likewise. But Cochin did not do the Temple entry proclamation (1948) until after India's independence. The 1921 Moplah Rebellion involved Mappila Muslims rioting against Hindu zamindars Zamindari system and the British Raj.

Post Independence

After India gained its independence in 1947, Travancore and Cochin were merged to form Travancore-Cochin on 1 July 1949. On 1 January 1950 (Republic Day), Travancore-Cochin was recognised as a state. The Madras Presidency was organised to form Madras State in 1947.

Formation of the State of Kerala and beyond

On 1 November 1956, the state of Kerala was formed by the States Reorganisation Act merging the Malabar district, Travancore-Cochin (excluding four southern taluks, which were merged with Tamil Nadu), and the taluk of Kasargod, South Kanara. Elections for the new Kerala Legislative Assembly were held in 1957; this resulted in the formation of a communist-led government headed by E.M.S. Namboodiripad. Radical reforms introduced by the E. M. S. Namboodiripad's government in favour of farmers and labourers helped change, to a great extent, the iniquitous social order that had prevailed in the land for a long time.

References in Hinduism

The Matsya Purana mentions the Malaya Mountains in Kerala as the setting for the story of the Matsya Avatara of Lord Vishnu and King Manu (King Satyavrata). The Vamana Purana also mentions King Mahabali as the righteous and virtuous ruler that has his capital in Kerala. Kerala has been referenced in puranas as created by Parashurama by throwing his axe into the sea. The Aitareya Aranyaka is the earliest Sanskrit work that specifically mentions Kerala.