Medieval Kerala

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

"Medieval Kerala' by Dr. A.P. Ibrahim Kunju is the seventh book in the 'Kerala Heritage Series' of the International centre for Kerala Studies. The aim of this series is to publish 100 books on the History, Geography, Religion, Language, Culture, Society, Performing arts, other arts and science of Kerala. We have already collected and published the collected works of Prof. Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai, comprised of all the books on Kerala history in Malalyalam. It gives a continuous history of Kerala from sangam period to preportuguese period. The present book is a critical study of the most unexplored period of Kerala History on the basis of original sources. Dr. Ibrahim Kunju has utilised a large number of stone and copper plate inscriptions, which have been discovered in the recent past, throwing new light on the medieval history of Kerala. He is also trying to draw a clear picture of the political set-up of the country, with the help of foreign sources like Portuguese, Dutch and English accounts in different archives, which have helped him greatly in unravelling the importance of many events in the political history of the period.

'Medieval Kerala' is one of the most unexplored areas of Kerala History. Other than the District Gazetteers and Manuals, like William Logan's Malabar Manual, C.Achyuta Menon's Cochin State Manual, Nagam Aiya's and Velu Pillai's Travancore State Manuals and works like P.Sankunni Menon's A History of Travancore, P.K.S.Raja's Medieval Kerala and K.V.Krishna Ayyar's The Zamorin's of Calicut and a few monographs, no critical study on the basis of original sources has been made in the history of medieval Kerala. In the recent past, a large number of stone and copper plate inscriptions have been discovered throwing fresh light on the history of the period.

A few exceptions to this general trend have to be noticed. The Kocci Rajya Caritram (Mal) by K.P. Padmanabha Menon is one such work. He collected a large number of works, both indigenuous and foreign available at that time and made use of them to write a large volume on the history of Cochin. He had to depend upon a large number of legends in the writing of the ancient history of Cochin, but the author has noted his difference of opinion on the veracity of such legends. But when he attempted to write a History of Kerala, he did not succeed and he satisfied himself with writing a history of Kerala "in the form of notes on Visscher's Letters from Malabar". He was aware of the numerous hurdles he had to face in the attempt. The excellent work done by Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai, who sutdied the stone inscriptions and copper plates of the period deserve our grateful acknowledgement. By his yeoman service, in this field, he had unravelled many of the unsolved mysteries in the history of the period. With all their limitations his Studies in Kerala History and other Malayalam works have contributed greatly to the study of medieval Kerala History.

It is now generally accepted that the Second Cora Kingdom disintegrated after the disappearance "under strange circumstances" of Rama Kulasekhara, the last Cera ruler by 1122 A.D., M.G.S. Narayanan suggests, "there is no reason to reject the tradition that the last Cera king embraced Islam and went to Mecca, since it finds a place not only in Muslim chronicles but also in Hindu Brahmanical chronicles like the Keralōlpatti, which need not be expected to concoct such a tale which in no way serves to enhance the prestige or further the interests of the Brahmin or Hindu population". It is only natural that the nats, the constituent parts of the Cera Kingdom, become independent. The fact that no one ruler put up a fight for succession to the Cera throne, makes it clear that there was no lineal successor to Rama Kulasekhara.