Respected Sirs Many thanks for your mail Regards TS Iyer 7358250472
On Fri, 25 Dec 2020 at 17:38, Rajaram Krishnamurthy <[email protected]> wrote: > Pranam > History of : Kerala Source: Deivathin Kural/ Voice of God – Volume 5 > > 1 The Malayala Desam is located on the west of the long series of > hills known as Western Ghats. KeraLam is the Sanskrit name. > ‘Kera’ is coconut and that entire area is full of coconut trees, > hence the name KeraLam. One the one side are the hills – that is Malai > and on the other side is ‘aazhi’ or ‘aazham’ so the Malayalam = > Malai + Aazham! There is a story about how this narrow strip of land came > into being. Parasurama killed and vanquished 21 generations of Kshatriya > kings and took their lands all over India. > > 2 So, he donated all the lands to Kashyapa Maharshi. Why Kashyapa? > Because all the animate life forms of this world came into being from him > only. People born in Manu’s lineage are human beings aka Man or Manushya. > Manu’s father was Vivasvan and his father was Kashyapa. Not only > that, he was the forefather of Devas, Dhaityas, Dhanavas, Raakshasaas, > Nagas and many others! Though there are many Prajapathis, only he is > specially called the Kashyapa Prajapathi. So, ‘let him manage all these men > and lands or do whatever’, was how Parasurama thought and donated it all to > Kashyapa! {KR: Kashyapa in sanskrit denotes the Rishi as well as the > nature space, creation from Prajapathi} > > 3 Parasurama started out. He went to the Western Ghats on the > western borders of the whole of South India and reached the > Sahayadri Mountain { KR: Sahya+ Adri= endurable mountain one of the 7 of > the Bharatha varsham} peak known nowadays as *Aanaimalai or > Elephant Top*. Close to the western side of the mountains was the > sea. Those days there was no Kerala or Malayala Desam, but only water of > the seas. Parasurama spoke to the Samudra Raja (the Lord of the > Oceans), “ I seek your benign help for some spatial adjustment. > By withdrawing yourself a little away from these mountains, can you kindly > create some ground on the west of these ranges of mountains, for me to > live?” Samudra Raja told Parasurama, “Dear Sir! In your hands you hold > that Parasu (Axe) which you got from doing Tapasya to Parameswara. Throw it > as far as possible in the ocean and I shall recede that much away, up to > the point beyond where the water drops are thrown up to by the impact of > the axe and make all that land available to you.” Accordingly Parasurama > threw the axe into the ocean as far as possible. Water from the impact > splashed in all directions many miles in the N-S direction and less in the > E-W axis. All that area was exposed to the Sun and the sea withdrew. That > is the Malayala Desam or Kerala aka Parasurama Kshetra. Initially > populated by fisher folk talking an unorganized cacophony of languages. > Parasurama did not wish to be the only one doing Tapasya in such a vast > area. So he decided to bring in and settle a whole lot of Brahmins who > would be doing their share of Vedic activities of Homa, Pooja, Japa, > Upaasana and other such Karma Anushtaanaas. From the land of the > Sozha Kingdom he invited Brahmins known as Sozhiyas to this new land > of his creation. They were Tamil speaking Dravidian Brahmins as any > other community in Tamil Nadu. The Brahmins from Tamil Nadu are comfort > loving, used to the moderate climate of the area. > > 4 Endless rains, overflowing rivulets, with wet grounds full > of mire everywhere, it just did not suit them at all. They were afraid of > telling Parasurama who had a reputation as being quick to take offence. > They were actively considering running away from there, secretly in > the quiet. He knew all that. Let us just change one of their customs and > they can never get back to their motherland after that, he > thought. On the pretext of giving them a special identity, he > made them wear their hair in their head differently. Normally Brahmins > in Tamil Nadu shave off the front portion of their head above > the temple and let the hair at the back grow abundantly long. > Their long tresses are then cared for, oiled, braided and rolled > into a knot at the back of their heads. This is known as > Kudumi which would typically identify them. Parasurama introduced a > twist in this custom. He made them wear what is known as ‘Oordva Shika’, in > which the back of the head is shaved off and the hair on the peak of the > head is permitted to grow long, which is tied in to a knot to fall forward > just on top of the temple! *Till date Namboodri Brahmins of Kerala follow > this system only. But the Sozhiyas thought that this one small change in > the identity will not be such a hindrance in their acceptance back in > Tamil Nadu, when there is no difference in the other customs and > traditions. *So, most of them did go back to the banks of Cauvery River > once again and were accepted with open arms as expected. But the Oordva > Shika remained on top of the head, giving rise to the proverb, ‘Sozhiyan > Kudumi does not shake easily’, to mean that he does not listen to others > suggestions and also that he is not easily ruffled! Parasurama’s plan > however, had back fired. * So, he imported Brahmins from Andhra and > Karnataka en-mass and as a precaution, out of the 108 Aachaaraas that > are there for the Brahmin, he changed some 64 of them to give them totally > a new traditional identity. This worked and for generations they started > staying there. They are known as Namboodri Brahmins, stricter in their > observance of traditional Aachaaraas, than Brahmins elsewhere in the whole > of India! There is a book by the name of ‘Keralotpatti’. I have given you > the details from that book and a few PuraNas. * > > 5 There could be one question in your minds. If the Namboodri Brahmins > were mostly from Kannada and Telugu backgrounds and others were mainly > fisher folks from the Arabian Sea islands with some local dialects; > how is that Malayalam as a language contains a mix of words > from mainly Tamil and Sanskrit languages? *The Malayala language > evolved some 1,000 to 1,200 years back only. Before that Tamil was the > main stay. Still some of you can say, ‘How can it be?’ *I will answer > that. No society can be complete only with Brahmins and fisher > folks. There has to be a king, army, traders and so on. Most of > these were Tamilians only. The mountain ranges of Western Ghats are > literally hugging the Tamil Nadu from North to South with many > passages between Tamil Nadu and Kerala. From time immemorial > Tamilians are known to trade across the oceans and their reach included > Sri Lanka, Burma, Java, Sumatra, Borneo, most of East Asia and Western > shores of Africa and the islands in between. So, the point to be noted > is that the major population in Kerala after Parasurama created were > Tamilians who had moved there from across the Sahayadri Mountains. When I > said that Tamilians are too fond of their comforts, I meant only the > pulse-eating-brahmins and not the non-brahmins! (PeriyavaaL smiles while > saying this.) Others are very hard working capable of high levels of > tolerance. They knew all the tricks of agriculture and were > capable of doing aggressive marketing of their produce. So it was the > Tamil non-brahmins who populated Kerala in a big way and started planting > and cultivation of Black-Pepper, Oak trees, Coconut, SandalWood > and a variety of Spices in a big way, making use of the plentiful > water supply. Then fish was available both from the seas and a number of > rivers, rivulets and ponds. Life was plentiful and satisfying. The Chera > Kings were all of Tamil origin only for long. So, a parallel > civilization came into being in Tamil Nadu. As the majority was > Tamils, others also spoke the same language. All this happened > even before the historical times till Sozha, Chera and Pandya > dynasties were alternately predominant at various times. When > others from the East went there some Brahmins also must have migrated > to Kerala due to divine interest as many temples and temple towns came into > being in that land. Parasurama himself created some of them. Initially > there was a restriction against immigration as imposed by Parasurama which > got diluted over time. Anyhow he himself went incognito, not seen > by anybody and after that some Brahmins from the mainland could > have gone on visiting the religiously important temple towns and settled > there. > > 6 Historically recorded periods start around Asoka’s time. In > his Saasanam inscribed on stone slabs, about places where he spread his > views on peaceful co-existence, there is mention of Kerala also along with > other places of India. This is proof of the fact that there was > civilized social life in that part of the country already. It was part of > Chera Kingdom and Tamil was the language there. Silappadikaram a Tamil > classic literature is from that land only. Cheramaan PerumaaL > Naayanaar, who sang the Tamil divine songs of Thirumarais as part > of Saiva Thevaram collections was a King in Kerala. So also > KulaSekhara PerumaL, who sang the poems as part of the Vaishnava’s > Nalayira Divya Prabhandam collections in Tamil was a King in > Kerala. Therefore our AachaaryaaL also in his time must have spoken > Tamil. All Brahmins those days must have been well read. There could not > have been any Brahmin who had not done Adhyayanam and was knowledgeable in > Tamil and Sanskrit. Within themselves they must have spoken in > Sanskrit and with others used the Tamil language. Though our > AachaaryaaL came down to the Earth as an Avatara for rekindling > and rejuvenating the Sanaatana Dharma and did his all for > re-establishing it on very strong footings, with the passage of > time there was deterioration set in once again! In that flow of events, > suitably misusing some of the traditions introduced by Parasurama, other > than the first son of the families even amongst *Namboodri Brahmins, > started resorting to marriages with women of other castes. When such > relationships were created, a mix of Sanskrit and Tamil did come about, > which could have been the seeds of a new language to sprout.* By this > intermingling causing some dilution of standards of austerity, some good > by-products were also there. By this, in Kerala all castes became > knowledgeable in Shastras and Puranas. The education standards did improve, > especially fluency in use of Sanskrit words. For example, more than any > other part of India, taking a bath early in the morning and > visiting the nearby temple wearing clean clothes with much > noticeable devotion and piety is the practice by people of all castes in > Kerala. I do not for a moment wish to say that non-brahmins are > uneducated, unclean and things like that at all. Due to the type of work > that they have to do, especially the proletariat, they cannot afford to > care for cleanliness so much. Whether a factory worker or involved in > agriculture or in the job of clearing the garbage, they just cannot be too > finicky about cleanliness as a Brahmin is required to be in his duty! > > 7 Then if you take any of the craftsmen, their children learn > their trade from childhood from their elders, whether it is carpentry > or masonry, separating and spinning the silk thread or sculpting > a stone into shape! Going to school would be a double > unaffordable loss as it would mean, missing on the job training > and being coached by one’s grandfather / father / uncle, and > loss of cheap labour. So generally they would send one of the children > to school so that he could act as the in house accountant, manager and > correspondent, while others would be given on-the-job-training! > Since such people contribute substantially to the well being of the > society, the very Saastraas have been liberal in the standards of > cleanliness expected of them and in their case Adhyayanam is also not a > requirement. Still, the fact that in Kerala the standards of education, > knowledge of the Saastraas and Do’s and Don’ts of the Sanatana Dharma, are > way ahead of the rest of the country; indicates the apparent effect of the > brahmin influence. Though it was not an island all by itself, when it was > not so well connected by means of transportation, Kerala was having > certain benefits of inaccessibility and isolation from the > Mainland, unaffected by some of the social irreligious tendencies! *So, > when a typical local lingo developed into a full-fledged language by its > own right, all people of Kerala accepted it with pride as their > mother tongue. This is how the language Malayalam came into being. * Having > spoken so much about the story of Malayalam let me tell you the balance > also. After Malayalam had become well established, for some reasons some > brahmins from Tamil Nadu migrated there and settled closer to the Tamil > Nadu instead of going deep inside Kerala. Some shifted from the area > of Coimbatore to Palghat and settled near Pallassana. Others from > Tenkasi through Sengotta went near Trivandrum. Their Tamil is another > version with a scattering of Malayalam in pronunciation. When I said that > Kerala developed with its own culture unaffected by the happenings in the > Mainland, you should not think that it was totally isolated and that its > culture was alien to that in the Mainland. The Vedic culture is the culture > of what is India. Like a main river in which a number of tributaries come > and join, many flows such as the different cultures of Kashmir, Punjab, > Central India, Rajasthan, Bengal, Karnataka, Andhra, Kerala and Tamil Nadu > joined to make what is the Indian Vedic culture. To give yet another > example, if you think of Indian culture as a tree, these were its branches > and the roots were the Vedic one. > > 8 Parasurama settled brahmin-s from Tamil Nadu as the original > citizens, he ensured that Indian Vedas, Puranas, Temples, Yagnas, > Vratam-s such as for Shivaratri, Ekadasi, and Somavaaram; Karma > Anushtaanaas, Adhyayanam, Adhyapakam, chanting of Veda mantras and > establishment of Veda Patashaalaas were all brought in. So, even > when elsewhere in India these were not being observed or becoming subdued, > with the expanding influence of Buddhism and Jainism (Muslims > followed by Britishers were to come much later), in Kerala these > were more assiduously being observed. So, it was in the rightness > of things that our AachaaryaaL’s Avatara also took place there. > Later, things happened topsy turvy, trending in the opposite way > and I must mention that also. Since the whole of the eastern border of > Kerala was the range of mountains, it was not much affected by the > upheavals that occurred in the Mainland India alright. But what was in the > west of Kerala? It was all the Arabian Sea. So with the thriving trade of > Black Pepper, Cardamom, Sandal Wood, Oak timber and Ivory, there was also > an influx of traders and visitors from the west and they started settling > there. For many Jews, Christians and Muslims, Kerala became the > MotherLand! Though unaffected by the changes in the mainland, > they ended up accommodating all and sundry! Anyhow, all this is part > of the side effects of our own culture which believes in ‘Atiti Devo > Bhava’! Let me tell you one more surprising thing. Though the people > of Kerala accepted foreign religions, when it comes to Hinduism, > after our AachaaryaaL, they did not accept the other Sampradaaya-s of > Vaishnavas and Madhvas. Do we not see that even in Padmanabha Swami > Temple or Guruvayoorappan Temple they do not have Vaishnava Bhatta-s, > but only Namboodiri brahmin-s including in Sabarimala Aiyappa > Temple. This can only be considered as their devotion to our > AachaaryaaL who took Avatara there, after searching for a suitable place in > the whole of India. In recent times with the laying of roads and rail > communications to and fro between Kerala and rest of the country and > advanced education available all over, the somewhat secluded society of > Kerala has started spreading all over the country as well become > more international. In every foreign country today among expatriate > Indians, Keralites form a major chunk. Without standing on prestige, they > are ready to go anywhere and do any sort of work and thus have > proved to be as industrious and ubiquitous as the Sardarjis of Punjab, > making their presence felt in every nook and corner of the world! > > K R IRS 25 12 20 > > xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Thatha_Patty" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/CAL5XZoo22%3DV-1moRgJZXp_goPBvTGg4n-XYY3o4o0nt45SoZcg%40mail.gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/CAL5XZoo22%3DV-1moRgJZXp_goPBvTGg4n-XYY3o4o0nt45SoZcg%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- *Regards* *Thanukrishna Iyer Sivaramakrishna* *Cell no. +91-735 825 0472* -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. 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