thumb|Cover page of Nasranikal okkekkum ariyendunna samkshepavedartham, the first book to be printed in Malayalam in 1772.
Malayalam, the lingua franca of the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Mahé district (under Puduchery), is one of the eleven classical languages of India. Malayalam literature comprises those literary texts written in Malayalam, a South-Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala. The first travelogue in any Indian language is the Malayalam Varthamanappusthakam, written by Paremmakkal Thoma Kathanar in 1785. Malayalam literature has been presented with 6 Jnanapith awards, the second-most for any Dravidian language and the third-highest for any Indian language.
The Sangam literature can be considered as the ancient predecessor of Malayalam. It is generally agreed that the Quilon Syrian copper plates of 849/850 CE is the available oldest inscription written in Old Malayalam. The earliest known literary works in Malayalam are Ramacharitam (late 12th or early 13th century) and Thirunizhalmala, two epic poems written in Old Malayalam. In the subsequent centuries, besides a popular Pattu ("song") literature, the manipravalam poetry also flourished. Manipravalam (translates "ruby coral") style consisted of poetry in an admixture of Malayalam and Sanskrit. Then came works such as champus and sandeshakavyas in which prose and poetry were interspersed. Later, poets like Cherusseri introduced poems on devotional themes.
Designated a "Classical Language in India" in 2013, Malayalam literature developed into the current form mainly by the influence of the poets Cherusseri Namboothiri, in the 15th and the 16th centuries of Common Era. Thunchathu Ezhuthachchan is also known as The father of modern Malayalam literature. There were also other important works, in Arabi Malayalam like Muhyadheen Mala, which was also produced in 16th-17th centuries of Common Era. The growth of Arabi Malayalam literature eventually lead to Mappila Songs. The words used in many of the Arabi Malayalam works those date back to 16th-17th centuries of Common Era are also very closer to the modern Malayalam language. Ezhuthachan, a strong proponent of Bhakti movement, is known as the father of Malayalam. His poems are classified under the genre of kilippattu.
The prose literature, criticism, and Malayalam journalism began after the latter half of the 18th century CE. Contemporary Malayalam literature deals with social, political, and economic life context. Modern literary movements in Malayalam literature began in the late 19th century with the rise of the famous Modern Triumvirate consisting of Kumaran Asan, Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer and Vallathol Narayana Menon. Kumaran Asan was temperamentally a pessimist—a disposition reinforced by his metaphysics—yet all his life was active in promoting his downtrodden Hindu-Ezhava community. Ullor wrote in the classical tradition, appealing for universal love, while Vallathol responded to the human significance of social progress. Contemporary Malayalam poetry deals with social, political, and economic life context. The tendency of the modern poetry is often towards political radicalism. In the second half of the 20th century, Jnanpith winning poets and writers like G. Sankara Kurup, S. K. Pottekkatt, Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai, Edasseri Govindan Nair, M. T. Vasudevan Nair, O. N. V. Kurup, and Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri, had made valuable contributions to the modern Malayalam literature. Later, writers like O. V. Vijayan, Kamaladas, M. Mukundan, Arundhati Roy, and Vaikom Muhammed Basheer, have gained international recognition. The modern Malayalam grammar is based on the book Kerala Panineeyam written by A. R. Raja Raja Varma in the late 19th century CE.
Evolution of Malayalam
thumbnail|The [[Quilon Syrian copper plates (849/850 CE) is the available oldest inscription written in Old Malayalam. Besides Old Malayalam, the copper plate also contains signatures in Arabic (Kufic script), Middle Persian (cursive Pahlavi script) and Judeo-Persian (standard square Hebrew) scripts.]]
The western dialect of Old Tamil spoken in the southwestern Malabar Coast of India was known as Malanaattu Tamil/Malabar Tamil (Meaning the Tamil of the hilly region/the Tamil of Malabar) since the ancient Sangam period (300 BCE - 300 CE). and started separation from Proto-Tamil-Malayalam sometime in the 8th century CE. The renowned poets of Classical Tamil such as Paranar (1st century CE), Ilango Adigal (2nd-3rd century CE), and Kulasekhara Alvar (9th century CE) were Keralites.
Some scholars however believe that both Tamil and Malayalam developed during the prehistoric period from a common ancestor, 'Proto-Tamil-Malayalam', and that the notion of Malayalam being a 'daughter' of Tamil is misplaced. This is based on the fact that Malayalam and several Dravidian languages on the western coast have common archaic features which are not found even in the oldest historical forms of literary Tamil. However they share few striking innovations with Middle Tamil thus making independent descent impossible.
Old Malayalam (Pazhaya Malayalam), an inscriptional language found in Kerala from c. 9th to c. 13th century CE, is the earliest attested form of Malayalam. The start of the development of Old Malayalam from a western coastal dialect of contemporary Tamil (Middle Tamil) can be dated to c. 7th - 8th century CE. It remained a west coast dialect until c. 9th century CE or a little later.
The Old Malayalam language was employed in several official records and transactions (at the level of the Chera Perumal kings as well as on the village temples).
The Old Malayalam got gradually developed into Middle Malayalam (Madhyakaala Malayalam) by the 13th century CE. The Malayalam literature also completely got diverged from Tamil literature by this period. Kannassa Ramayanam and Kannassa Bharatham by Rama Panikkar of the Niranam poets who lived between 1350 and 1450, are representative of this language. The Champu Kavyas written by Punam Nambudiri, one among the Pathinettara Kavikal (Eighteen and a half poets) in the court of the Zamorin of Calicut, also belong to Middle Malayalam.
Ramacharitham
Ramacharitham is a collection of poems written at the end of the preliminary stage. It is the oldest Malayalam book available, with a possible exception of Thirunizhalmala. The collection has 1,814 poems in it. Ramacharitham mainly consists of stories from the Yuddha Kanda of the Ramayana. It was written by a poet with the pen name Cheeramakavi who, according to poet Ulloor S Parameswara Iyer, was Sree Veerarama Varman, a king of southern Kerala from AD 1195 to 1208. However the claim that it was written in Southern Kerala is expired on the basis of new discoveries. Other experts, like Chirakkal T Balakrishnan Nair, Dr. K.M. George, M. M. Purushothaman Nair, and P.V. Krishnan Nair, state that the origin of the book is in Kasaragod district in North Malabar region. The influence of Ramacharitam is mostly seen in the contemporary literary works of Northern Kerala.
Middle Malayalam
Manipravalam
While the Pattu school flourished among certain sections of the society, the literature of the elite was composed in the curious mixture of Sanskrit and Malayalam which is referred to as Manipravalam, mani meaning ruby (Malayalam) and pravalam meaning coral (Sanskrit). Lilathilakam, a work on grammar and rhetoric, written in the last quarter of the 14th century discusses the relationship between Manipravalam and Pattu as poetic forms. It lays special emphasis on the types of words that blend harmoniously. It points out that the rules of Sanskrit prosody should be followed in Manipravalam poetry. This particular school of poetry was patronised by the upper classes, especially the Nambudiris. Dramatic performances given in Koothambalams, known by the names of Koothu and Koodiyattom, often used Sanskrit and Malayalam. In Koodiyattom, the clown (vidooshaka) is allowed to use Malayalam while the hero recites slokas in Sanskrit. Tholan, a legendary court poet in the period of the Kulasekhara kings, is believed to have started this practice.
The earliest of these works in the Manipravalam school is Vaisika Tantram written in the 13th century. It contains about 200 quatrains in Sanskrit metres and is in the form of professional advice given to a prostitute or courtesan by her mother. Each quatrain is composed with care and due weight is given to the rules of rhetoric. Several quatrains of this type are quoted in Lilathilakam by way of illustration for the several rules of grammar and rhetoric.
The most representative of the early Manipravalam works are the tales of courtesans (Achi Charitams) and the Message Poems (Sandesa Kavyas). Unniyachi Charitam, Unnichiruthevi Charitam and Unniyadi Charitam are examples of the former type which is known by the name champu. The Padya (verse) portion is in Sanskrit metres and the Gadya (prose) portion is mostly in Dravidian metres. Authorship of Unniyachi Charitam and Unnichiruthevi Charitam is not known and only a portion of the works is now available. Unniyadi Charitam, which also exists in a fragmented form, is supposed to be written by Damodara Chakkiar. The Sandesa Kavyas are an important poetic genre in Sanskrit, and on the model of Kalidasa's Meghadūta and Lakshmidasa's Sukasandesa, a number of message poems came to be written first in Manipravalam and later in pure Malayalam. The best known among these sandesas is perhaps Unnuneeli Sandesam written in the 14th century. The poem is written under the pen-name Amruthanilakshi, and some believe that it was written in 1362 CE. The exact identity of the author remains a mystery, but it is widely believed that one of the members of the Travancore Royal Family wrote it.
The next work to be mentioned is Ramakathapattu, as it is popularly known, though the author calls it Ramayanakavyam. The author is Ayyappilli Asan who lived sometime about 1400 CE at Auvatutura near Kovalam and whom P. K. Narayana Pillai, who discovered the full text of the book in 1965, calls "the Homer of Malayalam." Ramakathapattu contains 3163 songs in 279 Vrittas or parts.
Niranam poets
While the Manipravala poetry flourished as a diversion from the mainstream, the tradition set up by Cheeraman of Ramacharitamand the more enlightened among the anonymous folk poets was resumed and replenished by three writers commonly referred to as Niranam poets, being Madhava Panikkar, Sankara Panikkar and Rama Panikkar. They were influenced by the Bhakti movement. The Bhakti school was thus revived, and in the place of the excessive sensuality and eroticism of the Manipravalam poets, the seriousness of the poetic vocation was reasserted by them. It is believed that they all belonged to the same Kannassa family and that Madhava Panikkar and Sankara Panikkar were the uncles of Rama Panikkar, the youngest of the three. Their most important work is Kannasa Ramayanam which is an important link between Ramacharitam, Ramakathapattu and Ezhuthachan's Adhyathmaramayanam. Ulloor has said that Rama Panikkar holds the same position in Malayalam literature that Edmund Spenser has in English literature. and Moplah Malayalam) was the traditional Dravidian language of the Mappila Muslim community in Malabar Coast. The poets like Moyinkutty Vaidyar and Pulikkottil Hyder have made notable contributions to the Mappila songs, which is a genre of the Arabi Malayalam literature. The Arabi Malayalam script, otherwise known as the Ponnani script, is a writing system - a variant form of the Arabic script with special orthographic features - which was developed during the early medieval period and used to write Arabi Malayalam until the early 20th century CE. Though the script originated and developed in Kerala, today it is predominantly used in Malaysia and Singapore by the migrant Muslim community.
Evolution of Modern Malayalam
thumb|Copy of Ezhuthachan's [[stylus and Adhyatma Ramayanam preserved at Thunchan Parambu, Tirur|251x251px]]
The Middle Malayalam (Madhyakaala Malayalam) was succeeded by Modern Malayalam (Aadhunika Malayalam) by the 15th century CE. The currently adopted Malayalam script, adopted by Ezhuthachan can be used to write any other language of India as it contain letters to denote both of the Voiced retroflex approximant (/ɻ/) (which is unique to Dravidian languages in India) and the letters unique to Sanskrit (those are not there in the Tamil script).
Modern Malayalam
Bhakti era
thumbnail|300px|The [[Thunchath Ezhuthachan Malayalam University is situated at Thunchan Parambu, Tirur, Malappuram]]
thumb|left|[[Thunchaththu Ezhuthachan]]
Malayalam literature passed through a tremendous process of development in the 15th and 16th centuries. Cherusseri's Krishnagatha bore witness to the evolution of modern Malayalam language as a proper medium for serious poetic communication. Alongside this, there flourished numerous Sanskrit poets who were very active during this period. The greatest of them was Melpathur Narayana Bhattathiri (1559–1665), the author of Narayaniyam. The most significant development of the time took place in the field of Malayalam poetry. Thunchaththu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan wrote his two great epics Adhyathmaramayanam and Srimahabharatam and two shorter pieces, Irupathinalu Vrittam and Harinama Kirtanam and thereby revolutionised Malayalam language and literature at once. Ezhuthachan refined the style of Malayalam language and it was during his period that Malayalam literature attained its individuality and Malayalam became a fully fledged independent language. Today he is known as the father of Malayalam language and its literature. The Kilippattu form he adopted in Ramayanam and Bharatam may be a pointer to his recognition of the importance of sound effect in poetry. Ezhuthachan is perhaps the greatest spokesman of the Bhakti movement in Malayalam but he is more than a writer of devotional hymns. K. Ayyappa Paniker has noted that "the transition from Cherrusseri to Ezhuthachan marks the triumph of modernism over medievalism." Fulmoni Ennum Koruna Ennum Peraya Randu Sthreekalude Katha (Phulmōni ennuṁ kōruṇa ennuṁ pērāya ranṭu strīkaḷuṭe katha), a translation of Hana Catherine Mullens's Bengali novel Fulmoni O Korunar Biboron by Rev. Joseph Peet, is believed to be the first novel printed and released in Malayalam (1858). Ghathakawadham (Ghātakavadhaṁ, 1877) by Rev. Richard Collins was the first novel printed and published in Malayalam with a story based in Kerala and around Malayalis. Though Kundalatha is not considered a major novel, it gets the pride of place as the first work in the language having the basic characteristics of a novel. O. Chandhu Menon's Indulekha was the first major novel in Malayalam language. It was a landmark in the history of Malayalam literature and initiated the novel as a new flourishing genre. The title refers to the main character in this novel, a beautiful, well educated Nair lady of 18 years. C. V. Raman Pillai's Marthandavarma (1891) had many distinctions: it was the first historical novel in any South Indian languages, first novel from Travancore, first Malayalam novel to be a part of a trilogy and the first Malayalam novel to have a masculine title. Marthandavarma was completed even before Indulekha but could not be published until 1891 owing to lack of finance. The novel recounted the history of Venad (Travancore) during the final period of Rajah Rama Varma's reign and subsequently to the accession of Marthanda Varma. The novel had a film adaptation of the same name in 1933 and was the first Malayalam novel to be adapted into film. During the early 20th century, Malayalam received outstanding novels, either as translations or adaptations of Western literature. The post-independence period saw a fresh start in the history of longer fiction in Malayalam as in many other Indian languages, parallel to the evolution of post-world war fiction in other parts of the world. It was both a break and a continuation. P. Kesava Dev, who was a Communist in the thirties and forties turned away from diehard ideologies and wrote a symbolic novel called Arku Vendi? (For Whose Sake?) in 1950, challenging the philosophy of Stalinist liquidation of political enemies. It had a special significance in the context of the 'Calcutta thesis'. After portraying the class struggle of farm labourers in Randidangazhi (Two Measures) in 1949, Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai turned away from party politics and produced a moving romance in Chemmeen (Shrimps) in 1956. For S. K. Pottekkatt and Vaikom Muhammad Basheer, who had not dabbled in politics, the continuity is marked in the former's Vishakanyaka (Poison Maid, 1948) and the latter's Ntuppuppakkoranendarnnu (My Grandpa had an Elephant, 1951). The non-political social or domestic novel was championed by P. C. Kuttikrishnan (Uroob) with his Ummachu (1955) and Sundarikalum Sundaranmarum (Men and Women of Charm, 1958). In 1957 Basheer's Pathummayude Aadu (Pathumma's Goat) brought in a new kind of prose tale, which perhaps only Basheer could handle with dexterity. The fifties thus mark the evolution of a new kind of fiction, which had its impact on the short stories as well. This was the auspicious moment for the entry of M. T. Vasudevan Nair and T. Padmanabhan upon the scene. Front runners in the post-modern trend include Kakkanadan, O. V. Vijayan, E. Harikumar, M. Mukundan and Anand.
Early prose literature
List of early prose literature in the 19th century.
Allegories
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! style="width: 320px;" | Title
! style="width: 220px;" | Author
! style="width: 80px;" | Year
! style="width: 90px;" | Make
! class="unsortable" style="width: 300px;" | Other notes
|-
| Sanchariyude Prayanam<br />(സഞ്ചാരിയുടെ പ്രയാണം – Sancāriyuṭe Pṟayāṇaṁ)
| Rev. C. Muller<br />Rev. P. Chandran
| style="text-align: center;" | 1846
| style="text-align: center;" | Translation
|
|-
| Paradeshi Mokshayathra<br />(പരദേശി മോക്ഷയാത്ര – Paradēśi Mōkṣayātṟa)
| Rev. K. Koshy<br />Rev. Joseph Peet
| style="text-align: center;" | 1844
| style="text-align: center;" | Translation
|
|-
| Thirupporattam<br />(തിരുപ്പോരാട്ടം – Tiruppōrāṭṭaṁ)
| Archdeacon. K. Koshy
| style="text-align: center;" | 1868
| style="text-align: center;" | Translation
|
|}
Plays
Writers like Edasseri Govindan Nair, N. N. Pillai, Cherukad, Thoppil Bhasi, Kavalam Narayana Panicker have contributed much to Malayalam drama.
| Rev. Richard Collins
| style="text-align: center;" | 1877
| style="text-align: center;" | Translation
|
|-
| Pathminiyum Karunayum<br />(പത്മിനിയും കരുണയും – Patmiṉiyuṁ karuṇayuṁ)
| <Anonymous Writer>
| style="text-align: center;" | 1884
| style="text-align: center;" | Translation
|
|-
| Kundalatha<br />(കുന്ദലത – Kundalata)
| Appu Nedungadi
| style="text-align: center;" | 1887
| style="text-align: center;" | Original
|
|-
| Indulekha<br />(ഇന്ദുലേഖ – Indulēkha)
| O. Chandumenon
| style="text-align: center;" | 1889
| style="text-align: center;" | Original
|
|-
| Indumathee Swayamvaram<br />(ഇന്ദുമതീസ്വയംവരം – Indumatīsvayaṁvaraṁ)
| Padinjare Kovilakathu Ammaman Raja
| style="text-align: center;" | 1890
| style="text-align: center;" | Original
|
|-
| Meenakshi<br />(മീനാക്ഷി – Mīṉākṣi)
| C. Chathu Nair
| style="text-align: center;" | 1890
| style="text-align: center;" | Original
|
|-
| Marthandavarma<br />(മാർത്താണ്ഡവർമ്മ – Māṟttāṇḍavaṟmma)
| C. V. Raman Pillai
| style="text-align: center;" | 1891
| style="text-align: center;" | Original
|
|-
| Saraswatheevijayam<br />(സരസ്വതീവിജയം – Sarasvatīvijayaṁ)
| Kizhakepattu Raman Menon
| style="text-align: center;" | 1892
| style="text-align: center;" | Original
|
|-
| Sarada<br />(ശാരദ – Śārada)
| O. Chandumenon
| style="text-align: center;" | 1892
| style="text-align: center;" | Original
|
|-
| Lakshmeekeshavam<br />(ലക്ഷ്മീകേശവം – Lakṣmīkēśavaṁ)
| Komattil Padu Menon
| style="text-align: center;" | 1892
| style="text-align: center;" | Original
|
|-
| Naluperiloruthan<br />(നാലുപേരിലൊരുത്തൻ – Nālupēriloruttan)
| C. Anthapayi
| style="text-align: center;" | 1893
| style="text-align: center;" | Original
|
|-
| Chandrahasan<br />(ചന്ദ്രഹാസൻ – Candrahāsan)
| P. Krishnan Menon<br />T. K. Krishnan Menon<br />C. Govindan Eledam
| style="text-align: center;" | 1893
| style="text-align: center;" | Translation
|
|-
| Akbar<br />(അക്ബർ – Akbaṟ)
| Kerala Varma Valiya Koi Thampuran
| style="text-align: center;" | 1894
| style="text-align: center;" | Translation
|
|-
| Kalyani<br />(കല്യാണി – Kalyāṇi)
| <Anonymous Writer>
| style="text-align: center;" | 1896
| style="text-align: center;" | Original
|
|-
| Sukumari<br />(സുകുമാരി – Sukumāri)
| Joseph Mooliyil
| style="text-align: center;" | 1897
| style="text-align: center;" | Original
|
|-
| Saguna<br />(സഗുണ – Saguṇa)
| Joseph Mooliyil
| style="text-align: center;" | 1898–1899
| style="text-align: center;" | Translation
|
|-
| Kamala<br />(കമല – Kamala)
| C. Krishnan Nair
| style="text-align: center;" | 1899
| style="text-align: center;" | Translation
|
|}
Apologues
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! style="width: 320px;" | Title
! style="width: 220px;" | Author
! style="width: 80px;" | Year
! style="width: 90px;" | Make
! class="unsortable" style="width: 300px;" | Other notes
|-
| Rasselas<br />(റാസലസ് – Ṟāsalas)
| Pilo Paul
| style="text-align: center;" | 1895
| style="text-align: center;" | Translation
|
|-
| Nandipa Deepika<br />(നന്ദിപദീപിക – Nandipadīpika)
| Kunji Kelu Nair
| style="text-align: center;" | 1895
| style="text-align: center;" | Translation
|
|-
| Rasalelika<br />(രസലേലിക – Rasalēlika)
| Thatha Kanaran
| style="text-align: center;" | 1898
| style="text-align: center;" | Translation
|
|}
See also
- Indian literature
- List of Malayalam poets
- List of fiction writers in Malayalam
- Malayalam Literary Awards
- Arabi Malayalam
- Bible translations into Malayalam
- Malayalam (Unicode block)
- Malayalam Braille
- Women in Malayalam literature
References
Further reading
; English
; Malayalam
- R. Narayana Panickar (1929–1951). കേരള ഭാഷാസാഹിത്യചരിത്രം [Kerala Bhasha Sahitya Charitram] (Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3, Volume 4, Volume 5, Volume 6 and Volume 7) (in Malayalam).
External links
- Malayalam Literature at the website of the Department of Public Relations, Government of Kerala
- Selected bibliography of Malayalam literature in English translation. University of Washington Libraries
- History of Malayalam Literature at Malayalam Resource Centre
- Malayalam Poems