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Renaissance In Kerala
The reformation movement in Kerala refers to a socio-cultural shift that began in the late 19th century, resulting in significant transformations in the social fabric of the southern Indian state of Kerala. Background The Kerala society was divided into endogamous groups called castes. These castes had to abide untouchability and ritualistic pollution norms enforced. The political landscape of Kerala underwent significant changes with the establishment of centralized monarchies in Travancore and Cochin, leading to the decline of the feudal order. The Mysorean invasion of Kerala (1766–1792) further disrupted the existing caste hierarchy. Although the Mysoreans attempted to establish an Islamic state in Malabar, their advances were ultimately thwarted by the British. In contrast to northern India, the reformation in Kerala was driven by the backward castes. Prominent reformist leaders such as Narayana Guru and Ayyankali hailed from castes that were deemed backward in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kerala
Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South Canara, and Thiruvithamkoor. Spread over , Kerala is the 21st largest Indian state by area. It is bordered by Karnataka to the north and northeast, Tamil Nadu to the east and south, and the Lakshadweep Sea to the west. With 33 million inhabitants as per the 2011 census, Kerala is the 13th-largest Indian state by population. It is divided into 14 districts with the capital being Thiruvananthapuram. Malayalam is the most widely spoken language and is also the official language of the state. The Chera dynasty was the first prominent kingdom based in Kerala. The Ay kingdom in the deep south and the Ezhimala kingdom in the north formed the other kingdoms in the early years of the Common Era (CE). The region had been a prominent spic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mannath Padmanabhan
Mannathu Padmanabhan (2 January 1878 – 25 February 1970) was an Indian social reformer and freedom fighter from the south-western state of Kerala. He is recognised as the founder of the Nair Service Society (NSS), which represents the Nair community that constitutes 15.5% of the population of the state. Padmanabhan is considered as a visionary reformer who organised the Nair community under the NSS. Early life Mannathu Padmanabhan Pillai was born in Perunna village in Changanacherry, Kottayam District, British India on 2 January 1878 to Easwaran Namboothiri of Nilavana Illam and Mannathu Parvathy Amma. He began his career as a teacher in 1893 in a Government primary school. After a few years, from 1905 he changed his profession and started practicing law, in the Magistrates Courts. Nair Service Society On 31 October 1914, with the help of a few others, he established the Nair Service Society. His main ambition was to uplift the status of the Nair community. From 191 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caste System In Kerala
The caste system in Kerala differed from that found in the rest of India. While the Indian caste system generally divided the four-fold ''Varna'' division of the society into Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras, in Kerala, the Malayali Brahmins formed the priestly class, while the Kshatriyas, Samantha Kshatriya and Nairs formed the upper military and ruling classes. Other than the Brahmins, Samanthans and Nairs, all other castes were analogous to Shudras if the ''Varna'' system is considered. The women from the military elite and ruling classes such as Nairs, Samantha Kshatriyas and the Ambalavasi communities married men both from their own communities and from the Nambudiri Brahmin households through a marriage ritual called Sambandam. Like the rest of India, the lower castes touching the upper castes was called "pollution," but only in Kerala did the lower castes pollute not just by touch but also by merely approaching a Brahmin or a Nair. The Kerala caste system was ritual ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vakkom Moulavi
Vakkom Mohammed Abdul Khader Moulavi ( – ), popularly known as Vakkom Moulavi was a social reformer, teacher, prolific writer, Muslim scholar, journalist, freedom fighter and newspaper proprietor in Travancore, a princely state of the present day Kerala, India. He was the founder and publisher of the newspaper '' Swadeshabhimani'' which was banned and confiscated by the Government of Travancore in 1910 due to its criticisms against the government and the Diwan of Travancore, P. Rajagopalachari. He was an avid reader of Rashid Rida’s Islamic magazine, ''Al-Manar''. Vakkom Moulavi is known as the father of Islamic renaissance in Kerala. Early life and family Moulavi was born in 1873 in Vakkom, Chirayinkil Taluk, Thiruvananthapuram in Travancore. He was born into a prominent Muslim family Poonthran which had ancestral roots to Madurai and Hyderabad, and many of his maternal ancestors worked for the military of the state government. His father, a prominent merchant, engag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sayyid Sanaullah Makti Tangal
Sanulla Makti Thangal (Arabic:سيّد سناء الله مكتي, Malayalam:സനാഉല്ലാ മക്തി തങ്ങൾ ) was the renaissance leader of Muslim society in Malabar of British India and the advocate of western education among the backward community of Mappila. He was notable as the first Muslim scholar and first Salafi leader to know the significance of the progressed western culture and the necessity of the western education to realize the reformation of knowledge. He commenced his career as the excise inspector under British government in India and later resigned from the post to defend the Christian missionaries. He dreamt about new Muslim society who will imbibe the advantages of western culture without getting rid of the valuable Islamic culture. Sayyid Sanaulla Makti Thangal is often referred as one of the personalities influenced the Moplah Riots along with Sayyid Alavi Thangal, Veliyankode Umar Khasi and Sayid Fazal Pookoya Thangal.Panikkar, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kuriakose Elias Chavara
Kuriakose Elias Chavara, C.M.I. (10 February 1805 – 3 January 1871) was an Indian Syro-Malabar Catholic priest, philosopher and social reformer. He is the first canonised Catholic male saint of Indian origin and a member of the Syro-Malabar Church, an Eastern Catholic church.Pope Francis confers sainthood on Father Kuriakose Chavara and Sister Euphrasia Ibnlive.in.com (23 November 2014). Retrieved on 10 December 2018.&uname ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
VT Bhattathiripad
Vellithuruthi Thazhathu Karutha Patteri Raman Bhattathiripad (1896–1982), also known as V. T. Bhattathiripad, was an Indian social reformer, dramatist and an Indian independence activist. He was best known for his contributions in the reformation of the casteism and conservatism that existed in the Namboothiri community. He wrote a number of books which include a play, ''Adukkalayail Ninnu Arangathekku'' and his autobiography, ''Kanneerum Kinavum'' (''Tears and Dreams'' in English) and many critics consider them as notable works in Malayalam literature. Kerala Sahitya Akademi honoured him with distinguished fellowship in 1976. Biography V. T. Bhattathiripad, born Raman Bhattathiripad, was born on 26 March 1896 to Thuppan Bhattathiripad and Sridevi Andarjanam in Kaippilly Mana at Mezhathur, Ponnani taluk Malabar District, Madras Presidency, British India , on the bank of River Ponnani. He belonged to the family of Mezhathol Agnihothri on his father's side and had th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nataraja Guru
Nataraja Guru (born P. Natarajan, 18 February 1895 – 19 March 1973) was a disciple of Narayana Guru. Nataraja Guru founded Narayana Gurukula on 1923 for the integral study of various wisdom approaches. Life P. Natarajan was born in Bangalore in British India on 18 February 1895. His mother was Bhagavathi and his father, Palpu, was a doctor who founded the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (Society for the Propagation of the Religion of Sree Narayana, or SNDP) in 1903, of which Narayana Guru was the first president. Natarajan was the third of five children, having both an older and younger brother and an older and younger sister. He received a high-class education in Bangalore, Trivandrum and Kandy before being awarded a Master's degree by Madras Presidency College. Natarajan had come into contact with Narayana Guru and experienced the gurukul way of life in Alwaye and Ooty before becoming headmaster at Varkala High School, which had been founded by Naryana. It was after a "co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nitya Chaitanya Yati
Nitya Chaitanya Yati (2 November 1924 – 14 May 1999) was an Indian philosopher, psychologist, author and poet, best known for his commentaries on Advaita Vedanta as well as his literary criticisms. He was a disciple of Nataraja Guru, the successor to Narayana Guru. Yati published over 140 books in English and Malayalam including a commentary on ''Darsana Mala'' of Narayana Guru, titled, ''Psychology of Darsana Mala''. Kerala Sahitya Akademi honoured him with their annual award for literary criticism in 1977. Biography Nitya Chaitanya Yati was born K. R. Jayachandra Panicker on 2 November 1924 at Vakayar, a village in the ertswhile Travancore, now in Pathanamthitta district of the south Indian state of Kerala to Pandalam Raghava Panicker, a poet, teacher , and his wife, Vamakshi Amma and nephew of Muloor S. Padmanabha Panicker. After early education by a local teacher by name, Nanu Pillai, he studied at Kulathingal High School from where he passed the SSLC examination. Subseque ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vagbhatananda
Vayaleri kunhikannan Gurukkal-''(Vagbhatananda)'' (1885 – October 1939) was a Hindu religious leader and Social reformer in British India. He was the founder of the Atmavidya Sangham, which was fundamentally a group of professionals and intellectuals who sought change, and also the Uralungal Labour Contract Co-operative Society. Biography Vagbatananda was Born in 1885 near Kuthuparamba in a Thiyya family, V. K. Gurukkal undertook his studies under M. K. Gurukkal and Parampath Rairu Nair in the traditional pattern of guru- kula education. According to K.K.N Kurup, "He gained proficiency in scriptures, six systems of Philosophy, logic and other sästras. Then he travelled extensively and propagated the teachings of universal non-duality for a better and egalitarian society. He started Sanskrit School in Calicut and simultaneously took great interest in the activities of Brahma Samaj in that urban centre. This organisation known as Atmavidya Sangham, founded in 1920 by Vagbh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brahmananda Swami Sivayogi
Karatt Govinda Menon (26 August 1852 – 10 September 1929), better known as Brahmananda Swami Sivayogi, was an Indian ''sanyasi'' from present-day Kerala who founded the Ananda Maha Sabha in 1918. He proposed Anandadarsam or Anandamadham (religion of bliss).''Journal of Indian history'', University of Kerela Press, 2001, p. 270. He was titled "Brahmananda Swamikal", recognising his spiritual and literary knowledge by Ayyathan Gopalan, a social reformer and propagandist of Brahmo Samaj in Kerala and founder of Sugunavardhini movement. Mentor of Swami Sivayogi, and as an honor for writing a poem ''Brahmasankeerthanam'' (to be sung during Brahmo prayer meetings) on the request of Gopalan and all Brahmosamajists of Malabar, and also for extending his untiring services done through Brahmo Samaj. He started Sidhdhasramam in Alathur on 1891. He propounded the theory that anandam (happiness or bliss) should be the touchstone of any human activity. The movement he spearheaded p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ayyathan Gopalan
Rao Sahib Ayyathan Gopalan (3 March 1861 – 2 May 1948), popularly known as Darsarji and Darsar Sahib ("Darsar" means "doctor", derived from Latin word "docere" for doctor), was an Indian doctor, surgeon, professor, writer, philanthropist, social reformer, and Renaissance leader from Kerala. He is the founder of the Sugunavardhini movement (1900) and Depressed classes mission (1909) and also the leader and propagandist of Brahmo Samaj (1893) in Kerala. He denounced idol worship and fought to end those social practices in Kerala that he thought were unethical. Among his followers were Brahmananda Swami Sivayogi, Vaghbatananda, and Brahmavadhi P. Kunhiraman. Gopalan titled P. Kunhiraman as "Brahmavadhi" and Sivayogi as " Brahmananda Swami". He was awarded and honored by the British government with the highest civilian award and title, the "Rao Sahib", for his services. The formation of the Sugunavardhini movement, Depressed classes mission and Brahmosamaj played a significan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
