The Keralolpathi ( ml, കേരളോല്പത്തി;

IAST The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that emerged during ...

:''kēraḷōlpatti''; ) is a

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 2 ...

Brahmanical The historical Vedic religion (also known as Vedicism, Vedism or ancient Hinduism and subsequently Brahmanism (also spelled as Brahminism)), constituted the religious ideas and practices among some Indo-Aryan peoples of northwest Indian Subco ...

literary work that deals with the origin and legends of the land of

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 Canar ...

. P. Shungunny Menon ascribes the authorship of this work to

Thunchaththu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan Thunchaththu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan (, ) (Malayalam: തുഞ്ചത്ത് രാമാനുജൻ എഴുത്തച്ഛൻ) ( ''fl.'' 16th century) was a Malayalam devotional poet, translator and linguist from Kerala, south India. ...

, a 17th-century scholar of the

Malabar Malabar may refer to the following: People * Malabars, people originating from the Malabar region of India * Malbars or Malabars, people of Tamil origin in Réunion Places * Malabar Coast, or Malabar, a region of the southwestern shoreline o ...

region of India. A. Sreedhara Menon dates the work to 18th or 19th century. The Keralolpathi is mostly an expansion from an earlier

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the la ...

work known as the ''Kerala Mahatmayam''. That work is classed among the

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

Purana Purana (; sa, , '; literally meaning "ancient, old"Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature (1995 Edition), Article on Puranas, , page 915) is a vast genre of Indian literature about a wide range of topics, particularly about legends an ...

s as an ''Upa Purana'' (or sub Purana) of the ''Bhoogola Purana''. The Keralolpathi covers the ancestry of the

Namboodiri The Nambudiri (), also transliterated as Nampoothiri, Nambūdiri, Namboodiri, Nampoothiri, and Nampūtiri, are a Malayali Brahmin caste, native to what is now the state of Kerala, India, where they constituted part of the traditional feudal e ...

Brahmins and other castes of Kerala and is sometimes called the "Kerala Ulpathy". While the "Kerala Mahatmayam" deals with the origin of Kerala and its people alone, the Keralolpathi gives a history of Kerala down to the modern age, including reference to the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

in Kerala.

Perumals mentioned in Keralolpathi

Perumals of Keralolpathi *Keyapperumal *Cholapperumal *Pandipperumal *Banapperumal *Thulubanperumal *Indrapperumal *Aryapperumal *Kundranperumal *Kottipperumal *Madapperumal *Ezhipperumal *Kombanperumal *Vijayanperumal *Valabanperumal *Harichandranperumal *Mallapperumal *Kulasekharapperumal

Criticisms

Historians doubt the reliability of this collection of legends as it contains many discrepancies. For instance it states that a certain

Viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning "k ...

of Kerala went to

Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valle ...

and met the

Islamic prophet Prophets in Islam ( ar, الأنبياء في الإسلام, translit=al-ʾAnbiyāʾ fī al-ʾIslām) are individuals in Islam who are believed to spread God's message on Earth and to serve as models of ideal human behaviour. Some prophets ar ...

Muhammed Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monoth ...

there. However the corresponding date mentioned is such that the prophet was not even born till more than a century later. It also mentions that the King

Krishnadevaraya Krishnadevaraya (17 January 1471 – 17 October 1529) was an emperor of the Vijayanagara Empire, also known as the Karnata Empire, reigning from 1509 to 1529. He was the third monarch of the Tuluva dynasty, and is considered to be one of the g ...

of the

Vijayanagara empire The Vijayanagara Empire, also called the Karnata Kingdom, was a Hindu empire based in the region of South India, which consisted the modern states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa and some parts of Telangana and Maharash ...

appointed a Viceroy over Kerala in 428 AD. However the said king reigned between 1509 and 1529 AD.Travancore State Manual by V.Nagam Aiya, Volume I, page 223 Likewise even the origins of most of the castes and clans of Kerala varies from the ancient Sanskrit Kerala Mahatmayam. Besides, by the 18th century modified versions of the work started appearing, varying from kingdom to kingdom and region to region in Kerala. Therefore, according to Shungunny Menon (a native historian of

Travancore The Kingdom of Travancore ( /ˈtrævənkɔːr/), also known as the Kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor, was an Indian kingdom from c. 1729 until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvananthapuram. At ...

, Kerala) one cannot place, in the Keralolpathi, the value of a historical source. Shungunny Menon, stated that: William Logan, who was the author of the ''Malabar Manual'' also refutes the validity of the Keralolpathi and describes it as: A survey of Kerala history by A. Sreedhara Menon, page 17 K.P. Padmanabha Menon, another native historian calls the Keralolpathi:

External links

*
Keralolpathi: The Origin of Malabar
' at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

References

{{Commons category, Keralolpathi Hindu texts Indian chronicles

Perumals mentioned in Keralolpathi

Criticisms

See also

External links

References