Origin and development of Malayalam language A book byMr EVNNamboothiry

Kerala bhasha charithram by Dr. E. V.N.Namboothiry

( A worth reading book about Malayalam language, its origin , literature )

1.Kerala bhasha charihram byDr EVNNamboothiry. Dr Namboothiry`s book is a    good study about the origin of Malayalam , and various   branches of the Malayalam, the rise of Malayalam as a separate language from the original Dravidian language etc

As per the writer first document available in Malayalam is Vazhappally Saasanam written in 832 AD.Vazhappally saasanam is a royal decree by Rajasekhara Varma who was Cheraman perumal .It was discovered atVazhappally nearChanganassery (kottyam Dist)used Vattezhuthu and Grandhaksharam .It was inscribed in Copper  sheet. It is an agreement between administrators of Vazhappally temple 18 citizens of a place known as Thiruvattay. ( The currency used those days was Dinaaram.)

After Vazhappaly Saasanam many other saasanams like Tharisappaly saasanam, Thiruvattay sasanam s were discovered. So as  we have got Vazhappally sasanam of AD 832, it is confirmed that Malayalam was prevailing in Kerala during 9^th century and it does not mean that it originated only in 9^th century.

In old Tamil, Keral is called Cheram. The complete Kerala was called as Malabar,Malayalam and MalaNaadu  also. Malabar may have originated  from  Malavaram .In Persian language Bar means country.or continenet .ThoughMalayalam is the name of language now, in olden days it was the name of the area itself. As per  the writer the original inhabitance of this area were Kadar whowere  there in the forests of Chalakkudy and they are of Negro family.  After them people of Astraloyed  family migrated to Kerla like Malavedar, Kurichyar,Malaaryar . It is not known that where from these people came to Kerala. Next inhabitors of Kerla are people from Meditarania  who left their land due to Greek   invasion

Perhaps some of them settled  near the banks of Indus  one group came to far South. Last occupants of Kerala could be Namboothiries. The Tamil Brahmins and TuluPottis who came later to Kerala did not accept Malayalam as their Mother tongue where as  Namboothiries accepted Malayalam.  Before coming to Kerala Namboothiries spoke Prakrutham(prakrit)  which was the for runner of Sanskrit. Thus these people who knew Sanskrit, Prakrit, Kannada, Tulu etc mixed these languages and spoke a mixture language  with the local language known as Malayalam.  Slowly Tulu and Kannada went out of this mixture and  the mixture language of Sanskrit,Prakrit and local Malayalam gave origin of Manipravaalam.

 As  parallel to the Manipravalam, another form known as Paattu -  also flourished  in 15^th century. The modern Malayalam language is developed with the combination of these two forms  in 16^th century through ThunchathuRamanujan Ezhuthassan. Chera kingom is believed to have been established by Uthiyan Chera Laathan who was originally the king of Kuttanad which spred fromto days` Kollam to Ponnani.  He accepted the title as Vaana Varamban(Vanum means sky, Varambu means boundary) means  king   of places up to sky. He  and his son Nedumchera Laathan  were great warriors and both  had trajic deaths.   Father suicide due to defeat in war and son died during war  with Cholas.  Cheran Chenguttuvan was the famous Chera king. The first Chera kingdom fell by 6^th century and up to 9^th century the historians  are dark about what happened till 9^th centuryAD

Near 800AD a chera king called Kulasekhara Varman  reestablished another Chera kingdom  and due to his name Cheraman perumals  got the name Kulasekharapaerumal.Kulasekhara Varman ( 800 to 820AD) was a  Vaishnava poet and known as KulasekharAzhvaar. Perumal thirumozhi is a famous work of him  He was followed by Rajasekhara Varman(820- 844) and was a shaivaite.

BhASHA Kautaleeyam is the  first  oldestMalayalam book discovered till now.It is a free translation of Artha saasthra of Kautalya.  Elamkulam kunjan pillay opined that this book may have been written in 12^th century A.D.  After the fall of Perumals there were many kings  inKerala and they did not have the knowledge of Sanskrit to read and understand   The Artha saasthra of Kautilya.  Perhaps , this book was written to educate the kings about the administration  of their kingdoms. Any way ,as Bhasha kautaliyam is written in Malayalam it can easily be inferred that Malayalam became an independent language by then  in 12^th century.

The kshatriyas, Ambalavasis and Brahmins spoke  a mixed language   of Malayalam with  Tulu ,Prakrit, Sanskrit   and kannada  which got respect later. Leela thilakam  says that there were two types of languages spoken .First spoken by the elites of Brahmins, Kshatriyas etc and other by the common man.    In 13^th century  from these two generated  Manipravalam and  Paattu.

Saasanams are the only available documents to study the state of  Malayalam language till 12^th century. RamaswamyIyer, A.C.sekhar,Ilamkulam kunjan pilla ,PuthusseryRamachandran and Ratnamma have studied about the saasanagal. They are written in a language mixture of Tamil,Sanskrit andMalayalam. SOME HAVE OPINED THAT THE LANGUAGE USED WAS TAMIL AND NOT MALAYALAM .BUT THESE WERE PEOPLE WITH TAMIL MOTHER TONGUE.WHEN THEY PUBLISHED THESE WORKS THEY DEFORMED SOME WORDSTO SUITE THEM TO TAMIL  LANGUAGE. Ilam kulam kunjan pillay has quoted some words of which the Tamil experts could not understand the meaning and hence interpreted wrongly. Tholan  who was a Sanskrit scholar and  the minister of Bhaskara Ravi varma has used both languages.

Manipravalam  is defined as mixture ofMalayalam and Sanskrit.”Bhasha samskrita yoge Manipravalam “   is the definition given inLeelathilakam. It has played an important role in the development ofMalayalam literature. The changes in the  Kerala society  due to  the  fall of Kulasekharas, breaking of the empire in to pieces, power of Namboothiries in the society, development of temple arts  etc may have made changes in Manipravalam also.Vaisika thantram is   a work in Manipravalam  in which a prostitute  known as Angasena is given advise   of her  “Kuladharma “  by her  mother  and it is belived to have been written in the first half of 13^th century. One can see that Sanskrit Vibhakthis are used inMalayalam words.

  Three important three works in old Manipravalam are Unniyachicharitham, Unnichiruthevi charitham  andUnniyadi charitham  where heroins are three dancers and are wriiten in 13^th and 14^th centuries.But Unnuneelisandesham is a famous work written in 14^th century There were many sandesa Kaavayams like Koka sandesham, aatoorneeli sandesam   written in the last part of 14^th century  ‘

Paattu is a form of literature which developed in old  Malayalam almost parallel to Manipravaalam. Leelathilakam defines paattu as “  Dramida namkhathakshara   Nibidamethuka   mona vrutha  viseshayuktham paattu” Means it must have been tied(nibandha) with dravidaletters only. Though it was defined so,  in paattu many Sanskrit words like Karam  (=Hand) were actually used.  But words like Ponnan for hiranyan (Hiranyam=gold), Kesava   as Kechava    were  used. Ramacharithamm , Thiru nizhal mala are some pattu written in old Malayalam.

By and large,   in Pattu dravida letters were used  and inManipravalam Sanskrit words can be used. In paatu more Tamil style is more where as inManipravalam  Sanskrit is more.

Ramacharitham is a renouned Paattu work written by a cheeraman who as per Ulloor SParameswaraIyer was SrreVeeraRama varman   (1195-1208  who ruled Travancore

Thiru nizhal maala is anotherpaattu written by one Govindan.

Another form of literature is Nambiyathamizh. Compared toBhasha kautilyam long long sentences were used  in this form and less Sanskrit words. Though writer of Leelathilakam  named it as Nambiyathamizh it is actually  Malayalam.  The Ambareeshopakyanam, Brahmandapuranam  etc are some examples of this  branch of old Malayalam.

Folk songs or Naadan paattukal is another branch  worth mentioning. There were 3 types of folk songs inMalayalam  sung by upper, middle classes and work men. Some have influence of Sanskrit,  Tamil, Arabic, Syriac  (Suriyani) , Latin  etc in the Malayalam folk songs. Many of them are not  formed inold Malayalam days.

Yatrkalipaattu  is an old form of Paattu inMalayalam used by “ Chathiraru “ Brahmins  presented  during the marriage , Sashtabda poorthy)  sixtieth birth day  etc of kings and  rich people. Brahmini songs were sung by Nambiar ladies .But Mazhmangalam Namboothiry has corrected them in to modern Malayalam and hence their old forms are not available.

 Krishi paatu kal

 The Songs sung by farmers and agricultural workers have practically no Sanskrit words.

One sample song is

Jananumentaliyenum  ali kanman poye..

Abitabachaliyene Veya mookkan thotte…

(Me and my brother in law went to see the play

There my brother in law was bitten by a poisonous cobra. )

Abidunethaliyane kiyakkotteduthey

Abidathe vyavavari avidayillanju..

Avidenthaliyane keyakkottekkeduthe

Avidathe vyavavari avideyillanje 

Avidenthaliyane  thekkotteduthe..

Avidathe vyavavari avideyillnje aviduntaliyane kuyiyilotte tuthe…

(as medical assistance was not available any where  South or East  he was buried).

Another one is

Bhagavan pampinte  palleduthey..

Jnan ente chembinte vitheduthey..

(God removed the toth of the snake and I removed the  root of my chembu )

.Paanappattu. Panappattu is a  type of folk song which is sung  in Brahmin houses and courts in the morning to wake. It has influence of Sanskrit more than the agricultural songs(Krishi paattu)

BHadrakaali paattu   includes  Kalamezhuthu paattu, Thottam paattu, Paana paattu etc which are sung in Kali temples. They have good amount of Sanskrit words.

Kurathy Paattu  has influence of Tamil andMalayalam.

 And also Kaani paattu.(Aaayirathettu  kaiyalirangiya  pathira kaali yen pathirakaali..) 

Thekkan paattu kal(south Kerala songs) includes Ulakuda perumal paattu, Anchu thampuran paattu, Eravikuttypilla poru, etc have  abundant Tamil influence .

Middle   age  Malayalam.  (1400 to 1500 AD)

Middle AGE OR Madhya kaala  Malayalam has shown rapid progress  in Malayalam literature. From   Ramakatha paattu by Aayipilla Aassan , it passed through changes  through the works of Kannassa Panickers of Niranam,Cherusseri`s KrishnaGaadha, Ramayanam Chambu of Punam and finally reached 16<sup>th</sup> century with kilippaau s   of ThunchathuRamanujan Ezhuthassan. The Zamorin(saamoothiry)  of Calicut(Kozhikode) ,  kings Venadu(Travancore) , Kolathiry of Kolathunaadu, king of Kochi(Cochin)  etc became power ful by this time.   Great poet of 15<sup>th</sup> century  and author ofKrishna gaadha “Cherussery was a dependent of Kolathiry,Punam Namboothiry was a mmemeber of Zamorin`s court. Notable change happened in 15^th century was many non Brahmin poets  became known out of them prominanat were Ayyippilla aassan and Kannassapanickers .The changes they made in the Paattu literature made  distance between paattu  and Manipravalam less and ultimately this trend lead to the rise of modern Malayalam

Ramakatha paattu of Ayyipplilla aassan

Differing from the definition given in  Leelathilakam,   Ayyippilla  aassan has used Sanskrit words and letters .  Thus he has reduced the  distance between Paattu and Manipravalam.

Niranam   Poets

Kannassa panickers or Niranam poets are Karunesa Panicker,his sons Mahavapanicker and  Sankara Panicker, Karunesa panicker`s daughters son(grand son)  Ramapanicker. But we have not discovered any works of Karunesa Panicker though inRamayanam, Ramapanicker described him as a poet.

He writes  ”Ubhya kaveeswarannaya  Mahathma maanithanakiya Karuneswan  Paramathmave..”

The distinct nature of works of   Niranam poets are as follows

a)      Words, Varnas etc of Dravia origin can be found in these works

b)      Ethuka and Mona  ( Dwitheeyakshara prasam and Aadyakshara praasam) are followed in Niranam works as inPaattu.

c)       Meter used inNiranam works  are doubling of Malayalam  meter known as Tharangini.(Dwimaathram  Ganam ettenennam  yethi madhyam Tharangini) Instead of 8 ganam there are 16 ganams used by Niranam poets. They have 4 lines in one stanza.

d)      Kannassa have used Vibhakthis  of Sanskrit like “Mahadese,anuraaga vasena.. etc

e)      Influence of Tamil. Is much less compared to Paattu  and more than Manipravalam.

Krishna Gaadha   of   cherussery

 The  time difference between  Niranam poets and  Cherussery may not be more than a generation. It must have been written in between 1446 and 1475   as the writer himself mentioned in the work that he has  wrote it as per the instruction of  king Goda Varman of Kolathu naadu. Krishna Gadha is written in very simple Malayalam which can easily understood by common man.

Notable  characteristics of Krishna Gaadha  are dealt deeply in the book by DrNamboothiry.

For example:

a)      Use of Malayalam words and also  words originated from Prakrit, Sanskrit  also.

b)        Typical use of Vibhakthis  like Thathanodayittu  choleedinan, melottu,Keezhpattu

c)       When Vibhakti was added to jnaankal (=we)  it was used Engal like Engal vasickunnu9We live)

d)      Use of  “ Than “ like Simhangal thannude(Of lions) ,Danthangal thannude(of teeth)  is very common

Like above mentioned few example

has shown in detail 21 number of speciality of language used in Krishna gaadha

Bharatha Gaadha        

 There was another  Gaadha named Bhaaratha Gaadha also  written in the days of Krishna Gaadha .But the author  of Bharatha Gaadha was not knowledgable inSanskrit as many  framatically wrong words  were used inBharatha Gadha. (For example Konka yugalangal  for Konka  Yugalam , Apsari  for Apsara stree etc) Such mistakes are not found in Krishna Gaadha.

Manipravalam

Many changes happened to the look and deapth of Manipravalam in  15^th century.

Chandrothsavam and Ramayanam Chambu are two important books written in this period.

Chandrothsaval  narrates about the moon festival arranged by a  Devadasi named Mediny Vennilaavu. This book has followed  strictly the definition of Manipravalam as given inLeelathilakam.Malayaqlam words withSanskrit Vibhkathis is very common in this book  and also some old Malayalam words.  Chandrothsavam has mentioned about the poet Punam Namboothiry  also one of its stanzas.  This means  the author of Chandrothsavam was a contemporary of Punam .

Ramayanam Chambu is believed to have been written by  Punam Namboothiry. When Ramayanam Chambu is dealing with a religious story of Rama,  most of other chambu works in Malayalam have dealt with the description of Devadaasis. Punam had written many other Chambus like Bharatham ,Kodiya   Viraham etc

The works up to Chandrothsvam and works after Chandrothsavam have distinct in the language used.  Hence , Chandrothsvam was a mile stone in the development of Manipravalam and thus Malayalam as a language. In short,  Punam has developed a  anew Manipravalam.  In 1459, he has submitted a  few lines  to Manavikraman  Zamorin of Kozhikode when he was only 34 years old . Hence he is considered to have lived in the second half of 15^th century.  He was considered as a half poet in the court of Zamorin who has 18 ½ poets there because he wrote in “ Bhasa”  and not in Sanskrit  as others did!!.

Punam was selective about words of different characters. For example when he described   Chandrakethu who lived in Ayodhya and Lava   who lived in forest with his mother Sita  he used very apt words   suitable for a civilian and a forester.

The new Malayalam has almost developed in these days and stanzas written in Rokmini swyam varam chambu looks like a modern Malayalam verse.

“Achan thane  paranjeetina Vachanamidam

Kettu kopam muzhuthi-

Ttuychura kannurandum nrupa sadsi  chuva-

Ppichu manjadi pole”

The above stanza looks like modern verse only!!

Modern Malayalam  1500 to 2000

Dr Namboothiry`s book is  published in 2002   and he dated modern  Malayalam up to 2000AD.  (I do not know whether he means the present Malyalam as most modern or TV Malayalam or internet Malayalam  or electronic Malayalam . How ever he has not touched that area in the book.)

The  changes in the Malayalam language became slow after the language  structure is defined  by ThunchathuRamanujan Ezhuthachhan.  The process of changes happened in the language through Kilipattu of Ezhuthachhan  are basically as follows

a)      The Alphabets  . Malayalam had 12 swaras and 18 Vyanjanas  as per Leelathilakam which was written in the end of 14^th century.  They were dravida   alphabets.  When Sanskrit words were written Sanskrit  alphabets were used. But they were not considered as Malayalam. By the time of 16^th century it became  essential to make use of Sanskrit  alphabets .Hence Sanskrit letters like Ru, Lu,   athi khara vyanjanas like   Kha, ga, gha  chha, ja tjha, Tda, da, dd`a, tha, ba, pha  ooshmas like  sa , sha, s`a ha were used.

b)      Sanskritised language:   Adding Sankrit Vibhaktis  to Malayalam words  became obsolete by 15^th century itself.  Many   sanskritised words like  achhan , aphan  came in to written langage also, though such words were used colloquially  earlier also.

c)       With Krishna Gaadha, words with Tamil influence  became extint .Words like Naan, Nankal, unkal , ontu, kaanintu  etc were not seen in the language later.

d)      Changes in Varbas,sandhis, Names(subjects) , pronouns, figures, tenses, genders, niyojaka roopams etc have taken place inMalayalam.

History of Kerala  and changes happened after the arrival of Vasco de Gama.

Vasco de Gama reached Kerala in 1498 May  at Kozhokode  .He was sent to develop the business with India  by the king of Portugal. But slowly their desire to establish an empire became strong.First to oppose such a move was Zamorin     (saamoothiry) of Kozhikode. Kolathiry and Kind of Kochi were enemies of Zamorin  and they wanted to oppose Zamorin with the help of Portuguese. On 1stMarch 1503 Zamorin attacked Kochi(Cochin).  But he was not successful as Kochi was supported by Portuguese with  guns and  ammunitions.  No body won the war and king of Cochin allowed  Portuguese to make a fort  .This is said to be the first for made by Westerners  and   corner stone of this fort was laid  on 27^th September 1504. Slowly Portuguese  could occupy Kannor,Chaliyam, Kodungalloor, Purakkad   kollam .But due to the opposition from Zamorin they could not expend more in SouthIndia.

 The Dutch  reached India in 1604 and this resulted the down fall of Portuguese.In 1663, they were completely eliminated from Kerala by the  Dutch. Dutch   defeated Zamorin inChettuVaay  and after that they  started posing  as if they are the  ruler of Kerala.   In 1755, Zamorin also  started  moving to South by defeating many small principalities.    Marthanda Varma of Venad defeated the Dutch in Kulachal war  and moved towards North. So, Dutch were left with Thangassery fort of Kollam and fort of Cochin only. 

Ralf Fitch in 1583 was the first English man to reach Kerala.  In 1615 Keeling reached Kozhikode with 3 ships. The  British  promised Zamorin to eliminate Portuguese from Kerala  .

To continue....

 

.