I note a sudden interest again, among some of the PSVP Members in the Study of the Kerala History & Culture. I opened a Thread in this Website in the year "2004", in connection with the Chera-Chola relationship during the medieval period, but I find presently major part of same in this Website remains truncated [Thread No:4043]
The same article has been posted in the Mayyam Website but slightly revised. The New Readers who have not read through this Thread upto now, and interested in same can follow the URL given below to reach this Website Article: http://www.mayyam.com/hub/viewtopic.php?t=1799
Also the Part - 2 of my very recent Thread in this Website titled "The Significance of Kodungallur of Kerala in the History of Kerala and Tamil Nadu" will be posted in this website within a weeks time. Please note the two Parts of the above article only deals with the study of Kerala History and Culture connected with the region of Kodungallur, being the "Tamil Period" of its History.
It's study connected with Kollam & Thiruvananthapuram being the "Malayaalam Period" period of it's History - forms a seperate study & research.
Another Thread of mine, in the the study of Kerala History also appears in Mayyam Website titled "Tamil Kings of Kerala (Chera) country from B.C.100 - A.D.250" - but under "constuction & editing". Incidently my own "maternal great grand - father & mother" named Sivanaathapillai & Neelanaatchi - were the son and the daughter-in-Law of a Zamindaar of Thiruvananthapuram.
Another piece of info related to the rulers of kerala:
According to tradition a powerful group of people known as 'ettu veetu pillaimar', inimical to the then king of Travancore, Marthanda Varma, seized the throne in the later half of the seventeenth century forcing the ruler to flee his capital, Padmanabhapuram. Marthanda Varma is said to have taken refuge with Sivanthi Mannan in Vijayanarayanam which was then under the Travancore Kingdom. After a year or so Sivanthi Mannan is said to have helped Marthanda Varma raise a large army. The King then marched on his capital Padmanabhapuram and with the help of loyalists in the kingdom put down the insurrection and recaptured the throne. At the request of the King, Sivanthi Mannan, along with his family members, witnessed the rethroning of Marthanda Varma at Padmanabhapuram. In recognition of the services rendered at such a crucial juncture the king bestowed his first name, Marthandam, upon Sivanthi Mannan and ordained that all his descendents carry the name Marthandam for all time to come in order to perpetuate the bond.
Disclosure:
This piece of info cannot be termed as history, as this story is passed on from generation to generation in my family. I dont know how the history jambavans in this group will categorise this info. I noticed that a book is also written based on this story - The reclining chair: Chaivu narkaliï؟½ï؟½ - Page 67
It seems you have useful informations on the Thiruvananthapuram personalities.
I am interested - if possible - in tracing my family link with Kerala. My Great Grand - Father & Mother namely Sivanaathapillai & Neelanaatchi were the son & daughter-in-Law of a Zamindaar of Thiruvananthapuram. This Zamindaar most probably would have lived in Thiruvananthapuram around A.D.1830 to A.D.1870 or later. The Zamindaar's name too unfortunately not known to us, but we for sure know from some old documents that his name starts with the letter "U" in Tamil. A guess - it could possibly be Ulahanaathapillai or any other ????.
My very kind request to you in this connection is that, should you know of any Documents, Books, or Websites which speaks of the Zamindaars of Thiruvananthapuram during this period, could you very kindly let me know of same. Thanking You
Thanking you for providing me the correct links to "my own Threads". Further in my references below, it should read as Webpage and not as Website - error regretted. Also I note I have by mistake read "a Reader's response (4043)" to my Thread, in which while this Reader had made his comments on my threads, has also truncated my lengthy article "in his response". But now I find my earlier Thread(4041) is in intact. Again my mistake is regretted and thanks for your assistance.
So why don't we have much information before the 8th or 10th Century AD? How much literary or archaeological evidences do we have say from 1AD to 10th Century?
(1)Refer Message No: 4041 - My Article which speaks of Cheras of the period A.D.810 to A.D.1200 (2)You have already gone through my Message "The Great Significance of Kodungallur of Kerala - Part - 1 (3)Await Part - 2 (within a week) of the above, which has some informations of the period "before" 8th & 10 centuries. (4)Though the Part - 1 is already posted and Part - 2 to be posted soon in PSVP, my research article will be further developed over a period of time to cover more informations on Cheras of the period from A.D.1 to A.D.1200 (5)Also for the sake of you and may be few others interested in having some informations on the Chera kings of the period B.C.200 to A.D.200 (which may be already known to 'many others' and nothing new), I will 'post' in PSVP a "partly complete" Schedule of the Chera Kings of this period to quench your immediate interest. (6)There are many literary evidences especially in Tamil Literature and some Archaeological evidences and Inscriptions available on Cheras of this period. (7)Also please note my research is especially on the "Tamil Period" of the Chera History which circles around the kingdom of Kodungallur and of the period B.C.200 to A.D. 1200. The research on the "Malayaalam Period" of Chera(Kerala) History circles around the Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram regions and of the period A.D.1201 and after, which will form another voluminous study and is not within my scope of research for the time being.
(1) Where are the Inscriptions in stone on the Western Shores ??
Answer: There are many Inscriptions belonging to the Kerala kings written in "Tamil" or "Tamil & Vatelluththu", other than the later Malayalam Inscriptions e.g. Refer "Selected Malayalam Inscriptions" - by S.K.Nayar, T.V.Mahalingham. Volumes of Travancore Archaeological Series. Volumes of Epigraphia Indica and to some extent you will come across Kerala Informations from volumes of South Indian Inscriptions Series. Refer also History of Kerala II by K.P.Padmanapa Menon etc etc.
(2) Where are the ruins of Tamil Architecture on the Western Shores ??
Answer: There is the Kulasekaran (king of Kerala later became the Vaishnava Alwar) temple at Kudungallur, Mr Gandhiram of PSVP who visted the region says there is a Samaadhi of Kulasekara king just opposite this temple. Kulasekara Alvaar's Tamil Vaisnava compositions have been included in the Naalayira Thivya Pirabandam in Tamil. There is the Thiruvanjikkulam temple at Kodungallur where Mr Gandhiram says he has seen the Samaadhi of Tamil Saiva Saint Suntharamoorthy in this tempue in this temple with the words inscribed as "Vanjikulam Sabapathy" on the pedestal. At Kodungallur you get a flat elevated land area called "Cheraman Parambu" said to have been the place where Tamil Chera king's palace was situated etc etc.
(3) On the statement "keep dreaming of a non existent tamil empire....from coast to coast."
Answer: Please study through the great "Kerala Tamil Epic" Silappathikaram composed from Kodungallur in Tamil by poet/monk Ilangovadigal the younger brother of the Tamil Kerala king Cheran Chenguttuvan of the late second century. This along with Manimekalai composed by the poet Saaththanaar in Tamil from Vanji Nagaram (Kodungallur) - being another "Kerala Tamil Epic" gives graphic accounts of Kerala of their own period. Then you have the "Pathittru Pathu" a complilation of 10 different works in Tamil composed by 10 different Tamil Poets being the praise poems on the Tamil Chera kings of the first and second centuries staged in the presense of the respective kings. But today we only have eight of them while the first and last are lost to us. Then we have the Tamil work of Tamil Nadu belonging to the fist century A.D. speaks in three chapters on Chera, Chola and Pandiya. Then we have the Tamil Periyapuranam which speaks of the life histories of 63 Tamil Saiva Saints and Saint Cheraman Perumal who was the Kerala king ruling from Kodungallue. Then the "Sangam period" Tamil Poems composed by various Tamil Poets and compiled into complete works as Puranaanooru, Ahanaanooru, Nattrinai all speak on various Tamil Chera kings of those period and give a glimpse of that period etc etc etc. Many of these, especially Silapathikaram, Manimekalai, Pathittrupaththu of that period mentions over and over again of the Tamil Kerala Empire that extended in auhority up to Himalayas - not dreams of non-existant Kerala Tamil empire of that period.
(4) On the statement "where is the hint of a tamil pysche anywhere in the population of present day kerala be they namboodiris or a pulayan...."
Answer: After continuos Chera-Chola war for nearly 100 years the Tamil population of Kerala dwindled, and the Namboodiri's and other new communities of this period found their way in to Kerala - said to have come from Tulu and Karnataka countries, and married among the Tamil population of Kerala, which gradually over the period of time gave them dominance in the Kerala society. In addition with the gradual evolution and use of Malayalam language by them, the Tamil language gradually lost grounds in Kerala and forgotten among the presentday Keralites. Unfortunately the history of early and medieval Kerala has not been written with much research, and the new generation only know that Kerala was a city created and ruled by Lord Parasurama in ancient times and of the Malayalam kings of Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram. Also I can remember reading in a Website article by another Author that the Namboodiris too are for the first time metioned in the Malayalam works titled the Keralolpathi and Kerala Mahathmiyam of seventeenth century, and not in any early Literary Documents or Inscriptions (to be verified)
Hence I request those interested in knowing more of the Kerala history especially the Tamil Period to read through my three threads in this PSVP Forum, and the fourth thread to be posted being part 2 of one of the threads already posted.