Chapter 1

Historical Novels and the Introduction to

History: Ezhuthachan and TKT

Human beings have always been interested in the past, its myths, legends,

and the people who figure in them. History is not just a record of the ‘great events’;

it also concerns inter-personal relations, families and communities. M.H. Abrams

suggests that history is like the literary text with which it interacts and needs to be

interpreted and hence is not a set of fixed, objective facts (24). C. Achutha Menon

would call a historical novel “another form of history itself” (100). According to

him, “the historical novel not only takes its setting and some characters and events

from history, but makes the historical events and theories crucial for the central

characters and narrative” (133).

Writers have been influenced by specific historical segments encompassing a

particular region. Thus, the history of Venad is familiarized by the novels of C. V.

Raman Pillai and the history of medieval England through the novels of Walter

Scott. It is important how a novelist places his characters, especially the central

figures, in the background of history. M. Achuthan remarks that the writer who tries

to merge history with his story has got only limited freedom, lesser than what a

social novelist possesses. He certainly needs a wider imaginative capability, and a

thorough research in the concerned area. He also goes on to say that in the process it

is history that should surrender to the story and not vice versa. “The man

characterized by history is a political- economic being. And the novelist on the other

hand gives more importance to his personal life than his public life” (111).
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Krishna Ayyar and Mary Samuel David accept that the credit for being the

first “really great” historical novelist goes to Walter Scott, followed by Victor Hugo

and Alexander Dumas. Xenophon’s Cyropaedia, a political romance based on the

history of Cyrus, the founder of Persian monarchy, that could be dated back to more

than two thousand years, is “the nearest approach to the historical novel that

classical literature affords”, (107). They believe that it is these historical novelists

who make history interesting to the masses, which is otherwise, dull and boring. To

quote them, “ Good historical novels cloth the bones of history with flesh and

recreate for us people, problems, passions, conflicts, and special directions that in

non-fiction treatment remains as dry as dust for the majority of the readers,” (112).

Walter Scott’s attempt was to create an awareness of Britain’s past when the

shattering events of the French revolution had sent the country into convulsions. The

massive armies that marched across Europe had to be convinced that they were

fighting for a common issue that also concerned them, historically and politically.

The new awareness that the past had a great deal to do with the present was what

Scott seized hold of, in the circumstances when people themselves did not

understand that they were creating history (Angus and Jenni Calder 66-9). P. F.

Fisher comments that, “He did not merely attempt to write historical fiction, and by

using materials from histories, represent the past; he re-created the past” (98). Robin

Mayhead rates The Heart of the Midlothian as the best novel of Scott’s because it

brings together three of his main recurring interests: nationality, religion, and the

nature of justice which he considers to be Scott’s highest qualities of greatness.

In The Heart of the Midlothian, there is confrontation not in terms of battles

and beliefs but in terms of class, character and ethical struggles. In The Heart of the
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Midlothian and Redgauntlet the action is historical and the location real. According

to Donald Davie, Waverley shows, at its deepest and most affecting level, inevitably,

sadly, the victory of the un- heroic (the English Waverley) over the heroic (the

Scottish Mac Ivor). This complex attitude was maintained by making both the

representatives of heroic and un-heroic, flawed characters. The Baron Bradwardine

and Colonel Talbot are more estimable and admirable representatives of Scottish

heroism and the un-heroic English respectively than are Mac Ivor and Waverley. Yet

it is the latter pair that is at the centre of the picture. Talbot and Baron only support

these two main figures (88 - 91).

Citing Scott’s novels, Georg Lukacs makes a distinction between the

characters of an epic and a historical novel: “Through the plot, at whose centre

stands this hero, a neutral ground is sought and found upon which the extreme,

opposing social forces can be brought in to a human relationship with one another”

(36). A historical novel creates its period atmosphere through lively dialogues and

descriptions rather than through plain narration. The descriptions pertain to the

topography, traditions, customs, habits, beliefs and legends rooted in history

concerning the particular story.

C. V. Raman Pillai’s novels were constructed as representing the first phase

of monarchy when Venad was emerging into a modern state. Marthanda Varma is a

perfect example of the author’s choice of selection of the required elements in the

construction of a historical novel. While Marthanda Varma was a story of valour,

Dharmaraja narrated a tale of astute kingship. The elaborate descriptions of locale

in Marthanda Varma, like that of the Padmanabhapuram palace and the Panjavan

hills, in the context of the secret oath of the Ettuveettil Pillais, in connection with the
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conspiracy hatched by them, serve to historicize the text. Both Marthanda Varma

and Dharmaraja have elaborate descriptions of the material culture of the

Eighteenth century Travancore.

TKT is also a text which falls in the same pattern, construed in a typically

large social canvas of the medieval period, centering on Vettam, with real characters

from history, but with varying degrees of overlapping fictional fabrication. Raman

Nambisan’s Keraleswaran is another historical novel in Malayalam which draws a

story in the canvas of medieval Vettathunaadu, associated with its political history,

casting the ruler of Vettam as a hero, and the Zamorin, as an antagonist. V.V.

Haridas, a historian who has done extensive studies on the Zamorins of Calicut has

said that Keraleswaran has adequately portrayed the alarming political scenario of

the middle ages, which was further swayed by the advent of the Portueguese that in

turn determined the relationship of the Zamorin and his principalities, (67-68). The

novel is a passionate description of the love affair of Omanathampuran and Ammalu

and has its setting in the eighth century.

The writer of historical novels usually relies on known historical segments

and fabricates what is uncertain. The perfection of a historical novel depends upon

the extent of perfection of this blend. The extent of fabrication may vary. The

descriptions of dresses worn in the past, the associated rituals, and even the

introduction of archaic words and speech habits add to the historicization of the text.

“The historical novel therefore has to demonstrate by artistic means that historical

circumstances and characters existed in precisely such and such a way” (Lukacs 43).

The historical novel has undergone a number of changes in conception and

narration in both English and Malayalam. One was the adoption of the biographical
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mode and the other was the decline of romanticism. English novels before the

eighteenth century went for the supernatural. From the nineteenth century, realism

was found to be a more suitable mode. In Malayalam, the fictions either took a bare

historical skeletal frame, thus, maintaining the highest cohesion with imaginary

history (fictional narrative), or, the very history got transformed into fictions

allowing the author to fill in imaginatively only those gaps which history could not

explain profusely, (S. Ravindran 155-56). He quotes Appu Nedungadi’s Kundalatha

as an example of the first and C.V. Raman Pillai’s trilogy as an example of the

second, but also says that the “nature and orientation” of both the writer’s “literary

imagination” is “political”, (157).

Kundalatha, set in an imaginary kingdom called Kalingam, takes the

“political forms of monarchy as its ideology”, and the story unveils through fictious

characters like Tharanathan and Kundalatha, thus creating a “feigned history”. He

also opines that C.V. Raman Pillai’s Marthanda Varma, Dharmaraja and Ramaraja

Bahadur have taken the story from history; the last two stories being about the same

king, the heir of Marthanda Varma (the titular hero of the first work mentioned

above), Rama Varma, wherein both, the real hero is the Diwan, Kesava Pillai or Raja

Kesavadasan, renowned for his loyalty to the king. In this trilogy, C.V. resorts to all

historical details, but he fictionally incorporates what may be construed to produce

the intended impact on the readers; “Tamil Malyalam”, “Sanskritized Malayalam”,

“high sounding words”, “pedantic expressions” etc are some of the devices,

(Ravindran 164).

Ravindran admits that writing historical novels in the second pattern

mentioned above is more challenging as, “the material transformed into fictional
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discourse has a factual basis makes the act of narration an arduous task” (164). The

adoption of the biographical mode made realism predominant in historical fiction.

On the one hand, this is closely related to, a sheer nostalgia for the past, and on the

other, an attempt to express the author’s dissatisfaction with the present and

admiration for the past. Both Walter Scott and C. V. Raman Pillai (in Dharmaraja

and Ramaraja Bahadur), followed this tradition.

In other cases, the past is depicted very much like the present. For Lukacs,

“What matters in the novel is fidelity in reproduction of the material foundations of

the life of a given period, its manners and the feelings and thoughts deriving from

these” (167). In a comparison between historical drama and historical novel he

observes that, the latter form is more closely related to the precise historical and

individual moments of a particular period, than is drama, and conversely, he makes

it clear that, the novelist is free to treat or reproduce “the much more complex and

ramifying totality with historical faithfulness.”

“From the stand point of the historical novel, too, it is always

a matter of chance whether an actual, historical fact, character

or story will lend itself to the particular method by which a

great novelist conveys his historical faithfulness” (Lukacs

167).

It can well be said that all “history” is “fiction”. What is generally understood

as history is the rewriting of the events that occurred at a particular period of time at

a later date. Such rewriting is only possible from the particular point of view of the

author, through his/her interpretation of the events. Every word has its specific

political renderings and a writer can very well use this fact for the positive emphasis
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of his or her own interpretation of the history. Again, it is very common that certain

‘blanks’ get filled in historical narration, of which there can be no more physical

traces left.

K.V. Krishna Ayyar and Mary Samuel David, in their book The Making of

History, have noted that there are two requisites for a good historical novelist. S/he

must have a “historical mind” and must pursue “diligent research”. Secondly, s/he

must have power of “creative imagination” to reproduce “all the colors of actual

life”, (109-110).

Historical fiction may only take the bare skeleton of a historically recorded

event and fill in with the flesh of imagination and the garb of fantasy. A good

example is that of the fictional reconstruction of the story of Christ’s crucifixion by

Anand in his story The Fourth Nail. Here the Christian belief that Christ resurrected

after crucifixion is rejected. The story is based on a gypsy legend about Christ

referred to by Isabel Fonseca in Bury Me Standing.

A more recent instance is Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code. In this fictional

reconstruction of Christ’s life, he marries Mary of Magdalene and has a daughter by

her. Their lineage is described as continuing to the present. Unlike in many other

historical novels the attempt is to consciously revise the churches’ version of the life

of Christ. Thus, for the purpose of this discussion the historical novel can be defined

as an extended prose narrative with historical figures as its characters using the overt

and covert methods of historicization and interspersed with varying amounts of

overlapping fictional fabrication. Therefore, it could be established that TKT is a

historical construct (historical novel, contrary to Radhakrishnan’s claim of TKT as a

biography), with varying degrees of overlapping with the actual history of Kerala,
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more so visibly apparent, as the writer is attempting to construct the life of that

person about whom legends determine more than what could be done by history.

TKT is saddled on an aggressive historical, political and cultural medieval

Kerala society and is largely concerned with the central belts of Kerala.

Thunjathezhuthachan, the “rallying point” of Kerala’s Bhakti cult occupies a pivotal

position in TKT, and the framework of the novel is mainly the exploration of the

various reasons that made him into one. The chaos and the confusions of the middle

ages form the backdrop of the plot that largely influenced Ezhuthachan in reviving

the Bhakti cult. A serious attempt is also made to portray the fashions, culture and

life style of the Keralites during the Portuguese period. According to the popular

historian, A.Sreedhara Menon,

“The Portuguese period witnessed an acute economic depression in

Kerala which was the direct consequence of the fall in the price of

pepper. These dark aspects of Portuguese rule created a feeling of

insecurity in the minds of the people and gave rise to the revival of

the Bhakti cult in Kerala with Tunchat Ezhuthachan as the rallying

point,” (54).

TKT in swing with the popular history depicts Thunjathezhuthachan and his

family as the loyal subjects of the swaroopam (dynasty/ruler) of Vettam. It is

believed that from very ancient times onwards, as early as the beginning of the

twelfth century, Vettathunaadu (the fiefdom of Vettam) enjoyed much cultural

prominence. Its borders are extended between two rivers, Poorapuzha in the north,

and Bharathapuzha (Nila River) in the south. The Zamorin’s land and the Arabian

Sea marked the borders in the east and the west, respectively (see App., Fig. 9). To
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mention its neighboring fiefdoms, Parappanadu was towards the north, Valluvanaadu

towards the southeast, Perumpadappu towards the south, as pointed out by

Sasidharan Klari, (17).

Vettathunaadu was also called ‘Tanur Swaroopam’. The major regions of the

fiefdom were Thrikandiyur, Tanur, Chaliyam, and Thriprangodu. It is believed that

the Vettathu Thampuran (also called as Vettatharachan and Vettathuraja) maintained

an army of about four thousand nair soldiers. Vettathunaadu had accepted the

supremacy (melkoyma) of the Zamorin, at least, nominally. The District Gazetteer of

Malappuram reveals that Vettam was also just a feudatory of the Zamorin like the

Beypore Raja. Krishna Ayyar states that “the Rajahs of Chaliyam, Beypore and

Parappanad” looked upon the Zamorin as “the protector”. “The Rajah of Vettet

(‘Vettet’ and ‘Bettet’ are the alternate spellings of the same word suggesting Vettam)

was his right-hand man,” (Zamorins 93). The lineage of the royal dynasty of Vettam

had come to an end on 24 May, 1793, when the last ruler died without leaving any

heirs. It is believed that Vettam was one among the only five Kshatriya 2 lineages in

Kerala earlier; the others beingPerumpadappu, Kurumbranaadu, Bepur (Pappukovil)

and Kodungallur, (Vasanthan 662-3).

Most of the places mentioned in the novel like Thunjan parambu, Thiruvur

(Tirur), Thaniyur (Tanur), Ponnani, Sabarakottam (Chamravattom) which were the

prominent localities in the principality of Vettathunaadu, belong to the present

Malappuram district of Kerala. The medieval Malappuram (in the present context)

Krishna Ayyar has described, “The Rajah of Bettet is generally regarded as a Kshatriya,
though in the Agnivamsarajakatha, he appears as a Brahmin,” (Zamorins of Calicut 99).
Also see p.30 for details about ‘Kshatriya’.
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society with its fiefdoms incorporated, with its rigid hierarchical caste structures and

their intervention in the life of Thunjathezhuthachan, shapes the story thread of TKT.

The Malappuram District Hand Book of Kerala published by the Department of

Public Relations, Government of Kerala gives an introduction of Malappuram

district which was formed on the 16 June 1969, thus:

“With Nilgiris in the east and the Arabian sea in the west,

Malappuram District…has in store, a hoary past, with Zamorin’s rule,

Mamankam festival, Vellatiri’s revenge and the resultant chaver pada

(suicide squad), the British rule and the indiscriminate oppression of

the masses in connivance with exploiting landlords… the Kings of

Valluvanadu, the Zamorin, the kings of Perumpadappu swaroopam

and the kings of Vettathunaadu were the early rulers,” (5).

V.V. Haridas has said that the ruler of Vettam was often addressed as ‘Raja’

and scholars like , Shaykh Zeinuddin, Francis Buchanan etc have made a mention of

him as the ‘Tanur Raja’, (56). Moreover, though Vettam was under the suzerainty of

the Zamorin, it still had enough independent powers and rights other than what was

conferred upon by the Zamorin. He also goes on to say that the Zamorin could not

always maintain a healthy relationship with his principalities, as there were often

petty skirmishes and opinion differences, especially so, with, Vettam and

Kurumbranaadu, (56-57).

Haridas resorts to the Kozhikode Granthavari which states that the

relationship between the Zamorin and the Vettam had not been good in the year,

1650, though the Zamorin had participated in the coronation ceremony of the Vettam

ruler. Similar instance of a strained relationship is also found in 1683 though Vettam
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had also participated in the Māmānkam, (76). But, unfortunately, little logical

cohesion could be deciphered of these findings. He also opines that skirmishes were

natural enough, but these skirmishes seldom altered the otherwise regular practices

and customs between the Zamorin and his protégés.

His findings from the Granthavari also include an incident which has a

connection with the upcoming skirmish with the Vettam, of which there are little

references, when some troops of the Zamorin, soon after the Tai-Pūyam3 festival in

1634, looted and destroyed the shops in the Puthiyangadi market which also resulted

in the loss of lives of some, in Vettam. Further, he also notes that there is a casual

remark that very often there are differences of opinion between the Vettam and the

Zamorins, of which much heed need not be paid and as such there are no details

furnished thereof, in the Kozhikode Granthavari, (66-67).

Since Vettam was only a small principality, or because it was only a fiefdom

of the Zamorins, historians have not attached much importance to the armed

conflicts it was involved in, probably more so, because they were often mere

skirmishes, even by the standards of medieval warfare in Kerala. It could be

assumed then, that Radhakrishnan might have fabricated the details of these

skirmishes, relying upon the popular legend concerning the clashes between the

rulers of Kochi and the Zamorin in Vettam which lay enroute, and was always being

held in sway, by one or the other. While Radhakrishnan conforms to history on

3
K.V. Krishna Ayyar, in his Zamorins of Calicut, has said that this festival is conducted
in the year immediately preceding the Māmānkam on Pūyam, the eighth lunar asterism,
in the month of Tai or Makara, corresponding to January- February. It is in itself a
miniature Māmānkam. Also see. p. 36, for more details.
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Chaliyam, it cannot be established that the Zamorin maintained protracting hostility

towards Vettam- its ruler and its people who were his protégés.

Regarding the animosity between the kings of Malabar, it is said that, there

were only two main groups; one that recognized the Zamorin, and the other that

stood with Kochi, and it is also stated that these groups never shifted their loyalty

without genuine reasons to do so, (Panikkassery 59-60). To quote Zeinuddin, as

cited in the Zamorins of Calicut,

“Whenever he commenced hostilities against any of the

inconsiderable chiefs of Malabar, provoked to do so by an aggression

on their part, after subduing them, it was his practice to return some

portion of their possessions, provided he had not been irritated

beyond measure; and this restitution, although delayed for a long

time, he always made in the end, evincing a political regard for the

prejudices and feelings of the people of Malabar,” (113).

The Zamorins, popularly known as ‘Samoodiri’ in Malayalam were

‘Samantha Kshatrias’, notes, Vasanthan. They are also known by the names,

‘Kunnalakonnathiri’, ‘Nediyirippu’, ‘Shailadhiswaran’, ‘Shailabdhinathan’ etc.

Contrary to the traditions of the then rulers of Kerala, the Zamorin was a nair by

caste who was exempted from all ritual barriers, which the other nairs had to face.

He could dine with brahmins on the same table and he could receive the offerings

directly from the hand of the priest at the temple (Vasanthan 604). The Zamorin was

considered to be the most powerful independent ruler of Kerala. “The rulers of its

kingdom enjoyed much prosperity of its maritime links and consolidated

considerable political authority and power throughout the middle ages in the history
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of Kerala”, (Krishna Ayyar 5). K. M. Panikkar’s comments are valuable in the

context:

“The government of Calicut was an autocracy tempered on the one

hand by the power of semi-independent vassal chiefs who were

perpetually in revolt, and on the other, by the sacerdotal power of the

Namboodiri Brahmins, who, like the Catholic Church in the middle

ages, constituted a supra-national body owning but very shadowy

allegiance to the temporal power,” (11-12).

Haridas has noted that, of all the principalities of the Zamorin, Vettam enjoyed

a prominent position and mostly so as is being obvious by the taxes and the amount

of money received or given, as is quoted in the Kozhikode Granthavari, (55-61).

Vettam ruler was also more authoritative and independent in his decisions, though he

had accepted the supremacy of the Zamorin, at least, nominally. This mutual

agreement between the Zamorin and the protégés were purely of a political insight,

wherein the former assures to guard his principalities in cases of attacks or

skirmishes with the other rulers or, chieftains, and in return, the feudatory also

provides the necessary assistance to the Zamorin, in times of warfare. They also

have fixed allowances and grants, (see App., Fig.1 & 2).

K V Krishna Ayyar has pointed out that the Zamorins of Calicut and the

dynasty of Vettam was closely allied, and hence, ceremonies like coronation

(ariyittuvalcha) or the mourning rituals (pulakuli) could not be complete without

either, where, each, gift the other, with a fixed sum of money, and also, gifts like

coconut and rice are exchanged. Radhakrishnan has not (deliberately) exploited the
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scope of such rituals which may shower light on the not- so- bad relations between

Vettam and the Zamorins.

Radhakrishnan holds the Zamorins in the most pejorative light, as rulers who

are frighteningly treacherous and undeservingly greedy, and perhaps so, taking into

account, the chapters from history, like, the Thirunavaya war and assumption of the

role of Rakshāpurusha at the Māmānkam and also the numerous skirmishes with

Kochi (Perumpadappu). Thus, Radhakrishnan’s Zamorin even goes to the extent of

despising the popularity of education and learning of his people, and there are

explicit traces of this prejudice continuously creeping into TKT of which, there are

little known references from history.

Radhakrishnan’s TKT identifies the ruler of Vettam, Unni thampuran, as the

real hero and an ideal king who supports his people and cares for them

empathetically, and the Zamorin as a villain. Radhakrishnan’s Zamorin, seemingly

devoid of any of those good elements, even the ability to think rationally and arrive

at decisions, except, for his dealings with the mappilas, which is also tainted with

the selfish interests of trade and power, appears to be too delusive. While

Thunjathezhuthachan recedes into the position of an antihero, it is Unniettan or

Kumaran who died the brave death of a chāver, who assumes more of what is

generally considered to be the qualities of a hero, like, a solid well-shaped body,

immensely brave, sharp in wit, honest and committed etc.

Radhakrishnan has perpetually, degraded the Zamorin, as a mere puppet, in

the hands of the vedic brahmins, who would even try to continuously chase and

haunt the family in the patriarchal lineage of a chāver, who even dared to learn and
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spread the ‘forbidden’ Vedas. Neither history nor popular legends are in favor of

such perpetuity in rivalry towards ordinary people, even outside Māmānkam.

While, TKT’s intrinsic plot revolves around the dedication and suffering of

the protagonist, Thunjathezhuthachan, which is mainly caused due to the political

struggle of the Zamorin backed by the vedic brahmins, a parallel plot, depicting the

ruler of Vettam (Unni thampuran) as a hero and the Zamorin as a villain is also

neatly interwoven. There are many sub plots in the novel, for instance, the one

concerning, Gopiettan and his strange ways, moopan’s business etc.

Thunjathezhuthachan’s father is portrayed in TKT, to have been murdered by

the henchmen of the Zamorin, through a “trick feast” (the feast as a part of the

‘friendly’ gambling game with Parappanadu, that he was invited for, which was

already mixed with poison). Amma thampuran of Vettam is killed with a poisonous

arrow which hits her from the rear, Unni thampuran of Vettam and Kuttettan along

with some others are burnt alive, and the building is put on fire and the gates closed

from outside. It is to be noted that Zeinuddin has recorded that the men of those

times considered fighting or killing or even leading a battle or skirmish against the

popular rules of war, which does not respect the interests of both the opponents in

war, as unruly and uncouth, (Panikkassery 59-60). Ezhuthachan himself was exiled

from the Zamorin’s provinces and feudatories on false charges of treason, mainly

due to his audacity in translating and learning the ‘forbidden’.

The last section of TKT deals with Ezhuthachan’s establishment of the

gurukulam-grāma (Ramananda agraharam) in Chittoor, Palakkad, also known as

‘Aattinkara grāmam’ or, ‘Puzhakkal Grāmam’ or ‘Chittoor Thekke Grāmam’

(Ulloor 537). Radhakrishnan confirms with Ulloor that it was Ezhuthachan’s

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disciple, Suryanarayanan who made a suggestion of the place. Ulloor says that the

land belonged to Chambl Mannadiyar from whom the land was purchased for four

thousand panams. Later on, the whole amount was returned to Ezhuthachan on the

day of the foundation ceremony of the Rāmānanda temple, in the grāma. Thousand

panams were then handed over to the households of Chambath, Ezhuvathu,

Vadassery and also to Kochi treasury in a mutual understanding that each of these

would grant ninety paras of paddy to the grāma every year. Ulloor has also

mentioned that Ezhuthachan and his disciples were the guests of Ezhuvathu Gopala

Menon (Koppa Menon) till the construction of the grāma was complete. (536-7).

But Radhakrishnan has deviated from Ulloor’s version by saying that the

initial amount (eight thousand panams raised to ten thousand) was entrusted with the

mappila tradesmen, (which they returned promptly), and Ezhuthachan chose

Chittoor as it was Kochi’s territory, probably so, because Ezhuthachan was exiled by

the Zamorin in TKT. Ulloor suggests that the money (ten thousand panams) was

entrusted with the Zamorin, and the Gurukulam-grāma was established in the area

under Kochi; Ezhuthachan had nothing to do with the decision and probably it might

have been under the influence of his disciple, Suryanarayanan (Ulloor 536-40).

Radhakrishnan’s account conforms to all the historical facts regarding

Chaliyam. Zeinuddin has said that, adequate discussions were made between the

then Zamorin and the rajahs of Chaliyam and Vettam, before the Portuguese were

granted permissions to build a fort at Chaliyam, who failed to see the advantageous

site of the coming fort, which would soon be a ‘loaded barrel on the Zamorin’s

chest’. There was not a better site to attack Kozhikode and to control its fleet; but,

the newly ascended Zamorin, much more tactful and stubborn, soon rectified the
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mistake; he revised the treaty already signed, waged a war against the ‘Chaliyam

Raja and the Tanur Raja’ and later on gifted Chaliyam to Parappanadu for the latter’s

support on the war front, (Panikkassery 99-101). It is also believed that the war

alleged by the Zamorin was too heavy on the Vettathuraja and he had to accept

defeat.

Haridas notes that the Vettam had offered help to the Portuguese when their

ship had broken down, near the Tanur shores and had, bizarrely, refused to hand

them over to the Zamorin as he had demanded. Further, Vettam had also granted

permissions to the Portuguese to build a fort at Ponnani, though this was never

materialized. All this infuriated the Zamorin and the year 1533 A.D. proved to be

crucial, ending in a skirmish with Vettam, notes Zeinuddin, as cited by Haridas, (67).

There is no reference to such a story in TKT.

The historians also note that there indeed was a joint effort by the feudatories

of the Zamorin to bring about a unified rule throughout the state, to fight the

foreigners, as the feudal polity was largely, a disintegrated whole. K.M. Panikkar’s

comment regarding the curious religious polity of Malabar spells out a lot,

“Politically divided into small principalities, Malabar was one from

the point of view of social and religious organization. The very fact

that there were no kingdoms and states but only Rajahs and Chiefs,

who had often, rights and properties in each others’ territory helped

the growth of an extra- political social unity,” (17).

Apart from the roles of Vettathu Raja and the Zamorin, the revengeful Vellatiri

(Valluvakonothiri/ Valluvanaadu Raja) and the rulers of Kolothunaadu (Kolathiri)

and Parappanadu, all appear in the novel, though they do not play active roles. A
 Panikker

brief outline of the Māmānkam, where the Zamorin assumes the role of the

’Rakshāpurusha’, standing on the banks of Thirunavaya, his much cherished

possession, which he had usurped from the ruler of Valluvanaadu, is given in TKT as

viewed through the protagonist’s eyes.

Thunjathezhuthachan’s cousin, Kumaran, alias Unni, who is also his brother-

in-law, is depicted to be a loyal of the Vellatiri who sends chāvers to avenge his

defeat and to kill the Zamorin when he assumes his stand on the nilapāduthara, with

the sword in hand. In TKT, Unni is synonymous of bravery and while he ushers forth

to avenge the death of his uncle, Thunjathezhuthachan’s father, he is almost through,

but gets killed finally. Perhaps, Radhakrishnan may have tried to dress his character,

Kumaran (‘Unniettan’) in the heroic outfit of Puthumanna Panikker (who has

already been mentioned by some historians like Krishna Ayyar), who nearly had

reached the Zamorin amidst the thousands of troops to kill him.

It is equally interesting to note that while Radhakrishnan profusely describes

the then customary practices of ‘marumakkathayam’, ‘kettukalyanam’, ‘ayitham’

(pollution), strong caste-hierarchies, ‘oathu’ (brahmins with the customary right of

education), etc, while underplaying some like polygamy and ‘sambandham4’ which

M.G.S. describes as ‘concubinage5’, except for a few subtle remarks here and there,

his reluctance to historicize the context of the novel (or his prejudices) are evident in

his descriptions of the attire of his characters and the interiors of homes.

4
Sambandham is the marital relationship that existed between the namboodiris
(Aphan) and the nair or ambalavasi women; only the eldest son used to marry from the
same community.
5

Perumals of Kerala, 148.

 Panikker

The reference to the description of Moopil Nair’s attire, with its jery adored

melmundu and the like in Chapter 7 (TKT, 76) can be taken as a typical instance.

Zeinuddin notes that the people of Malabar were half naked with the upper portions

of their bodies uncovered, irrespective of gender or status or wealth (Panikkassery,

63, also see App., Fig.3). It is also said that there was scarcely any furniture in

households, even in the most affluent families. There were no chairs or tables, or

bedsteads. Mats for sleeping were the only household item, apart from cooking

vessels that most households possessed. In TKT, Thunjathezhuthachan, when he was

degraded to the status of an oil press worker (because of his audacity in translating

and teaching the ‘forbidden’) is portrayed as being apologetic to the visitors at home

because he had nothing, other than a mat to offer them, (323).

Radhakrishnan has strictly adhered to history in demarcating the grounds of

feudal polity as well as the strange and curious Aryan- Dravidian collaboration.

Sreedhara Menon suggests that Ezhuthachan’s work synthesize a “harmonious blend

of the Aryan and Dravidian streams in Malayalam language and literature,” (339).

Most of the historians including Sreedhara Menon and M.G.S. Narayanan have

acknowledged that there had been a greater consolidation of the caste system with

its increasing sub –divisions, as the brahmins began to surround and dominate the

rulers by assuming a range of roles, right from court astronomer to teacher, from

priest to minister and even the commander of the armed forces. To quote M.G.S.

Narayanan,

“In Kerala there was a unique example of a land outside Aryavarta

where such powerful Brahmin settlements enjoyed near-complete

political control and inter-racial conjugal rights and consequently the

 Panikker

opportunity to shape a Bhargavaksetra according to their hearts

desire. Thus in an important sense the social setup of the new Cera

kingdom was the result of a novel experiment in racial and social

synthesis on a large scale”, (Perumals 149-150).

M.G.S. also states further that in the period after 600A.D. monarchy in South

India followed the classical Indian type, with the “Brahminical ideal of Dharma”, as

elaborated, in the Smritis and Shastras, furnishing it within the frame work of Aryan

constitution. The old Dravidian chieftains were thus reduced as “Kshatriyas or

Samanthas”, and “chaturvarnya” (‘chaturvarna’ is an alternate spelling opted in this

study) rigidly held the society in its grip, with the “Sanskritisation in status and

titles”. As the system of giving gifts was also modified to that of gifting land, these

“Brahmin ‘favorites’ of the ruler” became the owners of more land, and more

powerful with a “whole feudal hierarchy of tenants, sub-tenants, and agrestic serfs

attached to the soil they cultivated” (Re- Interpretations 18 Italicized).

In the then social scenario, the people outside the brahmin settlements were

treated only as serfs or slaves who lead a life of bonded labor, the bondage being

inherited. The landed gentry comprised of the vedic brahmins, hereditary military

officers and merchants of the great merchant guilds. M.G.S in his Re-Interpretations

of South Indian History, says that the early Aryan Brahmin settlements arose by the

way of receiving lands, perhaps whole villages as rewards, for the yajnas that the

brahmin priests performed, which ultimately lead to the spread of the Aryan

Brahmin settlements all over India. He also opines that apart from the magical

powers of yajnas, their superior knowledge in agricultural science, calendar wisdom,

 Panikker

social cohesion and loyalty must have won brahmins such apparent generosity from

the rulers.

Thus began an age of Aryanization, with its rigid class inflections and feudal

polity, contrary to the Jain and Buddhist settlements, which did not induce any such

“socio- economic revolution,” being confined to the small pockets of trading classes

that prompted them to deal with people without social inhibitions, of any type.

Sreedhara Menon explains the point,

“The pre- Portuguese period saw the evolution of the feudal polity in

Kerala with its attendant evils. Feudal anarchy of the worst type

prevailed over the land. In the absence of a central power the

Naduvazhis or feudal chieftains exercised enormous powers. They

had under them a large number of tenants who supplied them with

fighting forces in times of war. The period also saw the operation of

the caste system at its worst. The Namboothiris enjoyed all kinds of

privileges and immunities. Institutions like polyandry and polygamy

developed and this led to the lowering of moral standards among the

people.” (52)

S.K. Vasanthan in his Kerala Samsakara Charithra Nighandu (Vol.II, 12-13)

notes that “Namboodiri is the Kerala Brahman” and as the legend goes; it was

Parusaraman who brought them here, causing some serious changes in their then

culture so that they don’t move away, to stay in Kerala, a land that he created.

M.G.S. Narayanan’s comments on the issue are remarkable,

“The Parasurama story is evidently a part of a common myth which

the Aryan Brahmin settlers all over the West Coast of India from
 Panikker

Gujarat to Kerala cherished. It is difficult to access its historical value

except to infer that these groups represented a common course of

migration of a set of Brahmins who considered Bhargava Rama

(Parasu Rama) as their guardian deity and guide, (Perumals 143).”

But there are not enough records to say that when exactly they reached the

shores of Kerala, says Vasanthan which is countered by M.G.S. who infers that they

probably have made their settlements in the period of Chalukya ascendancy and in

the Cera period and he considers their claim as the early settlers, genuine. To quote

M.G.S,

“The existence of many of the original 32 settlements in the Cera

period and the leadership of the Nalu Tali are proved by epigraphic

and other evidence . . . therefore all the 32 settlements must have

been existing even before this kingdom was founded and their claim

about their part in the foundation of the kingdom could be largely

genuine,” (Perumals 143).

Vasanthan points out that there are no references to this class in the Sangham

literature. He further adds that the majority of this class is Rig Vedics; the second

position goes to Yajur Vedics and the third, Sam Vedics who are very few in

numbers, settled mostly in the central parts of Kerala. Vasanthan also observes that

legend had it that these namboodiris migrated elsewhere when Kerala was under the

strong influence of Buddhism and returned with the ascendancy of Hinduism, (12-

13).

Radhakrishnan’s views and thoughts pertaining to the past, make a clear

intrusion when he peeps in the guise of a narrator, at times, for instance, when he
 Panikker

tries to draw a comparison between the politically disturbed society in discussion

and that period of Kerala, under the reign of the demon (asura) emperor, Mahabali 6

believed to be the insignia of supreme peace. Ammaaman’s voice is necessarily and

largely the author’s, where he tries to communicate with the readers, detailing the

past, as well as, his concepts about the ideal society and the like. Radhakrishnan has

introduced the vedic brahmins and their culture as intrusive to the then popular

culture of Jain- Buddhism which caused it to wash away completely (TKT 101-2).

There is a split opinion among critics on the issue whether Ezhuthachan had

been outside Kerala to master the scriptures. But, Radhakrishnan assumes that the

gradual decline of the Jain- Buddhist monasteries in Kerala, to be a probable reason

for Thunjathezhuthachan to go to Tamilnadu to pursue studies. William Logan’s

remarks are noteworthy in this context and the knowledge about the cultural

conflicts of the vedic brahmins further prompt us to think in the same fashion:

“The most probable view is that the Vedic Brahman immigration into

Malabar put a stop to the development of Malayalam as a language

just at the time when the literary activity of the Jains in the Tamil

country was commencing. It is admitted that this immigration took

place at an earlier point of time into Malabar than into the other

South Indian countries. And it is not unreasonable to suppose that at

the time when this took place the use of verbal inflexions had not

taken hold of the colloquial language.” (92).

6

According to popular legends, Mahabali is an asura emperor (chakravarti), whose reign

was considered to be the best, where, all his subjects were viewed as one and equal,
irrespective of any discrimination whatsoever. It was held to be a period of supreme
bliss.
 Panikker

It is believed that Buddhism must have made its debut into Kerala in the third

century B.C. and Jainism must have come to Kerala before the Christian era. While

Jainism almost completely disappeared from Kerala in the sixteenth century, the

decline of Buddhism started about the eighth century A.D., with the ascendancy of

Hinduism and the increasing clout of the Namboothiri Brahmins, and this process

became rapid by the twelfth century A.D. “There was eventually a synthesis of

Aryan and Dravidian practices,” (S. Menon 178).

Puthezhathu Raman Menon opines that the “Namboodiris’” (brahmins)

intrusion into the state of Kerala had brought about a cultural conquest pertaining to

the then Aryan and Dravidian counterparts in culture. The Aryan culture got so

intricately mixed up with the Dravidian culture existent at that time, that one could

not be deciphered separately, (55-56). Kerala was torn and stretched along an odd

line of feudal polity and rigid caste systems due to the social and cultural intrusions

of the Brahmin settlers who were now more powerful as the “Yajna was replaced by

Dana, spiritual power was converted into landed wealth and social denomination”

and in course of time they became the possessors of “three-fifth of all arable land,

thus dominating the agrarian society in general”, (M.G.S., Re-Interpretations 20-

21).”

Thunjathezhuthachan was largely oppressed by these vedic brahmins, (Aryan

Brahmins) on the charges of learning Vedas and trying to impart those to the

‘forbidden race7’ and also for his compositions which may tend to hurt the brahmin

legacy and monopolistic supremacy of Sanskrit and the sacred texts. Many
7
“As literacy itself was the monopoly of the higher castes the doors of self-
improvement were closed against the Sudra population”. (M.G.S. Narayanan, Re-
Interpretations of South Indian History, 16).
 Panikker

historians and scholars have viewed the Bhakti movement in Kerala mainly as a

struggle to liberate the so called forbidden race, from the evil clutches of bonded

labor, worst forms of law and justice prevalent, and also from the restrictions on

study and learning. Logan too, makes a comment favoring this view,

“The Vedic Brahmans were and are still the last persons in the world

to approve of educating the commonalty, for that would have tended

to take from themselves the monopoly of learning which they so long

possessed,” (92).

Radhakrishnan has of late commented that, he is in favor of the establishment

of the Thunjath Ezhuthachan Malayalam University, in Tirur, Malappuram District,

in connection with the inaugural ceremony of the same, as it would be a due

recognition to the “father of Malayalam” for his endeavor to develop the language to

its present form by fighting the vedic brahmins, striving to shatter their supremacy

and monopoly in Sanskrit and the religious texts, pertaining thereof. He has tried to

ascertain once again what he had already mentioned in TKT, (The Mathrubhumi, 01

Nov 2012, 14).

The kaleidoscopic picture of the wild society then, shows a clear and well

knit structure, incorporating the whole paraphernalia of army chief, priest, minister,

soldiers, workers and rulers, with the feudal powers to monitor the relations between

the central power and their protégés, where all political and military designations

came to be deciphered automatically by the law of inheritance; the occupational

group reduced to sub-castes which together accounted for the hindrance of the

exercise of the sovereign power, serves as the background for TKT.

 Panikker

The Kerala feudal polity was not something unique. M.G.S. Narayanan has

drawn a comparison between the principalities of Kerala with those of Europe in the

context: “Service tenure called (Viruthi or maintenance) and enjoyment of exclusive

property called Valkai or Bhoga (enjoyment) conform to feudal practices of

medieval Europe. The number of retainers maintained by each lord or magnate

district was fixed and was mentioned along with the name of the district in the

record of the age,” (Re-Interpretations 19).

Moreover, it is also believed that the brahmins were immune to the laws of

the state and not even the ruler had the powers to go beyond the verdict of

Aazhvancheri Thamprakkal, who was held in high esteem by the brahmin

community. In TKT, the Thamprakkal also plays a decisive role in saving

Ezhuthachan’s life from the hands of the despondent brahmins who had no choice,

other than to obey him. Sreedhara Menon’s comments on the power of namboodiri

brahmins in Kerala during the period are noteworthy:

“The Namboothiris as a class were outside the orbit of the law of the

land as they owed allegiance only to their caste chief, the

Azhvanchery Thamprakkal, who had the exclusive authority to

punish them. The law spared the Brahmins from death penalty even

for the most heinous crimes while people of the lower castes who

committed even such ordinary offences as theft, killing of a cow etc,

were awarded the death penalty,” (69).

Krishna Ayyar notes that the society those times was largely centered, on

villages called ‘Ur’ (Tamil) or ‘Grāma’ (Sanskrit) that enjoyed complete autonomy.

It enjoyed “the privilege of self – assessment, self- government and jurisdiction”

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within its limits and the area over which it extended was called the sanketam. “Not

even the most autocratic of kings dared violate a Grāma Samketam (‘sanketam’ is an

alternate spelling opted in TKT),” (54-55). Usually, the heads of the influential

brahmin families of the villages form the members of the sanketam and the meetings

are largely centered in the premises of the village temple.

Decisions were usually arrived at regarding “common affairs of the village,

punish offences against caste and morality, and make arrangements for the

maintenance of the temple and the celebration of its annual festival,” (55). He also

goes on to say that the chief executive officer is called the ‘Uralan’ and sometimes a

few villages for the sake of greater safety combine to form a ‘Samudaya(m)’ or

‘Sabhayoga(m)’ where their larger interests be looked upon and the greatest of the

Sabhayoga(m)s was Thirunavaya. These sabhayoga(m) also own a temple.

Radhakrishnan has brilliantly made use of these sanketams which also play a key

role in the politics of cornering Ezhuthachan’s life.

It is assumed by all historians alike that the brahmin settlements readily

acknowledged the old indigenous Dravidian chieftains as kshatriyas or samanthas.

M.G.S. further states that the families of the ancient chieftains like those of the

“Kolothunatu, Puraikilanatu and Kurumbranatu” were treated as “kshatriyas”

because they acknowledged the Cera supremacy, while the families of the new

chieftains like the “governors of Eranatu, Valluvanatu, Vempalanatu, Kilimalanatu,

Venadu” were treated as samanthas. It is also conceived that the “samanthas”

thought themselves to be superior and hence separated themselves from the nair

community later on restricting inter- marriages and inter- dining.

 Panikker

The governor of Eranatu, the Zamorin, thus, is a samantha and the ruler of

Vettathunaadu is a kshatriya (see ref. 2). Radhakrishnan takes forward his story

thread exploring the vulnerable position that the Zamorin finds himself in, being just

a samantha and not a kshatriya and as the popular legends goes, he fosters the

brahmins who had conferred upon themselves the rights to upgrade or degrade the

caste positions, to reach the connection between the vedic brahmins and their

influence on the Zamorins, for the perpetual oppressions that the protagonist and his

family had to encounter throughout, in TKT.

Just like the samanthas placed themselves between the kshatriyas and the

shudras, there was a class called ‘antarala’ (intermediary), now popularly known as

the ‘ambalavasi’ which included the different castes like “Poduval, Variyar, Cakyar,

Nambiyar and Nangaiyar and Uvaccar or Kottikal,” who were employed in temple

services under the brahmins. Historians believe that they must be either the degraded

brahmins or the upgraded shudras. The third segment in the concept of Chaturvarna

called the Vaisyas are absent in the social polity of Kerala, notes M.G.S. Narayanan

in his Perumals of Kerala.

The nairs, though, could be grouped under one big umbrella called the

shudras, were quite different in tradition and culture from the others in their group,

in that they “enjoyed an enviable position in the society,” (J. Mathews 207) as they

formed the majority of the martial caste of their fiefdoms. Johnsy Mathews’

comments regarding the position of the nairs in the medieval society is valuable,

“They were held in great esteem in medieval Malabar. Some of them were

commanders of the army in times of war. They mostly lived along with the rajas in

their palace,” (206).

 Panikker

K.M.Panikkar distinguishes the nairs as a community as there were so many

sub- castes within the general grouping:

“The Nairs were more of a community than a caste…the Nair

community consisted of three main divisions: the Samanthas or the

ruling castes to which the leading royal families such as that of the

Rajahas of Calicut, Vadakkumkur, Mangat and the vast majority of

minor chiefs belonged; the large class which constituted the militia of

Malabar, and the lower classes such as barbers, washermen, potters

and weavers. Though all these were equally Nairs, the term Nair is

generally confined by western writers to the first two classes. They

form the predominant community on the coast. Their authority was

restricted only by the sacerdotal claims of the Brahmins,” (20).

M.G.S. also states that the community of “Nayars” is never mentioned in the

entire range of Sangam literature and it is also absent in the other two Dravidian

territories outside Kerala which leads to the popular assumption that it could be a

“by-product of the Brahmin settlement, that it was formed of persons recruited from

the aboriginal tribes for military services during the Cera period, and that, like other

hereditary offices, this too gave birth to a new sub-caste”, (Perumals 151). And

through a range of underlying supportive factors he, finally adds a logical

conclusion that the nair community was not,

“a separate tribe or race but a section of the native Dravidian people

which was made what it was by a combination of two factors, i.e.

military profession and Nambudiri matrimonial alliance facilitated by

the matrilineal system of inheritance”, (151).

 Panikker

P.K. Balakrishnan writes that the “Nairs” were of eminent status of which

they themselves were aware and hence they never mingled or ate food or drank

water from the houses of the lower castes. They had separate roads to tread on and

were not supposed to be polluted by the untouchables. There even existed certain

odd customs and practices like ‘pulapedi’ or ‘manapedi’ (pollution fear due to the

touch of the low castes) as is described by MGS, Sreedhara Menon and others

although these are not given much due in TKT. The fifth chapter in TKT, section III,

where all the countrymen sought refuge from flood in the outhouse of the

Peyyappanthal brahmin household, irrespective of caste and creed, could be taken as

an instance of Radhakrishnan’s fabrication of the ‘ideal’ society, not remotely

possible in Thunjathezhuthachan’s times, (343).

A prominent legend of the Arakkal Beevi of Cannanore also maybe linked to

a similar situation: when a Muslim youth saved the princess of Chirakkal when she

was on the verge of drowning, the princess refused to go back to the palace

lamenting that she was ex-communicated. Ultimately, she was married off to the

same youth. She became the ruler of a new principality called Arakkal, carved out of

Chirakkal, attaining the status of a queen – the Arakkal Beevi, (K. Sankunni 845-

849).

The lowest section of the people were the “Pulaiyar who were the agrestic

serfs” and to quote again from M.G.S., “There are several Medieval records which

show that the Pulayar, Cerumar etc were bought and sold as slaves and often

transferred with or without land from one owner to another as part of transaction”,

(Perumals 154).
 Panikker

Apart from the cultural conflicts between the hegemonic brahmins and the

nairs, the evils of institutions like kudipaka, the cultural and trade exploitations of

the foreigners, the ignorance, the superstitions and the havoc caused by the

pandemics etc form the backdrop of TKT. Kudipaka or family feud was integral to

Kerala society at the time. History records that if a member of a family was killed, it

was incumbent on the family to avenge his death by killing a member of the slayer’s

family. It is said that his relations would dip a cloth in his blood and vow never to

lose sight of it, till they would have avenged his murder by the death of the murderer

and the destruction of his house. The thirst for revenge inevitably perpetuated deadly

hatred between two families.

Māmānkam was a festival that used to be conducted on the banks of the

Thirunavaya, every twelve years with much show and splendor. It was considered a

platform for the Zamorins to exhibit their might, and splendor, valor and excellence.

It was a practice that the king who claimed to be the protector or Rakshāpurusha

goes for an open challenge, and let his opponents test their might in killing him,

when he stood in state on the “nilapāduthara”/ “manittara” (see App., Fig. 4 ). Ever

since the Zamorin had conquered Thirunavaya and usurped the rights of conducting

the Māmānkam from the Vellatiri, the latter would send the “chaver Panikkars” to

recover his lost right.

M.G.S tries to equate chāvers (see remark above) with the traditional
‘Asanna8’, ‘Maulapurusa9 and ‘Dasavargika10’ or ‘Balaudger11’ or even ‘knight12’,

where all share the responsibility of being utterly loyal and committed to their

master (king) and also their obligation to die with the king. He opines that the

“concept and institution of bodyguards as privileged companions of the prince”

continued “to function in south India, especially in Kerala with slight changes in

terms and forms till the beginning of the modern times”, (Re-interpretations 111).

The slight changes were in terms of a feudal conviction attached, whereby

hereditary landed properties were assigned to such families and the obligation of

dying was given “a religious or semi-religious halo”.

It was these “nameless, faceless and voiceless” royal bodyguards who

literally safeguarded the throne. M.G.S traces this back to ancient Hindu polity that

8
Asanna is a term that is used to refer to a set of body guards as referred in the
ancient political treatise called “Arthasastra” and literally means “close at hand” or
“inseperable companion”, (M.G.S., Re-Interpretations in South Indian History, 99-100).
9
Maulapurusa is also a term used to refer to a set of body guards as referred in the
ancient political treatise called “Arthasastra”, and signifies “a member of the original or
capital force”, (M.G.S. Narayanan, Re-Interpretations of South Indian History, 99-100).
10
Dasavargika is also a term used to refer to a set of body guards as referred in the
ancient political treatise called “Arthasastra”, and signifies “the commanders of soldiers
organized in units of ten” and it suggests the “pattern of their organization”, (M.G.S.
Narayanan, Re-Interpretations of South Indian History, 99-100).
11
Balaudger is used in the Arab compilation, entitled, Book of Marvels of India,
where each of the men, who are themselves comely and valiant and of distinguished
families, are made to eat rice with the king and accept the betel; that is offered them by
the king himself, hacks off his baby finger and sets it before the king as a ritualistic
process that marks them from that moment as the ardent followers of the king who
check his food before him, surround and protect him during warfare and even let his
concubines in only after they have personally examined them. If the king dies they
commit suicide and if he falls ill they man- handle themselves to share his expected
sufferings. M.G. S thinks this term to be a corrupted form of Maulapurusar, (M.G.S.
Narayanan, Re-Interpretations of South Indian History, 103-4).
12
The 16th C Portuguese traveler, Barbosa’s description of the knights, pertaining to
those, “who stayed with the king and the system by which they undertook either to
wreck vengeance against the enemy or to kill themselves,” (M.G.S. Narayanan, Re-
Interpretations of South Indian History, 110).
elevated the “principle of monarchy to divinity and made personal services to the

king, an exalted form of aristocratic faith”. For M.G.S, this institution practiced one

of “exclusive political religion with its own ritual forms of initiation, asceticism, and

sacrifice”, (112) which continued to the tradition of the chāvers in Kerala, in

connection with the festival of Māmānkam where they sacrifice themselves.

Haridas suggests that not all nairs are chāvers, differentiated from the rest of

the tribe, by their extraordinary strength, valor and spirit of adventure and further

says that everybody in the country side are hence scared of them, for if they take a

resolution nobody could alter it, (70-71). He also suggests that there is no reference

in the Kozhikode Granthavari, pertaining to the legend (as invoked by

Radhakrishnan too, in TKT) that the dead bodies or half corpses of these chāvers are

made to be stamped by elephants and then later on hurled into the manikinar, (see

App., Fig. 5-7). He also says that in the Granthavari recording of the year 1683, it is

mentioned that those chāver who were caught alive when the Zamorin resumed his

stand in state, were brought to the western side of the Thirunavaya temple

(Vakayur), where they were finally killed, (73).

There was yet another festival, “Tai-Pūyam” that was held in the

immediately preceding year of the Māmānkam on the day of Pūyam, the eighth lunar

asterisk in the month of Makaram or Tai, corresponding to January- February. It is

supposed to be a miniature Māmānkam, “the Zamorin going through all the

ceremonies which marked the last day of the great festival, which lasted thirty days

from Pūyam in Makaram (January- February) to Makam in Kumbham (February-

March)”, (Krishna Ayyar, Zamorins 100). Radhakrishnan has never made a mention

of such a festival before Māmānkam, although Māmānkam is discussed briefly as

viewed through the protagonist’s eyes when his own cousin and brother –in- law,

Unniettan (Kumaran) comes as a chāver, finally to be killed combating against the

soldiers of the Zamorin.

Haridas also comments that it is not only the Vellatiri’s men that are always

chāvers, but there are Muslims as well as the men of Perumpadappu who also come

in as chāvers who are synonymous of dedication, loyalty and commitment (76-77).

Social stability seemed to be quite impossible in these circumstances which were

further pumped up by the continuously mutually conflicting rulers. The dynasties of

Perumpadappu (Kochi), Tarur (Palakkad), Kolothunaadu, Kurumbranaadu, Vellatiri

and the Portuguese continuously posed a threat on the suzerainty of the Zamorin,

(69).

The title of the novel, Thee Kadal Kadan̈n̈u Thirumadhuram is itself a pun on

the life and accomplishments of Thunjathezhuthachan; it throws light on the internal

as well as the external turmoil of the protagonist. Radhakrishnan never attributes

super-human heroic qualities to his Ezhuthachan, an anti-hero, who suffers greatly

as would any human in his stance, to uphold his principles formed as a part of the

family tradition that he belongs to, and the philosophical strain (the Bhakti cult),

which has influenced him. Radhakrishnan’s Ezhuthachan oscillates between his

ideals and the problems he faces in the society, posed by the state, rulers and the

hegemonic brahmins. The title easily reminds one who is well acquainted with the

Hindu mythology of the churning of the ocean of milk by the gods and the demons

and the ensuing conflict to obtain the potion of immortality. Thunjathezhuthachan’s

life depicted in the novel is no less than a similar struggle to get done with the
translation of the Ramayana, an important tool pertaining to the standards of

devotional texts of the Bhakti tradition.

Since Thunjathezhuthachan is associated with the Bhakti movement of South

India the novel progresses through the social havoc of the time assembled in

whatever little historical details as recorded, and seeks refuge in Bhakti or the

supreme devotion to god as the only remedy to all woes. The essence of the novel is

concentrated on Thunjathezhuthachan, his life, contributions and his achievements.

Thunjathezhuthachan was an important pioneer of the Bhakti cult in Kerala and he

has been invested with the title “Father of Malayalam Language”. To quote from A.

Sreedhara Menon,

“The Bhakti cult found its supreme literary expression in Malayalam

in the works of Tunchat Ezhuthachan and Puntanam Namboothiri.

Tunchat Ramanujan Ezhuthacan flourished in the latter half of the

16th and the beginning of the 17th. The greatest of the Malayalam

poets, he has made the most significant contribution to the growth of

Malayalam literature. In his hands the kilippattu (parrot-song) as a

form of literary composition attained a high level of perfection. The

Adhyatma Ramayanam and the Mahabharatam of Ezhuthachan are

even today the greatest classics in Malayalam and they have won

their author the epithet the “Father of Malayalam Language”.

Ezhuthachan worked out a miracle in the field of cultural expansion

by disseminating knowledge in quarters which had been traditionally

denied all access to its store- house,” (337).

 Regarding the Bhakti movement in India, Kolady observes that, historically

the first significant name is that of Ramanujan acharyar, the disciple of Adi Shankara

who lived in the twelfth century, (12-24). Kabir (AD 1440-1550) was the disciple of

Ramananda, the fifth teacher of the Ramanuja lineage and much like his teacher, he

too communicated in Hindi. In his writings, ‘Ram’, ‘Rahim’, ‘Krishna’ and ‘Karim’

all became the different images of the one and the same god.

It is now generally agreed that the Bhakti movement, which began with the

start of the twelfth century, ranked as one of the earlier movements in India

collapsed due to the lack of rational thinking. But the fact that it had begun at a time

when India’s political system was undergoing drastic changes, cannot be discounted.

The advent of foreigners for trade and business marked a cultural intrusion which

paved the way for novel ideas related to society and religion. This coupled with the

political diturbances of the medieval Kerala lead to a nationwide chaos, ensued in

the loss of lives and property of many, mostly the natives.

Many historians have agreed that the Hindu Sanyasis had turned the way of

Bhakti (supreme devotion of god) at the time of the reign of the Delhi Sultanate (AD

1206-1526) and had started translating religious texts like the Bhagvad Gita and the

like into their mother tongues. The movement had for its base the transcendental

protest of their corporeal struggles (Kolady 20-21).

The Bhakti literature became greatly popular for it seemed to soothe like a

balm the wounds inflicted by the rigidity of caste perversions and miseries caused

due to the political confusions prevalent in the then society. Many historians agree

that the Bhakti movement mainly had two objectives, on the first hand, it was a

protest against the affluent and superfluous ways of the religion and its naïve
methods of devotion (associated with the brahminical hegemony, chaturvarna,

pollution, and the hereditary brahminical monopolistic traditions of priesthood).

Secondly, it is seen as an attempt to unite the Hindus and Muslims and also to

establish that basically, both the religions were not isolated systems of belief

(Kolady 18-23).

The noteworthy point, here, is that the Bhakti movement fascinated both the

Hindu and the Muslim communities alike, because their socio-religious grounds

were not basically different and this interesting parallel was sufficient to breed the

same emotions of contempt and ridicule for the hegemonic priestly class and arrive

at the general need for a suitable overhauling of tradition. Just as the Hindus were

quite despondent with the brahminic hegemony, so were the Muslims with the

Moulavis.

In TKT, when Thunjathezhuthachan, “our greatest cultural monument” is

symbolized as “the spirit of revolt against the Brahmin monopoly of Sanskrit studies

and learning”, as a “messiah of a new movement of social and cultural revival”, as a

“man with a mission”, who “took to the study of the Vedas and the Upanishads

without the usual caste credentials” tries to uphold the proper and righteous ethics in

education, the Mappila Muslims too hold a prominent status in the novel, both as

fellow countrymen and as the loyal subjects and defenders of the Zamorin (as

history also has it) as maintaining a close affinity towards the supportive

Pazhanjanathu family and as always being ready to help them in whatever distress

possible, (S. Menon 339). Radhakrishnan, here, has tried to yolk both the Bhakti

movement as well as the ‘common resistance’ to the oppressions resultant of the

brahminical hegemony, through references like, mappilas did not believe in caste
discriminations, (TKT 65-6), the sanketams were not strong wherever the mappilas

were strong, (TKT 66), but, there is little mention to the “religious oppression by the

hegemonic Moulavis”.

The most important of the Muslim religious renewal was the Mahdi

movement in the fifteenth century led by Seytu Mohammed Sheik Ala who lived in

the sixteenth century in Agra, (Kolady 22-3). It is said that he had a remarkable

foresight and he fought for a rule, which would view all classes of people as equals

without slicing them in to various sects in the labels of castes and religion (He was

later on killed by the King Islam Shah). It is observed that the movement had made

tremendous progress in achieving both the principal objectives of the Bhakti

movement during that period.

If the Bhakti movement in Kerala was initiated by Thunjathezhuthachan and

pursued by Poonthanam, it was initiated by Chaitanya Maharaj in Bengal; Soordas,

Kabir, Thukaram, Naamadev and Ramdas played similar roles in the north. But

unfortunately, Ezhuthachan is not a prominent figure, outside Kerala. To quote C.

Achutha Menon, “Since Ezhuthachan’s works were all in Malayalam his fame did

not go beyond Kerala. But only Shankaracharyar has gained due popularity

connected with his name here,” (39).

Radhakrishnan’s TKT orbits around the concept of chaturvarnya, the base of

which is provided by the Manusmrithi, which the brahmins uphold to project

themselves, as superior to the “Brahmapadajar” (shudras). As per the Manusmrithi,

the brahmins were created from Brahma’s forehead, while shudras were born from

his feet, denoting their inferior status13, (Vettom Mani 872). The advocates of the
13
(“Sarvaswaasyatusargasya// guptyaartham samaahadyuthi// mukhabahurapjjanam//
prithukarmmaanyaklapayal” – Manusmrithi, 1st chapter, 87th poem.) It specifies that as
Bhakti movement which lasted from the twelfth century to the sixteenth century

strived to reverse the thought, insisting that every human, being the creations of

God, were equal. They chose devotional texts to render into vernacular and poured

their thoughts regarding equalization and liberalization, into it.

The chief doctrine of the Bhakti movement was that jeevaatma (the self as a

manifestation of god) could diffuse in to the paramatma (the god as the whole

universe) only through bhakti (devotion to god). Bhagvad Gita was considered as

the manifesto of the Bhakti movement perhaps because it had the convenience of a

scene in which god (Krishna) directly comes to the rescue of man (Arjun) who is his

true devotee. But Ezhuthachan fore- grounded his struggle through Rama and

Krishna which were the two major incarnations of Lord Vishnu as symbols of

extreme love, which became the two common characteristics of the Vaishnava

Bhakti movement, thereby being able to satisfy both the groups, (P. Usha 51).

Unlike the other advocates of the movement, Ezhuthachan could, through

both his works, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata acquire a rapid popularity

through both Rama and Krishna, which perhaps, still continues to the present. It is

so assumed by many scholars that Ezhuthachan was very creative and quite liberal

in his poetic renderings of the epics and he did introduce a style known as kilippattu
per the Hindu creation, brahmins were born from Brahma’s forehead, kshatriyas from
his forearms, vaisyas from his hips and shudras from his feet and this was the base of
the concept of Chaturvarrna which again categorized the occupational merits of the four
classes. While education and teaching, and performing yagas were the rights of the
brahmins; education, charity, and looking after the subjects were attributed to the
kshatriyas. The vaisyas were not prohibited to education either, and the jobs specified
include rearing cattle, farming and business. All the three were encouraged to organize
yagas for them which shall be presided necessarily by the brahmins. The shudras were
allowed only to serve the brahmins devoutly and, do charity. They were restricted the
rights of education and learning. (Melkulangara Aji kumar ed. Manusmrithi, 34-35).
(where a parakeet is the narrator) in Kerala, although the idea was not something

novel in Tamil. His travels outside Kerala to acquire more knowledge set the fertile

ground for the introduction of Bhakti movement in Kerala. To quote from The

District Gazetteer of Malappuram, “He was the exponent of Bakti poetry in

Malayalam literature and the first to employ Kilippattu in Malayalam poetry” (191,

sic).

Paniker considers the kilippattu style, Ezhuthachan adopted in his Ramayana

and Mahabharata as evocative of the importance sound effects had in poetry which

enabled him to combine, “fluency with elegance, spontaneity with complexity,

naturalness with depth of meaning, and, simplicity with high seriousness”, (18).

Ayyappa Paniker openly condemns all those “Bhaktivadi” critics who praise

Ramayana purely as a “devotional work”. To quote from Paniker who considers

Ezhuthachan as a “master of auchitya”, “His greatness as a poet consists in the

appropriateness of the form he chose and the language he used for what he wanted

to present to the people of his time as well as of later times.,” (19).

It is agreed by most of the critics that Ezhuthachan’s theory was based on the

philosophy of Advaitam, the main proponent of which being Adi Sankaracharya.

Although there are instincts of Vishnu Bhakti in his work which may lead one to

Vaishnavism, he never criticized other gods like Siva as was the practice among the

other Vaisnavites. Radhakrishnan’s Ezhuthachan is portrayed to pray in both Siva as

well as Vishnu temples, probably so, because Ezhuthachan was never a strict

Vaisnavite in the above mentioned terms, but, it must be understood that another

reason for such an inference might be the fact that some of the great Siva temples of

the period like Thripprangode and Thirukandiyur (the two important Siva temples in
Ezhuthachan’s life in TKT) had not gained a place in early Saivaite literature

(M.G.S. 189). It is also interesting to note that the Vaishnava Bhakti cult seems to

have been popular only after the Saiva Bhakti cult established roots in the region.

Radhakrishnan, in TKT has beautifully brought such a glimpse of

Ezhuthachan’s life when he travels outside the borders of Kerala in the pursuit of

this ‘forbidden’ knowledge of the Vedas and the scriptures. He chooses the

Thiruvavaduthurai adeenam in Tamilnadu for his further studies. There are varied

opinions among critics as to who was “Neelakandan” and how was he related to

Thunjathezhuthachan. While some suggest that it may be Ezhuthachan’s friend,

some others suggest, it may be his teacher or even brother. Radhakrishnan has

portrayed “Neelakandan” as Ezhuthachan’s teacher (Neelakandaguru) in Tamilnadu,

whom he respected much. Scholars and critics agree that Ezhuthachan had a very

learned teacher, whom he loved, respected and paid due homage in his works. But

whether the ‘teacher’ was in Kerala or not and whether Thunjathezhuthachan has

traveled extensively or not, is still debatable.

The novel begins with Harinaamakeerthana- a devotional composition of

Ezhuthachan praising Lord Vishnu and repeats throughout, that the only key to

peace and knowledge is Hari. Hari is a concept which unites the trinity into one

form/ God which has the properties of all -Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva. Historians and

scholars jointly agree that Adhyatma Ramayana Kilippattu and Mahabharata

Kilippattu are Ezhuthachan’s translations, but there is a split opinion among them

pertaining to those of the Bhagvad Gita, Devi Mahatmyam and Brahmāndapurana;

Radhakrishnan has depicted all the works as rendered by Ezhuthachan, in TKT.

Harinaamakeerthana is an innovative work of Ezhuthachan, unlike the rest, which

is not a rendering. He also has to his credit a work called ‘Irupathinaaluvritham’.

Radhakrishnan, in TKT, frames Ezhuthachan as having penned all the works

mentioned above, excluding Irupathinaaluvritham.

To quote Ayyappa Paniker,

“ Thunchattu Ezhuthachan, the greatest Malayalam poets of all time,

wrote his two great epics Adhyatma Ramayanam and

Srimahabharatham and two shorter pieces, Irupattinalu Vritam and

Harinama Kirthanam and thereby revotionalized Malayalam

language and literature at once”, (16 Italicized).

It is interesting to note in this regard that Ezhuthachan chose Adhyatma

Ramayana and not Valmiki Ramayana for translation. Usha points out that this may

be because, Valmiki Ramayana originally in Sanskrit, characterizes Rama as an epic

hero who is attributed with all the qualities of the ideal man but is really devoid of

any supernatural godly attributions. It is now believed that Ezhuthachan might have

chosen the not very popular Adhyatma Ramayana, and not the popular Valmiki

Ramayana for his translation, the Adhyatma Ramayana Kilippattu, an effective text

of the Bhakti movement, because the not so known text allowed him the scope of a

free translation.

In India, Adhyatma Ramayana contributed greatly towards the portrayal and

belief of Rama as a god. Ezhuthachan’s view of god is notable in that it provides a

beautiful glimpse of Advaita philosophy drawing a balance between jeevatma and

paramatma and also in believing that there is only one god with different forms in

the framework of the Hindu mythology of numerous gods and that too, as early as,
in the fifteenth century. Radhakrishnan, here, maintains a close proximity with these

findings.

Both Achutha Menon and Usha agree that Ezhuthachan implants through his

translation, the ‘Vishishtaadvaita darsana’ (a philosophical concept which has as its

main proponent, Adi Sankaracharya, and the followers of which seek

liberation/salvation by recognizing the identity of the Self/ jeevatma (Atman) and the

Whole/ paramatma (Brahman) through long preparation and training, usually under

the guidance of a guru, that involves efforts such as knowledge of scriptures,

renunciation of worldly activities, and inducement of direct identity experiences),

which is very explicit in Adhyatma Ramayana and establishes that, the Rama in

Ramayana is the same ‘Lord Vishnu’ himself. Rama is praised by using the various

names of Vishnu: ‘Madhusoodanan’, ‘Narayanan’, ‘Achuthan’, ‘Anandan’,

‘Niranjan’ and the like.

According to critics, Ezhuthachan also makes it clear in the beginning of the

Adhytama Ramayana Kilippattu that he follows the Adhyatma Ramayana which

enlightens the spiritual knowledge and he is rewording it in a form that could be

understood by the commoners who are not able to comprehend the truth of life, as

included in the theories of the Indian Philosophy. In fact, Adhyatma Ramayana is

known by that name, only because it concerns with the quest of spiritual knowledge.

The concept of salvation or moksha is stressed.

Achutha Menon observes that Rama of the (source) Adhyatma Ramayana is a

total failure as a man whereas Ezhuthachan’s Rama is an ideal as both man and god.

Ezhuthachan had taken great liberties in his translation by the addition of certain

passages. Ezhuthachan tries to transfer the spiritual joy of devotion and the feelings
associated with it, in his Adhyatma Ramayana Kilippattu which the source text fails

to produce, (C Achutha Menon 94-112). Also, Ezhuthachan’s Adhyatma Ramayana

Kilippattu became very popular in Kerala attesting to the freedom of creative

contributions, he made in his translations.

Chetarapally Narayanan Potti’s Malayala Sahitya Sarvaswam says that no

translation of the Adhyatma Ramayana had come in any language before the period

when Thunjathezhuthachan had it in Malayalam (24). Adhyatma Ramayana is

considered Thunjathezhuthachan’s first translation endeavor.

The Bhaktirasamrthasindhuh of Rupa Goswami, composed during the first

quarter of the sixteenth century, originally written in Sanskrit is an important critical

document on Bhakti poetry. Goswami has tried to bring the conceptualization of

bhaktirasa and its incorporation into the gamut of the rasas established in the

Sanskrit poetics as rooted in the poetic practice of his own time. This explains in a

better way the Bhakti poetry of Ezhuthachan. To quote from its translation, the

Bhaktirasa by Tridandi Swami Bhakti Hrdaya Bon Maharaja,

“Even with the slightest awakening of Bhava – Bhakti in the heart of

the Lord, the four objects of human pursuit, viz. dharma (relative

duties offering heavenly pleasures), artha (mundane wealth), kama

(sensual pleasures or desires), and moksha (final emancipation or

realization of the self as identical with Brahman) become more

significant and as worthless as a straw”. (G. N. Devy, ed. 97).

Malayalam is categorized as one of the Dravidian tongues identifying two

major phases of development – the old Malayalam and the new Malayalam,

although scholars have not been able to date the exact origin of the language. S J
Mangalam estimates the origin of the language to not later than the eighth century

A.D. (160). Most scholars have identified an undeniable presence of Tamil in the

Malayalam works of the twelfth and the thirteenth centuries, which fall under the old

Malayalam phase. Gradually, Sanskrit words crept into the language in the

fourteenth century, especially during the era of Manipravalam which paved the way

for the new Malayalam phase.

The scholars have found the works of the sixteenth century heavily loaded

with Sanskrit words. The District Gazetteer of Malappuram credits Ezhuthachan,

“The modern Malayalam alphabet owes its origin to his ingenuity (191, Italicized).

Mangalam comments that Ezhuthachan had the advantage of living in a transition

period- the sixteenth century which witnessed a new make-over on the old

Malayalam. It is believed that there were four scripts to write Malayalam that

existed simultaneously: ‘Vattezhuthu’, ‘Kolezhuthu’, ‘Malayanma’ and ‘Grantha’;

while the first three were exclusively used to write Malayalam, the last, Grantha was

also used to write Sanskrit. The brahmins monopoly in education and learning and

their predominance in Sanskrit might have helped in the stabilization of the script all

over the region which further gained authority with the start of printing. Mangalam

also says that Thunjathezhuthachan used the ‘Arya ezhuthu’ or the Grantha script

and from that date the script became popular for writing Malayalam (158-169).

K M Prabhakara Varrier seems to affirm Mangalam’s views and in his

comments upon Ezhuthachan’s writing style and goes on to say that although

Ezhuthachan had declared that verses in simple Malayalam could be written,

Sanskrit words were being borrowed largely into Malayalam and Ezhuthachan had

not been able to restrain himself from this style altogether. Although there are few
words of Sanskrit origin in some verses, there are instances where Sanskrit words do

not fit at all (65-72). However Ezhuthachan is credited with introducing and

popularizing a new narrative technique into Malayalam from Tamil, the kilippattu

technique, in which a parakeet carries on the process of narration. It is in this style

that Ezhuthachan’s Ramayana is narrated. Yet, Ulloor finds that Ezhuthachan’s

kilippattu differs from that of its counterpart in Tamil. Through his meters like

‘keka’, ‘kakali’, and ‘annanata’, Ezhuthachan displays a superb skill and

craftsmanship and these meters are still employed by many Malayalam poets today,

points out A. Sreedhara Menon, (339). All these factors together account for its

‘exclusiveness’ among the other poetic creations of the period in Malayalam.

William Logan in his Malabar Manual states that Ezhuthachan was a nair by

caste who also had an active role in modifying the Malayalam script.

“It was no less than a revolution when in the seventeenth century one

Thunjatta Eluttachchan, a man of the Sudra (Nayar) caste boldly

made an alphabet - the existing Malayalam one - derived chiefly from

the Grantha – the sanskrit alphabet of the Tamils, which permitted of

the free use of Sanskrit in writing - and boldly set to work to render

the chief Sanskrit poems in to Malayalam”, (92).

Depicting Ezhuthachan as a distant ancestor of his, Radhakrishnan follows

Logan, Ulloor and others in conjecturing that Ezhuthachan was a nair.

Radhakrishnan has also discounted certain legends and the versions of some

historians in which Ezhuthachan is described as being adept in tantrik arts. The other

details about Ezhuthachan’s life and career seem to have been imaginatively filled in

by the author as Thunjathezhuthachan’s life is clothed in mystery. Many researches

have been initiated and completed, surrounding the great poet’s works and life, but

unfortunately, no work has resolved the problem of ambivalence connecting the

issue. Since Ezhuthachan is endorsed with a divinity or miraculous or even

supernatural image of brilliance through years, credible evidence for his background

have been erased and popular legends have taken their place.

The legends about Ezhuthachan’s birth are many. Some accounts describe him

as being born a brahmin. There is also a fantastic story of him being the son of a

gandharvan. Many writers have traced his lineage to a ‘Chakkala nair’ family. But it

is known that Ezhuthachan used to go and pray in the temples and entry was

restricted to a ‘Chakkala nair’ at the time; hence Ulloor’s insistence that he belonged

to a ‘Vattekkattu nair’ family.

Radhakrishnan has depicted Thunjathezhuthachan as belonging to the

Pazhanjanathu household, a Chakkala nair family who is by profession an

‘ezhuthaashan’ (a teacher of all disciplines other than physical) and whose very

family runs in to the tradition of ezhuthukalaris from generations together and his

father’s family runs into the meykalari (school of martial arts) tradition. Johnsy says

that the majority of the nairs formed the class of soldiers and since they had to be

prepared for fighting, they were given both intellectual and physical training at an

early age. She also says that the foreign writers of the said century mention this

group as having no other occupation than fighting, (205-6).

M.G.S. comments that the “military system of kalarippayattu (fencing) was

common practice of Namboodiri, Nayar, Tiyyar, Muslim and Christain warriors in

Kerala”, (Perumals 151). Sreedhara Menon says that both boys and girls were

admitted in the meykalaris, but, when the boys were given a full- fledged training,
the girls were furnished just with the basics, intended only to build a healthy body,

(289).

K.M. Panikkar in his Malabar & the Portuguese tries to frame a connection

between the political scenario and the caste-occupational systems. He points out that

the nair occupation of fighting seemed to make the rulers dependent on them and

thus they enjoyed some sort of political power in the society by being attached

(loyal) to specific rulers. He goes on further that the first two classes of nairs: one,

the ruling class and the second, the militia of Malabar necessarily were trained in a

kalari or a gymnasium for a number of years where the use of all arms were taught

by specially trained teachers called ‘asans’:

“In every village, there was an Asan, or instructor in war fare to

whom special honor was paid. The youths of the families were

compelled to undergo military instruction and follow the Asan in time

of war. Every Nair was attached to some ruler. There was thus a

system of practical conscription among the Nairs. The Rajahs and

chieftains depended for their authority on the Nair militia who thus

enjoyed almost a monopoly of political influence in the country.” (K.

M. Panikkar, Malabar & the Portuguese, 21)

Thunjathezhuthachan himself is portrayed as a kalari aashan, passionate of his

work in teaching, and having immense poetic skills. Radhakrishnan goes to credit

Ezhuthachan’s family, the honor of educating the royal dynasty of Vettam. Most

historians confirm the practice of home tuitions where the ezhuthachan visits the

affluent families and teaches them. Hence, the point neither can be denied nor

accepted, as there are little historical aids to prove either way. To quote K.N.
Ganesh, “Officials connected with Naduvazhi houses (swaroopams), heads of Nair

and Namputiris households had to be literate as they had to execute documents and

maintain accounts. They got their education in Ezhuthupallis under

Nattezhuthassans or Asans who taught them reading, writing and Arithmatic,”

(“Cultural Encounters”, 157).

Sreedhara Menon suggests that the ezhuthukalaris were parallel educational

institutions that functioned in those times to educate the non-brahmins, which

functioned in each “kara” or village under the Ezhuthachan or Asan, who was the

Kerala prototype, of the famous village schoolmaster of Oliver Goldsmith.

Moreover, since Veda paathasaala already existed as a system of formal education

for the namboodiri youth, predominantly where they could master the Vedas, the

ezhuthukalari or ezhuthupallis, as they are popularly known, mainly catered to the

non-brahmin group. Radhakrishnan briefly describes the ways and practices of

learning and education imparted in those times through the ezhuthukalaris and

conform to the historical facts about them right from their routine schedules to the

fee intakes.

“The Ezhuthupalli was also a mixed school where both boys and girls

were admitted. They were taught reading, writing and arithmetic, the

kavyas and the rudiments of astronomy and astrology. The advanced

courses for both sexes included the detailed study of Kavyas,

Alankars, Natakas, logic, grammar and Ayurveda. . . .Music had an

important place in their curriculum. They were also taught to recite

verses from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. . . . Thus the

system of the education in the Ezhuthupalli aimed at the moral,

 intellectual and physical well-being of the boys and girls. The Asan

did not receive any tuition fee, but he was remunerated in kind. He

had greater influence over the pupils than their parents and this made

the Asan a very important figure in the social life of the village,” (S.

Menon, 287-288).

Thayattu Sankaran notes that education of women was favored till the

Upanishadic ages, after which deterioration though gradual, crept into the system

because of brahminical patriarchy and also because of the marriages of Aryan youth

to non-Aryan women. He further says that this deterioration was at the high, after

the decline of the Buddhist monasteries and was slightly recovered after the advent

of the Christian missionaries, (53-56). But this remark has to be closely examined,

because in Kerala as suggested by Sreedhara Menon and P. Bhaskranunni, minimal

literacy was maintained by women. Education to women in those times must not be

analyzed in the norms of what is now conceived to be a formal system. Rather, we

cannot deny that the medieval women in Kerala had literacy. The education order

started from the vernacular alphabets, followed by grammar and basic Mathematics,

(Bhaskaranunni, 1053-55). Bhaskaranunni says that girls were taught “Srikrishna

charitam”, “Manipravalam”, “Seelavathippattu”, and dance forms like

“kaikottukali” etc., (1054).

Dharampal in his The Beautiful Tree, notes that the survey conducted by J.

Vaughan, the then Principal collector in the early eighteenth century, dated 5 August,

1823, to be precise, with respect to the Malabar area, reveals that the percentage of

women educated in the community is much lower than the male population, but,

surprisingly the ratio of educated women is comparatively higher in Kerala when

compared with the other states, especially so, in the shudra and the Muslim

community. The survey records a total of 758 schools and 1 college, the one being

the Veda paathasaala at Thirunavaya. The shudras constitute mainly the nair and the

ambalavaasi category and the survey report records 707 women educated against

3697 men, (see App., Fig.8). It could be deciphered then, that education was not

totally out of bounds for the women population, even in the sixteenth or seventeenth

centuries.

V.T.Bhattathirippad in his autobiography, Kanneerum Kināvum has

expressed how embarrassed he had felt, when a small girl, the daughter of Theeyadi

Nambiar asked him (while he was working as a priest in the Shastamkaavu temple)

her doubt in arithmetic and much to his surprise, he found he could not read a word,

(85-86). The point could be better explained by K.N. Ganesh who says that “After

the initial introduction of letters, Malayalam was not taught at least for the brahman

children. Similarly arithmetic was not emphasized for brahman children,” (“Cultural

Encounters” 158).

J. Devika in her book, ‘Kulastreeyum’ ‘Chanthapennum’ undayathengane?,

says that the lower castes like nair and ezhava women enjoyed more freedom than

the namboodiri women, who were restricted in everything, ranging from education

to independent thinking and this complexity actually went up along with their status.

So, we could say that while Vedas and scriptures in Sanskrit were taught

mandatorily to brahmin youth, minimal literacy and practical knowledge was not out

of bounds for the shudra population, especially nairs, even the females.

Ezhuthupallis were “one teacher schools,” (159) and restrictions to education

were not in the elementary level but rather, for higher studies, notes, K.N.Ganesh,
“After completing elementary education, children could go for specialized higher

education. “The studies were decided by their parental occupation of jati and were

normally in the form of apprenticeship/ internship working or performing with the

master or gurus in the master’s house or workplace. Such higher studies included

martial arts, performing arts, medicine, crafts or artisan work, astrology and vedic

studies. The gurus unlike Ezhuthassans were specialized in their field and those

going for higher studies in several fields learnt under several specialists,” (“Cultural

Encounters” 160).

It is presumed that the age had separate schools of education for the

brahmins who never tried to mingle with the lower castes. Most historians assume

that after the decline of the salais, which were originally the educational institutions

attached to temples, formerly of a Buddhist or Jain origin, but later on continuing as

a Hindu system, a lot of educational institutions sprang up especially in the central

and the northern belts of Kerala which were called the ‘sabha mutts’ which like their

former version, were ‘temple universities’.

It is also known that among the eighteen sabha mutts, the Thirunavaya

Sabha Mutt (Ottanmar Madham) enjoyed the patronage of the Zamorin of

Kozhikode and the Thirunavaya Vadhyan was the hereditary family teacher of the

Zamorin. “The Sabha Mutts were intended for the education of the Namboothiri

youth in Vedas and the Sastras. The system of education conformed to the Gurukula

ideal,” (Sreedhara Menon, 285). Radhakrishnan has maintained a close proximity

with historical details about these sabha mutts also, and perhaps due to the

prominence of the location, the Thirunavaya sabha mutt has been given a special

mention in TKT.
 The period of Thunjathezhuthachan’s life has roughly been calculated as

having extended from the end of the fifteenth to the beginning of the seventeenth

century. There are no clues as to his real name in any of his works or in any other

contemporary texts. Researchers and historians have played with a number of names

like ‘Shankaran’, ‘Rāman’, ‘Rāmānujan’, and ‘Rāmānandan’. There seems to be a

consensus that he adopted the name ‘Rāmanujan’ after his travels. The name given

to his father and mother in TKT are the same as mentioned by Ulloor in his account

(531-532). Historians point out that he had a brother named most possibly Rāman

who himself had attained some academic status and whom Thunjathezhuthachan

respected very much, (C. Achutha Menon 43-48). There are no narratives which

speak of any other siblings.

Many writers including Ulloor have agreed that Thunjathezhuthachan was

born in Tirur and belonged to a house named Thunjan from which he gets his name,

as was common among nairs. The first names of many historical and legendary

figures have been overshadowed by the names of their clans or families by which

they became known. Radhakrishnan has imagined the treacherous murder of the serf

named Thunjan and his family who had taken Munayur’s lands on lease; Vasanthan

notes that the earlier name of Thunjan parambu was ‘Pullumkottu Parambu’, (Vol I,

674-675). But there are no evidences as to what happened to this family later (if

such a family had ever existed).

“The great literary luminaries- Thunjath Ramanujan Ezhuthachan,

Poonthanam, and Melpathur belong to this district. Respected as the

Father of Malayalam literature, Ramanujan was born in 1495 at

Trikkantiyoor in Vettathunad. . . . The Thunjan Parambu where the

 great poet and saint was born is now protected as an archeological

monument” (District Gazetteer of Malappuram, 191).

The legends, as well as the accounts of Ulloor and Achutha Menon speak

about Thunjathezhuthachan having married and fathered a daughter. Achutha Menon

suggests that Ezhuthachan’s wife belonged to Chozhiyathu veedu of Perumangode

in Amakkavu, near Pattambi (40).

In Radhakrishnan’s novel Ezhuthachan’s name is Krishnan and he was known

as Appu. In tune with popular legends Radhakrishnan’s protagonist also acquires the

name ‘Rāmanujan’ after his travels. In the novel, Ezhuthachan has three siblings-

two sisters and a brother. Radhakrishnan deviates drastically from legend by

indicating that Ezhuthachan was born at Thaniyur, modern Tanur in Malappuram

district. Radhakrishnan, while accepting, the legend that Ezhuthachan was married,

and had fathered a daughter, differs from both Ulloor and Achutha Menon by

identifying his wife’s tharavadu (ancestral home) as Edappal Veedu in Amakkavu.

Radhakrishnan has used the Savarna dialect of Valluvanadu for narration

while promptly using various other caste dialects too in the conversation of

characters. Although Radhakrishnan’s language of narration sounds a little archaic, it

can still be heard in the speech of people of the Valluvanadu region, especially of the

older generation, particularly in the Ponnani-Chamravattam area. The use of certain

archaisms that have completely disappeared from colloquial speech in Malayalam

can be attributed to Radhakrishanan’s attempts to present the novel as a biography of

Thunjathezhuthachan’s.

A. Sreedhara Menon notes on the basis of regional considerations that the

dialect groups in Kerala are generally three: the “southern dialect” spoken in
Neyyattinkara and Trivandrum regions with a large influence of Tamil owing to its

position near Tamilnadu, the “northern dialect” spoken in Cannanore and the regions

north of it with a heavy influence of Tulu or Kannada owing to its border

relationship with Karnataka and the “middle dialect” prevalent in all other parts of

Kerala which shows the maximum influence of Sanskrit. The major communal or

caste dialects were also differentiated between the brahmin, the nairs, and other

castes and also between the Muslims and the Hindus and the Christians. Sreedharan

Menon says that the brahmin dialect was the richest in Sanskrit while the nair dialect

also resembled more or less this brahmin culture and down the caste ladder, this

influence of Sanskrit seems to be waning, (329).

T. Sankaran Ravindran notes that both Appu Nedungadi and C.V. Raman

Pillai had distant connections14, with the royal families of the Zamorin and that of

the Travancore, respectively, (157) and goes on to suggest that perhaps the historical

framework as explicit in both the narrative styles to have been come from the

monarchial backgrounds that each of them shared. Radhakrishnan claims that

Thunjathezhuthachan had been his great grand maternal uncle who lived some

fourteen generations ago, though the writer has got little documental evidence to

prove the claim. The reference to such a claim cannot be established on historical

grounds, though the grounds of a familial legend cannot be out surpassed.

14
Appu Nedungadi belongs to the aristocratic family of Talakkotimadham in
the former Valluvanad Taluk, which enjoyed the royal patronage of the Zamorin
and C.V. Raman Pillai’s parents were the dependants of the Travancore Royal
family, who was looked after by Nankakoyikal Kesavan Thampi, a close relative
of Raja Kesavadasan, the renowned Diwan of Travancore, the hero in his two
novels, (The Early Novels in South Indian Languages, ed. T. Sankaran
Ravindran, 157).
 As a historical novel featuring the life of Thunjathezhuthachan, a central

figure in Malayalam literary canon, TKT is sketched on a wide canvas on which the

dynamics of medieval Kerala society is vividly portrayed and possibly,

Radhakrishnan attempts to explain all those facts which history failed to, regarding

the life of the great luminary. Radhakrishnan has worked out a narrative in the

fictional framework that has been set earlier like C.V. Raman Pillai and other

persons of that limited genre in Malayalam. It can be concluded that while

Radhakrishnan has maintained a close proximity to history, his imaginative pen

pours in what is not generally associated with the bard’s life and times.