Kerala
is truly the undiscovered India. It is God's own country and an enchantingly
beautiful, emerald-green sliver of land. It is a tropical paradise far from
the tourist trial at the southwestern peninsular tip, sandwiched between the
tall mountains and the deep sea. Kerala is a long stretch of enchanting greenery.
The tall exotic coconut palm dominates the landscape.
There is a persistent legend which says that Parasuram, the 6th incarnation
of Lord Vishnu, the preserver of the Hindu Trinity, stood on a high place in
the mountains, threw an axe far in to the sea, and commanded the sea to retreat.
And the land that emerged all from the waters became Kerala, the land of plenty
and prosperity.
Kerala is a 560-km long narrow stretch of land. At the widest, Kerala is a mere
120-km from the sea to the mountains. Gracing one side of Kerala, are the lofty
mountains ranging high to kiss the sky. And on the other side the land is washed
by the blue Arabian Sea waters. The land is covered with dense tropical forest,
fertile plains, beautiful beaches, cliffs, rocky coasts, an intricate maze of
backwaters, still bays and an astounding 44 glimmering rivers. Kerala's exotic
spices have lured foreigners to her coast from time immemorial.
Earlier, Kerala was made up of three distinct areas. Malabar as far up the coast
as Tellicherry, Cannanore and Kasargode with the tiny pocket-handkerchief French
possession of Mahe nearby (it was returned to India in the early 1950 's and
is now administratively part of Pondicherry). This area belonged to what was
once called the Madras Presidency under the British. The middle section is formed
by the princely State of Cochin; the third comprises Travancore, another princely
State.
Early Inhabitants of Kerala
Archaeologists
believe that the first citizens of Kerala were the hunter-gatherers, the ting
Negrito people. These people still inhabit the mountains of southern India today,
consequently, they had a good knowledge of herbal medicine and were skilled
in interpreting natural phenomena. The next race of people in Kerala were believed
to be the Austriches. The Austric people of Kerala are of the same stock as
the present-day Australian Aborigines. They were the people who laid the foundation
of Indian civilizations and introduced the cultivation of rice and vegetables,
which are still part of Kerala scene. They also introduced snake-worship in
Kerala. Traces of such worship and ancient rites have been found among the Aboriginal
tribes of Australia. Austric features can still be seen fairly and clearly among
the people of Kerala today. Then came the Dravidians (The Mediterranean people).
Dravidian absorbed many of the beliefs of the Negrito and Austric people, but
they were strongly inclined to the worship of the Mother Goddess in all her
myriad forms: Protector, Avenger, Bestower of wealth, wisdom and arts.
The Dravidians migrated to the southwards, carrying their civilization with
them, though leaving their considerable cultural input on their successors,
the Aryans (Indo - Iranians). But Kerala is still strongly influenced by the
Dravidian culture: urbane, cash-crop and trade oriented, and with strong maternalistic
biases. The Aryans have made a deep impression on Kerala in late proto-historic
times.
Jewish and Arabs trade's were the first to come to Kerala sailing in the ships
to set up trading stations. The Apostle of Christ, St. Thomas is believed to
have come to Muziris in AD 52 and established the first church in Kerala .
Portuguese discovered the sea route to India from Europe when Vasco da gama
landed with his ship near Kappad in Calicut in AD 1498. Slowly the Kerala society
became a mix of people belonging to various sects of Christianity, Islam and
Hinduism. The arrival of Portuguese was followed by the Dutch, the French and
finally the British.The State of Kerala was created on the 1st of November 1956.
The Keralites celebrate this day as 'Kerala piravi' meaning the 'Birth of Kerala'.
