HISTORY OF KERALA-MEDIEVAL KINGDOMS

Modern history

Formation of Kerala state

The two independent kingdoms of Travancore and Cochin joined with the Union of India after India gained independence in 1947. On 1 July 1949, the two states were merged to form Travancore-Cochin. On 1 January 1950, Travancore-Cochin was recognised as a state. The Madras Presidency was organised to form Madras State in 1947.
On 1 November 1956, the state of Kerala was formed by the States Reorganisation Act merging the Malabar district, Travancore-Cochin (excluding four southern taluks, which were merged with Tamil Nadu), and the taluk of Kasargod, South Kanara.^[81] In 1957, elections for the new Kerala Legislative Assembly were held, and a reformist, Communist-led government came to power, under E. M. S. Namboodiripad.^[81] It was the first time a Communist government was democratically elected to power anywhere in the world. It initiated pioneering land reforms, leading to lowest levels of rural poverty in India.^[82][83]

Liberation struggle

It refused to nationalize the large estates but did provide reforms to protect manual labourers and farm workers, and invited capitalists to set up industry. Much more controversial was an effort to impose state control on private schools, such as those run by the Christians and the Nairs, which enrolled 40% of the students. The Christians, the land owning communities of Nairs and Namputhiris and the Congress Party protested, with demonstrations numbering in the tens and hundreds of thousands of people. The government controlled the police, which made 150,000 arrests (often the same people arrested time and again), and used 248 lathi charges to beat back the demonstrators, killing twenty. The opposition called on Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to seize control of the state government. Nehru was reluctant but when his daughter Indira Gandhi, the national head of the Congress Party, joined in, he finally did so. New elections in 1959 cost the Communists most of their seats and Congress resumed control.

Coalition politics

Later in 1967-82 Kerala elected a series of leftist coalition governments; the most stable was that led by Achutha Menon from 1969 to 1977.^[84]
From 1967 to 1970, Kunnikkal Narayanan led a Naxalite movement in Kerala. The theoretical difference in the communist party, i.e. CPM is the part of the uprising of Naxalbari movement in Bengal which leads to the formation of CPI(ML) in India.Due to the several difference in the ideological level the CPI-ML splitted to several groups. Some are come to the democratic way and some to the extrem, anarchic way. The violence alienated public opinion.^[85]
The political alliance have strongly stabilized in such a manner that, with rare exceptions, most of the coalition partners stick their loyalty to the alliance. As a result to this, ever since 1979, the power has been clearly alternating between these two fronts without any change. Politics in Kerala is characterized by continually shifting alliances, party mergers and splits, factionalism within the coalitions and within political parties, and numerous splinter groups.^[86]
Modern politics in Kerala is dominated by two political fronts: the Communist party-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the Indian National Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) since late 1970s. These two parties have alternating in power since 1982. Most of the major political parties in Kerala, except for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), belong to one or the other of these two alliances, often shifting allegiances a number of time.^[86] According to 2011 Kerala Legislative Assembly election results, the UDF has a majority in the state assembly (72/140).

HISTORY OF KERALA-MEDIEVAL KINGDOMS

The Medieval Kingdoms


The period after the dissolution of the Second Chera Empire of the Kulasekharas witnessed the rise of several small kingdoms in Kerala. The important ones are Venad {Travancore), the Perumpadappu Swarupam (Cochin), The Nediyirippu Swarupam of the Zamorins of Calicut. The minor principalities are Desinganad, Attingal, Karunagappally, Karthikappally, Kayamkulam, Purakkad, Pantalam, Tekkumkur, Vadakkumkur, Punjar, Karappuram, Anchi Kaimals, Edappally, Parur, Alangad, Cranganore, Airur, Talappilly, Valluvanad, Palghat, Kollengode, Kavalappara, Parappanad, Kurumpranad, Kottayam, Cannanore, Nileswaram, and Kumbla.

VENAD (TRAVANCORE)

The royal house of Venad, which later came to be called Travancore, claims Rama Varna Kulasekhara as its founder and Quilon as its capital. Venad became a power in the fourteenth century under Ravi Varna Kulasekhara (1299-1314), the conqueror, who claimed lordship even over the Pandyas. He assumed the Sanskrit title sangramadhira (strong in battle). Quilon acquired great prosperity and prominence at this time that travellers like Marco Polo visited the city at the end of the thirteenth century. According to Marco Polo, "the merchants from China and from the Levant went there with their merchandise in their ships and made huge profits from the import-export business."

In the eighteenth century, Venad was blessed with two great rulers, Marthanda Varma (1729-1758) and his nephew, Kartika Tirunal Rama Varma or the Dharna Raja (1758-1798). The former annexed several neighboring states to Venad and the latter consolidated the gains by maintaining the independence of the state from the external aggressions of Hyder Ali and Tippu, the Sultans of Mysore. One of the most important acts of Marthanda Varma the Conqueror was the dedication (Trippatidanam) of the newly organized kingdom to his household deity Sri Padmanabha (Vishnu)
of Trivandrum on Wed-nesday, January 3, 1750. As Marthanda Varma is remembered for his construction of the great Sri Padmanabha Temple of Trivandrum, Dharma Raja is commemorated by the Nedumcotta of Central Kerala (the Great Mall) built to prevent the Mysorean invasion -- it was the Dutch-General D'Lannoy who supervised the construction of the Great Mall. The great poets, Kunjan Nambiar and Unnai Harrier, lived during the time of Dharma Raja. When the Raja passed away in 1798 after a long reign of forty years, he was seventy-four years old; his subjects bestowed on him the affectionate title Kizhavan Raja (the Old Man King). The following successors of Dharma Raja continued the policy of enlightened administration under the guidance of British Residents; Bala Rama Varma (1798-1810), Rami Gouri Lakshmi Bai (1810-1815), Gouri Parvati Bai (1815-1829), the scholar-composer-polyglot Svati Tirunal (1829-1847), Sri Mulam Tirunal (1885-1924), and Sri Chitra Tirunal (1931-1949).


COCHIN

Nothing much is known about the Cochin royal house (Perumpadappu Swarupam) until the arrival of the Portuguese in the fifteenth century. The Cochin ruler claims to be a descendant of the Kulasekharas. The only important ruler of Cochin was Saktan Tampuran (1790-1805) who introduced the system of central administration with the advice of the British Resident Colonel Munro.

CALICUT

The Zamorins (Samutiri) of Calicut are descendants from the Ernad Utaiyavar and are supposed to have received land and a broken sword (otimaval) from the Cheraman Perumal. The kingdom of Calicut came to be known as Nediyirippu Swarupam after the original house of the Eradis. Under the patronage of the Zamorins, Calicut became an important sea-port and trade rpnt.er from the fourteenth century. The Arabs and the Chinese were the major trading partners of Calicut. With revenues -from trade, the Zamorins embarked on the path of aggressive expansion by conquering and annexing the principalities of Beypore, Parappanad, Vettat, Valluvanad, Nilambur, Manjeri, and Malappuram. Finally, the reigning Zamorin victoriously marched into Tirunavai and assumed the role of patron (Rakshapurusha) of the Pan-Kerala Meet (Mamankam). The later history of Calicut is characterized by constant conflicts with Cochin and by interferences from foreign powers like the British. On May 21, 1800, the British, after crushing the opposition of the Zaniorins and Pazhassi Raja, annexed Malabar to the Province of Madras. During the period 1836-1856, the Malabar District had reported twenty-two bloody Muslim Mappila riots in which the poor Muslim tenants murdered many cruel Hindu Janmis (landlords) and burned Hindu temples. The riots came to an end with increasing opportuni-ties of employment for the unemployed and with land reform acts which pro-vided protection for poor tenants from unjust eviction.