Malayalam is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was designated a "Classical Language of India" in 2013. Malayalam has official language status in Kerala, Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé), and is also the primary spoken language of Lakshadweep and is spoken by 34 million people in India. Malayalam is also spoken by linguistic minorities in the neighbouring states; with a significant number of speakers in the Kodagu and Dakshina Kannada districts of Karnataka, and Kanyakumari, Coimbatore and Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu. It is also spoken by the Malayali Diaspora worldwide, especially in the Persian Gulf countries, due to the large populations of Malayali expatriates there. They are a significant population in each city in India including Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi, Kolkata, Pune etc. Malayalam is closely related to the Tamil language.
Malayalam, the lingua franca of the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puduchery, is one of the six classical languages of India. Malayalam literature comprises those literary texts written in Malayalam, a South-Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala. The first travelogue in any Indian language is the Malayalam Varthamanappusthakam, written by Paremmakkal Thoma Kathanar in 1785. Malayalam literature has been presented with 6 Jnanapith awards, the second-most for any Dravidian language and the third-highest for any Indian language.
Kanara or Canara, also known as Karavali is the historically significant stretch of land situated by the southwestern coast of India, alongside the Arabian Sea in the present-day Indian state of Karnataka. The subregion comprises three civil districts, namely: Uttara Kannada, Udupi, and Dakshina Kannada. Kassergode was included prior to the States Reorganisation Act.
The Malayali people are a Dravidian ethnolinguistic group originating from the present-day state of Kerala in India, occupying its southwestern Malabar coast. They form the majority of the population in Kerala and Lakshadweep. They are predominantly native speakers of the Malayalam language, one of the six classical languages of India. The state of Kerala was created in 1956 through the States Reorganisation Act. Prior to that, since the 1800s existed the Kingdom of Cochin, the Kingdom of Travancore, Malabar District, and South Canara of the British India. The Malabar District was annexed by the British through the Third Mysore War (1790–92) from Tipu Sultan. Before that, the Malabar District was under various kingdoms including the Zamorins of Calicut, Kingdom of Tanur, Arakkal kingdom, Kolathunadu, Valluvanad, and Palakkad Rajas.
Mappila Muslim, in general, is a member of the Muslim community of same name found predominantly in Kerala and Lakshadweep Islands, in southern India. Muslims of Kerala make up 26.56% of the population of the state (2011), and as a religious group they are the second largest group after Hindus (54.73%). Mappilas share the common language of Malayalam with the other religious communities of Kerala.
Judeo-Malayalam is the traditional language of the Cochin Jews, from Kerala, in southern India, spoken today by a few dozens of people in Israel and by probably fewer than 25 in India.
Ponnani is a municipality in Ponnani Taluk, Malappuram District, in the state of Kerala, India. It serves as the administrative center of the Taluk and Block Panchayat of the same name. It is situated at the estuary of Bharatappuzha, on its southern bank, and is bounded by the Arabian Sea on the west and a series of brackish lagoons in the south.
The culture of Kerala has developed over the past millennia, influences from other parts of India and abroad. It is defined by its antiquity and the organic continuity sustained by the Malayali people. Modern Kerala society took shape owing to migrations from different parts of India and abroad throughout Classical Antiquity.
Mappila songs are a folklore Muslim song genre rendered to lyrics, within a melodic framework (Ishal), in Arabi Malayalam by the Mappilas of the Malabar region in Kerala, India. Mappila songs have a distinct cultural identity, while at the same time remain closely linked to the cultural practices of Kerala.
The Beary are a community concentrated along the southwest coast of India, mostly in the Mangalore district of the south Indian state of Karnataka.
The Marakkars are a South Asian Muslim community found in parts of the Indian states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Sri Lanka. The Marakkars speak Malayalam in Kerala and Tamil in Tamil Nadu and both Tamil and Sinhala in Sri Lanka.
Islam arrived in Kerala, the Malayalam-speaking region in the south-western tip of India, through Middle Eastern merchants. The Indian coast has an ancient relation with West Asia and the Middle East, even during the pre-Islamic period.
Tuhfat al-Mujahidin fi ba‘d Akhbar al-Burtughaliyin is a historical work by Zainuddin Makhdoom II on the struggle between the Mappila Muslims of Malabar and South Canara and Portuguese colonial forces in the 16th century. It is the first historical work of Kerala to be authored by a keralite. The book describes the resistance put up by the navy of Kunjali Marakkar alongside the Zamorin of Calicut from 1498 to 1583 against Portuguese attempts to colonize the Malabar coast. Along with chronological events of the era, the book also provides an analysis of the events, as well as the lifestyle, customs and family structure of the people of the time.
Arabi Malayalam script, also known as Ponnani script, is a writing system — a variant form of the Arabic script with special orthographic features — for writing Arabi Malayalam, a Dravidian language in southern India. Though the script originated and developed in Kerala, today it is predominantly used in Malaysia and Singapore by the migrant Muslim community.
Vakkom Mohammed Abdul Khader Moulavi, popularly known as Vakkom Moulavi was a social reformer, teacher, prolific writer, Muslim scholar, journalist, freedom fighter and newspaper proprietor in Travancore, a princely state of the present day Kerala, India. He was the founder and publisher of the newspaper Swadeshabhimani which was banned and confiscated by the Government of Travancore in 1910 due to its criticisms against the government and the Diwan of Travancore, P. Rajagopalachari. He was an avid reader of Rashid Rida’s Islamic magazine, Al-Manar. Vakkom Moulavi is known as the father of Islamic renaissance in Kerala.
Karnataka is a state in the southern part of India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act. Karnataka is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, Goa to the north-west, Maharashtra to the north, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to the east, Tamil Nadu to the south-east, and Kerala to the south-west. The state covers an area of 74,122 sq mi (191,976 km2), or 5.83% of the total geographical area of India. It comprises 30 districts. Kannada is the official language of Karnataka and as per the 2011 census is the mother tongue of 66.5% of the population. Various ethnic groups with origins in other parts of India have unique customs and use languages at home other than Kannada, adding to the cultural diversity of the state. Significant linguistic minorities in the state in 2011 included speakers of Urdu (10.8%), Telugu (5.8%), Tamil (3.5%), Marathi (3.4%), Hindi (3.2%), Tulu (2.6%), Konkani (1.3%) and Malayalam (1.3%).
Mappila are a Muslim community in Kerala, India
Beary or Byari is a Dravidian language spoken by the Bearys who are part of the Muslim community in Tulu Nadu region of Southern Karnataka and Northern Kerala. The community is often recognized as Bearys or Beary Muslims. Beary language is made of Tulu phonology and grammar with Malayalam idioms. Due to the trading role of the community, the language acquired loan words from other languages of Tulu, Malayalam, Kannada and also from Perso-Arabic sources.
Kaathib Thayyil Mohammed Kutty Musliyar, popularly known as K. M. Moulavi or K. M. Maulavi, was an Indian Wahabi Leador. He was a leader of the Muslim League and Islahi Movement from Malabar district. He was a religious scholar who promoted modern education, the Malayalam language, and Muslim women's education. He worked to uplift the Mappila community after the Malabar rebellion.
