The Nair also known as Nayar, are a group of Indian Hindu castes, described by anthropologist Kathleen Gough as "not a unitary group but a named category of castes". The Nair include several castes and many subdivisions, not all of whom historically bore the name 'Nair'. These people lived, and continue to live, in the area which is now the Indian state of Kerala. Their internal caste behaviours and systems are markedly different between the people in the northern and southern sections of the area, although there is not very much reliable information on those inhabiting the north.
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.
Cheriyan Kandi Muhammad Koya was an Indian politician who served as the 8th Chief Minister of Kerala from October to December 1979. He is more often noted for being the Minister of Education of Kerala from 1967 to 1973 and again from 1977 to 1979. After his Chief Ministership, Koya went on to become the 2nd Deputy Chief Minister of Kerala from 1981 until his death in 1983. He is the first Indian Union Muslim League member to lead a state in independent India.
Māmānkam or Māmāngam was a duodecennial medieval fair held on the bank, and on the dry river-bed, of Pērār at Tirunāvāya, southern India. The temple associated with the festival was Nava Mukunda Temple in Tirunavaya. It seems to have begun as a temple festival, analogous to the Kumbha Melas at Ujjaini, Prayaga, Haridwar and Kumbakonam.
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 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.
The Ezhavas are a community with origins in the region of India presently known as Kerala, where in the 2010s they constituted about 23% of the population and were reported to be the largest Hindu community. The Malabar Ezhava group have claimed a higher ranking in the Hindu caste system than do the others, although from the perspective of the colonial and subsequent administrations they were treated as being of similar rank.
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.
The Samoothiri was the title of the erstwhile ruler and monarch of the Kingdom of Kozhikode (Calicut) in the South Malabar region of India. Originating from the former feudal kingdom of Nediyiruppu Swaroopam, the Samoothiris and their vassal kings from Nilambur Kovilakam established Calicut as one of the most important trading ports on the southwest coast of India. At the peak of their reign, they ruled over a region extending from Kozhikode Kollam to the forested borders of Panthalayini Kollam (Koyilandy). The Samoothiris belonged to the Eradi subcaste of the Samantan community of colonial Kerala, and were originally the ruling chiefs of Eranad. The final Zamorin of Calicut committed suicide by setting fire to his palace and burning himself alive inside it, upon learning that Hyder Ali had captured neighboring country of Chirackal in Kannur.
Valanchery is a major municipal town in Malappuram district, Kerala, India. It is one of the four municipalities in Tirur Taluk, besides Tirur, Kottakkal, and Tanur. It is situated about 40 kilometres (25 mi) southeast to Karipur International Airport and 25 kilometres (16 mi) southwards to the district headquarters, and forms a part of Malappuram metropolitan area. It is also one of the major commercial towns under the Malappuram urban agglomeration. Valanchery, which was a part of the erstwhile princely state of the Valluvanad in the early medieval period, had been under the direct control of the Zamorin of Calicut following the Tirunavaya war of 14th century CE. During British Raj, Valanchery was included in the Ponnani Taluk of erstwhile Malabar District.
Kadalundi is a village in Kozhikode district, Kerala, India. It is a coastal village close to the Arabian Sea. Kadalundi is famous for its bird sanctuary, which is home to various migratory birds during certain seasons and has been recently declared as a bio-reserve. The Kadalundi-Vallikkunnu community reserve is the first community reserve in Kerala. The Kadalundi River and the Chaliyar river, two of the longest rivers of Kerala, merges with the Arabian Sea at Kadalundi. The first railway line in Kerala was laid in 1861 from Tirur to Chaliyam through Tanur, Parappanangadi, Vallikkunnu, and Kadalundi.
Mohammed Abdur Rahiman Sahib was an Indian freedom fighter, Muslim leader, scholar, and politician from Kerala. He served as president of Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee(Malabar) in 1939.
Aroli is a village of Pappinisseri Panchayat in Kannur district in the Indian state of Kerala.
Abdurrahiman Bafaqi Thangal (1905—1973) was an Indian community leader and politician from Kerala. Until his death in the early 1970s, Bafaqi Thangal remained the most prominent Muslim political leader in Kerala. He is generally credited with transforming the perception of Indian Union Muslim League inside Kerala.
Fazal Pookoya Thangal, also known as Sayyid Fadl and Fadl Pasha, was a Yemeni Islamic missionary and political activist who played a prominent role in the Mappila community of Kerala, India. He was the spiritual leader of Kerala Muslims as well as one of the pioneers of the Indian freedom movement. He belonged to a family of Sayyids who traced their lineage to Ali ibn Abi Talib through Mamburam Sayyid Alavi Mouladhavila. His father was Mamburam Sayyid Alavi Thangal, a Muslim mystic and political leader who had migrated from Hadramaut in Yemen to Malabar in 1798 CE to spread Islam. After his father's death in 1845 CE, he succeeded him as the spiritual leader of Kerala Muslims.
Kerala Nadvathul Mujahideen (KNM) is an Islamic organization in the state of Kerala founded in 1950. The organization is part of the Islamic reformist Mujahid Movement and follows the principles of Salafism. The Kerala Nadvathul Mujahideen was formed as a result of renaissance activities among Keralite Muslims led by scholars and clerics such as Sheikh Hamadani Thangal, K.M. Moulavi and Vakkom Moulavi and E. Moidu Moulavi and Ummer Moulavi. Kerala Nadvathul Mujahideen is considered as the successor of Kerala Muslim Aikya Sangam, the first Muslim organization in the state of Kerala, founded in 1924. The Mujahid movement laid the foundations of Islamic renaissance in Kerala by campaigning against corrupted practices of the Sufi orders, superstitions, false beliefs, polytheism etc, and called for the revival of true Islamic practices to the Muslim community in Kerala which had until then been severely lacking in crucial aspects of religious and socio-civic knowledge. The Mujahids consider themselves as proponents of authentic Islamic reform, pursuing a purified concept of Tawhid.
Malappuram is one of the 14 districts in the South Indian state of Kerala. The district has a unique and eventful history starting from pre-historic times. During the early medieval period, the district was the home to two of the four major kingdoms that ruled Kerala. Perumpadappu was the original hometown of the Kingdom of Cochin, which is also known as Perumbadappu Swaroopam, and Nediyiruppu was the original hometown of the Zamorin of Calicut, which is also known as Nediyiruppu Swaroopam. Besides, the original headquarters of the Palakkad Rajas were also at Athavanad in the district.
C. N. Ahmad Moulavi was an Indian writer of Malayalam literature, best known as the translator of the first complete publication of Quran in Malayalam. He was the author of a number of books on Islam and was reported to have contributed to the propagation of education among the Muslims of Malabar region. A member of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi during the period 1959–64, Moulavi was honoured by the academy with the distinguished fellowship in 1989.
The Latin Catholics of Malabar Coast, aka Latin Christians of Kerala or Malabar Latin Catholics are a multi-ethnic religious group who constitute the ecclesiastical provinces of Verapoly and Trivandrum, which follow the Roman Rite liturgical practices of the Latin Church, on the Malabar Coast, the southwestern coast of India. They are predominantly Malayali people and speak the Malayalam language, though a subgroup of Luso-Indians speaks the Cochin Portuguese Creole. They trace their origins to the evangelization of Malabar Coast by the Dominican, Franciscan, Jesuit and Carmelite missionaries, mainly French and Portuguese.
