DHVANYÂLOKA LOCANA : KERALA COMMENTARIES, Vols. I and II

2015

The southwest coast of India has always been a significant site within the global network of relations through trade and exchange of ideas, commodities, technologies, skills and labour. The much longer history of colonial experience makes Kerala’s engagement with modernity polyvalent and complex. Without understanding the multiple space-times of this region, it is impossible to make sense of the complexities of Kerala modernity beyond its general description as ‘Malayalee modernity’. From the colonial pepper trade and Narayana Guru’s philosophical engagement with the question of caste, to the seemingly disparate elements that weave together an ‘eclectic past’ through the Muziris Heritage Project; from the debates on women’s sexuality around the Suryanelli rape case, to the gendered constitution of public space during the mass annual Attukal Pongala ritual; from the changes in state attitude towards providing piped water supply to how Cochin port’s inter-War history has scripted the story of urban modernity; from the shaping of the public sphere to the radical Left politics of the 1970s and the emergence of popular janapriya literature—this book analyses the ideas, spaces and practices that intricately weave the region’s experiences of modernity. Kerala Modernity emphasizes the methodological need to re-examine the idea of ‘region’ as a discursive category to explore Kerala’s regional modernity apart from Eurocentric and nation-centric frames of analyses. The interdisciplinary presentation—complete with a Dalit critique of modernity in the Foreword—will be an important contribution to literature on Kerala and the debates on alternative modernities in South Asia. It will be of interest to students and scholars of history, sociology and literary and cultural studies, as well as the interested general reader. CONTENTS List of Tables, Figures and Map FOREWORD : Gopal Guru Acknoweldgements INTRODUCTION / Situating an Unbound Region: Reflections on Kerala Modernity Satheese Chandra Bose and Shiju Sam Varughese CHAPTERS 01. The Routes of Pepper: Colonial Discourses around the Spice-trade in Malabar Vinod Kottayil Kalidasan 02. Colonial Intellectuals, Public Sphere and the Promises of Modernity: Reading Parangodeeparinayam Shiju Sam Varughese 03. (Re)construction of ‘the Social’ for Making a Modern Kerala: Reflections on Narayana Guru’s Social Philosophy Satheese Chandra Bose 04. Port Building and Urban Modernity: Cochin, 1920–45 Justin Mathew 05. At the End of the Story: Popular-Fiction, Readership and Modernity in Literary Malayalam Ancy Bay 06. Contemporaneity and the Collective: The Reportage in Amma Ariyaan Ameet Parameswaran 07. The Politics of Sexuality and Caste: Looking through Kerala’s Public Space Carmel Christy K.J. 08. Attukal Pongala: Myth and Modernity in a Ritualistic Space Darshana Sreedhar 09. The Pipe Dreams of Development: Institutionalising Drinking Water Supply in Kerala S. Mohammed Irshad 10. Archaeology and the New Imaginations of the Past: Understanding the Muziris Heritage Project Rachel A. Varghese REFERENCES NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS INDEX

The Odayis and the Mappila Khalasis of Beypore and Chaliam in Kozhikode district, Kerala, are two prominent communities who have historically been involved in the boat making practices activities related to the Uru, a traditional boat that has been used for trade and transportation for the last two thousand years. Their contributions to water-based activities have been instrumental in shaping the economies and cultures of the areas they inhabit. With the advent of modern transportation methods, the demand for traditional water transport has declined and this in turn has presented challenges for both these communities, leading to efforts to adapt to changing times. The article looks at how the Urus, indigenous to Kerala, has shaped the identity of the communities involved in the making of it. It examines how the preservation and evolution of this age-old boat making tradition has intertwined with the identity, resilience, and adaptation of these communities amidst shifting socioeconomic and technological landscapes.

International Journal of Research, 2018

Syncretism is a combination of two separate ideas that combined together as a unique discourse Cultural syncretism can be described as a kind of cultural amalgamation of two or more different cultural structures that create a new tradition, design, practice, or philosophy. An analytical approach persuaded by modern anthropologists and which has been found to be extremely widespread in the study of traditions, is to classify them into two broad categories-the Little Tradition and the Great Tradition. Little Tradition is close to primitive and will be marked by its continuity. The basic feature of Little Tradition is “nature-oriented”. The Great Tradition is more powerful intellectually and hence dominant. Great Tradition in its turn, proceeds by absorbing the good qualities of Little Tradition and places its permanent stamp of authority on the latter. [1] In other words, the Little Tradition is compelled to accept supremacy of Great Tradition. Consequently the Little Tradition slowly...

Smapratyaya, 2025

This study examines at the Thira ceremonial art form via an anthropological and museological lens, focusing on its cultural, historical, and performative significance. Thira, religious and social phenomena from Kerala's Malabar area, blends dance, music, and oral traditions. The study follows Thira's growth from tribal and temple origins to modern modifications, capturing broader socio-cultural shifts. It investigates the role of museum anthropology in documenting, preserving, and displaying Thira to ensure the survival of both tangible and intangible cultural heritage. The research uses qualitative approaches such as ethnographic fieldwork, participant observation, and interviews to investigate ceremonial symbolism, community participation, and the impact of modernisation on Thira's practice. Thira's semiotics and embodied knowledge are analysed using interdisciplinary approaches such as ethnomusicology, dance anthropology, and performance theory. Given the growing threat to this ceremonial legacy from socioeconomic shifts, cultural dilution, and dwindling practitioners, this study emphasises the critical need for rigorous recording and cultural institutional conservation initiatives. The findings emphasise the importance of comprehensive preservation measures, including physical artefacts, visual media, and oral histories, to protect Thira's spiritual and cultural core. Cultural institutions can play an important role in ensuring the continuity of Thira by connecting local traditions with global audiences, fostering cultural sustainability, and preventing the ritual from becoming a mere performance devoid of its original religious and communal significance.

2004

Vice-President, and the other Members of the Scientific Committee of CIS. Special thanks also go to Irma Piovano, President of the Editorial Board of this series, for her efficient and gracious editing and oversight. During nearly two years in India, I worked closely with M.G.S. Narayanan who introduced me to the materials used, gave generously of his time and resources, and regaled me with stories and theories to last a lifetime. His student, Kesavan Veluthat, also read much of the manuscript and has provided much needed explanations of some of the peculiarities of old Malayalam. I also wish to thank the following colleagues and friends in Kerala, who assisted this research in various ways:

ElamkulamKunjanPillai (1904-1973) -Attempted to rewrite history of Kerala on the basis of epic-graphic and literary sources-

Kerala Council for Historical Research Working Paper Series Vol.01, 02., 2021

C ritical geographies and urban studies, has recast ways of studying towns and cities. This paper is on Trivandrum, and part of ongoing work on reading the history of Kerala through a lens of its different religious groups and claimants. This is an attempt to understand the ways in which towns and cities are produced as a relationship of bodies and spaces, marking differential claims, entitlements and erasures. The paper will also unpack the paradoxical ways in which the archive of the city determines both ways in which its history may be written, while containing significant absences that limit our understanding of histories of caste, labour or gender that are critical to a study of city formation.

South Asian History and Culture , 2020

Kshetra punarudharanam (temple revival) is a phrase one often comes across today in Kerala’s public spaces. It attests to an increasing presence of spike in temple activities in Kerala. This is seemingly in sharp contrast to the powerful representation of the state as a rational, enlightened entity with a strong Left/communist tradition and a strong developmental imperative. This article argues that religion has been a significant strand in modern-day Kerala and that it has interfaced intimately with various secular progressive and developmental articulations of this region. Even when secular progressive sections mounted profound criticisms against faith and ritual, temples continuously reinvented and reshaped their relevance. In fact, this paper argues that there was a significant simultaneity in the powerful critiques of religion/religiosity on the one hand, and the various calls for kshetra punarudharanam on the other. The paper argues that, contrary to the dominant perception of its irrepressible disappearance (and thus the ‘revival’), religion continued to be both present and significant in what is constituted as the public