What strikes a casual visitor is that, while people in the rest of India live in clusters of dwellings called villages, people here live in individual houses, surrounded by a patch of land, fenced off with bamboo or palm leaf railings.Until recently, there were no merchants or cobblers!People wore a simple white piece of cloth called mundu. Women had no blouse even in my childhood! Of course , footwear was unknown.
Food consisted of rice and vegetables cooked in water, without dhal.
Long ago, India was ruled by kings.But, Keralam was divided into sixty four gramam, each a village republic, ruled by local brahmans known as namboodiris, extending from Kasargod to Kanyakummari! The headquarter of each village (gramam) was a temple.
There was nothing we call a state.Peruvanam, Sukapuram, Panniyur etc. are some of these villages.
Namboodiries developed astronomy and medicine.Today, Kottakal Aryavaidyasala has great reputation outside Keralam too.Literary and cultural activities developed simultaneously.Among nairs and namboodiries (except the eldest in the latter), there was no marriage ceremony.Just a liason called sambandham, which can commence and end at any time, was the order of the day! As it was difficult to identify the father, property was bequeathed from mother to children- a system termed marumakathayam.
Namboodiries are notoriously divided and quarrels among various villages became so unmanageable that a king (Cheraman Perumal) was invited to rule God’s own country!
Food consisted of rice and vegetables cooked in water, without dhal.
Long ago, India was ruled by kings.But, Keralam was divided into sixty four gramam, each a village republic, ruled by local brahmans known as namboodiris, extending from Kasargod to Kanyakummari! The headquarter of each village (gramam) was a temple.
There was nothing we call a state.Peruvanam, Sukapuram, Panniyur etc. are some of these villages.
Namboodiries developed astronomy and medicine.Today, Kottakal Aryavaidyasala has great reputation outside Keralam too.Literary and cultural activities developed simultaneously.Among nairs and namboodiries (except the eldest in the latter), there was no marriage ceremony.Just a liason called sambandham, which can commence and end at any time, was the order of the day! As it was difficult to identify the father, property was bequeathed from mother to children- a system termed marumakathayam.
Namboodiries are notoriously divided and quarrels among various villages became so unmanageable that a king (Cheraman Perumal) was invited to rule God’s own country!
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