Malayalam the native language of Kerala State India

 

The origin of Malayalam language can be traced back to the 11th century. Earliest archaeological records for Malayalam script dates back to AD 1065 which is a document by manian kandan and kandan kandan donating land to thiruvelunnoor temple. This document proves that Malayalam script originated in the 11th century.

In 1772 alphabetum grandonics malabaricum sive samscrudonicum was printed in Rome detailing the Malayalam alphabet by Clemens piyanious alexandrinux.

The written script has a closer resemblance to Tamil script when compared to other Indian language scripts. But the spoken language has an equal mix of Tamil and Sanskrit. It may be seen from the migration pattern of Brahmins into kerala from north India and maharajas(rulers) from tamilnadu the language had a seesaw development caught between Sanskrit and Tamil . The Christian missionaries came in the 19th century and made the first Malayalam dictionary. Printing was also introduced by them.

There was no Malayalam literature at all as any thing and every thing was written for the pleasure of maharaja or for the temple. Early writing’s in the language is a clear pointer to this. Most of the writing’s are for staging plays based on them ( eg Kathakali, koodiyattam etc) or poems in praise of Gods and maharajas.