Malabar Thamozhi, known to Portuguese as Malabar Tamul and as Malabar language to British was a writing scheme adopted to print books in the spoken language of early indigenous Christians in Malabar.[1]Lingua Malabar Tamul or Malayalam-Tamil was a dialect of Tamil spoken by majority of people of Kerala prior to 1820s. Malayanma was another sister language of the Dravidian Tamil language Malayalam-Tamil. Malayalam-Tamil was written with Tamil Script while Malayanma used Malayanma script both had minimum Sanskrit words compared to the present Malyalam.
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A page from Cartilha , Germano Galhadro printed in Lisbon on 11th Feb 1554 in Lingua Malabar Tamul.
Doctrina Christam written by Henrique Henriques and printed by Portuguese from Cochin in 1556 is the most famous book in this language scheme. Evolution of Malayalam Flos Sanctorum written by Henrique in 1578 was another work in Malabar language.[2] Grantha Script, being the script of savarnas with Tulunadu Bunt (community) ancestry who preferred to write with Tulu script, Malabar language gave the Portuguese a convenient way to teach local Christians about religious doctrines.
Kerala's ancient rulers such as Early Pandyan Kingdom, Ay kingdom and Chera Dynasties were ethnic Tamils who promoted Tamil Sangam Literature. Tamil was the language spoken by masses during Tamil Sangams and many of the Sangam literature in the ancient times. Ilango Adigal a prince of Chera Dynasties wrote the book Silappatikaram from his palace situated at the estuary of the river Periyar River in the 4th Century AD. Chera King Kulashekhara Alwar founder of Kulasekhara dynasty (Second Cheras) wrote Periar Thirumozhi in Tamil in 825 AD.
The decline of Later Chera Kingdom was followed by the invasion of Malik Kafur in 1310 AD. After the invasion of Malik Kafur Tamil Kingdoms of Kerala declined and many subcastes of Tulu Bunt (community) such as Samanthas, Nayara, Menava and Kurubas appeared as new rulers. The Nagas and Aryan Brahmins had migrated from Ahichatra in Uttarpradesh to Karnataka during the rule of Kadamba king Mayuravarma used Sanskrit/Prakrit in language.Nambudiris originally related to Ahichatram Brahmins who migrated to Kerala brought Tulu Script from Karnataka to Kerala. Nambudiris used Tulu Script to write Manipravalam after 14th century. However, the mass language of Kerala remained Tamil called Malayalam-Tamil which was called Lingua Malabar Tamul by Portuguese in which they printed books. Till the nineteenth century the word Malayalam meant only Malayalam-Tamil the Dravidian language of Malayalaees. The[3] composed by Graham Shaw in 1779 was in fact, a Tamil-English dictionary. The Native Malayalam-Tamil written with Tamil Script was removed by the British who in their attempt to consolidate their position started teaching the Christians of Kerala in 1815, the language of Nambudiris, the Tulu Grandha Bhasa hitherto a minority language spoken only by people of Tulunadu and Ahichatram origin. The native Dravidian Malayalam-Tamil was replaced with a Tulu Grantha Bhasa with 80% Sanskrit words written with Tulu Script. This move will make most of the Malayalees who had been using Malayalam-Tamil as illiterates and those who used Sanskrit as literates till the end of 19th century. Most of the ancient books written in Malayanma, Malayalam-Tamil were neglected by British and thus most of the ancient records written in Thaliola (Palm leaf manuscripts) written in either Vatteluttu or Tamil Script rotted and disappeared from History. As the British promoted Sanskrit education among the Christians of Kerala along with Tulu Grantha Bhasa of Nambudiris they could undercut the Nambudiri power in Kerala. British further brought Tamil and Telugu Brahmin administrators from Madras, who were well versed in Sanskrit to rule over Kerala. After the period of Monro Dewan (1820) Tulu Grantha Bhasa was called as Malaylam while Malaylam-Tamil was banned from usage.
Portuguese
The decline of Malabar Thamozhi started with the rise of Dutch as colonial power. Unlike Roman Catholics, Protestant missionaries promoted Grantha Script.The Discovery that Sanskrit as an Aryan tongue related to German prompted German and Dutch priests such as Arnos Paathiri alias Johann Ernst Hanxleden to study Tulu Grantha Bhasa in the Early 18th century.Grandha Bhasayde Vyagaranam (the Grammer of Grandha Bhasa)in 1699 AD , composed by Arnos Paathiri was the first Grammer book written in the Tulu Grantha language of Nambudiris. Another German Missionary who promoted the Aryan tongue Sanskrit based Tulu Grantha Bhasa was Hermann Gundert. The German missionaries with their ideas of Pan-Aryanism and Aryan-Supremacist principles succeeded in removing the Dravidian tongue Malayalam-Tamil by mid 19th century. CMS (Church Mission Society) at Kottayam started printing books in Grantha Malayalam when Benjamin Bailey a Anglican priest in 1821 made the first Malayalam types.[4] Grantha Malayalam gained widespread acceptance when Hermann Gundert from Germany started the first Malayalam newspaper, Rajya Samacharam in 1847 from Thalassery.[5] After the decline of East India Company following Indian Rebellion of 1857 all the Dravidian communities were allowed to study in British schools. By then these traditional Dravidian communities had no choice other than to accept Sanskrit and Tulu Grantha Bhasa as Malayalam.