Nokku Varmam In English
Yogprasad Moneta
Thanks Sriram - Yes and no. It is pretty close to today's Kodungallur and the exact location is still shrouded in mystery and mud (after the floods of Periyar). In history Cranganore & Muziris are synonymous. I read that a place called Vanchi is the likely candidate now. As a township, one could still say Kodungallur though.
A well researched document not a mere post! I was averse to believing that Nairs could have been Pallavas. Were they fair in complexion.
Recent excavation at a place known as Pattanam near Kodungallur has yielded plenty of material to establish its links with Muzris.
Vanchi seems to be Tiruvanchikulam.
The history of northern kerala is not only that of the Nair/Nambiars and the Mapillas. It is bewidering that the majority Hindu community in northern Kerala, the Thiyyas/Ezhavas have been mostly excluded from the narratives of Malabar history. As a Thiyya history fanatic myself, I have been hunting for hints about Thiyya history, especially history of Thiyyas from erstwhile Kolathunad, from various historical books. Apart from references to Thiyyas probably originating from Sri Lanka, or Thiyyas being toddy-tappers and other oft-repeated banalities there is no real materia available for researching Thiyya history. It is sad that this aspect of our history does not attract the interest of historians, both amateur and professional. I am sure that by reconstructing history using Theyyam Thottam songs, family narratives, colonial narratives, etc, it would be possible to built a good volume of historical data relating to the Thiyyas.
Thanks Sunil, PNS. The origin of Nairs is difficult to fathom, it sometimes goes to Scythia, Nepal, Assam, Punjab, Kalinga and all kinds of places. Some say Pallavas as well, which could also be right.
That brings me to this recent comment on Thiyas. I assume it was more a request than anything to do with this article. The question as to why they do not figure in history would elicit an answer in this manner - It is possible that they did not figure in the colorful aspects of history such as wars, trade and the such and mostly remained behind scenes as a lower caste. However serious anthropological studies have been done by Thurston, N Shastri and many others on Ezhavas & Thiyas that the questioner can peruse. Unfortunately much of the colonial narratives only covered them in passing as a part of the living society, for there was nothing distinguishing done by them or recorded for posterity.
I will definitely cover this community soon in a blog, and no doubt they are an important pillar of today's Kerala even if neglected in history.
I must also add this in continuation with the above - The comment would be incomplete I did not mention the chekavars of Malabar, the Aromal chekavar and the wide coverage they have in Kerala history. Their ballads have been subjects of many a doctorate study, if the questioner wants to check around.
Hi Anonymous..
I do not refer to the EOT as a source as such, but have hyper linked the sentence related to the origin of Bodhidharma.
Mainly because I have not had a chance to read the 'Continued Biographies of Eminent Monks'
I would like to add some more points about Bodhi-dharma's popularity in Japan. As a Malayali living in Japan, I have heard from some Japanese people about Bodhi-dharma. He is the father of martial arts in China and Japan. Even kids know Bodhi-dharma. His dolls are sold in Japan.
I am sure, some Japanese scholars hint Bodhi-dharma's origin to Northern Kerala. More study has to be conducted on the similarity of temples in Kerala and Japan, how chinese fish nets came to Cochin, when Kerala differed from other parts of India in exchanging cultural traits with these East Asian nations.
Thiyaas were originally were thiraiyars of tamilnadu and Nairs were origins of tamil pallava empire. varmakalai and kalaripattu both were not same. varmakalai is bigger than karaipayatt. varmakalai derives his names from the subtitle of pallava kings. pallava kings were excellent in varmakalai and hold title as varma. kalaripayattu from the tamil word kalari(battle)+payatru(to train). bodhidharma is a 3rd prince of pallava king skandavarma pallava. bodhidharma original name is budhavarma pallava who was born in kanchipuram. kanchi is the main centre for buddhism and one of the seven mukthi stalas of hindus. many budhist temples now converted into hindu temples in kanchipuram. some of examaples were kanchi kamakshi amman temple, varadharaja perumal temple,ekamparaeshware temple and manikanteswara temple. another thing coast of kerala had linked with arab conuntries not with far east countries like malay,singapore,burma,thailand and china. there is silk path between china and kanchipuram. two chinese travellers visited kanchipuram only not kerala. in tamilnadu palli were reffered only to vannia kula khstriyars
it's a great work man . . . . . just need to know one thing . . . . some historical books say that bodhidharma had a great knowledge about medicines and he also cured the deadly disease which affected the chinese people during 6th century . . . . . and also when he was given the poisoned food . . . . he detected it and asked them why they have done this . . . the villagers told him that if they bury his body in their land their village would be disease-free . . . . . so according to their will .. . . he ate the poisoned food and was buried in the chinese mountains . . . . . . is that true ?
Unmaiyavan point is almost right... and the truth is, varmakalai has 4 main parts found by 2 main siddhas in different living years. one is Agasthiyar and the second siddha is siva vakyar.. they are collectively padu varmam, thodu varmam, thattu varmam and nokku varmam.. u can see all are tamil name.. Agasthiyar is the first founder of marma+kalai or varma kalai.. when he was staying in phothigai malai.. border of tamil nadu and kerala some kerala people died by some diseases and Agasthiyar helped them to cure and he teach some martial arts for their safety.... that was taken as kalari payat and this kalari payat is not full part of varma kalai... if u want to understand easily, the kalari has no noku varmam... but the disciple of agasthiyar, learned from him and they teach chozha king and later it went to pallava king as they were so interested to learn this. and still in kanchipuram many people knew some part of varmakalai and still they following and somebody hide too for safety... if you read chozha samrajayam old tamil book, u can understand all... friends u all need to know one truth, the name malayalam is pure tamil word and it is named by see one side malai(mountain) and another side alam(deep)...and the one more truth is, there were no name kerala, andhra and karnataka when chozha kings ruled... only one name tamilnadu... they mean south india identified in the name of tamilnadu and it was ruled by 3 kings.. chera, chozha and paniyar... the cheran ruled kerala upto coimbatore.. the chozha ruled, tanjore, andhra and karnataka.. trichy... pandiya madurai, some times trichy too by win in war... bodhi dharma is the first tamil king and he derived from chozha not like caste categories becoz that time 428-29 AD, only king and people...no castes like brahmin, vaisya, nair, nambiyar, like this and still records there to prove in indian cutural book and it is maintained by indian government says clearly no castes when these 3 kings ruled. (If u want to know still read this source: _es/h_es_goel-m_aryan_frameset.htm)...Hi Sriram... Thondi and muzuri are now in trichy... yes muzuri is now karur.... thondhi is still in the same name near trichy... karur is next to trichy....
and one more request friends... please don't say caste things... becoz bodhi dharma and many saints didnot consider the caste and they went to china apart from castes, only with humanity... Thanks
Good Work man... but a major fact is missing... There is no seperate kerala at that time. Malayalam is a derivative of THAMIZH. Cherans should be the ruler of Kerala(one of ancient thamizh regions) at the time of BODDHIDHARMA. While stating Boddhidharma as pallava, it means that he belongs to the join-hand dynasty of THE NAGAS & THE CHOLAS( Check Wikipedia for origin of Pallavas or Pallava Dynasty).No space of Cherans or Nairs in this, clearly. Dont take this as a statement of criticism. I accept that Kerala has connection to kalaripayatu and even Pallavas but linking Kang-zhi to Kochi is a bit too much.
Dont compare kalariyapattu with varmakalai. kalaripattu is a part of varmakalai. without varmakalai kalaripayattu was no more. kalaripattu is formation of two tamil words. kalari-battle and payattu-training. kanchipuram is one of the ancient cities in india and it also a budhist culture centre. Bodhidharma and Dharmapala were from kanchipuram only. Dharmapala is the principal of nalandha university. bodhidharma is third son born to pallava prince suganda or skandavarma. there are lot of scripts and evidences in kanchipuram temples and cult were proved bodhidharma belongs to kanchi. kalarapattu is not originated in kerala. at that time there was no kerala state. no caste... only four kingdoms chera,chola,pandya and pallava. dont confuse with caste and language. there was no malayalam at that time. both the three kingdom people were speaking tamil. pallavas i dont know. kalari is 1/10 part of varmakalai. varmakalai is great. person know kalari is able to fight only but knowing varmakalai you can do anything....
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