Kerala or Malealam, also written Malayarma and Malayama, from Mala, a mountain, and Alam, a dale, is a long tract of land extending from Gocurnum near Goa to Cape Comorin, and in cludes within it the British districts of South Canara and Malabar, and the Feudatory Cochin, Calicut, and Travancore under Hindu rulers, with the Muhammadan Bibi of Can anore. The country is a succession of bills and valleys. Kerala is supposed to be a dialectal change from Malikeram, cocoanut, dense forests of that palm growing in the country ; but it is also said to have been de rived from a prince of that name who is famed for wisdom, benevolence, and moderation. The total area of that united .)Ialealam or Kerala tract is 16,634 square miles, with a population of 5,490,991. The most distinctive part of the tract is Travancore, which has an area of 6730 square miles, and in 1881 a population of 2,401,158.
Languages.—From its position in the extreme south, with a seaboard the first to be touched by voyagers from the west, races are there of the most diversified origin, and the languages current are Arabic, Hebrew, English, French, Portuguese, Sanskrit, Urdu, Hindi, Mahrati, Gujerati, Sindi, Konkani, Malealam, Tulu, Tamil, Telugu, and Canarese, though Malealam and per cent. of Tamil are the tongues used by 99.2 per cent. of the population, Malealam principally to the north of Trevandrum, and Tamil south of that city. Adjoining the Malealam district on the north is the S. Canara district, in part of which, around Mangalore, the Tulu language is spoken, Canarese being the tongue in general use.
The Malealam language is spoken in the low country and along the Western Ghats, from Cape Comorin to the Chandragiri river, or more strictly, perhaps, to Nileshwar (Nileswara), where a Nair raja, conquered by Hyder Ali, formerly ruled.
The people occupying that tract are mostly settled, but it has had several dynastic races ; the Zamorin of Calicut, the Bibi of Cananore, the raja of Cochin, the raja of Travancore, and the Dutch, have all held sway there ; but the present rulers are the maharajas of Travancore and of Cochin, the Zamorin of Calicut, and the Bibi of Canan ore; and the present paramount power is the British.
Tulu, Tuju, or Tulava, a cultivated Dravidian tongue, is an idiom which holds a position midway between the Canarese and the Malealam, but more nearly resembling the Canarese. Though once generally prevalent in the district of Canara, it is now spoken only iu a small tract of country in the vicinity of Mangalore, by not more than 100,000 or 150,000 souls. It has been encroached
upon by many languages, and is likely soon to disappear. The Tulu has a strong resemblance to Malealam, though the Tuluva-speaking race are unable to understand their Malealam neighbours. The people speaking the Tulu shrink from contact with foreigners, even from people of their own caste, retreating from the great roads, cities, and bazars as eagerly as the Tamil flocks to them ; and the Tulu-speaking race are to be found isolated with their families in their high walled parambu, in parts where the lines and centres of communica tion are entirely occupied by the more enterprising Tamil people. Tulu is the original language of the Canara collectorate, but has been largely displaced by Canarese, the language of the con quering power about the 15th century. It now prevails (though not exclusively) from the north border of Malabar (Kauai), where it is much mixed with Malealam, to Udapi in the north. Manga lore, Mulki, and Udapi are the chief places where it is spoken. The Tutu people belong to the same race as the Tamil and Telugu family, now con ventionally called the Dravidian race. There is no doubt that Tulu is a dialect of the Canarese, and closely allied to the Toda, Dadaga, and Coorg dialects. There do not seem to be any dialects of Telugu. Malealain is a dialect of Tamil. By dialect is meant that these languages were, many centuries ago, the same as the Canarese and (in case of Malealam) as Tamil, but that long separa tion and different influences have caused the variations we now see. Tule, Toda, etc., are far more closely allied to Canarese, and Malealam to Tamil, than Canarese, Tamil, and Telugu are to one another. The Tulu people have no literature, except a few translations by German missionaries.
The ruling families in Travancore and Cochin claim to be of the Kshatriya race, of whom in Travancore there are fourteen clans all regarding themselves to be of the Lunar line, and of one gotram or stock, descendants from one chief. They do not therefore intermarry. Their daughters, with one exception amongst the clans, are usually married by Brahmans, and the offspring are called Samanthar or Murdhavasiktbar. The exception to this is the Koil Pandala subdivision, from which consorts arc chosen for the Ranis of Travancore.