Back أسطورة تشيرامان بيرومال Arabic চেরামন পেরুমল উপকথা Bengali/Bangla चेरमान् पेरुमाल की किंवदंतिया Hindi പള്ളിവാണ പെരുമാൾ Malayalam چیرمان پیرومال دی روایات PNB சேரமான் பெருமாள் தொன்மக்கதைகள் Tamil چیرمان پیرومال کی روایات Urdu
The legend of Cheraman Perumals is the medieval tradition associated with the Cheraman Perumals (Chera kings) of Kerala.[1] The sources of the legend include popular oral traditions and later literary compositions.[1] The time of origin of the legend is not known to scholars.[1] It seems the legend once had a common source well known to all Kerala people.[2]
The historic Cheraman Perumal dynasty,[3] also known as the Perumal dynasty of Kerala,[3] or Chera Perumals of Makotai,[4] (fl. c. 844 CE–1124 CE) were a ruling dynasty in present-day Kerala, South India.[5] Mahodayapuram, or Makotai, the seat of the Cheraman Perumals, is identified with present-day Kodungallur in central Kerala.[6][7][8] Initially, their influence appeared limited to the area between present-day Quilon and Quilandy, but later extended to up to Chandragiri river in north Kerala and to Nagercoil in the south.
The validity of the legend as a source of history once generated much debate among south Indian historians. The legend is now considered as "an expression of the historical consciousness rather than as a source of history".[9] The legend of the Cheraman Perumals exercised significant political influence in Kerala over the centuries. The legend was used by Kerala chiefdoms for the legitimation of their rule (most of the major chiefly houses in medieval Kerala traced its origin back to the legendary allocation by the Perumal).[10][11]
Popular written versions of the legend are infamous for inconsistencies and contradictions (in names of the kings and dates).[1] Even the dates of their compositions are problematic.[12] The Cheraman Perumals mentioned in the legend can be identified with the Chera Perumal rulers of medieval Kerala (c. 8th - 12th century AD).[13]
The ghost of the [Cheraman] Perumal haunted the land [of Kerala] in many ways...Each of the large number of principalities that came into existence on the ruins of the Chera[/Perumal] kingdom claimed to be not only a splinter of the old kingdom but also deriving its authority from the donation of the last Cheraman Perumal...Many of these rulers also claimed to step into the shoes of the Perumal in claiming to be the overlord of Kerala. Thus the ruler of Venad or the Zamorin or the raja of Cochin staked this claim in various ways...
— Veluthat Kesavan (historian), History and Historiography in Constituting a Region: The Case of Kerala (2018)
- ^ a b c d Narayanan, M. G. S. Perumāḷs of Kerala. Thrissur (Kerala): CosmoBooks, 2013. 31-32.
- ^ Narayanan, M. G. S. Perumāḷs of Kerala. Thrissur (Kerala): CosmoBooks, 2013. 52-53.
- ^ a b Thapar, Romila, The Penguin History of Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300. Penguin Books, 2002. 331-32.
- ^ Noburu Karashmia (ed.), A Concise History of South India: Issues and Interpretations. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2014. 143-44.
- ^ Thapar, Romila, The Penguin History of Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300. Penguin Books, 2002. 326-27.
- ^ "Cheraman Parambu - the royal seat of the Cheraman Perumals of Chera dynasty| Historic sites at Muziris Heritage Area, Ernakulam". www.muzirisheritage.org. Retrieved 1 February 2023.
- ^ Noburu Karashmia (ed.), A Concise History of South India: Issues and Interpretations. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2014. 143-44.
- ^ Veluthat, Kesavan. 2004. 'Mahodayapuram-Kodungallur', in South-Indian Horizons, eds Jean-Luc Chevillard, Eva Wilden, and A. Murugaiyan, pp. 471–85. École Française D'Extrême-Orient.
- ^ Kesavan Veluthat, ‘The Keralolpatti as History’, in The Early Medieval in South India, New Delhi, 2009, pp. 129–46.
- ^ Noburu Karashima (ed.), A Concise History of South India: Issues and Interpretations. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2014. 146-47.
- ^ Frenz, Margret. 2003. ‘Virtual Relations, Little Kings in Malabar’, in Sharing Sovereignty. The Little Kingdom in South Asia, eds Georg Berkemer and Margret Frenz, pp. 81–91. Berlin: Zentrum Moderner Orient.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:4was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Ganesh, K. N. (2009). Historical Geography of Natu in South India with Special Reference to Kerala. Indian Historical Review, 36(1), 3–21.