| The Contribution
of Muslims to Early Malayalam Literature |
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| The Muslims of the past used to study
only the Quran. They knew how to write only Arabic just for the purpose
of reciting the Quran. But creativity needed self expression. It was this
self expression that created the special 'language form' known as Arabi
Malayalam. It followed the grammar and syntax of Malayalam. But its vocabulary
included words from Arabic, Urdu and Tamil. It was written in Arabic script,
with some new symbols to denote unfamiliar Malayalam consonants. |
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| Arabi-Malayalam works are mainly in
verse form. There are narrative poems, war poems and romantic stories in
this group. There is a rich collection of wedding songs which are beautiful
when sung. |
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| The Contributions of Christians
to Early Malayalam Literature |
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| The work of the Christian missionaries
to aid conversion, was instrumental to bring about a surge of prose works.
Of the foreign missionaries who came to Kerala, the name of Arnos Padri
deserves special mention. He reached Kerala in 1699 and was here till his
death in 1732. He was the first European to have written a Sanskrit grammar.
Another great contribution of Arnos is his poems and hymns. The story of
Virgin Mary and the life and death of Christ are his important works. The
other missionaries who left indelible marks in the history of kerala are
Paulino and Hermann Gundert (1814-1893). Paulino wrote two poetical works.
Gundert has two very important works to his credit. These are a Malayalam
Grammar (1851) and a Malayalam English Dictionary (1872). The dictionary
is still popular, and reveals the sincere and laborious field work that
he undertook to collect the words. As a result, the dictionary has a unique
place among the lexicographical works in Malayalam. |
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| Kattakkayam's (1859-1936), work was
the first full fledged literary attempt made by native Christians. His early
poems were published in a journal called Satyananda Kahalam.
He has written plays on the temptation of Christ on the story of Oliver
and Charlemagne and St. Thomas, the Apostle. His greatest work was the epic
Yesu Vijayam (Triumph of Jesus). Succeeding Kattakkayam's
epic, came K.V. Simon's Veda Vihaaram. Kandattil Verghese
Mappila, the editor of Manorama has written poems and hymns also. |
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| Regarding, contributions to prose the
name of Joseph Kariyatti is worth mentioning. His main work is a critique
of the ecclesiastic controversy of his time. The book is entitled Veda
Tarkam. Kariyatti's friend Thoma wrote a book called Vartamana-
Pustakam which is a record of their travel to Europe. |
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| George Mathan (1820-70) a Jacobite
priest was another person who contributed a lot in the form of articles
and books. He has also written a grammar. |
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