Facts about kerala

Kerala has had the distinction of being an independent geographical and politicalentity from the early days. Its unique geographical position and peculiar physical featureshave invested Kerala with a distinct individuality.The land of Kerala comprises the narrowcoastal strip bounded by the Western Ghats on the east and the Aribian Sea on the west inthe southern part of the Indian Peninsula.Paradoxical as it might seem, this geographicalposition has helped to ensure, to some extent, its political and cultural isolation from therest of the country and also facilitated its extensive and active contacts with the countriesof the outside world.A study of the geographical factor in relation to Kerala historyassumes special significance.Here we are going to know the more important physical orgeographical features of the land like mountains, rivers, backwaters, wind and climate.Weshall also try to find out the influence exerted by each of these factors on our history andculture.GEOGRAPHICAL FACTORS:The geographical factors that have influenced and moulded Kerala culture may beclassified into the following:1. Position, location and shape of the state2. Mountains, Hills and Passes.3. Rivers, backwaters and the sea.4. Climate, Fauna and Flora.1. Position, Location and Shape.Kerala is situated in the extreme south west corner of the Indian Sub- Continent.Theland of Kerala comprises the narrow coastal strip surrounded by the Western Ghats in theEast and the Arabian Sea in the West. Kerala comprises three natural divisions. They are:A.The High land – The Western Ghats constitute this regionB.The Low land – it stretches along the coastal plain in the WestC.Mid land – in between the High land and the Low land.It is rich in agricultural products.Now, let us see how this peculiar position and division influenced our History.Kerala was free from invasions, which shook North India through centuries becauseof her insular position.This enabled the growth of peculiar social institutions like theMarumakkathayam in Kerala.It was a hindrance for friendly contacts with the North.Ittook longer time for north Indian religions to penetrate in to Kerala than foreign ones.Itenabled Kerala to evolve its own styles of art, architecture and sculpture like Kathakaliand Kudiyattam.However this did not prevent intellectuals like Sankaracharya topropagate his philosophy outside Kerala.It was not a hindrance to the Chola,Vijaya Nagar,Mysore and other South Indian powers to raid the Kerala territory.It did not prevent Tamil,Kannada and Tulu languages to influence our dialect and writing languages.Schoolof Distance EducationFormation of Kerala Society and Culture Page 72. Mountains, Hills and Passes.The Sahya Mountains which form part of the Western Ghats is the main mountainrange in Kerala.It influenced our History in more ways than one.It provides the ‘body’ tothe state of Kerala.It protected the state from political invasions that hit South India till the18th century.It guards the eastern frontier.In this sense,Sahya range may be called as theGreat Sentinel of the East.It safeguarded the territorial integrity of the land.It was thesource of most of the rivers of Kerala.It provided mountain passes for traffic betweenKerala and neighbouring states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.The forest in the Ghat is asource of wealth to the state.Some of the peaks important from the political and religiouspoints of view are situated in the Western Ghats.The Anamudi peak (8841) in the Ghatrepresents the highest point in India-south of the Himalayas. The Agastyakutam, thesouthernmost peak in the Western Ghats figures in the popular legend of Agastya.The Hills are so many in Kerala.From Ezhimala in the north to Mahendragiri in theSouth, we have innumerable hills. Among the hills, mention may be made ofVavvimala,Vatamala, Puralimala, KalladiKotan, Nelliampathy, Pothundi, Anamala, Elamala,Peerumedu, Sabarimala, Ponmudi, Agastykutam and Aruvamozhi.These hills haveinfluenced our history in more ways than one.Ezhimala was the seat of a flourishing kingdom during the early centuries of theChristian era.As it is jutting in to the sea, it was a well known land mark for ancientmariners.The Puralimala was the headquarters of Pazhassi Raja for a long time and ishailed as the ‘Aravallis of Malabar’.The Brahmagiri in Wayanad is important as Thirunellitemple is located here.The Sabari hills are famous for the Sastha shrine, one of the mostimportant centers of Hindu pilgrimage in the state.The Malayattur hills is famous as acentre of Christian pilgrimage associated with St. Thomas.3. Passes/Gaps.As you know, the mountains provide a number of passes/gaps to facilitatecontacts.There are a number of mountain passes in Kerala which influence ourHistory.The Palakkad Gap is perhaps the major one with its enormous width of36KMs.Through it, the South West winds bring pleasant moist air and grateful showers tothe thirsty plains of Coimbatore.Through it, many a stream from the higher mountains findtheir way to the Arabian Sea.The gap is of great economic value to Kerala and TamilNadu.The Tamarasseri and Perambadi gaps promote contacts between Kerala andKarnataka.They have also served as routes of invasion.The Perambadi gives access toCoorg while Tamarasseri provide access from Wayanad to Mysore.The Bodinaykannurpass in the Travancore area (Central Kerala) connects Madurai with the HighRanges.Through the Kamban pass was transacted most of the trade from central KeralaSchoolof Distance EducationFormation of Kerala Society and Culture Page 8(Todupuzha).The Aryankavu pass gives easy access to Tirunelveli.The Tamils used thisroute for most of their raids and trade to South Kerala.The Arambadi pass (Aruvamozhi),though presently situated outside Kerala is crucial.Early man with his microliths enteredKerala through this gap; This route had been the highway of traffic between Kerala and itseastern neighbours. Many raids and invasions, the last being that of Chanda Saheb in 1740had taken place through the Arambadi.Numberless battles had been fought in thisregion.The Arambadi – Kottar region is rightly called the cockpit of Kerala.4. The Sea, Rivers, and Backwaters.The Arabean Sea has been a permanent geographical factor in our History.In factKerala has been the gift of the Arabean Sea.Kerala depended for its prosperity on the seaand the sea borne trade.The Jews,Christian, Muslims and Parsees came here following asea route and first landed here.The Europeans anchored at Kerala coast.The Portuguesewere the first in this endeavour followed by the Dutch.French and the English, all followeda sea route to reach Kerala and landed on the Kerala coast and built their settlementshere.The Arabian sea had been the field of activity for the Kunjalis, the Admirals of theCalicut fleet.The imperialists first set their foot here and met with their first rebuffhere.The commercial and cultural contacts that Kerala has had in the past immenselybenefited the princes and peoples of Kerala.The extensive sea coast of Kerala has provideda number of harbours both in the ancient and modern times.In ancient times we have suchports as Muziris,Tyndis,Barace and Nelcynda. In medieval times we have Kollam,Kozhikode and Kodungallur, and in modern times we have Kochi, Alapuzha andEzhimala. If Kerala was isolated from the rest of India by the mountains, she was openedto the rest of the world by the sea.