Malayalam literature (മലയാള സാഹിത്യം) comprises those literary texts written in Malayalam,

a South-Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala.

The earliest known extant literary work in Malayalam is Ramacharitam, an epic poem written by
Cheeraman in the late 13th or early 13th century. In the subsequent centuries, besides a
popular pattu ("song") literature, the manipravalam poetry also flourished. Manipravalam (translates
"ruby coral") style mainly consisted of poetry in an admixture of Malayalam and Sanskrit.[1] Then
came works such as champus and sandeshakavyas in which prose and poetry were interspersed.
Later, poets like Cherusseri introduced poems on devotional themes. There were also other
important works, similar to manipravalam, in Arabi Malayalam like Muhyadheen Mala. Ezhuthachan,
a strong proponent of Bhakti movement, is known as the father of Malayalam. His poems are
classified under the genre of kilippattu.[2]
Modern literary movements in Malayalam literature began in the late 19th century with the rise of the
famous Modern Triumvirate consisting of Kumaran Asan,[3] Ulloor S. Parameswara
Iyer[4] and Vallathol Narayana Menon.[5] Kumaran Asan was temperamentally a pessimist—
a disposition reinforced by his metaphysics—yet all his life was active in promoting his
downtrodden Hindu-Ezhava community. Ullor wrote in the classical tradition, on the basis of which
he appealed for universal love, while Vallathol responded to the human significance of social
progress. Contemporary Malayalam poetry records the encounter with problems of social, political,
and economic life. The tendency of the modern poetry is often regarded as toward political
radicalism.[6]

Contents
[hide]

 1Early literature
o 1.1Pattu
o 1.2Ramacharitham
o 1.3Manipravalam
o 1.4Niranam poets
o 1.5Later Champus and Krishnagatha
 2Medieval literature: 16th to 19th century
o 2.1Bhakti era
o 2.2Performance arts
o 2.3Prose literature
o 2.4Venmani school
 3Modern prose literature
 4Early prose literature
o 4.1Allegories
o 4.2Plays
o 4.3Stories
o 4.4Novels
o 4.5Apologues
 5Malayalam writers
 6See also
 7References
 8External links

Early literature[edit]
 Indian literature

 Assamese
 Bengali
 Bhojpuri
 English
 Gujarati
 Hindi
 Kannada
 Kashmiri
 Konkani
 Malayalam
 Meitei
 Marathi
 Mizo
 Nepali
 Odia
 Punjabi
 Rajasthani
 Sanskrit
 Sindhi
 Tamil
 Telugu
 Urdu

 v
 t
 e

Pattu[edit]
For the first 600 years of the Malayalam calendar, Malayalam literature remained in a preliminary
stage. During this time, Malayalam literature consisted mainly of various genres of songs (Pattu).
The most prominent among these were songs praising the goddesses of the land, ballads of brave
warriors, songs related to the work of a particular caste and songs intended just for
entertainment. Bhadrakali pattu, thottam pattu,Mappila pattu, mavaratham pattu, sasthanga pattu,
nizhalkoothu pattu, sarpa pattu, sastham pattu, thiyyattu pattu, pulluvar pattu, mannar pattu, panar
pattu, krishi pattu, thamburan pattu, pada pattu, villadichan pattu, onappattu, kummi and lullaby were
some of the major subgenres. These names were not used historically, but are used in modern
times to describe the song genres of that time.[7]
Ramacharitham[edit]
Ramacharitham is a collection of poems written at the end of the preliminary stage in Malayalam
literature's evolution. It is the oldest Malayalam book available. The collection has 1,814 poems in
it. Ramacharitham mainly consists of stories from the Yuddha Kanda of the Ramayana. It was
written by a poet with the pen name Cheeramakavi who, according to poet Ulloor S Parameswara
Iyer, was Sree Veerarama Varman, a king of Travancore from AD 1195 to 1208.[8] Other experts, like
Dr. K.M. George and P.V. Krishnan Nair, claim that the origins of the book can be found in north
Kerala. They cite the use of certain words in the book and also the fact that the manuscript of the
book was recovered from Neeleshwaram in north Kerala.[9] Some experts consider it a Tamil literary
piece. A. R. Rajaraja Varma, who heavily contributed to the development of Malayalam grammar, is
of the opinion that Malayalam originated from ancient Tamil. Ramacharitham is considered a book
written during the formative years of Malayalam. According to Rev. Dr. Hermann Gundert, who
compiled the first dictionary of the Malayalam language, Ramacharitham shows the ancient style of
the Malayalam language.[10]

Manipravalam
Main article: Manipravalam
While the Pattu school flourished among certain sections of the society, the literature of the elite was
composed in the curious mixture of Sanskrit and Malayalam which is referred to
as Manipravalam, mani meaning ruby (Malayalam) and pravalam meaning coral
(Sanskrit).[11] Lilathilakam, a work on grammar and rhetoric, written in the last quarter of the 14th
century discusses the relationship between Manipravalam and Pattu as poetic forms.[12] It lays
special emphasis on the types of words that blend harmoniously. It points out that the rules of
Sanskrit prosody should be followed in Manipravalam poetry. This particular school of poetry was
patronised by the upper classes, especially the Nambudiris. It is also to be remembered that the
composition of this dialect also reflects the way Aryan and Dravidian cultures were moving towards a
synthesis. Dramatic performances given in Koothambalams, known by the names
of Koothu and Koodiyattom, often used Sanskrit and Malayalam. In Koodiyattom, the clown
(vidooshaka) is allowed to use Malayalam while the hero recites slokas in Sanskrit. Tholan, a
legendary court poet in the period of the Kulasekhara kings, is believed to have started this practice.
The earliest of these works in the Manipravalam school is Vaisika Tantram written in the 13th
century. It contains about 200 quatrains in Sanskrit metres and is in the form of professional advice
given to a prostitute or courtesan by her mother. Each quatran is composed with care and due
weight is given to the rules of rhetoric. Several quatrains of this type are quoted in Lilathilakam by
way of illustration for the several rules of grammar and rhetoric.
The most representative of the early Manipravalam works are the tales of courtesans (Achi
Charitams) and the Message Poems (Sandesa Kavyas). Unniyachi Charitam, Unnichiruthevi
Charitam and Unniyadi Charitam are examples of the former type which is known by the
name champu. The Padya (verse) portion is in Sanskrit metres and the Gadya (prose) portion is
mostly in Dravidian metres. Authorship of Unniyachi Charitam and Unnichiruthevi Charitam is not
known and only a portion of the works is now available. Unniyadi Charitam, which also exists in a
fragmented form, is supposed to be written by Damodara Chakkiar. The Sandesa Kavyas are an
important poetic genre in Sanskrit, and on the model of Kalidasa's Meghadūta and
Lakshmidasa's Sukasandesa, a number of message poems came to be written first
in Manipravalam and later in pure Malayalam. The best-known among these sandesas is
perhaps Unnuneeli Sandesam written in the 14th century. The poem is written under the pen-name
Amruthanilakshi, and some believe that it was written in 1362 CE. The exact identity of the author
remains a mystery, but it is widely believed that one of the members of the Travancore Royal Family
wrote it.
The next work to be mentioned is Ramakathapattu, as it is popularly known, though the author calls
it Ramayanakavyam. The author is Ayyappilli Asan who lived sometime about 1400 CE at
Auvatutura near Kovalam and whom P. K. Narayana Pillai, who discovered the full text of the book in
1965, calls "the Homer of Malayalam." Ramakathapattu contains 3163 songs in 279 Vrittas or parts