KERALA

constituent state of India, located on the Malabar Coast on the southwestern side of the Indian peninsula. It is bounded by the Indian state of Karnataka to the north, the state of Tamil Nadu to the east, and the Arabian Sea to the west. Its capital is Trivandrum. The first mention of Kerala occurs in a rock inscription dating to the reign of Asoka, emperor of India in the 3rd century BC; the area was at that time an independent Dravidian kingdom known as Keralaputra. Indo-European migrants introduced Hinduism into Kerala during this period. Arab traders brought Islam to the area in the 7th and 8th centuries AD. The regional Malayalam language attained its distinct identity during the Kulasekhara dynasty (9th12th century). Following the dynastic period, Kerala was for a time a conglomeration of warring chieftaincies. With the arrival of the Portuguese near Calicut (Kozhikode) in 1498, the region became the first in India to experience European intervention. The Dutch ousted the Portuguese in the 17th century, and their expansionist designs were in turn ended in 1741 by Maharaja Marthanda Varma of the princely state of Travancore. In the 1790s Travancore and adjacent Cochin became protected states under the British Madras Presidency. After India achieved independence in 1947, the area was designated Travancore-Cochin state. In 1956, when its boundaries were redrawn to include most speakers of Malayalam, the state acquired its present name. From the eastern mountains of Kerala (the southernmost portion of the Western Ghats), the terrain drops westward to a low-lying coastal plain that has watery tracts (backwaters) and one of the largest coconut palm forests in the world. Among the rivers that flow westward to the Arabian Sea, the most important are the Bharatapuzha, Chalakudi, Periyar, and Pamba. The climate is equable and varies little from season to season. The temperature normally ranges between 80 and 90 F (27 and 32 C) in the plains but drops to about 70 F (21 C) in the highlands. Kerala is strongly buffeted by both the southwest and northeast monsoons. Seasonal rainfall in many parts of the state exceeds 118 inches (3,000 mm). Kerala is the most densely populated state in India. Although it occupies just 1 percent of India's land area, Kerala supports almost 4 percent of the nation's population. Kerala also has considerable ethnic diversity. The Malayali majority belong to the Dravidian group (local race) of early Indian peoples. There is a small population of descendants of Indo-European migrants from the north. Certain hill tribes exhibit affinities with the Negrito peoples of Southeast Asia. Most Keralans are Hindus, but there are also large Christian and Isl amic, and lesser Jain and Jewish, minorities. The official language of Kerala is Malayalam. Agriculture is the state's main economic activity, and the majority of the population has been largely unaffected by industrialization. Plantations of cardamom, cashew nut, coconuts, coffee, ginger, pepper, rubber, and tea account for 40 percent of the total land under cultivation and earn foreign exchange. This concentration of commercial production, however, has resulted in a shortage of food for local consumption, and so some food has to be imported. Commercial poultry farming is well developed, and Kerala exports eggs. The state also accounts for a major share of India's fish production. The forests yield such valuable woods as ebony, rosewood, and teak, as well as industrial raw materials, such as bamboo (for the rayon industry), wood pulp, charcoal, gums, and resins. Cottage industriesfor example, the processing of coconut fibre and cashews or weavingemploy about three-fifths of Kerala's industrial workers. Most of those employed by larger industrial enterprises are engaged in food and textile processing. Kerala is involved in the major industrial production of chemicals, fertilizers, aluminum and titanium metals, electrical equipment, ships, plywood, and synthetic fibres. Three major portsCochin-Ernakulam, Alleppey, and Calicuthandle both coastal and foreign traffic. Trivandrum has an international airport, and there are domestic airports at Calicut and Cochin. Educationally, Kerala is India's most advanced state, with a literacy rate of about 80 percent. Women enjoy high social status and participate in all walks of life. Kerala has numerous polytechnical and industrial training institutes, arts and sciences colleges, and professional colleges and universities. One aspect of the state's rich cultural heritage is manifest in its varieties of religious architecture: ancient Hindu temples with copper-clad roofs, later Islamic mosques with Malabar gables, and colonial Portuguese Baroque churches. Splendid paintings, especially murals, exhibit distinct local traditions and styles. The unusual variety of indoor and outdoor lighting devices employed in Kerala has earned the state the sobriquet Land of Lamps. Kathakali, the classical dance form of the area, is being preserved. Area 15,005 square miles (38,863 square km). Pop. (1991 prelim.) 29,032,828. state of India. It has an area of 15,005 square miles (38,863 square kilometres), only about 1 percent of the total area of the country. The state stretches for 360 miles (580 kilometres) along the Malabar Coast on the southwestern side of the Indian peninsula; its width varies from 20 to 75 miles. It is bordered by the states of Karnataka (formerly Mysore) to the north and Tamil Nadu to the east and by the Arabian Sea to the west. The capital is Trivandrum. Isolated from the Indian interior by the mountainous belt of the Western Ghats, but possessing a long coastline that opens it to foreign influences, Kerala has evolved a unique culture. It is a highly politicized region, but it has a long tradition of religious amity. It is an educationally advanced state with its own language, Malayalam, and it has the highest rate of literacy among Indian states. Owing to the former matrilineal system, women in Kerala enjoy a high social status. Some of India's most isolated tribes persist in Kerala's wilderness areas. Additional reading K.V. Joseph, Migration and Economic Development of Kerala (1988), discusses recent economic developments. K.S.S. Nair, R. Ghanaharan, and S. Kedharnath, Ecodevelopment of Western Ghats (1986), presents seminar papers on ecological concerns. Roland E. Miller, Mappila Muslims of Kerala, 2nd rev. ed. (1992), focuses on this Islamic community. Stella Kramrisch, J.H. Cousins, and R. Vasudeva Poduval, The Arts and Crafts of Kerala (1970), is fully illustrated. Works dealing with history are A. Sreedhara Menon, A Survey of Kerala History (1967), a succinct treatment; William Logan, Malabar, 2 vol. in 3 (187987, reissued 1951), an enduring classic; K.K.N. Kurup, The Ali Rajas of Cannanore (1975), an indispensable source of regional history; and Georges Kristoffel Lieten, The First Communist Ministry in Kerala, 19579 (1982), covering a remarkable period. William A. Noble History Kerala is first mentioned (as Keralaputra) in a 3rd-century-BC rock inscription left by the Mauryan emperor Asoka. In the last centuries BC this region became famous among the Greeks and Romans for its spices (especially pepper). During the first five centuries AD, the region was a part of Tamilakam and thus was sometimes partially controlled by the eastern Pandya and Cola (Chola) dynasties, as well as by the Ceras (Cheras). In the 1st century AD Jewish immigrants arrived, and Syrian Orthodox Christians believe that St. Thomas the Apostle visited Kerala in the same century. Much of Kerala's history from the 6th to 8th century AD is obscure, but Arab traders introduced Islam later in the period. Under the Kulasekhara dynasty (c. 8001102) Malayalam emerged as a distinct language, and Hinduism became prominent. The Colas often controlled Kerala during the 11th and 12th centuries. By the beginning of the 14th century, Ravi Varma Kulasekhara of Venad established a short-lived supremacy over southern India. After his death, Kerala became a conglomeration of warring chieftaincies, among whom the most important were Calicut in the north and Venad in the south. The era of foreign intervention began in 1498, when Vasco da Gama landed near Calicut. In the 16th century the Portuguese superseded the Arab traders and dominated the commerce of Malabar. Their attempt to establish sovereignty was thwarted by the zamorin (hereditary ruler) of Calicut. The Dutch ousted the Portuguese in the 17th century. Marthanda Varma ascended the Venad throne in 1729 and crushed Dutch expansionist designs at the Battle of Kolachel 12 years later. Marthanda Varma then adopted a European mode of martial discipline and expanded the new southern state of Travancore. His alliance in 1757 with the raja of the central state of Cochin, against the zamorin, enabled Cochin to survive. By 1806, however, Cochin and Travancore, as well as Malabar in the north, had become subject states under the British Madras Presidency. Two years after India's independence was achieved in 1947, Cochin and Travancore were united as Travancore-Cochin state. The present state of Kerala was constituted on a linguistic basis in 1956 when Malabar and the Kasargod taluka of South Kanara were added to Travancore-Cochin. The southern portion of the former Travancore-Cochin state was attached to Tamil Nadu. William A. Noble