There is no State which has a good and fairly distributed Brahmins as in Kerala. When it was Malabar, Travancore, and Cochin, there was high inflow of Brahmins from Tanjore and other places in search of employment, greener pastures.
It is said Parasurama, one of the avatars of Vishnu, who beheaded his mother, at the command of his father, wanted to do penance and gift some land to Brahmins. He threw his powerful axe from the Om beach in Gokarna, and as it landed at a place in the Arabian Sea, land rose from the Sea, and Keralam was born. Modern day scientific inculcated brains may laugh at Parasuram theory, but a British Engineer, Sir Robert Bristow, who made the modern Kochi Wellingdon Port, atteststo this factor in his wonderful book, "Cochin Saga". Seeing the land, and the alluvial formations, and when he was constrcuting grynores and break water so as to prevent the sea from encroaching on land,(soil ersosion) he found a strange phenomenon which he says could be, that the soil must have been lump deposits in the Sea. The same sand structure was visible many many miles away in small islets that lay in the Sea. He says in his book, there could be strong foundation to the Parasurama theory!
However, the Brahmins did not want to accept the land from Parasurama, hence, Parasurama is said to have gifted the land to fishermen. It may be a coincidence, that when the direct disciple of Jesus Christ came to Cranganore, in the I century, he accosted fishermen whom he converted into Christians.
But the Brahmin migration, and reverse migration, both has taken place in Kerala. Palaghat is concentrated with Brahmins and the Kalpathy Car festival is one of the important festivals in Kerala. Kalpathy is again a creation of Brahmin agrahara type of street houses with its queer architecture. You will find the agrahara type of common walls between houses, one flanking the other at Noorni, Kalpathy, Allampallam, Kollengode, Nemmara, Thattamangalam, pre-dominent Brahmin areas of Palaghat. The Shastha cult where Brahmins did have a severe closeness, is proved by the Shasthaprathis organized at Palaghat, Trichur, Cochin, Parur, etc. Malayattur Ramakrishnan, IAS Officer and writer, has written a beautiful book, the "Roots" wherein he talks of the Kerala culture of Tamil Brahmins. Of course, in Travancore, you can see the imprint of Tamil Brahmins across the Sri Padmanabhi Temple because of its Diwan Sir CP Ramaswamy Iyer, during whose time, there was migration of Brahmins. Chambai Vaidyanatha Bhagavattar, is one of the notable classical vidwans. Palaghat Mani Iyer, and there are many distinquished singers, who held kacharis in the nook and corner of Kerala. Sir CP is said to have patronized Classical singing in so much so, he brought Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer to be the Principal of Music College, and it is at his instance the Swati Tirunal kirtanas found its way to the mucis world.
The reverse migration of Brahmins was to Bombay in the 60s, when many of the British Companies in which many Brahmins were employed closed their establishments and left for good to England, handing over their establishments to Indians, left for Mumbai and Chembur and Matunga became citedals of the migrated Brahmins of Kerala!
The Tamil Brahmins, who came to Kerala and occupied many illustrious positions, adopted Kerala and absorbed many of the traits and traditions of the people of Kerala. The Kerala Nambooditiris are called as Kerala Brahmins and in important temples like Guruvayoor, Sabarimala etc. these Nambooditi priests perform pooja. Mappathur Narayana Bhattatiripad, evolved the Narayaneem as a tribute to Guruvayurappan, was also a Kerala Brahmin. But, in the 21 st century, the Tamil Brahmin, who has assimilated all the characters of Kerala, is also known as Kerala Brahmin. They celebrate Onam, Vishu, Karthika, and many festivals associated with Kerala. It is a good sign.Justice V R Krishna Iyer is a Tamil Brahmin, known to the international audience engaged in jurisprudence.Ullur Parameshwara Iyer was a great poet. K V Anantha Krishna Iyer was a great anthropologist. Malyattur Ramakrishnan was a great writer whose works have been made into cinema. There are many such highly placed Tamil Brahmins, who have been in the forefront contributing the richness of Kerala. They have assimilated themselves into the chitanya of Kerala.
It is said Parasurama, one of the avatars of Vishnu, who beheaded his mother, at the command of his father, wanted to do penance and gift some land to Brahmins. He threw his powerful axe from the Om beach in Gokarna, and as it landed at a place in the Arabian Sea, land rose from the Sea, and Keralam was born. Modern day scientific inculcated brains may laugh at Parasuram theory, but a British Engineer, Sir Robert Bristow, who made the modern Kochi Wellingdon Port, atteststo this factor in his wonderful book, "Cochin Saga". Seeing the land, and the alluvial formations, and when he was constrcuting grynores and break water so as to prevent the sea from encroaching on land,(soil ersosion) he found a strange phenomenon which he says could be, that the soil must have been lump deposits in the Sea. The same sand structure was visible many many miles away in small islets that lay in the Sea. He says in his book, there could be strong foundation to the Parasurama theory!
However, the Brahmins did not want to accept the land from Parasurama, hence, Parasurama is said to have gifted the land to fishermen. It may be a coincidence, that when the direct disciple of Jesus Christ came to Cranganore, in the I century, he accosted fishermen whom he converted into Christians.
But the Brahmin migration, and reverse migration, both has taken place in Kerala. Palaghat is concentrated with Brahmins and the Kalpathy Car festival is one of the important festivals in Kerala. Kalpathy is again a creation of Brahmin agrahara type of street houses with its queer architecture. You will find the agrahara type of common walls between houses, one flanking the other at Noorni, Kalpathy, Allampallam, Kollengode, Nemmara, Thattamangalam, pre-dominent Brahmin areas of Palaghat. The Shastha cult where Brahmins did have a severe closeness, is proved by the Shasthaprathis organized at Palaghat, Trichur, Cochin, Parur, etc. Malayattur Ramakrishnan, IAS Officer and writer, has written a beautiful book, the "Roots" wherein he talks of the Kerala culture of Tamil Brahmins. Of course, in Travancore, you can see the imprint of Tamil Brahmins across the Sri Padmanabhi Temple because of its Diwan Sir CP Ramaswamy Iyer, during whose time, there was migration of Brahmins. Chambai Vaidyanatha Bhagavattar, is one of the notable classical vidwans. Palaghat Mani Iyer, and there are many distinquished singers, who held kacharis in the nook and corner of Kerala. Sir CP is said to have patronized Classical singing in so much so, he brought Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer to be the Principal of Music College, and it is at his instance the Swati Tirunal kirtanas found its way to the mucis world.
The reverse migration of Brahmins was to Bombay in the 60s, when many of the British Companies in which many Brahmins were employed closed their establishments and left for good to England, handing over their establishments to Indians, left for Mumbai and Chembur and Matunga became citedals of the migrated Brahmins of Kerala!
The Tamil Brahmins, who came to Kerala and occupied many illustrious positions, adopted Kerala and absorbed many of the traits and traditions of the people of Kerala. The Kerala Nambooditiris are called as Kerala Brahmins and in important temples like Guruvayoor, Sabarimala etc. these Nambooditi priests perform pooja. Mappathur Narayana Bhattatiripad, evolved the Narayaneem as a tribute to Guruvayurappan, was also a Kerala Brahmin. But, in the 21 st century, the Tamil Brahmin, who has assimilated all the characters of Kerala, is also known as Kerala Brahmin. They celebrate Onam, Vishu, Karthika, and many festivals associated with Kerala. It is a good sign.Justice V R Krishna Iyer is a Tamil Brahmin, known to the international audience engaged in jurisprudence.Ullur Parameshwara Iyer was a great poet. K V Anantha Krishna Iyer was a great anthropologist. Malyattur Ramakrishnan was a great writer whose works have been made into cinema. There are many such highly placed Tamil Brahmins, who have been in the forefront contributing the richness of Kerala. They have assimilated themselves into the chitanya of Kerala.
