The all-party support for changing the name Kerala to Keralam and the recent approval of the proposal by the Union government raises questions about the historicity of the term Kerala. The historical distinction between the terms is ambiguous at best. Linguistically, both Kerala and Keralam refer to a place/country. Hermann Gundert’s Malayalam Dictionary (1872) mentions both Kerala and Keralam while defining the term “keram” (coconut tree). One common definition of both terms is also “the land of coconut palms”. Gundert takes the traditional view of Keralam as the land that lies between Gokarnam and Kanyakumari and mentions the legendary text “Keralolpatti” (Origin of Kerala). The founding legend of Kerala is associated with Sage Parasurama (an incarnation of Vishnu) who killed 21 generations of Kshatriyas and hurled a blood-soaked ax into the ocean, carving out a strip of coastal land called Kerala or Keralam (according to mythology), with the aforementioned northern and southern boundaries. The early history of Kerala has attracted historical scrutiny, although its historical veracity is difficult to determine. It is likely that at least some parts of the text are latter-day and a response to European rise on the Malabar coast. The historicity of the text is less important than how it was received and what place it occupies in the historical, temporal and spatial imagination of Malays.
The entanglement of myth and legend with history is not specific to Keralolpatti or any similar legendary texts. What is important, however, are the words and terms that encapsulate the interaction of Malayalis with the history and legends of Kerala. Could it be said that the word “Keralam” has more historical and cultural substance than the term “Kerala? If so, where do we trace this historicity and substance from? Will it be another set of texts or myths or legends that some consider to be a more authentic and true representation of the region’s history and culture?
Published – 07 April 2026 08:30 IST
