Religion in Kerala is diverse. According to 2011 census of India figures, 54.73% of Kerala's population are Hindus, 26.56% are Muslims, 18.38% are Christians, and the remaining 0.33% follow other religions or have no religion.[2]
The historical legends regarding the origin of Kerala are Hindu in nature. Kerala produced several saints and movements. Adi Shankara was a religious philosopher who contributed to Hinduism and propagated the philosophy of Advaita. Hindus represent the biggest religious group in all districts except Malappuram, where they are outnumbered by Muslims.[3] Various tribal people in Kerala have retained the religious beliefs of their ancestors.[3][4] In comparison with the rest of India, Kerala experiences relatively little sectarianism.[5]
Hinduism is the most widely professed faith and the oldest religion in Kerala. According to 2011 Census of India figures, 54.7% of Kerala's residents are Hindus.[2]Hindus represent the biggest religious group in all districts except Malappuram.[3]
The legends regarding the origin of Kerala are Hindu in nature. Kerala produced several saints and movements.
Various practises of Hinduism are unique to Kerala. Worship of Shiva and Vishnu is popular in Kerala. Lord Krishna is worshipped widely in all parts of Kerala, Guruvayur being one of the most famous temples in the state. Malayali Hindus also worship Bhagavathi as a form of Shakti. Almost every village in Kerala has a Bhagavati Goddess. Hindus in Kerala also strongly believe in power of snake gods and usually have sacred snake groves known as Sarpa Kavu near to their houses.
Islam is the second-largest practiced religion in Kerala (26.56%), only surpassed by Hinduism.[7] The calculated Muslim population (Indian Census, 2011) in Kerala state is 8,873,472.[8][9]
Muslims in Kerala share a common language (Malayalam) with the Hindus and rest of the population and have a culture commonly regarded as the Malayali culture.[11]
A number of different communities, some of them having distant ethnic roots, exist as status groups in Kerala.[12]
Kerala has been a major spice exporter since 3000 BCE, according to Sumerian records and it is still referred to as the "Garden of Spices" or as the "Spice Garden of India".[13][14]: 79 Kerala's spices attracted ancient Arabs, Babylonians, Assyrians and Egyptians to the Malabar Coast in the 3rd and 2nd millennia BCE. Phoenicians established trade with Kerala during this period.[15]Arabs and Phoenicians were the first to enter Malabar Coast to trade Spices.[15] The Arabs on the coasts of Yemen, Oman, and the Persian Gulf, must have made the first long voyage to Kerala and other eastern countries.[15] They must have brought the Cinnamon of Kerala to the Middle East.[15] The Greek historian Herodotus (5th century BCE) records that in his time the cinnamon spice industry was monopolized by the Egyptians and the Phoenicians.[15]
The known earliest mention about Muslims of Kerala is in the Quilon Syrian copper plates of the 9th century CE, granted by the ruler of Kollam.[27] A number of foreign accounts have mentioned about the presence of considerable Muslim population in the Malabar Coast. Arab writers such as Al-Masudi of Baghdad (896–956 AD), Muhammad al-Idrisi (1100–1165 AD), Abulfeda (1273–1331 AD), and Al-Dimashqi (1256–1327 AD) mention the Muslim communities in Kerala.[28] Some historians assume that the Mappilas can be considered as the first native, settled Muslim community in South Asia.[21][29]Al-Biruni (973–1048 CE) appears to be the first writer to call Malabar Coast as Malabar.[30] Authors such as Ibn Khordadbeh and Al-Baladhuri mention Malabar ports in their works.[31] The Arab writers had called this place Malibar, Manibar, Mulibar, and Munibar. Malabar is reminiscent of the word Malanad which means the land of hills.[32] According to William Logan, the word Malabar comes from a combination of the Dravidian word Mala (hill) and the Persian/Arabic word Barr (country/continent).[32] The Kodungallur Mosque, has a granite foundation exhibiting 11th–12th century architectural style.[31] The Arabic inscription on a copper slab within the Madayi Mosque in Kannur records its foundation year as 1124 CE.[33][26][31]
The Muslims were a major financial power to be reckoned with in the old kingdoms of Kerala and had great political influence in the Hindu royal courts.[34][35] Travellers have recorded the considerably huge presence of Muslim merchants and settlements of sojourning traders in most of the ports of Kerala.[36] Immigration, intermarriage and missionary activity/conversion – secured by the common interest in the spice trade – helped in this development.[37][38] Muslim merchant magnates owning ships, spread their shipping and trading business interests across the Indian Ocean.[38][37] The Koyilandy Jumu'ah Mosque contains an Old Malayalam inscription written in a mixture of Vatteluttu and Grantha scripts which dates back to the 10th century CE.[39] It is a rare surviving document recording patronage by a Hindu king (Bhaskara Ravi) to the Muslims of Kerala.[39] A 13th century granite inscription, written in a mixture of Old Malayalam and Arabic, at Muchundi Mosque in Kozhikode mentions a donation by the king to the mosque.[40]
The Moroccan traveller Ibn Battutah (14th century) has recorded the considerably huge presence of Muslim merchants and settlements of sojourning traders in most of the ports of Kerala.[9] By the early decades of the 14th century, travellers speak of Calicut (Kozhikode) as the major port city in Kerala.[38] Some of the important administrative positions in the kingdom of Zamorin of Calicut, such as that of the port commissioner, were held by Muslims.[41] The port commissioner, the Shah Bandar, represented commercial interests of the Muslim merchants. In his account, Ibn Battutah mentions Shah Bandars in Calicut as well as Quilon (Ibrahim Shah Bandar and Muhammed Shah Bandar).[9][41] The Ali Rajas of Arakkal kingdom, based at Kannur, ruled the Lakshadweep Islands.[30]Arabs had the monopoly of trade in Malabar Coast and Indian Ocean until the PortugueseAge of Discovery.[30]
The arrival of the Portuguese traders in Malabar Coast in the late 15th century checked the then well-established and wealthy Muslim community's progress.[42] Following the discovery of sea route from Europe to Malabar in 1498, the Portuguese began to expand their territories and ruled the seas between Ormus and the Malabar Coast and south to Ceylon.[43][44] The Tuhfat Ul Mujahideen written by Zainuddin Makhdoom II (born around 1532) of Ponnani during 16th-century CE is the first-ever known book fully based on the history of Kerala, written by a Keralite. It is written in Arabic and contains pieces of information about the resistance put up by the navy of Kunjali Marakkar alongside the Zamorin of Calicut from 1498 to 1583 against Portuguese attempts to colonize Malabar coast.[45] It was first printed and published in Lisbon. A copy of this edition has been preserved in the library of Al-Azhar University, Cairo.[46][47][48]Tuhfatul Mujahideen also describes the history of MappilaMuslim community of Kerala as well as the general condition of Malabar Coast in the 16th century CE.[46] With the end of Portuguese era, Arabs lost their monopoly of trade in Malabar Coast.[30] By the mid-18th century the majority of the Muslims of Kerala became landless labourers, poor fishermen and petty traders, and the community was in "a psychological retreat".[42] The subsequent partisan rule of English East India Company authorities brought the land-less Muslim peasants of Malabar District into a condition of destitution, and this led to a series of uprisings (against the Hindu landlords and British administration). The series of violence eventually exploded as the infamous Mappila Uprising (1921–22).[42][11]
A large number of Muslims of Kerala found extensive employment in the Persian Gulf countries in the following years (c. 1970s). This widespread participation in the "Gulf Rush" produced huge economic and social benefits for the community. Great influx funds from the earnings of the employed followed. Issues such as widespread poverty, unemployment and educational backwardness began to change.[36]
Politically speaking, Muslims in Kerala have exhibited more unanimity than any other major community in modern-day Kerala.[49]
Ever since the country gained independence British rule in 1947, an overwhelming majority of Muslims at the former Malabar District (Northern Kerala) has supported the Muslim League.[49]
Christianity is followed by 18.38% of the population of Kerala.[50] The Christianity in Kerala has long traditions from first century AD many of which is similar to the Malabari Jews,[51] the latter has settled in Kerala since the King Solomon.[52] According to traditional accounts,[53] Saint Thomas the Apostle visited Muziris in Kerala in the first century around 52 AD and proselytized some of the then settled Cochin Jewish families[54][55] and some Upper castes, they became the present "Mar Thoma Suriyani Nasrani" or Saint Thomas Syrian Christians.[56][57][58][59] According to traditional accounts, on the onset of an invasion Thomas is believed to have left northwest India traveled by vessel to the Malabar Coast, possibly visiting southeast Arabia and Socotra en route, and landing at the former flourishing port of Muziris (modern-day North Paravur and Kodungalloor).[55] Evidence such as the Acts of Thomas, one of the first accounts of the life of Thomas, say he died in Northwest India in the Indo-Parthian Kingdom, at the hands of the monarch Misdaeus, thought to be Abdagases I, a viceroy of the Gondopharnes in Sistan, modern day southern Afghanistan.[60] This conclusion is supported by Ephrem the Syrian and his contemporaries, Eusebius and Origen, who testify that Thomas evangelized the Parthians.[61] Modern scholars also support this point of view, and there is no evidence suggesting Thomas was ever in Kerala, or South India in general.[62][63] According to Knanaya Christians, an endogamousethnic group found among the Saint Thomas Christian community of Kerala, their existence in Kerala is traced back to the arrival of the Syrian merchant Thomas of Cana (Knāi Thoma) who led a migration of Syriac Christians (Jewish-Christians) from Mesopotamia to India in the 4th or 9th century.[64][65][66] The Knanaya claim descent from Thomas of Cana and those who came with him. The communities arrival was recorded on the Thomas of Cana copper plates which existed in Kerala until the 17th century after which point they were taken to Portugal by the Franciscan Order.[67][68][69] Before the arrival of Europeans in Kerala there were only Marthoma Nasranis also called as Malankara Syrian Christians due to its historical, religious, and liturgical connection to Syriac Christianity. Marthoma Nasranis remained as an independent group, and they got their bishops from Church of the East until the advent of Portuguese and British colonialists. The first Roman Catholic Diocese in India was founded at Quilon in the year 1329 with the Catalan Dominican friar Jordanus Catalani as first Bishop.[70] The caste system became prevalent in Kerala later than any other parts of India after fourth and fifth century AD. The Nasranis were given special status outside the Varna system. Like Brahmins they were allowed to sit in front of Kings, ride on horse or elephants, to collect taxes. The Marthoma Nasranis back then also has the role of pollution neutralizers i.e., if a lower caste person hand over a substance to a Nasrani and if he in turn gives it to an upper caste, say for example Brahmin, then there would be no pollution for that Brahmin.[71]
The arrival of Europeans in the 15th century and discontent with Portuguese interference in religious matters fomented schism into Catholic and Orthodox communities. Further schism and rearrangements led to the formation of the other Indian Churches. Latin Catholics of Kerala has protracted over eleven centuries and the work of evangelization was revived by the western missionaries in the 13th century. Anglo-Indian Christian communities formed around this time as Europeans and natives intermarried. Protestantism took a stronghold in Kerala with missionary activity during British rule.
In 2023, the BBC reported on the Christian tradition of photographing funerals in Kerala.
[79]
Judaism
Judaism arrived in Kerala with spice traders, possibly as early as the 7th century BC.[80] There is no consensus of opinion on the date of the arrival of the first Jews in India. The tradition of the Cochin Jews maintains that after 72 AD, after the destruction of the Second Temple of Jerusalem, 10,000 Jews migrated to Kerala.[80]
The only verifiable historical evidence about the Kerala Jews goes back only to the Jewish Copper Plate Grant of Bhaskara Ravi Varman in 1000 AD.[81] This document records the royal gift of rights and privileges to the Jewish Chief of AnjuvannamJoseph Rabban. Later in the 16th century many Jews from Portugal and Spain settled in Cochin. These Jews were called white Jews as opposed to the native black Jews.
The Portuguese did not look favorably on the Jews. They destroyed the Jewish settlement in kodungallur and sacked the Jewish town in Cochin and partially destroyed the famous Cochin Synagogue in 1661. However, the Dutch were more tolerant and allowed the Jews to pursue their normal life and trade in Cochin. According to the testimony of the Dutch Jew, Moses Pereira De Paiva, in 1686 there were 10 synagogues and nearly 500 Jewish families in Cochin. Later Britishers too were tolerant. The Jews were protected. After the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, most Jews decided to emigrate to Israel. Most of the emigrants to Israel between 1948 and 1955 were from the community of black Jews and brown Jews; they are known as Cochini in Israel. Since the 1960s, only a few hundred Jews (mostly white Jews) remained in Kerala with only two synagogues open for service: the Pardesi Synagogue in Matancherry built in 1567 and the synagogue in Parur.[citation needed]
Jainism, one of the three most ancient Indian religious traditions still in existence, has very small presence (0.01%) in Kerala, in south India. According to the 2011 India Census, Kerala only has around 4500 Jains, most of them in the city of Cochin and in Wayanad district.
Medieval Jain inscriptions are mostly found on the borders of Kerala proper, such Wynad in north-east, Alathur in the Palghat Gap and Chitharal in Kanyakumari district. Epigraphical evidence suggests that the shrine at "Tirukkunavay", perhaps located near Cochin, was the major Jain temple in medieval Kerala (from c. 9th century AD). The so-called "Rules of the Tirukkunavay Temple" provided model and precedent for all other Jain temples of Kerala.[82] A number of images of Mahavira, Padmavati, and Parsvanatha have been recovered from Kerala.[82]
Some of the Jain temples in Kerala were taken over by the Hindus at a later stage. The temple images are worshiped as Hindu gods and considered as part of the Hindu pantheon. It is not uncommon for Hindus and Jains to worship their deities in the same temple.[82]
Buddhism probably flourished for 200 years (650–850) in Kerala. The Paliyam Copper Plate of the Ay King, Varaguna (885–925 AD)[83] shows that the Buddhists benefited from royal patronage in the 10th century.
There were a number of Parsi families settled in Kerala, particularly around Kozhikode and Thalassery area.
They practiced Zoroastrianism and even built the 160-year-old dadgah (fire temple) at S. M. Street, Kozhikode which is still in existence. They were mostly wealthy families who immigrated during the 18th century from Gujarat and Bombay. The community included famous families such as the Hirjis or Marshalls.[85] Some famous Malayali Parsis included the reputed Dr. Kobad Mogaseb, who was the first medical doctor from Kozhikode who graduated from London, as well as Kaikose Rudreshan who funded the Basel Evangelical Mission Parsi High School, Thalassery.[86]
Tribal and other religious faiths
Various groups classified as tribes in Kerala still dominate various remote and hilly areas of Kerala.[87] They have retained various rituals and practices of their ancestors despite influences of mainstream religions.
^Heller P (4 May 2003). "Social capital as a product of class mobilization and state intervention: Industrial workers in Kerala, India". University of California: 49–50. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
^Menon, A. Sreedhara (1982). The Legacy of Kerala (Reprinted ed.). Department of Public Relations, Government of Kerala. ISBN978-8-12643-798-6. Retrieved 16 November 2012.
^ abMiller, E. Roland. "Mappila Muslim Culture" State University of New York Press, Albany (2015); p. xi.
^ abMiller, R. E. "Mappila" in The Encyclopedia of Islam Volume VI. Leiden E. J. Brill 1988 p. 458-66 [3]
^ abcPrange, Sebastian R. Monsoon Islam: Trade and Faith on the Medieval Malabar Coast. Cambridge University Press, 2018.
^ abAiyer, K. V. Subrahmanya (ed.), South Indian Inscriptions. VIII, no. 162, Madras: Govt of India, Central Publication Branch, Calcutta, 1932. p. 69.
^M. G. S. Narayanan. "Kozhikkodinte Katha". Malayalam/Essays. Mathrubhumi Books. Second Edition (2017) ISBN978-81-8267-114-0
^ abK. V. Krishna Iyer, Zamorins of Calicut: From the earliest times to AD 1806. Calicut: Norman Printing Bureau, 1938.
^"VIII.— On Two Medieval Bronze Bowls in the British Museum. By O. M. Dalton, Esq., M.A, F.S.A"(PDF). Gondopharnes, the first of the 'Indian kings' to whom he is said to have come, is an historical ruler who represented the Parthian power in Seistan and Kandahar, the Kabul Valley and North Western India; his reign began in A.D. 19, and had not ended in A.D. 45. The identity of Misdaeus' (Mazdai), the second king visited, under whom St. Thomas suffered martyrdom, is less certain; he may possibly have been Abdagases, viceroy of Gondopharnes in Seistan. See E. J. Rapson, The Cambridge History of India, vol. i, 1922, pp. 576–80
^Cordier, Henri (1920). Marco Polo; notes and addenda to Sir Henry Yule's edition, containing the results of recent research and discovery. St. Ephraem the Syrian (born about A.D. 300, died about 378), who spent most of his life at Edessa, in Mesopotamia, states that the Apostle was martyred in ' India,' and that his relics were taken thence to Edessa. That St. Thomas evangelized the Parthians, is stated by Origen (born A.D. 185 or 186, died about 251–254). Eusebius (bishop of Caesarea Palaestinae from A.D. 315 to about 340) says the same
^Mundadan AM (1984). Volume I: From the Beginning up to the Sixteenth Century (up to 1542). History of Christianity in India. Church History Association of India. Bangalore: Theological Publications.
^ abcNarayanan, M. G. S. Political and Social Conditions of Kerala Under the Cēra Perumāḷs of Makōtai (c. AD 800 – AD 1124). Thrissur (Kerala): CosmoBooks, 2013. 340-42.
^Manoj Alagarajan (2003). "An Analysis of Fertility Differentials by Religion in Kerala State: A Test of the Interaction Hypothesis". Population Research and Policy Review. 22 (5–6). SpringerLink: 557–574. doi:10.1023/B:POPU.0000020963.63244.8c. S2CID154895913.
^ ab"Vital Statistics Reports". Government of Kerala, Vital Statistics Division Department of Economics & Statistics Thiruvananthapuram. Archived from the original on 7 June 2016. Retrieved 11 June 2023.
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