Thunchaththu Ezhuthachan


Thunchaththu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan was a Malayalam devotional poet, translator and linguist from Kerala, south India. He has been called the "Father of Modern Malayalam", or, alternatively, the "Father of Malayalam Literature", or the "Primal Poet in Malayalam". He was one of pioneers of a major shift in Kerala literary production. The number and circulation of his texts far outdo that of any other poet of premodern Kerala.
Ezhuthachan was born in the Thunchaththu home near present-day Ponnani, northern Kerala, in a traditional Hindu family of the Sudra caste. Little is known with certainty about his life. His success even in his own lifetime seems to have been great. Later he or his followers shifted to a village near Palakkad, further east into the Kerala, and established a hermitage and a Brahmin residence there. This institution probably housed both Brahmin and Sudra literary students. The school eventually pioneered the "Ezhuthachan movement", associated with the concept of popular Bhakti, in Kerala. Ezhuthachan's ideas have been variously linked by scholars either with philosopher Ramananda, who founded the Ramanandi sect, or Ramanuja, the single most influential thinker of devotional Hinduism.
For centuries before Ezhuthachan, Kerala people had been producing literary texts in Malayalam and in the Arya Scripts. However, he is celebrated as the "Primal Poet" or the "Father of Malayalam Proper" for his Malayalam recomposition of the Sanskrit epic Ramayana. This work rapidly circulated around Kerala middle-caste homes as a popular devotional text. It can be said that Ezhuthachan brought the then unknown Sanskrit-Puranic literature to the level of common understanding. His other major contribution has been in mainstreaming the current Malayalam alphabet.

Historical Ezhuthachan

There is no firm historical evidence for Ezhuthachan the author.
Main historical sources of Ezhuthachan and his life are
Ezhuthachan is generally believed to have lived around the sixteenth or seventeenth century.

Biography

Little is known with certainty about Ezhuthachan's life.
Ezhuthachan was born at Trikkandiyoor, near the modern-day town of Tirur, in northern Kerala. It is known that his lineage home was "Thunchaththu". His parents' names are not known, and there are disputes about his given name as well. The name Ezhuthachan, meaning Father of Letters, was a generic title for any village schoolteacher in premodern Kerala.
As a boy he seems to have exihibited uncommon intelligence. He was probably educated by his elder brother. After his early education he is believed to have travelled in the other parts of India and learned Sanskrit and some other Dravidian languages.
It is believed that Ezhuthachan on his way back from Tamil Nadu had a stopover at Chittur and in due course settled down at Thekke Gramam near Anikkode with his disciples. A hermitage and a Brahmin residence, at a site now known as the Chittur Gurumadhom, were established by him. The institution was flanked by temples of gods Rama and Siva. It probably housed both Brahmin and Sudra students. The street still has an array of agraharas.
Ezhuthachan was eventually associated with an institutional line of masters. The locale and lineage of these masters can be historically verified. He and his disciples seem to have ignited a whole new literary movement in Kerala. Its style and content nearly overshadowed the earlier Sanskrit poetry. He is believed to have attained samadhi at the Gurumadhom at Chittur. A verse chanted by the ascetics of the mathom during their daily prayers makes a reference to the following line of masters.
Ezhuthachan—although he lived around sixteenth century AD—has been called the "father of modern Malayalam", or, alternatively, the "father of Malayalam literature". His success even in his own lifetime seems to have been great.' No original compositions are attributed to Ezhuthachan.' His main works generally are based on Sanskrit compositions.' Linguists are unanimous in assigning Adhyatma Ramayanam and Sri Mahabharatam to Ezhuthachan. The Ramayanam—the most popular work—depicts the hero, Rama, an ideal figure both as man and god.' Sri Mahabharatam omits all episodes not strictly relevant to the story of the Pandavas and is generally considered as a work of greater literary merit than the Ramayanam. However, there is no unanimity among the scholars about the authorship of certain other works generally ascribed to him. These include the Brahmanda Puranam, Uttara Ramayanam, Devi Mahatmyam, and Harinama Kirtanam.
Ezhuthachan's other major contribution has been in mainstreaming Malayalam alphabet as the replacement for the old Vattezhuthu. The Arya script permitted the free use of Sanskrit in Malayalam writing.

Ezhuthachan movement

Ezhuthachan introduced a movement of domesticised religious textuality in Kerala. He was a significant voice of the Bhakti movement in south India. The Bhakti movement was a collective opposition to Brahmanical excesses and the moral and political decadence of the then-Kerala society. The shift of literary production in Kerala to a largely Sanskritic, puranic religiosity is attributed this movement. Ezhuthachan's school promoted popular and non-Brahman literary production. His works were also a general opposition against the moral decadence of the 16th century Kerala society.

''Adhyatma Ramayanam''

Adhyatma Ramayanam, written in the parrot-song style, is Ezhuthachan's principle work. It is not an adaptation from the original Valmiki Ramayana, but a translation of the Adhyatma Ramayana, a Sanskrit text connected with the Ramanandi sect. The poem is composed in nearly-modern Malayalam. It depicts Rama, the prince of Ayodhya, as an ideal figure.
The text spread with phenomenal popularity throughout Kerala middle-caste homes as a material for domestic devotional recitation. Throughout the Malayalam month of Karkkidakam, Adhyatma Ramayanam is still recited—as a devotional practice—in the middle-caste homes of Kerala.
According to critic K. Ayyappa Panicker, those who see Adhyatma Ramayanam merely as a devotional work "belittle" Ezhuthachan.

Style

Parrot-song style

Lexicon and grammar
Thunchaththu Ezhuthachan's caste is arguable. It is only known that he belonged to a lower caste.
The two most popular opinions are Ezhuthachan and Nair, with Kaniyar being less popular.

Ezhuthachan

is a socio-economic caste of village school teachers.
According to Arthur C. Burnell, Thunchaththu Ezhuthachan belonged to the Ezhuthachan or "school master" caste. Writer K. Balakrishna Kurup also reports the same, in his book :ml:വിശ്വാസത്തിന്റെ കാണാപ്പുറങ്ങൾ|Viswasathinte Kanappurangal. E. P. Bhaskara Guptan, a writer and independent researcher of local history from Kadampazhipuram; supports Kurup's conclusion. Historian :ml:വേലായുധൻ പണിക്കശ്ശേരി|Velayudhan Panikkassery expresses the same opinion.

Nair

The Chakkala Nair caste had the rights to enter brahmanical temples and to participate in worships.
The Malayalam poet and historian Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer agree that Ezhuthachan belonged to this caste and conclude that he could be Vattekattu Nair because he visited brahmanical temples and engaged in worship, which is not allowed for the Ezuthacan caste.
William Logan, officer of the Madras Civil Service under the English India Company Government, expresses a similar opinion in his Malabar Manual and states that Thunchaththu Ezuthachan was "a man of Sudra caste". Kottarathil Shankunni wrote in his Aithihyamala that the term Ezhuthachan is nothing but a title taken up by school teachers belonging to several castes mainly by Nairs in Northern kerala indicating that Ezhuthachan was a Nair.

Kaniyar

Some sources consider him to be Kaniyar. This community of traditional astrologers were well versed in Sanskrit and Malayalam. During the medieval period, when non-Brahmins were not permitted to learn Sanskrit, only the Kaniyar community had been traditionally enjoying the privilege for accessing and acquiring knowledge in Sanskrit, through their hereditary system of pedagogy. They were learned people and had knowledge in astrology, mathematics, mythology and Ayurveda. They were generally assigned as preceptors of martial art and literacy.
In addition to the common title Panicker, the members of Kaniyar from the South Travancore and Malabar region were known as Aasaan, Ezhuthu Aasans, or Ezhuthachans, by virtue of their traditional avocational function as village school masters to non-Brahmin pupils.

Legacy

The parrot-song genre, pioneered by Ezhuthachan, inaugurated the production of many similar works in Malayalam.
The highest literary honour awarded by the Government of Kerala is known as the "Ezhuthachan Puraskaram". Sooranad Kunjan Pillai was the first recipient of the honour. The Malayalam University, established by Kerala Government in 2012, is named after Ezhuthachan.

Initiation to Letters

The sand from the compound where the house of Ezhuthachan stood once is considered as sacred. It is a tradition in north Kerala to practise the art of writing in the beginning on the sand with the first finger.

Monuments