Malayalam is a classical language spoken in India. It is the official language of Kerala and is used predominantly in Kerala, Lakshadweep and Mahe (a part of Puducherry union territory). The land of Kerala is so beautiful and so is the language. The charm of Malayalam is famous all over the world. It belongs to the Dravidian family of languages and has got a legacy of centuries. Malayalam has got its own scrip and the word ‘Malayalam’ is written as ‘മലയാളം’. It is said that Malayalam language was originated in 6th century from the Old Tamil language. Ezhuthachan is known as the father of Malayalam. The language has observed many changes and influences from other languages including Tamil, Hindi and English and presently about 35 million people are speaking this language. Along with Tamil, Kannada and Telugu, Malayalam is declared as the fourth classical language in south India by the Union cabinet. After this the importance of Malayalam is enhanced in the global level. The richness of Kerala culture and Malayalam is already famous and this title of classical language will call up more attention of the world to this small state of India.
Malayalam language has a total of 53 characters. The language has got various regional and communal dialects among the local people. Even if the land of Kerala is small and the number of people speaking Malayalam is limited, the growth of literature in Malayalam finds no barriers. A mammoth collection of books are published in Malayalam. They consist of novels, poems, dramas, scripts and biographies etc. Hundreds of daily papers and even more periodicals are being published in Malayalam. You can speak people speaking Malayalam in all corners of the world. This is due to the interest of people in Kerala to migrate to other countries in search of job. This in fact influenced some foreign universities to teach Malayalam language.
Many of the Malayalam books are translated to foreign languages. MT Vasudevan Nair, Thakazhi, Basheer, Kamala Das, M Mukundan etc. are famous Malayalam writers. The poetry in Malayalam is also rich and famous. Kumaranashan, Ulloor, Vallathol, Changambuzha, G Shankarakuruppu, ONV and Balamaniamma are some of the famous poets. Drama writers and artists including Thoppil Bhasi and NN Pillai have created revolutions in Kerala stages. Malayalam films are being watched worldwide. Adoor Gopalakrishnan, G Aravindan, John Abraham, Shyamaprasad and Priyadarshan are some of the famous film directors. Script writers and lyrists including Padmarajan, Lohithadas, P Bhaskaran and Vayalar etc. are a real fascination for everybody. Many Keralites including KR Narayanan, Arundhathi Roy, Mohanlal, Mammootty, Shobhana etc. are world famous personalities. The most read Malayalam books include Chemmeen by Thakazhi, Oru Sangeerthanam Pole by Perumbadavam, Aadujeevithan by Benyamin etc.
Jyothis MP