MALAYALAM
Village history
K. KUNHIKRISHNAN
PALLAVOORINTE CHARITHRASMRITHIKAL: Chellam Govindan; Pub. by Indological Trust, West Hill, Calicut-673005. Rs. 150.
THE TINY village of Pallavoor in Palakkad district has been made famous by the trinity of Chenda performers — Appu, Kunhukuttan, and Manian Marar(s). Their spell-binding performances swayed the connoisseurs and the village became renowned.
The author, who has done extensive research on the history of the whole region, covers in this book not just Pallavoor but the historical geography and etymology of the names of places of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
The origin of Pallavoor is traced to the Pallava dynasty: Pallava’s ooru (place) became ‘Pallavoor’. The famed Siva temple, which has 20-feet high wall, he says, must have been built during the 12th–13th centuries. The ascendance of Kerala’s unique percussion ensemble, Panchavadya, is linked to the temple gopuram and then to the devotee entering the temple for worship.
The chapter on the etymology of place names makes an interesting reading. Many of them had a Tamil origin and got transformed to suit changes in the social and political dynamics.
Migration of people from northern-most parts of Kerala and the contributions of the rich to the arts and culture in the region and the various forms of art are also dealt with in the book.
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