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Mamankam festival

Māmānkam or Māmāngam was a duodecennial medieval fair held on the bank, and on the dry river-bed, of Pērār (River Nil̥a, River Ponnani, or Bhārathappuzha) at Tirunāvāya, southern India. The temple associated with the festival was Nava Mukunda Temple in Tirunavaya. It seems to have begun as a temple festival, analogous to the Kumbha Melas at Ujjaini, Prayaga, Haridwar and Kumbakonam.[1]

Māmānkam
മാമാങ്കം
Tirunavaya Temple
GenreTrade fair religious festival
Frequency12 years
Location(s)Tirunāvāya (present-day Kerala)
CountryIndia

Tirunāvāya, is known for its ancient Hindu temples. The festival was most flamboyantly celebrated under the auspices and at the expenses of the Hindu chiefs of Kōzhikōde (Calicut), the Samutiris (the Zamorins). The fair was not only a religious festival for the Samutiris, but also an occasion for the display of all their pomp and power as the most powerful chiefs of Kerala. During the Mamankam it was believed that the goddess Ganga descended into the Perar and by her miraculous advent made the river as holy as the Ganges itself.[2] Much like the famous Kumbha Mēḷas, the fair is held once in every 12 years and carried huge economic, social and political significance. Apart from the brisk trading, attested by travelers from Arabia, Greece and China, various forms of martial art and intellectual contests, cultural festivals, Hindu ritual ceremonies and folk art performances were held at Tirunāvāya. Hindu pilgrims from distant places, trading groups and travelers also leave colorful accounts of Māmānkam. Duarte Barbosa mentions "scaffoldings erected in the field with silken hangings spread over it". Kozhikode Granthavari, Mamakam Kilippattu and Kandaru Menon Patappattu, along with Keralolpatti and Keralamahatmya, are the major native chronicles mentioning the Mamankam festival.[3]

The innate nature of the festival, dateable at least to the era before the Cheras of Cranganore (c. 800-1124 CE), muddled in myths and legends, is still disputed. As per some sources, the nature of the fair underwent tragic changes after the capture of Tirunāvāya by the chief of Kōzhikōde from the Veḷḷāṭṭiri chief. From that day forth, the Vaḷḷuvanāṭu chiefs started to send warriors to kill the Sāmūtiri (who was personally present at the fair with all his kith and kin) and regain the honor of conducting the festival. This led to a long drawn rivalry and bloodshed between these two clans.[2][4]

As per K. V. Krishna Iyer, the last Māmānkam fair was held in 1755 CE.The Māmānkam came to an end with the conquest of Kōzhikōde by the Sultān of Mysōre, Ḥaidar ʿAlī (1766 CE) and the subsequent Treaty of Seringapatam (1792) with the English East India Company.[4][5] Canganpaḷḷi Kaḷari, Paḻukkāmandapam, Nilapāṭu Tara, Marunnara and Manikkiṇar at Tirunāvāya are protected (Protected Monuments) by the State Archaeology Department, Kēral̥a.[6]

Etymology

The word "Māmānkam" is sometimes considered as a Malayālam corruption of two Sanskrit words, one perhaps related to the Māgha month (January – February).[7] According to William Logan, "Maha Makham" means literally "Great Sacrifice".[1]

Different renderings of the name is given below,

  • Maha-Magham - Great Magha (K. V. Krishna Iyer[8])
  • Maha-Makham - Great Sacrifice (William Logan[9] and K. P. Padmanabha Menon[10])
  • Maha-Maham - Great Festival
  • Maha-Ankam - Great Fight
  • Magha Makam - Elamkulam P. N. Kunjan Pillai[11]

Date of last Mamankam

Year Source
1743 William Logan, K. P. Padmanabha Menon and P. K. S. Raja
1755 K. V. Krishna Ayyar
1766 Another view by K. V. Krishna Ayyar, N. M. Nampoothiri

Archaeology and preservation

 
Nilapadu Thara
 
Marunnara – inside view
 
Manikkinar

Changampally Kalari, Pazhukkamandapam, Nilapadu Thara, Marunnara and Manikkiṇar at Tirunavaya are protected (Protected Monuments) by the State Archaeology Department, Kerala. All of them are situated on private land, which means the Kerala Tourism Department is not able to get involved in preserving the monuments. The Marunnara is situated on around 4.5 acre land owned by Kerala State Electricity Board and the Nilapatu Tara is inside the land of the Kodakkal Tile Factory. [12]

In August 2010, the renovation of Mamankam ruins was inaugurated up by the authorities, which came under the Nila Tourism Project with the support of State Archaeology Department, Kerala. Kerala Industrial and Technical Consultancy Organisation was appointed as the implementing agency of the project. Changampally Kalari, Nilapadu Thara, Manikkinar, Pazhukkamandapam, and Marunnara were renovated during this period. Assistance from the Kerala-state government, around Rs. 90 lakhs, funded this renovation.[12]

As per a mid-2011 report in the Times of India, the Mamankam relics at Tirunavaya are "fading to oblivion" and in a ruined state due to the neglect of the authorities concerned.[12] Absence of proper promotional strategies is also noted as another issue faced by Mamankam sites.[13]

  • Nilapadu Thara (Vakayur platform): This raised platform is situated on the premises of the Kodakkal Tile Factory. During the Mamankam festival, the Samutiri of Kozhikode used to stand on this raised platform[13]
  • Manikkinar is a well in which the bodies of the dead Valluvanatu warriors were thrown into (by elephants apparently)[13]
  • Marunnara is situated on Kodakkal-Bandar Road. It was used by the Samutiris to store the explosives for battles[13]
  • Pazhukkamandapam is the spot from where the Samutiri royals used to view the Mamankam festival[13]
  • Changampally Kalari is situated close to Thazhathara-Kuttippuram Road. This was where warriors were trained for battles and administered treatment when injured[13]

Background

Tirunavaya (Navayogipuram on Brhannadi in Kerala Mahatmya[14]) seems to be a very sacred place for the Hindus of Kerala from time immemorial. Perar at Tirunavaya is considered to assume a special sanctity, because it flows between the temple of god Vishnu (Nava Mukunda) on its right bank and temples of Brahma and Siva on its left.[4] Tirunavaya, on the fertile Perar basin, must have been one of the earliest Brahmin settlement in Kerala. Perar also acts as the main artery of communication with the interior Kerala lands, otherwise inaccessible due to the thick vegetation, in the rainy season. Rivers and backwaters in Kerala afforded the easiest and cheapest and almost only means of communication in times when wheeled traffic and pack-bullock traffic were unknown. And accordingly it is found that the Brahmins settled most thickly close to or on the rivers and selected sites for their settlements so as to command as much as possible of these arteries of traffic.

Legendary origins

The following is a description of the origins of the festival, prior to the hegemony of the chiefs of Valluvanatu over the Mamankam, based on native legends and myths[15]

The fair was initially conducted by the landlords, lead by an executive officer styled the Rakshapurusha ("the Great Protector of the Four Kalakas"). Each Rakshapurusha was to continue in office only for three years. Once some dispute arose as to the selection of the next Great Protector, in the assembly at Tirunavaya, and principle four section (which then composed the assembly) having failed to agree as to the selection of their executive officer resolved at last to select one to rule over them, and for this purpose they traveled, and chose one prince from a kingdom on the east of the Western Ghats. The Brahmins brought a prince to Tirunavaya, placed him on a seat of honor on the banks of Perar, and proclaimed him "Perumal of Kerala". According to the original engagement with the prince, he was to continue as ruler only for a term of 12 years, at end of which he was to retire into private life or to leave the country altogether.[4]

 
Perar (River Ponnani)

The coronation of this first king of Kerala took place on Pushya in the month of Magha in Karkitaka Vyazham, and this day in every cycle of Jupiter thus became important in the history of Kerala because the reign of each Perumal terminated on that day, he being elected for 12 years. This event was commemorated with a Great Feast, at which all Brahmin nobles and the chiefs of Kerala attended. On the 28th day the retiring Perumal appeared before the Brahmin assembly and the laid of the Sword of the Perumal, and the assembly declares the throne vacant. Another was then elected and crowned Perumal for another 12 years. This Great Feast and coronation occurring in Magha month, that month in every Karkitaka Vyazham was known was Maha Magha, or Mamankam in Tamil.[4]

According to Francis Wrede, the Chera Perumals of Cranganore used to preside over the Mamankams.[16] So it seems, at first conducted by the Brahmins, the fair came to be celebrated the aegis of the Chera rulers of Cranganore. Even in latter Samutiri times, the first invitation letter to participate in the Mamankam was addressed to the Pandyas, a reminiscence of the Chera days.[4]

The Great Sacrifice

Alexander Hamilton, in his A New Account of the East Indies, Vol. I, gives a different account of the initial nature of the festival. According to him, it was a custom for the king of Kerala to rule only for 12 years. The king was obliged to kill himself, by cutting his own throat on a public scaffold erected in view of the Brahmin assembly, after completing his 12-year term. The king's body was a little while after burned with great pomp and ceremony, and the Brahmins elected a new king for the next term. The Kerala Mahatmya corroborates this account, declaring that the king used to be deposed at the Mamankam, but there is no mention of a suicide.[4] According to Duarte Barbosa the king goes to bathe at a temple tank with much fanfare. Thereafter, he prays before the idol and mounts to the scaffolding, and there, before all the people, he takes a very sharp knife, cuts off his throat himself and he performs this sacrifice to the idol. Whoever desires to reign for the next 12 years and undertake this martyrdom for the idol, has to be present looking on at this, and from that place the Brahmins proclaim him the new king.(Duarte Barbosa mentions this to be the kingdom of Quilacare and not Calicut of which he has given very detailed accounts of the life and customs of the prople there including the Samutiri in the first chapter of vol 2)[17] Sir James Frazer also supports this view in his extensive studies.[18]

Land tenures

 
Tirunavaya Temple

Jonathan Duncan, in his "Transactions of the Bombay Literary Society", mentions at each recurring Mamankam festival all feudal ties were broken, and the parties, assembled in public conclave at Tirunavaya, readjusted at such times all existing relations among themselves.[4] At the end of the Feast all prior leases of land were considered to be at an end and fresh grants were to be obtained at the beginning of the next reign.[19]

By ancient customs, even in Travancore, all tenures were to continue for a maximum period of twelve years to be renewed thereafter. But it is known that this idealistic proposition did not work satisfactorily in Kerala.[20]

Vellattiri as Rakshapurusha (Great Protector)

The native traditions continue to describe the evolution of the festival in the following manner

When the influence of the Perumal increased in course of time, they refused to abdicate after 12 years, and the practice of fighting for the crown by warriors, at Tirunavaya, came in vogue. The Perumal of Cranganore attended the Great Feast as before, but, instead of abdicating the crown in the presence of Brahmins, he seated himself in a tent pitched for him at Tirunavaya, strongly guarded by a body of spearmen and lancers. The candidate of the kingship was to force his way through this warriors and to kill the Perumal. Theoretically, he who succeeded in thus killing the Perumal was immediately proclaimed and crowned Perumal for the next term of 12 years. If no one succeeded in killing the Perumal he was to reign for another 12 years. The last Perumal, now identified by historians as Cheraman Rama Varma Kulasekhara (ruled c. 1089-1124 CE), is said to have ruled for 36 years by surviving three Mamankams at Tirunavaya.[4]

The last Chera Perumal Rama Kulasekhara conferred the chief of Valluvanatu the "right" to conduct the Mamankam fair as the Rakshapurusha - the Great Protector with 10,000 Nairs.[21] The Perumal also assigned to him, the Tirumandhamkunnattu Bhagavati, sacred to the Brahmins of Chovvaram, as his guardian deity. It was also Tirunavaya that the Chera Perumal of Cranganore is supposed to have made his partition of Kerala.[4]

Zamorin's capture of Mamankam

It would appear that the project against the Vellattiri, as the chief of Valluvanatu was called, was first suggested by the "Koya" of Kozhikode. The Koya of Kozhikode, chief of the influential Muslim merchants, was title of the royal port officer at Kozhikode. When the chief of Kozhikode protested that it was beyond his means, the Koya offered his military assistance. Immediately the Koya proceeded by sea, with his ships and men, and the Samutiri warriors by land to Tirunavaya, and subduing little chiefs, villages and Hindu temples on the way. It seems, before Jupiter completed his cycle, the chief of Kozhikode captured Tirunavaya, proclaimed himself as the Great Protector and took over right of conducting the Mamankam fair.[22] The chief of Kozhikode seems to have granted the Koya inexhaustible wealth, and caused him to "stand on his right side".[2][4]

 
A view from the puram at Tirumanthamkunnu (kotikkayattam after the arattu)

Another version represents the Koya securing this privilege to his chief by a stratagem. This version of the legend seems suggest friendly relations existed between the Koya and the chief of Valluvanatu, as well as with the chief of Kozhikode. In one Mamankam fair, the followers of the chief of Kozhikode managed to penetrate through the bodyguards of the Vellattiri chief and kill him on the Vakayur platform (Manittara). Still another version has it that the chief of Kozhikode promised to marry the Koya's daughter if the enterprise ended in success. But the Kozhikode chief began to repent of his rash and hasty offer, as it involved "the loss of caste". It was arranged that when he came to Kozhikode he should receive, as soon as he crossed the river at Kallai, betel and tobacco from the hands of a Muslim man dressed as a woman - this being considered tantamount to a marriage.[4]

The rivalry between the two Brahmin settlements (Panniyur and Chovvaram) also seems to give the chief of Kozhikode a pretext to attack the Vellattiri. Visscher, in his "Letters from Malabar", Letter VIII, writes, "so has the trumpet of battle blown by the Panniyur and Chovvaram often summoned the chiefs of Kerala to mutual hostilities". The rivalry is also mentioned by de Couto in Decades (Vol V, Sec 1, Chap. 1).[4]

The immediate pretext of the Kozhikode's occupation of Tirunavaya was invasion Tirumanasseri Natu by its neighbors on either side, the Valluvanatu (Arangottu Swarupam) and Perumpatappu Swarupam. Tirumanasseri natu was a small chiefdom at the mouth of Perar, ruled by a Brahmin. The chiefdom, nominally subordinate to the Arangottu, had access to the sea at port Ponnani, and was bounded by Perar in the north. The Brahmin chief of Tirumanasseri was the head of the Panniyur Namputiris and was considered the protector of all the Brahmins living between Perinchellur and Chenganur, and he enjoyed koyma right over thirteen temples including that of Talipparamba. He was the leader of the Namputiri Samghas of Kolattur, and had 3000 Nair warriors under him. The chief of Tirumanasseri Natu appealed to the chief of Kozhikode for help, and ceded the port Ponnani as price of his protection. The Kozhikkode warriors advanced by land and sea. The main army, commanded by the Zamorin himself, approached Tirunavaya from north. The Eralpatu, proceeding by sea, occupied port Ponnani and Tirumanasseri Natu, and attacked the Vellattiri from west. The campaign was bitter and protracted, so much so the Kozhikode despairing of success, sought divine help by propitiating Valayanatu Bhagavati, the tutelary deity of Vellattiris. The battles were at last decided by the death of two princes belonging to the clan of Vellattiri.[4]

Rewards from Kozhikode

All those who taken part in the battles, it seems, received liberal rewards from Kozhikode.[4]

  • Koya of Kozhikode, with the Persian title "Shah Bantar", was given all the privileges and dignities of a Nair chief, jurisdiction over all the Muslims residing at Kozhikode bazar, the right to receive a small present from the Illuvas, the Kammalans and the Mukkuvans whenever the Kozhikode conferred any honors upon them (which they had at once report to him), to collect from the brokers at the rate of 10 fanams for every foreign ship that might put in at Kozhikode and levy a poll tax of 16 fanams at Pantarakkatavu and 12 fanams at Beypore, the privilege of sending Mappila drummers and pipers for every marriage and Kaliyattu, and the duty of removing the roof of any offender in Velapuram condemned to lose hearth and home. At Mamankam the Koya was in charge of the fireworks. He arranged for Kampaveti and Kalpalaka and also for mock fights between ships in Perar. Hamilton, in A New Accountof the East Indies, Vol. 1. pages 306-8, records hearing guns firing for two or three days and nights successively.[1]
    • Koya was given privilege of standing on the right side of the chief of Kozhikode on the Vakayur platform (Nilapatu Tara) on the last the day of the Mamankam fair
  • Eralpatu, it seems, was given privilege of standing in state on the left bank of the Perar river whenever the Kozhikode chief appeared on the Vakayur platform on its right bank. The Munalpatu obtained the honor of standing in state under the Kuriyal, midway between the temple of Tirunavaya and Vakayur on the day of Ayilyam. The chief of Vettam, was conceded the same privilege as the Munalpatu, but his standing in state came on the day of Puyam. Tirumanasseri Namputiri was attached to the Eralpatu's suite in all the ceremonies connected with the Mamankam and Taipuyam and given the right of collecting a small fee during the fair from every merchant who set up his booth on the Perar river-bed.
  • The chief of Cranganore was given the prerogative of supervising the feeding of the Brahmins throughout the Mamankam festival. Alexander Hamilton, who gives an account of the initial nature of the fair, mentions the "Great Feast" associated with the festival.[1]

Tradition of chavers (suicidal warriors)

 
Northern nata of the Tirumandhamkunnu Temple

During the subsequent Mamankam fairs, all other chiefs of Kerala - including the ruler of Travancore[1] - were obliged to send flags as a symbol of submission to Kozhikode. These flags were used to be hoisted at the festival. But the chief of Valluvanatu who did not recognize the Zamorin as the legitimate Great Protector but considered him only a "usurper" and used to send chavers (suicidal warriors) instead. If these men could kill the Zamorin, who was personally present at the fair and was protected by thousands of his own warriors, the right of Great Protector would have "devolved" on the chief of Valluvanatu. These chavers were Nair warriors who preferred death to defeat, and who sacrificed their lives (to avenge the death of Valluvanatu clan members in the battles leading to the fall of Tirunavaya). The death of the Vellaattiri clan members also started a period of intense hatred and battles between the two clans. Kutippaka or blood feud was prevalent in the medieval Kerala society. If a Nair warrior was killed (in his attempt to kill the Zamorin), it was the duty of the relatives or even the subsequent generations of the deceased to avenge the death. So, most of these chavers had lost their relatives or elders in previous battles with the Zamorin, and were fueled by kutippaka. They came from various parts of Valluvanatu, assembled at Thirumanthamkunnu (modern day Angadipuram) under Vellattiri, and were led by warriors from one of the four major Nair houses of Valluvanatu viz Putumanna Panikkars, Candrattu Panikkars, Vayankara Panikkars, and Verkotu Panikkars.[23][1][24] Further details were provided by William Logan in his 1887 district manual Malabar and Francis Buchanan-Hamilton in his "A Journey from Madras through the Countries of Mysore, Canara, and Malabar" (1807), respectively.

Vellattiri, after losing Tirunavaya and the right of the Great Protector, began to conduct the puram festival in the place of Mamankam, at Angadipuram (medieval Valluvappalli), his capital. "Here in the temple of his tutelary deity Thirumanthamkunnu Bhagavati, he stood on a raised granite platform from where in the olden days his predecessors started the procession to Tirunavaya for the Mamankam fair in peace. It was from here that the warriors were sent to the Mamankam fair afterwards when Samutiri occupied it."[citation needed]

Vellattiri chavers

The Zamorin captured Tirunavaya in 1486 A.D. This date was first revealed by S. Rajendu in Arangode Granthavari. The Zamorin took over the karayma power of Tirunavaya temple from one of the chieftains of Valluvanad, Karuvayur Moosad. After the capture of Tirunavaya by Samutiri of Kozhikode, the fair often turned into battlefield. Gaspar Correia gives following description.[25][26]

"A community of bodyguards of the ruling families...who in pledging their lives to the royal households [of Valluvanatu]...in avenging the death of two princes these [Calicut] guards dispersed, seeking wherever they might find men of Calicut, and amongst these they rushed fearless, killing and slaying till they were slain... they like desperate men played the devil before they were slain, and killed many people, with women and children."

The chavers (suicidal warriors), sent to kill the Zamorin, hailed from the four important Nair families of Valluvanatu. These families[23][27] were:

A total of eighteen chiefs (chiefs under Vellattiri) of Valluvanatu went to the Mamankam fair, led by the lead Nair (Titled as Panikkar along with the family name) from each of the four main Nair families. Apart from the four lead warriors, the other fourteen hailed from the following families:

Two from unknown Valluvanatu families, two from Valluvanatu, two Muppil Nairs from the Valluvanatu ruling house, Acchan of Elampulakkatu, Variar of Kulattur, Pisharati of Uppamkalattil, Vellodi of Patiramana, Nair of Parakkattu, Nair of Kakkoottu, Nair of Mannarmala and Pisharati of Cerukara.[28] Out of the eighteen local chiefs, thirteen were Nairs (mostly Menon-Panikkar section of Kiryatil Nair sub-caste), two were Nambutiri and three were Ambalavasi Brahmins.

Historical descriptions

1683 – Mamankam

Account of a Valluvanatu attack at the Mamankam held in 1683 is given by William Logan in his district manual (1887). This account was based on the Kozhikode Granthavaris

 
Tirunavaya Temple

Amid much din and firing of guns the Samutiri, the warriors, the elect of the four Nair houses in Valluvanatu, step forth from the crowd and receive the last blessings and farewells of their friends and relatives. They have just partaken of the last meal they are to eat on earth at the house of the temple representative of their chieftain Vellattiri; they are decked with garlands and smeared with ashes. On this particular occasion it is one of the houses of Putumanna Panikkar who heads the fray. He is joined with seventeen of his friends – for all who so wish may fall in with sword and shields in support of the men who have elected to die.

Armed with swords and shields alone they rush at the spearmen thronging the palisades; they wind and turn their bodies, as if they had no bones, casting them forward and backward, high and low, even to the astonishment of the beholders, as worthy Master Johnson describes them in a passage already quoted. But notwithstanding the suppleness of their limbs, notwithstanding their delight and skill and dexterity in weapons, the result is inevitable, and is prosaically recorded in the chronicle thus: The number of warriors who came and died in the early morning the next day after the elephant began to be adorned with gold trappings – being Putumana Kantar Menon and followers – was eighteen.

At various times during the ten last days of the festival the same thing is repeated. Whenever the Samutiri of Kozhikode takes his stand on the terrace, assumes the sword (the Sword of the Chera king) and shakes it, men rush forth from the crowd on the west temple gate only to be impaled on the spears of the guardsmen who relieve each other from day to day.

1695 – Mamankam

From A New Account of the East Indies, Volume I by Alexander Hamilton

In AD 1695 one of those jubilees happened, and the tent pitched near Ponnani, a seaport of his [Samutiri of Kozhikode], about fifteen leagues to the southward of Kozhikode. There were but three men that would venture on that desperate action [of killing the Samutiri on dais], who fell in, with sword and shield, among the guards, and, after they had killed and wounded many, were themselves killed. One of the desperados [Valluvanatu chavers] had a nephew of fifteen or sixteen years of age, that kept close by his uncle in the attack on the guards, and, when he saw him fall, the youth got through the guards into the tent, and made a stroke at Samutiri's head, and had certainly dispatched him, if a large brass lamp which was burning over his head, had not marred the blow; but, before he could make another, he was killed by the guards; and, I believe, the same Samutiri reigns yet. I chanced to come that time along the [Kerala] coast, and heard the guns for two or three days and nights successively.

Other fairs in Kerala

Many festivals with the name "Mamankam" are conducted in Hindu temples across Kerala. To disambiguate them from the Mamankam conducted at Tirunavaya, they are usually denoted by the name of the place along with the title. For example, 'Machad Mamankam'.[29]

References

  • William Logan, M. C. S., Malabar. Vol I. Government Press Madras 1951
  • K. V. Krishna Iyer Zamorins of Calicut: From the Earliest Times to AD 1806. Calicut: Norman Printing Bureau, 1938
  • N. M. Nampoothiri, Mamamkam Rekhakal, Vallathol Vidya Peethom, 2005
  • M. R. Raghava Warrier , Sthanarohanam Catangukal, Vallathol Vidya Peethom, 2005
  • S. Rajendu, Arangode Granthavari & Tirumanamkunnu Granthavari, Vallathol Vidya Peethom, 2016


  1. ^ a b c d e f William Logan, M. C. S., Malabar. Vol I. Government Press Madras 1951
  2. ^ a b c K. V. Krishna Ayyar, "The Kerala Mamankam" in Kerala Society Papers, Series 6, Trivandrum, 1928-32, pp. 324-30
  3. ^ K.P. Padmanabha Menon, History of Kerala, Vol. II, Ernakulam, 1929, Vol. II, (1929)
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o K. V. Krishna Iyer Zamorins of Calicut: From the Earliest Times to AD 1806. Calicut: Norman Printing Bureau, 1938
  5. ^ William Logan, M. C. S., Malabar. Vol I. Government Press Madras 1951. pp. 165
  6. ^ "Kerala Archaeology Department - Protected Monuments".
  7. ^ Maha-Magha Encyclopaedia of Indian Culture, by Rajaram Narayan Saletore. Published by Sterling, 1981. ISBN 0-391-02332-2. 9780391023321. Page 869.
  8. ^ K. V. Krishna Ayyar, Zamorins of Calicut, p. 92; Idem, ‘The Kerala Mamankam ’, in Kerala Society Papers, Vol. I, p. 325
  9. ^ William Logan, Malabar, Vol. I, p. 163, Notes, p. 164.
  10. ^ K. P. Padmanabha Menon, History of Kerala, Vol. II, p. 404.
  11. ^ Elamkulam P. N. Kunjan Pillai, Samskarathinte Nailikakkallukal p. 128
  12. ^ a b c The Times of India September 25, 2011 (TNN) [1].
  13. ^ a b c d e f Asian Age Feb 25, 2017
  14. ^ Kerala MahatmyaPalakkad Sekharipuram Sesusastri, Thrissur, 1912
  15. ^ Hermann Gundert, Ed., Keralotpatti, in Keralotpattiyum Mattum
  16. ^ As quoted by Iyer (1938) from The Transactions of the Literary Society, Bombay pp 2-3
  17. ^ K. P. Padmanabha Menon, History of Kerala, Vol. II, Cochin, 1929, Vol. II, (1929)
  18. ^ James Frazer, The Golden Bough, (1890), Hertfordshire, Reprint 1995, pp. 275-77, 296-97
  19. ^ William Logan, M. C. S., Malabar. Vol I. Government Press Madras 1951
  20. ^ K. C. Alexander, Peasants Organisation in South India, New Delhi, 1981, p. 43.
  21. ^ Ayyar, K. V. Krishna (1938). The Zamorins of Calicut: From the Earliest Times Down to A.D. 1806. Publication Division, University of Calicut. pp. 91–93. ISBN 978-81-7748-000-9.
  22. ^ (PDF). education.kerala.gov.in. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 June 2011. Retrieved 18 May 2011.
  23. ^ a b Logan, William (1981). Malabar. p. 199.
  24. ^ "When you want to know more about Malabar - TVDM". The Hindu. Retrieved 2 April 2017.
  25. ^ CORREIA, Gaspar. Lendas da Índia (Introdução e revisão de M. Lopes de Almeida). Porto: 1975.
  26. ^ CORREA, Gaspar. The Three Voyages of Vasco da Gama, and His Viceroyalty. From the Lendas da India of Gaspar Correa, accompanied by original documents (translated from the Portuguese, with notes and an introduction by the Hon. Henry E. J. Stanley). Printed for the Hakluyt Society, London: 1869.
  27. ^ . www.valanchery.com. Archived from the original on 15 March 2014. Retrieved 12 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  28. ^ "Mamankam, Kerala Culture, Arts, Literature, Kerala Tourism, Kerala Culture". Kerals.com. Retrieved 2 April 2017.
  29. ^ JB Multimedia. ":: Thirunavaya Nava Mukunda Temple :: Temple - The background : Bharathapuzha, Mamankam". Thirunavayatemple.org. Retrieved 2 April 2017.

External links

  • Mamankam Festival

mamankam, festival, 1979, indian, malayalam, film, maamaankam, kumbakonam, mamankam, mahamaham, māmānkam, māmāngam, duodecennial, medieval, fair, held, bank, river, pērār, river, river, ponnani, bhārathappuzha, tirunāvāya, southern, india, temple, associated, . For the 1979 Indian Malayalam film see Maamaankam For Kumbakonam Mamankam see Mahamaham Mamankam or Mamangam was a duodecennial medieval fair held on the bank and on the dry river bed of Perar River Nil a River Ponnani or Bharathappuzha at Tirunavaya southern India The temple associated with the festival was Nava Mukunda Temple in Tirunavaya It seems to have begun as a temple festival analogous to the Kumbha Melas at Ujjaini Prayaga Haridwar and Kumbakonam 1 Mamankamമ മ ങ ക Tirunavaya TempleGenreTrade fair religious festivalFrequency12 yearsLocation s Tirunavaya present day Kerala CountryIndiaTirunavaya is known for its ancient Hindu temples The festival was most flamboyantly celebrated under the auspices and at the expenses of the Hindu chiefs of Kōzhikōde Calicut the Samutiris the Zamorins The fair was not only a religious festival for the Samutiris but also an occasion for the display of all their pomp and power as the most powerful chiefs of Kerala During the Mamankam it was believed that the goddess Ganga descended into the Perar and by her miraculous advent made the river as holy as the Ganges itself 2 Much like the famous Kumbha Meḷas the fair is held once in every 12 years and carried huge economic social and political significance Apart from the brisk trading attested by travelers from Arabia Greece and China various forms of martial art and intellectual contests cultural festivals Hindu ritual ceremonies and folk art performances were held at Tirunavaya Hindu pilgrims from distant places trading groups and travelers also leave colorful accounts of Mamankam Duarte Barbosa mentions scaffoldings erected in the field with silken hangings spread over it Kozhikode Granthavari Mamakam Kilippattu and Kandaru Menon Patappattu along with Keralolpatti and Keralamahatmya are the major native chronicles mentioning the Mamankam festival 3 The innate nature of the festival dateable at least to the era before the Cheras of Cranganore c 800 1124 CE muddled in myths and legends is still disputed As per some sources the nature of the fair underwent tragic changes after the capture of Tirunavaya by the chief of Kōzhikōde from the Veḷḷaṭṭiri chief From that day forth the Vaḷḷuvanaṭu chiefs started to send warriors to kill the Samutiri who was personally present at the fair with all his kith and kin and regain the honor of conducting the festival This led to a long drawn rivalry and bloodshed between these two clans 2 4 As per K V Krishna Iyer the last Mamankam fair was held in 1755 CE The Mamankam came to an end with the conquest of Kōzhikōde by the Sultan of Mysōre Ḥaidar ʿAli 1766 CE and the subsequent Treaty of Seringapatam 1792 with the English East India Company 4 5 Canganpaḷḷi Kaḷari Paḻukkamandapam Nilapaṭu Tara Marunnara and Manikkiṇar at Tirunavaya are protected Protected Monuments by the State Archaeology Department Keral a 6 Contents 1 Etymology 2 Date of last Mamankam 3 Archaeology and preservation 4 Background 4 1 Legendary origins 4 1 1 The Great Sacrifice 4 2 Land tenures 4 3 Vellattiri as Rakshapurusha Great Protector 4 4 Zamorin s capture of Mamankam 4 5 Rewards from Kozhikode 4 6 Tradition of chavers suicidal warriors 4 7 Vellattiri chavers 5 Historical descriptions 5 1 1683 Mamankam 5 2 1695 Mamankam 6 Other fairs in Kerala 7 References 8 External linksEtymology EditThe word Mamankam is sometimes considered as a Malayalam corruption of two Sanskrit words one perhaps related to the Magha month January February 7 According to William Logan Maha Makham means literally Great Sacrifice 1 Different renderings of the name is given below Maha Magham Great Magha K V Krishna Iyer 8 Maha Makham Great Sacrifice William Logan 9 and K P Padmanabha Menon 10 Maha Maham Great Festival Maha Ankam Great Fight Magha Makam Elamkulam P N Kunjan Pillai 11 Date of last Mamankam EditYear Source1743 William Logan K P Padmanabha Menon and P K S Raja1755 K V Krishna Ayyar1766 Another view by K V Krishna Ayyar N M NampoothiriArchaeology and preservation Edit Nilapadu Thara Marunnara inside view Manikkinar Changampally Kalari Pazhukkamandapam Nilapadu Thara Marunnara and Manikkiṇar at Tirunavaya are protected Protected Monuments by the State Archaeology Department Kerala All of them are situated on private land which means the Kerala Tourism Department is not able to get involved in preserving the monuments The Marunnara is situated on around 4 5 acre land owned by Kerala State Electricity Board and the Nilapatu Tara is inside the land of the Kodakkal Tile Factory 12 In August 2010 the renovation of Mamankam ruins was inaugurated up by the authorities which came under the Nila Tourism Project with the support of State Archaeology Department Kerala Kerala Industrial and Technical Consultancy Organisation was appointed as the implementing agency of the project Changampally Kalari Nilapadu Thara Manikkinar Pazhukkamandapam and Marunnara were renovated during this period Assistance from the Kerala state government around Rs 90 lakhs funded this renovation 12 As per a mid 2011 report in the Times of India the Mamankam relics at Tirunavaya are fading to oblivion and in a ruined state due to the neglect of the authorities concerned 12 Absence of proper promotional strategies is also noted as another issue faced by Mamankam sites 13 Nilapadu Thara Vakayur platform This raised platform is situated on the premises of the Kodakkal Tile Factory During the Mamankam festival the Samutiri of Kozhikode used to stand on this raised platform 13 Manikkinar is a well in which the bodies of the dead Valluvanatu warriors were thrown into by elephants apparently 13 Marunnara is situated on Kodakkal Bandar Road It was used by the Samutiris to store the explosives for battles 13 Pazhukkamandapam is the spot from where the Samutiri royals used to view the Mamankam festival 13 Changampally Kalari is situated close to Thazhathara Kuttippuram Road This was where warriors were trained for battles and administered treatment when injured 13 Background EditTirunavaya Navayogipuram on Brhannadi in Kerala Mahatmya 14 seems to be a very sacred place for the Hindus of Kerala from time immemorial Perar at Tirunavaya is considered to assume a special sanctity because it flows between the temple of god Vishnu Nava Mukunda on its right bank and temples of Brahma and Siva on its left 4 Tirunavaya on the fertile Perar basin must have been one of the earliest Brahmin settlement in Kerala Perar also acts as the main artery of communication with the interior Kerala lands otherwise inaccessible due to the thick vegetation in the rainy season Rivers and backwaters in Kerala afforded the easiest and cheapest and almost only means of communication in times when wheeled traffic and pack bullock traffic were unknown And accordingly it is found that the Brahmins settled most thickly close to or on the rivers and selected sites for their settlements so as to command as much as possible of these arteries of traffic Legendary origins Edit The following is a description of the origins of the festival prior to the hegemony of the chiefs of Valluvanatu over the Mamankam based on native legends and myths 15 The fair was initially conducted by the landlords lead by an executive officer styled the Rakshapurusha the Great Protector of the Four Kalakas Each Rakshapurusha was to continue in office only for three years Once some dispute arose as to the selection of the next Great Protector in the assembly at Tirunavaya and principle four section which then composed the assembly having failed to agree as to the selection of their executive officer resolved at last to select one to rule over them and for this purpose they traveled and chose one prince from a kingdom on the east of the Western Ghats The Brahmins brought a prince to Tirunavaya placed him on a seat of honor on the banks of Perar and proclaimed him Perumal of Kerala According to the original engagement with the prince he was to continue as ruler only for a term of 12 years at end of which he was to retire into private life or to leave the country altogether 4 Perar River Ponnani The coronation of this first king of Kerala took place on Pushya in the month of Magha in Karkitaka Vyazham and this day in every cycle of Jupiter thus became important in the history of Kerala because the reign of each Perumal terminated on that day he being elected for 12 years This event was commemorated with a Great Feast at which all Brahmin nobles and the chiefs of Kerala attended On the 28th day the retiring Perumal appeared before the Brahmin assembly and the laid of the Sword of the Perumal and the assembly declares the throne vacant Another was then elected and crowned Perumal for another 12 years This Great Feast and coronation occurring in Magha month that month in every Karkitaka Vyazham was known was Maha Magha or Mamankam in Tamil 4 According to Francis Wrede the Chera Perumals of Cranganore used to preside over the Mamankams 16 So it seems at first conducted by the Brahmins the fair came to be celebrated the aegis of the Chera rulers of Cranganore Even in latter Samutiri times the first invitation letter to participate in the Mamankam was addressed to the Pandyas a reminiscence of the Chera days 4 The Great Sacrifice Edit Alexander Hamilton in his A New Account of the East Indies Vol I gives a different account of the initial nature of the festival According to him it was a custom for the king of Kerala to rule only for 12 years The king was obliged to kill himself by cutting his own throat on a public scaffold erected in view of the Brahmin assembly after completing his 12 year term The king s body was a little while after burned with great pomp and ceremony and the Brahmins elected a new king for the next term The Kerala Mahatmya corroborates this account declaring that the king used to be deposed at the Mamankam but there is no mention of a suicide 4 According to Duarte Barbosa the king goes to bathe at a temple tank with much fanfare Thereafter he prays before the idol and mounts to the scaffolding and there before all the people he takes a very sharp knife cuts off his throat himself and he performs this sacrifice to the idol Whoever desires to reign for the next 12 years and undertake this martyrdom for the idol has to be present looking on at this and from that place the Brahmins proclaim him the new king Duarte Barbosa mentions this to be the kingdom of Quilacare and not Calicut of which he has given very detailed accounts of the life and customs of the prople there including the Samutiri in the first chapter of vol 2 17 Sir James Frazer also supports this view in his extensive studies 18 Land tenures Edit Tirunavaya Temple Jonathan Duncan in his Transactions of the Bombay Literary Society mentions at each recurring Mamankam festival all feudal ties were broken and the parties assembled in public conclave at Tirunavaya readjusted at such times all existing relations among themselves 4 At the end of the Feast all prior leases of land were considered to be at an end and fresh grants were to be obtained at the beginning of the next reign 19 By ancient customs even in Travancore all tenures were to continue for a maximum period of twelve years to be renewed thereafter But it is known that this idealistic proposition did not work satisfactorily in Kerala 20 Vellattiri as Rakshapurusha Great Protector Edit The native traditions continue to describe the evolution of the festival in the following mannerWhen the influence of the Perumal increased in course of time they refused to abdicate after 12 years and the practice of fighting for the crown by warriors at Tirunavaya came in vogue The Perumal of Cranganore attended the Great Feast as before but instead of abdicating the crown in the presence of Brahmins he seated himself in a tent pitched for him at Tirunavaya strongly guarded by a body of spearmen and lancers The candidate of the kingship was to force his way through this warriors and to kill the Perumal Theoretically he who succeeded in thus killing the Perumal was immediately proclaimed and crowned Perumal for the next term of 12 years If no one succeeded in killing the Perumal he was to reign for another 12 years The last Perumal now identified by historians as Cheraman Rama Varma Kulasekhara ruled c 1089 1124 CE is said to have ruled for 36 years by surviving three Mamankams at Tirunavaya 4 The last Chera Perumal Rama Kulasekhara conferred the chief of Valluvanatu the right to conduct the Mamankam fair as the Rakshapurusha the Great Protector with 10 000 Nairs 21 The Perumal also assigned to him the Tirumandhamkunnattu Bhagavati sacred to the Brahmins of Chovvaram as his guardian deity It was also Tirunavaya that the Chera Perumal of Cranganore is supposed to have made his partition of Kerala 4 Zamorin s capture of Mamankam Edit It would appear that the project against the Vellattiri as the chief of Valluvanatu was called was first suggested by the Koya of Kozhikode The Koya of Kozhikode chief of the influential Muslim merchants was title of the royal port officer at Kozhikode When the chief of Kozhikode protested that it was beyond his means the Koya offered his military assistance Immediately the Koya proceeded by sea with his ships and men and the Samutiri warriors by land to Tirunavaya and subduing little chiefs villages and Hindu temples on the way It seems before Jupiter completed his cycle the chief of Kozhikode captured Tirunavaya proclaimed himself as the Great Protector and took over right of conducting the Mamankam fair 22 The chief of Kozhikode seems to have granted the Koya inexhaustible wealth and caused him to stand on his right side 2 4 A view from the puram at Tirumanthamkunnu kotikkayattam after the arattu Another version represents the Koya securing this privilege to his chief by a stratagem This version of the legend seems suggest friendly relations existed between the Koya and the chief of Valluvanatu as well as with the chief of Kozhikode In one Mamankam fair the followers of the chief of Kozhikode managed to penetrate through the bodyguards of the Vellattiri chief and kill him on the Vakayur platform Manittara Still another version has it that the chief of Kozhikode promised to marry the Koya s daughter if the enterprise ended in success But the Kozhikode chief began to repent of his rash and hasty offer as it involved the loss of caste It was arranged that when he came to Kozhikode he should receive as soon as he crossed the river at Kallai betel and tobacco from the hands of a Muslim man dressed as a woman this being considered tantamount to a marriage 4 The rivalry between the two Brahmin settlements Panniyur and Chovvaram also seems to give the chief of Kozhikode a pretext to attack the Vellattiri Visscher in his Letters from Malabar Letter VIII writes so has the trumpet of battle blown by the Panniyur and Chovvaram often summoned the chiefs of Kerala to mutual hostilities The rivalry is also mentioned by de Couto in Decades Vol V Sec 1 Chap 1 4 The immediate pretext of the Kozhikode s occupation of Tirunavaya was invasion Tirumanasseri Natu by its neighbors on either side the Valluvanatu Arangottu Swarupam and Perumpatappu Swarupam Tirumanasseri natu was a small chiefdom at the mouth of Perar ruled by a Brahmin The chiefdom nominally subordinate to the Arangottu had access to the sea at port Ponnani and was bounded by Perar in the north The Brahmin chief of Tirumanasseri was the head of the Panniyur Namputiris and was considered the protector of all the Brahmins living between Perinchellur and Chenganur and he enjoyed koyma right over thirteen temples including that of Talipparamba He was the leader of the Namputiri Samghas of Kolattur and had 3000 Nair warriors under him The chief of Tirumanasseri Natu appealed to the chief of Kozhikode for help and ceded the port Ponnani as price of his protection The Kozhikkode warriors advanced by land and sea The main army commanded by the Zamorin himself approached Tirunavaya from north The Eralpatu proceeding by sea occupied port Ponnani and Tirumanasseri Natu and attacked the Vellattiri from west The campaign was bitter and protracted so much so the Kozhikode despairing of success sought divine help by propitiating Valayanatu Bhagavati the tutelary deity of Vellattiris The battles were at last decided by the death of two princes belonging to the clan of Vellattiri 4 Rewards from Kozhikode Edit All those who taken part in the battles it seems received liberal rewards from Kozhikode 4 Koya of Kozhikode with the Persian title Shah Bantar was given all the privileges and dignities of a Nair chief jurisdiction over all the Muslims residing at Kozhikode bazar the right to receive a small present from the Illuvas the Kammalans and the Mukkuvans whenever the Kozhikode conferred any honors upon them which they had at once report to him to collect from the brokers at the rate of 10 fanams for every foreign ship that might put in at Kozhikode and levy a poll tax of 16 fanams at Pantarakkatavu and 12 fanams at Beypore the privilege of sending Mappila drummers and pipers for every marriage and Kaliyattu and the duty of removing the roof of any offender in Velapuram condemned to lose hearth and home At Mamankam the Koya was in charge of the fireworks He arranged for Kampaveti and Kalpalaka and also for mock fights between ships in Perar Hamilton in A New Accountof the East Indies Vol 1 pages 306 8 records hearing guns firing for two or three days and nights successively 1 Koya was given privilege of standing on the right side of the chief of Kozhikode on the Vakayur platform Nilapatu Tara on the last the day of the Mamankam fair Eralpatu it seems was given privilege of standing in state on the left bank of the Perar river whenever the Kozhikode chief appeared on the Vakayur platform on its right bank The Munalpatu obtained the honor of standing in state under the Kuriyal midway between the temple of Tirunavaya and Vakayur on the day of Ayilyam The chief of Vettam was conceded the same privilege as the Munalpatu but his standing in state came on the day of Puyam Tirumanasseri Namputiri was attached to the Eralpatu s suite in all the ceremonies connected with the Mamankam and Taipuyam and given the right of collecting a small fee during the fair from every merchant who set up his booth on the Perar river bed The chief of Cranganore was given the prerogative of supervising the feeding of the Brahmins throughout the Mamankam festival Alexander Hamilton who gives an account of the initial nature of the fair mentions the Great Feast associated with the festival 1 Tradition of chavers suicidal warriors Edit Northern nata of the Tirumandhamkunnu Temple During the subsequent Mamankam fairs all other chiefs of Kerala including the ruler of Travancore 1 were obliged to send flags as a symbol of submission to Kozhikode These flags were used to be hoisted at the festival But the chief of Valluvanatu who did not recognize the Zamorin as the legitimate Great Protector but considered him only a usurper and used to send chavers suicidal warriors instead If these men could kill the Zamorin who was personally present at the fair and was protected by thousands of his own warriors the right of Great Protector would have devolved on the chief of Valluvanatu These chavers were Nair warriors who preferred death to defeat and who sacrificed their lives to avenge the death of Valluvanatu clan members in the battles leading to the fall of Tirunavaya The death of the Vellaattiri clan members also started a period of intense hatred and battles between the two clans Kutippaka or blood feud was prevalent in the medieval Kerala society If a Nair warrior was killed in his attempt to kill the Zamorin it was the duty of the relatives or even the subsequent generations of the deceased to avenge the death So most of these chavers had lost their relatives or elders in previous battles with the Zamorin and were fueled by kutippaka They came from various parts of Valluvanatu assembled at Thirumanthamkunnu modern day Angadipuram under Vellattiri and were led by warriors from one of the four major Nair houses of Valluvanatu viz Putumanna Panikkars Candrattu Panikkars Vayankara Panikkars and Verkotu Panikkars 23 1 24 Further details were provided by William Logan in his 1887 district manual Malabarand Francis Buchanan Hamilton in his A Journey from Madras through the Countries of Mysore Canara and Malabar 1807 respectively Vellattiri after losing Tirunavaya and the right of the Great Protector began to conduct the puram festival in the place of Mamankam at Angadipuram medieval Valluvappalli his capital Here in the temple of his tutelary deity Thirumanthamkunnu Bhagavati he stood on a raised granite platform from where in the olden days his predecessors started the procession to Tirunavaya for the Mamankam fair in peace It was from here that the warriors were sent to the Mamankam fair afterwards when Samutiri occupied it citation needed Vellattiri chavers Edit The Zamorin captured Tirunavaya in 1486 A D This date was first revealed by S Rajendu in Arangode Granthavari The Zamorin took over the karayma power of Tirunavaya temple from one of the chieftains of Valluvanad Karuvayur Moosad After the capture of Tirunavaya by Samutiri of Kozhikode the fair often turned into battlefield Gaspar Correia gives following description 25 26 A community of bodyguards of the ruling families who in pledging their lives to the royal households of Valluvanatu in avenging the death of two princes these Calicut guards dispersed seeking wherever they might find men of Calicut and amongst these they rushed fearless killing and slaying till they were slain they like desperate men played the devil before they were slain and killed many people with women and children The chavers suicidal warriors sent to kill the Zamorin hailed from the four important Nair families of Valluvanatu These families 23 27 were Putumanna Panikkars Chandrattu Panikkars Kovilkkatt Panikkars Verkotu PanikkarsA total of eighteen chiefs chiefs under Vellattiri of Valluvanatu went to the Mamankam fair led by the lead Nair Titled as Panikkar along with the family name from each of the four main Nair families Apart from the four lead warriors the other fourteen hailed from the following families Two from unknown Valluvanatu families two from Valluvanatu two Muppil Nairs from the Valluvanatu ruling house Acchan of Elampulakkatu Variar of Kulattur Pisharati of Uppamkalattil Vellodi of Patiramana Nair of Parakkattu Nair of Kakkoottu Nair of Mannarmala and Pisharati of Cerukara 28 Out of the eighteen local chiefs thirteen were Nairs mostly Menon Panikkar section of Kiryatil Nair sub caste two were Nambutiri and three were Ambalavasi Brahmins Historical descriptions Edit1683 Mamankam Edit Account of a Valluvanatu attack at the Mamankam held in 1683 is given by William Logan in his district manual 1887 This account was based on the Kozhikode Granthavaris Tirunavaya Temple Amid much din and firing of guns the Samutiri the warriors the elect of the four Nair houses in Valluvanatu step forth from the crowd and receive the last blessings and farewells of their friends and relatives They have just partaken of the last meal they are to eat on earth at the house of the temple representative of their chieftain Vellattiri they are decked with garlands and smeared with ashes On this particular occasion it is one of the houses of Putumanna Panikkar who heads the fray He is joined with seventeen of his friends for all who so wish may fall in with sword and shields in support of the men who have elected to die Armed with swords and shields alone they rush at the spearmen thronging the palisades they wind and turn their bodies as if they had no bones casting them forward and backward high and low even to the astonishment of the beholders as worthy Master Johnson describes them in a passage already quoted But notwithstanding the suppleness of their limbs notwithstanding their delight and skill and dexterity in weapons the result is inevitable and is prosaically recorded in the chronicle thus The number of warriors who came and died in the early morning the next day after the elephant began to be adorned with gold trappings being Putumana Kantar Menon and followers was eighteen At various times during the ten last days of the festival the same thing is repeated Whenever the Samutiri of Kozhikode takes his stand on the terrace assumes the sword the Sword of the Chera king and shakes it men rush forth from the crowd on the west temple gate only to be impaled on the spears of the guardsmen who relieve each other from day to day 1695 Mamankam Edit From A New Account of the East Indies Volume I by Alexander HamiltonIn AD 1695 one of those jubilees happened and the tent pitched near Ponnani a seaport of his Samutiri of Kozhikode about fifteen leagues to the southward of Kozhikode There were but three men that would venture on that desperate action of killing the Samutiri ondais who fell in with sword and shield among the guards and after they had killed and wounded many were themselves killed One of the desperados Valluvanatu chavers had a nephew of fifteen or sixteen years of age that kept close by his uncle in the attack on the guards and when he saw him fall the youth got through the guards into the tent and made a stroke at Samutiri s head and had certainly dispatched him if a large brass lamp which was burning over his head had not marred the blow but before he could make another he was killed by the guards and I believe the same Samutiri reigns yet I chanced to come that time along the Kerala coast and heard the guns for two or three days and nights successively Other fairs in Kerala EditMany festivals with the name Mamankam are conducted in Hindu temples across Kerala To disambiguate them from the Mamankam conducted at Tirunavaya they are usually denoted by the name of the place along with the title For example Machad Mamankam 29 References EditWilliam Logan M C S Malabar Vol I Government Press Madras 1951 K V Krishna Iyer Zamorins of Calicut From the Earliest Times to AD 1806 Calicut Norman Printing Bureau 1938 N M Nampoothiri Mamamkam Rekhakal Vallathol Vidya Peethom 2005 M R Raghava Warrier Sthanarohanam Catangukal Vallathol Vidya Peethom 2005 S Rajendu Arangode Granthavari amp Tirumanamkunnu Granthavari Vallathol Vidya Peethom 2016 a b c d e f William Logan M C S Malabar Vol I Government Press Madras 1951 a b c K V Krishna Ayyar The Kerala Mamankam in Kerala Society Papers Series 6 Trivandrum 1928 32 pp 324 30 K P Padmanabha Menon History of Kerala Vol II Ernakulam 1929 Vol II 1929 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o K V Krishna Iyer Zamorins of Calicut From the Earliest Times to AD 1806 Calicut Norman Printing Bureau 1938 William Logan M C S Malabar Vol I Government Press Madras 1951 pp 165 Kerala Archaeology Department Protected Monuments Maha Magha Encyclopaedia of Indian Culture by Rajaram Narayan Saletore Published by Sterling 1981 ISBN 0 391 02332 2 9780391023321 Page 869 K V Krishna Ayyar Zamorins of Calicut p 92 Idem The Kerala Mamankam in Kerala Society Papers Vol I p 325 William Logan Malabar Vol I p 163 Notes p 164 K P Padmanabha Menon History of Kerala Vol II p 404 Elamkulam P N Kunjan Pillai Samskarathinte Nailikakkallukal p 128 a b c The Times of India September 25 2011 TNN 1 a b c d e f Asian Age Feb 25 2017 Kerala MahatmyaPalakkad Sekharipuram Sesusastri Thrissur 1912 Hermann Gundert Ed Keralotpatti in Keralotpattiyum Mattum As quoted by Iyer 1938 from The Transactions of the Literary Society Bombay pp 2 3 K P Padmanabha Menon History of Kerala Vol II Cochin 1929 Vol II 1929 James Frazer The Golden Bough 1890 Hertfordshire Reprint 1995 pp 275 77 296 97 William Logan M C S Malabar Vol I Government Press Madras 1951 K C Alexander Peasants Organisation in South India New Delhi 1981 p 43 Ayyar K V Krishna 1938 The Zamorins of Calicut From the Earliest Times Down to A D 1806 Publication Division University of Calicut pp 91 93 ISBN 978 81 7748 000 9 Medieval Kerala PDF education kerala gov in Archived from the original PDF on 27 June 2011 Retrieved 18 May 2011 a b Logan William 1981 Malabar p 199 When you want to know more about Malabar TVDM The Hindu Retrieved 2 April 2017 CORREIA Gaspar Lendas da India Introducao e revisao de M Lopes de Almeida Porto 1975 CORREA Gaspar The Three Voyages of Vasco da Gama and His Viceroyalty From the Lendas da India of Gaspar Correa accompanied by original documents translated from the Portuguese with notes and an introduction by the Hon Henry E J Stanley Printed for the Hakluyt Society London 1869 Archived copy www valanchery com Archived from the original on 15 March 2014 Retrieved 12 January 2022 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint archived copy as title link Mamankam Kerala Culture Arts Literature Kerala Tourism Kerala Culture Kerals com Retrieved 2 April 2017 JB Multimedia Thirunavaya Nava Mukunda Temple Temple The background Bharathapuzha Mamankam Thirunavayatemple org Retrieved 2 April 2017 External links EditMamankam Festival Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Mamankam festival amp oldid 1129848942, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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