5.2. Kerala-kshiti-ratnamala

[Full title: Works written in Puranic (Legendary) style: Kerala-kshiti-ratnamala]

Keralaksiti-ratnamala^[1] by anonymous authorship, deals mainly with the vyvaharas and administration as current in Kerala. It is supposed to be written in 17th century AD.

These work describes the origin of Kerala as follows.

mugdhenducūḍasadanaṃ gokarṇākhyamanuttamaṃ
samudrāduddhṛtaṃ yāvadrāmeṇa bhṛgusūnunā
utbhūtaṃ keralaṃ tāvat pārāvārādapārataḥ
brahmaṇebhyo dadau rāmo viprāstatkeralādhipāḥ |

The work point out another factor that the Brahmins give the land authorship to the kings (or ksatriyas) and then they are the rulers and owners of Kerala land—

etasmād rājyabharaṇe keralakṣitipuṅgavā
śastriṇaḥ puruṣān śreṣṭhān te kurvantyadhikāriṇaḥ
kerale bhūbhujastesyurviprairniyamitā nṛpāḥ
na karagrāhiṇaste vai prajānāṃ paripālakāḥ |

The poem give an account of the rulers of Kerala as follows.

kāśmīrāvanticolādi rāṣṭrebhyaḥ kṣatriyaṃ dvijāḥ
ānīya mātṛvaṃśya taṃ kṛtvā kurvanti bhūmipaṃ
evañca bahavaḥ prāptāḥ bhūpālāḥ kerale purā
tairdattakṣitayaścāpi rājānassanti kecana |

About the coins poem says—

kārtasvarasya^[2] nidhisammitarociṣo yat bhāgaṃ paṇaṃ dhṛtimitaṃ^[3] pravadanti santaḥ |
nyūnātiriktamitaye bahavaḥ paṇāsyuste tatra tatra vihitākhilakāryaśastāḥ ||

These verses mentions the Rasi and Pana. About the famous ceremony Ariyittuvazcha poem says that—

pararābhiṣiktnṛpatirnahi keraleṣu
tatrākṣatārpaṇamudīritameva sadbhiḥ

The great Brahmins, by whose blessings the king became the lord of kingdom, is an allusion to the Ariyittuvazcha ceremony. It is a function connected with the coronation of a Kerala chieftain. For more details^[4]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Pub. in Rasikaranjini, 1079, ME with Malayalam Commentary

[2]:

20 Pana of Gold

[3]:

dhṛtimiti means Rasi.

[4]:

See Keraleya Samskrita Sahitya Caritram Vol. III -P p 448 -460