Niranam is a small village in Southern Kerala in India near Mannar town. In 14th century Niranam gave birth to three poets who became well known as the Niranam Poets. They were Madhava Panikkar, Sankara Panikkar and Rama Panikkar of the Kannassa family. The first two were uncles of Rama Panikkar. Many of their community members were Sanskrit scholars and traditional astrologers. The lived between AD 1350 and 1450.

Before their period the poetry of Kerala was a mix of Malayalam and Sanskrit, known as manipravala. Niranam poets were instrumental in freeing the literature from the influence of this mix. The appearance of the modern Malayalam language starts with the works of Niranam Poets.^{[citation needed]}

Their success led to the gradual replacement of the manipravala cult of worldliness and sensual revelry by an indigenous poetics of high seriousness. Their works are collectively known as Niranam Works. Madhava Panikkar wrote a condensed Malayalam translation of Bhagavad Gita, perhaps the first ever translation of that classic into any modern Indian language. Sankara Panikkar’s main work is Bharatamala, a condensation of Mahabharatam, is also the first major work of its kind in Malayalam. Rama Panikkar was the author of Ramayanam, Bhartam, Bhagavatam and Sivarathri Mahatmyam.

Niranam is a village in central Travancore region in Kerala, India. It was a port in ancient Kerala, on the confluence of the Manimala and Achankovil River. It is almost 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) from Tiruvalla in Pathanamthitta District of Kerala. It can be identified with Nelcynda in Periplus of the Erythraean Sea.

Niranam is mentioned in the writings of Pliny and Cosmos Indicopleustes as a trade centre. Geologists suggest that the sea retracted from this area due to some major geographical changes.^{[citation needed]}

Saint Thomas the Apostle is believed to have landed here and founded the Christian church. Perhaps the importance of Niranam as a port was the reason for his arrival.

The Christian community in Niranam is therefore is the oldest in India and among the oldest in the world. Niranam Cathedral has been the seat of the various Malankara metropolitans.

The great flood of 1341 AD helped to shift the sea westwards from silt filling in the direct sea route from Niranam.

As a result of the flood of 1341, the soil of nearby areas of Niranam is still sandy and resembles beaches, though not close to the Arabian sea.