Mappila Songs

Mappila Paattu or Mappila Song is a folklore Muslim song genre rendered to lyrics in colloquial Mappila dialect of Malayalam laced with Arabic, by the Mappilas of Malabar. Mappila songs have a distinct cultural identity, while at the same time, remain closely linked to the cultural practices of Kerala. The songs often used words from Persian, Urdu, Tamil, Hindi apart from Arabic and Malayalam, but the grammatical syntax was always based on Malayalam. They deal with themes such as religion, love, satire and heroism, and are often sung at occasions of birth, marriage and death. Mappila Paattu form an integral part of the heritage of Malayalam literature today and is regarded by some as the most popular branch of Malayalam literature, enjoyed by all communities in Kerala.

History

Mappila songs have been in circulation for over seven centuries, with the first dated work Muhyidheen Mala atrributed to Qadi Muhammad in 1607 AD. Thereafter a large number of literary materials was produced in this medium; one authority has calculated that of these more than 1600 items, complete or fragmentary, were known by 1976. Over the centuries, various types of Mappila Pattu were composed, in accordance with the religious and political surroundings in the lives of the Mappilas of Malabar. The early centuries were primarily based on devotional works, while the colonial era was marked by the battle song genre called Padappattu. Various other categories also grew during the centuries with subjects ranging from romantic ballads and marriage songs to philosophical ideas, sea journeys and even flood ordeals.

Mappila

A Mappila, also known as a Muslim Mappila or Jonaka Mappila, is a member of the largest Muslim group in the Indian state of Kerala. The community arose primarily as a result of the pre- and post-Islamic Arab contact with Kerala, mainly based upon trade. Mappilas chiefly reside in the Malabar region.

Muslims of Kerala, of which Mappilas constitute a majority, make up a large community in Kerala state: 24.70% of the population. As a religious group they are the second largest after Hindus (56%). Mappilas share the common language of Malayalam with the other inhabitants of Kerala. Islam reached Malabar Coast as early as the 7th century AD and was assimilated with the culture and traditions of the local people. Over the centuries, the strong relations of the Mappilas with the traders from Arabia have created a profound impact on their life and culture. This has resulted in the formation of the unique tradition in literature, art, music, and history of the Mappilas Most of the Mappilas follow Shafi'i School, while a large minority follow movements that arose within Sunni Islam.

Malayalam literature

Malayalam literature (മലയാള സാഹിത്യം) comprises those literary texts written in Malayalam, a South-Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala.

The earliest known extant literary work in Malayalam is Ramacharitam, an epic poem written in the late 13th or early 13th century. In the subsequent centuries, besides a popular pattu ("song") literature, the manipravalam poetry also flourished. Manipravalam (translates "ruby coral") style mainly consisted of poetry in an admixture of Malayalam and Sanskrit. Then came works such as champus and sandeshakavyas in which prose and poetry were interspersed. Later, poets like Cherusseri introduced poems on devotional themes. Ezhuthachan, a strong proponent of Bhakti movement, is known as the father of Malayalam. His poems are classified under the genre of kilippattu.

Modern literary movements in Malayalam literature began in the late 19th century with the rise of the famous Modern Triumvirate consisting of Kumaran Asan,Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer and Vallathol Narayana Menon. Kumaran Asan was temperamentally a pessimist—a disposition reinforced by his metaphysics—yet all his life was active in promoting his downtrodden Hindu-Ezhava community. Ullor wrote in the classical tradition, on the basis of which he appealed for universal love, while Vallathol responded to the human significance of social progress. Contemporary Malayalam poetry records the encounter with problems of social, political, and economic life. The tendency of the modern poetry is often regarded as toward political radicalism.

Malayalam

Malayalam /mʌləˈjɑːləm/ (മലയാളം, Malayāḷam ^?[mɐləjaːɭəm]), sometimes referred to as Kairali, is a language spoken in India, predominantly in the state of Kerala. It is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and was designated a Classical Language in India in 2013. Malayalam has official language status in the state of Kerala and in the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry. It belongs to the Dravidian family of languages and is spoken by some 38 million people. Malayalam is also spoken in the neighboring states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka; with some speakers in the Nilgiris, Kanyakumari and Coimbatore districts of Tamil Nadu, and the Dakshina Kannada and Kodagu districts of Karnataka.

Mappila dialect

The Malayalam language spoken mostly by Mappila Muslim community of Kerala state, India is called Mappila dialect of Malayalam or simply Mappila Malayalam (Malayalam script: മാപ്പിള മലയാളം). This speech is a mixture of colloquial northern Kerala dialects of Malayalam and the Arabic language. Often, the Malayalee Muslim community of Malaysia and Singapore and few of them in Kerala write Malayalam using Arabic Script.The dialect is extensively spoken by Muslims in the North Malabar region of Kerala i.e. in the districts of Malappuram, Kozhikode, Palghat, Wayanad, Trichur, Kannur and Kasaragod. The Malayalam spoken by Mappila Muslim shows deep influence of the Arabic language. Thus the dialect is a little bit different from the mainstream Malayalam. Also, Muslim communities of Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka called Bearys also speak Mappila Malayalam.

Arabic influence

The Mappila dialect of Malayalam has borrowed loan words from Arabic language. In fact this dialect can just be considered as Arabic-Malayalam blend just like Sanskrit-Malayalam blend in Manipravalam. Kerala has a unique tradition of literature written in Arabic-Malayalam blend.The great bulk of these are verses with predominantly religious themes. As with Sanskrit-Malayalam blend in Manipravalam which was written in Malayalam script,the Arabic-Malayalam blend was written in Arabic script modified to absorb the peculiar sounds of Malayalam. As large numbers of Arabic words did not pass into the general and the literary usage, this tradition rather came to an abrupt stop.