Invitation

Seminar Series - 4
Release and Review of the Book

Pre Modern
Kerala Society
BASED ON ORAL TRADITION
by M. Janaki

At
KCHR Annexe
Kesavadasapuram
Thiruvananthapuram

On
30th August 2019 ( 3:00 pm)

Kerala Council for Historical Research

Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
www.kchr.ac.in
Abstract

Pre Modern Kerala Society

Based on Oral Tradition
This book is on Pre Modern Kerala Society as reflected in oral narratives,
northern ballads, southern ballads and invocative songs substantiated
by corroborative evidences. 
“Dr. Janaki finds that the medieval society was a hierarchical,
caste ridden one with graded authority. There were major and
minor principalities. Land was for administrative purposes
divided into  Nadus, Desams and Tharas. Since authority was
parcelised,  Rajas, Natudayavar and Desavazhikal  were not very
powerful. Standing army was not maintained. The rulers were often
dependent on warrior-fighters of knights. During the medieval period,
notes Janaki, ‘Kalari played a vital role as a military institution. Martial
training was imparted to both girls and boys’. The Nairs of North
Malabar followed matrilineal system and ‘men and women enjoyed
freedom in the selection of their partners’. Great diversity existed as
far as festivals, traditional beliefs and religious practices and customs
were concerned.
This is an important addition to our knowledge of pre-modern Kerala.
Janaki’s is a sincere and painstaking effort and the book offers a fresh
and deep understanding of Kerala society in the pre-modern periods.
Janaki writes in an elegant easy to read prose. I have great pleasure in
introducing this well documented book to the general public and to the
students of History.” (Excerpt from the ‘Forward’ to the book by Professor K.
Gopalankutty)
Kerala Council for Historical Research
is organizing
Release and Review of the Book
Pre Modern Kerala Society
Based on Oral Tradition
by
M. Janaki
on 30th August 2019 (03:00 pm)
at KCHR Annexe
Kesavadasapuram, Thiruvananthapuram
Chair
Dr. V. Sathish
Discussants
Dr. K. S. Madhavan
Professor P. Sanal Mohan
Professor M. Janaki

Release of the book

Dr. V. Sathish
Reception of the book
Dr. K. S. Madhavan

You are cordially invited

Professor P. K. Michael Tharakan

Chairperson, KCHR

( Join us for High Tea at 2:30 pm)

 Dr. V. Sathish is an Associate Professor and Head of the Department of History,
University of Kerala. He previously worked with History departments of different
government colleges in the State. He has Post Graduate degrees in Law and History
and completed his Doctoral research from the Faculty of Social Sciences, University
of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram in 2009 in a multi-disciplinary research theme on
History and Law. He has a number of journal articles and edited volumes to his credit.
His areas of interest include Human Rights Jurisprudence, Gender Equality, Rights
of Minorities and Weaker Sections, History of Freedom Movement, Ethnic Studies,
Right to Life and Personal Liberty, Distributive Justice, Law and Social Change in
Historical Perspective and Constitutional History of India.

Dr. K. S.Madhavan is an Associate Professor at the Department of History

University of Calicut. He has specialized in the areas of Early Historic and Early
Medieval Kerala. His PhD thesis, Primary Producing Groups in Early and Early
Medieval Kerala 300-1300 AD is a very significant contribution to the field of
historical research in Kerala. His areas of interest, in addition to History, include
Social Theory and Cultural Studies.

Professor P. Sanal Mohan is currently the Director of the KCHR. He taught at

the School of Social Sciences, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam. He was Smuts
Visiting Fellow at the University of Cambridge and Post-Doctoral Visiting Fellow at
the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Gottingen,
Germany, among others. His areas of research interest include colonial modernity,
social movements and questions of identity, Dalit movements and Christianity in
India. His book Modernity of Slavery: Struggles against Caste Inequality in Colonial
Kerala was published by the Oxford University Press in 2015.

Professor M. Janaki is a researcher in the areas of Social and Economic History

of Kerala. Her PhD thesis is titled Land Revenue Administration in Malabar under
the English East India Company. She retired as Principal, Government College,
Kodenchery, Calicut. Prior to that, Professor Janaki taught in various Government
Colleges in Kerala including Government Arts and Sciences College, Calicut for
nearly twenty-seven years. Her areas of specialization include Oral tradition, Social
and Economic History and Colonialism. The book Pre Modern Kerala Society
Based on Oral Tradition shows Professor Janaki’s analytical skills as a historian.
She has several published research papers in journals and books. She is currently
working on a monograph titled Land Revenue Administration in Malabar under the
English East India Company.

Kerala Council for Historical Research

Vyloppilly Samskrithi Bhavan, Nalanda, Thiruvananthapuram- 695003
Phone / Fax – 0471 2310409, Mob: 94471 37651
E mail: kchrtrivandrum@gmail.com, www.kchr.ac.in