Kerala +2 History key terms

A large backwater lake near Kollam in south Kerala, formed where rivers meet the sea. It was a hub of inland water transport, fishing and the medieval Kollam spice trade, and is now a Ramsar wetland.

The collective term for India's indigenous or tribal communities, who are outside the caste hierarchy and often live in forest and hill regions. In Kerala groups such as the Paniya, Kurichiya and Cholanaickan are officially listed as Scheduled Tribes.

A late-16th-century Persian administrative and statistical survey of the Mughal Empire, compiled by Abul Fazl as part of the Akbarnama. It records revenue rates, land classifications, prices and provincial data, making it a key source for Mughal economic history.

A 7th-century Sanskrit inscription of Chalukya king Pulakeshin II, composed by the poet Ravikirti. It commemorates his victory over Harshavardhana and contains a date in the Shaka era, helping historians fix early medieval chronology.

A traditional Kerala dugout canoe carved from a single log, used for fishing and for carrying goods along backwaters and canals. Its continued use illustrates how water transport shaped settlement and trade in the Malabar region.

The ongoing scholarly dispute over whether Indo-Aryan languages and Vedic culture arrived in South Asia through migration around 1500 BCE or developed locally. Evidence drawn from the Rigveda, linguistics and genetics is interpreted differently by rival schools.

A devotional current that spread across India from roughly the 7th century, stressing personal love for a chosen deity and often rejecting priestly mediation and caste privilege. It produced vernacular poetry in many languages and shaped later social reform.

A Portuguese navigator who reached the Kerala coast at Calicut in 1500 while sailing for India. His voyage established the Portuguese sea route opened by Vasco da Gama and began direct European commercial and military involvement in the Indian Ocean.

A Portuguese licensing arrangement in the Indian Ocean requiring merchant ships to buy a pass to trade or sail. It was enforced by armed fleets from fortified bases such as Goa, turning commerce into a source of revenue and control.

A dynasty ruling Gujarat and parts of Rajasthan between the 10th and 13th centuries, also called the Solankis. Its rulers patronised Jain and Hindu temples, and their maritime trade with West Asia linked Gujarat to Indian Ocean commerce.

One of the three major ruling houses of early historic South India, controlling the Kerala coast and parts of Tamil country from around the 3rd century BCE. Cheras appear in Sangam poetry and issued coins, and their ports handled Roman trade.

A short sacred formula or incantation in Buddhism, often written on clay seals, pillars and manuscripts. Depositing dharani texts was believed to earn merit, and surviving examples help historians study the spread of Mahayana practice.

A genre of Sanskrit texts setting out religious duty, law and social norms, of which the Manusmriti is the best known. Historians read them cautiously, since they prescribe ideals rather than describing how people actually lived.

A sailing vessel with a lateen sail used by Arab, Persian and Indian merchants across the western Indian Ocean. Dhows carried spices, textiles and horses between Red Sea and Malabar ports, and their design suited seasonal monsoon winds.

An early Pali chronicle from Sri Lanka, composed probably in the 4th century CE, recording the legendary and historical spread of Buddhism on the island. Together with the Mahavamsa it is a major source for early Buddhist and South Indian links.

An 18th-century European intellectual movement emphasising reason, science, individual rights and criticism of religious and royal authority. Its ideas about liberty and equality influenced the American and French Revolutions and later nationalist thought.

The Portuguese administrative and military structure in Asia, centred on Goa from 1505, governing forts and factories from East Africa to Southeast Asia. It combined trade monopolies, naval patrols and alliances with local rulers.

A large Kerala social group traditionally associated with toddy tapping, agriculture and Ayurvedic medicine, and classified as backward in the old caste order. Ezhavas led major reform and temple-entry movements in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

An agreement signed in March 1931 between Mahatma Gandhi and Viceroy Lord Irwin after the Salt Satyagraha. The government released political prisoners and allowed salt making near the coast, while the Congress suspended civil disobedience and joined the Second Round Table Conference.

A port city on India's west coast captured by Afonso de Albuquerque in 1510, which became the capital of Portuguese India. Its churches, archives and customs records make it central to the study of European expansion in Asia.

A written instrument used in Indian commerce to transfer money or extend credit across long distances, functioning like a bill of exchange. Hundis linked merchant firms in Gujarat, Bengal and Malabar and show how indigenous banking worked without formal banks.

The centuries-old network of exchange linking East Africa, Arabia, India and Southeast Asia through monsoon sailing. Goods such as pepper, textiles, horses and spices moved along it, and port cities grew wealthy from customs and shipping.

A tax levied on non-Muslim subjects in return for protection under Islamic rule, applied in various periods by sultanates and the Mughals. Its imposition, remission and rate were politically symbolic, and Akbar abolished it in 1564.

A historic Kerala port that served as a major centre of the pepper and spice trade from the 9th century, with Arab, Chinese and later Portuguese merchants active there. Its copper-plate grants record privileges given to foreign trading communities.

The title held by a family of Muslim naval commanders of Malabar, notably Kunjali Marakkar IV, who resisted Portuguese control in the late 16th century. Their campaigns illustrate local resistance to European monopoly in the Indian Ocean.

An 1812 uprising of the Kurichiya and Kurumba tribal communities in Wayanad against British revenue demands and interference. Led by figures such as Thalakkal Chanthu, it is among the earliest anti-colonial tribal resistances in Kerala.

A Pali historical poem of Sri Lanka, compiled from earlier traditions in the 5th-6th century CE, describing kings, Buddhist monuments and wars. Historians use it alongside inscriptions to reconstruct early South Asian political history.

An ancient Sanskrit legal text attributed to Manu, presenting rules on caste duties, marriage, inheritance and kingship. It is a normative rather than descriptive source, and historians debate how far its prescriptions were actually enforced.

Seasonal winds that reverse direction between summer and winter, blowing from the southwest in summer and northeast in winter. Their predictability made long-distance Indian Ocean sailing possible and determined the timing of voyages and port activity.

An ancient port on the Kerala coast, probably near present-day Pattanam, that traded pepper and other goods with Rome in the early centuries CE. Its identification rests on classical texts, coins, pottery and archaeological excavation.

A political idea holding that a people sharing language, history or culture should form a self-governing nation. In colonial contexts it fuelled movements for independence, while in Europe it also contributed to rivalry and war.

The earliest surviving collection of Buddhist scriptures, preserved in the Pali language and traditionally arranged in three baskets. It contains discourses, monastic rules and philosophy, and is a primary source for early Buddhism.

The ruler of Kottayam in Wayanad who fought the British in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, using guerrilla tactics in the hills. His resistance is remembered as an early Kerala struggle against colonial expansion.

A Greek merchant's manual from around the 1st century CE describing sailing routes and ports from the Red Sea to India. Its references to Muziris and Kerala pepper make it a key source for Indo-Roman trade.

A Chalukya king who ruled from Badami in the 7th century and extended his power across the Deccan. His court poet Ravikirti recorded his victories, and his conflict with Harshavardhana is a landmark of early medieval politics.

The 1930 campaign in which Gandhi and thousands of Indians broke the government salt monopoly by making salt at Dandi. It launched the civil disobedience movement and drew mass participation, including in Kerala at Payyanur and Varkala.

A body of Tamil poetry composed roughly between 300 BCE and 300 CE, dealing with love, war, kingship and trade. Its references to ports, goods and rulers make it essential for reconstructing early South Indian and Kerala history.

The 1919 peace settlement ending World War I, imposing territorial losses, disarmament and heavy reparations on Germany. Its terms bred resentment and economic instability, factors historians link to the rise of aggressive nationalism and World War II.

A 1924-25 nonviolent agitation in Travancore demanding that oppressed castes be allowed to use roads near the Vaikom temple. Supported by Gandhi, Periyar and Kerala reformers, it became a landmark in the struggle against untouchability.

The title of the hereditary rulers of Calicut, who controlled the pepper trade and hosted Vasco da Gama in 1498. Their rivalry with the Portuguese and with Cochin shaped the politics of the Malabar coast for a century.