Thunchaththu Ezhuthachan

Period

Ezhuthachan is generally believed to have lived around the sixteenth or seventeenth century. Arthur C. Burnell (1871) dated him to the seventeenth century from a title deed found in a manuscript collection preserved in Chittur. William Logan (1887) and Hermann Gundert also placed him in the seventeenth century. Kovunni Nedungadi dated him to the fifteenth century.

Govinda Pillai argued for the fifteenth or sixteenth century, citing the Kali chronogram 'ayurarogyaa saukhyam' from the Narayaneeyam of Melpathur Narayana Bhattathiri, a possible senior contemporary. A. R. Kattayattu Govindra Menon and Chittur Gurumadhom authorities cited the chronogram 'pavitramparam saukhyam' as a reference to the date of Ezhuthachan's samadhi, sometimes with the word 'surya' suffixed. R. Narayana Panikkar supported Govinda Pillai's date, based on Ezhuthachan's contemporaneity with Melpathur Narayana Bhattathiri (c. 1531–c. 1637 AD) and Nilakantan 'Nambudiri' (fl. c. 1565 and c. 1601 AD).

P. K. Narayana Pillai cited the Kali chronogram 'nakasyanyunasaukhyam' (1555 AD) from a verse on the founding of the Chittur matham. Ulloor S. Parameshwara Iyer argued for birth in 1495 AD and death in 1575 AD, a timeframe also proposed by C. Radhakrishnan. Sheldon Pollock dated Ezhuthachan to the sixteenth century, and Rich Freeman to the late sixteenth–early seventeenth century.

Life and career

Little is known with certainty about Ezhuthachan's life. He was born at Trikkandiyoor, near modern-day Tirur in northern Kerala, in a traditional Hindu family. His lineage home was 'Thunchaththu'. His parents' names are not known, and there are disputes about his given name; 'Ezhuthachan' was a generic title for any village schoolteacher in premodern Kerala.

As a boy he seems to have exhibited uncommon intelligence and was probably educated by his elder brother. After early education he is believed to have travelled in other parts of India outside Kerala, learning Sanskrit and some other Dravidian languages. On his way back from Tamil Nadu he had a stopover at Chittur in Palakkad and eventually settled at Thekke Gramam near Anikkode with his disciples. There he established a hermitage (the 'Ramananda ashrama') and a Brahmin residence (agraharam) on land bought from the landlord of Chittur, at a site now known as the Chittur Gurumadhom.

The institution was flanked by temples of gods Rama and Siva and probably housed both Brahmin and Sudra students. Ezhuthachan was eventually associated with an institutional line of masters (gurus) that can be historically verified. He and his disciples ignited a new literary movement in Kerala. He is believed to have attained samadhi at the Gurumadhom at Chittur.

A verse chanted by the ascetics of the mathom lists the line of masters: Thunchaththu Sri Guru, Sri Karunakaran, Sri Suryanarayanan, Sri Deva Guru, and Sri Gopala Guru.

Father of Modern Malayalam

Ezhuthachan—although he lived around the sixteenth century AD—has been called the 'father of modern Malayalam', or, alternatively, the 'father of Malayalam literature'. His success even in his own lifetime seems to have been great. No original compositions are attributed to him; his main works generally are based on Sanskrit compositions. Linguists are unanimous in assigning Adhyatma Ramayanam to him.

His Malayalam recomposition of the Sanskrit epic Ramayana rapidly circulated around Kerala middle-caste homes as a popular devotional text. It can be said that Ezhuthachan brought the then unknown Sanskrit-Puranic literature to the level of common understanding (domesticated religious textuality). His other major contribution has been in mainstreaming the current Malayalam alphabet.

Caste

Ezhuthachan was not from a brahmin community, and for long the brahmins of Kerala were reluctant to accept him.