Religion in Kerala
Religion in Kerala is diverse. According to 2011 census of India figures, 54.73% of Kerala's population follows Hinduism, 26.56% are followers of Islam, 18.38% follow Christianity, and the remaining 0.33% follow other religions or have no religion.
The historical legends regarding the origin of Kerala are Hindu in nature. Kerala produced several saints and movements. Adi Shankara was a religious philosopher who contributed to Hinduism and propagated the philosophy of Advaita. Hindus represent the biggest religious group in all districts except Malappuram, where they are outnumbered by Muslims. Various tribal people in Kerala have retained the religious beliefs of their ancestors.
Hinduism
is the most widely professed faith in Kerala. According to 2011 Census of India figures, 54.7% of Kerala's residents are Hindus. Hindus represent the biggest religious group in all districts except Malappuram.Kerala produced several saints and movements. Adi Shankara was a religious philosopher who contributed to Hinduism and propagated the philosophy of Advaita. He was instrumental in establishing four mathas at Sringeri, Dwarka, Puri and Jyotirmath. Melpathur Narayana Bhattathiri was another religious figure who composed Narayaniyam, a collection of verses in praise of the Hindu God Krishna.
Various practises of Hinduism are unique to Kerala. Worship of Shiva and Vishnu is popular in Kerala. Lord Krishna is worshipped widely in all parts of Kerala, Guruvayur being one of the most famous temples in the state. Malayali Hindus also worship Bhagavathi as a form of Shakti. Almost every village in Kerala has a Bhagavati Goddess. Hindus in Kerala also strongly believe in power of snake gods and usually have sacred snake groves known as Sarpa Kavu near to their houses.
File:Anantapura Lake Temple.jpg|left|thumb|Ananthapura Lake Temple, Kasaragod
File:Vadakkumnathan Temple.jpg|thumb|Vadakkunnathan Temple dedicated to Shiva at Thrissur
Some of the most notable temples are:Thiruvananthapuram Padmanabhaswamy Temple, Thiruvallam Sree Parasurama Swami Temple, Janardhanaswamy Temple, Vellayani Devi Temple, Pazhaya Sreekanteswaram Temple, Ananthapura Lake Temple, Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple, Angadipuram Thirumandhamkunnu Temple, Alathiyoor Hanuman Temple, Bhayankavu Bhagavathi Temple, Kadampuzha Devi Temple, Keraladeshpuram Temple, Panniyur Sri Varahamurthy Temple, Sukapuram Dakshinamoorthy Temple, Thirunavaya Navamukunda Temple, Triprangode Siva Temple, Tali Shiva Temple, Trikkandiyur Siva Temple, Thrissur Vadakkunnathan Temple, Guruvayur Temple, Thriprayar Temple, Lokanarkavu Temple, Thirunelli Temple, Aranmula Parthasarathy Temple, Chottanikkara Temple, Chengannur Mahadeva Temple, Parassinikadavu Muthappan Temple, Chettikulangara Devi Temple, Mannarasala Temple, Chakkulathukavu Temple, Thiruvalla Sreevallabha Temple, Kaviyoor Mahadevar Temple, Parumala Panayannarkavu Temple, Sree Poornathrayesa Temple, Kodungallur Bhagavathy Temple, Trikkur Mahadeva Temple, Manalarkavu Devi Temple and Rajarajeshwara Temple. Temples in Kerala follow elaborate rituals and traditionally only priests from the Nambudiri caste could be appointed as priests in major temples. But in 2017 as per the state government's decision, the priests from the historically backward caste communities are now being appointed as priests.
Malayali Hindus practice ceremonies such as Chorunu and Vidyāraṃbhaṃ.
Islam
- Islam is the second-largest practiced religion in Kerala, only surpassed by Hinduism. The calculated Muslim population in Kerala state is 8,873,472.
- Most of the Muslims in Kerala follow the Shāfiʿī School, followed by Salafi movement.
- Muslims in Kerala share a common language with the Hindus and rest of the population and have a culture commonly regarded as the Malayali culture.
- A number of different communities, some of them having distant ethnic roots, exist as status groups in Kerala.
History
Islam arrived in Kerala, a part of the larger Indian Ocean rim, via spice and silk traders from the Middle East. Historians do not rule out the possibility of Islam being introduced to Kerala as early as the seventh century CE. Northern Kerala Muslims are generally referred to as the Mappilas. Mappilas are but one among the many communities that forms the Muslim population of Northern Kerala. The first Indian mosque was built in 624 AD at Kodungallur. According to Qissat Shakarwati Farmad, the Masjids at Kodungallur, Kollam, Madayi, Barkur, Mangalore, Kasaragod, Kannur, Dharmadam, Panthalayini, and Chaliyam, were built during the era of Malik Dinar, and they are among the oldest Masjids in the Indian subcontinent. It is believed that Malik Dinar died at Thalangara in Kasaragod town. According to popular tradition, Islam was brought to Lakshadweep islands, situated just to the west of Malabar Coast, by Ubaidullah in 661 CE. His grave is believed to be located on the island of Andrott. A few Umayyad coins were discovered from Kothamangalam in the eastern part of Ernakulam district.
The known earliest mention about Muslims of Kerala is in the Quilon Syrian copper plates of the 9th century CE, granted by the ruler of Kollam. A number of foreign accounts have mentioned about the presence of considerable Muslim population in the Malabar Coast. Arab writers such as Al-Masudi of Baghdad, Muhammad al-Idrisi, Abulfeda, and Al-Dimashqi mention the Muslim communities in Kerala. Some historians assume that the Mappilas can be considered as the first native, settled Muslim community in South Asia. Al-Biruni appears to be the first writer to call Malabar Coast as Malabar. Authors such as Ibn Khordadbeh and Al-Baladhuri mention Malabar ports in their works. The Arab writers had called this place Malibar, Manibar, Mulibar, and Munibar. Malabar is reminiscent of the word Malanad which means the land of hills. According to William Logan, the word Malabar comes from a combination of the Dravidian word Mala and the Persian/Arabic word Barr. The Kodungallur Mosque, has a granite foundation exhibiting 11th–12th century architectural style. The Arabic inscription on a copper slab within the Madayi Mosque in Kannur records its foundation year as 1124 CE.
The Muslims were a major financial power to be reckoned with in the old kingdoms of Kerala and had great political influence in the Hindu royal courts. Travellers have recorded the considerably huge presence of Muslim merchants and settlements of sojourning traders in most of the ports of Kerala. Immigration, intermarriage and missionary activity/conversion – secured by the common interest in the spice trade – helped in this development. Muslim merchant magnates owning ships, spread their shipping and trading business interests across the Indian Ocean. The Koyilandy Jumu'ah Mosque contains an Old Malayalam inscription written in a mixture of Vatteluttu and Grantha scripts which dates back to the 10th century CE. It is a rare surviving document recording patronage by a Hindu king to the Muslims of Kerala. A 13th century granite inscription, written in a mixture of Old Malayalam and Arabic, at Muchundi Mosque in Kozhikode mentions a donation by the king to the mosque.
The Moroccan traveller Ibn Battutah has recorded the considerably huge presence of Muslim merchants and settlements of sojourning traders in most of the ports of Kerala. By the early decades of the 14th century, travellers speak of Calicut as the major port city in Kerala. Some of the important administrative positions in the kingdom of Zamorin of Calicut, such as that of the port commissioner, were held by Muslims. The port commissioner, the Shah Bandar, represented commercial interests of the Muslim merchants. In his account, Ibn Battutah mentions Shah Bandars in Calicut as well as Quilon. The Ali Rajas of Arakkal kingdom, based at Kannur, ruled the Lakshadweep Islands. Arabs had the monopoly of trade in Malabar Coast and Indian Ocean until the Portuguese Age of Discovery.
The arrival of the Portuguese traders in Malabar Coast in the late 15th century checked the then well-established and wealthy Muslim community's progress. Following the discovery of sea route from Europe to Malabar in 1498, the Portuguese began to expand their territories and ruled the seas between Ormus and the Malabar Coast and south to Ceylon. The Tuhfat Ul Mujahideen written by Zainuddin Makhdoom II of Ponnani during 16th-century CE is the first-ever known book fully based on the history of Kerala, written by a Keralite. It is written in Arabic and contains pieces of information about the resistance put up by the navy of Kunjali Marakkar alongside the Zamorin of Calicut from 1498 to 1583 against Portuguese attempts to colonize Malabar coast. It was first printed and published in Lisbon. A copy of this edition has been preserved in the library of Al-Azhar University, Cairo. Tuhfatul Mujahideen also describes the history of Mappila Muslim community of Kerala as well as the general condition of Malabar Coast in the 16th century CE. With the end of Portuguese era, Arabs lost their monopoly of trade in Malabar Coast. By the mid-18th century the majority of the Muslims of Kerala became landless labourers, poor fishermen and petty traders, and the community was in "a psychological retreat". The subsequent partisan rule of English East India Company authorities brought the land-less Muslim peasants of Malabar District into a condition of destitution, and this led to a series of uprisings. The series of violence eventually exploded as the Mappila Uprising.
A large number of Muslims of Kerala found extensive employment in the Persian Gulf countries in the following years. This widespread participation in the "Gulf Rush" produced huge economic and social benefits for the community. Great influx funds from the earnings of the employed followed. Issues such as widespread poverty, unemployment and educational backwardness began to change.