{{Short description|Period of the Malayalam language}} {{Infobox language |name= Middle Malayalam |nativename= മധ്യകാലമലയാളം |pronunciation= Madhyakālamalayāḷam |region= Kerala |era=Developed into Modern Malayalam by the 15th century |familycolor=Dravidian |fam2 = Southern |fam3 = Tamil–Kannada |fam4 = Tamil–Kodagu |fam5 = Tamil-Malayalam |ancestor = Old Malayalam |script = Vatteluttu, then Kolezhuthu, Malayanma, Grantha |isoexception=historical |glotto=none }}
'''Middle Malayalam''' is the period of the Malayalam language spanning from 13th century to 15th century AD.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R9GbBVfrm4gC&q=%22middle+malayalam%22&pg=PA14|title=A Primer of Malayalam Literature|first=T. K. Krishna|last=Menon|date=1939|publisher=Asian Educational Services|isbn=9788120606036|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KnPoYxrRfc0C|title=Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature: Sasay to Zorgot|first=Mohan|last=Lal|date=June 6, 1992|publisher=Sahitya Akademi|isbn=9788126012213|via=Google Books}}</ref>
The works including ''Unniyachi Charitham'', ''Unnichiruthevi Charitham'', and ''Unniyadi Charitham'', are written in Middle Malayalam, those date back to 13th and 14th centuries of Common Era.<ref name="mlm">{{cite book |title=A Short History of Malayalam Literature |author=Dr. K. Ayyappa Panicker |url=https://archive.org/details/ASHORTHISTORYOFMALAYALAMLITERATURE |year=2006 |location=Thiruvananthapuram |publisher=Department of Information and Public Relations, Kerala}}</ref><ref name="Malabar">{{cite book |last1=Sreedhara Menon |first1=A. |title=''Kerala Charitram'' |year=2007 |publisher=DC Books |location=Kottayam |isbn=978-8126415885 |edition=2007 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FAlXPgAACAAJ&q=%E0%B4%95%E0%B5%87%E0%B4%B0%E0%B4%B3+%E0%B4%9A%E0%B4%B0%E0%B4%BF%E0%B4%A4%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%B0%E0%B4%82}}</ref> The ''Sandesha Kavya''s of 14th century CE written in Manipravalam language include ''Unnuneeli Sandesam''.<ref name="mlm"/><ref name="Malabar"/> The word ''Manipravalam'' literally means ''Diamond-Coral'' or ''Ruby-Coral''. The 14th-century ''Lilatilakam'' text states Manipravalam to be a ''Bhashya'' (language) where "Malayalam and Sanskrit should combine together like ruby and coral, without the least trace of any discord".<ref name="PollockPollock2003">{{cite book|author1=Sheldon Pollock|author2=Arvind Raghunathan|title=Literary Cultures in History: Reconstructions from South Asia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ak9csfpY2WoC |date=19 May 2003|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-22821-4|pages=449, 455–472}}</ref><ref>Ke Rāmacandr̲an Nāyar (1971). ''Early Manipravalam: a study.'' Anjali. Foreign Language Study. pp. 78</ref> ''Kannassa Ramayanam'' and ''Kannassa Bharatam'' by '''Rama Panikkar''' of the Niranam poets who lived between 1350 and 1450 are representative of this language.<ref name="ptn">{{Citation|last=Kerala (India)|first=Dept. of Public Relations|title=District Handbooks of Kerala: Pathanamthitta (Volume 7 of District Handbooks of Kerala, Kerala (India). Dept. of Public Relations|year=2003}}</ref> The ''Champu Kavyas'' written by Punam Nambudiri, one among the ''Pathinettara Kavikal'' (Eighteen and a half poets) in the court of the Zamorin of Calicut, also belong to Middle Malayalam.<ref name="Malabar"/><ref name="mlm"/>
The Old Malayalam language ( 1stcentury BCE – 13th century CE) was employed in several official records and transactions (at the level of the Chera Perumal kings as well as the upper-caste (Nambudiri) villages).<ref name=":830">{{Cite book|last=Narayanan|first=M. G. S.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0YDCngEACAAJ&q=Perumals+of+Kerala|title=Perumals of Kerala|publisher=CosmoBooks|year=2013|isbn=9788188765072|location=Thrissur|pages=380–82}}</ref> It was an inscriptional language and there was not any literary work of its own, with possible exceptions of ''Ramacharitam'' and ''Thirunizhalmala''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ayyar|first=L. V. Ramaswami|url=https://archive.org/stream/TheEvolutionOfMalayalamMorphology/The-Evolution-of-Malayalam-Morphology|title=The Evolution of Malayalam Morphology|publisher=Rama Varma Research Institute|year=1936|isbn=|edition=1st|location=Trichur|pages=3}}</ref> However the Malayalam literature completely diverged from the contemporary Tamil literature by the period of Middle Malayalam.<ref name="ptn"/> The Middle Malayalam period marked the commencement of the unique traits of Malayalam literature.<ref name="mlm"/><ref name="Malabar"/> The literary works written in Middle Malayalam were heavily influenced by Sanskrit and Prakrit, while comparing them with the modern Malayalam literature.<ref name="mlm"/><ref name="Malabar"/>
==Notes== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== * {{cite book |title=A Short History of Malayalam Literature |author=Dr. K. Ayyappa Panicker |url=https://archive.org/details/ASHORTHISTORYOFMALAYALAMLITERATURE |year=2006 |location=Thiruvananthapuram |publisher=Department of Information and Public Relations, Kerala}} * {{cite book|author=Menon, A. Sreedhara |title=A Survey of Kerala History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FVsw35oEBv4C|year=2007|publisher=DC Books|isbn=9788126415786}} * {{Cite book|title=Mathrubhumi Yearbook Plus - 2019|publisher=P. V. Chandran, Managing Editor, Mathrubhumi Printing & Publishing Company Limited, Kozhikode|year=2018|location=Kozhikode |edition=Malayalam }} {{Malayalam Literature|state=collapsed}} {{Languages of India}} {{Languages of South Asia}} {{Dravidian languages}} {{Languages spoken in Kerala}} {{Kerala topics}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Medieval languages Category:Malayalam language Category:Dravidian languages