The Acts and Decrees of the Synod of Diamper and the Machinations of Religious Colonization

The Synod of Diamper is, arguably, amongst the most significant milestones in the history of St. Thomas Christians in Kerala. This Synod was convened in the church at Udayamperoor, Kochi, Kerala, from June 20 to June 26, 1599. As is documented, it was Archbishop Alexis De Menezes of Goa who convoked this Synod. 200 decrees were passed during the nine sessions which were held during the Synod; these decrees, in toto, became a turning point in the history of Christianity in Kerala. Primarily, the Synod of Diamper was a religious/theological one. However, its subsequent decisive role in the history and culture of Kerala also gave the Synod a social face. A close scrutiny of the canonas [canon] reveals that these decrees were formulated with a consideration of only Christian practices that were prevalent and familiar in the West [Occident]. In a grimly ironic sense, the canonas overtly attempts a coax-hoax, whereby the Christians of Kerala would be coerced to follow the rules of the occidental version of Christianity; and this disciplining would be aided by various methods including expulsions from parish, ex-communication, etc. One big fallout of this scenario was that the Christians of Kerala, who till then had a variegated co- existence with different cultures, were forced to take up an exclusive and singular notion of Christian culture. Through these canonas, many of the existing socio- cultural customs of the Christians of Kerala were abolished; an attempt to sculpt the socio-cultural life of this native populace and bring it in accordance with the image of the Christian that the West upheld. This article aims to reveal the methodology through which the Institutionalized Western Theological-agencies, by means of constant surveillance and an enforced seclusion-exclusion axis, exerted power on regional and native Christian group.

Classical Literature in Poet Kannadasan’s Cine Songs

Classical literature and Kannadasan's screenplay are two literary elements of the same language. Classicism has deeply influenced Poet Kannadasan. The impact of such literature on literary critics is inevitable. The rich ideas of classicism abound in Kannadasan's screen music. Tolkappiyam is the oldest of the available. Classicism is younger than that. The literature between the two disappeared over time. At that time, Tolkappiyam and Sevvilakkiyam revived Tamil. During this period, Kannadasan's screen songs have flooded the Tamil language. The lyrics and techniques contained in the classic and Kannadasan's screen compositions are like an ocean. This article describes some of the virtues of having peace in the depths of such an ocean.

A Comparative Perspective on Kabir and George Herbert's Poetry

The Bhakti movement in India attempted reforms by fighting caste rigidities and superstitions. Almost around the same time the Cambridge reformers were attempting to reform the Catholic Church and propagating Protestant ideas. This paper attempts a comparative perspective on George Herbert’s poetry in relation to some aspects of Bhakti poetry in India, especially with reference to Kabir. George Herbert who was a Metaphysical poet is classified as a devotional poet for the corpus of religious poetry he wrote. The approach of this Metaphysical poet and poets like Kabir from the Bhakti movement has certain points of comparison. Certain similarities in the discourse of the disciple as slave to his Lord; as the lover in search of a union etc. finds place in this discussion. This paper engages in a close study of the religious poetry of George Herbert and that of Kabir in relation to the trends of the Bhakti movement. The language used by most Bhakti poets is simple and words from the vernacular languages of India find a presence in pure or mixed form. Kabir uses the ‘sadhukkadi’ or ‘khichdi’ language. Though Herbert wrote in the English language the world-view of both the poets is quite similar. Some of the images and the philosophy that manifests itself in the two poets are examined through this comparative study.

Aesthetics and Politics of Poetry written in Tribal Languages of Kerala

Poems written in Tribal languages are a notable presence in contemporary Malayalam poetry. As there is no script for those endangered tribal languages, they are written in Malayalam script. They are being translated into Malayalam. These poems become a declaration of the aboriginal community and of the aesthetics that obscure mainstream aesthetic concept. Tribal communities in Kerala lives in the forest areas of Idukki, Wayanad, Palakkad, Kasaragod, Trissur, Cochin, Trivandrum and Kollam districts. These marginalized people are facing a crisis of survival. The neglect of the main stream society and the Government and the destruction of the habitat have made their lives miserable. Indigenous tribal languages are endangered. It is in this context that the new generation of educated Adivasis seek to document their survival problem through poetry in the tribal language itself. Poems are written in tribal languages such as Irula, Rawla, Malavettuva, Paniya, Mavila and Muthuvan appearing in social media and in print and book form, they symbolize a different sensibility. The aim of this paper is to findout the political attitudes, aesthetic concepts and features of languages of the aboriginal community by studying these poems.

The manifestations of secularism in the Arabic literature of the Jahiliyyah period: A study prioritizing the views of Gus Bin Zaydah

Jahillayath means ignorance. The Arabic word Jahiliyyah refers to the zealous culture and civilized society in the Islamic case. It is against Islam. The Jahiliyya community is a brutal society with human characteristics cut off. Gus bin Zaydah was a literary figure who lived in the so-called Jahiliyya social period. It can be observed that Islamic thought is often exaggerated in his poetry and prose literature. Much of his literature, prose and poetry, speaks of the triviality of worldly life and the permanence of the afterlife. Death is expressed in many of his speeches and poems. This is in stark contrast to pagan literature. Therefore, this study seeks to introduce Jahiliyyah and express the uniqueness of Arabic literature and to reveal the secular expressions of thought in the literary aspects of the Jahiliyya period writer Gus bin Zaydah. For this purpose descriptive and analytical methods were used and studied.

The impact of Education on the Student, Family and Society as a result of Covid-19 in India

The Covid-19, which shocked the whole world and created a riot, is well known to the common man today. Covid-19 has already been declared as a pandemic under the Infectious Diseases Act-1897. It is noteworthy that the pandemic has not only directly caused harm to man, but also indirectly caused him to discontinuing his academic, economic and social activities with considerable damage. The virus, which first appeared in China in December 2019, appeared first in India on 30th January 2020, on a student returning to Kerala from Wuhan University, China. Since then, the Covid-19 pandemic has spread in India and killed 4,18,987 people till 22 July 2021. As a result of this horror, many of the country's historic buildings, religious sectors, entertainment mansions, railways, courts, administrative sectors and educational institutions were officially closed, causing considerable problems in Indian Society. Against that backdrop, the present article seeks to address how and why Covid-19 has impacted Students, Families, Educational Institutions and Society in relation to academic life.

Contribution of Branch Stories to The Structure of The Epic: A Study Based on The Silappathikaram

Epic is the Tamil form of the word epic. It is a literary form structured with various elements. Among them the branch is the main component. It is created to support the purpose of coffee. This is the storyline that lies within the central story. Silappathikaram also presents several branch stories with them as a consensual literary form. The central story is the life struggle story of Kovalan - Kannaki - Madhavi, the pioneer of Tamil coffee, Ilangovadikal and Silappathikaram. Several episodes interspersed with the Silappathikara central story expand the scope of the epic story. In particular, 32 episodes co-exist with Kovalan Kannaki's biography, giving a twist, emphasis, clarity and significance to the elemental. These stories complement the silappathikaram storytelling and copy structure. Anecdotes are used in the silappathikaram to reinforce the author's ideas, to advance the narrative and the personality of the characters, and to identify the context and silappathikaram of the narrative and its use. The study focuses on scholasticism with a view to revealing and documenting the role of branch stories in such copywriting. The scholastic epic of the juveniles has been used primarily for this study and related essays, journals, and electronic commentary have also been used as research data. The study also emphasizes that many more such studies should be carried out by researchers in view of the importance of branch stories and their contribution to copywriting.

A Comparative study of Andra bhasha bhushanam and Tolkappiyam

This review examines the subject under five sub-headings: writing intent, writing structure, Type of techniques, vocabulary, and spelling observation. Of these, the structure of the text is examined under two sub-headings, external structure and internal structure. Among the 32 writing techniques mentioned by Tolkappiyar, 1. Writing purpose, 2. Section order, 3. Codification expression, 4. Section expression, 5. Semantic coordination, 6. Fictional gestures, 7. Meaningful reference, 8. Alternative formula entry, 9. Future reference, 10. Sutra and examples are examined in bilingual grammars. In formulaic construction methods such as sutrartham, sutra structure, relation between sutras, gana, nipatam are taken into consideration. In the alphabet section, topics such as distribution of letters, creation of letters, conjugation, and word usage are examined. Finally, at the end of the character the 10 things identified in the bilingual grammars examined comparatively are revealed and the table of reference is compiled.

A Brief Survey on the Sociolinguistic Pattern of Khelma (Sakachep) in Relation to the Mediating Role of Multilingualism among the Native Speakers

Languages play a vital role in the formation of identity of a speech community with its unique features. The degree of usage of a language in various domains and the positive attitudes of the native speakers towards the language help to strengthen up and maintain the status, power and solidarity of the speech community. Very often the native speakers of the smaller known languages remain unaware of the risk of losing their language or about the process of language shifting. Today in the world of science and technology each and every speech community is practising multilingualism either directly or indirectly according to the demands of the basic needs in their daily lives. This paper is a result of an attempt to present a sociolinguistic survey on the language use, attitude and identity of native speakers of Khelma (Sakachep) in the district of Dima Hasao, Assam in North-East India towards their mother tongue as well as towards other languages spoken and used in different domains in the Khelma community according to their needs. The research work is carried out under CFEL, Tezpur University, Assam. Native speakers based on different age groups, gender, educational qualifications, occupational patterns, family types and as rural and urban dwellers were interviewed. The methods used for interview were personal interviews, group discussions, telephonic conversations and silent observations. The participants were asked a series of questions concerning their language, culture, traditions and also their feelings regarding other languages used in and around them.

A Scientific study of Forests of the Western Ghats

The Western Ghats in India’s Deccan Plateau has been recognized as one of the eight “hottest hot-spots” of biological diversity in the world. UNESCO has identified this region as a World Heritage Site. In Maharashtra, this mountain range is known as ‘Sahyadri’, ‘Dang forests’ in Gujarat, ‘Nilgiris’ in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, and ‘Malnad’ in Karnataka. It stretches across the six Indian states of Gujrat, Maharashtra, Goa, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and two union territories including Daman and Diu and Pondicherry. These hills begin near the border of Gujarat and Maharashtra, south of the Tapti river, and end at Kanyakumari, at the southern tip of India, covering an incredible 1,60,000 sq.km. In the 18th and 19th centuries, most of the people who classified the flora of these regions are hobbyists. Very few British Officers who conduct survey of this landscape release their books. A complete scientific study of this biodiversity hot-spot is yet to be undertaken. Until now, only a handful of scientists have undertaken a study of the Western Ghats. So, this present article expains a brief scientific study of the forests of the Western Ghats.