He
pulverizes; two whole baskets of pappadams and mixes it well with two whole baskets of
bananas
and kneads it to paste like the country
cement eats all he can
leaves all he can't
The way he gorges
will make any one's gorge rise2
Then there is the sexennial murajapam ceremony, which is a major public appearance of the
Malayali Brahmins Nambudiris -who came to Trivandrum from all parts of Kerala to chant
prayers for the state and be feasted for 56 days. There is a history behind it and the
provision of free feeding houses for Tamil Brahmins.
Marthanda Varma, a great warrior and statesman, became ruler of Travancore in 1729 A.D. He
launched a campaign of territorial expansion by waging war against recalcitrant and
petulant local chiefs. He annexed territory after territory, liquidating even the most
powerful, "ettuveettil pillamars" and "madampimars" and, by 1750, the
state extended from a tiny area near Nagercoil in the south to the backwaters of Cochin in
the north.
2 A survey of Malayalam literature by
K. M. George. |
