Editing Travancore (section)

===Medieval Kerala===

[[File:Map of Kampili kingdom.png|thumb|300px|India in 1320 CE. The [[Kollam]]-[[Thiruvananthapuram]]-[[Kanyakumari]] area in the southernmost tip of the [[Indian subcontinent]] was the main seat of the Ay dynasty, was under the influence of the Pandya dynasty.]]

The [[Chera dynasty]] governed the [[Malabar Coast]] between [[Alappuzha]] in the south and [[Kasaragod]] in the north. The region around Coimbatore was ruled by the Cheras during the [[Sangam period]] roughly between the first and the fourth centuries CE and served as the eastern entrance to the Palakkad Gap, the principal trade route between the Malabar Coast and Tamil Nadu.<ref name="Trade">{{cite news|last=Subramanian|first=T. S|title=Roman connection in Tamil Nadu|url=http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2007012800201800.htm&date=2007/01/28/&prd=th|access-date=28 October 2011|newspaper=[[The Hindu]]|date=28 January 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130919235748/http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2007012800201800.htm&date=2007%2F01%2F28%2F&prd=th|archive-date=19 September 2013}}</ref> However the southern region of the present-day Kerala state was under the [[Ay dynasty]]. During the Ay dynasty, they spoke a language known as [[Middle Tamil]],<ref name="auto">{{Cite book |last=Ponvannan |first=Gayathri |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z6VXEAAAQBAJ&dq=old+malayalam+quilon&pg=PT125 |title=100 Great Chronicles of Indian History: From Cave Paintings to the Constitution |date=2022 |publisher=Hachette India |isbn=978-93-91028-77-0 |language=en}}</ref> Later Ay dynasty, conquered and succeeded by the [[Chera Perumals of Makotai|Kulashekara Perumals]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lannoy |first=Mark de |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pKjZAAAAMAAJ&q=kulasekhara+perumal |title=The Kulasekhara Perumals of Travancore: History and State Formation in Travancore from 1671 to 1758 |date=1997 |publisher=Leiden University |isbn=978-90-73782-92-1 |language=en}}</ref> based in [[Kollam district|Kollam]] (later known as [[Venad (kingdom)|Venad]]),<ref name="auto1">{{Cite book |last=Menon |first=P. Shungoonny |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_YdCAAAAIAAJ&dq=kulasekhara+perumal&pg=PA28 |title=A History of Travancore from the Earliest Times |date=1878 |publisher=Higginbotham |language=en}}</ref> during the period of the Chera Kulashekara Perumal (Keralaputras) dynasty,<ref name="auto1"/> the language evolved into [[Old Malayalam|Old-Malayalam]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sekhar |first=Anantaramayyar Chandra |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=123RAAAAMAAJ&q=old+malayalam |title=Evolution of Malayalam |date=1953 |publisher=S.M. Katre |language=en}}</ref> The [[Quilon Syrian copper plates|Quilon copper plates]] (849/850 CE) are considered the oldest available inscription written in Old Malayalam.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Dravidian-languages |title=Dravidian languages – History, Grammar, Map, & Facts |access-date=22 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170709173402/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Dravidian-languages |archive-date=9 July 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Narayanan|first=M. G. S.|year=2013|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0YDCngEACAAJ&q=Perumals+of+Kerala|title=Perumals of Kerala: Brahmin Oligarchy and Ritual Monarchy|publisher=CosmoBooks|isbn=9788188765072|location=Thrissur (Kerala)|orig-date=1972|access-date=7 June 2021|archive-date=7 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210607091744/https://books.google.com/books?id=0YDCngEACAAJ&q=Perumals+of+Kerala|url-status=live}}</ref> Later, the [[Trivandrum district|northern regions of Thiruvananthapuram]], [[Kollam district|Kollam]], [[Alappuzha district|Alapuzha]], and [[Pathanamthitta district|Pathanamthitta]] districts became proper [[Malayalam|Malayalam-speaking]] populations in [[Kerala]], while the other districts showed influences from [[Arabic]], [[Tamil language|Tamil]] and [[Kannada]] languages. During the period of [[Pattom A. Thanu Pillai|Pattom Thanu Pillai]], Travancore was referred to as Malayalam state or the land of proper [[Malayalis]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Menon |first=A. Sreedhara |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wnAjqjhc1VcC&dq=pattam+thanu+pillai+travancore+malayalam&pg=PA214 |title=Kerala History and its Makers |date=2011 |publisher=D C Books |isbn=978-81-264-3782-5 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p_nHft2p3moC&dq=pattam+thanu+pillai+travancore+malayalam&pg=PA277 |title=Liberation of the Oppressed a Continuous Struggle |publisher=History Kanyakumari District |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=State) |first1=Travancore (Princely |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=49F9hXNNjzsC&q=pattam+thanu+pillai+travancore+malayalam |title=The Travancore State Manual |last2=Aiya |first2=V. Nagam |date=1906 |publisher=Travancore government Press |language=en}}</ref>