Middle Malayalam

Middle Malayalam is the period of the Malayalam language spanning from 4th century to 15th century (325 CE - 1425 CE). The traces of the adjuncts of verbs had disappeared by this period.[1] The Jains also seemed to have encouraged the study of the Malayalam language.[2] This time period is represented by works such as Ramacharitham, which was written by a poet with the pen name Cheeramakavi who, according to poet Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer, was Sree Veerarama Varman, a king of Travancore from AD 1195 to 1208.[3] According to Rev. Dr. Hermann Gundert, who compiled the first dictionary of the Malayalam language, Ramacharitham shows the ancient style of the Malayalam language.[4]

Other than Ramacharitham, Kannassa Ramayanam and Kannassa Bharatam by Rama Panikkar of the Niranam poets who lived between 1350 and 1450, are the clear idea of the language of the period. Ulloor, the great literary historian of Kerala, has opined that Rama Panikkar holds the same position in Malayalam literature that Edmund Spenser does in English literature.[5]