Malayalam belongs to the family of Dravidian languages. Both the language and its writing system are closely related to Tamil, although Malayalam has a signficantly larger phoneme inventory. Malayalam has a script of its own. Malayalam is probably the only language whose name, when spelled in English, is a palindrome.According to the most dependable evidence now available to us, Malayalam literature is at least a thousand years old. The language must certainly be older, but linguistic research has yet to discover unmistakable evidence to prove its antiquity. Historical accuracy has often been a problem since the records in most cases show no reference to the exact date of their composition. Legends and folklore have often taken the place of historical facts and chronology has be en consciously or unconsciously tampered with. Modern research on scientific lines, however, has gone a long way to explain the origin and early development of the language.

The first Malayalam prose work, Bhashakautiliyam, a commentary on Kautilya's Arthasastra was written in the twelfth century. The first Malayalam grammar/literary treatise, Lilathilakam, compiled in the fourteenth century, is considered the culmination of Manipravalam style. While the region continued to produce important works of literature in Sanskrit and Tamil, only by the fifteenth century Malayalam had would produce its first truly classic work--this was Cherusseri's Krishna Gatha--and the sixteenth century became the age of Thunchath Ezhuthachan, the father of modern Malayalam literature, whose renderings of Adhyatma Ramayana and Mahabharata employed the narrative device of kilipattu, Bird Song.

Until the end of the eighteenth century, Malayalam Literature was closely allied with Kathakali, a complex operatic dance form dependent on the literary quality of the text. The nexus between Kathakali and poetry helped the growth of literary Malayalam. The great renaissance that started in Malayalam literature towards the end of the 19th century found its most effective spokesmen in two great novelists and three poets. The two novelists were O.Chandu Menon of Malabar and C.V.Raman Pillai of Travancore. C.V.Raman Pillai was eleven years junior to Chandu Menon. Both benefited from English education, but consistent with their respective gifts and temperaments, they achieved near perfection in what they tried to do. Their high position as supreme masters of the novel remains unchallenged till date. Chandu Menon is the greatest novelist in Malayalam, and C.V.Raman Pillai's Ramaraja Bahadur is the greatest novel. Chandu Menon's attention was focused on contemporary social reality and through it he discovered the eternal springs of human character.

• Thunchaththu Ezhuthachan
  Popularly known as Thunjath Ramanujan Ezhuthachan is considered as the Father of the Malayalam language. His real name is not known; of the many names attributed to him, Ramanujan is the most popular. There may have been many keerthanas , namam or japam, but is was impossible to find a single house in Kerala without a copy of his Adhyathmaramayanam during the dark times of war, disease and famine . There is no doubt about his contribution to the literary level of the common man. He refined the Malayalam language style and wrote his works for ordinary people, incorporating whatever is good with a strong sense of righteousness and worship. His contribution to the language through the Adhyatmaramayanam and Mahabharatham is unparalleled, and his contribution in the cultural level is immense. To establish an alphabet system for all people, which is equivalent to Sanskrit and which encompasses all these alphabets in all schools, instead of the 30 letter alphabet set for Malayalam (Vattezhuthu), the first step would be to take the best from the existing systems, and form common derivations etc. It was not sufficient to form just an alphabet set, as it will not be accepted in all places easily. Most probably there were different views at that time. The most practical way out was to establish the set by a Keerthanam , so that it will be standardized everywhere. Ezhuthachan must have thought it auspicious and total for the alphabet set to have 51 characters. (See Harinamakeerthanam) “Hari Sree Ganapathaye Namah” is also 51 according to the system of counting with alphabets.


• Niranam Poets (1350 and 1450)
  Niranam is a small village in Southern Kerala, near Mannar town. In 14th century Niranam gave birth to three poets who became well-known as the Niranam Poets . They were Madhava Panikkar, Sankara Panikkar and Rama Panikkar of the Kannassa family. The first two were uncles of Rama Panikkar. The lived between AD 1350 and 1450. Before their period the poetry of Kerala was a mix of Malayalam and Sanskrit , known as manipravala . Niranam poets were instrumental in successfully freeing the literature from the influence of this mix. The appearance of the modern Malayalam language starts with the works of Niranam Poets. Their success led to the gradual replacement of the manipravala cult of worldliness and sensual revelry by an indigenous poetics of high seriousness. Their works are collectively known as Niranam Works. Madhava Panikkar wrote a condensed Malayalam translation of Bhagavad Gita , perhaps the first ever translation of that classic into any modern Indian language. Sankara Panikkar's main work is Bharatamala, a masterly condensation of Mahabharatam, is also the first major work of its kind in Malayalam. The greatest of the three is of course Rama Panikkar, the author of Ramayanam, Bhartam, Bhagavatam and Sivarathri Mahatmyam. Kannassa Ramayanam and Kannassa Bharatam are the most important of Niranam works.


• Melpathur Narayana Bhattathiri (1559 - 1632)
  Was the third student of Achyuta Pisharati and also a member of Madhava of Sangamagrama 's school of Astronomy and Mathematics. He was a mathematical linguist (vyakarana). His masterpiece is considered the Prkriya-sarvawom , which sets forth an axiomatic system elaborating on the classical system of Panini. He is most famous for his Narayaneeyam a devotional composition that is still sung at the temple where he worked, Guruvayoor. The Narayaneeyam is a devotional Sanskrit work, in the form of a poetical hymn , consisting of 1034 verses (called 'slokas' in Sanskrit). It was written by Melputhoor Narayana Bhattathiri and gives a summary of 14,000 verses of the Bhagavata Purana . Narayaneeyam was written during 1586.


• Poonthanam Namboothiri (1547-1640)
  Was a contemporary of Melpathur Bhattathiri and Ezhuthachan. He was born in Keezhattur, near Perinthalmanna in the present Malappuram District of Kerala . His chief poems in Malayalam are Bhasha Karnamritam, Kumaraharanam (or Santanagopalam Pana) and Jnanappana. The first is a devotional work intended to create Krishna bhakti in the mind of readers, and the second is a touching narrative. Jnanappana (Song of Divine Wisdom) is a veritable storehouse of transcendental knowledge. A large number of hymns and prayer songs have been attributed to Poonthanam.


• Arnos Paathiri (1681-1732)
  Johann Ernst Hanxleden born in Ostercappeln, near Osnabrück, in Hanover, Germany in 1681 and died at Palayur in Trichur, Kerala, 20 March 1732), known as Arnos Paathiri [Padre Ernst] in Kerala , was a Malayalam/Sanskrit poet, grammarian, lexicographer, and philologist. In addition to his mother tongue German, and his mastery of Malayalam and Sanskrit, he also had a good command over Latin, Syriac, Portuguese, and Tamil. Hanxleden moved to Velur , a small village near Trichur, in 1712 and built a church there. This was his abode for most of his remaining life. The Puththenpaana, a Malayalam epic on the life of Christ, is his most celebrated poem. This is one of the earliest poems written in simple Malayalam. The Chathuranthyam is a mystic poem on the four ends of man: maranam [death], vidhi [judgement], moksham [paradise], and narakam [perdition]; parts of the poem are sung on occasions similar to the Puththenpaana recitals.


• Unnayi Warrier
  Unnayi Warrier is a renowned writer who lived in Kerala about three hundred years ago (approximately in the 1700's). He was born in Irinjalakuda in Trichur district in Kerala and gave immense contribution to the art of Kathakali the classical dance form of Kerala. His contributions include Nalacharitham and other stories from the Indian epics of Mahabharata and Ramayana.


• Kalakkaththu Kunchan Nambiar (1705 - 1770)
  The chief contribution of Nambiar is the invention and popularization of a new performing art known as Thullal. The world literally means "dance", but under this name Nambiar devised a new style of verse narration with a little background music and dance-like swinging movement to wean the people away from the Chakkiyar Koothu, which was the form popular till then. He was to use pure Malayalam as opposed to the stylized and Sanskritized language of Koothu. He also adopted many elements from Padayani or Kolam Thullal and certain other folk arts. It is reasonable to assume that he was himself a performer. The firsthand knowledge of the various thalas and ragas and even the practices of drummers is a pre-requisite for the writing of a Thullal. Kunchan Nambiar possessed this in abundance. Each Thullal composition consists of a Puranic tale retoled in simple rhythmic verse, fit for loud recitation before an audience. There are three kinds of Thullal distinguished on the basis of the performer's costume and the style of rendering, viz., Ottan, Seethankan and Parayan. Dravidian metres are used throughout although there is nothing to prevent the insertion of a quatrain in a Sanskrit metre. Nambiar also developed new metres (e.g. Vaythari metres ) based on the vocal notation for various talas. The language also is predominantly Malayalam with a large admixture of colloquial and dialectal forms. Humour is invariable the dominant mood: other bhavas are brought in for variety and to suit the situation.
  
• Irayimman Thampi (1783 - 1862)
  Ravi Varman Thampi better known as Irayimman Thampi was a famous Carnatic musician as well as a music composer from Kerala. He was a vocalist in the court of Swathi Thirunal. His most famous works include Omanathinkal Kidavo - set in Raga Neelambari, Karuna Cheyvan - set in Raga Shriragam, Aarodu Cholvene - set in Raga Nadamakriya, Pahimam giritanaye - saveri - misra capu.


• Kerala Varma Valiya Koyithampuran
  Kerala Varma Valiya Koithampuran was born in Changanacherry at the Laxmipuram Palace in the royal family of Changanacherry. His work 'Abhijnana Sakunthalam' (1898 AD), a translation of Kalidasa's 'Sakunthalam', is one of the most acclaimed works of poetry in Malayalam from that period. He has also known as "Kerala Kalidasan" He has also written "Mayoorasandesham" on the line of Kalidasa's "MeghaDooth". In this poetry he has used the peacocks of Haripad temple to sent his messages to his wife at Thiruvanathapuram , during his stay in Anandapuram Palace, in Haripad.


• K.C.Kesava Pillai (1868-1914)
  A close associate of both Kerala Varma and Rajaraja Varma, K.C.Kesa Pillai was a man of remarkable talent. His major works are Kesaviyam (a mahakavya), Sadarama (a musical play on the Tamil mode, extremely popular at the time), Asanna marana chinta satakam (Reflections of a Dying Man, in a century of quatrains)and a number of attakkathas. His Kesaviyam is a mahakavya modeled on the Sanskrit pattern and strictly adhering to the rules of structure and style laid down by the classical rhetorician, Dandi. K.C. Kesava Pillai was also a distinguished composer of songs of rare merit and his position as a composer is next only to those of Swathi Tirunal and Irayimman Tampi among Kerala musicians. But his best work as a poet is Asanna marana chita satakam which, although written for a competition, is a touching lyrical monologue with a predominant elegiac tone and anticipates the Khandakavyas or shorter poems of the poets of the renaissance. It has an underground connection with C.S.Subramanian Potti's Oruvilapam (A Lament: 1903), V.C.Balakrishna Panikkar's Oruvilapam (A Lament:1908) and even Kumaran Asan's Oru Veena Poovu (A Fallen Flower:1907) which may be thought of an elegy in disguise.


• N. Kumaran Asan (1873-1924)
  also known as Mahakavi Kumaran Asan , (the name prefix Mahakavi (Awarded by Madras University in the Year 1922) meaning great poet and the suffix Asan meaning scholar or teacher) was a Malayalam poet, philosopher and social reformer of kerala. More than that he is one of honored disciple of Sree Narayana Guru . Kumaran Asan was known as one of the famous triumvirate poets of Kerala in the first half of the 20th century. Kumaran Asan initiated a revolution in Malayalam poetry in the first quarter of the 20th century, transforming it from metaphysical to lyrical.Deep moral and spiritual commitment is evident in Asan's poetry. His works are eloquent testimony of poetic concentration and dramatic contextualization. His works include Sthothrakrithikal (1901), Saundaryalahari (1901) , Veenapoovu (1907), Oru Simhaprasavam (1909), Baalaraamaayanam (1916), Chintaavishtayaaya Sita (1919), Pushpavaadi (1922), Chandaalabhikshuki (1922), Manimaala (1924) and many more.


• Ulloor Parameswara Iyer (1877-1949)
  Was a poet who attempted to revive the classical heritage of Malayalam poetry. He was a Brahmin and therefore unlike Asan he did not suffer social ostracism of any kind. He was a government servant who finally became the Chief Secretary to the Travancore Government. Ulloor was an erudite scholar which is reflected in his work Kerala Saahitya Charitham (History of the Literature of Kerala), which consists of five volumes. His long poem-mahaakaavya-named Umaakeralam (1914) has as its theme, a particular phase in Kerala's history. The poem deals with the politics related to the monarchical power of Travancore in the 17th century. Among his shorter narrative poems, Pingala and Karnabhuushanam are important.


• Vallathol Narayana Menon (1878-1958)
  Popularly known as Vallathol, was one of the famous triumvirate poets of Kerala. Vallathol wrote predominantly in Malayalam, the language of Kerala. Along with Kumaran Asan and Ullur S. Parameswara Iyer, he was part of a highly creative period in Malayalam literature. Influenced by Tagore, Gandhi, and Marx, as well as by the Sanskrit classics, Vallathol's poetry evolved from its classical beginnings to increasing expression of nationalist and broadly socialist sentiment. He wrote in a variety of forms, using both Sanskrit and Dravidian meters. He is the author of the famous 'Sahithya Manjari'. He got the title, 'Mahakavi' for his MahaKaavyam ' Chitrayogam' . Pingala is another great poems by this poet. Vallathol's many works include the mahakavya (a form of epic poem), Chitrayogam (1914), and the narrative poems Magdalena Mariyam (Mary Magdalene, 1921) and Kochu Sita (1928), as well as 11 volumes containing his collected romantic poems entitled Sahityamanjari. In addition to his poetry, Vallathol also translated the Sanskrit Rig Veda and Valmiki's Ramayana into Malayalam verse, as well as producing a prose translation of the Puranas. He was awarded the prestigious honour of Padma Bhushan by the Government of India in 1955.