Tracing the history of boats and ports

KOCHI: “When you trace the history of boats of Kerala, you actually end up tracing the history of the formation of Kerala’s coastline,” says Jacob J Mappilacherry, one of the authors as well as the editor of the book, ‘Boat Races of Kerala’. The book is a comprehensive compilation of the boats and boat races of Kerala, including the socio-political history of its evolution, artisans and the art of boat making and history of the literature of boat making.Jacob has written the first part of the book, which deals with the history of boat races. “Boat races began very late, somewhere in the early 16th century in Champakkulam.  Some of the oldest boats of Kerala like the ‘Chundan’ were made here by the Kayyamkulam and Ambalapuzha kingdoms. From here, I started moving farther to look into the origin of these boats and then to the ports. This is where I came across something very interesting, i.e the shifting of the ports westwards owing to the accumulation of silt in the riverbeds and the sea shore,” he said.‘Automela’ is a major port described by Megasthenes and earlier by Herodontus in the 5th century BC. My guess is that this is the Aranmula port since geographically both are situated on the same spot. Later during Jesus’s time the port shifted to Niranam. Niranam too is inland now. In the 5th century, it shifted to Champakulam, about 10 km west of Niranam. Then it shifted to Purakad which is again about 10 km west of Champakulam. It is only after this that the port shifted to Alleppey, i.e in the 18th Century. Each time the inland and waterways got choked creating the need for a newer port closer to the sea or the river. So you are essentially looking at a very different Kerala.”Jacob has many different tales to narrate from the disintegration of the Chera Kingdom, the hundred years of Chera-Chola war, Buddhism in Kerala, the history of the Pulaya community, migration of Brahmins to Kerala etc.His list of references too make an interesting read. The list includes everything from The Bible, Bhagavad Gita, Koran and Rig Veda to H G Wells Histroy of the World to Al-Biruni’s India. But Jacob says that he owes most of his inputs to the history narrated in local folklore.The book will be distributed in the higher secondary schools and colleges in Kerala and also in the leading libraries in the country, he said. Jacob Mappilacherry has authored six books including, Kuttanandan Kathakal, Bharatham Munnott, and most interestingly a Sunday School Book for Hindu Children! According to him, it is to help them get a feel of their own culture, he said.