1844.] of the Syrian Christians and Jews of Malabar. 185 



Perumal's distribution of the country, is fully disproved by 

 this and the Jewish document, and the relation of the Kerala 

 Mahatmyam, according to which the several families were 

 placed here and there by Parasu Rama, for the purpose of pro- 

 tecting certain temples and Brahmin villages, comes much 

 nearer to the truth, if we understand by Parasu Rama the old 

 time of Brahminical rule. 



1£. " Cheraman world," occurs here twice for Kerala. Surely 

 there has never been an individual Cheraman Perumal, tho' 

 his name is in every mouth on this coast. Cheraman is the 

 name of the whole dynasty of Chera or Kerala rulers, for these 

 two names are the same, Kerala being only the Canarese pronun- 

 ciation, as appears from the Deccan inscriptions of W. Elliot 

 Esq. in which no Chera is associated with P&ndya and Chola, 

 but only a Kerala. 



The most correct representation of the country ruled 

 by the Perumals is then, that of a feudal state with a power- 

 ful hierarchy close to the person of the King and deeply rooted 

 in each province through richly endowed colonies. Then 

 four or more eminent vassals, say two in the South, two in 

 the North, and lastly a number of other princes and here- 

 ditary dignities with sounding nam,es and minutely denned 

 privileges, all having crown offices such as those of the 

 writer and of the subject of the document. The influence 

 acquired under such a government by Colonists from the 

 West in spite of their different religions and of the standing 

 threats of the Brahmins that the country is destined to be 

 once more overrun by Sacas, Mletchas and Bauddhas, can only 

 be ascribed to its incapability of cultivating commerce and 

 relations with other nations, except by encouraging the 

 private exertions of a more spirited community of foreigners, 



