176 



ON THE CASTES 



vattam. For some years all went on well; but when the 

 Brahmins quitted the country this system was abolished and 

 Parasurama went to the adjoining country of Chera and 

 brought down kings to rule in Malabar. Each king was to 

 rule for a period of twelve years, and hence the system was 

 called a Vyalavattam. Thus there reigned in Malabar 21 

 kings for a period of 252 years. The last of these kings stole 

 all the crown jewels and went away to his own country. The 

 Brahmins now appealed to Parasurama who, in order to 

 prevent such a thing in future, established certain royal houses 

 to rule the land. After some time these houses becoming 

 extinct, recourse was again had to the old system of bringing 

 rulers from the adjoining country of Chera. These new 

 rulers were called Perumals (viceroys). The first Perumal 

 was called Koya Perumal. It is said that there were many 

 Perumals before " the great Cheraman Perumal " who was 

 known to the early Arabic merchants. On the death of this 

 Perumal the country was divided among his relatives and 

 officers. 



The above historical account of the early days of Malabar, 

 though filled with many legends, is not without value. 



As I have already mentioned, we have got reliable evidence 

 to prove that Malabar formed one of the divisions of the 

 ancient kingdom of Chera. It is therefore possible that the 

 kings of Chera sent viceroys (Perumals) to the distant 

 places of their kingdom, and it may also be probable that 

 the term of office for each viceroy was fixed for a period of 

 twelve years. These viceroys were called 4 Cheraman Peru- 

 mals.' The general belief that there was only one Cheraman 

 Perumal who lived about 350 A.D. is not founded on 

 fact. True, there was a Perumal called Bhaskara Eavi Varma 

 who was the last of the Perumals who ruled the country. 

 This Perumal was known to Thomas Cana, and it was this 

 Perumal who granted lands to the Syrians and Jews of Cochin, 



