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The Cultural back ground of Kerala

The population of ancient Kerala is an assortment of different groups of Dravidian stock. The dominant view is that the present day hill tribes the scheduled castes/ scheduled tribes, might have been the main groups of people who inhabited this region from times of yore.

The ancient Dravidian kingdoms of South India (Chera, Chola and Pandya) as well as, their people were held together by intimate bonds of blood. Language and Literature and that was the force which

promoted a sort of cultural homogeneity in South India in spite of located intrigues, feud and wars that caused frequent disharmony. The end of the Perumal Empire marks a turning point in the history of Kerala. From that period on wards, the people began to draw apart and those on this side of the Ghats began to build up their own customs and ways of life developing their own distinct culture in the long run.

The Aryan culture, which was first confined to the Nambudiries began to percolate to those non-Aryans who had close contact with them in social life and slowly but steadily through them to those in the lower strata. Brahminical Hinduism with its religious ritual and ceremony, its beliefs and practices, it's traditions and mythology it's languages and literature began to have its impact on society. Aryan systems of medicine, astrology, art and architecture also were introduced. The Vedas, Upanishads and Puranas became the scripture.