Zamorins (Samoothiri) of Kozhikode

01Lords of the sea and the hills

The Samoothiri came of the Eradi house of Nediyiruppu, and each ruler bore the same title, so the kings are known by the title rather than by name. By the fourteenth century Kozhikode drew ships from Arabia, Persia and China. The Chinese fleets of Zheng He called there between 1405 and 1433, and Ma Huan, who sailed with them, described the city and its market. The Samoothiri’s trust in the Arab and Mappila merchants of the port made Kozhikode rich and open.

02Mamankam and Revathi Pattathanam

Once every twelve years the Mamankam festival was held on the sands of the Bharatapuzha at Tirunavaya. The Samoothiri, having taken the right to preside from the Valluvanad king, stood on the platform as its protector, and chaver warriors from Valluvanad came to die trying to reach him. Each year in Thulam the Samoothiri held the Revathi Pattathanam at the Tali temple, where scholars debated and the best were given the title Bhatta and purses of gold. The court poets of the fifteenth century were remembered as the eighteen and a half poets.

Place · Ancient temple on the Bharathapuzha; damaged in the 18th century and again in 1921, rebuilt in Kerala styleNavamukunda Temple, ThirunavayaNine yogis installed nine images here and eight sank into the earth; the ninth sank to its knees and was held. That ninth is Navamukunda. On the sands below, the Zamorins of Calicut held the Mamankam festival every twelve years.Read →

03The Portuguese wars and the end

Vasco da Gama landed near Kozhikode in May 1498. Within two years the Portuguese were bombarding the city and allied with Kochi against it. For the whole sixteenth century the Samoothiri’s admirals, the Kunjali Marakkars, fought them at sea, until Kunjali IV was handed over and executed at Goa in 1600. Manaveda, Samoothiri in the 1650s, wrote the Krishnagiti, from which grew Krishnanattam, still danced at Guruvayur. In 1766 Haidar Ali invaded; the Samoothiri set fire to his palace and died in it rather than surrender.

The rulers

1. 1Manavikrama, the Samoothiri of the eighteen and a half poetsCourt of Uddanda Shastri and Punam Nambudiri15th century
2. 2The Samoothiri who received Vasco da Gamafl. 1498
3. 3The Samoothiri of the Kunjali warsGave up Kunjali IV, 1600late 16th century
4. 4ManavedaAuthor of the Krishnagitic. 1655–1658
5. 5The Samoothiri of 1766Died in his burning palaced. 1766

What they left

• Krishnanattam, still performed at Guruvayur
• The Revathi Pattathanam of scholars at the Tali temple
• The Mamankam of Tirunavaya
• A century of naval war against the Portuguese