Malabar Thamozhi, known to Portuguese as Malabar Tamul and as Malabar language to British was a writing scheme adopted to print books in the spoken language of early indigenous Christians in Malabar.[1].
Sample page
A page from Cartilha , Germano Galhadro printed in Lisbon on 11th Feb 1554 in Lingua Malabar Tamul.
Evolution
Doctrina Christam written by Henrique and printed by Portuguese from Cochin in 1556 is the most famous book in this language scheme.[2] Flos Sanctorum written by Henrique in 1578 was another work in Malabar language.[3] Grantha Script, being the script of savarnas, Malabar language gave the Portuguse a convenient way to teach local Christians about religious doctrines.
Decline
The decline of Malabar Thamozhi started with the rise of Dutch as colonial power. Unlike Roman Catholics, Protestant missionaries promoted Grantha Script. CMS (Church Mission Society) at Kottayam started printing books in Grantha Malayalam when Benjamin Bailey a Anglican priest in 1821 made the first Malayalam types.[4] Grantha Malayalam gained widespread acceptance when Hermann Gundert from Germany started the first Malayalam newspaper, Rajya Samacharam in 1847 from Thalassery.[5]
Classification
Together with Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Tulu, Lingua Malabar Tamul belongs to the southern group of Dravidian languages.