Kollavarsham 1200: Celebrating Malayalam as it enters a new century

The Malayalam numeral 1
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

This is Kollavarsham 1200 — a new century as per the Malayalam calendar. Developed in 825 CE, the Kollam era calendar was still in use until a few decades ago before it shrank into total obscurity. This calendar was at the centre of a recent exhibition conducted by lifestyle photographer Jinson Abraham in Kochi.

Everyone loves a good revival story. Especially one that attempts to reclaim a sense of history and time. This and sheer love for Malayalam is what led Jinson to design the calendar, which uses the Malayalam numeral system and the ancient Malayalam script (vattezhuthu) in 2023 (Kollavarsham 1199). “It sparked curiosity. While many were impressed by the quaintness of it, a number of people were genuinely interested in possessing something that was once a part of our history,” says Jinson. He soon had people placing orders in bulk. 

He made the calendar again in 2024, to mark the new century and decided to go large with the exhibition. “I wanted to celebrate the Malayali heritage and bring it to the mainstream,” he says. 

Moozhikkulam Sala, a centre that has been promoting traditional knowledge systems and an organic way of life, in Ernakulam, has been bringing out a comprehensive Malayalam calendar since 2003. It includes the njattuvela and sankranti (periods in the agricultural and solar calendars) schedules, kitchen and eco-cultural calendars (which describe what vegetables are to be had in which season) and the Malayalam alphabet with English phonetics. “our attempt is to reintroduce Kerala’s rich traditional knowledge systems to today’s generation,” says T R Premkumar, director of Moozhikkulam Sala.

Besides astrologers and those who work with archaic documents, an increasing number of people have been buying the calendars for their old world charm, he adds. “This year (the new year as per Kollavarsham begins in August), we sold over 2,000 calendars.” Next year, the Sala also plans to include rithucharya (a seasonal regimen of lifestyle and diet) to the calendar. 

The Sala also has a clock with Malayalam numerals and is planning to introduce a watch too. “It is a kind of going back to our roots to understand where we came from and re-acquaint ourselves to the traditional wisdom,” Premkumar adds.

Having something unique to Kerala and the Malayali heritage is why TimeGraphers, a Kerala-based watch collectors’ group, launched a limited-edition watch Naazhika featuring the Malayalam numerals in 2022. The watch was an instant sell-out. “Even after two years, we still get enquiries about Naazhika,” says Sohan Balachandran, the founder of TimeGraphers. The group used Malayalam numerals again in their limited edition watch Olam in 2024, a watch inspired by the boat races of Kerala. “Though Indic language numerals have been used on watch dials before, there have been none in Malayalam,” says Sohan. “It was our way of paying tribute to our own ancient tradition of time keeping and we also wanted something that resonates with our culture,” he adds.

This fascination with antiquity is as much about self discovery as it is about celebrating one’s heritage, says writer, scholar and retired Malayalam professor Desamangalam Ramakrishnan. “Though antiquity is not really important for a language to survive, bringing back aspects of it revives a train of memories. It is about discovering who we were, as a people, as a culture,” he says. Such attempts also encourage linguistic biodiversity — infusing a language with new life and inspiring people to preserve it, he says.

Though Malayalam has not got the kind of attention other southern Indian languages receive from their people, efforts to celebrate the language would help us understand the full potential of Malayalam and its capabilities, Ramakrishnan adds.

Malayalam inspires artist Narayana Bhattathiri in more ways than one. As a calligrapher, he is charmed by its “beautiful” typography and the language has always moved him. In fact, it is this love that drew him to Malayalam calligraphy.

As the founder of KaChaTaThaPa, one of the only centres for calligraphy in Kerala, he says the uniqueness of its typography has attracted non-Malayali calligraphers too to the language. The centre has been conducting an international calligraphy festival in Kochi and Narayana conducts Malayalam calligraphy workshops in various parts of India and outside. “I see it as a way to showcase Malayalam on a larger world stage; it is my way of honouring my language,” he adds.