page_title: Malappuram district
section_title: Culture
hierarchical_section_title: Malappuram district / Culture
caption_attribution_description: English: Mahakavi Moyinkutty Vaidyar Smarakam at the poet's birth place in Kondotty in Malappuram district, Kerala.
context_page_description: Malappuram is one of the 14 districts in the Indian state of Kerala, with a coastline of 70 km. It is the most populous district of Kerala, which is home to around 12.3% of the total population of the state. 44.2% of the district's population reside in the urban areas. The district was formed on 16 June 1969, spanning an area of about 3,554 km². It was formed by incorporating southern parts of the erstwhile district of Kozhikode and northwestern parts of the erstwhile Palakkad. It is the third-largest district of Kerala by area. It is also the largest district of Kerala bounded by Western Ghats and Arabian Sea on the eastern and the western borders respectively. It is the third major contributing district to the Gross Domestic Product of Kerala as of 2019, after Ernakulam and Thiruvananthapuram.
  The eastern part of the district is hilly and the western part is coastal region. Ponnani, Perinthalmanna, Tirur, Eranad, Tirurangadi, Kondotty, and Nilambur are the seven subdistricts included in the district. The economy of the district basically depends upon emigrants. Malayalam is the most spoken language. Religions practiced in the district include Islam, Hinduism, and Christianity.
context_section_description: Mappila dance forms like Oppana, Kolkali, Duffmuttu, and Aravana muttu are popular in the district. Moyinkutty Vaidyar, the most renowned Mappila paattu poet was born at Kondotty in the district. He is one of the Mahakavis (a title for 'great poet') of Mappila songs. The currently adopted Malayalam alphabet was first accepted by Thunchath Ezhuthachan, who was born in Tirur and is known as the father of modern Malayalam language.
  Besides Moyinkutty Vaidyar and Thunchath Ezhuthachan, it is also the birthplace of many renowned writers of Malayalam including Edasseri Govindan Nair, K. P. Ramanunni, Melpathur Narayana Bhattathiri, Nandanar, Poonthanam Nambudiri, Pulikkottil Hyder, Uroob, and Vallathol Narayana Menon. The district has also given its own deposits to Kathakali, the classical art form of Kerala, and Ayurveda. Kottakkal Chandrasekharan, Kottakkal Sivaraman, and Kottakkal Madhu were famous Kathakali artists hailed from Kottakkal Natya Sangam established by Vaidyaratnam P. S. Warrier in Kottakkal.
  During the medieval period, the district was a centre of Vedic as well as Islamic studies. The ancient Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics, though mainly centred in Thrissur, also had scholars coming from Malappuram. The Parameshvara, the Nilakantha Somayaji, the Jyeṣṭhadeva, the Achyutha Pisharadi, and the Melpathur Narayana Bhattathiri, who were the main members of the Kerala School of Astronomy and Mathematics hailed from the Tirur region. The Arabi Malayalam script, otherwise known as the Ponnani script, took its birth during the late medieval period. The script was widely used in the district in the late 19th and early 20th century CE.
caption: Maha Kavi Moyinkutty Vaidyar Smarakam at Kondotty
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