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Māmānkam or Māmāngam was a medieval fair held on the bank, and on the dry river-bed, of Bharathappuzha (River Nil̥a, River Ponnani, or Bhārathappuzha) at Thirunavaya, southern India. The temple associated with the festival was Nava Mukunda Temple in Tirunavaya. It seems to have begun as a temple festival, analogous to the Kumbh Mela at Ujjain Simhastha, Prayaga, Haridwar and Kumbakonam.William Logan, M. C. S., Malabar. Vol I. Government Press Madras 1951
Tirunāvāya, is known for its ancient Hinduism temples. The festival was most flamboyantly celebrated under the auspices and at the expenses of the Hindu chiefs of Kōzhikōde (Calicut), the Samutiris (the Zamorins). The fair was not only a religious festival for the Samutiris, but also an occasion for the display of all their pomp and power as the most powerful chiefs of Kerala. During the Mamankam it was believed that the goddess Ganga descended into the Perar and by her miraculous advent made the river as holy as the Ganges itself.K. V. Krishna Ayyar, "The Kerala Mamankam" in Kerala Society Papers, Series 6, Trivandrum, 1928-32, pp. 324-30 Much like the famous Kumbh Mela, the fair is held once in every 12 years and carried huge economic, social and political significance. Apart from the brisk trading, attested by travelers from Arabia, Greece and China, various forms of martial art and intellectual contests, cultural festivals, Hindu ritual ceremonies and folk art performances were held at Tirunāvāya. Hindu pilgrims from distant places, trading groups and travelers also leave colorful accounts of Māmānkam. Duarte Barbosa mentions "scaffoldings erected in the field with hangings spread over it". Kozhikode Granthavari, Mamakam Kilippattu and Kandaru Menon Patappattu, along with Keralolpatti and Keralamahatmya, are the major native chronicles mentioning the Mamankam festival.K.P. Padmanabha Menon, History of Kerala, Vol. II, Ernakulam, 1929, Vol. II, (1929)
The innate nature of the festival, dateable at least to the era before the Cheras of Cranganore (c. 800-1124 CE), muddled in myths and legends, is still disputed. As per some sources, the nature of the fair underwent tragic changes after the capture of Tirunāvāya by the chief of Kōzhikōde from the Veḷḷāṭṭiri chief. From that day forth, the Vaḷḷuvanāṭu chiefs started to send warriors to kill the Sāmūtiri (who was personally present at the fair with all his kith and kin) and regain the honor of conducting the festival. This led to a long drawn rivalry and bloodshed between these two clans.K. V. Krishna Iyer Zamorins of Calicut: From the Earliest Times to AD 1806. Calicut: Norman Printing Bureau, 1938
As per K. V. Krishna Iyer, the last Māmānkam fair was held in 1755 CE. The Māmānkam came to an end with the conquest of Kōzhikōde by the Sultān of Mysōre, Hyder Ali (1766 CE) and the subsequent Treaty of Seringapatam (1792) with the English East India Company.William Logan, M. C. S., Malabar. Vol I. Government Press Madras 1951. pp. 165 Canganpaḷḷi Kaḷari, Paḻukkāmandapam, Nilapāṭu Tara, Marunnara and Manikkiṇar at Tirunāvāya are protected (Protected Monuments) by the State Archaeology Department, Kēral̥a.
Different renderings of the name is given below,
| William Logan, K. P. Padmanabha Menon and P. K. S. Raja |
| K. V. Krishna Ayyar |
| Another view by K. V. Krishna Ayyar, N. M. Nampoothiri |
In August 2010, the renovation of Mamankam ruins was inaugurated up by the authorities, which came under the Nila Tourism Project with the support of State Archaeology Department, Kerala. Kerala Industrial and Technical Consultancy Organisation was appointed as the implementing agency of the project. Changampally Kalari, Nilapadu Thara, Manikkinar, Pazhukkamandapam, and Marunnara were renovated during this period. Assistance from the Kerala-state government, around Rs. 90 lakhs, funded this renovation.
As per a mid-2011 report in the Times of India, the Mamankam relics at Tirunavaya are "fading to oblivion" and in a ruined state due to the neglect of the authorities concerned. Absence of proper promotional strategies is also noted as another issue faced by Mamankam sites. Asian Age Feb 25, 2017
The fair was initially conducted by the landlords, led by an executive officer styled the Rakshapurusha ("the Great Protector of the Four Kalakas"). Each Rakshapurusha was to continue in office only for three years. Once some dispute arose as to the selection of the next Great Protector, in the assembly at Tirunavaya, and principle four section (which then composed the assembly) having failed to agree as to the selection of their executive officer resolved at last to select one to rule over them, and for this purpose they traveled, and chose one prince from a kingdom on the east of the Western Ghats. The Brahmins brought a prince to Tirunavaya, placed him on a seat of honor on the banks of Perar, and proclaimed him "Perumal of Kerala". According to the original engagement with the prince, he was to continue as ruler only for a term of 12 years, at end of which he was to retire into private life or to leave the country altogether.
The coronation of this first king of Kerala took place on Pushya in the month of Magha in Karkitaka Vyazham, and this day in every cycle of Jupiter thus became important in the history of Kerala because the reign of each Perumal terminated on that day, he being elected for 12 years. This event was commemorated with a Great Feast, at which all Brahmin nobles and the chiefs of Kerala attended. On the 28th day the retiring Perumal appeared before the Brahmin assembly and the laid of the Sword of the Perumal, and the assembly declares the throne vacant. Another was then elected and crowned Perumal for another 12 years. This Great Feast and coronation occurring in Magha month, that month in every Karkitaka Vyazham was known was Maha Magha, or Mamankam in Tamil.
According to Francis Wrede, the Chera Perumals of Cranganore used to preside over the Mamankams.As quoted by Iyer (1938) from The Transactions of the Literary Society, Bombay pp 2-3 So it seems, at first conducted by the Brahmins, the fair came to be celebrated the aegis of the Chera rulers of Cranganore. Even in latter Samutiri times, the first invitation letter to participate in the Mamankam was addressed to the Pandyas, a reminiscence of the Chera days.
By ancient customs, even in Travancore, all tenures were to continue for a maximum period of twelve years to be renewed thereafter. But it is known that this idealistic proposition did not work satisfactorily in Kerala.K. C. Alexander, Peasants Organisation in South India, New Delhi, 1981, p. 43.
When the influence of the Perumal increased in course of time, they refused to abdicate after 12 years, and the practice of fighting for the crown by warriors, at Tirunavaya, came in vogue. The Perumal of Cranganore attended the Great Feast as before, but, instead of abdicating the crown in the presence of Brahmins, he seated himself in a tent pitched for him at Tirunavaya, strongly guarded by a body of spearmen and lancers. The candidate of the kingship was to force his way through this warriors and to kill the Perumal. Theoretically, he who succeeded in thus killing the Perumal was immediately proclaimed and crowned Perumal for the next term of 12 years. If no one succeeded in killing the Perumal he was to reign for another 12 years. The last Perumal, now identified by historians as Cheraman Rama Varma Kulasekhara (ruled c. 1089-1124 CE), is said to have ruled for 36 years by surviving three Mamankams at Tirunavaya.
The last Chera Perumal Rama Kulasekhara conferred the chief of Valluvanatu the "right" to conduct the Mamankam fair as the Rakshapurusha - the Great Protector with 10,000 Nair warriors.K. V. Krishna Ayyar (2025). 9788177480009, Publication Division, University of Calicut. . ISBN 9788177480009 The Perumal also assigned to him, the Tirumandhamkunnattu Bhagavati, sacred to the Brahmins of Chovvaram, as his guardian deity. It was also Tirunavaya that the Chera Perumal of Cranganore is supposed to have made his partition of Kerala.
Another version represents the Koya securing this privilege to his chief by a stratagem. This version of the legend seems suggest friendly relations existed between the Koya and the chief of Valluvanatu, as well as with the chief of Kozhikode. In one Mamankam fair, the followers of the chief of Kozhikode managed to penetrate through the bodyguards of the Vellattiri chief and kill him on the Vakayur platform (Manittara). Still another version has it that the chief of Kozhikode promised to marry the Koya's daughter if the enterprise ended in success. But the Kozhikode chief began to repent of his rash and hasty offer, as it involved "the loss of caste". It was arranged that when he came to Kozhikode he should receive, as soon as he crossed the river at Kallayi, betel and tobacco from the hands of a Muslim man dressed as a woman - this being considered tantamount to a marriage.
The rivalry between the two Brahmin settlements (Panniyur and Chovvaram) also seems to give the chief of Kozhikode a pretext to attack the Vellattiri. Visscher, in his "Letters from Malabar", Letter VIII, writes, "so has the trumpet of battle blown by the Panniyur and Chovvaram often summoned the chiefs of Kerala to mutual hostilities". The rivalry is also mentioned by de Couto in Decades (Vol V, Sec 1, Chap. 1).
The immediate pretext of the Kozhikode's occupation of Tirunavaya was invasion Tirumanasseri Natu by its neighbors on either side, the Valluvanatu (Arangottu Swarupam) and Perumpatappu Swarupam. Tirumanasseri natu was a small chiefdom at the mouth of Perar, ruled by a Brahmin. The chiefdom, nominally subordinate to the Arangottu, had access to the sea at port Ponnani, and was bounded by Perar in the north. The Brahmin chief of Tirumanasseri was the head of the Panniyur Namputiris and was considered the protector of all the Brahmins living between Perinchellur and Chenganur, and he enjoyed koyma right over thirteen temples including that of Talipparamba. He was the leader of the Namputiri Samghas of Kolattur, and had 3000 Nair warriors under him. The chief of Tirumanasseri Natu appealed to the chief of Kozhikode for help, and ceded the port Ponnani as price of his protection. The Kozhikkode warriors advanced by land and sea. The main army, commanded by the Zamorin himself, approached Tirunavaya from north. The Eralpatu, proceeding by sea, occupied port Ponnani and Tirumanasseri Natu, and attacked the Vellattiri from west. The campaign was bitter and protracted, so much so the Kozhikode despairing of success, sought divine help by propitiating Valayanatu Bhagavati, the tutelary deity of Vellattiris. The battles were at last decided by the death of two princes belonging to the clan of Vellattiri.
Vellattiri, after losing Tirunavaya and the right of the Great Protector, began to conduct the puram festival in the place of Mamankam, at Angadipuram (medieval Valluvappalli), his capital. "Here in the temple of his tutelary deity Thirumanthamkunnu Bhagavati, he stood on a raised granite platform from where in the olden days his predecessors started the procession to Tirunavaya for the Mamankam fair in peace. It was from here that the warriors were sent to the Mamankam fair afterwards when Samutiri occupied it."
"A community of bodyguards of the ruling families...who in pledging their lives to the royal households of...in avenging the death of two princes these Calicut guards dispersed, seeking wherever they might find men of Calicut, and amongst these they rushed fearless, killing and slaying till they were slain... they like desperate men played the devil before they were slain, and killed many people, with women and children."
The chavers (suicidal warriors), sent to kill the Zamorin, hailed from the four important Nair families of Valluvanatu. These families were:
A total of eighteen chiefs (chiefs under Vellattiri) of Valluvanatu went to the Mamankam fair, led by the lead Nair (Titled as Panikkar along with the family name) from each of the four main Nair families. Apart from the four lead warriors, the other fourteen hailed from the following families:
Two from unknown Valluvanatu families, two from Valluvanatu, two Muppil Nairs from the Valluvanatu ruling house, Acchan of Elampulakkatu, Variar of Kulattur, Pisharody of Uppamkalattil, Vellodi of Patiramana, Nair of Parakkattu, Nair of Kakkoottu, Nair of Mannarmala and Pisharati of Cerukara. Out of the eighteen local chiefs, thirteen were Nairs (mostly Menon-Panikkar section of Kiryathil Nair sub-caste), two were Nambutiri and three were Ambalavasi Brahmins.
Armed with swords and shields alone they rush at the spearmen thronging the palisades; they wind and turn their bodies, as if they had no bones, casting them forward and backward, high and low, even to the astonishment of the beholders, as worthy Master Johnson describes them in a passage already quoted. But notwithstanding the suppleness of their limbs, notwithstanding their delight and skill and dexterity in weapons, the result is inevitable, and is prosaically recorded in the chronicle thus: The number of warriors who came and died in the early morning the next day after the elephant began to be adorned with gold trappings – being Putumana Kantar Menon and followers – was eighteen.
At various times during the ten last days of the festival the same thing is repeated. Whenever the Samutiri of Kozhikode takes his stand on the terrace, assumes the sword (the Sword of the Chera king) and shakes it, men rush forth from the crowd on the west temple gate only to be impaled on the spears of the guardsmen who relieve each other from day to day.
In AD 1695 one of those jubilees happened, and the tent pitched near Ponnani, a seaport of his Samutiri, about fifteen leagues to the southward of Kozhikode. There were but three men that would venture on that desperate action of, who fell in, with sword and shield, among the guards, and, after they had killed and wounded many, were themselves killed. One of the desperados Valluvanatu had a nephew of fifteen or sixteen years of age, that kept close by his uncle in the attack on the guards, and, when he saw him fall, the youth got through the guards into the tent, and made a stroke at Samutiri's head, and had certainly dispatched him, if a large brass lamp which was burning over his head, had not marred the blow; but, before he could make another, he was killed by the guards; and, I believe, the same Samutiri reigns yet. I chanced to come that time along the Kerala coast, and heard the guns for two or three days and nights successively.
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