Malayalam is the principal language of the South Indian State of Kerala and the Lakshadweep Islands (West Coast of India). The ones who speak Malayalam are known as the Malayalees and constitute four percent of the population of India.
Remarkably liberal in their attitudes, the Malayalees have always welcomed other languages to co-exist with their own. Some items of basic vocabulary, (e.g. bhArya/ wife, bharthAvu/ husband) have found their way from Sanskrit into Malayalam from Sanskrit. In doing so, they have also adapted some of the Indian matrimonial rituals into Malayalee matrimonials.Malyalee matrimonial ceremonies have traveled through a long and varied evolut continued...