A Discussion on Religion at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Kerala: A Select Study

This paper is about the emergence of a new intellectual tradition on the turn of nineteenth century in Kerala. The main contributors of the tradition were a group of thinkers turned reformers who contributed the socio-political changes which have taken place in Kerala as part of its colonial modernity. The writings of two major thinkers of the period are subjected to scrutiny in this paper. These include two articles namely Matham and Matachintha by Vagbhatanandan and Mokshapradeepam, a text by Brahmananda Siva Yogi The focus is more precisely on the formation of multiple understandings and interpretations of Religion/Matam within the newly constructed intellectual tradition.