art & Culture

Isolated from the rest of inda by the mountainous belt of the Western Ghats, but with a long coastline open to foreign influences, Kerala gas eveolved as a unique culture. Western and easter influences have helped shape this uniqueness in culture, artforms, music, dance and the very ethos of the poeple of Kerala.
Art forms of KErala range from Kathakali, one of the dances forms of Kerala considered to be amongst the oldest Indian dances dtyles to the graceful Mohiniyattam. The Vibrabt and distinct musci of KErala so closedly related to temple festivals and the elegant snake boat races have always been the fovourite of tourists visiting Kerala

Kerala hailed, as God's own country, by many, deserves this accolade because of many features geographical and sociological. A long coastline in the west and mountains on the east forming clear natural boundaries. Religion has played a crucial role in Kerala's culture. There are mainly three religions in Kerala - Hinduism, Christianity and Islam. As far as the religion of Kerala is concerned, the origins could be traced to Hinduism.

Then came in the Islamic faith and Christianity with its various sects. The other Indian religions like Buddhism; Jainism had some influence among the Hindus and was found scattered with their migration to Kerala.

According to the 1991 census 57.38% of the population of Kerala are Hindus, 23.33 Muslims and 19.32 Christians. The earliest settlers of Kerala were the Proto-Australoids, the Mediterranean, Dravidians, and the Aryans in 321-297 BC.