'Kerala' In Use From 2nd-Century BC: Shashi Tharoor's History Lesson On Name Change

The renaming of "Kerala" to "Keralam" is not just a "trivial" issue to focus on when key issues are going unattended, it also jettison's a name with far more antiquity, senior Congress leader and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor has told NDTV. 

"Kerala" is actually the older name, Tharoor said, which has appeared Sanskrit epics, Tamil texts, and the Ashokan edicts dating as far back as the 2nd century BC. the name "Keralam" only emerged around the 11th Century, he added. 

On a lighter note, he wondered what the people of Kerala will be called in the coming days, now the name of the state has been changed. 

"'Kerala' lends itself fairly easily to 'Keralite' or 'Keralan'... But now, when you're talking about somebody from 'Kerala', what are you going to say? It's now 'Keralam', so I joked: if it's 'Keralam-ite', it sounds like some sort of really bad intestinal microbe! And if it's 'Keralam-ian', it sounds like some sort of rare-earth mineral... somewhere between Neodymium and Promethium will be 'Keralam-ian'," Tharoor told NDTV in an exclusive interview.

The irony of it, he said, is while Keralites are expecting they are reviving the ancient name of the state, "the fact is "Kerala" was called "Kerala" for centuries - going back to the 2nd Century BC right up to the 11th Century".

"It is only in the 11th century that, for the first time, we have the usage of the name 'Keralam'. So, we are actually jettisoning a name of greater antiquity, which has turned up in a lot of Sanskrit epics and other texts, including Tamil texts, as well as going back to the Ashokan edicts, where various versions of 'Kerala' are mentioned, but never 'Keralam'," added Tharoor.

Describing the move as a "pointless exercise" that only benefits "signboard painters and letterhead printers," Tharoor pointed to the things the state needs.

"It is empty symbolism... you won't give us an AIIMS (All India Institutes of Medical Sciences), you won't give us a fiscal bailout, you won't give us a high-speed rail line, you won't give us any protection from coastal erosion, you'll give us an extra consonant. Well, thanks very much. And I think it is shameful that the communist government in Kerala is running around celebrating this as if it's a great cultural victory. I mean, what is the point? What difference does it make to anybody?" he added.

The renaming of Kerala has become a matter of debate since the proposal received a green light from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet. 

While the Congress has scoffed, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has accused the Centre of being against Bengalis, citing how her request to rename the state as "Bangla" remains stalled.