The Department of Malayalam started with the inception of the College in 1957. It remains to be a subsidiary department since there is no UG or PG Course in that language. The department handles the teaching of Malayalam as a second language at the Degree level. It was a full-fledged department with three permanent teachers before the Pre-Degree course was de-linked in 2000. Now there is only one permanent member in the department with a work-load of 22 hours. Our application for a degree course in Malayalam is long pending with the Government.
From the beginning the department has been run by eminent teachers like Dr. D. Benjamin, Prof. Anandakuttan, Prof. Thomas Mathew, Prof Aliyar, M.A Rahiman, Ibrahim Bevinje and Dr. Balanadan who were also good writers as well as proficient critics in Malayalam. Prof Aliyar is a popular actor and dubbing artist in Malayalam film industry. M.A Rahiman, an old student of the College, is a widely acclaimed photographer and film director. Ibrahim Bevinje, who also is an alumnus, is a well-known critic and columnist.
The Department had formed an organization called ‘Malayala Samajam’ to
encourage the literary and artistic talent of students. It was inaugurated by
M.T. Vasudevan Nair in 1975. A larger cultural body called ‘Kasargod Cultural
Forum’ was formed later under the initiative of Dr. Balanandan, incorporating
students as well as members of the public. Competitions were conducted for
school and college students, and prizes were distributed to the winners. M.A
Rahman started a literary magazine called ‘Bahuvachanam’ to encourage creative
writing among the students.
This year, under the initiatives of the department, a special forum called
“Bashasangama Vedi” (Forum for the confluence of Languages) with P.P.
Prasannan as president was formed to integrate the functioning of the various
Language Departments. It was inaugurated in November 2004 by Ambikasudan
Mangad, an alumnus and a noted short story writer in Malayalam. It has
conducted various cultural and literary activities during the academic year.
The greatest achievement of the Forum is the publication of a book called “Oru
Margin free Swapnam” (A Margin Free Dream), which is a collection of short
stories written by talented students of our College. The book was edited by
V.Gopakumar, Librarian with a foreword by Dr V. C. Sreejan, a noted critic in
Malayalam.
The Department has played a vital role in the emergence of eminent personalities like M.A Rahiman (critic, photographer, film director), Ibrahim Bevinje (critic), Meloth Chandrasekharan (poet), Dr. Ambikasudan Mangad (short story writer) Rathnakaran Mangad (writer and journalist), Radhakrishnan Perumbala (poet) and Divakaran Vishnumangalam (poet).
