This page contains a categorized and annotated set of links related to Malayalam and Kerala studies. The resources listed below are generally not OER or open access. If you maintain a website that you would like to be listed here, please contact Don Davis.
Learning Resources
Videos for First-year Malayalam course at the University of Chicago
Videos for Second-year Malayalam course at the University of Chicago – high-quality videos on diverse themes and topics; difficult for beginners without help from an instructor or native speaker.
Learn Malayalam with EliKutty – A fun, informative YouTube channel hosted by Eliza Keyton; especially good for beginners.
Research Resources
ഗ്രന്ഥപ്പുര (Granthapura) – A fantastic and very rich collection of public domain books in Malayalam, as well as historical documents of missionaries in Kerala and South India. Largely in Malayalam, but with sufficient English summaries for non-speakers to navigate.
Hermann Gundert, A Malayalam and English Dictionary – classic dictionary (1872 edition) by the German missionary, now in the public domain and available in various formats on Google. Especially useful for more archaic usages from the nineteenth century and earlier. A searchable version of this dictionary is available at the Digital Dictionaries of South Asia.
ഓളം (Olam.in) – An online English-Malayalam and Malayalam-Malayalam dictionary that allows input in either English or Malayalam. Difficult to use for English-speaking beginners, because usage details and illustrations are limited.
Shabdkosh (Malayalam) – Another online dictionary for both Malayalam-English and English- Malayalam. Though hits are easy to get for word searches, the limited context given for which result of many is appropriate makes it difficult to use for beginners. Also available as an app for iOS and Android.
Open Access and Public Domain Translations
M. Mukundan, The Train that Had Wings: Selected Short Stories of M. Mukundan. translated by Donald R. Davis, Jr. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2005.
