To begin with, the first thing that comes into my mind is its early foreign contacts, both in the form of material trade and spiritual as usual. Ancient Kerala was world famous for its spices which were exported by, Assyrians, Arabs, Phoenicians Greeks, Romans and even Chinese in the east. The region became melting pot of different faiths, such as Judaism, Orthodox Christianity and Islam by Arab traders creating a cosmopolitan admixture society. The kerala spices were used as perfumes and its soil was used to preserve mummies in ancient Egypt. Even Old Testament mentions of herbs that were exclusive to this region. It is evident from the literary works from the poets like Kakkai Patiniyar that Kerala had a rich history of oceanic trade too.
As you mentioned about Muziris, Kerala maintained its cultural and commercial intercourse with the West through its sea ports like Muziris, Tyndis or Barace. Muziris as it is accepted by almost all historians that it is modern Cranganore. It was referred as Murachipattanam in Valmiki’s Ramayana and as Muyirikode in the Jewish inscription of Vaskara Ravi Varman. It became a prominent place for Roman contacts after the discovery of mansoon wind by Hippalus in 45 AD; The Romans ardently wanted to avoid the risky land routes through Central Asia and Afghanistan for its political instability and rough, hostile geographic terrain. It is believed that this sea port was the first host of the early Syrian Christians and Muslims. Pliny refers to it as Premium Emporium Indie. Author of Periplus and Ptolemy speaks about large ware houses, markets, palaces adjoining the ports which were always crowded with foreign merchant ships. Peutingerian tablets tells us that there was even a temple for Augustus in Muziris and a force of 1200 Roman soldiers were stationed here to protect the Roman trade and commercial interests. Till the great flood in Periyar river in 1341 that chocked the bottleneck of the port, Muziris remained as a principle gateway for various nationalities and different houses of religious believes.
