Guest guest Report post Posted March 18, 2010 Hari- om The term " Kerala, God's Own country " has been in use for a few years. It is a propaganda statement used by the Tourism Dev Corpn. of Kerala The phrase was not coined by them but borrowed from the New Zealanders. In the late 17oos New Zealand was known as god's Own Country or Godsown for short. They very rarely use that term now. later, Southern Rhodesia, ( now ZIMBABWE ) adopted that term because of its natural beauty. and later gave up and we very conveniently picked it up and made it our own. New Zealand and Zimbabwe are real countries but Kerala is only a tiny state. So how the use of the word Country ? Coming to more specifics, Why is it called God's own ? - Is it because of its bygone natural beauty ? ( That beauty is now history ). - Or is it the Parasurama myth / - Or is it in honor of the great asura ruler, Mahabali ? - or because the Maharaja of Travancore, fearing neighbor's invation ( no one would invade a state owned by God Himself ! )offered it to Sri Padmadmanabha, and the mahararaj himself ruled the state on behalf of Sri Padmanabha, hence he is known as Padmanabhadasa . - Or is it because Kerala has more than 2500 major temples and still more minor temples ? May be some of our respected gurudevs could come up with an explanation. jai shree krishna ! Achuthan Nair Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest guest Report post Posted March 18, 2010 Namaste!My understanding is that National Geographic had an article about Kerala in which they described this land as " God's own Country. " The Malayalees and the Tourism Department caught on to it. Please correct me if I am wrong.Hari Aum! Chith PuramOn Wed, Mar 17, 2010 at 7:30 PM, A Nair <anair1101 wrote: Hari- om The term " Kerala, God's Own country " has been in use for a few years. It is a propaganda statement used by the Tourism Dev Corpn. of Kerala The phrase was not coined by them but borrowed from the New Zealanders. In the late 17oos New Zealand was known as god's Own Country or Godsown for short. They very rarely use that term now. later, Southern Rhodesia, ( now ZIMBABWE ) adopted that term because of its natural beauty. and later gave up and we very conveniently picked it up and made it our own. New Zealand and Zimbabwe are real countries but Kerala is only a tiny state. So how the use of the word Country ? Coming to more specifics, Why is it called God's own ? - Is it because of its bygone natural beauty ? ( That beauty is now history ). - Or is it the Parasurama myth / - Or is it in honor of the great asura ruler, Mahabali ? - or because the Maharaja of Travancore, fearing neighbor's invation ( no one would invade a state owned by God Himself ! )offered it to Sri Padmadmanabha, and the mahararaj himself ruled the state on behalf of Sri Padmanabha, hence he is known as Padmanabhadasa . - Or is it because Kerala has more than 2500 major temples and still more minor temples ? May be some of our respected gurudevs could come up with an explanation. jai shree krishna ! Achuthan Nair Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
