Malabar rites Malabar rites Malabar rites is a conventional term for certain customs or practices of the natives of South India, which the Jesuit missionaries allowed their Indian neophytes to retain after conversion but which were afterwards prohibited by Rome. They are not to be confused with the liturgical rite of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church (a variant of the East Syriac Rite), for which see Syro-Malabar rite. The missions concerned are not those of the coast of southwestern India, to which the name Malabar coast properly belongs, but rather those of nearby "inner" South India, especially those of the former Hindu "kingdoms"
North Malabar position of Kolathiri, although immensely respected, was politically titular. In North Malabar, the Kolathiri Kings had the ritualistic status of Perumaal such that their official designates or "sthanis" retained their jurisdiction all over Kerala except for the Rajarajashwara Temple at Taliparamba. The major festival observed by Hindus in this region is Vishu rather than Onam, which remains the major celebration for Hindus in the remainder of Kerala. In North Malabar, Vishu is celebrated as New Year. Because, the Kollavarsham month Medam - which is parallel to first Tamil month Chithirai - is the first month of the year for natives