Concept
The Malabar Coast is the southwestern coast of the Indian subcontinent, generally referring to the coastline of Western coast of India from Konkan to Kanyakumari. Geographically, it comprises the wettest regions of South India including coastal part of Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Kuttanad, which is the point of least elevation in India, lies on the Malabar Coast. Kuttanad, also known as The Rice Bowl of Kerala, has the lowest altitude in India, and is one of the few places in the world where cultivation takes place below sea level. The region parallel to the Malabar Coast gently slopes from the eastern highland of Western Ghats ranges to the western coastal lowland. The moisture-laden winds of the Southwest monsoon, on reaching the southernmost point of the Indian subcontinent, because of its topography, divides into two branches; the "Arabian Sea Branch" and the "Bay of Bengal Branch". The "Arabian Sea Branch" of the Southwest monsoon first hits the Western Ghats, making Kerala the first state in India to receive rain from the Southwest monsoon. The Malabar Coast is a source of biodiversity in India. Until the arrival of the British, the term Malabar was used in foreign trade circles as a general name for Kerala. Earlier, the term Malabar had also been used to denote Tulu Nadu and Kanyakumari which lie contiguous to Kerala in the southwestern coast of India, in addition to the modern state of Kerala. The people of Malabar were known as Malabars. The term Malabar is often used to denote the entire southwestern coast of India. From the time of Cosmas Indicopleustes (6th century CE) itself, the Arab sailors used to call Kerala Male. The first element of the name, however, is attested already in the Topography written by Cosmas Indicopleustes. This mentions a pepper emporium called Male, which clearly gave its name to Malabar ('the country of Male'). The name Male is thought to come from the Malayalam word Mala ('mountain'). The second part of the name is thought by scholars to be the Arabic word barr ('continent') or its Persian relative bar ('country').