Manipravalam was a literary style used in medieval liturgical texts in
South India, which used an admixture of
Tamil and
Sanskrit. Manipravalam is termed a mixture of
Sanskrit and
Tamil. Tamil language was the language of the region, part of
Tamilakam, at the time of Manipravalam's genesis and use and its introduction caused a significant transition of Malayalam from Tamil in Kerala.
Mani-pravalam literally means
ruby-coral, where
Mani means ruby in Tamil while
Pravalam means Coral in Sanskrit. Malayalam is referred to as ruby and Sanskrit as coral. This was prevalent in
Vaishnavite religious literature in
Tamil Nadu and literary works in
Kerala.