Kolathiri or Kolathiri Rājā () (King of KolathunāduA. Shreedhara Menon (2007), A brief History of Kerala, DC Books, Kottayam or King of Cannanore in foreign accounts) was the title by which the senior-most male along the matrilineal line of the Kolathunādu Royal Family (Kolaswarũpam) based in the North Malabar region was styled.Duarte Barbosa, The Book of Duarte Barbosa: An Account of the Countries Bordering on the Indian Ocean and their Inhabitants, II, ed.M. L Dames (repr., London: Hakluyt Society, 1921)The Dutch in Malabar: Selection from the Records of the Madras Government, No. 13 (Madras: Printed by the Superintendent, Government Press, 1911), 143. Kolathiri belongs to the Mushika dynasty, who were historically a part of the Nair community of Samantan class.
Cult of Samantan classral depictions
"Kolathiri" appears as a character in a Malayalam film titled Urumi. The film was loosely based on Portuguese interference in north Kerala and the misdeeds committed by Vasco da Gama, who was hailed as a hero in the west but was actually a cold-hearted tyrant to other lands of the spice route; his entry into Kerala politics and manipulating the kingpins and a young Indian who tries to kill Vasco da Gama. The movie was released on 31 March 2011.
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