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Today Kerala exists as an example to the other states of India for its literacy rate, economic status, religious tolerance, women empowerment and a lot of other social reformations that are still alien to other parts of India. But to all people who knew about the history of our state, it stands as one of the greatest example of the work of Christanity in the Social structure of a place. There is no other way to explain the change that came around in a state that was so filled of social evils that one of the foremost social/religious reformers of those times, Swami Vivekananda, called Kerala a 'branthalayam'(Mental Asylum). But now it exists as an example to all other states where the caste system is still a ruling principle in the society. Not many other states in India can boast of an elevated position of the woman in society than Kerala. But it still amazes historians that such a empowerment came from a place so lacking in it, that women there were not allowed to cover their bosoms.
The explanation of such a transformation can only be found in the fact that Christian Missionaries often brought along a reformation along with their religion. Christanity had never failed to change the social structure of the places it touched, and Kerala was not an exception. This study is to review the forces that brought along such a change, the foreign missionaries, their positive and negative aspects.