Kanakamudra — meaning 'The Golden Seal' — is Jafar Erattupetta's most recent major publication, released in 2025 by Grace Publication. This work examines the cultural and material heritage of Malabar through the lens of inscriptions, royal seals, land grants, and official documents that have survived from the pre-colonial and colonial eras.
The 'golden seal' metaphor is both literal and symbolic: the book investigates actual gold-embossed seals found on historical documents while also exploring the metaphorical 'golden legacy' of Malabar's intellectual and administrative traditions that predate British colonialism.
Drawing on rare manuscripts from private collections, mosque libraries, and government archives in Thrissur and Thiruvananthapuram, Jafar presents evidence of a sophisticated administrative and legal culture in Malabar that has received insufficient scholarly attention.
Kanakamudra has been warmly received by historians, numismatists, and heritage enthusiasts as a pioneering contribution to the material history of Kerala.
