KERAK, a town in eastern Palestine, 10 m. E. of the southern angle of the Lisan promontory of the Dead Sea, on the top of a rocky hill about 3000 ft. above sea-level. It stands on a platform forming an irregular triangle with sides about 3000 ft. in length, and separated by deep ravines from the ranges around on all sides but one. The population is estimated at 6000 Moslems and 1800 Orthodox Greek Christians. Kerak is identified with the Moabite town of Kir-Hareseth (destroyed by the Hebrew-Edomite coalition, 2 Kings iii. 25), and denounced by Isaiah under the name Kir of Moab (xv. 1), Kir-Hareseth (xvi. 7) or Kir-Heres (xvi. 11): Jeremiah also refers to it by the last name (xxxix. 31, 36). The modern name, in the form Χάραξ, appears in 2 Macc. xii. 17. Later, Kerak was the seat of the archbishop of Petra. The Latin kings of Jerusalem, recognizing its importance as the key of the E. Jordan region, fortified it in 1142; from 1183 it was attacked desperately by Saladin, to whom at last it yielded in 1188. The Arabian Ayyubite princes fortified the town, as did the Egyptian Mameluke sultans. The fortifications were repaired by Bibars in the 13th century. For a long time after the Turkish occupation of Palestine and Egypt it enjoyed a semi-independence, but in 1893 a Turkish governor with a strong garrison was established there, which has greatly contributed to secure the safety of travellers and the general quiet of the district. The town is an irregular congeries of flat mud-roofed houses. In the Christian quarter is the church of St George; the mosque also is a building of Christian origin. The town is surrounded by a wall with five towers; entrance now is obtained through breaches in the wall, but formerly it was accessible only by means of tunnels cut in the rocky substratum. The castle, now used as the headquarters of the garrison and closed to visitors, is a remarkably fine example of a crusaders’ fortress.
(R. A. S. M.)
KERALA, or Chera, the name of one of the three ancient Dravidian kingdoms of the Tamil country of southern India, the other two being the Chola and the Pandya. Its original territory comprised the country now contained in the Malabar district, with Travancore and Cochin, and later the country included in the Coimbatore district and a part of Salem. The boundaries, however, naturally varied much from time to time. The earliest references to this kingdom appear in the edicts of Asoka, where it is called Keralaputra (i.e. son of Kerala), a name which in a slightly corrupt form is known to Pliny and the author of the Periplus. There is evidence of a lively trade carried on by sea with the Roman empire in the early centuries of the Christian era, but of the political history of the Kerala kingdom nothing is known beyond a list of rajas compiled from inscriptions, until in the 10th century the struggle began with the Cholas, by whom it was conquered and held till their overthrow by the Mahommedans in 1310. These in their turn were driven out by a Hindu confederation headed by the chiefs of Vijayanagar, and Kerala was absorbed in the Vijayanagar empire until its destruction by the Mahommedans in 1565. For about 80 years it seems to have preserved a precarious independence under the naiks of Madura, but in 1640 was conquered by the Adil Shah dynasty of Bijapur and in 1652 seized by the king of Mysore.
See V. A. Smith, Early Hist. of India, chap. xvi. (2nd ed., Oxford, 1908).
KERASUND (anc. Choerades, Pharnacia, Cerasus), a town on the N. coast of Asia Minor, in the Trebizond vilayet, and the port—an exposed roadstead—of Kara-Hissar Sharki, with which it is connected by a carriage road. Pop. just under 10,000, Moslems being in a slight minority. The town is situated on a rocky promontory, crowned by a Byzantine fortress, and has a growing trade. It exports filberts (for which product it is the centre), walnuts, hides and timber. Cerasus was the place from which the wild cherry was introduced into Italy by Lucullus and so to Europe (hence Fr. cerise, “cherry”).
KÉRATRY, AUGUSTE HILARION, Comte de (1769-1859), French writer and politician, was born at Rennes on the 28th of December 1769. Coming to Paris in 1790, he associated himself with Bernardin de St Pierre. After being twice imprisoned during the Terror he retired to Brittany, where he devoted himself to literature till 1814. In 1818 he returned to Paris as deputy for Finistère, and sat in the Chamber till 1824, becoming one of the recognized liberal leaders. He was re-elected in 1827, took an active part in the establishment of the July monarchy, was appointed a councillor of state (1830), and in 1837 was made a peer of France. After the coup d’état of 1851 he retired from public life. Among his publications were Contes et Idylles (1791); Lysus et Cydippe, a poem (1801); Inductions morales et physiologiques (1817); Documents pour servir à l’histoire de France (1820); Du Beau dans les arts d’imitation (1822); Le Dernier des Beaumanoir (1824). His last work, Clarisse (1854), a novel, was written when he was eighty-five. He died at Port-Marly on the 7th of November 1859.