Since the sequel to Francis Itty Cora is hitting the shelves later this month, I thought it would be a good idea to revisit the world of Kora Pappan—his philosophies and his teachings.

Who Was Kora Pappan?

Malayalis have a saying: “Even if you were to go to the moon, there will be a Malayali there.” That, in essence, captures the speciality of the Malayali—he is a wanderer at heart, and exploration is in his DNA.

So I am also going to discuss one such Malayali: Francis D. Itticora—the man and the myth. He is the protagonist of the book Francis Itty Cora by T. D. Ramakrishnan, the recipient of the Vayalar Award and the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award. He has written many historically themed novels and even dialogues for notable Malayalam movies like Olu and Bhoothakalam.

The book was released back in 2009, and for the Malayali audience it was too racy and pulpy. It was about a 15th-century pepper merchant from Kerala who was a man of many shades. For some, he was a cunning trader who revelled in money and women in equal proportions. For others, he was a mathematical genius who introduced calculus to the European world—a man who was an integral part of sparking the European Renaissance. All these are wonderful things. A man can be a reclusive playboy and still be a visionary. But Itticora, or rather Kora Pappan, had other, darker shades—shades that elevated him from a man to a myth.

In the novel, Kora had many traits that always placed him on a higher pedestal than regular men. He amassed more power than even his own king and even took women to whom the king himself was betrothed. The king complied—partly to save face, and partly out of fear. Fear was Kora’s biggest weapon. Kora could read the human body like the palm of his hand, and he could predict the trajectory of a blade coming at him with the same ease with which he predicted the flow of trade winds.

Kora symbolised consumption. He had an insatiable hunger—for women, power, and wealth. This hunger is what carried him away from the Arabian Sea. After the Portuguese attack, he was said to emerge from the flames as a winged panther and fly into the skies. The panther could have been a metaphor or an exaggeration of his stealth and prowess in battle.

In the novel, after his rumble with the Portuguese, Kora realised that he could no longer reign freely in the Arabian Sea. So he decided to shift his base to Europe. In Florence, he used his charm and wit to climb the ladders of power. There, he is said to have sold the advanced doctrines of the Kerala School of Mathematics. He took in historical figures like Da Vinci and Vespucci.

The Hypatian School

Hypatia was a famous thinker from the ancient city of Alexandria. She was a proponent of astronomy, philosophy, and mathematics. Thousands of years ago, when women could barely even utter an opinion, Hypatia was an independent thinker who voiced her mind freely. As in many similar cases, she was branded a witch and was literally torn to pieces. But her school of thought survived.

Her lover was able to salvage her teaching scrolls, and through Itticora, they reached the shores of Kerala through Kora, who stumbled across the remains of the burnt school of Hypatia.

The Golden Ratio: The Divine Proportion of Desire

The number 1:1.618—or rather, the Golden Ratio—in the book acts as a proxy for how perfect a person was, both intellectually and physically. It is said that the family could predict how close a person was to the heightened Kora DNA by measuring the ratio of total height to the height of the navel and the length of the arm to the hand. The golden spiral was analogous to human DNA, and they believed the potential of DNA could be unlocked through the stimulation of certain golden points in the human body. Kora and his followers adhered to this ratio to seek the right mind for processing information and the right flesh for sexual ecstasy.

The Madhava Series

Madhava was the man who tamed infinity. Prior to him, mathematics largely revolved around numbers and shapes. But he discovered that transcendental values like π and trigonometric functions could be expressed as infinite sums of fractions. He hailed from a small village near Irinjalakuda and established the Kerala School of Astronomy and Mathematics, which flourished as a centre of mathematical excellence. Madhava derived the power series for π, sine, and cosine nearly 300 years before Newton, Leibniz, or Taylor. Through correction terms (Rn), he was able to make convergence faster. And being the genius he was, Itticora used these insights to tame the worlds of trade and navigation through numbers.

Body Theory

Einstein once equated God with mathematics. In the novel, it is discussed that the scope of the Madhava series was not limited to predicting the external world—it was transferable to mapping the human body as well. Since the universe and its celestial bodies follow infinite series, the human body—which is a microcosm of the universe—would also comply with the same rules.

How Kora Mastered the World Through Numbers

The Europeans, despite being explorers, lacked navigational skill. They were unable to properly understand east and west, and whatever little success they had in navigation could often be attributed more to luck than skill. European explorers practised something called coasting—a method where ships stayed close to land while navigating, rather than venturing into the open sea.

But through the Madhava series, Itticora was able to calculate the world’s most accurate trigonometric tables. While the Portuguese hugged the African coast, Kora could calculate the shortest distance between two points and sail faster. To the untrained eye, this was nothing short of magic or witchcraft.

Naval battles were fought with cannons. We all remember the HOT (High Order Thinking) questions from high school—predicting the trajectory of a projectile required that level of thinking. Unlike us, Kora Pappan learnt through execution.

While his opponents fired wildly—like a blind man with a shotgun hoping one bullet might hit—Kora waited. Like a genius hero in the middle of battle, he waited. And once he calculated the sine values using the Madhava series, he fired a kill shot at the ship’s mast. It was an instant knockout.

So the next time someone asks what high school maths can do in real life—here is your answer.

Unlocking Kora DNA

Human DNA is like a cloud server of its own. In most cases, it instructs proteins on how to code. But a large part of DNA remains vacant, without protein instructions. Those who have played games like Assassin’s Creed or seen A. R. Murugadoss’s thriller 7 Aam Arivu will be familiar with the concept of DNA and repressed traits.

Just as Suriya’s character, after undergoing experiments, was able to tap into his ancestors’ genetic memories—thereby inheriting martial arts prowess and medicinal knowledge—here, a long-lost descendant from a different corner of the world taps into genetic knowledge while indulging in cannibalism.

To simplify things, let’s say the Kora Pappan skill set is stored and passed as special packets called Kora packets. Yes, they are inherited by the entire bloodline, but in most cases, they lie dormant.

Usually, this is triggered by the 18-family cult through ritualistic practices involving certain fragrances and spices, as the olfactory senses are linked to the part of the brain where memory is stored. In Xavier’s case, while in Iran, when he partook in cannibalism, his dormant memories were triggered. Similarly, Kora’s descendants indulge in cannibalistic feasts to trigger genetic resonance, thereby attaining ascension.

The Kora Philosophy

Unlike traditional Christians, the 18-family cult does not believe in love, kindness, or sharing. Their only law and gospel is might. To them, God is an abstract idea—one they have mastered through mathematics. Since they believe they have tamed God, they see themselves as the gods of the world. The 18 families are not like the Targaryens. They do not practise incest or marry only among themselves to preserve blood purity. Instead, marriages are strictly regulated using mathematical ratios. They calculate the genetic fraction of every potential union to ensure the Kora DNA remains concentrated.

The Kora Seva

Members of the 18 families are spread across the globe. From birth, they are trained to be receptive to ancestral memories. This involves exposure to specific scents, sounds, and mathematical puzzles that act as keys to their dormant genetic code. On Christmas Eve, during the Kora Seva, a woman is chosen—either from within the family or from outside—based on her mathematical or biological profile. She is trapped in a cave and experiences her body being ravaged by someone with unnatural virility. The experience could be a shared hallucination, or it could be a disturbing reality where a creepy elder claims possession while violating the woman.