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#REDIRECT ]
''']''' (Also known as ''']''' or ''']'''), is the name of a Hindu ] from the Southern Indian state of ]. The Nair community as of 19th century was divided in to close to 200 subcastes.


{{R to section}}
Until a few decades ago, the Nairs were divided into several sub-castes and inter-dining and inter-marriages were practically non-existent amongst them. The ], undertaken by the British listed a total of 138 Nair subcastes in the ] region, 44 in the ] region and a total of 55 of them in the ] region.<ref name="jstor.org">http://www.jstor.org/stable/3629883 The Internal Structure of the Nayar Caste, C. J. Fuller</ref>

==Hierarchy==
The caste hierarchy within the 20 major divisions among the Nairs is as following <ref name="jstor.org"/>(From the highest ranked subcaste to the lowest ranked one):
*'''Royal Subcastes'''
**'''(1) Koil Thampuran or Perumal (], ], ].etc) - ]'''
**'''(2) ] (], ], Thampurans, ], ], ].etc) - ]'''
*'''Other Kshatriya Subcastes'''
**'''(3)''' '''] & ] (], ], ].etc) - ]'''
**'''(4)''' '''] (], ], ].etc) - ]'''
**'''(5)''' '''], ] & ] (], ].etc) - ]'''
**'''(6)''' '''] - ]'''
**'''(7)''' '''] - ]'''
**'''(8)''' '''] - ]'''
*'''Non-Kshatriya Subcastes'''
**'''(9)''' '''] - Status disputed'''
**'''(10)''' ''']''' - ''']'''
**'''(11)''' '''Vātti (Vātti Kuruppu, Pattu Kuruppu & Nantunni Kuruppu), Daivampāti (Brahmani), Pulikkal Nāyar & Payyampāti -]'''
**'''(12)''' '''Chempukotti Nair - ]'''
**'''(13)''' '''Otattu Nair - ]'''
**'''(14)''' '''Puliyath Nair & Matavan Nair - ]'''
**'''(15)''' '''Kalamkotti Nair & Anduran Nair - ]'''
**'''(16)''' '''] & ] - ]'''
**'''(17)''' '''Asthikkuracchi Mārār & Chitikan Nair - ]'''
**'''(18)''' '''], ], Taraka, Vaniya Nāyar & Ravāri Nāyar - ]'''
**'''(19)''' '''] - ]'''
**'''(20)''' '''Veluthedathu Nair - ]'''
**'''(21)''' '''Vilakkithala Nair - ]'''


] from 1779-1825)]]

==Population==
{|class="wikitable"
!''']
!Social Grouping
!]
!] Pop(1901)
!] Pop (1891)
!] Pop (1891)'''
|----
!rowspan=19|''']'''
|'''All ]'''
|'''All ]'''
|'''539,147'''
|'''102,768'''
|'''396,492'''
|----
!rowspan=11|''']'''
|'''Total ]'''
|'''456,373'''
|'''64,398'''
|'''302,121'''
|----
|''']'''
|2,500
|803
|1,500
|----
|''']'''
|461
|274
|1,225
|----
|''']'''
|25,164
|23,017
|115,125
|----
|''']'''
|326,208
|23,279
|42,429
|----
|''']'''
|104,639
|28
|0
|----
|''']'''
|0
|9,096
|109,396
|----
|''']'''
|0
|0
|32,446
|----
|''']'''
|6,175
|0
|0
|----
|''']'''
|258
|0
|0
|----
|''']'''
|NA
|7,929
|NA
|----
!rowspan=6|''']'''
|'''Total ]'''
|'''38,117'''
|'''31,573'''
|'''61,337'''
|----
|'''] (Kshatriya ?)'''
|22,944
|0
|0
|----
|''']'''
|15,173
|3
|0
|----
|'''Pallichan'''
|0
|18,568
|16,668
|----
|''']'''
|0
|8,452
|30,980
|----
|'''Asthikkuracchi'''
|0
|4,553
|13,689
|----
|'''Unknown / Other'''
|'''Total Others'''
|'''35,625'''
|'''6,797'''
|'''33,034'''
|----
|}

From the census data, it is clear that the vast majority of Nairs belonged to the five higher-ranking subdivisions (Kiriyam, Illam, Svarupam Purattu Charna & Akattu Charna). Those that did not belonged to these divisions, most were included in the subdivisions like Itasseri and Chakkala (]) or the Pallicchan, Vattakkatan, and Asthikkuracchi (] and ]). These few subdivisions accounted for around 90% of all Nairs in each of the three provinces. Most of the other subdivisions enumerated in the census reports had very small populations. Many had less than a hundred members, several had less than ten, and not a few had but one solitary representative! The British census takers reported that some of the subdivision names "are only names of families (taravads), and not of separate sub-castes. Some were of doubtful origin like Karattakkanon-Arkkacharna and Sekkari Varma Rajavamsam. Many of these subdivisions were only single taravads and therefore had minuscule populations. Some were probably only sections of a taravad.

==Royal Subdivisions==
According to Fuller, most unbiased observers have concluded that the ] and ] subdivisions should be treated merely as supereminent Nair subdivisions. The ]s were divided into two principal subdivisions: ]s (or Tampurans) and ]s. Included among the former are the Cochin royal family and the Cranganore chiefly family. In Travancore, the division was different. Thampurans were divided into three categories of which only the highest ranking grouping made up of ten chiefly families and known as Koil Tampurans were regarded as ]s. The second division, known as ]s, comprised nine chiefly families (including the ] royal family) who were ]s, like the third grouping of ordinary Thampurans. In ], there were seven major ] subdivisions: ], ], Vellodi, Unniathiri, Adiyodi, ], and ]. Eradi is the subdivision to which the ] of ] belongs. The Raja of ] was a member of Vallodi. The Raja of ] was an Unniathiri.<ref>Census 1891c:229-231)</ref>

The Raja of Travancore, however used to perform an extraordinary ceremony known as Hiranyagarbha. The essential feature of this ceremony was the casting of a hollow golden vessel through which the Raja passed. On emerging from the vessel, the Raja's caste status rose from ] to ]. Unfortunately for the royal family, the ] status so acquired was not hereditary, and thus the ceremony had to be performed for each new Raja.

The ] and ] subdivision were minute. For example, In Travancore in 1931, the ] population was 3,673 (0.07% of the total population), and the ] population was 97. In Cochin in 1931, the populations were, respectively, 2,128 (0.18%) and 571 (0.05%). In Malabar in 1931, the ] population was recorded as less than 0.1% of the total population; for 1921, the ] population was given as 4,663 (0.15%).<ref>Census 1931d:153-163; Census 1931a:lxxii-lxxiv; Census 1931b:306-310; Census 1921a: 110-123.</ref>

The Raja of Vadakara (Polanad), popularly known as ''Polarthiri'' was of Nambiar (Nair Nobility) origin. They were also known as Vadakara Vaazhunnor and consisted of 30 sub divisions known as Koottams, such as Chelkkattan Kurup (Thacholi Koottam), Vennappalur Koottam, Moodaadi Koottam.etc

==Changes in subdivision==
According to Pocock, the significance of the ] and ] subdivisions lay not in their numbers, but in the model they provided for other Nairs involved in the status game. A Nair taravad, especially if it were wealthy or powerful, could attempt to transform itself into a new, different subdivision. The methods used vary. Most common were the severance of all connections with any demeaning occupation, the Sanskritization of various customs and the taking of a new name. But most crucial of all was alteration of the taravad's marital connections, by finding men of higher status to perform the tali-tying ceremony for the girls in the taravad, and by beginning to accept only men of higher status as ] partners for the women.<ref>Kerala and Madras: A Comparative Study of Ecology and Social Structure. Ethnology 5:135-171. Joan Mencher</ref>

A number of comparatively low-status groups were absorbed into the Nair community. Among other features, the taking of the prestigious title "Nair" may itself serve this end (Dumont 1964:98). According to the British reports, the process is perhaps most apparent in the cases of the Veluthedathu Nair and Vilakkithala Nair. These two subdivisions well illustrate the ambiguity attached to upward mobility. Even as early as the beginning of the 20th century, these castes were commonly referred to as "Veluthedathu Nair" and "Vilakkithala Nair"-at least in Central Travancore, and in official publications. Although the Jatinirnayam included them as Nairs, in the early census reports they were often enumerated as separate, non-Nair castes. It is still the case, despite their names, that many Nairs belonging to higher-ranking subdivisions do not acknowledge the Veluthedathu and Vilakkithala Nairs as "real" Nairs, and they never intermarry with them.<ref name="jstor.org"/>

It is noted that hypergamy, in that it can lead to a shortage of marriageable women for men on the lowest rungs in the caste, promotes the absorption of lower-status groups into the larger caste through marriage, and thus further expands the populous caste.

==Formation of subdivisions==
The formation of Nair subdivisions is explained by K Raman Unni in ''Polyandry in Malabar (Sociological Bulletin)''. Nair taravads were usually linked by hereditary duties to Nambudiri families dominating various villages. The taravads gained a "reflected" prestige dependent on the status of the Nambudiri family. A group of taravads with the same prestige, usually those linked to one family (Namboothiri or high caste Nair) in one village, would tend to become endogamous, which means, in this context, that they would, for the most part, exchange marriage partners only with each other. Over time, particularly if the group of taravads took a distinctive name, it would effectively become a subdivision. Nayar taravads serving Nayar chiefs, rather than Nambudiris, also formed similar groups, whose status depended on that of their respective Nair chiefs. Clearly, subdivisions formed in this manner were highly localized, although they could expand by contracting alliances with other taravads of equal status. In such a case, the creation of a larger subdivision would simultaneously mean the extinction of two or more smaller ones.<ref>Polyandry in Malabar. Sociological Bulletin 7:62-79, 123-33. K.Raman Unni</ref>

==Historical evidence==
It may be noted that the earlier ''Keralamahatmayam'', an ''Upa Purana'' of the Bhoogola ] ], does not make mention of any subcastes among the Nairs but only states them to be the military caste of ]. But the 17th century '']''<ref name = "Gundert">Dr. Hermann Gundert, Keralolpathiyum Mattum, (Band 4, Hermann Gundert Series, Eight works published during 1843-1904) (Kottayam: Current Books, 1992), p 185</ref> which is a work purported to be written with the ulterior motive of promoting Brahminical supremacy mentions different subdivisions of Nair caste. While Kiriyathil Nayars were considered prominent in Malabar and Cochin, Illathu Nairs were prominent in the hierarchy in the Travancore.<ref>{{cite book | title = The tribes and castes of Cochin Volume II| author = L.K. Anantha Krishna Iyer| publisher = London: Luzac and Co| year = 1912 | pages = 15–16}}</ref> In fact, Kiriyathil Nayars are confined mainly to the northern and central part of Kerala.

Considering the unnecessary rancour created by the different subdivisions among the Nairs, social reform movements such as Nair Service Society (NSS) campaigned strongly against such divisiveness. Eventually, stratification among the different Nair subcastes has become non-existent in the present day, with individuals and families usually identifying themselves simply as "Nairs".

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nair Subcastes}}
]

Latest revision as of 18:59, 14 March 2021

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