Misplaced Pages

Nair subcastes

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Anandks007 (talk | contribs) at 08:33, 30 September 2010 (Reverted edits by 78.101.34.95 (talk) to last version by DumbBOT). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 08:33, 30 September 2010 by Anandks007 (talk | contribs) (Reverted edits by 78.101.34.95 (talk) to last version by DumbBOT)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)

Nair (Also known as Nayar or Malayala Kshatriya), is the name of a Hindu forward caste from the Southern Indian state of Kerala. The Nair community as of 19th century was divided in to close to 200 subcastes.

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 1891 Census of India, undertaken by the British listed a total of 138 Nair subcastes in the Malabar region, 44 in the Travancore region and a total of 55 of them in the Cochin region.

Hierarchy

The caste hierarchy within the 20 major divisions among the Nairs is as following (From the highest ranked subcaste to the lowest ranked one):


File:Paliath govindan achan.jpg
Paliath Govindan Achan (Paliath Achan from 1779-1825)

Population

Race Social Grouping Caste Travancore Pop(1901) Cochin Pop (1891) Malabar Pop (1891)
Nair All Nair All Nair 539,147 102,768 396,492
Malayala Kshatriya Total Malayala Kshatriya 465,435 82,994 318,789
Samanta Kshatriya 2,500 803 1,500
Samanthan Nair 461 274 1,225
Kiryathil Nair 25,164 23,017 115,125
Illathu Nair 326,208 23,279 42,429
Swaroopathil Nair 104,639 28 0
Purathu Charna Nair 0 9,096 109,396
Akathu Charna Nair 0 0 32,446
Padamangalam Nair 6,175 0 0
Tamil Padam Nair 258 0 0
Pallichan 0 18,568 16,668
Nair (Unspecified) NA 7,929 NA
Nair Inferior Total Nair Inferior 38,117 13,008 44,669
Itasseri Nair 22,944 0 0
Chakkala 15,173 3 0
Vattakkatan 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 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 Chakkala (Travancore) or the Pallicchan, Vattakkatan, and Asthikkuracchi (Cochin and Malabar). 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 Samanta Kshatriya and Samanthan subdivisions should be treated merely as supereminent Nair subdivisions. The Samanta Kshatriyas were divided into two principal subdivisions: Thampans (or Tampurans) and Thirumulpads. 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 Samanta Kshatriyas. The second division, known as Rajas, comprised nine chiefly families (including the Travancore royal family) who were Samanthans, like the third grouping of ordinary Thampurans. In Malabar, there were seven major Samanthan subdivisions: Eradi, Nedungadi, Vellodi, Unniathiri, Adiyodi, Thirumulpad, and Nambiyar. Eradi is the subdivision to which the Zamorin of Calicut belongs. The Raja of Valluvanad was a member of Vallodi. The Raja of Chirakkal was an Unniathiri.

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 Samanthan Nair to Samanta Kshatriya. Unfortunately for the royal family, the Samanta Kshatriya status so acquired was not hereditary, and thus the ceremony had to be performed for each new Raja.

The Samanta Kshatriya and Samanthan Nair subdivision were minute. For example, In Travancore in 1931, the Samanta Kshatriya population was 3,673 (0.07% of the total population), and the Samanthan Nair population was 97. In Cochin in 1931, the populations were, respectively, 2,128 (0.18%) and 571 (0.05%). In Malabar in 1931, the Samanta Kshatriya population was recorded as less than 0.1% of the total population; for 1921, the Samanthan Nair population was given as 4,663 (0.15%).

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 Samanta Kshatriya and Samanthan Nair 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 sambandham partners for the women.

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 Chakkala Nair, 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.

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.

Historical evidence

It may be noted that the earlier Keralamahatmayam, an Upa Purana of the Bhoogola Hindu Purana, does not make mention of any subcastes among the Nairs but only states them to be the military caste of Kerala. But the 17th century Keralolpathi 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. 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

  1. ^ http://www.jstor.org/stable/3629883 The Internal Structure of the Nayar Caste, C. J. Fuller
  2. Census 1891c:229-231)
  3. Census 1931d:153-163; Census 1931a:lxxii-lxxiv; Census 1931b:306-310; Census 1921a: 110-123.
  4. Kerala and Madras: A Comparative Study of Ecology and Social Structure. Ethnology 5:135-171. Joan Mencher
  5. Polyandry in Malabar. Sociological Bulletin 7:62-79, 123-33. K.Raman Unni
  6. Dr. Hermann Gundert, Keralolpathiyum Mattum, (Band 4, Hermann Gundert Series, Eight works published during 1843-1904) (Kottayam: Current Books, 1992), p 185
  7. L.K. Anantha Krishna Iyer (1912). The tribes and castes of Cochin Volume II. London: Luzac and Co. pp. 15–16.
Category: