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Nayanar (Nair Subcaste)
Nayanar (meaning "the Nayar") is an honorific title used by sub-castes of the Nair community from North Kerala, India. It can be used by Nair families but also a generic term to refer to a Nair Position in society The Nayanars were ''Samanthans'', ''Kiryathils'' , illathu nairs and ''Naduvazhi'' (chiefs of chiefdoms and aristocrats) and ''Jenmimar'' (landed gentry).1. Organized Struggles of Malabar Peasantry, 1934-1940 Prakash Karat Social Scientist, Vol. 5, No. 8 (Mar., 1977), pp. 3-17 See also *Pillai (Kerala title) *Mannadiyar *Madampi ''Madampi'' () is a 2008 Indian Malayalam-language family drama film written and directed by B. Unnikrishnan. It stars Mohanlal, Siddique, Ajmal Ameer, Kavya Madhavan, Mallika Kapoor, and K. P. A. C. Lalitha. The film was released on 4 July 200 ... References {{reflist Indian surnames Nair ...
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Nair
The Nair , also known as Nayar, are a group of Indian Hindu castes, described by anthropologist Kathleen Gough as "not a unitary group but a named category of castes". The Nair include several castes and many subdivisions, not all of whom historically bore the name 'Nair'. Fuller (1975) p. 309 These people lived, and continue to live, in the area which is now the Indian state of Kerala. Their internal caste behaviours and systems are markedly different between the people in the northern and southern sections of the area, although there is not very much reliable information on those inhabiting the north. Fuller (1975) p. 284 Historically, Nairs lived in large family units called ''tharavads'' that housed descendants of one common female ancestor. These family units along with their unusual marriage customs, which are no longer practiced, have been much studied. Although the detail varied from one region to the next, the main points of interest to researchers of Nair marriage custo ...
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North Kerala
North Malabar refers to the geographic area of southwest India covering the state of Kerala's present day Kasaragod, Kannur, and Wayanad districts, and the taluks of Vatakara, Koyilandy, and Thamarassery in the Kozhikode District of Kerala and the entire Mahé Sub-Division of the Union Territory of Puducherry. Traditionally North Malabar is defined as the northern portion of erstwhile Malabar District which lies between Chandragiri River and Korapuzha River. The region between Netravathi River and Chandragiri River, which included the portions between Mangalore and Kasaragod, are also often included in the term North Malabar, as the Kumbla dynasty in the southernmost region of Tulu Nadu (between Mangalore and Kasaragod), had a mixed lineage of Malayali Nairs and Tuluva Brahmins. The North Malabar region is bounded by Dakshina Kannada (Mangalore) to north, the hilly regions of Kodagu and Mysore Plateau to east, South Malabar ( Korapuzha) to south, and Arabian Sea to west. ...
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India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north; and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives; its Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand, Myanmar, and Indonesia. Modern humans arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa no later than 55,000 years ago., "Y-Chromosome and Mt-DNA data support the colonization of South Asia by modern humans originating in Africa. ... Coalescence dates for most non-European populations average to between 73–55 ka.", "Modern human beings—''Homo sapiens''—originated in Africa. Then, int ...
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Samanthan
Samantan Nair or more commonly Samantan (meaning "equal to" or "deemed to be"), was a generic term applied to dignify a group of sub-clans among the ruling elites and feudal lords of the Nair community in Kerala. The Samantan Nairs are members of the Kiryathil, Illathu and Swaroopathil Nair communities whose ancestors performed various Śrauta rituals ''(Hiranyagarbha)'' to achieve a higher status that enabled them to rule over the Brahmins. Robin Jeffrey, an anthropologist, described the Samantans as, "A matrilineal caste ranking between Nayars and Kshatriyas Kshatriya ( hi, क्षत्रिय) (from Sanskrit ''kṣatra'', "rule, authority") is one of the four varna (social orders) of Hindu society, associated with warrior aristocracy. The Sanskrit term ''kṣatriyaḥ'' is used in the conte ...." Dissent Some Samantans have objected to their grouping with the Nairs, claiming that Samantans are a different caste from the Nairs. One of them, Nilambur Thachara Kovi ...
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Kiryathil
Kiryathil Nair or Kiriyath Nair is a martial nobility caste belonging to the Kshatriya varṇa, which forms one of the highest-ranking subcastes of the Nair community along with the Samantha Kshatriyas with whom they share a close history. They constituted the ruling elites (''Naduvazhi'') and feudal aristocrats ('' Jenmimar'') in the regions of Malabar and Cochin in present-day Kerala, India, and have traditionally lived in ancestral homes known as ''Tharavads''. As the pinnacle of the Nair hierarchy, the Samanthan and Kiryathil Nairs were second only to the Namboodiri Brahmins in the social status system of Kerala, and outranked even the priestly Ambalavasis. In medieval Kerala, all of the kings belonged to extensions of the Samanthan and Kiryathil Nair castes, including the Zamorins of Calicut who were from the Eradi subgroup of the Samantan Nair subcaste, the Kollengode and Sekharivarma Rajas of Palakkad who were from the Samantan Menon subcaste, the kings of Travanc ...
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Pillai (Kerala Title)
Pillai, meaning ''Prince'', is a title of nobility which can either refer to a ruling chief, members of the nobility, or junior princes of the royal family historically ranked immediately below the king. The oldest lineages of Pillais include not only Kshatriyas but also brahmins who took up the sword. From the early modern period, the title also came to be bestowed upon Savarna subjects by the King of Travancore for services military or political, most of whom were of Nair origin. Etymology and Origin of the title According to epigraphic records, it is an ancient title that goes back to the Sangam Era, given to junior members of the royal family. Originally a title meaning "royal child", it came to be given to administrators of temples; often holding large estates on behalf of the latter.Mark de Lannoy,Kulasekhara Perumals of Travancore, Page 202 Early English records also address these hereditary ruling chiefs as the princes of Kerala ranking below the monarch. The most w ...
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Naduvazhi
Naduvazhi ( IAST:''nātuvāḻi''; ) refers to feudal elites, ruling chieftains and descendants of royal kingdoms in various regions that are now administrative parts of Kerala, India. They constituted the aristocratic class within the Hindu caste system and were either kings themselves or nobility in the service of the kings of Kerala. Function Prior to the British reorganisation of the area now known as Kerala, it was divided into around ten feudal states. Each of these was governed by a ''rajah'' (king) and was subdivided into organisational units known as ''nads''. In turn, the ''nads'' were divided into ''dēsams'', which anthropologist Kathleen Gough considers to be villages. However, the early 20th-century historian Kavalam Panikkar states that the ''dēsams'' were themselves divided into ''amsas'', and that these were the villages. He believes that generally only the ''amsas'' survived the reorganisation. The person who governed the ''nad'' was known as the ''naduvazhi'' ...
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Jenmi
Jenmi is the term used to refer to the landed aristocracy of Kerala. They formed the landowning nobility as well as the landed gentry of the region during Medieval times, and the majority of the estates and feudal properties were owned by this community. They predominantly belonged to the Nambudiri (Brahmin priests) and Nair (kings, lords and soldiers) castes, and it was not unusual for an aristocratic family to own up to of land. The Maharajas of Cochin and Travancore, as wells as many other rulers such as those of Punjar in Travancore, were well known for their numerous feudal estates. Temples like the Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Trivandrum (controlled by the Maharaja of Travancore), the Koodalmanikyam Temple (controlled by the Thachudaya Kaimal) and the Guruvayoor Temple of M. R. Ry. were built on lands owned by these feudal aristocrats. The Zamorins of Calicut were also Jenmis in their own right, owning at least 60,000 to 90,000 acres of estate lands. Today, however, there a ...
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Mannadiyar
Mannadiar (or Mannadiyar) kshathriya Nair caste Palakkad region of Kerala. A majority of Mannadiars are land owners, agriculture being their traditional occupation, ranging from farmers to large feudal landlords (jenmis). They had relocated from Tamil Nadu and had been given land by the then king of Palakkad. Also, some of them are engaged in retail and wholesale trading businesses in Palakkad. They trace their origin from the Kongu Vellalars who were moved to the Chera country when the Chera prince married a princess of the Chola Dynasty. The house (tharavad) of Mannadiars is called "Mannattu" like Illams for Namboothiris. Etymology Mannadiar is an honorific title possessed by ancient landlords. The word is rooted from ''Mun'' or ''Maṇṇú'' (earth) and ''Nēṭiyavar'' or ' (lords, Jenmi or earners) clubbed to form Mannadiars.
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Madampi (Nair Title)
Madampi ''(equivalent to Lord in English)'' is an aristocratic title given to the uppermost subdivisions of Nairs in Kerala, by the Maharajahs of Travancore and Cochin. Usually, it was given in addition to the Pillai title. Madampis served as ''Jenmis'' or landlords during the pre-independence era. Their power was severely reduced after the Communist government passed the Land Reforms Ordinance. The title Madampi was also used in Cochin, to denote the 71 Nayar chiefs who ruled under the Maharajah of Cochin. A few Nambuthiri landlord families, most notable of whom being those in Vanjipuzha and Makilanjeri, were also given the Madampi title. In Cochin, the Madampis had their own armies, but seldom numbered more than 100. Their power was only a little bit higher than that of the ''Desavazhis''. Madampis supplied chieftains along with soldiers in times of war to the King.Kerala district gazetteers, Volume 10 By A. Sreedhara Menon p.108 This title is equivalent to others such as Eshman ...
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Indian Surnames
Indian names are based on a variety of systems and naming conventions, which vary from region to region. Names are also influenced by religion and caste and may come from epics. India's population speaks a wide variety of languages and nearly every major religion in the world has a following in India. This variety makes for subtle, often confusing, differences in names and naming styles. Due to historical Indian cultural influences, several names across South and Southeast Asia are influenced by or adapted from Indian names or words. In some cases, Indian birth name is different from their official name; the birth name starts with a randomly selected name from the person's horoscope (based on the ''nakshatra'' or lunar mansion corresponding to the person's birth). Many children are given three names, sometimes as a part of religious teaching. Pronunciation When written in Latin script, Indian names may use the vowel characters to denote sounds different from conventional ...
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