Karanavar or Karanavan or Karanava, parsimoniously speaking, was the title of male head in

Malayalee The Malayali people () (also spelt Malayalee and also known by the demonym Keralite) are a Dravidian ethnolinguistic group originating from the present-day state of Kerala in India, occupying its southwestern Malabar coast. They are predomin ...

and Kodava society. Karnavar is also a surname for some aristocratic

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 histo ...

families in and around Budhanur, Chengannur, Kerala, India, all branches of the same original family at Budhanur. One legend is that it was conferred by

Marthanda Varma Anizham Thirunal Marthanda Varma (Malayalam: ) was the founding monarch of the southern Indian Kingdom of Travancore (previously Venadu) from 1729 until his death in 1758. He was succeeded by Rama Varma ("Dharma Raja") (1758–98).Subrahman ...

the King of

Travancore The Kingdom of Travancore ( /ˈtrævənkɔːr/), also known as the Kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor, was an Indian kingdom from c. 1729 until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvananthapuram. At ...

. While consolidating his newly found Kingdom of Thiruvithamkur (

), the nephew Rama Varma (later

Dharma Raja Dharma Raja Karthika Thirunal Rama Varma ( ml, ധർമ്മരാജാ കാർത്തിക തിരുനാൾ രാമവർമ്മ, 1724–17 February 1798) was the Maharajah of Travancore from 1758 until his death in 1798. He s ...

) and sister of Marthanda Varma were passing through the said area under the protection of Vattaparambil

Valiathan Valiathan, alternatively Vallyathan, is a title, and now family name, held by a group of Nair families, all branches along the matrilineal line of the main Valiathan family, who are known as the Vattaparambil Valiathan. According to legend, it is sa ...

and were attacked by the people of the

Ettuveetil Pillamar The Ettuveetil Pillamar (Lords of the Eight Houses) were nobles from eight ruling Houses in erstwhile Travancore in present-day Kerala state, South India. They were associated with the Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram and the Ettara ...

. Marthanda Varma's brother in law and other fighters lost their life but the sister, the Rani of Attingal, and her son escaped and ran through the fields ("Budhanoor padam")where they met an aristocratic Nair family man who was managing farming in the field. He addressed the man as "Karnavar" and asked for his help. He helped them by protecting him and informed the nearby King's ally known as Aaruveetil Madampimar who in turn informed the Vakkavanjipuzha Madhom, the head of which, known as the Vanjipuzha Thampuran, was an ally of

. Eventually Rama Varma endowed him with riches and the hereditary surname of ''Karnavar'' when he became the Maharajah.

Nair (Kerala , Surname ''Karnavar'')

The senior most maternal uncle was the head of the matrilineal joint families, known as

Tharavadu Tharavad () (തറവാട്), is the Malayalam word for the ancestral home of aristocratic families in Kerala, which usually served as the common house for the joint family system practiced in the state. The German linguist Hermann Gun ...

, and was called Karnavar. The authority of the Karnavar in a family is unquestionable. Even after the decline of Matrilineal system, the word is used to denote authority, and elderly person. This titile is given by the Maharaja of Travancore to an aristocratic Nair family because they have saved the Rani of Attingal.

Kodava

The founder of a Kodava ''Okka'' (clannish family) was known as "karona". During ancestral spirit worship, a Malayalee would act as a

shaman Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spir ...

and would get possessed by Karona spirit of a particular Okka.

Karanavar

The honorific plural ''Karanavar'' is used for the community point man in the Bhagavathi temples. In old days, Koil Thampuran(a

Namboothiri The Nambudiri (), also transliterated as Nampoothiri, Nambūdiri, Namboodiri, Nampoothiri, and Nampūtiri, are a Malayali Brahmin caste, native to what is now the state of Kerala, India, where they constituted part of the traditional feudal el ...

ruler) would nominate him.

References

{{Reflist Kerala society Karnataka society Nair