Pranam
Namboodiri write up of Mr Gopalakrishnan
2 Historical “evidences” (plurality) as well as their own traditions
suggest that they came from North India and settled down in Kerala,
migrating along the West Coast. (What is that evidence?)
3 Parasuraman created the land between Gokarnam and Kanyakumari and
settled Brahmanas there in sixty-four Gramams or "villages".
(Evidence? Is that L shape or an equilateral triangle?).
4 It is stated that thirty two out of the sixty-four Gramams are in the
Tulu-speaking region and the remaining thirty-two, in the Malayalam-
speaking region in Kerala. (Evidence?).
5 Third and ninth centuries of the Christian era,(300-600AD?) i.e., the
close of the early historical period in the history of South India.
(Evidence).
6 There is a solitary reference ..namely Chellur or Perumchellur or
Taliparamba, in the Tamil "Sangam" literature with a Vedic sacrificial
background …..; but the rest of them are clearly products of a later
period. (Taliparamba, Sangam, Vedic, Parasurama, & later
Period—connectivity and explanations of the later period?)
7 Brahmanans wielded the power of Kshatriyas (Kshatriya Brahmin a new
coined Jati? I heard it in OTT Marikkar the lion of the Arabian sea being
uttered to Marikkar after 2 hours of the film. What about Rajasthan and
other places where the kings were Brahmins? Chatter, Chathirar?)
8 Modern medicines also believes that after seven generations, it may
not create major casualties (where it is said in the modern medicine? What
is seven generations mean in west and Vedic? What are the major casualties?)
9 Is there no Atharva vedhi Namboodiri? what is tantram in the Nambudiri in
parlance?
11 Are Nambudris not covered by Vedic principles of the desandram and
crossing the ocean? What is the Iyer compared to Nambudiri? Others are mot
brahmins?;
12 Q13 is ununderstood; seeing makes one non brahmacharya?
13 What is PULA and adopted between Birth to death of a Nambudiri PULA;
do Nambudiri have different rules of dharma sutras?
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
1 Nambudiri mythology associates their immigration to Kerala from the
banks of Narmada <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narmada>, Krishna
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krishna_River>, Kaveri
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaveri> rivers (IS THAT NORTH?) with the
legendary creation of Kerala by Parasurama
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasurama>, the 6th avatar of Vishnu
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vishnu> According to this legend, the
region was created when Parasurama threw his axe into the sea Although it
is known that the present-day region of Kerala was once governed by the Chera
dynasty <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chera_dynasty>, little information
exists regarding its early ethnography. {IS THAT THE LAND FROM MANGALORE TO
KANYA KUMARI “L “ SHAPE?}.
2 Brahmin presence in the Tamil country is attested from the Sangam
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sangam_period> period onward.{SANGAM PERIOD
FARAWAY FROM THE PANINI PERIOD (FROM WHICH Tolkappium was written as
admitted in the opening verse itself) who was far away from the Vedics,
when keralam did not exist?} Based on the fact that Nambudiris are
Pūrvaśikhā Brahmins wearing the traditional hair tuft on the front, T.P
Mahadevan proposes (evidence) that they are the descendants of these Sangam
age Brahmins who moved west into the region of Malabar during the Kalabhra
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalabhra_dynasty> interregnum. {migration
from tamilprdesam and Parsurama is an attribute without evidences). {
Nambudris are very far away migration nothing to do with the Parasurama}.
3 This sets them apart from the later Aparaśikhā Brahmin (wearing
their hair tufts on the back) migrants to South India such as the Tamil
Iyers <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iyer>. According to T.P Mahadevan, the
Nambudiris brought with them a very early recension of the Mahabharata
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahabharata> which became the basis of the
Malayalam language version of the epic. [ aparasikha became purva sika;
there was a Chera king by name “MUN KUDUMI PERUVAZHUDI ALSO (PURVASIKA
KING); In tiruchendur a portion migrated have the sika as Nambudris who
are called CHOZHIYAN].
4 There are lots of theories as to how Nambudiri Brahmins
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmin> came to settle in Kerala, the ONLY
ONE point of view is that they moved in from North India
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_India> via Tulu Nadu
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulu_Nadu> or Karnataka
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karnataka>.{ Kerala charitham by Sreedhara
menon 2007 book}.
5 Another theory based on the retention of *Mahabharata*
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahabharata> types as memorized by different
Brahmin <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmin> communities points to Tamil
Nadu <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_Nadu> as the base from which they
migrated to Kerala via the Palakkad Gap
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palakkad_Gap>, which is also the largest
opening in the southern Western Ghats
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Ghats>, and settled around the river
Bharathappuzha <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharathappuzha>. { T M P
Mahadevam on southern recension of Mahabharatham, migration, Nambudri,
sangam period etc)}
6 The region around Coimbatore
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coimbatore> near Karnataka
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karnataka>- western Tamil Nadu
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_Nadu> border was ruled by the Cheras
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chera_dynasty> during Sangam period
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sangam_period> between 1st and the 4th
centuries CE and it served as the eastern entrance to the Palakkad Gap
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palakkad_Gap>, the principal trade route
between the Malabar Coast
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malabar_Coast> and Tamil
Nadu <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_Nadu>.{Roman connection in Tamil
nadu by T S Subramaniam 2007}.
7 The *Azhvanchery Thamprakkal
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azhvanchery_Thamprakkal>*, who were the
titular head of all Nambudiri Brahmins of Kerala, originally had right over
parts of present-day Palakkad <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palakkad> Taluk.
Later they moved westwards along the River Bharathappuzha
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharathappuzha> and settled around the
river. Finally the *Azhvanchery Thamprakkal* bought Athavanad-Tirunavaya
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tirunavaya> region in present-day Tirur Taluk
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tirur_Taluk> and gave Palakkad to *Palakkad
Raja*s (*Tarur Swaroopam*) who were originally from Athavanad
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athavanad> region Many of the oldest
Nambudiri settlements of Kerala are situated around the River Bharathappuzha
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharathappuzha>. { zamorins of Calicut by K
V Krishna Iyer 1938}. (kunjali biopic can be seen).
8 The Kingdom of Tanur <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Tanur>
, Kingdom of Valluvanad
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Valluvanad>, *Perumpadappu
Swaroopam* <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Cochin>, and the
kingdom of Palakkad <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palakkad>, located
around the river Bharathappuzha
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharathappuzha>, were once strongholds of
Nambudiris The introduction of Grantha script
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grantha_script> which later got evolved
into Malayalam
script <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malayalam_script>, and the evolution
of Malayalam language through Sanskritisation
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanskritisation> of Karintamil
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karintamil> are highly related to the
Brahmins who migrated through the Palakkad Gap
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palakkad_Gap>.
9 Anthropologists Heike Moser and Paul Younger note that the
Nambudiri Brahmin presence predates the *9th century*, as attested by
grants of land given to them by ruling families. ( Parasuraman was in
Rama’s period). According to the historian Romila Thapar
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romila_Thapar>, local kings and chiefs
encouraged them to move to the area by offering such tax-exempt land grants
in return for them officiating in Vedic rites that would legitimise the
grantors' status as rulers. They also gained land and improved their
influence over the socio-economic life of the region by helping rulers
during the wars between the Chola
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chola_dynasty> and Chera dynasties when
Vedic schools were turned into military academies. The *Azhvanchery
Thamprakkal <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azhvanchery_Thamprakkal>* based
at Athavanad <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athavanad>, who were also the
titular head of all Nambudiris and the Lord of Kalpakanchery
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalpakanchery> based at the neighbouring
Kalpakanchery <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalpakanchery> were usually
present at the coronation (*Ariyittu Vazhcha*) of a new Zamorin
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zamorin> of Calicut
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Kozhikode>. { Zamorin of Calicut
by K V Krishna iyer}. *Kalpakanchery Thamprakkal* were related to the
Nambudiris of Panniyoor <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumbidi> while
*Azhvanchery
Thamprakkal <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azhvanchery_Thamprakkal>* to
those of Chowwara <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukapuram>, those were
among the prominent Nambudiri villages in Kerala.
*10 *Operating from their *illam
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illam>* houses,
Nambudiris' ownership of agricultural land under the janmi
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janmi> system increased over many centuries
and, according to Moser and Younger, they "established landholding temples
and taught the people the rules of caste". The Nambudiris have been
described to be responsible for the Sanskrit influence on Malayalam
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malayalam>, basically a Dravidian language,
due to the Nambudiri Brahmin's mixing of Sanskrit
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanskrit> and the local Tamil
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_language> language. {KERALA:PLURALITY
AND THE CONCENSUS, 2013}
11 Medieval Kerala has been characterised as an oligarchy which was
dominated by the Nambudiris, who owned all the temples and their subsidiary
villages. ( s r Prange 2018 book) The Nambudiris had influence with the
ruling class through the practice of *sambandam
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sambandam>*, where younger Nambudiris used
to have relationships with Kshatriya women or women from the upper sections
of the Nair caste. The children of such unions were not considered
Nambudiris, but a part of their matrilocal lineages. As a result of such
unions, many kings and ruling chiefs in Kerala would be the offspring of
Nambudiri fathers. These arrangements allowed the Nambudiris to gain
political power in addition to religious and cultural dominance (A
Sreedhara menon 1991 book).
12 . The Nambudiri's grip on land was maintained through the practice
of strict primogeniture <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primogeniture> and
patrilineal <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrilineality> inheritance.
Despite their younger members having hypergamous relationships
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypergamy> with Nairs
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nair>, whose caste traditions were
matrilineal <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrilineality>,{ Indian Income
tax has, *Marumakkathayam* a system of matrilineal inheritance prevalent
in what is now Kerala, India. Descent and the inheritance of property was
traced through females. ...}.
13 Nambudiri families remained aloof from general society. Although the
historian E. K. Pillai has claimed that the Nambudiris from the 1100s enforced
matrilineal polyandry <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyandry> on the
previously patrilineal communities of the area, sociologist Randall Collins
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randall_Collins> thinks it is unlikely that
such a change could be imposed and says that "more probably it was the
result of a process of marriage politics spread by emulation in the
decentralised situation of status competition." However kerala myths
connect it to believe that the matrilineal customs predate the period
entirely and cite the queens of the Pandyan dynasty
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandyan_dynasty> as evidence for this.
14 The unwillingness of Nambudiris to adapt to changes in wider society
persisted until the early years of the 20th century but Susan Bayly
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Bayly> believes that their decline in
significance can be traced to the period 1729-1748 when Marthanda Varma
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marthanda_Varma> established the Kingdom of
Travancore <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Travancore> and chose to
use Deshastha Brahmins <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deshastha_Brahmin>
from Tamil Nadu <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_Nadu> in his civil
service. She believes that decision undermined the relationship between the
Nambudiri Brahmins and royalty in the region. Colonial administrators, such
as Colin Macaulay <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Macaulay> and John
Munro <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Munro,_9th_of_Teaninich>, from
the early 1800s, after the passing of the Charter Acts of 1833 and 1853 in
the British Parliament, the British encouraged the work of Christian
missionaries, notably in provision of education, and began the introduction
of a judicial system that would have a significant impact on the
landholdings, inheritance customs and marriage arrangements of both the
Nambudiris and Nairs.
15 The traditional basis of life was challenged by these and other
changes, affecting also the other major ethnic groups of the area, such as
the Ezhavas <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezhava> and the Syrian Christians
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Thomas_Christians>. Like others, the
desire for social reform went strong among the Nambudiris which led to the
formation of the *Yogakshema movement* in 1908 in order to agitate for the
marriage of all the junior males within the community itself. It also
focused on popularising the English language study and abolishing the
Purdah system among the Nambudiri females.
16 The following Vedic recensions
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakha> are
attested among them.
1. Rigveda, the *Śākala* recension which is the only extant recension of
the Rigveda across India. The Nambudiris follow both the *Āśvalāyana* and
*Śāṅkhāyana* Śrauta Sūtras <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srauta_Sutras>.
The latter, called the Kauṣītaki tradition among Nambudiris is restricted
to them. The Kauṣītakis are believed to have belonged to the *Bāṣkala*
recension
of the Rigveda, but that recension has become extinct among the Nambudiris.
2. Yajurveda, the *Taittirīya* śākhā with the *Baudhāyana Śrauta* and *Gṛhya
Sutra*s, *Vādhūla* *Śrauta* and *Gṛhya Sutra*s, and *Āgniveśya* *Gṛhya
Sutra*
3. Samaveda in the *Jaiminīya* recension, which is elsewhere found only
among the Śōḻiya Brahmans.
17 The ancient Vedic ritual of Agnicayana
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnicayana> (the altar of fire), which spans
a 12-day period and which Frits Staal
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frits_Staal> and Robert Gardner ( a fine
research theory written) claim to be one of the oldest known rituals, was
maintained by Nambudiri Brahmins until at least 1975. Although it may have
largely died out elsewhere in India and thus be symptomatic of the
community's resistance to change, David Knipe notes that it is still
performed regularly in Andhra Pradesh
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andhra_Pradesh> and has been for
centuries. (Kerala : Plurality book)
18 Traditionally, they wore a simple cloth around the waist called a
thorthu (or thortumundu <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mundu>), in domestic
settings. When they had to travel, they wore two sets of cloth in addition
known as a vasthram. Nambudiris wore their traditional hair tufts (*kuṭumi*
or *śikhā* <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikha>) on the front like the
Dikshitars <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dikshitar> of Tamil
Nadu.(Chidambaram Temple)
19 Nambudiri Brahmin families practised a more strict version of
primogeniture <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primogeniture> than Brahmin
communities elsewhere in India. Under this custom, only the eldest son
could marry a Nambudiri woman and thus produce an heir to the family
property. Younger sons were restricted to sambandam
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sambandham> relationships with non-Brahmin
women, whom the Nambudiris considered to be concubines and whose offspring
could not inherit. This tradition limited the extent of marriage within
their own caste and led to the practice of hypergamy with the Nair
community.
20 Kathleen Gough <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathleen_Gough> notes
that: These hypergamous unions were regarded by Brahmans as socially
acceptable concubinage <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concubinage>, for the
union was not initiated with Vedic rites, the children were not legitimized
as Brahmins, and neither the woman nor her child was accorded the rights of
kin. By the matrilineal castes, however, the same unions were regarded as
marriage, for they fulfilled the conditions of ordinary Nayar marriage and
served to legitimize the child as an acceptable member of his matrilineal
lineage and caste." (these created another history in Kerala) .
21 The disparity in caste ranking in a relationship between a Brahmin
man and a Nair woman meant that the woman was unable to live with her
husband(s) in the Brahmin family and so remained in her own family. The
children resulting from such marriages always became Nairs. Kavalam.
Madhava. Panikkar <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K._M._Panikkar> (some
aspects of nayar life, book) argues that it is this type of relationship
that resulted in the matrilineal and matrilocal
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrilocal> system. It has also been argued
that the practice, along with judicious selection of the man who tied the
*thali*, formed a part of the Nair aspirational culture whereby they would
seek to improve their status within the caste.
22 Furthermore, that:... among the higher-ranking Nayars (and Kshatriyas
and Samantans) in contradistinction to the "commoner" Nayars, no two
subdivisions admitted to equal status. Thus the relations set up by the
tali-rite [ie: the *thalikettu kalyanam
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kettu_Kalyanam>*] and the sambandham union
were always hypergamous.
23 Although it is certain that in theory hypergamy can cause a shortage
of marriageable women in the lowest ranks of a caste and promote upwards
social movement from the lower Nair subdivisions, the numbers involved
would have been very small. It was not a common practice outside the higher
subcaste groups and the Nambudiris had mostly stopped the practice by the
1920s. ( The internal structure of the nayar caste book). The form of
Sanskrit theatre known as Koodiyattam
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koodiyattam>, which is native to Kerala, was
traditionally patronised by Nambudiris.]
24 SOME ASPECTS OF NAYAE LIFE. By K. M. Panikkar.
CONTENTS.
I. Introductory
II. The Village Organization of the Nayars...
III. Family Life among the Nayars
IV. The Marriage Customs among the Nayars V. Birth and Funeral Ceremonies
VI. Religion and Magic among the Nayars ... VII. The Material Culture of
the Nayars
(Extract) The Nayar country extends traditionally from { it is not as
written by G that parasurama excavated} Gokarnam to Cape Camorin along the
littoral of the Arabian Sea. The geographical position of the country is
very important. The Western Ghats, which extend from near Bombay down to
Cape Camorin, attain near the Malabar country the character of a mountain
range studded.
25 The marriage ceremonies of the Nayars have always been peculiar.
Anthro- pologists who have studied the Nayars have, on the whole, failed to
understand the significance of these customs. In this connection I propose
to speak only of three chief points. First, The Talihettu Kalyanam (or the
matrimonial ceremony of tying the Tali) ; secondly, the Sambandham (or
marital relationship) ; and thirdly, Polyandry.
The Talihettu Kalyanam 2 is generally performed on a batch of girls of the
same matrilineal family. The age of the eldest girl is generally eleven and
rarely thirteen. The idea is that this ceremony should take place before
the girl attains puberty. 3 But it is not only the children of the same
family that can have a Talihettu with the others. The daughter of a male
member of the family who belongs to an enangar clan or who is too poor to
be able to afford the costly ceremony of Talihettu, can, with the
permission of the village community, be placed in a separate seat and her
Tali also may be tied at the same time.
When the ceremony could be performed, even when a girl is only six months
old, it happens that in a Talihettu Kalyanam all the girls below eleven are
disposed of at the same time.
26 The ceremony of the Sambandham marriage (among the Nairs) consists
in giving a cloth, and various names such as Muntu Kodukkuka,
Vastadanum'poduvahota, and Putamuri all mean cloth-giving." 1 Now with
regard to this " essential feature " of the Nayar Sambandham, it may be
useful to remember that cloth-giving as a name for marriage did not exist
in the earlier half of the eighteenth century. The poet Kunchan Nampiyar,
in his works (thirty- two of which are directly or indirectly descriptive
of Nayar life) uses the word " cloth-giving " for Sambandham only once :
" Penninu Putava Kotultthennullathumunnikkittan Potti paranju " "
Patrachaictam."
This " essential feature," therefore, is most certainly a development of
the later half of the eighteenth century. It is, as a matter of fact, only
within the last fifty years that cloth-giving as a synonym for marriage has
come to be used widely, and even now it is used mostly by the
ultra-refined, who consider it improper to utter the name of marriage in
company. Therefore, to say that the Todas emigrated from the Malabar coast
because of similarity in custom which, among the Nayars at least, is a very
late development, does not carry conviction.
KR IRS 301221
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"Thatha_Patty" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email
to [email protected].
To view this discussion on the web visit
https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/CAL5XZoqauQDyOJvAMNAZQ4sC_f_i3oUne9yzAxHzaSXwuwkmZw%40mail.gmail.com.
