THE NAYARS OF INDIA
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ANT 101
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THE NAYARS OF INDIA The Nayar are a group of castes in the South Indian State of Kerala. Historically, the Nayars were a warrior clan and served as militia to the small feudal kingdoms in the region. Apart from most men being away for the wars for a large part of the year, the primary activity of those left behind was farming and the caste is classified as being emerging agriculturalist. The staple diet of the Nayars is rice, and was supplemented by vegetables, fish, chicken and buffalo meat. The Nayars are a complex clan with remarkably social structure, matrilineal and a polyandrous society. The research will show the cultural setting of the Nayars and the relationship between the subsistence and the cultural aspects like beliefs and values, economic setting and kinship.
Until the 13th century, Nayars were a warrior clan and sustained themselves through militaristic activities and conquest. It was through such activities that Nayar land lords became owners of large pieces of land. The subsistence of Nayars from 14th century onwards was chiefly through rice cultivation. The Nayars Tharavads owned large pieces of land that were given away to tenants of lower castes for cultivation. A large number of males were usually away for wars for extended periods of the year. The subsistence food of rice was supplemented by vegetables, eggs, fish, poultry, beef and goat meat. However the higher ranked Nayars were completely vegetarians like the Namboothiris. In addition to the agriculture, trade was also a major activity among all castes in Kerala including the Nayars. It was due to the fact that the region was not self-sufficient with the amount of rice produced. The traders came from far off places like China, Middle East and Europe and with Vasco da Gama finding the route to India from Calicut in the 15th century, the trade activities only grew. Rice was traded along with black pepper, teak, mahogany, elephant tusk and precious stones. This gave opportunity for Nayar men to meet foreigners and with their history of being warriors and staying away from the house for extended periods, they could travel long distances on voyages too. This characteristic later sped up the decline in the Marumakkathaayam Tharavad as the western educated men compelled the matrilineal society into a patrilineal one after realising the drawbacks in the system.
Nayars and Kinship The Nayar Tharavads is remarkable for its matrilineal setup. It is to be noted that until the 14th century, none of the visitors travelling to Travancore had noticed the presence of the matrilineal system, which is corroborated by the absence of any such peculiarity in their literature and observations. The presence of such a system of matrilineal family and inheritance was first noted by Friar Jordan and subsequently by Ibn Battuta (1342) and Nicolo Conti in 1444. The matrilineal family of Nayars called the Marumakkathaayam refers to a system where the brothers and sisters from a same mother lived under the same roof. The nominated head of the family was the eldest male member called the Karanavan (uncle), usually the brother of the eldest female. There was no active role of husbands in a household and the women continued to live in the same house after getting married, with her brothers and sisters. The children she had also lived with her and it was the Tharavad of the mother that was entirely responsible for their children’s upbringing. The husbands had no legal obligation towards the children, apart from claiming them as his sons and daughters. The matrilineal system of Nayars was different from that of other systems in the sense that it was polyandrous in nature, i.e. the Nayar women could have more than one husband. Such a system of Marumakkathaayam was forced upon them methodically by the Namboothiris. The start of the 14th century was a growth in landlordism throughout India (Logan, 1951). It was also the time when the agriculture became the predominant source of occupation. The Namboothiris possessed large pieces of land and the Nayars were their tenants. The Namboothiri Brahmins were a patrilineal society, but the younger male members of the caste were forced to live a life of celibacy as they were prohibited to marry another woman of the same or lower caste. This was done because of the skewed sex ratio that prevailed in the Brahmin community. The younger Namboothiris thus sought the Nayar women to fulfil their sexual desires and entered into loose conjugal unions called sambandams. However, a formal marriage with a Nayar woman was unacceptable as she belonged to a lower caste. Due to this, the matrilineal system was forced on the Nayars. In this system the Nayar women could exercise a lot of control in choosing as many lovers as she wishes and gave them considerable sexual freedom (Gough, 1959). The Nayar woman was however prohibited from choosing a lover belonging to a lower caste than theirs. The primary motive of bringing such a system was for the Namboothiri Brahmin males to be completely free from the parental responsibilities and inheritance. This system allowed the Brahmins to avoid having to divide their pieces of land between the children with Nayar mothers. Also the property descended along the female line and prevented the families from disintegrating. The whole system was designed to preserve the ownership of land with the Tharavads, as the rice was the subsistence food. Also the system of kinship emerged due to the history of Nayar men being warriors and being away for prolonged periods from home. Due to the exposure of the Nayar, men with the outside world and the English education, that brought about the quicker end to the Marumakkathaayam custom. Also the rising Christian influence in the region and the conversion of lower castes into Christians and freeing them from forced labour helped in controlling Nayar and Brahmin dominance (Brett-Crowther, 1987).

Gender Relations Anthropologists studying Nayar society struggle with defining certain aspects of gender relations in a western context. One area of significant interest as well as difficulty is in contrasting Nayar marriage with marriage in western society and terms. While marriage is seen by many as cultural universal even in consideration of differences such as polygamy, the Nayar marriage purpose and experience is rather different from most marriages in other societies. Perhaps, such significant changes would be more reasonable if a different term other than marriage was used to characterize Nayar marriage. One example of the modifications in Nayar marriages as stated by Miriam Koktvedgaard (2008) was that “The Nayar of India practiced a form of non-fraternal polyandry in which several men were simultaneously the ‘husbands’ of one wife. Usually only the first husband underwent a ritual marriage with the woman before she entered puberty” (p.11). This cultural practice seems to be an extraordinary characteristic of the Nayars unlike most marriage constructs. Not so much as a woman having multiple husbands although rare, but having ceremonial marriages with a female that has not reached sexual maturity. “Before a girl reaches puberty, a Nayar girl is married to a man as a rite of passage. The man she marries has no rights to the girl, and she has no obligation to him. When she is older, the girl is allowed to enter into other marriages and have children with those husbands.” (Nowak, et al., 2010, ch 7.8) Anthropologists suspect that by maintain a loosely committed marriage with both men and women being sexually active with other spouses, it allows men to stay away for long periods of time with little effect on the family system. Another characteristic of the Nayar gender relationship with regards to the definition of the domestic unit “The central Nayar domestic unit consisted of a mother, her daughters and their children; husbands and wife did not set up house together” (Koktvedgaard, 2008, p. 11). For some it may be problematic to show proper respect for the differences in marriage practices and to fully understand how the standard of a domestic unit that does not include a husband or father could exist, these are important differences remain.
Interactions by a foreigner with beliefs that differ from Nayar gender relations and beliefs could easily produce disapprovals or a sense of condemnation which could quickly derail otherwise honest efforts at gaining progress or support. It has been recognized however that the guidance of British colonization and the exposing of criticisms and by force that the matrilineal transformation to patrilineal form of family organization has been made.
Nayars and the Values and Beliefs The beliefs of Nayars were very much similar to that of the Hindus and they practically followed each and every custom of that of the Brahmins, like deity worship of Shiva, Krishna and other gods. However, their beliefs can be seen as a mix of Dravidian culture as elements such as serpent worship, belief in spirits and black magic were essential parts of their culture (Panikkar, 1918). Every tharavad had a serpent garden located in the south-east corner of the house (Moore, 1985). It was present because the Nayars believed themselves to be descendants of Nagas. Similar to such pagan beliefs, the Nayar society was also highly superstitious. These superstitions were also often adopted from other cultures. The agrarian societies are often superstitious and religious as good rains are essential for healthy crops and such societies often prayed to respective gods for the rains.

Political Organization The political system among the Nayar people have been the target of colonialism and capitalism, seen considerable change over last several hundred years. The former kinship, matrilineal and political structures and systems of the Nayar culture have all but vanished. Kathleen Gough (1952), stated that “Later in the nineteenth century, more deep-rooted economic changes took place, and these have increased in momentum until all the traditional groupings of caste, village and lineage are dis-integrating” (p. 79). The political and economic influence during the latter part of 19th century by the British possibly had the most prominent impact on the Nayar people. European military forces and government structures as well as the introduction of technologies played a substantial role in the changing political and economic structures and systems as well as building of permanent roads and railroads. The introduction of new trading opportunities, realignment of jobs, tighter controls to guarantee peace, increased use of monetary currency, and broader reaching governmental jurisdiction across caste and villages played a vital role in reshaping the Nayar culture and politics as well. Proof of this break down of prior systems has been described as “The expansion of trade, the introduction of new technological devices, and the opening up of new occupations, produce new economic classes between which there is mobility, and which to some extent cut across the affiliations and ranking of caste.” (Gough, 1952, p. 81). The elimination of caste ranking, socioeconomic and sociopolitical class rankings no longer bound Nayar people from changing class levels and restrictions have become more aligned with performance and education. With the introduction of formal government, monetary systems, increased import and export as well as technological developments, the previous Nayar methods of regulating the distribution of wealth, food and other trade labor and class distinctions have resulted in a more capitalistic society. With these alterations, the Nayar people are gradually more integrating practices common in more advanced capitalistic and socialistic society forms of government, business, and family relationships.
Social Organization The caste system was imposed by the Brahmins on the Nayars and that is how their social hierarchy was decided. The castes determined the occupation of karanav, or the head of the tharavad (Moore, 1985). Castes held a significant importance in Nayar culture and considerable effort was devoted towards preventing the pollution of castes. There were predominantly five sub-castes of Nayars: Kiryathil Nayars, who were the highest among all the Nayars and were the warrior clan who came from the north. The next is Illathu Nayar, who came with Parasuram and served the Namboothiri Brahmins. Then there were Swaroopathil Nayars, Padamangalam Nayars and Padamangalam Nayars. Important positions in the society were held by men and the daughters and wives benefited from him in that position (Gough and Schnieder, 1974). The property and possessions were inherited by women and passed on to the future generation along the female line. The impact of the subsistence activity on the caste system is reflected after the society turned agrarian. It was under the control of the Namboothiri Brahmins that the caste system of Nayars was instilled and the subsequent laws of control of land were established, which set forth further laws of hierarchy and social status.
Conclusion
The Nayar depended largely on rice for food and to a lesser extent vegetables, fish, and poultry. The formation and growth of families was largely relative to the amount of land they owned and the class of house. One can sum up the Nayar society by the amount of influence the Namboothiri Brahmins had on them. It was due to the sexual pleasure of the young Brahmins that transformed the Nayars into a matrilineal lineage as land and inheritance of Brahmins were to be protected. It was due to them too that the largely warrior clan slowly transformed into an agrarian society. However western influences of globalisation have brought this system to a grinding halt and it may not be long before the Tharvads and Marumakkathaayam are found only in the history books. Reference
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Fuller, C.J. (1976). The Nayars Today. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Gough, E. K. (1959). The Nayars and the Definition of Marriage. Journal of American Folklore, 71, 23-34.
Gough, K., and Schnieder, D. M. (1974). Matrilineal Kinship.Berkley: University of California Press.
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