Kiryathil Nair

Kiryathil Nair or Kiriyath Nair is a Kshatriya Nair subcaste, of martial nobility,[6][7][8][9] having performed the functions of Kshatriyas in Kerala, India.[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] This subcaste was among the highest-ranking subcastes of the Nair community along with Samantan Nairs with whom they share a close history.[18] They constituted the ruling elites (Naduvazhi) and feudal aristocrats (Jenmimar) in the regions of Malabar and Cochin in present-day Kerala, India,[19][20] and have traditionally lived in ancestral homes known as Tharavads and Kovilakams.[21]

Kiryathil Nair
Anonymous 16th century Portuguese illustration from the Códice Casanatense, depicting a Malabarese couple of the Nair warrior caste. It illustrates a Nair soldier and his wife, with the inscription reading, "Malabarese gentiles that are called Nayars."
Total population
Less than 4% of the total Nair population[4]
Regions with significant populations
Mostly in Malabar and Cochin, and also in parts of Travancore
Languages
Malayalam, Sanskrit[5]
Religion
Hinduism
Related ethnic groups
Nairs, Samantha Kshatriya, Nagavanshi, Samantha Nair, Kaimal, Menon, Nambiar, Eradi, Achan, Nayanar

In medieval Kerala, most 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 Koratty Kaimals and Kodassery Karthas under the Perumpadappu swaroopam who were also from the Kiryathil Nair subcaste.[22][23] Historians have also stated that, "The whole of the Kings of Malabar belong to the same great body, and are homogeneous with the mass of the people called as Nairs."[24]

The lineage of the Zamorins of Calicut was that of the Samantan Nairs whose ancestors performed the Śrauta Hiranyagarbha ritual to achieve a higher status that empowered them to rule over the Brahmins. The Kiryathil Nairs were one of the constituent members of the Samantan community.

The Kiryathil Nairs were the original descendants of the Nāgas who, according to the Brahmanical text Keralolpathi, migrated to Kerala from the North as serpent-worshippers and asserted their supremacy before the arrival of the Namboodiris, and therefore were historically given status and privileges that were not extended to other Nairs.[25][26] In the words of the British anthropologist Edgar Thurston CIE, "The original Nairs were undoubtedly a military body, holding lands and serving as a militia."[27] The Kiryathils, due to their ruling and martial exploits, claim descendance from the mythical Nagavanshi Kshatriya dynasty.[28][29][30]

Etymology

The term "Kiryathil" is derived from the Malayalam word Kirīṭaṁ (കിരീടം), meaning "crown". Therefore, the literal meaning of Kiryathil Nair is "The Crowned Nair."[31] Together with Illathu Nairs and Swaroopathil Nairs, they form the top tier of the Nair hierarchy. Unlike the other two, however, who were required to serve in the households of Namboodiris and Kshatriyas respectively, Kiryathils had no such obligations and were recognized as independent feudal lords.[32] As such, the Swaroopathil Nairs, who were traditionally employed as soldiers in the armies of regional kings, formed the bulk of the military controlled by Kiryathil overlords, who themselves reported directly to the Zamorin, the king of Calicut.[33] Additionally, Kiryathils were also the only Nair division whose members were allowed to wear bracelets on both arms (a symbol of aristocracy), and they are therefore considered superior to both the Illathu and Swaroopathil subcastes.[34]

The King of Cochin riding his war elephant, surrounded by soldiers. The Kaimals and Karthas were the two major feudal houses within the Cochin royal family, with the king being elevated to the rank of Samantha Kshatriya by performing the Śrauta Hiranyagarbha ritual every 8 years. The soldiers, on the other hand, were from the Swaroopathil Nair caste.
Vasco Da Gama being welcomed by the Samoothiri of Calicut, in the year 1498.

Relation with Namboodiri Brahmins

Some families among the Kiryathil Nairs trace their ancestral roots to Namboodiri Brahmin households due to the earlier prevalence of the marriage tradition known as Sambandam, which was practiced between the Namboodiri, Samantha Kshatriya, Nair and Ambalavasi castes.[35][36] These families belong to aristocratic tharavads known as Illams, which were ancestral homes associated with prestige, power and wealth in medieval Kerala.[37]

The British Raj Census of 1893 listed the Nairs as a dwindling Kshatriya caste, following their subjugation by Tipu Sultan. The population of other warrior castes such as the Rajputs and the Marathas remained high.
Another census released later in 1893 by the British Raj placed emphasis on the "Nairs of Malabar" grouping, which directly corresponded to the Kiryathil Nairs. Once again, they are listed as belonging to the military caste.

Relation with Samantha Kshatriyas

The caste boundary between Kiryathil Nair and Samantha Kshatriya is very minor and therefore many families among the Kiryathils, over the course of time, became recognised as Samanthan and vice versa. As anthropologist Christopher Fuller notes, all Kshatriyas of Kerala are "super-eminent Nairs."[38] The Kiryathils served as regional rulers, lords and military chieftains for various kings of Kerala, including the Zamorin, and owned vast amounts of lands and raised soldiers.[39]

The title of "Kaimal" (from the Malayalam word Kai - "കൈ," meaning "hand" - signifying power and authority) was awarded by the monarchs of Kerala to certain Samanthan and Kiryathil families who were exceedingly influential, and the Kaimals were one of the highest caste of any Hindu castes in South India.[40]

The title of "Kartha" (from the Malayalam word Karthavu - "കർത്താവ്," meaning "lord" - signifying command and dominance) was awarded to notable Nair families who had relations with the ruling class.[41] While the Karthas were generally considered to be lower than the Kaimals in terms of seniority, both of them jointly formed the two major lineages of the Cochin royal family.[42]

Branching of Power

The Kiryathil Nairs, due to their significance in being the direct descendants of the Nagavanshi clans who migrated to southern India, formed the "original" rank from which the two most powerful royal houses of Kerala stemmed from:[43][44]

a) The Zamorins, who were originally Kiryathil Nairs whose ancestors performed the Hiranyagarbha ceremony to elevate them to the rank of Samantan Nairs. They eventually became the kings of Calicut, beginning around 1124 AD.[45]

Kiryathil Nair ⟶ Hiranyagarbha ritual ⟶ Samantan Nairs ⟶ The Zamorin (Kings of Calicut, circa. 1124 AD)

b) The Cochin Rajas, who were originally Kiryathil Nairs whose ancestors performed the Hiranyagarbha ceremony to elevate them to the rank of Samantha Kshatriyas. They eventually became the kings of Cochin, beginning around 1100 AD.[46]

Kiryathil Nair ⟶ Hiranyagarbha ritual ⟶ Samantha Kshatriyas ⟶ The Cochin Raja (Kings of Cochin, circa. 1100 AD)

Incidentally, the Zamorins of Calicut and the Rajas of Cochin were engaged in a feudal struggle with each other, culminating in a series of military conflicts.[47] Notable battles include the Battle of Cochin (1504), which saw the Kingdom of Calicut suffer a devastating defeat at the hands of their Cochin opponents, who were assisted by the Portuguese Empire.[48]

Military Conquests

Among the numerous military conquests carried out by the Samantan and Kiryathil Nairs, the most significant was their victory against Tipu Sultan, the de facto Muslim ruler of Mysore.[49] Tipu Sultan, along with his predecessor Hyder Ali, was aware of the caste pride that Nairs held, as well as their strict adherence to the Hindu faith and military excellence on the battlefield.[50] He therefore deprived them of their caste status, and prohibited them from carrying arms and outlawed them.[51] When this failed to break their martial spirit, starting in 1786 AD, Tipu Sultan began the forceful conversion of Nairs into Sunni Islam, and when they resisted and refused, he tortured, humiliated and killed most of the Nair warriors.[52][53]

Historical records show that out of the 30,000 Nair warriors who were captured alive by him, only about a hundred or so survived.[54] The Samantans and Kiryathils vowed vengeance, and marshalled the Malayali soldiers. The Samantan Nair warrior-prince Ravi Varma Raja defeated Tipu Sultan in November 1788,[55] while the King of Travancore Dharma Raja Rama Varma sent the Travancore Nair Brigade, under the command of Raja Kesavadas, to defeat Tipu Sultan again during the Battle of Nedumkotta in early 1790.[56] The Nairs were helped by the Maratha Empire and the Sikh Empire, all three of whom united to destroy the armies of the Muslim ruler and finally rescue the surviving Nairs by March 1792.[57]

Varna Classification

Historically, despite the absence of the usual 4-tier Varṇa classification in South India, the Samanthan and Kiryathil Nairs were objectively considered as kshatriyas,[58] having functions like ruling, administrative, military and social requirements and duties that are associated with warrior aristocracy,[59][60] as given in the Manusmriti, the legendary legal text of Hinduism.[61][62]

Social Status

While some Kiryathil Nair families were regional rulers who functioned as vassal kings to the Zamorins, most were independent aristocratic feudal lords and controlled groups of soldiers known as Charnavar under their command. These soldiers usually belonged to the Purattu Charna Nair subcaste.[63]

Currently, the Kiryathils constitute less than 4% of the total Nair population.[64]

Caste Inheritance

Until the early 20th century, almost all Nair families, irrespective of their social standings, followed a matrilineal system of inheritance.[65][66] The children of a Nair couple would inherit the caste of their mother, while the property and lands that were owned by the family would be passed down through their daughters and sisters.[67] This form of matrilineal inheritance was known as Marumakkathayam, and resulted in Nair families holding their women in high honor.[68] However, the Government of Kerala passed "The Joint Family System (Abolition) Act" in 1975, which abolished this practice.[69]

Furthermore, the historic 1926 Travancore Nayar Act (signed by the Queen of Travancore Sethu Lakshmi Bayi) greatly reduced the role of women in caste inheritance, and by late 1928, the matrilineal system of caste among Nairs was completely replaced by the patrilineal system that was followed by the rest of India.[70] For this reason, the vast majority of Nair families have switched to favoring the father's caste for his children, while only a few of them have kept the traditional method of favoring the mother's.[71]

See also

References
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  2. Unny, Govindan (1994). Kinship Systems in South and Southeast Asia: A Study. Vikas Publishing House. ISBN 9780706976687.
  3. Panikkar, Kavalam Madhava (1960). A History of Kerala, 1498-1801. Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu. ISBN 978-8194918837.
  4. Zachariah, Kunniparampil Curien; Mathew, Elangikal Thomas; Rajan, Sebastian Irudaya (2003). Dynamics of Migration in Kerala: Dimensions, Differentials, and Consequences. Orient Longman, Hyderabad. ISBN 978-81-250-2504-7.
  5. Goody, Jack (December 1975). Literacy in Traditional Societies. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521290050.
  6. Rajesh, Kripabhavan T. (February 2022). "A Historical Analysis on the Decline of Nair Militia System in Travancore" (PDF). International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts (IJCRT). The University of Kerala. 10 (2). The 'Aryanisation' brought about a complete change in their social life. They (the Namboodiri Brahmins) raised them (the Nairs) to the rank of Kshatriyas, for they performed the duties of the feudal soldiers, particularly in the protection of the land and the people.
  7. Lawrence, James Henry (14 February 2018). The Empire of the Nairs: Or, the Rights of Women. An Utopian Romance. Palala Press. ISBN 978-1377341378.
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  10. Shaji, A. (December 2017). Politicization of Caste Relations in a Princely State (Communal Politics in Modern Travancore 1891-1947). Zorba Books. ISBN 9789387456006. The Nairs are the gentry and have no other duty than to carry on wars and they constantly carry their arms with them. They all live with the kings and some of them with the relations of the king and lords of the country. They do not have contact with the lower sections of the society. In Travancore, they functioned as feudal aristocracy for a long period. As the feudal aristocracy, the Nairs inflicted a lot of hardships on the lower castes.
  11. Jeffrey, Robin (1992). "Old Kerala". Politics, Women and Well-Being. Cambridge Commonwealth Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. pp. 19–33. doi:10.1007/978-1-349-12252-3_3. ISBN 978-0292704176. Beneath these exalted folk (the Namboodiri Brahmins), more numerous families of Nairs provided warriors and supervisors (administrators) for the land.
  12. Kurien, Prema (January 1994). "Colonialism and Ethnogenesis: A Study of Kerala, India". Theory and Society. Springer Publishing, New York. 23 (3): 385–417. doi:10.1007/BF00993836. S2CID 143697757. The groups that were closely in contact with the Brahmins and the kings (by performing personal and military services for them) 'Aryanized' and evolved gradually into a caste - that of the Nairs. The Nair caste took the place of the Kshatriyas. They were divided into several sub-castes and occupied a range of positions. The high-status Nairs were important chieftains and military commanders.
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  14. Thurston, Edgar (1909). Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Vol. 5 of 7. Gutenberg Publications. ISBN 978-1113560315. These Nairs, besides being all of noble descent, have to be armed as knights by the hand of a king or lord with whom they live. The whole of these Nairs formed the soldiers of Kerala, directed by the Namboodiris and governed by the Rajas. According to an inscription of the Chola King Kulōttunga I (A.D. 1083–84), he conquered Kudamalai-Nadu, i.e., the 'Western hill country' (Malabar), whose warriors, the ancestors of the Nairs of the present day, perished to the last man in defending their independence. The Nairs are the warriors, and their arms, which they constantly carry, distinguish them from the other tribes.
  15. Fuller, Christopher John (1975). "The Internal Structure of the Nayar Caste". Journal of Anthropological Research. 31 (4): 283–312. doi:10.1086/jar.31.4.3629883. S2CID 163592798. Among the highest-ranking and most powerful or wealthy Nairs, we can begin by looking at the Kshatriyas and Samantan Nairs, the two castes to which the kings and chiefs claimed to belong. The Raja of Travancore used to perform an extraordinary ceremony known as Hiranyagarbhan, or "golden womb." 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 Samantan Nair to Kshatriya.
  16. Vaidya, Chintaman Vinayak (January 1986). Downfall Of Hindu India. Gyan Publishing House. p. 293. ISBN 978-8121200509. This land of Namboodiri Brahmins and Nair Kshatriyas sent out a religious invasion under Sankara which subjugated the whole of India. The history of Kerala goes back to the days of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. (The author here is referring to the national spread of the Advaita Vedanta religious philosophy under the guidance of Adi Shankara).
  17. Rajesh, Kripabhavan T. (February 2022). "A Historical Analysis on the Decline of Nair Militia System in Travancore" (PDF). International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts (IJCRT). The University of Kerala. 10 (2). The Brahmins had the right to 'Kshatriyanise' the Nairs. For that purpose, the Brahmins created a ceremony called 'Hiranyagarbha.' Gradually, the Brahmins dragged the Nairs into more war-like tendencies and later they themselves grew up as the military class of the land. Thus the Nair militia was formed during the 11th century AD which rendered the services of the military.
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