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The usual four-tier Hindu caste system, involving the varnas of Brahmin (priest), Kshatriya (warrior), Vaishya (business person, involved in trading, entrepreneurship and finance) and Shudra (service person), did not exist. Kshatriyas were rare and the Vaishyas were not present at all. The roles left empty by the absence of these two ritual ...
First, Namboothiri Brahmins had institutionalized primogeniture, permitting only the eldest son to marry within the caste. Younger sons (also called aphans) in Namboothiri families were expected to establish sambandham with higher caste Nair (equivalent to Kshatriyas), Ambalavasi (temple service caste), royal Samantan or Kshatriya women. This ...
Pillai or Pillay, (IPA:) meaning "Child of King" (Prince) or "Child", [1] is a surname found among the Malayalam and Tamil-speaking people of India and Sri Lanka.. In Kerala, Pillai is the most common title among upper-caste Nairs, [2] [3] often bestowed by the ruling royal families of Kerala [3] and less commonly found among some Brahmins, [4] Nazrani Mappila and Marars of travancore.
The caste system in India is the paradigmatic ethnographic instance of social classification based on castes. It has its origins in ancient India, and was transformed by various ruling elites in medieval, early-modern, and modern India, especially in the aftermath of the collapse of the Mughal Empire and the establishment of the British Raj.
' The ruler of the land ') were feudatory Nair princes who ruled over microstates that are now administrative parts of Kerala, India. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] They constituted the aristocratic class of Nairs within the Hindu caste system and were either kings themselves or nobility in the service of the kings of Kerala.
While the Indian caste system generally divided the four-fold Varna division of the society into Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras, in Kerala, that system was absent. The Malayali Brahmins formed the priestly class, and they considered all other castes to be either shudra or avarna (those outside the varna system).
Nayanar (meaning "the Nayar") is an honorific title used by sub-castes of the Nair community from North Malabar, India. The word Nayanar is believed to have originated from the word "Nayanmar" meaning "Nairs", which is a title of nobility. Nayanar families are mostly seen north of the river Korapuzha.
Higher caste Nair population in Travancore based on old surveys. Illam Nairs constituted more than 70% of the total forward caste Nair population. Pillai, Kurup, Thampi, and Meenachil Karthav, are the common surnames used by Illam Nairs were gifted by the Venad and Travancore royal families to affluent Nairs. [8]