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The Nair (/ ˈ n aɪər /, Malayalam:) 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 historically bore the name 'Nair'.
The caste system in India is the ... of the caste system in ancient and medieval India, which focus on either ideological factors or on socio-economic factors ...
Velakali is a ritualistic martial arts form performed by Nair men in some temples of southern Kerala. [6] The form depicts the fight between the Pandavas and Kauravas. [7] It originated in Ambalappuzha, where Mathoor Panicker, chief of the Chempakasserri army, employed it to boost the martial spirit of the people.
But the movement for change is not a struggle to end caste; it is to use caste as an instrument for social change. Caste is not disappearing, nor is "casteism" - the political use of caste — for what is emerging in India is a social and political system which institutionalizes and transforms but does not abolish caste. [39]
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.
Ambedkar views that definitions of castes given by Émile Senart [5] John Nesfield, H. H. Risley and Dr Ketkar as incomplete or incorrect by itself and all have missed the central point in the mechanism of the caste system. Senart's "idea of pollution" is a characteristic of caste in so far as caste has a religious flavour.
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]
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.