Chekavar

https://www.thehindu.com/features/cinema/unniyarcha-1961/article2565188.ece/{{cite book|last=B.S. Chandrababu, L. Thilagavathi|year=2009|title=Woman, Her History and Her Struggle for Emancipation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NZmyUpHdPWYC&dq=unniyarcha&pg=PA156|publisher=Bharathi Boothakalayam|page=156|isbn=9788189909970}}]]

Exceptionally talented Thiyya practitioners of Kalaripayattu were known as title chekavar or chekon, and each local ruler had his own militia of chekons. The chekons were lined up for combats and duels, representing the rulers in disputes. In short, they were warriors who fought and died for the empire in wars, protecting the country and it's people's life. Chekavar formed the army of the Chera Empire.Some of the Chekavar families migrated from Malabar to Southern parts of Kerala at the invitation of kings, to train soldiers and lead war.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=My8DEAAAQBAJ&q=Chekavan&pg=PT42|title = Jumbos and Jumping Devils: A Social History of Indian Circus|isbn = 9780190992071|last1 = Nisha|first1 = P. R.|date = 12 June 2020}}{{cite news | url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/seventh-sense-night-shyamalan-is-from-africa/articleshow/11493926.cms | title=Seventh sense: Night Shyamalan is from Africa | Chennai News - Times of India | website=The Times of India | date=15 January 2012 }}

Some of these heroes are remembered and worshipped even today through folk songs like Vadakkan Pattukal; for example, the 19th century Kuroolli Chekon who fought against the British is remembered through folk songs while the Sangam age hero Akathooty Chekavar, Commander-in-chief of the Chera army, was adopted into Theyyam forms and is worshipped as a war deity today.Vishnumangalm Kumar, "Kuroolli Chekon: Charithram Thamaskaricha Kadathanadan Simham" (Keralasabdam, 2007-9-2),Page 30-33, ISBN 96220924{{cite web | url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26155392-theyyaprapancham | title=Theyyaprapancham }}

Chekavar is derived from the Sanskrit words Sevakar, Sevakan or Sevaka, which mean soldiers in service or soldiers in royal service.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1TuPeXFP0WgC&pg=PA30|title=Communal Road to a Secular Kerala |page=30|first=George |last=Mathew|year=1989 |publisher=Concept Pub.Co, 1989|isbn=81-7022-282-6}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xNAI9F8IBOgC&pg=PA27|title= Religion and Social Conflict in South Asia |page=27|first=Bardwell L. |last=Smith|publisher=BRILL |year=1976|isbn=90-04-04510-4}}

Hero stones found in Kerala depict Chekavar engaged in combat, often on behalf of a lord. On the stones, Chekavar are generally depicted by an image of an armed man along with a Shiva Linga.{{cn|date=May 2021}}

The Malabar chekavars was a warriors.{{cite book|last=James John|year=2020|title=The Portuguese and the Socio-Cultural Changes in Kerala: 1498-1663|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=39HVDwAAQBAJ&dq=tiyyas+warrior&pg=PT130|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781000078718}}{{cite book|last=Binu John Mailaparambil|year=2011|title=Lords of the Sea: The Ali Rajas of Cannanore and the Political Economy of Malabar|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J_p-Odiq4tsC&dq=tiyya+military&pg=PA36|publisher=Brill|page=36|isbn=9789004180215}} that inhabited present day Malabar and Tulu Nadu.{{cite journal | url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13569783.2014.895619?cookieSet=1 | doi=10.1080/13569783.2014.895619 | title=Folk performances: Reading the cultural history of the Thiyya community in Kerala | year=2014 | last1=Zahira | first1=M. | journal=Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance | volume=19 | issue=2 | pages=159–164 | s2cid=191468000 | url-access=subscription }} They had their own style of martial arts, although it was influenced by the martial arts of the Chera Empire.{{cite book|last=Jenniffer G.Wollok|year=2011|title=Rethinking Chivalry and Courtly Love|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=orTn7RpmyZIC&dq=thiyyas+martial+arts&pg=PA250|publisher=ABC publishing|page=250|isbn=9780275984885}}{{cite book|last=Folk-Lore|title=Folk-Lore|year = 1975|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IMvjAAAAMAAJ&q=tiyya+cekavar|page=96}}

Jacob Canter Visscher's Letters from Malabar says: 'They may be justly entitled soldiers, as by virtue of their descent they must always bear arms. In spite of the fact that Thiyyas were also practitioners of payatt and had a unavoidable presence in the militia of the ruler, they were allowed in the military services.'

Hendrik van Rheede, governor of Dutch Malabar between 1669 and 1676, wrote about Chekavar in Hortus Malabaricus: "[Chekavas] are bound to war and arms. The Chekavars usually serve to teach nayros (nair) in the fencing in kalari school".{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rIZHDwAAQBAJ&dq=The+silgos%28chegos%29usually+serve+to+teach+nayros+in+the+fencing+school&pg=RA1-PA8|title = Hendrik Adriaan van Reed Tot Drakestein 1636-1691 and Hortus, Malabaricus|isbn = 9781351441070|last1 = Heniger|first1 = J.|year = 2017}}

According to Indudara Menon, "The songs of the Vatakkan pattu (northern ballads) are about a clan of martial Chekavars who were Thiyyas and masters of the martial arts".{{cite book|last=Indudhara Menon|year=2018|title=Hereditary Physicians of Kerala: Traditional Medicine and Ayurveda in Modern India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xouADwAAQBAJ&dq=chekavar+Tiyya&pg=PT77|publisher=Taylor & Francis, 2018|isbn=9780429663123}} According to David Levinson, "The Chekavar families played an important role in the practice of Kalaripayattu in the Malabar District".{{cite book|last=David Levinson, Karen Christensen|year=1996|title=Encyclopedia of World sport:from Ancient times to the present vol.3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TMoUAQAAIAAJ&q=Tiyyas|publisher=ABC|page=615|isbn=9780874368192}}

According to historian A. Sreedhara Menon:{{quote|Northern songs are represented in Malabar where the Unniyarcha and Aromal Chekavars of the Puthuram Veettil house are an important Thiyyar family known for their martial arts. The area of their activities comprised the medieval principalities of Kolathunad, Kadathanad and Kottayam.{{Cite book|last=Menon|first=A. Sreedhara|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wnAjqjhc1VcC|title=Kerala History and its Makers|publisher=D C Books|date=4 March 2011|isbn=978-81-264-3782-5|pages=82–86|language=en|access-date=10 October 2021}}}}

• Aromal Chekavar
• Chandu Chekavar
• Kuroolli Chekon
• Kathivanoor Veeran{{cite book|last=K. k. N Kurup|year=1989|title=Samooham Charithram Samskaram|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tqVEAQAAIAAJ&q=%E0%B4%9A%E0%B5%87%E0%B4%95%E0%B4%B5%E0%B5%BB|publisher=Poorna Publication |page=73}}
• Kottackkal Kanaran Gurukkal{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eCF6AAAAMAAJ&q=karnaran+chekavar|title=Indian Dance: The Ultimate Metaphor|first=Shanta Serbjeet|last=Singh|date=August 23, 2000|publisher=Ravi Kumar|isbn=9781878529657 |via=Google Books|page=243}}
• Arattupuzha Velayudha Panicker

Category:Thiyyar warriors

Category:Indian warriors

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