Kiryathil Nair

The term "Kiryathil" is derived from the Malayalam word Kirīṭaṁ (കിരീടം), meaning "crown". Therefore, the literal meaning of Kiryathil Nair is "The Crowned Nair."{{cite web|url=https://books.sayahna.org/ml/pdf/keralolpathi.pdf|title=The Keralolpathi (കേരളോല്പത്തി)|website=Books.sayahna.org|access-date=15 July 2022}} Together with Illathu Nairs and Swaroopathil Nairs, they form the top tier of the Nair hierarchy in Malabar District. Unlike the other two, however, who were required to serve in the households of Kings in the form of accounts respectively, Kiryathils had no such obligations and were recognized as independent feudal lords.{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.56741/page/n329/mode/2up?q=kiriyam | title=Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Vol. 5 of 7 | year=1909| last1=Thurston | first1=Edgar | publisher=Gutenberg Publications | isbn=978-1113560315}} 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.{{ Cite journal |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/theatre-survey/article/abs/caste-as-performance-ayyankali-and-the-caste-scripts-of-colonial-kerala/5F486EE550D6E1EE343D68059B7F1A4D | title=Caste as Performance: Ayyankali and the Caste Scripts of Colonial Kerala | last1=Narayan | first1=Vivek | journal=Theatre Survey | date=August 2021 | volume=62 | issue=3 | pages=272–294 | publisher=Cambridge University Press| doi=10.1017/S004055742100020X | s2cid=237271020 }} Additionally, Kiryathils were also the only Nair division whose members were allowed to wear bracelets on both arms (a symbol of aristocracy). In ancient times, the land was divided into Naadus and Desams, each governed by rulers known as Naaduvazhi and Desavazhi, respectively, often belonging to the Samanthan Nair and Kiriyath Nair lineage in Malabar District.{{cite book|url=https://printing.kerala.gov.in/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Travancore-State-Manual-1906.pdf | title=The Travancore State Manual| last1=Aiya | first1=Nigam| year=1906 | isbn=9781977068392 }}

File:The King of Cochin riding on an Elephant, attended by his Nairs.jpg 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.]]

File:Vasco Da Gama welcomed by the Zamorin.jpg being welcomed by the Samoothiri of Calicut, in the year 1498]]

These Nair families belong to or connected to the aristocratic tharavads, which were ancestral homes associated with prestige, power and wealth in medieval Kerala.{{cite journal| url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335972838 | title=Narrating Middle-Class Houses Across Indian History: Memory, Gender and Material Culture| first1=Ester | last1=Galo | journal=The Fall of Gods: Memory, Kinship and Middle Classes in South India | year = 2019 | publisher=Oxford University Press}}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yQM4AAAAIAAJ&q=sambandham+custom+of+kshatriyas+in+kerala&pg=PA116 | title=The Nayars Today | year=1976 | last1= Fuller | first1= Christopher John | publisher=Cambridge University Press| isbn=9780521213011 }}{{cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/927015 | title=Namboodiri Brahmins of Kerala | year=1966 | last1= Mencher | first1= Joan | journal=Journal of Asian and African Studies | publisher=Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland}}

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."{{cite journal |last=Fuller |first=Christopher J. |date=1975 |title=The Internal Structure of the Nayar Caste |journal=Journal of Anthropological Research |volume=31 |issue=4 |pages=283–312 |doi=10.1086/jar.31.4.3629883 |jstor=3629883|s2cid=163592798 }} The Kiriyathil Nairs

served as regional rulers, lords and military chieftains for various kingdom's of Kerala, including the Zamorin, and owned vast amounts of lands and raised soldiers.{{cite web | url=http://www.nairs.in/classifications.htm | title=Classifications of the Nair Community |website=Nairs.in}}

The title of "Kaimal" (from the Malayalam word Kai - "കൈ," meaning "hand" - signifying power and authority) was awarded by the monarchs of Kerala to affluent Samantha Nair and also some Kiriyath Nair families who were exceedingly influential, and the Kaimals were one of the highest caste of Hindu caste in South India.{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ro8SLhyAc9AC&pg=PR8 | title=The Dutch Power in Kerala, 1729-1758 | isbn=9788170991366 | last1=Koshy | first1=M. O. | year=1989 | publisher=Mittal Publications, New Delhi}}

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.{{Cite book|last=Fuller|first=Christopher John|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yQM4AAAAIAAJ&q=zamorin|title=The Nayars Today |date=December 1976|publisher=Cambridge University Press| journal=Changing Culture Series| isbn=978-0-521-29091-3|language=en}} While the Karthas were generally considered to be lower than the Kaimals in terms of seniority, both of them jointly formed the two major Aristocratic lineages of the Cochin royal family.{{cite journal | url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.211241/page/n441/mode/2up?q=kaimal&view=theater | title=History of Kerala | volume=2 | last1=Menon K. P | first1=Padmanabha | date=1929 | journal= Digital Library of India | publisher=Cochin Government Press, Ernakulam}}

The Kiryathil Nairs, due to their significance in being the direct descendants of the Nagavanshi Kshatriya clan who migrated to southern India, formed the "original" rank from which the two most powerful royal houses of Kerala stemmed from:{{cite journal | url=https://ignca.gov.in/Asi_data/3379.pdf | title=The Zamorins of Calicut: From the Earliest Times Down to A.D. 1806 | journal=Central Archaeological Library, Department of Archaeology, Government of India | last1=K.V | first1=Krishna Iyer | year=1938 | publisher=Norman Printing Bureau, Calicut}}{{cite journal | url=https://printing.kerala.gov.in/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Cochin-State-Manual-1911.pdf | title=The Cochin State Manual | journal=Central Archaeological Library, Department of Archaeology, Government of India | last1=Menon | first1=Achyuta | year=1911 | publisher=Cochin Government Press, Ernakulam}}

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.{{cite book |title=The Decline of Nayar Dominance: Society and Politics in Travancore, 1847–1908 |url=https://archive.org/details/declineofnayardo0000jeff |first=Robin |last=Jeffrey |author-link=Robin Jeffrey |year=1976|publisher=Sussex University Press |isbn=0-85621-054-4}}

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.{{Cite journal|last=Fuller|first=Christopher J. |author-link=Chris Fuller (academic)|date=December 1975|title=The Internal Structure of the Nayar Caste |jstor=3629883 |journal=Journal of Anthropological Research |volume=31 |issue=4 |pages=283–312 | publisher=The University of Chicago Press |doi=10.1086/jar.31.4.3629883 |s2cid=163592798 |issn=0091-7710}}

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.{{cite book | title=The Portuguese in India: A.D. 1571-1894 |first=Danvers |last=Frederick Charles |date=August 2017|publisher=Andesite Press |isbn=978-1375782197}} 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.Danvers (1894: p. 114). Osório (p. 313) says 19,000, Góis (p. 123) says 18,000 (with breakdown) and Correia (p. 489) says 20,000.

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.{{Cite book | last=Naravane| first=M. S.|date=April 2007|title=Battles of the Honourable East India Company: Making of the Raj | publisher=A.P.H Publishing Corporation, New Delhi |isbn=978-81-313-0034-3}} 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.{{Cite web | url=https://library.staloysius.edu.in/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=223805 | last=Fernandes| first=Praxy|year=1969|title=Storm Over Seringapatam: The Incredible Story of Hyder Ali and Tippu Sultan| publisher=Thacker and Co Ltd, Mumbai}} He therefore deprived them of their caste status, and prohibited them from carrying arms and outlawed them.{{Cite web | url=https://library.staloysius.edu.in/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=223805 | last=Fernandes| first=Praxy|year=1969|title=Storm Over Seringapatam: The Incredible Story of Hyder Ali and Tippu Sultan| page=38 | publisher=Thacker and Co Ltd, Mumbai}} 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.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uX4fEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA8|title=Noncooperation in India: Nonviolent Strategy and Protest, 1920-22|isbn=978-0-19-758056-1|last1=Hardiman|first1=David|date=March 2021 | publisher=Oxford University Press}}{{Cite web | url=https://library.staloysius.edu.in/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=223805 | last=Fernandes| first=Praxy|year=1969|title=Storm Over Seringapatam: The Incredible Story of Hyder Ali and Tippu Sultan | page=120 | publisher=Thacker and Co Ltd, Mumbai}}

Historical records show that out of the 30,000 Nair warriors who were captured alive by him, only about a hundred or so survived.{{Cite book | url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/47965430 | last=Prabhu| first=Alan Machado |year=1999|title=Sarasvati's Children: A History of the Mangalorean Christians | publisher=I.J.A. Publications, Bangalore| oclc=47965430}} 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,{{Cite journal | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BsO1AAAAIAAJ | last=Sreedhara Menon| first=A.|year=1962|title=Kerala District Gazetteers: Kozhikode | journal=Superintendent of Government Presses | publisher=Department of Education, Government of Kerala, India.}} 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.{{Cite book | last=Shungoonny Menon | first=P.|year=2010|title=History of Travancore: From The Earliest Times (1878) | publisher=Kessinger Publishing, Montana, USA | isbn=978-1165280636}} 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.{{Cite journal | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uMhLAAAAYAAJ | last1=MacFarlane| first1=Charles | last2=Lillie Craik | first2=George | year=1847|title=Pictorial History of England: Being a History of the People, as Well as a History of the Kingdom | journal=6 | publisher=Charles Knight Publishers, Great Britain.}}

Historically, despite the absence of the usual 4-tier Varṇa classification in South India, the Kiriyathil Nair along with Samanthan Nair, Illathu Nair and Swaroopathil Nairs were objectively considered as kshatriyas,{{Cite book|title=Homo Hierarchicus: The Caste System and Its Implications|last=Dumont|first=Louis|date=1980|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=9780226169637|language=en}} having functions like ruling, administrative, military and social requirements and duties that are associated with warrior aristocracy,{{cite book|title= The Cambridge Economic History of India, c.1200-c.1750 |first1= Dharma |last1=Kumar | first2=Meghnad | last2=Desai |publisher= Cambridge University Press |year=1982 |isbn=9780521226929 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L-s8AAAAIAAJ}}{{cite journal |title=Toward a Model of the Hindu Jajmani System | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44124164 |first=Pauline Mahar |last=Kolenda |journal=Human Organization: Contours of Culture Change in South Asia |volume=22 |issue=1 |year=1963 | pages=11–31 | publisher=Society for Applied Anthropology | jstor=44124164}} as given in the Manusmriti, the legendary legal text of Hinduism.{{cite book |last=Jha |first=Ganganath |title=Manusmṛti with the Manubhāṣya of Medhātithi |url=https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/manusmriti-with-the-commentary-of-medhatithi |year=1920 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publishers |isbn=81-208-1155-0}}{{cite book|last= Olivelle |first=Patrick| url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/hinduism-and-law/dharmasastra/3A6FC1A15E12CEF1D18B5BA1E5437931 | chapter = Dharmasastra: A Literary History| title =Law and Hinduism: An Introduction| editor=Lubin, Timothy |editor2=Krishnan, Jayanth |editor3=Davis, Jr. Donald R. | publisher = Cambridge University Press| year= 2010| isbn=9780521716260}}

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.Gough, E. Kathleen (1961). "Nayars: Central Kerala". In Schneider, David Murray; Gough, E. Kathleen. Matrilineal Kinship. University of California Press. {{ISBN|978-0-520-02529-5}}. Retrieved 2011-06-09.

Currently, the Kiryathils constitute less than 4% of the total Nair population.{{cite book |title=Dynamics of Migration in Kerala: Dimensions, Differentials, and Consequences |first1=Kunniparampil Curien |last1=Zachariah |first2=Elangikal Thomas |last2=Mathew |first3=Sebastian Irudaya |last3=Rajan |publisher=Orient Longman, Hyderabad |isbn=978-81-250-2504-7 |year=2003 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D497alRZPcoC}}

Until the early 20th century, almost all Nair families, irrespective of their social standings, followed a matrilineal system of inheritance.{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ENC-DAAAQBAJ | title=Politics, Women and Wellbeing: How Kerala became a 'Model' | first1=Robin | last1=Jeffrey | year=1992 | series=Cambridge Commonwealth Series | publisher=Palgrave Macmillan, London| isbn=978-0195656220}}{{cite journal | url=https://www.academia.edu/31004048 | title=Women and Marriage in Marumakkathayam | first1=Moothedath | last1=Mayadevi | journal=International Research Journal of Social Sciences | volume=4(10), 1-4 | date=October 2015 | publisher=International Science Congress Association, ISSN 2319-3565}} 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.{{cite web | url=https://www.rarebooksocietyofindia.org/book_archive/196174216674_10152113626716675.pdf | title=Malabar and its Folk | first1=T. K. Gopal | last1=Panikkar | year=1900 | publisher=G. A. Natesan & Co. Printers, Madras}} This form of matrilineal inheritance was known as Marumakkathayam, and resulted in Nair families holding their women in high honor.{{cite journal | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40023536 | title=Legacies of Matriliny: The Place of Women and the "Kerala Model" | first1=Robin | last1=Jeffrey | journal=Pacific Affairs | volume=77 | date=October 2004 | issue=4 | pages=647–664 | publisher=University of British Columbia Press| jstor=40023536 }} However, the Government of Kerala passed "The Joint Family System (Abolition) Act" in 1975, which abolished this practice.{{cite web | url=https://www.indianemployees.com/acts-rules/details/kerala-joint-hindu-family-system-abolition-act-1975#:~:text=An%20Act%20to%20abolish%20the,in%20the%20State%20of%20Kerala.&text=(2)%20It%20extends%20to%20the,of%20the%20State%20of%20Kerala.&text=(4)%20an%20undivided%20Hindu%20family%20governed%20by%20the%20Mitakshara%20law. | title=Kerala Joint Hindu Family System (Abolition) Act, 1975| date=August 1976 | issue=30 | publisher=Government of Kerala, India.}}

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.{{cite web | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/42864645 | title=The Family Organisation in the South-West of India | first1=J | last1=Puthenkalam | year=1966 | volume=15 | series=Sociological Bulletin | issue=2 | pages=1–26 | publisher=SAGE Publications, Inc.| jstor=42864645 }} 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.{{cite web | url=https://www.dw.com/en/india-what-is-left-of-matrilineal-societies-in-kerala/a-60133613 | title=India: What is left of matrilineal societies in Kerala? | DW | 15.12.2021 | website=Deutsche Welle }}

• Nayanar (Nair subcaste)
• Nambiar (Nair subcaste)
• Achan
• Nair
• Kaimal
• Samantha Kshatriya
• Swaroopathil Nair

{{reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070901154501/http://www.chaf.lib.latrobe.edu.au/dcd/main.htm#content#content Digital Colonial Documents (India)]

Category:Nair