The Ezhavas are a community with origins in the region of India presently known as Kerala.

They
are also known as Ilhava, Irava, Izhava and Erava in the south of the region;
as Chovas, Chokons and Chogons in Central Travancore; and as Thiyyar, Tiyyas and Theeyas in
the Malabar region.[1][2][3] Some are also known as Thandan, which has caused administrative
difficulties due to the presence of a distinct caste of Thandan in the same region.[4][5] The
Malabar Thiyyar group have claimed a higher ranking in the Hindu caste system than do the others,
although from the perspective of the colonial and subsequent administrations they were treated as
being of similar rank.[1][6]
As well as being agricultural labourers, small cultivators, toddy tappers and liquor businessmen,
some Ezhavas were also involved in weaving and some practised Ayurveda. Majority of
the Ayurveda physicians in Kerala belonged to Thiyyar-Ezhava community in the olden
days.[7] The Thiyyar dynasties such as the Mannanar also existed in Kerala.[8] The Chekavar, a
warrior section within the Thiyyar community, were part of the militias of local chieftains and kings.
There were also renowned Kalaripayattu experts among Chekavars.[9][10]
British Indian Army also had a special regiment called the Thiyyar Regiment which was formed with
thousands of Thiyyar warriors.[11][12] The Regiment was centered at Thalassery, since Tellicherry
(Thalassery) was a strategic centre of the company in Malabar.

Contents

 1History
o 1.1Legend
o 1.2Social and religious divergence
 2Past occupations
o 2.1Martial traditions
 2.1.1French Thiyyar Army
 2.1.2British Army Thiyyar Regiment
 2.1.3Chekavar
o 2.2Medicine and traditional toxicology
 3Culture
o 3.1Aivar kali
o 3.2Arjuna Nrtam (Mayilppili Tukkam)
o 3.3Makachuttu
o 3.4Poorakkali
o 3.5Teyyam (Teyyattam) or Kaliyattam
 4Customs
o 4.1Thiyyar Marriage
 5Spiritual and social movements
 6Position in society
 7Dispute between Thiyya and Ezhava
 8See also
 9Notes
o 9.1Citations
o 9.2Bibliography

History
Legend
According to legend and some Malayalam folk songs, the Ezhavas were the progeny of four
bachelors that the king of Ceylon sent to Kerala at the request of the Chera king Bhaskara Ravi
Varma, in the 1st century AD. These men were sent, ostensibly, to set up coconut farming in Kerala.
Another version of the story says that the Sri Lankan king sent eight martial families to Kerala at the
request of a Chera king to quell a civil war that had erupted in Kerala against him.[13][clarification needed]
Social and religious divergence
It has been suggested that the Ezhavas may share a common heritage with the Nair caste. This
theory is based on similarities between numerous of the customs adopted by the two groups,
particularly with regard to marking various significant life stages such as childbirth and death, as well
as their matrilineal practices and martial history. Oral history, folk songs and other old writings
indicate that the Ezhavas were at some point in the past members of the armed forces serving
various kings, including the Zamorins of Calicut and the rulers of the Cochin dynasty. Cyriac
Pullapilly has said that only a common parentage can explain some of these issues.[14]
A theory has been proposed for the origins of the caste system in the Kerala region based on the
actions of the Aryan Jains introducing such distinctions prior to the 8th-century AD. This argues that
the Jains needed protection when they arrived in the area and recruited sympathetic local people to
provide it. These people were then distinguished from others in the local population by their
occupation as protectors, with the others all being classed as out-caste. Pullapilly describes that this
meant they "... were given kshatriya functions, but only shudra status. Thus originated the Nairs."
The Ezhavas, not being among the group protecting the Jains, became out-castes.[14]
An alternate theory states that the system was introduced by the Nambudiri Brahmins. Although
Brahmin influences had existed in the area since at least the 1st-century AD, there was a large influx
from around the 8th-century when they acted as priests, counsellors and ministers to invading Aryan
princes. At the time of their arrival the non-aboriginal local population had been converted to
Buddhism by missionaries who had come from the north of India and from Ceylon. The Brahmins
used their symbiotic relationship with the invading forces to assert their beliefs and position.
Buddhist temples and monasteries were either destroyed or taken over for use in Hindu practices,
thus undermining the ability of the Buddhists to propagate their beliefs.[14]
The Buddhist tradition of the Ezhavas, and the refusal to give it up, pushed them to an outcaste role
within the greater Brahminic society.[14][15] This tradition is still evident as Ezhavas show greater
interest in the moral, non-ritualistic, and non-dogmatic aspects of the religion rather than the
theological.[14]

Past occupations
The social anthropologists Filippo and Caroline Osella say that the Ezhavas "... consisted in the mid-
nineteenth century of a small landowning and titled elite and a large mass of landless and small
tenants who were largely illiterate, considered untouchable, and who eked out a living by manual
labour and petty trade."[16][a] A. Aiyappan, another social anthropologist and himself a member of the
caste,[16] noted the mythical belief that the Ezhava brought coconut palms to Kerala when they
moved from Sri Lanka.[18] Their traditional occupation, or avakasam, was tending to and tapping the
sap of such palms. This activity is sometimes erroneously referred to as toddy tapping, toddy being a
liquor manufactured from the sap. Arrack was another liquor produced from the palms, as was
jaggery (an unrefined sugar). In reality, most Ezhavas were agricultural labourers and small-time
cultivators, with a substantial number diverging into the production of coir products, such as coconut
mats for flooring, from towards the end of the 19th century.[1] The coastal town of Alleppey became
the centre of such manufacture and was mostly controlled by Ezhavas, although the lucrative export
markets were accessible only through European traders, who monopolised the required equipment.
A boom in trade for these manufactured goods after World War I led to a unique situation in
twentieth-century Kerala whereby there was a shortage of labour, which attracted still more Ezhavas
to the industry from outlying rural areas. The Great Depression impacted in particular on the export
trade, causing a reduction in price and in wages even though production increased, with the
consequence that during the 1930s many Ezhava families found themselves to be in dire financial
circumstances.[18][19][20]
Some Ezhavas were involved in weaving and ship making.[21]
Martial traditions
Many were employed as soldiers and kalaripayattu trainers at the army of Kolathiri,Calicut
of Zamorin and in the army of Sakthan Thampuran of Kingdom of Cochin.Many were also guards or
sentinels in the palaces of Travancore.[22]Thiyyar also served in army of local chieftains and local
rulers such as of Kadathanad and Kurumbranad of Kerala, who were privileged in the pre-colonial
period to have their own private armies.[23]
They were also soldiers of Thiyya ruling dynasty of Mannanar of Ezhuveshi.
Shankaran Moopan of Pullambil Thiyyar Tharawad served as the commander in chief of Pazhashi
Raja against British. [24]
French Thiyyar Army
After the French Governor Bertrand-François Mahé de La Bourdonnais captured Mahe from the
Marathas in 1741, they formed an army with hundreds of Thiyyar soldiers, two French officers, a
drummer and 40 rifles in 1774 called the Thiyya Army.They served the french Mahe till 1954 when
the French handed over the reins of power to a local government led by I. K. Kumaran Master.[25]
British Army Thiyyar Regiment
Even after the formation of the Malabar Special Police, a new police force formed by british to which
they recruited mainly thiyyar, british also formed a separate regiment in Indian British army called
Thiyya regiment based in Thalassery.[26]
Chekavar
A subgroup of the Thiyyas considered themselves to be warriors and became known as the
Chekavars. The Vadakkan Pattukal ballads describe Chekavars as forming the militia of local
chieftains and kings but the title was also given to experts of Kalari Payattu.[27]
Medicine and traditional toxicology
Some Ezhavas had an extensive knowledge of the medicinal value of plants, passed to them by
their ancestors. Known as Vaidyars, these people acted as physicians. Itti Achuden was probably
the best known Ezhava physician who directly influenced the classification of Hortus Malabaricus in
the 17th century. Itti Achuden's texts were written in the Kolezhuthu script that Ezhava castes used,
for they were prevented from learning the more Sanskritized Aryazuthu script which was the
preserve of the upper-castes.[28]
Some Ezhavas practiced ayurvedic medicine.[29][30][31]

Culture

Ezhava/Channar Musicians from the 19th century: Performing the traditional "Villadichaampattu"
Aivar kali
Literally, Aivarkali means the play of the five sets. This was a ritualistic art form performed in almost
all important temples of Kerala. Today it is found in central Kerala. This is also known as
Pandavarkali, which means the play of the Pandavas, (the five heroes of the Mahabharatha), and is
performed by Asari, Moosari, Karuvan, Thattan and Kallasari communities. This ritualistic dance is
performed beneath a decorated pandal with a nilavilakku at its centre. The five or more performers
with their leader called Kaliachan enter the performance area after a ritualistic bath, with sandalwood
paste over their foreheads, dressed in white dhoti, and with a towel wrapped around their heads.[32]
Arjuna Nrtam (Mayilppili Tukkam)
Arjuna Nrtam ("the dance of Arjuna") or Mayilppili Tukkam is a ritual art performed by men of Ezhava
community and is prevalent in the Bhagavathy temples of south Kerala, mainly in Kollam, Alappuzha
and Kottayam districts. Arjuna nritham is also called "Mayilpeeli Thookkam" as the costume includes
a characteristic garment made of mayilppeeli (peacock feathers). This garment is worn around the
waist in a similar fashion as the "uduthukettu" of Kathakali. The various dance movements are
closely similar to Kalarippayattu techniques. The performers have their faces painted green and
wear distinctive headgears. The all night performance of the dance form is usually presented solo or
in pairs.[32]
Makachuttu
Makachuttu art is popular among Ezhavas in Thiruvananthapuram and Chirayinkizhu taluks and
in Kilimanoor, Pazhayakunnummal and Thattathumala regions. In this, a group of eight performers,
two each, twin around each other like serpents and rise up, battling with sticks. The techniques are
repeated several times. Sandalwood paste on the forehead, a red towel round the head, red silk
around the waist and bells round the ankles form the costume. This is a combination of snake
worship and Kalarippayattu.[32][33]
Poorakkali
Poorakkali is a folk dance prevalent among the Ezhavas of Malabar, usually performed in
Bhagavathy temples as a ritual offering during the month of Meenam (March–April). Poorakkali
requires specially trained and highly experienced dancers, trained in Kalaripayattu, a system of
physical exercise formerly in vogue in Kerala. Standing round a traditional lamp, the performers
dance in eighteen different stages and rhythms, each phase called a niram.[32]
Teyyam (Teyyattam) or Kaliyattam
In northern Kerala, Teyyam is a popular ritual dance. This particular dance form is also known as
Kaliyattam. The main deities of Ezhavas include Vayanattu Kulavan, Kativannur Viran, Pumarutan
and Muttappan.[32][page needed][33][page needed]

Customs
Ezhavas adopted different patterns of behavior in family system across Kerala. Those living in
southern Travancore tended to meld the different practices that existed in the other parts of Kerala.
The family arrangements of northern Malabar were matrilineal with patrilocal property arrangements,
whereas in northern Travancore they were matrilineal but usually matrilocal in their arrangements for
property. Southern Malabar saw a patrilineal system but partible property.[1]
These arrangements were reformed by legislation, for Malabar in 1925 and for Travancore in 1933.
The process of reform was more easily achieved for the Ezhavas than it was for the Nairs,
another Hindu caste in Kerala who adopted matrilineal arrangements; the situation for the Nairs was
complicated by a traditional matrilocal form of living called taravadu and by their usually much higher
degree of property ownership.[1]
Thiyyar Marriage
Edgar Thurston has described Thiyyar wedding in his Castes and Tribes of Southern India as
"The South Malabar Tiyan bridegroom, dressed as if for a wrestling match, with his cloth tied tight
about his loins, carries a sword and shield, and is escorted by two companions similarly equipped,
dancing their way along. The Izhuvan does not carry a sword under any circumstances. The chief
feature of his wedding ceremony is a singing match. This, called the vatil-tura-pattu, or open the
door song, assumes the form of a contest between the parties of the bridegroom and bride. The
story of Krishna and his wife Rukmini is supposed to be alluded to. We have seen it all under slightly
different colour at Conjeeveram. Krishna asks Rukmini to open the door, and admit him. She
refuses, thinking he has been gallivanting with some other lady. He beseeches ; she refuses. He
explains, and at length she yields. The song is more or less extem- pore, and each "side must be
ready with an immediate answer. The side which is reduced to the extremity of having no answer is
beaten and under ignominy. Marriage is strictly forbidden between two persons belonging to the
same illam. The bride and bridegroom must belong to different illams. In fact, the illams are
exogamous. The following formula is repeated by the headman of the bride's party. Translated as
accurately as possible, it runs thus. "The tara and changati of both sides having met and consulted ;
the astrologer having fixed an auspicious day after examining the star and porutham ; permission
having been obtained from the tara, the relations, the illam and kulam, the father, uncle, and the
brothers, and from the eight and four (twelve illams) and the six and four (ten kiriyams) ; the conji
and adayalam ceremonies and the four tazhus having been performed, let me perform the kanjikudi
ceremony for the marriage of .... The son of . . . . With .... Daughter of .... In the presence of
muperium. ” [34]

Spiritual and social movements

Some Thiyyas converted to Islam from around the 9th century, due to the influence of Arab traders.
These people, and other Muslim converts in the region, are now known as Mappillas.[35] A sizeable
part of the Ezhava community, especially in central Travancore and in the High Ranges,
embraced Christianity during the British rule, due to caste-based discrimination.
In Kannur, Protestant missions started working in the first half of the 19th century, notably the Basel
German Evangelical Mission. Most of their converts were from the Thiyya
community.[36] The Congregationalist London Missionary Society and the Anglican Church Mission
Society were also prominent in the movement for religious conversion, having established presences
in the Travancore region in the early nineteenth century.[37]
The lowly status of the Ezhava meant that, as Thomas Nossiter has commented, they had "little to
lose and much to gain by the economic and social changes of the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries". They sought the right to be treated as worthy of an English education and for jobs in
government administration to be open to them.[1] An early Ezhava campaigner and their "political
father", according to Ritty Lukose, was Padmanabhan Palpu.[38] In 1896, he organised a petition of
13,176 signatories that was submitted to the Maharajah of the princely state of Travancore, asking
for government recognition of the Ezhavas' right to work in public administration and to have access
to formal education.[39][40] Around this time, nearly 93 per cent of the caste members were
illiterate.[41] The upper caste Hindus of the state prevailed upon the Maharajah not to concede the
request. The outcome not looking to be promising, the Ezhava leadership threatened that they would
convert from Hinduism en masse, rather than stay as helots of Hindu society. C. P. Ramaswamy
Iyer, realizing the imminent danger, prompted the Maharajah to issue the Temple Entry
Proclamation, which abolished the ban on lower-caste people from entering Hindu temples in the
state of Travancore.[citation needed] Steven Wilkinson says that Proclamation was passed because the
government was "frightened" by the Ezhava threat of conversion to Christianity.[42]
Narayana Guru

Eventually, in 1903, a small group of Ezhavas, led by Palpu, established Sree Narayana Dharma
Paripalan Yogam (SNDP), the first caste association in the region. This was named after Narayana
Guru, who had established an ashram from where he preached his message of "one caste, one
religion, one god" and a Sanskritised version of the Victorian concept of self-help. His influence
locally has been compared to that of Swami Vivekananda.[43] One of the initial aims of the SNDP was
to campaign for the removal of the restrictions on school entry but even after those legal barriers to
education were removed, it was uncommon in practice for Ezhavas to be admitted to government
schools. Thus, the campaign shifted to providing schools operated by the community itself.[41] The
organisation, attracted support in Travancore but similar bodies in Cochin were less successful. In
Malabar, which unlike Cochin and Travancore was under direct British control,[44] the Thiyyas showed
little interest in such bodies because they did not suffer the educational and employment
discrimination found elsewhere, nor indeed were the disadvantages that they did experience strictly
a consequence of caste alone.[43]
The Ezhavas were not immune to being manipulated by other people for political purposes.
The Vaikom Satyagraha of 1924–1925 was a failed attempt to use the issue of avarna access to
roads around temples in order to revive the fortunes of Congress, orchestrated by T. K. Madhavan, a
revolutionary and civil rights activist,[45] and with a famous temple at Vaikom as the focal point.
Although it failed in its stated aim of achieving access, the satyagraha (movement) did succeed in
voicing a "radical rhetoric", according to Nossiter.[43] During this movement, a few Akalis—an order of
armed Sikhs—came to Vaikom in support of the demonstrators. After the eventual passing of
the Temple Entry Proclamation, some of the Akalis remained. They attracted some Ezhava youth to
the concepts of the Sikhism, resulting in Ezhava conversions to Sikhism.[46]
The success of the SNDP in improving the lot of Ezhavas has been questioned. Membership had
reached 50,000 by 1928 and 60,000 by 1974, but Nossiter notes that, "From the
Vaikom satyagraha onwards the SNDP had stirred the ordinary Ezhava without materially improving
his position." The division in the 1920s of 60,000 acres of properties previously held by substantial
landowners saw the majority of Ezhava beneficiaries receive less than 1 acre each, although 2% of
them took at least 40% of the available land. There was subsequently a radicalization and much
political infighting within the leadership as a consequence of the effects of the Great Depression on
the coir industry but the general notion of self-help was not easy to achieve in a primarily agricultural
environment; the Victorian concept presumed an industrialised economy. The organisation lost
members to various other groups, including the communist movement, and it was not until the 1950s
that it reinvented itself as a pressure group and provider of educational opportunities along the lines
of the Nair Service Society (NSS), Just as the NSS briefly formed the National Democratic Party in
the 1970s in an attempt directly to enter the political arena, so too in 1972 the SNDP formed the
Social Revolutionary Party.[43]

Position in society
They were considered as avarna (outside brahmanical varna system) by the Nambudiri Brahmins
who formed the Hindu clergy and ritual ruling elite in late medieval Kerala.[1] Kathleen Gough says
that the Thiyyas of Central Travancore were historically the highest-ranking of the "higher polluting
castes", a group whose other constituents included Kanisans and various artisanal castes, and who
were all superior in status to the "lower polluting castes", such as the Pulayars and Paraiyars. The
Nairs and, where applicable, the Mapillas ranked socially and ritually higher than the polluting
castes.[35][b] From their study based principally around one village and published in 2000, the Osellas
noted that the movements of the late-nineteenth and twentieth century brought about a considerable
change for the Ezhavas, with access to jobs, education and the right to vote all assisting in creating
an identity based on more on class than caste, although the stigmatic label of avarna remained
despite gaining the right of access to temples.[47]
The Ezhavas are classified as an Other Backward Class by the Government of India under
its system of positive discrimination.[48]

Dispute between Thiyya and Ezhava

Some in the Thiyya community have objected to being treated as Ezhava by the government of
Kerala. They have campaigned for the right to record themselves as Thiyya rather than as Ezhava
when applying for official posts and other jobs allocated under India's system of positive
discrimination. They claim that the stance of the government is contrary to a principle established by
the Supreme Court of India relating to a dispute involving communities who were neither Ezhava nor
Thiyya.[49][50] The Thiyya Mahasabha has also opposed the SNDP's use of the Thiyya name at an
event.[51]
In February 2013, the recently formed Thiyya Mahasabha objected to the SNDP treating Ezhavas
and Thiyyas as one group, rather than recognising the Thiyyas in Malabar as being distinct. The
SNDP was at that time attempting to increase its relatively weak influence in northern Kerala, where
the politics of identity play a lesser role than those of class and the Communist Party of India
(Marxist) has historically been a significant organisation.[52][53]

See also
 List of Ezhavas
 Travancore Labour Association

Notes
1. ^ Gough describes Thiyya subtenants in Central Travancore, who
worked land held by the Nair caste. One-third of the net produce from
these lands was retained by the subtenants and the remainder was
the property of the Nair tenant.[17]
2. ^ Kathleen Gough says of the Mappillas that they "... lived mainly in
the ports and at inland trading posts on the banks of rivers. They were
 partly outside the village ranking system ... and were theoretically
outside the Hindu religious hierarchy. Nevertheless Muslims were in
some contexts accorded a rank ritually and socially between that of
the Nayars and Tiyyars."[35]

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 Pullapilly, Cyriac K. (1976). "The Izhavas of Kerala and their Historic
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 studies in sociology and social anthropology. 22. Netherlands: E. J.
Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-04510-1. Retrieved 9 June 2011.

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