The Nairs of South Malabar

Chapter
9
The Nayars of South Malabar
JOAN P. MENCHER
Cornell University
Introduction
The Nayars differ from most of the other groups in this series of cases
of family types in that they constitute not an entire society but only one of
a number of caste groups living in Kerala State, India. Traditionally, they
were characterized by a unique form of the family whereby households or
taravads contained only the descendants, both male and female, of a female
ancestress. The male members of the taravad would go out to visit their
wives at about 9 P.M. after finishing their evening meal in their own home
and the women would prepare for the visits of their husbands at that time.
Formerly, the Nayars were warriors; in fact, the community of Nayars
formed the militia of the region, but since the end of the eighteenth century
they perforce abandoned warfare and slowly lost their political power.'
Today, the majority of Nayars living in villages are landowners who supervise
but rarely work the land and often combine this with white-collar jobs such
as schoolteaching or working as clerks in nearby towns. (In North Malabar
the poorest Nayars work as day laborers but this is looked down upon and
considered a last resort.)
1 See William Logan, Malabar (particularly Vol. 1). Madras: Government Press,
reprinted 1951 (originally published in Madras 1887). Also P. K. S. Raja, Medieval
Kerala, Annamalai University Historical Series No. 11. Annamalai: Annamalai Uni-
versity, 1953.
163
Cases
Background
The present State of Kerala, a single linguistic unit (the language being
Malayalam, a Dravidian tongue with a large Sanskrit overlay), is made up
of the former British Malabar District and the Native States of Cochin and
Travancore. Kerala, located at the southwestern extremity of the Indian
subcontinent, contains 15,003 square miles of land and has a coast which
extends from about 23 miles north of Kasargode to about 18 miles south of
Trivandrum. It is practically cut off from the rest of India by the sea to the
west and south and by the western ghats in the east, which rise in places to
a height of 8000 feet, with only one major break, the Palghat Gap, about 20
miles wide.2 To the north is South Kanara (the Tulu- and Konkani-speaking
parts of Mysore State) which shares certain customs (e.g., the presence of
matrilineal descent among some castes) with North Malabar. The climate
of Kerala represents the nearest approach in India to equatorial conditions
with a temperature that ranges between 70-90° and a high annual rainfall.
North to south, the state can be divided into three regions: the coast, mid-
lands and highlands. Rice is the dominant crop in the coastal and midlands
regions with coconut coming next and, in Travancore, even exceeding rice
in acreage. The most important other crops, apart from plantation rubber
and tea in the highlands, are casava and pepper, grown mostly in the mid-
lands. In addition, nearly every homestead has its plantain and other fruit
trees, vegetables, ginger and the betel vine which with the associated areca
palm, is widely grown in tiny patches. Both sea and inland freshwater fish-
ing play a large part in the Kerala economy; these activities are carried on by
Christians, Mappillas and members of the Mukkuvan, Velan and Arayan
castes of Hindus.3
Unlike the greater part of India (apart from Bengal) the people of Kerala
have never been concentrated in compact villages. Rather, settlements are
loose and straggling, with the house of every landowner standing within its
own patch of higher ground where it does not subtract from cultivated space.
The houses of all but the poorest people are made of soft laterite bricks cut
out of the ground and given a mud or "whitewash" finish. The huts of the
agricultural workers and poorer artisans are scattered among the fields and on
the outskirts of settlements. Indeed, traveling through the region, it is im-
possible to tell when one village has ended and another begun, a picture
further accentuated by the fact that Kerala has the highest rural population
density in India, with a crude density of 1127 persons per square mile for
2 For a brief but excellent discussion of the geography of the region, see 0. K. H.
Spate, India and Pakistan: A General and Regional Geography. New York: E. P. Dut-
ton, 1954, pp. 620-636.
3 For discussion of other caste groups in Kerala as well as the Malayalee Christians
and Mappillas, see (1) L. K. Anatha Krishna Iyer, The Cochin Tribes and Castes.
Vols. 1 and 2. Madras: Higginbotham & Co., 1909-12; and (2) E. Thurston. Castes
and Tribes of Southern India, Vols. 1-7. Madras: Government Press, 1909 (selected
articles on Kerala castes and tribes).
164
the state as a whole in 1961. The 1961 census figures show 16,903,715
people in Kerala or an increase of 3,354,597 (equal to 24.76 per cent) over
the 1951 figures. They further indicate a proportion of 1022 females to
every 1000 males.4 While this does mark some decrease (from 1028 to
1022) of females to males since 1951, it still stands out in marked contrast
to the rest of India, particularly the north, where males outnumber females.
No satisfactory explanation has been given by demographers for this differ-
ence though possible explanations might include better reporting on females
for this area, better care for female children than in the north and finally the
fact that many Malayalee males have had to leave the state for jobs in the
more highly industrialized parts of the country.
The early history of Kerala is very complicated and there are many prob-
lems remaining to be solved by historians. It appears clear that at only one
period was the region united, during the time of the Perumals, foreigners
brought in by Brahmins as the legend goes, to reign for a period of 12 years
before returning to their own homes. The Perumals, according to the
Keralopati, ruled from 216 A.D. until 825 A.D. when the Malayalam era
started. (825 A.D. is 1 M.E. on the Malayalam calendar.) At the end of
the Perumals' reign, the region was divided into many small kingdoms.
Little is known of Kerala history from 825 A.D. until the thirteenth century,
though it is clear that the Nayar and Kshatriya rulers in each district were
fairly autonomous in their own right and owed little allegiance to any ruler.°
Between the thirteenth century and 1498 two Nayar chiefdoms, the Kolattiri
in the north and Travancore in the south, expanded into small kingdoms. On
the central part of the coast the Zamorin of Calicut had established
asden-cyovrmfthepulsinrgoad,thunlice
with both the local Malayalee Muslims (Mappillas) who carried on all
regional trade and the Arab seafaring traders, was slowly increasing his ter-
ritory.° It is quite possible that if the Portuguese had not arrived on the
Malabar coast in 1498 and made an alliance with the then small kingdom of
Cochin, thus stopping the Zamorin's expansion, he would have amalgamated
the region. Despite the Portuguese, the Zamorin's kingdom remained power-
ful until the invasions of the Mysoreans, first Haider Ali and then his son
Tippu Sultan, in the eighteenth century. At this time the Zamorin, his family
and thousands of Nayars were forced to flee to Travancore for protection.
When the British defeated the Mysoreans in 1792, they amalgamated the
seven northern kingdoms, including the reduced one of the Zamorin who
had by then returned from Travancore, to form the Malabar District of
Madras Presidency. The kingdoms of Cochin and Travancore remained in-
dependent though each had a British resident and many British businesses.
4 Census of India, Paper No. 1 of 1962, 1961 Census, Final Population Totals, pp.
364-665.
5 Logan, op. cit., pp. 275-293.
6 For an interesting discussion of the Zamorin's family see K. V. Krishna Ayyar,
The Zamorins of Calicut. Calicut: Norman Printing Bureau, 1938.
165
Cases
This very sketchy outline of Kerala history is intended to indicate some of the
complexity of the region.
In Kerala, prior to the British period, communication was extremely
difficult; there were no roads, wheeled vehicles or even pack animals. For
all practical purposes travel and the transportation of goods was carried on
either by human porters or by boat on the numerous rivers and backwaters.
Only local rulers and petty chieftains could ride on elephants or horses and
even this was primarily confined to processions, as they usually were carried
in a palanquin on their travels. Internecine warfare was rife throughout
Kerala between the warriors of the various local rulers.
Caste
In Kerala certain unique customs and ways of life developed which dif-
fered from those in regions to the east of the Ghats or to the north in their
extreme rigidity and complexity. The caste system was more highly formal-
ized and rigidified in Kerala than in any other part of the Indian subconti-
nent.' (By caste, I refer to a group in which membership is determined by
birth and which is hierarchically graded with respect to other groups, has
restrictions on commensality, is often associated with a traditional occupa-
tion, is endogamous or permits a limited kind of hypergamy and which can
be polluted by direct or indirect contact with a "lower" group in certain
contexts.) Malayalees distinguished two pollution agents: first, people whose
mere approach within certain well-defined distances carried atmospheric
pollution; and second, people who only polluted by actual contact. Indeed,
indirect "pollution" of a high-caste individual by an untouchable was carried
to an extreme in Kerala where the shadow of a Cheruman ("untouchable")
would pollute a Nayar on the road.
At the top of the traditional hierarchy in Kerala were the Namboodiri
Brahmins who, though only a small part of the population, occupied a dis-
tinct position with great prestige, sanctity and often extensive grants of land.
The Namboodiri Brahmins are divided into ten endogamous subcastes with
diminishing privilege and prestige. Namboodiri Brahmins are patrilineal but
until 1933 only the oldest son was permitted to contract a legal marriage with
a Brahmin woman and thereby produce an heir to the family property, as
the property was considered impartible. Younger sons normally took wives
from the matrilineal high-caste groups. This is discussed more fully below.
Under the Namboodiris were the so-called foreign Brahmins who came
from Tamilnad and Mysore. They were mostly employed in temples and as
cooks in Namboodiri and royal households. Their influence was strongest
in Travancore, Palghat and the northernmost part of Malabar, that is, in the
7 For a comparison of caste ranking in Kerala with other parts of India, see McKim
Marriott, Caste Ranking and Community Structure in Five Regions of India and
Pakistan: Deccan College Monograph Series, No. 23. Poona: Deccan College Post-
graduate and Research Institute, 1960, particularly pp. 26-31.
166
contact areas. The Kshatriyas who came next in the social order were always
few in number, in fact, non-existent in some parts of Kerala. Only some of
the rulers in the area were Kshatriyas, e.g., the Maharaja of Travancore.
Most of them followed, with slight modification, the matrilineal, matrilocal
family pattern described below for Nayars. A group of castes known as Am-
balavasis (temple servants) and Samantans (ruling chiefs) were placed
above the majority of Nayars. The Ambalavasis were divided according to
occupation into numerous subcastes, some matrilineal, some patrilineal and
some a combination of the two. The Samantans were considered a superior
section of the higher subcastes of Nayars: indeed, some Samantans were
powerful rulers. (The Zamorin of Calicut was of a Samantan subcaste
known as Eradi, or originally the ruler of Ernad.) Most Samantans sub-
castes intermarry among one another, though the men might also marry
Nayar women and the women might take Brahmin husbands. The Nayars,
who come next in this hierarchy, were themselves divided into numerous sub-
castes, all hierarchically placed though the subdivisions vary from region
to region. They may be classified into three major categories: the high-caste
Nayars who either belonged to the military or served in some other capacity
for Namboodiri Brahmins, Kshatriyas or Samantans; the intermediate
group of Nayars, a small number who do not intermarry or interdine with the
higher caste group and who perform various tasks for temples, that is, copper
working, or making earthern ware; and finally, also few numerically, a group
of low-caste Nayars who serve other Nayars as washermen, barbers and oil-
mongers.8 For the most part, this chapter will deal with the higher caste
Nayars, as they form the major portion of the Nayar population in any vil-
lage. It is hard to determine the exact percentage of Nayars in Kerala today,
as the most recent censuses do not give information on caste composition
and the earlier censuses have certain inaccuracies. Extrapolating from the
census of 1911, it is safe to say that the Nayars make up approximately 15
per cent of the present Kerala population, or number close to two and a half
million.9
Below the Nayars came the various polluting castes, including the various
artisans, toddy-tappers, agricultural workers, fishermen, hunters and semi-
tribals. These castes were ranked according to the distance they were per-
mitted to approach a Namboodiri or Nayar without polluting him Thus, ac-
cording to Logan, a Mukkuvan (a sea-fishing caste) could approach up to 24
feet of a Namboodiri, an Izhava or Tiyyar 32 feet, a Cheruman 64 and a
Nayadi 72 feet.1° The only two numerically large polluting castes were the
Tiyyars and Cherumans. There were also two communities which existed
outside the caste system in Kerala. They were the Mappillis or Malayalee
Muslims, mostly found in the former British Malabar, and the Christians,
8 For example, see F. Fawcett, Nayars of Malabar. Madras: Government Press,
1915, p. 188; or Iyer, op. cit., Vol. 1, pp. 14-19.
9 Census of India, 1911. Vol. 1, Part 2; Vol. 12, Parts 1 and 2. Calcutta: Govern-
ment Press, 1912.
10 Logan, op. cit., Vol. 1, p. 118.
167
Cases
found mostly in Cochin and Travancore. Together, these two communities
account for approximately 31 per cent of the Kerala population.
The caste stratification noted here was reflected in every aspect of life
including food, dress, denotations of houses and so on. Tiling one's roof
was a prerogative of Namboodiri and royal families. Low-caste people could
only use certain paths and dared not appear within a town as their very
breath might pollute the atmosphere breathed by a high-caste individual.
Even the language spoken varied from caste to caste in a given region as well
as between regions. All relations between people of different castes and sub-
castes were strictly regulated and formalized. This has changed considerably
today but we are here examining the traditional pattern of human relations
in Kerala.
Due to poor communication within the region, the continual internecine
warfare, the high degree of social stratification and isolation, plus various
other historic factors, differences in working out social patterns reached a
high point in Kerala. Except where otherwise noted, the details on Nayar
family life presented here are based on material gathered in a large village
in the area formerly ruled by the Zamorin of Calicut in Ernad taluq. While
many of the facts presented apply to other parts of Kerala, particularly the
rest of South Malabar, Cochin and Northern Travancore, there may be subtle
differences which we shall not consider. The village used for intensive anal-
ysis will be referred to by the fictitious name of Angadi.11
Two types of family organization, matrilineal and patrilineal, existed in
Kerala, and all the castes and subcastes were grouped under one or another
on the basis of inheritance. In Ernad taluq, specifically in Angadi, the matri-
lineal caste groups include several Ambilavasi subcastes, Samantans, Nayars
and Chalians. The description given here holds true for all four groups,
though the various Nayar and Samantan subcastes are emphasized. Occupa-
tional activities, political organization and religious life will be mentioned
where relevant though it is unfortunately impossible in one chapter to give
them proper consideration.
Nayar Family Structure
Traditional Nayar marriage practices can only be understood in terms of

the structure of the family groups. The traditional Nayar taravad consisted
of all the matrilineally related kin, male and female, descended from a com-
mon female ancestress, living in one large taravad house. The property of
11 Research in Malabar was carried on from October 1958 to February 1960 under
the joint auspices of the American Association of University Women and the United
States Educational Foundation in India; during the summer of 1962, under a grant
from the American Philosophical Society; and from September—December 1962, under
a grant from the Natural Science Foundation. As is customary in anthropological
reporting, a fictitious name is used for the village in order to protect the people of
the place from ready identification. However, persons familiar with Kerala can identify
it from the general description. Therefore, all personal material has been further dis-
guised.
168
the taravad was held jointly in the name of the karanavan, the oldest sur-
viving male member of the matrilineage. This property was held impartible
and the several members were only entitled to maintenance within the
taravad house and could not claim a separate share. The only way in which
this property could be divided was by unanimous consent of the members,
an almost impossible condition. A typical matrilineal taravad was composed
of a woman, her children, her daughters' and her granddaughters' children,
her brothers, descendants through her sisters and her relations through her
dead female ancestors. Within each taravad (here used to refer to the un-
divided matrilineal joint family household) a significant subgroup (called a
tavari) consisted of that set of individuals headed by a living ancestress. A
traditional taravad of a moderately well-to-do family might have aggregated
several hundred people or many tavaris, and even among poorer Nayars
households often contained more than 20 adults. Each taravad member was
entitled to maintenance from the family pocket, which included a place to
sleep, food, soap and oil for bathing and new clothes at appropriate times
during the year. Men lived in their own taravads during the day, eating
with the other male members of the household; they visited their wives at
night after their evening meal.
Occasionally a new taravad branch, normally consisting of one or more
tavaris, was formed if: (1) the membership became totally unwieldy and
members could agree; (2) a husband of one of the female members was able
to earn some money of his own through trade, special work for a wealthy
or ruling family or as a gift from one of the local chieftains perhaps for par-
ticular valour in battle; (3) the husband's taravad was wealthy, yet had
few members and they allowed him to make a small gift of property to his
wife in order to start a new tavari through her, or the husband might (par-
ticularly if he was a karanavan of his taravad) "expropriate" some of his
taravad's money for his wife and children, though this might be contested;
(4) a segment of a taravad which was settled in a distant garden of the
family, thus forming a new truncated tavari, might over time separate from
the parent group; or (5) some taravad members moved to a different village
under some other landlord who needed additional tenants or could use their
services in some other way either because their taravad was very poor, or
because of family disagreements.'2 The only effect of this sort of segmenta-
tion was that the tavaris so formed no longer held property in common but
they still continued to use the same taravad name, perhaps adding to it an-
other prefix such as putiya (new) or the name of the new village. They
still were affected by birth and death pollutions (discussed later) and were
not permitted to intermarry. It is possible that over hundreds of years such
connections were forgotten but we do not have, at the present time, sufficient
archival documents to examine this point.
12 See K. Raman Unni, "Polyandry in Malabar," Journal of the M.S. University of
Baroda, Vol. 5 (1958), pp. 64-65; also Joan Mencher. "Changing Familial Roles
Among South Malabar Nayars," Southwestern journal of Anthropology, Fall 1962.
169
Cases
In South Malabar, the taravad had one kitchen in which food was pre-
pared for all the members. First the male members would be fed, then the
children and finally the females. If the taravad had enough money, servants,
normally men of the same or higher subcastes, might be employed to cook
for the entire unit. If the taravad was poor, the female members did the
cooking together though even the poorest large taravad would have a maid-
servant of a lower subcaste who though not allowed near the kitchen would
clean up outside after meals. The servants of a taravad were also fed and
clothed in the same manner as family members. All extraordinary expenses
such as a death feast were paid for from the taravad funds.
The typical taravad was a detached house with a large compound and
food garden set either on the margin of a fertile valley or ravine with bright
green fields of rice paddy in front of it. In the compound one also found a
serpent grove or kavu, a large tank for bathing, a well, cowshed and a small
shed for the family diety (though sometimes the diety was placed in a room
within the house). Each taravad household was its own fortress, surrounded
by a high wall of mud or masonry or field of paddy with an entrance through
a gate-house.13 The male and female members of the household were fairly
strictly separated after puberty, with adult males having a large corridor or
perhaps a room over the grainary to sleep in. Each post-pubertal female
member of a taravad had her own room if at all possible. It was to this room
that her husband came at night. Children slept in the mother's room until
they were about six years old after which time, at least on the nights when
the mother's husband came to visit, they would sleep with an old grand-
mother, an unmarried aunt or a married aunt whose husband was away.
These bedrooms were normally located on the second floor of the house.
Marriage Practices
Marriage customs among the Nayars have evoked much discussion and
controversy among both jurists in India and social scientists. It is quite
clear that there was considerable regional variation as well as variation ac-
cording to subcaste and family prestige. Details presented here hold specifi-
cally for the Zamorin's kingdom though they are quite similar to what was
found in the rest of South Malabar and Cochin. Traditionally, there were
two kinds of marriage among Nayars, the talikettu kalyanam (tali-tying
ceremony) and sambandham (the customary nuptial of man and woman).
It was compulsory for every girl to undergo the talikettu kalyanam ceremony
before attaining puberty; failure to do so meant excommunication from her
family and caste. (In actual practice, people say that sometimes if a girl
menstruated before she was expected to, the family might keep quiet about it
and conduct a talikettu kalyanam as soon as possible.) Even within the same
region, details of the ceremony differed among Nayar subcastes; in some
instances the tali (a gold leaf-shaped pendant on a chain) would be tied by
13 Iyer, 1912, op. cit., pp. 8-11.
170
a member of a linked lineage or enangar lineage, in other instances it might
be tied by a member of a higher subcaste of Nayars or by a member of one
of the matrilineal Ambilavasi or Kshatriya castes. (This last-mentioned
practice was most commonly observed by Stani Nayars, pre-British chieftains
or their commanders and other important landholding and/or high-prestige
families.) In many instances the ceremony would be performed once every
ten years or so, at which time all the girls down to the baby in the cradle
would be married in this fashion for "the sake of economy." When a tali-
tying ceremony was to be held in a given taravad the family head would
send for the local astrologer who, after examining the horoscopes of each
girl, determined the auspicious time for the main and subsidiary rites. In-
formation would then be sent to relatives and friends regarding the perform-
ance of the ceremony. A tali-tying ceremony normally involved a large
expenditure of money; in fact, the more elaborate the ceremony and the
attendant festivities, the more it added to the taravad's prestige.14
Whether one man married all the girls or a bridegroom appeared for each
girl varied according to the region and subcaste. In Angadi, among the
higher subcastes of Nayars, one higher subcaste man tied the tali for several
girls, whereas among the lower subcastes and the less important families of
high-caste Nayars, one member of an enangar lineage tied the tali for each
girl. In addition, when a wealthy taravad held a talikettu kalyanam ceremony,
they would normally permit the poorer girls of the neighborhood to be
married on the same day in the pandal. The ceremony itself lasted for four
days. On the first day the tali was placed on the girl's neck by the bride-
groom at the auspicious hour, with certain other formalities being conducted
both before and afterwards. After the formalities, the couple were taken
inside the house and the groom paid for tying the tali. All the guests were
then given a sumptuous meal and all the poor people of the village (particu-
larly the low-caste agricultural workers) were given a feast outside in the
courtyard. The "bride" and "bridegroom" were then taken to a room in the
house, normally one in the southern part of the house, which was considered
a bedroom. The second and third days of the ceremony were not as elaborate
though famous or wealthy taravads used to provide various kinds of enter-
tainment for the guests during these days (e.g., hiring a Kathakali troop,
Ottanthulal and so on) as well as having games and feasts. On the fourth
day (or sometimes on the morning of the fifth) after completing further
rituals, the bridegroom departed after having received a small token payment
or gift. The marriage was thus considered terminated though the girl wore
the tali all the rest of her life. Among certain groups the wedding cloth
or mundu was cut, symbolizing the dissolution of the marriage, whereas
among others this was not considered necessary.
It is still controversial whether the talikettu kalyanam ever constituted
a formal marriage or was more of an age-grade ceremony. It may be noted
14 For example, see Thurston, op. cit., p. 316ff., for a complete description of a
talikettu kalyanam ceremony.
171
Cases
that the woman did observe death pollution for the man who tied her tali.
In fact, Gough states that in Cochin State, the woman's children also observed
death pollution for their mother's tali-tier.15 Informants in Angadi, however,
all stressed that the woman's children did not observe this death pollution,
another instance of regional variation. There is some indication that the man
who tied the tali on a girl, particularly if he had tied it on only one girl,
did have the right to contract a sambandham union with her at a later
date, though there are no data available as to the frequency of this occurring.
Finally, though there is little agreement among scholars on this point, in
some instances, if the girl had almost reached puberty, the marriage might
be consummated during this ceremonial period.le How often this occurred
is unknown but since a ceremony was normally held for a large group of
girls varying in age from infancy to just before puberty, it does not appear
likely that it was often.
How can one explain this custom? Several different explanations have
been given for the development and persistence of the talikettu kalyanam.
Many writers, noting the tali as the traditional marriage symbol throughout
South India, as well as similarities in the talikettu kalyanam as performed
among Nayars and marriage celebrations among other Hindu castes, have in-
terpreted it as possibly having originally been a "true marriage" which,
under pressure from Namboodiris, was relegated to a form of symbolic
marriage at a younger age in order to leave the Nayar girls free to form
unions with them.17 However, such historical interpretations require docu-
mentary evidence which at present does not exist. Fawcett equated it with
the ceremonies performed at the dedication of a Basivi in other parts of
South India, and certainly it does bear some resemblance to these cere-
monies.18 Others have attempted functional and psychological interpreta-
tions. Thus, Gough, in an article in 1955, interpreted the rite as "issuing
out of the marked horror of incest in these castes [matrilineal ones of
Malabar], which makes it necessary for the natal kinsmen of a woman to
renounce the rights in her mature sexuality before she is in fact mature
[plus] . . . the fear of deflowering a virgin."19 In a later article, Gough added
to the above psychoanalytic function of the rite the following:
The tali-rite, as I see it, initiated for each individual Nayar girl a state of
marriage to a collectivity of men of appropriate caste. . . . The rite ceremonially
endowed the girl with sexual and procreative functions. . . . Rights in the
woman's sexuality were received by her enangan as representative of the men
of his sub-caste as a whole. . . . They were also in fact extended to any man of
a higher subcaste who might favour her with his intentions. . . . [And finally]
15 E. Kathleen Gough. "Female Initiation Rites in the Malabar Coast," Journal of
the Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol. 85, Part 2 (1955), p. 51.
16 For example, see Iyer, 1912, op. cit., p. 27.
17 Unni, op. cit., p. 72.
18 Fawcett, op. cit., p. 231.
19 Gough, op. cit., p. 64.
172
the tali-right by providing the woman with a ritual husband . . . also provided
her children with a ritual father.20
Yalman, on the other hand, analyzes the ritual from a structural point
of view, indicating its relationship with the caste hierarchy, and principles
of caste purity both in Kerala and elsewhere:
Female puberty ceremonies are related to the concern with female sexuality
and caste-purity. The purity of caste must be maintained especially by the
purity of its women. . . . I would emphasize the desire to maintain caste
purity and fear of women's pollution. This is why . . . in kinship structures
where the marital bond is weak or easily broken, there are these mock mar-
riages-cum-menstruation ceremonies which connect the women to clean,
pure, appropriate men. . . . It is well known that the concept of pre-puberty
marriages is by no means peculiar to the Nayar but is an orthodox Hindu
custom. . . . My point is simply that the same anxiety about women is also
present in the Brahman. . . . And this anxiety has its origin, I suggest, in the
same structural principles at work in the Nayar.21
After this ceremony, when the girl came of age, that is, after her first
menstruation ceremony (therandu kalyanam), also celebrated with much
pomp and festivity, she was free to enter into an alliance with a man of
either her own subcaste or of an appropriate higher one. A woman was en-
titled to have more than one husband: indeed, it was the existence of
polyandry among the Nayars that first evoked comment among early Euro-
pean travelers to the Malabar coast.22 However, it is uncertain how many
husbands a woman might have had at any one time or how prevalent the
custom was. Only archival research, if at all possible, can furnish us data
on this point. Certainly polyandry did occur in the past as cases are re-
ported for the early twentieth century and informants still speak of in-
dividual cases. All polyandrous unions started with one husband, this first
sambandham being arranged by either the girl's uncle or father. In many
cases this first marriage was arranged with a member of an enangar lineage,
with an uncle's son if of one's own subcaste or with a member of one's
father's or one's mother's current husband's lineage. Unni points out that
the second husband would originally be an occasional visitor to the wife's
taravad, who later would convey to her his desire to be her second husband.23
20 E. Kathleen Gough. "The Nayars and the Definition of Marriage," Journal of
the Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol. 89 (1959), pp. 31-32.
21 Nur Yalman. "On the Purity and Sexuality of Women in the Castes of Ceylon
and Malabar," Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol. 93, Part 1 (January-.
June 1963), p. 48.
22 Mansel Longworth Dames (Ed.). The Book of Duarta Barbosa, Vol. II. London:
Hakluyt Society Series II, Vol. XLIX, 1921, pp. 42ff. (An account of the countries
bordering on the Indian Ocean and their inhabitants written by Duarta Barbosa and
completed about the year 1518 A.D. Translated from the Portuguese text published
in 1812 by the Royal Academy of Sciences at Lisbon.)
23 Unni, op. cit., pp. 74-75.
173
.41•1111■••••■,.
Cases
Both the woman's consent and that of her karanavan was necessary for a
second marriage.
In Nayar taravads the freedom of women to move out of the home was
limited and it was only within these limitations that a woman could con-
tract a second or third marriage. Usually a woman's regular husbands
knew one another and would informally agree upon their turns to visit the
woman. On important festival days, the first husband was normally ex-
pected to spend the night with the wife. Assigning paternity to one or
another husband was not crucial though people tried to guess whom the
child resembled. A man's obligations were less in the case of polyandrous
unions, though a regular husband was expected to make gifts to his wife
at the three main festivals of the year, Onam, Vishu and Tiruvadira. Dura-
tion of sambandham was as long as both parties wished; a woman could
divorce her husband at any time, though if he came from a well-known
taravad, pressure might be brought to bear on her by the senior women in
her own taravad to "continue the relationship for the prestige it brings."
Similarly, if a man did not visit his wife regularly or if he did not send her
the appropriate presents, it was considered a tacit sign that he had ended
the marriage. A man also could have more than one wife; furthermore,
divorced men and women could remarry at any time.
It is important to distinguish between Nayar polyandry and various forms
of concubinage, that is, between a man having a sambandham or "visiting
husband" relationship with a woman and a concubine or a secret, unrecog-
nized relationship.24 An unmarried man in his thirties would not be
credited with celibacy but would be accused of living a life of loose morals.
Apart from concubinage, extramarital affairs of a short duration also oc-
curred occasionally. To some extent they continue today though perhaps
not as much among wealthy, important or highly Westernized families or
else, as one informant said, "they are cleverer in their ability to keep such
behavior secret." It is clear that there is less of a social expectation of a
rigid marital fidelity among Nayars than among members of caste groups
on the east coast; nevertheless, Nayar attitudes and values are gradually
changing in the direction of the all-India high-caste ethic, and fidelity is
becoming more required in a wife.
Nayar marriage was also characterized by the frequent occurrence of
hypergamous unions. Any Nayar woman was permitted an alliance with
a man of a higher caste, this being considered something which raised the
"prestige" of her family. On the other hand, cohabitation with a man of a
lower subcaste or caste meant disgrace for the woman. Indeed, if she was
suspected of such a liason she was turned out of her family and the family
suffered temporary degradation. When a Nayar woman became pregnant,
if she could not name a man of an appropriate caste as a possible father, that
in itself constituted admission that she had violated caste rules and she was
excommunicated, for it was held that this would defile the entire taravad.
24 Ibid., pp. 125-26.
174
A man, on the other hand, was allowed to form an alliance with woman of
his own or a lower subcaste of Nayars, though it should be noted that few
men of the higher Nayar subcastes became involved with women of the
four lowest ones (e.g., oilmongers, barbers, and so on) as these four were
primarily endogamous. Nayars were also not permitted alliances with
women of the polluting castes, though a Nayar man who had relations with
an "untouchable" woman could be reinstated in his caste if he underwent
various purification ceremonies.
The Namboodiri Brahmins of Kerala were distinguished from other
Brahmins in India by the existence of a very rigid rule of primogeniture
whereby only the oldest son was allowed to inherit the family property and
only he was permitted to marry a Brahmin woman. The younger sons in
Namboodiri families formed sambandham alliances with women in matri-
lineal caste groups, particularly the higher matrilineal subcastes. The chil-
dren of these unions were of course members of their mother's family. Not
only Namboodiris married Nayar women in this fashion, but also Kshatriya,
Samantan and higher caste Nayar men would take wives from subcastes
immediately below their own. The proportion of hypergamous as opposed
to equal-status marriages cannot be estimated for the past from data now
available. On the basis of research by a Malayalee historian, Pillai, Unni
suggests that the presence of a much larger Namboodiri population in
Kerala in the fourteenth century may have made both hypergamous and
polyandrous marriages more common at that time.25 Certainly it is true
that hypergamous marriages were more frequent in the nineteenth century
than today.
Nayar marriage has been discussed from many points of view by social
scientists. For example, Unni notes several functions served by Nayar poly-
andry.26 ( 1 ) From the point of view of the polyandrous woman and her
taravad, polyandry enhanced the prestige of each, particularly when the
husbands were men of individual merit or reputation; (2) a widower could
easily find a wife from a desirable group; (3) the services of more husbands
who were specialists in different occupations (e.g., astrologers, Sanskrit
teachers and so on were obtained for the taravad of the woman; (4) to the
subcastes which received husbands from higher subcastes or castes, poly-
andry was an adjustment to the situation of excess of males over females;
(5) to the extent that it was a consequence of accepting Namboodiri hus-
bands, it also created a channel for the slow transfer of the private property
of younger Namboodiri brothers to their Nayar wives; and (6) a woman
would not have to divorce a sterile husband to ensure the possibility of
children for the continuation of her taravad.
Others have noted a relationship between the traditional economic role
of young Nayar men and the marriage pattern. Traditionally, the younger
men not only did not have to support their wives and children (who were
25 Ibid., p. 71.
26 Ibid., pp. 30-32.
175
Cases
supported by the woman's taravad), but also they did not have to devote
much time to the support of their sisters and their children, as they lived
off the proceeds of the taravad lands which were worked by low-caste farmers
and agrestic slaves and managed by the older males of the taravad. Thus,
they were free to move about as soldiers. Only a young man whose uncles
had all died had to look after his family property. Gough notes:
The Nayars themselves appear to have recognized a connection between their

occupation as a militia, and the custom of plural marriages by which men were
prevented from forming permanent attachments to wife and children. . . . The
extent to which the marriage institution was influenced by the military system
is unclear. . . . Though it is not possible to establish a causal connection be-
tween the military organization and polyandrous and polygynous marriage, it
seems evident that this institution, in which a man had no responsibilities to
one wife and children, but could take a new wife wherever he happened to be,
fitted the way of life of a militia."
However, it is also clear that in other parts of India military castes did
not require that a man "form no permanent attachment to his wife or
children," nor a woman to her "husband." True, men away from home a
long time might form casual liasons with courtesans, but the marital union
was clearly recognized. Furthermore, during the two monsoon seasons in
Kerala, which last for close to five months, men spend more time in their
own taravads doing little fighting but instead training in the local kalari, or
gymnasium. While it is clear that the Nayar military organization was not
unsuited to the marriage pattern described above, it cannot be stated that
their occupation as soldiers was by itself a major factor in the weakness of
marital ties.
One reason that traditional Nayar family organization and marriage
customs interested students of comparative family institutions was that they
represented one of the relatively unique exceptions to the near universality
of the nuclear or elementary family. The traditional Nayar social structure
gave practically no recognition to such a unit. The "visiting husband" in-
stitution described above gave the male very little importance in his wife's
family. Indeed, all his responsibilities lay with his own taravad and with
his sister's children. Further, the existence of polyandry also placed a limi-
tation on the development of any relationship between a man and the chil-
dren born to his wife. Finally, the existence of hypergamy acted to limit a
man's relationship with his wife and children. If a man was of a higher
caste or subcaste than his wife and children he could not eat food cooked
by them and was polluted by their touch. Thus, a Namboodiri man who
had a sambandham relationship with a Nayar woman would avoid contact
with her and their children between his morning bath and the completion of
27 E. Kathleen Gough. "Incest Prohibitions and Rules of Exogamy in Three Matri-
lineal Groups of the Malabar Coast," International Archives of Ethnography, Vol. 46
(1952), p. 77.
176
his evening meal. Touching wife or children meant he would have to take
another bath immediately. Hypergamous marriages are not as prevalent in
Kerala today as they were in the past. It is now a sign of "being fashionable"
to say that "members of our family only marry people of our own status, not
Brahmins (or other higher caste individuals)." Furthermore, rules of touch
pollution are not observed as strictly and a man who is married to a woman
whose caste is close to his will not worry if he happens to touch his child;
actually most men today in hypergamous unions eat food cooked by their
wives.
Modern Nayar Marriages
Towards the end of the nineteenth century the Nayar taravads started
to break up due to both internal and external pressures. Nayar men under
British rule no longer had to be in arms until the age of 50, which led
many of them to want to become karanavans at an earlier age.28 In addition,
and perhaps more significant, men began to earn independent incomes which
they used to establish separate households for their wives and children, or
occasionally to establish a separate household for their sisters and their
children. Even when a man established a separate household for his wife
and children the emphasis was really on his setting up an independent
tavari for her where she could be free from the most distant older men and
women of her taravad. Before the 1930's what normally emerged was a
household consisting of a woman, her married and unmarried daughters,
her daughter's children and her married and unmarried sons (unless they
were employed elsewhere). The married sons still would go out to their
wives' houses after dinner as visiting husbands. The house itself was
always owned by the woman, that is, her name was the one on the deed.
In a small tavari of this kind, the older woman's husband would live with
her or at least spend more time in her house. If the new tavari was started
for a woman by her brother, he would divide his time between her house
and his wife's. In either case, the property of the new tavari would be
inherited in the maternal line as before.
After the early 1930's, when laws were passed which permitted partition
of taravad property, many small tavaris were formed from segments of the
larger taravad unit. Thus one found households consisting of a man, his
mother, his sisters (married and unmarried), their children and perhaps
their daughters' children. Slowly over time, some of these tavaris broke
into smaller three-generational units. Today in Angadi about 50 per cent
of the Nayar households consist of small matrilineal tavaris (an average
of 3.5 adults per household) with an additional 15 per cent being nuclear
family units living in houses that belong to the woman as part of her
28 E. Kathleen Gough. "Nayar: Central Kerala," in David Schneider and E. K.
Gough (Eds.), Matrilineal Kinship. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1961,
p. 344.
177
Cases
taravad property.29 An additional 15 per cent of the households are nuclear
units which have been set up by the husband and wife after marriage,
and about 20 per cent of the households contain a miscellaneous assortment
of relatives. There is a great deal of flexibility today in residence patterns
among village Nayars, both poor and wealthy.
The Nayar family system as it functions at present provides a mechanism
for the ready adaptation and accommodation according to the needs of its
members. For an individual woman, it could mean that at one point as a
married adult, she lived with her mother and sisters in her taravad house;
later she could spend a few years with her husband where he was working.
She may also have returned and spent a few years in her taravad or perhaps
have sent her children to stay with her mother for "their education." Finally,
she may have settled in her taravad house or in another new house close to
her mother's with her own daughter and daughter's children. Matrilineal
ties still predominate over all others despite the breakup of the larger taravads.
Furthermore, in the smaller tavari the nature of the relations between female
lineage members has not been greatly altered. The oldest female still func-
tions as the head of the women, in charge of all domestic matters, and it
is expected that she will be obeyed in all matters. The grandmother is con-
sidered the final arbiter as regards "proper social behavior" or "manners" and
is normally deferred to by the mother. If possible, whenever a tavari
breaks down into nuclear family households, it is felt that each new nuclear
unit should be located close to the woman's relatives because she is not ex-
pected to be able to manage without their help.
Gradually changes also occurred in the patterning of Nayar marriages
over a 40-year period from the 1890's until 1933, as the British courts by a
series of steps gave legal recognition to the sambandham union. Finally, in
1933, an act was passed according to which the conjugal union of a
woman of a matrilineal caste with a male of the same or another com-
munity (if the union was not prohibited by any custom or usage of their
community), was held to be legal if solemnized in accordance with the
customary ceremonies."
Inter-regional and inter-subcaste marriages occur occasionally today
though intercaste marriages are still quite infrequent. The talikettu kalyanam
ceremony has practically disappeared (the youngest female I met who had
undergone this ceremony was a woman of 22 of an aristocratic family which
had continued the tradition longest). The only remaining symbol is the
tying of the tali by some mothers when they take their daughters to a temple
for the chorounna (rice-giving ceremony) at six months. In many instances,
no tali is tied at all. The teranda kalyanam (first menstruation marriage)
continued to be celebrated for a longer period of time; in fact, the last
29 Joan Mencher. "Changing Familial Roles Among South Malabar Nayars,"

Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, Fall, 1962.
30 M. S. A. Rao. Social Change in Malabar. Bombay: Popular Book Depot, 1957,
p. 99.
178
large terandu kalyanam in Angadi occurred only six months before I arrived
(in 1959).
Modern Nayar marriages (as opposed to sambandham) are referred to by
the term kalyanam. Indeed, there is a clear breakoff point in the village
between women who use the term sambandham and those who use the
term kalyanam, the younger and/or more Westernized women using the
latter. The modern marriage ceremony is held during the day. It involves
mutual garlanding; occasionally the tying of the tali on the bride, and cir-
cumambulation of a design on the floor. A ring is placed on the bride's
finger, particularly if the couple have to live away from the village setting.
The ceremony itself only takes about 25 minutes. Following this, a large
feast is given to the assembled guests reminiscent of feasts given for talikettu
kalyanams and the neighboring agricultural workers are fed. The details
of a modern marriage are not yet formalized and seem to vary from family
to family. However, the groom always stays in the bride's house to con-
summate the marriage that night. If he is employed nearby, he may con-
tinue visiting his wife in her home at night, usually coming there straight
from work. If, on the other hand, he is employed far from his wife's
house, he may either take her to live with him or else leave her in her home
and come there each weekend. Whichever he does, the woman is expected to
return to her own house for six months at each confinement and to main-
tain close ties to her maternal kin. Furthermore, when the couple retire,
they normally go to the wife's village, staying either in her mother's house
or in a house inherited by her when her taravad partitioned, or they build
one for themselves near her relatives.
Today, the elementary family unit of husband, wife and children is
recognized by all Nayars regardless of the type of household they live in. In
fact, in many small tavaris, the husbands of the female members are most
welcome. Visiting husbands are assuming more and more importance in
their wives' homes and are consulted in all family matters. There is a
tendency towards uxorilocal residence for males, and for them to play a
more important part in the life of their own wives and children and a con-
commitantly smaller role in their sister's life. The choice of mate has also
changed and is based on considerations which deviate at times from the
traditional. True, the preferential mate is often the mother's brother's
daughter or father's sister's son, with somewhat greater stress on the former
relative, but this is in accord with the general South Indian preferential prac-
tice and not unique to Nayars. The reason most young Nayar men give for
marrying their uncle's daughter is as a way of repaying the uncle "for the
help he gave me for my education and in getting a job." This holds specifi-
cally for the Nayars where uncle-nephew obligations still persist in a modified
form. The educational qualifications and occupational status of a partner are
considered most important today, and great concern is shown for "matching
the two families" in terms of social status. Except for a small area in
Palghat talug and another in South Travancore, both bordering on Madras
179
Cases
State, the custom of giving dowries has not been taken over by Nayars. To-
day the father takes the prime role in arranging marriages though the
uncle still may have some say in the matter, particularly if he has helped
the young person financially or in some other way. Often one finds a close
intermarrying circle of taravads, not necessarily traditional enangar taravads
but rather taravads of approximately equal economic wealth.
Family Disorganization
Polyandry began to die out in the latter part of the nineteenth century,
and today (following the 1955 Hindu Law Code) both polyandry and
polygyny are illegal for Hindus. In addition, over the last half-century
divorce was made somewhat harder for Nayars, though it is still easier for
them than for patrilineal castes in the rest of India. However, it is no longer
considered quite "respectable," and divorce plus remarriage occurs less and
less frequently. Still, Unni notes that in the two villages where he
worked, roughly 20 per cent of the Nayar women past 45 sought divorce
from a first husband to marry another man. On the other hand, several
older women in Angadi tried hard to convince me that no woman in their
family had been divorced or had had a "second husband" since the mid-
nineteenth century despite circumstantial evidence to the contrary. More
commonly the case in Malabar today both in Ernad taluq and Walluvanad
where Unni worked is reported as follows:
Women whose husbands are employed in distant towns and who are not under
the constant control of a brother or mother's brother or any male guardian are
a category among whom exist cases of extra-marital sexual partners. In poor
families such cases occur often with the tacit recognition of the woman's male
guardian of the household. The important fact is that such women, wealthy
or poor, do not suffer from any serious social stigma provided they have not
violated the subcaste regulations of marital choice of today. . . . Instances of a
restricted form of prostitution in the sense that the woman caters to Nairs or
members of a higher caste who are known to her, are well known to my in-
formants. . . . Reviewing the cases of divorces and extra-marital unions it is
possible to remark that in these villages among all classes of Nairs in general,
there is no social expectation of a rigid marital fidelity on the part of a woman
or a man.31
Nonetheless, the majority of Nayar men and women only marry once and
do expect the woman to be a virgin at marriage and faithful afterwards;
indeed, this ideal is becoming more and more prevalent. It is increasingly
difficult for a Nayar woman who has been widowed at an early age to re-
marry unless she is unusually attractive, or, more important, very wealthy.
It is hard to decide in the context of residential fluidity and adaptability
plus the increased stress on the "marital union" what characterizes "family
31 Unni, op. cit., pp. 128-129.
180
disorganization." Data on rates of divorce and remarriage, particularly
among the most Westernized Nayars, are lacking and would in any case be
meaningless criteria for a discussion of family disorganization in the village
context. From the traditional point of view, "family disorganization" would
imply breakup of the large taravad, not divorce and remarriage which was
hardly noticed by the family group. But today, all taravads have parti-
tioned; to use partition as a criteria for "disorganization" would be patently
absurd. Perhaps the most meaningful way to characterize "family disorgani-
zation" would be to refer to a household without a grown male member
(either an uncle, brother, father or husband of one of the females) as
"disorganized" or incomplete. But even this is hard to specify because many
households that fit into this category are located near the home of a brother
of the oldest female member of the family, or the younger woman may
have a visiting husband who spends much of his time away "because of
his employment" and because "he doesn't earn enough for her to join him
and keep up a proper standard of living." To summarize this section on
family disorganization, it may be stated that the flexibility of residence
arrangements among Nayars has created a situation in which disorganization
as understood by Westerners is minimized despite the vast socio-economic
transitions occurring.
Patterning of Interpersonal Relations in
the Nayar Family Age-Ranking
The two main variables that governed all interpersonal relations within
the traditional Nayar taravad were sex and age. Principles of age-ranking
dominated all relationships between individuals, and distant kin living in
the same household only knew their age and generational standing relative to
one another. Where a discrepancy existed between age and generational
standing (e.g., if a nephew was ten years older than an uncle), age was con-
sidered more important in governing behavior. The karanavan was always
the oldest male member of the matrilineage and office was passed in order of
seniority. The karanavan had complete authority over his juniors, and the
relationship between a young man or woman and the karanavan was one of
great distance, respect, a kind of awe mingled with fear and at times a non-
verbalized hostility. An individual could never sit in the presence of his
karanavan, could never talk unless absolutely necessary and then only by
covering his mouth with his left palm and was expected to be on "model
behavior" in his presence. A man's relationship with all those senior to him
was patterned after that with the karanavan. Every individual in the
taravad older than ego had the right to give him orders, to punish him and
to criticize his behavior. All action within the larger family unit was directed
from older to younger, presenting a ladder of authority whereby one initiated
interaction to all those junior to oneself and responded to initiations on the
181
Cases
part of elders. Reciprocal interaction only occurred between individuals
close in age and, even then, age-ranking loomed so important within the
family that the older of two twins was on certain occasions called ettan
("older brother") instead of being called by name by the younger. The
extreme stress on age-ranking within the family unit was more exaggerated
for males than for females and may perhaps have been a reflection of mili-
tary discipline, though we lack sufficient information about Nayar armies
to pursue this generalization.
Gough notes that traditionally, despite the fact that Nayar men evidenced
great pride in the elders of the taravad as a group, there was deep hostility
and rivalry in their interpersonal relationships and that all men envied their
seniors and feared the rivalry of their juniors, a situation which gave rise
to the need for such formal etiquette and strict ranking on the basis of age.32
However, we do not know whether the rivalry was as intense in the pre-
Western contact period. It is clear that with the breakup of the Nayar
armies and the introduction of a modern economy, men became more
concerned with problems related to the management of their property.
Furthermore, with the development of monogamous marriages and a closer
tie between a man and his wife and children, men became more concerned
with "looking after their needs." It is possible that it was at this point,
particularly during the nineteenth century, that a potentially rivalrous situa-
tion was sparked and increased in importance, though undoubtedly the fact
that a man had complete authority over his juniors and was owed unques-
tioning loyalty and respect led to resentment on the part of the juniors.
But when they were soldiers, perhaps there were other rewards for the
younger men which kept the rivalry in check. In any case, today, informants
state that the only time an uncle was relaxed and "informal" with his niece
or nephew was if the uncle "was a family black sheep and didn't amount to
much." An older boy's and man's closest male relationships were normally
formed with members of other taravads equal in rank to his own, often
his enangars. Unless his father or maternal grandfather was of an enangar
taravad and there was no question of his paternity, the relationship with the
father was practically non-existent. Even if the older man was of an
enangar taravad he had little opportunity to be with the boy after he
reached an age for formal training, be it in military matters or more recently
in Western-type schools. In any case, as noted before, we do not know from
the pre-British period whether hypergamous or equal marriages occurred
more frequently but where hypergamous unions occurred, it is clear the
relationship between father and child was at most one of distant respect.
32 See Gough, 1961, op. cit., pp. 354-355. Note that Gough presents, in the section
on Interpersonal Kinship Relations in her chapter on the Nayars of Central Kerala, a full
description of relationships between kinfolk as these existed in the recent past in the
"most traditional" households, particularly in the former Cochin State. Despite minor
differences between the region around Trichur described by Gough and Ernad taluq in
South Malabar, her general description may be said to hold for Angadi.
182
Male-Female Role Relations
Behavior between male and female taravad members was also strictly regu-
lated. As noted earlier in describing a taravad house, the female members
of the household had their rooms in a separate part of the house from the
males. From puberty on, a girl was not allowed into the male section, nor
was a boy permitted free access to the female quarters. As a matter of fact,
in some aristocratic Nayar households, boys of 15 or 16 had only limited
access to their own mothers' rooms. However, for most Nayars, a man
could talk to the older female members of his taravad more readily; but he
was never allowed to "move freely with or talk much to" younger females
after their first menstruation ceremony though he did command respect and
obedience from them. Except for serving his meals, a woman had little
direct contact with older male taravad members. It is commonly said by
Nayars that they partly avoided their sister's daughters and younger sisters
(real and classificatory) because "they might otherwise commit incest." As
one elderly Nayar woman stated it:
They are always afraid of something going on, if not with the direct sister then
with a cousin sister. It is better not to give them opportunities, no? It is bad
if brother and sister have relations.
Nonetheless, the relationship between a man and his own direct younger
sister was sometimes fairly close, particularly if they were not too far apart
in age and had played together as small children. True, this relationship,
like many others, was not equalitarian in character since the brother was
always supposed to be looked up to and obeyed by his younger sister: still,
the two could express some of their thoughts, feelings and frustrations to
each other. The relationship between a man and his elder sister resembled
the relationship with the mother, though if she were only a few years older
it, too, might be more intimate. It was always important for a man to have
a sister, preferably one who had given birth to both sons and daughters,
because in the traditional taravad, it was in part through his own direct
nieces and nephews that his authority and status might grow. Furthermore,
a man, when he had become karanavan, could often count on his own
nephews more than on other more distant nephews.
A man's relationship with his sister's daughter was always distant and
aloof. A girl might admire her uncle and look up to him with great awe,
but she dare not be too relaxed or informal in his presence for she was
always aware of the "power of the uncles" even though she was less subject
to his direct authority than her brother was. If a karanavan did not ap-
prove of a woman's husband he could order her to dismiss him In fact,
even if another older male member of her taravad strongly disapproved of
her husband she might feel obligated to dismiss the husband despite her
fondness for him. Traditionally, to the karanavan, the young women of his
183
Cases
taravad were its "flower" because it was only through them that the family
would be perpetuated.33 During the late nineteenth and first half of the
twentieth centuries, as men became more interested in looking after their
own children and as taravads partitioned into smaller tavaris, concern about
the more distantly related female members of their taravad diminished.
However, the tie to their own tavari women, particularly an own sister,
remains strong. In many instances a man's relationship with his own
sister has become even more emotionally meaningful in the present context,
the sister being the only person he can talk to about problems with his
wife.
Mother-Child Relationships
The mother was always considered the most central person in both a
man's and woman's life. Even in the large taravad where the mother's
mother, her sisters (both real and classificatory), plus other female relatives
all helped in rearing a child and were owed some of the devotion given to
any mothering figure, the tie to one's own mother was the strongest that
an individual had. In childhood this relationship was marked by a combina-
tion of warmth and restraint as the mother was both the child's primary
source of emotional solace and main disciplining agent, a situation which
still holds today. Still, the mother would try and stand between the child
and other members of the taravad, both to protect the child from them as
well as to avoid being chastised herself for her child's misbehavior. Be-
cause girls were expected to stay within the female section of the household
after puberty apart from the brief time they spent at the tank bathing or in
the temple, their relationship with the mother was perforce more intimate
than that of mother and son. Furthermore, daughters were expected to be
more dependent on their mother in every way. This dependency may be
noted even today when Malayalee Nay ar women say:
When my mother was alive it was much easier to manage. She did everything
for me. She used to help me at deliveries, take care of the small baby for me,
and see to things.
or
I couldn't live too far from my mother, because how would I manage then.
We Malayalees are used to having much help. To live apart would be a hard-
ship.
The mother-son relationship was also a most critical one. A "good son"
put his mother's needs above all else; it was considered disgraceful if he
put his wife and children first in any way. For example, on returning to
Malabar after an absence he was first expected to come to his own taravad and
spend time with his mother before going to his wife's house. Even today,
33 Ibid., p. 351.
184
a son who ignores his mother is highly condemned though there is cer-
tainly more conflict between the two roles, those of son and husband,
than there was in the former, more highly structured situation.
In the traditional taravad, the karanavan had complete authority, both
jural and moral, over all juniors. The oldest female had control over the
other women and was considered the one responsible for the "good behavior"
of younger women. She, as well as all the "grandmothers," was somewhat
feared by the children. However, her power was limited by the fact that
the karanavan had control of the family purse-strings. If he was her own
brother or even possibly her own son, she might have indirectly influenced
him, but he still had the final say in all matters. While a woman was
never placed in the position of being an unwanted widow in her husband's
family, as was often the case in the rest of India, she was not the locus
of authority as some early travelers mistakenly thought. Final authority
was always in male hands and women who did not have any males to look
after "their needs" and attend to all extra-familial matters were pitied. As
noted before, despite the breakup of the large taravads, there has not been
much change in relations between women, but due to changes in male role-
definitions, there has been considerable change in male-female and male-
male relations. Now, the father, or husband, is the main male authority
figure in the household and the "uncle" is much less significant.
Life Cycle — Rites de Passage
A Nayar woman had to observe certain ceremonies during her pregnancy

of which the pulikudi (tamarind juice drinking) was the most important.
As part of this ceremony, the tamarind juice was poured over a knife or
sword and then dribbled into the pregnant woman's mouth by her brother
or a closely related male member of her taravad.34
At the birth of the child the barber woman officiated. (In the north
it was often a woman of the Malayan caste. Nowadays, this barber woman,
though still having the right to be paid for her services, is being slowly
replaced by a Government-trained midwife or, on rare occasions, a medical
doctor.) Birth pollution was observed for 15 days by all members of the
woman's taravad whether they lived in the taravad house or elsewhere. Dur-
ing that time, the taravad members could not go into a temple, and had to
observe other restrictions. On the 15th day, the mother had a ceremonial
purification bath and was given a special clean washed cloth provided by
the Vannathi (a woman of the washerman caste). Though not observed so
strictly in the towns, birth pollution is still observed fairly strictly in the
villages of South Malabar. The next important ceremony, always observed,
was the milk-giving ceremony, performed on the 28th day, when the
karanavan and other members of the taravad gave the baby milk mixed with
sugar and a small bit of a particular plantain reduced to a pulp. The baby
34 For example, see Iyer, 1912, op. cit., pp. 43-45; or Rao, op. cit., p. 108.
185
Cases
was occasionally named on this day though this was not common in Angadi.
The next important ceremony was the Chorunnu, which occurs in the sixth
month or perhaps a bit later. On the day of the Chorunnu, the child is fed
rice by the karanavan and/or the father (plus other relatives) at a ceremonial
time fixed by the astrologer. It is stated that thenceforth, the child can eat
rice, the normal food of the Nayars, but in actual fact few children were fed
much rice before the age of one and a half unless the mother had no milk
or was dead and cow's or water buffalo's milk was unavailable. Babies were
normally named at this time. Formerly this ceremony was held at the
taravad house, but nowadays it is "fashionable" to conduct it at a famous
temple.
The next important ceremony was the first writing, which normally
was conducted on the day of the Saraswathi puja (Puja to the Goddess of
knowledge) in October, at which time the words hari sri ganapataye namah
would first be written with a gold piece on the child's tongue, and then the
child would be made to write them in the sand. A child had to be either
three or, more commonly, five, years of age to undergo this ceremony
(even-numbered years were considered inauspicious). As it was and still
is considered important by Malayalees to start all new activities at an
auspicious time, with proper prayers to the deity, starting to learn to write at
this time is most appropriate. During the two days prior to the Saraswathi
puja, all tools used by craftsmen, all books and all writing implements are
placed before the Goddess, and are not used (particularly the last day)
until after the final puja. Children are not supposed to touch a pencil,
crayon or book before undergoing the first writing ceremony though most
families do not worry if a child does. However, in one aristocratic family in
Angadi, a few mothers refused vehemently to allow their sons of four and
a half to draw pictures for the anthropologist since they had not yet under-
gone this ceremony.
Ear-boring traditionally occurred when the child was about five or six
years old. The ears of the girls were slowly dilated until a hole about two
inches in diameter was made. The girls then wore heavy gold ornaments
called toda in their ears. Today, the ear-boring is normally done at the
milk or rice-giving ceremony and simply consists in making a very small
hole for pierced-ear rings. The next important ceremonies for a girl were
her tali-kettu kalyanam, terandu kalyanam and sambandham, all discussed
before, and for a boy his sixteenth birthday and sambandham. No other cere-
monies were as important in an individual's life, though certain birthdays,
such as the 60th and 84th were celebrated with feasting; an important or
wealthy man or woman presented various forms of entertainment to all
the neighbors on such occasions.
Death ceremonies again involved the entire taravad. As soon as possible
after death the body is cremated in the southern corner of the taravad com-
pound. (Small children and people who die unnatural deaths, such as suicide,
are often buried.) Only juniors to the deceased are active mourners and
186
perform the various rituals. However, all members of the taravad are under
a pollution for 15 days. (The exact number of days varies from region to
region and subcaste to subcaste.) On the day the pollution ends, all the
taravad members undergo purifying baths and are given clean clothes by
the Vannati. Formerly, a man's wife and children did not observe pollution
for his death nor did they have the right to observe his death anniversary
each year, though the woman did observe death pollution for the man who
tied her tali. Nowadays, wives and children do observe pollution though it
is not required, and if the man has been away from his wife and children
for a long time, it may not be observed.
Socialization
Most of the care and responsibility for the infant and small child fell to
the mother, both traditionally and today, although she was assisted by other
female relatives, maidservants and older girls. Children were nursed for
approximately two years, longer if the mother did not conceive. Ideally,
a woman preferred to have children every two or three years, but in many
instances she conceived sooner, since the only check was abstinence. A
woman was not permitted to have sexual relations with her husband for
three months after delivery; furthermore, if the husband was a visiting
husband or if he was away in the army he might not happen to "come to
the house" at a time when she might conceive.
Babies were fed whenever they were hungry, as it was felt that a woman
was a "bad mother" if she allowed her child to cry from hunger. On the
other hand, weaning was abrupt, the mother simply decided that the time
had come to stop. At this point, the child, who had already been taking other
foods was given these foods whenever he cried for milk and, as mothers
said, "We try and quiet his crying. Others will take and carry and play
wit} him. Also, will make things he likes, like some sweets. After a few
days he will stop crying." Toilet-training, though started early, was a slow,
gradual process with no punishments for accidents. Throughout the process
emphasis was placed on the mother's becoming so attuned to the child that
she anticipated his needs, and at the same time developed in the child a
kind of conditioned reflex. The child was never expected to do things for
himself but instead was expected to await succor or instruction from others.
Children were taught not to do something unless they could do it "perfectly,"
that is, not to take a chance on making a mistake.35
An ideal Nayar was one who had the capacity to adapt to all situations
without complaint, was quiet and obedient, put the welfare of his taravad
before his own, was well versed in all the rules of etiquette and traditional
lore, never quarreled with those older than himself or higher in caste but
assumed command over those younger or lower in caste. Furthermore, he
35 Joan Mencher. "Growing Up in South Malabar: Changing Patterns of Nayar
Family Life and Child Rearing," Human Organization, Winter, 1963.
187
Cases
had full control of the overt expression of his inner thoughts and feelings
and knew when it was "proper" to express himself. In addition, he or she
knew how to dress properly, to be entertaining and make clever conversation
when required and "how to make others like him," that is, to win friends.
This ideal was always kept before the child. A child would be told that
people will like him if he: listens to his elders, keeps out of mischief, avoids
quarrels with other children, keeps away from grown-up matters, shows proper
respect for all adults, goes to temple every day, and behaves "properly" on all
occasions.
Children were taught by example, by criticism, by threats of punishment

from supernatural (e.g., ghosts, minor deities or demons) and natural (e.g., a
wandering peddler, a wandering sanyassi) forces, by direct verbal and
physical punishments and by being "made to listen to stories and legends"
both of local and all-Indian origin. All elders were considered to be poten-
tial teachers.
In the traditional large taravad household there were always a number of
children within one's age group, all of whom played together, studied to-
gether, went to the tank together and shared all the daily activities. Boys
and girls played together until the girl was about eleven or 12, after which
time she was expected to stay in the female part of the household. Nowa-
days, with fewer children in the house this means that there is a smaller
group with whom a child associates continually. Traditionally, well-to-
do Nayars ran private schools for members of their families and other poorer
Nayars in the vicinity, and occasionally teachers might hold classes in their
homes. Both boys and prepubescent girls attended classes for part of the
day in Malayalam grammar, Sanskrit, the great Sanskrit classical literature
and arithmetic. This highly valued education was not available to the
lower castes. After the mid-nineteenth century a shift was made to West-
ern education, and today most Nayar men and women have had at least
four or five years of school and many have completed high school and
college. Furthermore, nowadays schools are open to children of all castes,
so that the Nayar children do mingle more with other children. There has
been a shift in the locus of the peer group from the family compound to the
school.
With the major changes in Nayar family structure noted above there are
concomitant changes occurring in the method and content of socialization
as well as in the ideals towards which a child is directed. Thus, there is
less stress now on a child's learning all the rules of "etiquette," and all the
traditions and lore, but, on the other hand, an increased stress on his accept-
ing more responsibility and being able to "support" himself when he grows
up.
188
Religion
It is hard to discuss religion among Nayars without examining its role

in the daily and yearly cycle of life, for religion is woven into the very
fabric of existence. Yet, it is not the philosophical, highly theoretical inter-
pretation of religion that I refer to here but its daily practice. From the
daily visit to the temple where one offers prayers to the local god, takes
prasadanam, makes the requisite number of rounds about the inner sanc-
tuary and exchanges gossip with friends and neighbors, to the large temple
festivals which may involve people from miles around and be a major oc-
casion for fun-making, religion plays a large part in life. To spell it out in
detail would take a long essay. Of importance here is the fact that while
religion continues to play a major role in Nayar life, its form is certainly
being modified with the breakdown of the large taravad into smaller units,
with the new laws permitting all Hindus regardless of caste to enter the
temples and with the many economic changes that are occurring. For ex-
ample, with the breakup of the large taravads, it is no longer possible for
certain family religious ceremonies to be held as often or with as much
pomp and circumstance as formerly. A smaller tavari cannot afford to hire
several elephants and provide a large feast when the taravad temple is having
a celebration.
On the other hand, children still are expected to sit each night before the
lighted lamp and to say certain prayers; a good child goes to the temple
after his evening bath each day and children are told stories from the
Ramayana, Mahabharatha, Bhagavatum by their elders. Even today, much
of one's recreation is partially religious in nature, e.g., people look forward
to the temple festival, when Kathakali dance performances (dance dramas of
famous epic stories) are enacted.
It would be hard to say whether religious training influences family life
or family life religious training, as each may be considered dependent
variables depending on the context.
Conclusions
In this chapter, we have examined the traditional pattern of Nayar

family organization and the changes that have occurred as a result of the
introduction of a new socio-economic system. It is clear that while the
old large matrilineal, matrilocal taravad households characterized by the
pattern of visiting husbands has practically disappeared, what has replaced
it is not a duplicate of the Western type of elementary family. Indeed, if
one examines the daily and other cyclical interaction pattern between
relatives, it becomes apparent that the ties to matrilineal kin still continue
to dominate family life, and that an individual thinks in terms of the matri-
lineal kin in planning on where he is going to live, whom he can count
on in emergencies, and even for such things as whom to send his children
189
Cases
to stay with when they go to college. In other words, it seems that the tra-
ditional Nayar family organization is being considerably modified in order
to adjust to the developing industrial economy, but the modification in-
cludes a re-synthesis of existing ties into a new pattern which takes into
account both the traditional pattern and the needs of the emergent socio-
economic structure.
Selected Readings
Aiya, V. N. The Travancore State Manual, Vol. 1. Trivandrum: The Travan-
core Government Press, 1906.
Aiyappan, A. "Nayar Polyandry," Man, 32: 1932; "Nayar Polyandry," Man, 34:
1934; "Fraternal Polyandry in Malabar," Man in India, 14: (1935), pp. 108-
118.
Buchanan, Francis Hamilton. A journey from Madras through Mysore, Canara
and Malabar, Vol. 2. London: Black, Perry and Kingsbury, 1807.
Dames, Mansel Longworth (Ed.). The Book of Duarta Barbosa. Vol. II. London:
Hakluyt Society Series II, Vol. XLIX, 1921.
An account of the countries bordering on the Indian Ocean and their
inhabitants written by Duarta Barbosa and completed about the year 1518
A.D. Translated from the Portuguese text, published in 1812 by the Royal
Academy of Sciences at Lisbon.
Fawcett, F. Nayars of Malabar. Madras Government Museum Bulletin Vol. III,
No. 3. Madras: Government Press, 1915.
Day, F. The Land of the Perumals. 1863.
Gibb, H. R. A. The Travels of Ibn Battuta in Asia and Africa, 1325-54. Lon-
don: Routledge & Sons, 1929.
Gough, E. Kathleen. "Changing Kinship Usages in the Setting of Political and
Economic Change among the Nayars of Malabar," journal of the Royal Anthro-
pological Institute, Vol. 82 (1952), pp. 71-88.
"Incest Prohibitions and Rules of Exogamy in Three Matrilineal
Groups of the Malabar Coast," International Archives of Ethnography, Vol.
46, No. 1 (1952).
"Female Initiation Rites on the Malabar Coast," Journal of the Royal
Anthropological Institute, Vol. 85 (1955), pp. 45-80.
"Cults of the Dead among the Nayars," Journal of American Folklore,
Vol. 71, No. 281 (1958).
"The Nayars and the Definition of Marriage," Journal of the Royal
Anthropological Institute, Vol. 89 (1959), pp. 23-34.
"Nayar: Central Kerala," in David Schneider and E. Kathleen Gough
(Eds.), Matrilineal Kinship. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1961,
pp. 298-384.
Iyer, L. K. Anatha Krishna. The Cochin Tribes and Castes, Vol. 1. Madras:
Higginbotham and Co., 1909.
The Cochin Tribes and Castes, Vol. 2. Madras: Higginbotham and
Co., 1912.
190
Logan, William. Malabar. Madras: Government Press, 1951. Three vols. (Re-
print of Manual of Malabar, originally published in Madras, 1887.)
Mateer, S. The Land of Charity. New York: Dodd and Mead, 1870.
Native Life in Travancore. London: W. H. Allen & Co., 1883.
Mayer, Adrian. Land and Society in Malabar. London: Oxford University Press,
1952.
Mencher, Joan P. "Changing Familial Roles Among South Malabar Nayars,"
Southwestern journal of Anthropology, Fall, 1962.
"Growing up in South Malabar: Changing Patterns of Nayar Family
Life and Child Rearing," Human Organization (Special India issue), Winter,
1963.
Menon, K. P. P. History of Kerala. Ernakulam: Cochin Government Press,
1933. Three vols.
Menon, K. R. Krishna. Report of the Malabar Marriage Commission. Madras:
Government Press, 1894.
Moore, Lewis. Malabar Law and Custom. Madras: Government Press, 1905.
Nambudiripad, E. N. S. The National Question in Kerala. Bombay: People's
Publishing House, 1952.
Panikkar, K. M. Malabar and the Portuguese. Bombay: D. B. Taraporevala Sons
& Co., 1929.
Malabar and the Dutch. Bombay: D. B. Taraporevala Sons & Co.,
1931.
India and the Indian Ocean. Birkenhead, England: Willmer Bros. &
Co., 1945.
Panikkar, T. K. G. Malabar and Its Folk. Madras: G. A. Nateson & Co., 1901.
Pillai, T. K. V. The Travancore State Manual, Vol. 2. Trivandrum: Travancore
Government Press, 1940.
Raja, P. K. S. Medieval Kerala. Annamalai University Historical Series No. 11.
Annamalai: Annamalai University, 1953.
Rao, M. S. A. Social Change in Malabar. Bombay: Popular Book Depot, 1957.
Thurston, E. Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Vol. 5. Madras: Government
Press, 1909.
Unni, K. Raman. "Visiting Husbands in Malabar," Journal of the M. S. Univer-
sity of Baroda, Vol. 5 (1956), pp. 37-56.
"Polyandry in Malabar," Sociological Bulletin, Vol. 7 (1958), pp. 62—
79,123-133.
191

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Chapter

Nayar Family Structure

Traditional Nayar marriage practices can only be understood in terms of

The Nayars themselves appear to have recognized a connection between their

Modern Nayar Marriages

29 Joan Mencher. "Changing Familial Roles Among South Malabar Nayars,"

Patterning of Interpersonal Relations in

the Nayar Family Age-Ranking

Male-Female Role Relations

Life Cycle — Rites de Passage

A Nayar woman had to observe certain ceremonies during her pregnancy

Children were taught by example, by criticism, by threats of punishment

It is hard to discuss religion among Nayars without examining its role

In this chapter, we have examined the traditional pattern of Nayar

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