Proud of my roots

Past few days, an article written by someone close to me has been looming in front of my inner eye. This article was aimed at how the writer had an aversion towards her very own culture and roots. This raced my processor to understand why the new generation is so cocooned in its own theory of self importance and how the need of rebellion and resistance is volcanised in form of an outburst towards their heritage. This also led me to a path of discovery towards my lineage, my history. Born a Nair, I was never aware of what all it entailed. I present my research to you, not to burst anybody's bubble, but, just so, it is an interesting read.


Nairs (sometimes spelled Nayar) are a Hindu upper caste belonging to Nagavanshi Kshatriya division of the Hindu caste system. The Nairs were a martial nobility and figure prominently in the history of Kerala. The Nairs form the second largest Hindu community in Kerala.

The Nagavanshi dynasty is one of the ancient Kshatriya dynasties of India. According to ancient Indian literature, Nagavansh is a sub-clan of Suryavansha. It includes a number of kshatriya clans, and is dominant in central India and Kerala. The group of people developed their Vansha according to their system of worship.

The word Nair is derived from the Sanskrit word Nayaka meaning leader. The Sanskrit word Nayaka appears in various forms in southern India (Nayakan/Naicker in Tamil Nadu, Nayak in Karnataka and Maharashtra, and Nayudu in Andhra Pradesh) and the word Nair has been suggested to be the corruption of Nayak in Malayalam.

The earliest known description about Nairs state that Nairs (Nagars) are the descendants of serpent soldiers sent by the Nāga Kingdom for taking part in the battle at Kurukshetra during Mahabharatha. After the war, they encountered Parasurama who vowed to exterminate the Nāgas, since they were Kshatriya. The Nāgas transformed themselves to humans, ripped off their sacred chords, and fled the battlefield.

After the Saka or Indo-Scythian people invaded India in the second century BC, some Nagas mixed with the Scythians in North India. They adopted the Matriarchy, Polyandry and other Scythian customs. They migrated southwards and reached Malabar, where they fought with the Villavars and defeated them. Later they established their own kingdoms in Malabar and Tulu Nadu. The Nāgas finally reached Travancore, the Southern most part of India. There is still a sacred sarpakaavu (serpent grove) in Mannarsala (Travancore), which is owned by a Nayar family whose ancestors are said to be Nāga serpents spared when the Khandava Forest (in present day Punjab) was burnt down by Lord Krishna and Lord Arjuna.

A number of sociologists are of the view that the Nairs are not indigenous to Kerala, as many customs and traditions distinguish them from other Keralites. There is a hypothesis on the basis of mythology that the Nairs are Nagas, who were Kshatriyas belonging to the Serpent dynasty (Nagavansham) who removed their sacred thread and migrated south to escape the wrath of a vengeful Parashurama. The affinity of the Nair community towards serpent worship, their martial past, and the absence of the sacred thread lends support to this theory. In addition, the Travancore State Manual states that there were indeed serpent-worshiping Nagas in Kerala who fought with the Namboothiris till they reached a consensus. The Nairs have also been classified as of Indo-Scythian (Saka) origin as well as being linked to the Nagas.

The Appearance of the well nourished Nair is perhaps among the finest in all India...the men and women among the Nairs are models of neatness and simplicity particularly in their dress, food and living. The men keep a small tuft of hair hanging in front, tied into a knot which is thrown behind or on the side, quite similar to the Tamil Brahmins while women have long black hair growing luxuriantly which they keep neat and orderly by constant bathing, rubbing of oil and use of comb. They tie it in a large bun suspended on the left side or in front. This is a very pretty observance and one that is worth imitation in other civilised countries

Nairs followed the Marumakkathayam (Matrilineal) system of inheritance and lived in units called Tharavadus (matrilineal joint-family). The tharavadu referred to relations of property (mudal sambandham) shared by a group tracing descent from a common ancestress. The outer boundary of tharavadus seems to have been defined by relations of pollution (pula sambandham), whereby a wider matrilineal kin group was knit by symbolic ties. Prominently, this involved sharing birth and death pollution and a memory of common descent. However, there are indications that, when expediency demanded, it was possible to break off even these pollution ties. For instance, in the case of a numerically large tharavadu, comprising a considerable section of the population of territory, death and birth pollution spelt a great inconvenience. In such cases, it could be decided to terminate pollution ties, even while the related groups continued to share a cremation ground.

Architecturally wealthy tharavadus encompassed a Naalukettu or Ettukettu, a Kulam (fresh-water pond) and a Sarpa Kavu (a sacred grove with trees and thick foliage for worship of the Nagathaan (Serpents) while in the case of some exceptionally wealthy families a private temple as well. The water body served the purpose of ritual baths, followed by Tantric worship in the Sarpakavu, phased out into rituals and ceremonies that repeated in cycles of days, months, and years often accompanied by feasts that witnessed a grand assembly of kin.

…. I am beginning to be aware of the rich history of my clan. The new generation needs to be educated on how we should pride ourselves in what we are rather than aping and yearning for something else, just in the name of “sounding different”