NAYAR OF INDIA

Nayar of India

Nayar of India

Introduction

Indian society is divided in various ethnic and social units. In this report, we will discuss the social system of nayars' life and activities that are a part of their ethnic group. On one hand, this ethnic group operates by its internal organization and routine production services and on the other, they are interconnected by the exchange and commodity exchange. Nayar, also spelled as “Nair”, is a Hindu caste of the Indian state of Kerala. Before the British conquest in 1792, the region contained small feudal kingdoms, each of which were found in the royal and noble lineages, the militia, and most land managers were drawn from the Nayars and related breeds. During British rule, Nayars became prominently took part in the field of politics, public administration, education, medicine and law. It is well known that the collective survival is a feature of societies that practice shifting cultivation. As stated by numerous anthropologists, shifting cultivation is a way of life among the communities living in the habitat of the forest and mountainous regions. It has remained the main mode of subsistence among the Nayar till the present time. Their mode of subsistence is based on its martial origins. They constituted the kingly families of warriors and feudal lords of Kerala. They provided militia and land managers to royalties. Its communities practiced matrilineal wherein a joint-family system invested a sense of responsibility between family members. The big matrilineal group constituted the middle class in Kerala society. To illustrate the Nayar culture, this paper aims to discuss the way of living of the Nayar through their kinship, political and social organization.

This group of households lived in villages which was really a part of its large ethnic units in terms of functional relationship in a limited area with a perimeter of 20-25 miles. Zatibisesh in that area is a specific economic and social decorum that comes from its member tradition. The ethnic dignity of Nairs can be detrmined from their occupation, economic status, religious rites, cultural sophistication and political. But the race itself remained divided into several sub-castes and groups. The basis of division of Nayar into sub-castes was the disparagement amongst the members. But the geographical transfer going to the same traditional business provided them the opportunity to live with multiple races.

The Nayar Hindu Caste

Kinship

In the late 1950's and 1960's, normal unit of Nayr family consisted of one or more of married women with children, their mother (if alive), and perhaps a few adult male members of matrilineage. The traditional family Nayar organization provided one of the relatively unique exceptions near universality of the nuclear family. "A visit to her husband" had very little value in the family of his wife and was not responsible for the children he could master (Markovits, 2004).

Marriage System

Marriage between customs Nayars triggered much discussion and debate in India and among lawyers and sociologists. There were a significant sub-regional changes, as well as variations sub caste and prestige of the ...