Running head: Nayer Agrarian Culture

Nayar Culture: The Absorption of the Agrarian State Stephnie Schaap-Jones Ashford University ANT101 Introduction to Anthropology May 28, 2012 Kristina Stutler

Nayer Agrarian Culture

Nayar Culture: The Absorption of the Agrarian State The Nayar people traditionally inhabitted an area of the Southwestern coast of India that is the modern-day Indian region of Kerala (Gough & Schnieder, Matrilineal Kinship, 1974, pp. 202-203). Evidence exists showing that that Nayar culture consisted of multiple militaristic kingdoms and chiefdoms involved in Southeastern Asian trade in the Travancore region of India as early as the 7th century, evolved into an agrarian state in the 13th century by taking over the land directly inland from their seaports and continued to thrive as such even after the East India Company of Britain took over the area in 1792 (Gough & Schnieder, Matrilineal Kinship, 1974, p. 204). It was not until India gained their independence from Britain that the Nayar people fell under the laws of any government other than their own. Now, the Nayar culture exists in India as more of a caste system than an agrarian state. Nonetheless, several parts of the Nayar culture have endured in Kerala, and the caste system is still widely recognized within the region.

Primary Mode of Sustenance The Nayar people existed in kingdoms and chiefdoms until the 13th century, and then, as an agrarian state for generations. It is believed that the Nayar chiefdoms controlled several seaports that traded with China, and later with Muslim Arabs. Gradually, they built up a militaristic force and took over enough land inland from their ports that they became an agrarian state (Gough & Schnieder, Matrilineal Kinship, 1974). Their primary means of sustaining their society was through their militaristic endeavors and seaport trade of Indian spices, mainly pepper (Gough & Schnieder, Matrilineal Kinship, 1974). However, the Nayar people also heavily produced rice, grain and jasmine for trading, eating and use in their religious ceremonies (Moore,

Nayer Agrarian Culture

A New Look at the Nayar Taravad, 1985). This lasted until well after the rest of India was taken over by the European East India Company in 1792. Once Britain granted India their independence, the Nayar culture was gradually absorbed into the Indian culture and became more of a caste system that was under Indian rule than an agrarian state that ruled itself (Gough & Schnieder, Matrilineal Kinship, 1974). Even now, the Nayar culture is recognized in India, but it is not a true state, only a culture with a predominant locale and a symbol of social status. The Nayar caste and all of the various castes that it contains have become parts of the larger Hindu Indian caste system. Kinship The Nayar culture is one of matrilineal kinship in which the property and children belong solely to the women and the men are often segregated from the women. Nayar families traditionally resided on Taravads, which are large land tracts consisting of several structures in which many generations may live together, often with women living in one large home and men living in several smaller homes(Moore, A New Look at the Nayar Taravad, 1985). Taravads are designed to hold anywhere from 60 to 250 people, and are often enlarged as membership in the taravad increases. The fact that the Nayar culture takes matrilineage to such extremes is one of the things that make them so fascinating to the world of anthropology, even today. They are a paradigm of matrilineal kinship. Nayar women have two marriages in their lifetime, and are not obligated or duty-bound to either husband (Gough & Schnieder, Matrilineal Kinship, 1974). They can, and often do, have relationships with several men outside of their marriages that result in numerous siblings with

Nayer Agrarian Culture several different fathers. The children reside with the mothers in the largest taravad structure until they reach adulthood or marry. Girls experience their first marriage during early adolescence in a ceremony known as

kudivepp (Moore, A New Look at the Nayar Taravad, 1985). During this ceremony the girl is married into her husbands taravad by presenting an offering of rice and a jasmine tree from her own taravad. A girls first husband is usually an older cross-cousin, and she then moves into her new husbands taravad. While she may live in the same taravad as her husband, she is not required to reside with or even associate with this husband. The only things required of the girl are that she adorns herself with the flowers of the jasmine tree she presented until her husbands death and that she properly mourn his death (Gough, A Note on Nayar Marriage, 1965). Once a girl reaches adulthood and is prepared to enter into a physical relationship, she marries again in a ceremony known as sambandh in which the husband presents the wife with cloth from his taravad in order to gain access to wifes home and allow her entrance into his (Moore, A New Look at the Nayar Taravad, 1985). It is customary and expected that the husband will be from an equal or higher caste than his wife, thus, requiring her to wear the husbands family cloth when entering his taravad (Moore, A New Look at the Nayar Taravad, 1985). However, even after this second marriage, a woman is free to maintain relationships with other men if she chooses, or even marry again (Gough, A Note on Nayar Marriage, 1965). Polyandry is not uncommon in Nayar culture, and due to the separation of men and women, it is not difficult to maintain. Women may have relationships with many men and fidelity is not an issue because of the matrilineal rules of inheritance (Gough, A Note on Nayar Marriage, 1965). Women inherit from their mothers, so she and her children may benefit from her marriage to a man with no sisters.

Nayer Agrarian Culture Social Organization

The Nayer society uses a caste system to determine the societal hierarchy. The castes, or classes, are determined by a persons occupation, with the highest castes belonging to those family members most closely related to the karanav, or leader, of a taravad and descending according to kinship (Moore, A New Look at the Nayar Taravad, 1985). While the Nayar culture is one of matrilineal kinship, the karanav is usually the eldest male in a taravad, with kinship being traced through his mother, sisters and daughters. Castes hold extreme importance in Nayar culture, with each caste being required to maintain a specified distance from people of other castes. People from a lower caste may be required to keep a distance of 100 feet from someone one or two castes higher than themselves, but may be forbidden from approaching people from castes three or more classes higher (Moore, A New Look at the Nayar Taravad, 1985). This system prevents contamination between the castes and keeps the purity of the caste system in check. Positions of importance within the Nayar culture are predominately held by the men, with their wives and daughters benefitting from the position held by the husband or father (Gough & Schnieder, Matrilineal Kinship, 1974). Possessions are inherited from women by women, so the positions held by the men provide social standing for the wives and better chances of profitable marriages for the daughters.

Beliefs and Values Traditional Nayer beliefs are an extraordinary mixture of Hindu and Dravidian cults that primarily worship Siva, Krishna or Kartyayani, but still include many Dravidian elements such as spirit-worship, black magic and demoniacal ceremonies (Panikkar, 1918). Their

Nayer Agrarian Culture traditional Dravidian beliefs include the worship of the serpent, and virtually all taravads have a

serpent garden in the southeast corner of the garden (Moore, A New Look at the Nayar Taravad, 1985). For most Nayar, their Hindu beliefs are rudimentary at best and they rely heavily on superstition. In 1918 K. Panikkar tells a story of his time with the Nayar in which he chose to travel on a day which they considered to be taboo. In his story, the Nayar warned him not to travel on this day, but he did not listen. Ironically, the person he was going to see had left a few hours before his arrival and he spent the entire day travelling behind the fellow he was trying to reach. He never did catch up to the gentleman and returned to the taravad tired and ill (Panikkar, 1918). The Nayar people immediately explained his misfortune as a result of travelling on the wrong day. Since Indias independence from Britain, and Travacores subsequent absorption into Kerala, many more Nayar people have adopted the Hindu religion and beliefs. However, this is relatively recent. Serpent gardens are still found in taravads all over the Kerala region, and many Nayar still view the serpent as their protector (Osella & Osella, 2000). Likewise, superstitions are hard to give up, and the Nayar people still hold many things, such as the contamination between castes and other taboos are still widely recognized. Some of them are even being recognized throughout the region and adopted by outsiders. Social Change The Nayar were mostly absorbed into Hindu Indian culture, beginning with the presence of the British East India Company in 1792. The Nayar people of Travacore were left as a culture of their own until well into the 20th century, but lost much of their culture when power was returned to India and the area was absorbed into Kerala. Many of the Nayar have adopted Indian

Nayer Agrarian Culture culture and they are largely accepted as a caste system within the Indian caste system (Osella & Osella, 2000).

The Nayar culture was once an Indian trade dynasty (Ramusack, 2003). However, when India was granted independence from Britain, the Nayar dynasty was absorbed into Kerala and fell under Indian rule. However, their presence and identity was so strong that they became their own caste in Indian culture. Because the Nayar people, and many of the Indian people, still use the Nayar caste system, the Nayar people have become a caste system within a larger caste system (Osella & Osella, 2000). Analysis The Nayar people were once a rich dynasty that relied heavily on their seaports to effect trade relationships with several countries in Southern Asia. Unlike any other culture, the Nayar are notorious for taking their matrilineal kinship to extremes in which the men possess and inherit virtually nothing at all. The women inherit possessions and keep the children until they are married. The women do little to support the men, and in some cases, do not even live with their second husbands (Moore, Symbol and Meaning in Nayar Marriage Ritual, 1988). While the Nayar culture is one of extreme matrilineal kinship, daughters are married into the taravad of their first husband at a relatively young age, leaving their matrilineal home. Then, the daughters second husband frequents the taravad of her first husband that is usually still living there, but does not move in. Therefore, a woman lives with her first husband, but does not generally have a relationship with him. She does not live with her second husband, but maintains a relationship, both personal and physical, with him in the home of her first husband. The Nayar people are a superstitious society that puts much of their faith in the belief in spirits and magic. They worship the serpent as their protector and build elaborate gardens in

Nayer Agrarian Culture which to worship them (Moore, A New Look at the Nayar Taravad, 1985). They believe in and

worship the spirits of their kin that have passed on, and believe that they can sway the actions of spirits and gods through the use of magic (Panikkar, 1918). They also believe in their ability to curse and hex other people through magic and remove hexes and curses placed on them. While the Nayar have claimed to follow a Hindu belief system, this was largely considered to be little more than a faade, as they rarely possessed more than a rudimentary understanding of Hindu beliefs and practices (Panikkar, 1918). However, this has changed in recent years. With the decline of the Nayar culture and the absorption of the agrarian state, more Nayar people are adopting and following the Hindu religion that is predominant in India as opposed to their traditional Dravidian beliefs and forms of worship (Osella & Osella, 2000). Conclusion The agrarian state that was created by the Nayar people endured for generations. It was not until India became independent of Britain that they were absorbed by the Indian region of Kerala. Since then, much of the Nayar culture has been lost due to globalization and modernization. However, there are several aspects of the Nayar culture that remain predominant throughout the Kerala region. The caste system used by the Nayar has become a part of the Indian caste system, with the Nayar people becoming a caste of their own within the Hindu Indian caste system. The marriage ceremonies of the Nayar people are still practiced and can be seen in taravads today with women residing with men they do not associate with and maintaining relationships outside of their marriages. While the taravads are declining quickly, many remain with their own temples, gardens and sacred rooms that were, and sometimes still are, used to worship the spirits and deities that the Nayar people have put their faith in for generations. Unfortunately, the Nayar culture, like so many over the centuries, is falling prey to the effects of

Nayer Agrarian Culture globalization and the lure of modernization. It may not be long before they are absorbed completely and they will only be found in history books.

Nayer Agrarian Culture 10 References Gough, K. (1965). A Note on Nayar Marriage. Man, 8-11. Gough, K., & Schnieder, D. M. (1974). Matrilineal Kinship. Berkley: University of California Press. Moore, M. (1985). A New Look at the Nayar Taravdad. Man, 523-541. Moore, M. (1988). Symbol and Meaning in Nayar Marriage Ritual. American Ethnologist, 254273. Nowak, B. &. (2010). Cultural Anthropology. San Diego: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. Osella, F., & Osella, C. (2000). Social Mobility in Kerala : Modernity and Identity in Conflict. London: Pluto Press. Panikkar, K. M. (1918). Some Aspects of Nayar Life. The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, 254-293. Ramusack, B. N. (2003). Indian Princes and Their States. West Nyack: Cambridge University Press.