Caste system in Kerala

The caste system in Kerala differed from that found in the rest of India. While the Indian caste system generally divided the four-fold Varna division of the society into Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras, in Kerala, there existed only two varnas: Brahmins and Shudras, out of these four, while others were classified as Avarna. The Malayali Brahmins formed the priestly class .[1][2][3] Brahmins labeled all other castes as "Sat-sudra", "Shudra" and "Avarna" based on their origin and ritual rank.[4][5][6] The exception to this were Kings in Kerala like of Travancore and Cochin, who were ritually promoted to the status of Kshatriya by means of the Hiranyagarbha ceremony.[4][5][6][7][8][9]

Like the rest of India, the lower castes touching the upper castes was termed as "pollution," but only in Kerala did the lower castes pollute not just by touch but also by merely approaching an upper caste.[10][2][11][12][13][14][1]

  1. ^ a b Devasahayam, M. G.; ThePrint (11 July 2022). "Saint Devasahayam's anti-caste struggle angered Brahmins and Nairs, not his conversion". ThePrint. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
  2. ^ a b Lannoy, Mark de; DeLannoy, Mark (1997). The Kulasekhara Perumals of Travancore: history and state formation in Travancore from 1671 to 1758. CNWS publications. Leiden: Research School CNWS. ISBN 978-90-73782-92-1.
  3. ^ Radhakrishnan, P.; Jeffrey, Robin (July 1977). "The Decline of Nayar Dominance: Society and Politics in Travancore". Social Scientist. 5 (12): 76. doi:10.2307/3516814. ISSN 0970-0293. JSTOR 3516814.
  4. ^ a b F. Fawcett (1 February 2004). Nâyars of Malabar. Asian Educational Services. p. 185. ISBN 9788120601710.
  5. ^ a b A. Sreedhara Menon (1976). Kerala District Gazetteers: Palghat. Department of Education, Superintendent of Government Presses, Kerala. p. 159.
  6. ^ a b Sebastian R. Prange (3 May 2018). Monsoon Islam: Trade and Faith on the Medieval Malabar Coast. Cambridge University Press. p. 167. ISBN 9781108424387.
  7. ^ F. Fawcett (1 February 2004). Nâyars of Malabar. Asian Educational Services. p. 188. ISBN 9788120601710.
  8. ^ Fuller, C. J. (30 December 1976). The Nayars Today. CUP Archive. ISBN 978-0-521-29091-3.
  9. ^ Newspaper, The Hindu (3 March 2003). "Seeking royal roots". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 22 October 2010.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference cambridge was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Kumar, Dharma (1982). The Cambridge economic history of India. Cambridge University. p. 32. ISBN 9780521226929.
  12. ^ Panikkar, K. M. (1918). "Some Aspects of Nayar Life". The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. 48: 254–293. doi:10.2307/2843423. ISSN 0307-3114. JSTOR 2843423.
  13. ^ Panikkar, Kavalam Madhava (1960). A History of Kerala, 1498-1801. Annamalai University.
  14. ^ Unny, Govindan (1994). Kinship Systems in South and Southeast Asia: A Study. Vikas Publishing House. ISBN 978-0-7069-7668-7.