English

The Nayar of India

Greg Barrios

ANT 101

Professor Morris

May 16, 2011

The Nayar of India

The Nayar are a matrilineal society from the Southwest Region of India called Kerala. The Nayar are a people whose primary mode of subsistence comes from being an agrarian state thus they are specialized as a warrior class of high status and also as land managers for the royalty and elite. Among the caste system of India, the Nayar are typically ranked just below the highest-ranking Brahmin Caste and practice Hinduism as their primary religion. This paper will describe the Nayar's primary source of subsistence as a warriors and land managers in an agrarian state. The Nayar social organization is a high-ranking caste in Kerala. Gender relations as they pertain to marriage, finally Nayar common beliefs and values as practitioners of Hinduism as their primary religion.

The Nayar live in an agrarian state which produces mainly rice but also a variety of vegetables, eggs, fish, poultry, and other meats as their primary source of food subsistence (Advameg, 2011). The Nayar do not typically grow the crops themselves but they are the land tenants and the land is farmed by sub-tenants and peasant farmers. The land owners are the royalty of Kerala and the Nayar receive their income from being land managers as well as from serving as the militia of the countryside (Advameg, 2011). Because the Nayar serve as the militia, they are considered a warrior caste in India and therefore, their social organization is different than most other castes in the county. The fact that the Nayar are a warrior caste influences their social organization so that there is less friction and that inheritances are not affected by men who might die in war.

The social organization of the Nayar is that of a caste system in which they rank locally as Sudras which are a low level cast but perform the functions of Kshatriyas which is a higher level caste ranking just below the highest Bhramin...