The Thampis and Kochammas are the sons and daughters of the maharajahs of

Travancore The Kingdom of Travancore ( /ˈtrævənkɔːr/), also known as the Kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor, was an Indian kingdom from c. 1729 until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvananthapuram. A ...

and their consorts belonging to

Samanthan Nair Samantan Nair or more commonly Samantan (meaning "equal to" or "deemed to be"), was a generic term applied to dignify a group of sub-clans among the ruling elites and feudal lords of the Nair community in Kerala. The Samantan Nairs are members of ...

caste Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultur ...

Thampis and Thankachis form a part of the Nair caste and had no title of succession to the throne. The very term ''Thampi'' and ''Thankachi'' meant in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, na ...

language, brother and sister respectively which indicated the position of the Thampi families as the non-crown inheriting royal relatives of the Royal House of Travancore as per the matrilineal law followed. The consort of the ruling Maharajah (King) as well as Elayarajah (Crown Prince) was known as the ''Ammachi'' with the title of Panapillai Amma. To the names of the sons of the Maharajahs was prefixed the title of ''

Sri Shri (; , ) is a Sanskrit term denoting resplendence, wealth and prosperity, primarily used as an honorific. The word is widely used in South and Southeast Asian languages such as Marathi, Malay (including Indonesian and Malaysian), Javanes ...

'' suffixed with Thampi. The daughters were known as ''Kochammas''. The other members as well as the descendants of the Ammaveedus, however, were simply known as Thampi and Thankachi.

Origin

The Maharajahs of Travancore (current south

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South Ca ...

and

Kanyakumari Kanniyakumari (; , referring to Devi Kanya Kumari), also known as Cape Comorin, is a city in Kanniyakumari district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is the southern tip of the Indian subcontinent and the southernmost city in mainland Ind ...

district) adopted the

matrilineal Matrilineality is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which each person is identified with their matriline – their mother's lineage – and which can involve the inheritance ...

custom and inheritance prevalent in the land around the 14th Century AD. So basically, the Nair Thampi caste people originated at the original Travancore capital i.e.

Padmanabhapuram Padmanabhapuram is a town and a municipality near Thuckalay in Kanyakumari district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. As of 2011, the town had a population of 21,342. History Padmanabhapuram was the erstwhile capital of the Kingdom of Travan ...

in present day Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu. The Thampis present in the Northern Travancore Kingdom i.e present central Kerala districts like Thampis in Kottayam are people who have since migrated to northern borders of Kingdom after the 17th century. Accordingly, when a king died, his nephew (sister's son) would become the next ruler, and his own son, born of his wife, would be simply called ''Thampi'' with the title ''" Sri (mother's house name) (personal name) Thampi"'' which was also one of the highest titles of nobility in Travancore. All of the Maharajahs' daughters were known by the style of ''Kochamma'' with the title ''" (mother's house name) Ammaveetil Srimathi (personal name) Pilla Kochamma"''. Since the

Marumakkathayam Marumakkathayam was a system of matrilineal inheritance prevalent in regions what now form part of the southern Indian state Kerala. Descent and the inheritance of property was traced through females. It was followed by all Nair castes, Ambalav ...

system of matrilineal inheritance existed in Travancore, the descendants of these individuals would not gain any distinguishing title other than Thampi (male) and Thankachi (female).

Position

The title of Thampi was also rarely given to some families in Travancore by the Maharajah of Travancore, as a reward for exemplary military, social or government services. Thampis indeed had some special social privileges in Travancore. Besides only the Maharajah, they were the only people permitted the use of Palanquins. They also had the right to visit their Royal Cousins, their father's heir as per the Marumakkathayam law, Without formally previously Announcing their visit. According to a noted expert, in some of the areas on the borders of Travancore and Cochin Kingdom, they formed the third estate colloquially called "Thoruvam Nairs". In the caste hierarchy, they belonged to the Samanthan Nairs Aspects of Kerala Social Organisation published by the Asiatic Society 2014 at pages 14-15 by Abhed Kiran Ravi Kumar Pillai Kandamath

subcaste Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultural ...

References

{{Kingdom of Travancore Court titles Titles in India Nair Travancore royal family Women of the Kingdom of Travancore People of the Kingdom of Travancore

Origin

Position

See also

References