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, that system was absent. The Malayali Brahmins formed the priestly class, and they considered all other castes to be either shudra or ''avarna'' (those outside the ''varna'' system). The exception to this were the military elites among the Samantha Kshatriyas and the Nairs, who were ritually promoted to the status of Kshatriya by means of the ''Hiranyagarbha'' ceremony. This was done so that the Samanthans and Nairs could wield temporal ruling powers over the land, as they constituted the aristocratic class. Over time, the dominance of the "upper caste" Brahmin and Nair nobles gradually declined due to social and political changes. Like the rest of India, the lower castes touching the upper castes was termed as "pollution," but only in Kerala did the lo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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India
India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north; and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives; its Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand, Myanmar, and Indonesia. Modern humans arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa no later than 55,000 years ago., "Y-Chromosome and Mt-DNA data support the colonization of South Asia by modern humans originating in Africa. ... Coalescence dates for most non-European populations average to between 73–55 ka.", "Modern human beings—''Homo sapiens''—originated in Africa. Th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kurup Of Travancore
Kurup of Travancore is a title given to Nairs who held the status of "Naaduvaazhi"- the lord of small kingdoms. Kurup of Travancore (alternatively Guyrip, Kuruppu or Kuruppanmar) was a title used by Nairs in the Kingdom of Travancore, many among them were experts in Kalaripayattu, serving as warriors and army generals. Additionally, a segment of the Nair Kurup belonged to the landlord class in South Kerala until the 18th century and they mostly belongs to the Illam and other subcastes in Travancore Nair caste. The Nair Kurup caste is unrelated to other Kurups. It is important not to confuse them with the Kurup Caste, Kalari Kurup, etc., as they have distinct identities. Etymology "Kurup" is a title of nobility among Nair subcastes, other higher titles of nairs such as Pillai, Nambiar, Unnithan, Thampi, Panicker, etc. Well-known Kurups of Travancore include Azhakath Kurup, a Nair noble man who represented Nairs in the Ettara Yogam or the King and Council of E ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Parasurama
Parashurama (), also referred to as Rama Jamadagnya, Rama Bhargava and Veerarama, is the sixth avatar among the Dashavatara of the preserver god Vishnu in Hinduism. He is believed to be one of the ''Chiranjeevis'' (Immortals), who will appear at the end of the ''Kali Yuga'' to be the guru of Vishnu's tenth and last incarnation, Kalki. Born to Jamadagni and Renuka, the Brahmin Parashurama was foretold to appear at a time when overwhelming evil prevailed on the earth. The Kshatriya class, with weapons and power, had begun to abuse their power, take what belonged to others by force and tyrannise people. He corrected the cosmic equilibrium by destroying the Kshatriya warriors twenty-one times. He is married to Dharani, an incarnation of Lakshmi, the wife of Vishnu. He is present in the Ramayana due to the conflict with Rama (the protagonist of the Ramayana) over Shiva's broken bow. He is mentioned in the Mahabharata as the guru of Bhisma, Drona, Rukmi, and Karna. Legend A ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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International Institute For Asian Studies
The International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS) is a global research institute and knowledge exchange platform, based in Leiden, the Netherlands. The Institute initiates and promotes interdisciplinary and trans-sectoral programmes that engage partners in Asia as well as institutes elsewhere in the world. So doing, the Institute aims to promote a more integrated understanding of present-day Asian realities as well as to pioneer new approaches to Asian Studies in a changing global context, and, more specifically, to contribute to new humanistically-informed and policy-relevant knowledge about Asia. Establishment The International Institute for Asian Studies was established in 1993, following recommendations by two successive committees, installed by the Dutch Ministry of Education and Science (1989) and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). The city of Leiden was only a logical choice for the Institute’s headquarters. Leiden is home to many institutes ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tamil Language
Tamil (; ' , ) is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia. Tamil is an official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the sovereign nations of Sri Lanka and Singapore, and the Indian territory of Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry. Tamil is also spoken by significant minorities in the four other South Indian states of Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, and the Union Territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It is also spoken by the Tamil diaspora found in many countries, including Malaysian Tamil, Malaysia, Myanmar Tamils, Myanmar, Tamil South Africans, South Africa, British Tamils, United Kingdom, Tamil Americans, United States, Tamil Canadians, Canada, Tamil Australians, Australia and Tamil Mauritians, Mauritius. Tamil is also natively spoken by Sri Lankan Moors. One of 22 scheduled languages in the Constitution of India, Tamil was the first to be classified as a Languages of India, classical language of India ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominalization, nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion, diffused there from the northwest in the late Bronze Age#South Asia, Bronze Age. Sanskrit is the sacred language of Hinduism, the language of classical Hindu philosophy, and of historical texts of Buddhism and Jainism. It was a lingua franca, link language in ancient and medieval South Asia, and upon transmission of Hindu and Buddhist culture to Southeast Asia, East Asia and Central Asia in the early medieval era, it became a language of religion and high culture, and of the political elites in some of these regions. As a result, Sanskrit had a lasting impact on the languages of South Asia, Southeast Asia and East Asia, especially in their formal and learned vocabularies. Sanskrit generally connotes several Indo-Aryan lang ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Malayalam
Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry ( Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was designated a " Classical Language of India" in 2013. Malayalam has official language status in Kerala, and Puducherry ( Mahé), and is also the primary spoken language of Lakshadweep, and is spoken by 34 million people in India. Malayalam is also spoken by linguistic minorities in the neighbouring states; with significant number of speakers in the Kodagu and Dakshina Kannada districts of Karnataka, and Kanyakumari, district of Tamil Nadu. It is also spoken by the Malayali Diaspora worldwide, especially in the Persian Gulf countries, due to large populations of Malayali expatriates there. There are significant population in each cities in India including Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi, Kolkata, Pune etc. The origin of Malayalam remains ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cyriac Pullapilly
Cyriac K. Pullapilly (June 15, 1932 – December 17, 2017) was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a former priest of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church and a professor of history at Saint Mary's College, Indiana. Biography Cyriac Pullapilly was an only child, born in what is now Kerala, India, on June 15, 1932. Raised by his mother, Anna, he was educated at St. Thomas College and St. Joseph's Pontifical Seminary before becoming an ordained priest in the Eastern Rite Syro-Malabar Catholic Church on March 16, 1958. According to some source, the ordination was the culmination of his mother's ambitions for him, although others say that his parents were initially reluctant for him to enter the church. While attending the seminary, he wrote for a missionary publication called ''Home Field''. He also was part of the anti-communist movement in his college and wrote various publications critical of the communist government which controlled the legislature in his state. Pullapilly was a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jain
Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle being Rishabhadeva, whom the tradition holds to have lived millions of years ago, the twenty-third ''tirthankara'' Parshvanatha, whom historians date to the 9th century BCE, and the twenty-fourth ''tirthankara'' Mahavira, around 600 BCE. Jainism is considered to be an eternal ''dharma'' with the ''tirthankaras'' guiding every time cycle of the cosmology. The three main pillars of Jainism are '' ahiṃsā'' (non-violence), '' anekāntavāda'' (non-absolutism), and '' aparigraha'' (asceticism). Jain monks, after positioning themselves in the sublime state of soul consciousness, take five main vows: '' ahiṃsā'' (non-violence), '' satya'' (truth), '' asteya'' (not stealing), '' brahmacharya'' (chastity), and '' aparigraha'' (non-possessiveness) ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kingdom Of Cochin
The Kingdom of Cochin, named after its capital in the city of Kochi (Cochin), was a kingdom in the central part of present-day Kerala state. It commenced at the early part of the 12th century and continued to rule until 1949, when monarchy was abolished by the dominion of India. Historically, the capital of Cochin was in Kodungallur ( Cranganore), but in 1341 the capital was moved to Cochin inorder to remedy a disastrous flood. By the early 15th century, Cochin lost its ability to fully defend itself. By the late 15th century, the Cochin kingdom shrank to its minimal extent as a result of invasions by the Zamorin of Calicut. When Portuguese armadas arrived in India, the Kingdom of Cochin had lost its vassals to the Zamorins, including Edapalli and Cranganore, the later of which had even been at the centre of the kingdom historically. Cochin was looking for an opportunity to preserve its independence, which was at risk. King Unni Goda Varma warmly welcomed Pedro Álva ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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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. At its zenith, the kingdom covered most of the south of modern-day Kerala ( Idukki, Kottayam, Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta, Kollam, and Thiruvananthapuram districts, and some portions of Ernakulam district), and the southernmost part of modern-day Tamil Nadu ( Kanyakumari district and some parts of Tenkasi district) with the Thachudaya Kaimal's enclave of Irinjalakuda Koodalmanikyam temple in the neighbouring Kingdom of Cochin. However Tangasseri area of Kollam city and Anchuthengu near Attingal in Thiruvananthapuram district, were British colonies and were part of the Malabar District until 30 June 1927, and Tirunelveli district from 1 July 1927 onwards. Travancore merged with the erstwhile princely state of Cochin to form Tr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Malabar District
Malabar District, also known as Malayalam District, was an administrative district on the southwestern Malabar Coast of Bombay Presidency (1792-1800) and Madras Presidency (1800-1947) in British India, and independent India's Madras State (1947-1956). It was the most populous and the third-largest district in the erstwhile Madras State. The British district included the present-day districts of Kannur, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Malappuram, Palakkad (excluding Chittur town), Chavakad Taluk and parts of Kodungallur Taluk of Thrissur district (former part of Ponnani Taluk), and Fort Kochi area of Ernakulam district in the northern and central parts of present Kerala state, the Lakshadweep Islands, and a major portion of the Nilgiris district in Tamil Nadu. The detached settlements of Tangasseri and Anchuthengu, which were British colonies within the kingdom of Travancore in southern Kerala, also formed part of Malabar District until 1927. Malayalam was the administrative as w ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |