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Desavazhi
Naduvazhi ( IAST:''nātuvāḻi''; ) were feudatory Nair or Samantan princes who ruled over microstates that are now administrative parts of Kerala, India. They constituted the aristocratic class of Nairs within the Hindu caste system and were either kings themselves or nobility in the service of the kings of Kerala. Function Prior to the British reorganisation of the area now known as Kerala, it was divided into around ten feudal states. Each of these was governed by a ''rajah'' (king) and was subdivided into organisational units known as ''nads''. In turn, the ''nads'' were divided into ''dēsams'', which anthropologist Kathleen Gough considers to be villages. However, the early 20th-century historian Kavalam Panikkar states that the ''dēsams'' were themselves divided into ''amsas'', and that these were the villages. He believes that generally only the ''amsas'' survived the reorganisation. The person who governed the ''nad'' was known as the ''naduvazhi''. It was an inherited ...
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Moopil Nair
Moopil Nair, also transliterated Mooppil and Muppil is an elite subgroup of the Nair Caste system in India, caste. They were Desavazhi, desavazhis of small feudal polities, also known as vazhunnors in the South Malabar, present-day Kerala state, South India, typically owing at least nominal allegiance to a superordinate Raja, despite frequently aggregating lands and political powers of sufficient scale so as to establish them as essentially autonomous monarchs in their own rights. Although Moopils frequently simply styled themselves as 'the' name of swaroopam/tharavadu Nair, virtually all were entitled to higher titular Nair rank, most saliently that of Nambiar, but also Nayanar (Nair subcaste), Nayanar among others. Among them was Kavalappara Moopil Nair, who ruled the small kingdom of Kavalappara Swaroopam, and a nominal feudatory of the Vellattiri Raja of Valluvanad, himself a sometime Moopil Nair. Kavalappara holdings spanned some 155,358 acres of allodially freeheld jenmi ...
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Madampi (Nair Title)
Madampi or Madambi ''(equivalent to Lord in English),'' plural Madampimār, is the Malayalam term used to refer to the landed aristocracy of Kerala, used by the uppermost subdivisions of Nairs in Kerala. Pillai is the main title used by a Madampi. They were mostly found in the kingdoms of Jaisimhanadu and Venad ( Travancore Kingdom). Madampis served as '' Jenmis'' or landlords and had their own Nair armies during the pre-independence era. The Madambis held authority within their respective regions and had the right to adjudicate provincial disputes, often exercising greater judicial power than the kings themselves. Their power was severely reduced after the Communist government passed the Land Reforms Ordinance. The title Madampi was also used in Cochin, to denote the Nair and Nambudiri chiefs who ruled under the Maharajah of Cochin. A few Nambuthiri landlord families, most notable of whom being those in Vanjipuzha and Makilanjeri, were also given the Madampi title. In Cochin ...
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Kartha
Kartha or Karthavu, meaning "Lord" in the Malayalam language, is an aristocratic title. It was conferred by the Rajas to powerful families, they are Desavazhi (regional rulers) or Naduvazhi (feudal chieftains and landlords) status. Kartha's identify themselves as a Nair subcaste with Kshatriya Varna''.'' Meenachil Kartha among the Karthaavs stand different in their origins as they are descendants of Rajput whereas others are Nagar or Nair origin. Origin The title of Kartha ("Lord") appears to have been used as a titular name by some of the rulers of Madura. During the Madras Census of 1901, the title of Kartha was returned by the Balijas who claimed to be the descendants of the Nayak kings of Madura and Tanjore. The Tekkumkur and Vadakkumkur Rajas are said to have first conferred the title of Kartha on certain influential Nair families who were related by blood to the Rajas themselves. In social matters, the authority of the Kartha was supreme. Only on important issues were ...
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India Kerala Locator Map
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since 2023; and, since its independence in 1947, the world's most populous democracy. 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 near 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 averag ...
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Kaimal
Kaimal is an aristocratic title or position granted by various Rajas to powerful Nair families in Kerala. The word "Kaimal" originated from "Kai," meaning "the hand," signifying power in medieval Kerala. Kaimals are considered one of the highest title among Nairs. Kaimals identify themselves as a Nair Subcaste. There are many references recorded in various historical documents. They are the Jenmi and Naduvazhi of Kerala. Several well known families have borne the title, including the Thachudaya Kaimal, Kaimals of Koratti, Angi and Pondicherry. Many Kaimal families are also part of Kshatriya Kshema Sabha along with Nair Service Society. Subcaste Koima + Alu: Koima (Dominant) Alu (Person) means 'The person who dominates.' This was the title given to the feudal chiefs under the Kerala kings. The Kaimals were the title awarded to individuals from different Nair subcastes. There are different Nair Kaimals: (1) Thachudaya Kaimal, (2) Vakkayil Kaimal, (3) Vakkathu Illam Kaima ...
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Jenmi
Jenmi or Janmi (), plural Jenmimar, is the Malayalam term used to refer to the landed aristocracy of Kerala who traditionally held their lands as absolute and allodial owners, with such lands known as Jenmom or Janmam. They formed the landowning nobility as well as the landed gentry of the region in colonial times, and the majority of the estates and feudal properties were owned by this community. They predominantly belonged to the Nair (Warrior caste) and Nambudiri (Brahmin priest) castes. History The twenty-two families paying 3,000 rupees or more in land revenue to the Crown held 620,012 acres among them; the Vengayil dynasty alone accounted for 200,000 acres, followed immediately by the Mannarghat and Kavalappara Moopil Nairs, whose respective swaroopams governed 180,000 acres and 155,358 acres. The Zamorins of Calicut owned between 60,000 and 90,000 acres of Jenmom estate lands, followed by the Raja of Kollengode with 82,000 acres of forest and 18,000 acres of farmland ...
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Venad (kingdom)
Venad was a medieval kingdom between the Western Ghat mountains of India with its capital at city of Quilon.Noburu Karashmia (ed.), A Concise History of South India: Issues and Interpretations. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2014. 143-44.Narayanan, M. G. S. 2002. ‘The State in the Era of the Ceraman Perumals of Kerala’, in ''State and Society in Premodern South India'', eds R. Champakalakshmi, Kesavan Veluthat, and T. R. Venugopalan, pp.111–19. Thrissur, CosmoBooks. It was one of the major principalities of Kerala, along with kingdoms of Kolathunadu, Zamorin, and Kochi in medieval and early modern period.Menon, T. Madhava. ''A Handbook of Kerala.'' Vol 1. Trivandrum: Dravidian Linguistics Association, 2002/ref> Venad outlasted the Chera Perumals of Makotai, Chera Perumal kingdom, gradually developed as an independent principality, known as the Chera kingdomThapar, Romila'', The Penguin History of Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300.'' Penguin Books, 2002. ...
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Kingdom Of Cochin
The kingdom of Cochin or the Cochin State, named after its capital in the city of Kochi (Cochin), was a kingdom in the central part of present-day Kerala state. It originated in the early part of the 12th century and continued to rule until its accession to the Dominion of India in 1949. The kingdom of Cochin, originally known as Perumpadappu Swarupam, was under the rule of the Kulasekhara dynasty (Second Cheras), Later Cheras in the Medieval India, Middle Ages. After the fall of the Kulasekhara dynasty (Second Cheras), Mahodayapuram Cheras in the 12th century, along with numerous other provinces Perumpadappu Swarupam became a free political entity. However, it was only after the arrival of Portuguese on the Malabar Coast that the Perumpadappu Swarupam acquires any political importance. Perumpadappu rulers had family relationships with the Nambudiri rulers of Edappally. After the transfer of Kochi and Vypin from the Edappally rulers to the Perumpadappu rulers, the latter came ...
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Malabar Coast
The Malabar Coast () is the southwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. It generally refers to the West Coast of India, western coastline of India stretching from Konkan to Kanyakumari. Geographically, it comprises one of the wettest regions of the subcontinent, which includes the southern tip of Goa, Kanara region of Karnataka, all of Kerala and Kanyakumari region of Tamil Nadu. Kuttanad, which is the point of the List of extreme points of India#Altitudes, lowest altitude in India, lies on the Malabar Coast. Kuttanad, also known as ''The Rice Bowl of Kerala'', is among the few places in the world where cultivation takes place below sea level. The peak of Anamudi, which is also the point of highest altitude in India outside the Himalayas, lies parallel to the Malabar Coast on the Western Ghats. The region parallel to the Malabar Coast gently slopes from the eastern highland of Western Ghats ranges to the western coastal lowland. The moisture-laden winds of the Southwest m ...
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Eshmanan
Eshmanan (corruption of Yajamaana Sanskrit ''leader'') is a term used in Kerala (south India) to refer to a feudal Nair landlord.{{citation needed, date=April 2019 The term means "lord" in Old Malayalam and referred to Chembazhi nambi, Nambiars, and Kiriyathil Nair caste members who occupied the position of chieftains or bestowed upon themselves when they attain enough wealth to be a Landlord. Some of the Nambiar landlords, such as Chengazhi Nambiar (Chengazinad Eshmanan), Kalliat Eshmanan and Koodali Eshmanan were among the largest landowners in Malabar Districts. Other terms for a Nair feudal landlord, included Nayanar (Nair subcaste). This title is equivalent to others such as Madambi, Pillai, Kurup and Kaimal which were used in Travancore and Cochin areas See also *Madampi * Pillai *Nayanar (Nair subcaste) Nayanar (''meaning "the Nayar"'') is an honorific title used by sub-castes of the Nair community from North Malabar, India. The word Nayanar is believed to have ...
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Unnithan
Unnithan is one of the aristocratic Nair caste surname prevalent in the Kayamkulam region of Travancore Kingdom (present-day Indian state of Kerala.) History The Unnithan and Valiathan surnames originated from the title "Thānkal" (Malayalam: "താങ്കൾ"), which is a respectful designation used to address members of aristocratic families in Kerala, ''Unnithan means 'youngest Thānkal' and Valiathan means 'eldest Thānkal'.'' According to legend, Maharajah Marthanda Varma of Travancore sought the help of certain Nair families to overcome the powerful Nair clan of Ettuveetil Pillamar, the Lords of the Eight Houses. Many members of these families were killed by the Ettuveetil Pillamar. Later, these unnithan families were awarded the title Valiathan. Position in society Unnithan surname is prevalent only in the Kayamkulam region of Travancore, later due to conflicts between the Kayamkulam Raja and the Unnithan families, they were settled in Kollam and Pathanamthitta re ...
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Nambiar (Nair Subcaste)
Nambiār, also known as Nambiyār, is a sub-group of the Indian Nair caste. Majority were jenmi landlords in the Malabar region. The Nambiars are known to own huge lands and abundance of wealth which is kept within the families and passed on to the next generations. In earlier days, Nambiar women, like most women of Nair clans of North Malabar (present-day Kannur, Kasaragod, Wayanad districts) would not marry Nair men of South Malabar (present-day Kozhikode, Malappuram, Palakkad, Thrissur districts). Notable people * A. C. N. Nambiar – Indian Nationalist * Ayillyath Kuttiari Gopalan Nambiar – politician * E. P. Jayarajan Nambiar – politician * K. P. P. Nambiar – businessman * P. M. Kunhiraman Nambiar – freedom fighter * M. N. Nambiar – actor * Kannavath Sankaran Nambiar – richest Landlord *Rahul Nambiar – singer * P. K. Venugopalan Nambiar – agricultural scientist * Satish Nambiar – Indian Army General *Bejoy Nambiar Bejoy Nambiar (born 12 Apri ...
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