Thandan (Thiyya Thandan, Thandar) is the honorary surname given to the headman of the mainly

Thiyya The Ezhavas, () also known as ''Thiyya'' or ''Tiyyar'' () in the Malabar region, and Chovar () in the south, are a community with origins in the region of India presently known as Kerala, where in the 2010s they constituted about 23% of the po ...

caste people in

Palakkad Palakkad (), Renaming of cities in India, also known as Palghat, historically known as Palakkattussery, is a city and a municipality in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kerala. It is the administrative headquarters of P ...

Thrissur Thrissur (, ), Renaming of cities in India, formerly Trichur, also known by its historical name Thrissivaperur, is a city and the headquarters of the Thrissur district in Kerala, India. It is the List of most populous urban agglomerations in Ke ...

district, who reside in the Indian state of

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, 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 ...

. They are designated as an Other Backward Class by the

Government of Kerala The Government of Kerala (abbreviated as GoK), also known as the Kerala Government, is the administrative body responsible for governing the Indian States and territories of India, state of Kerala. The government is led by a chief minister, who ...

Status

''Thandan'' was the most commonly-used title to represent the highest privilege among the Thiyyar of the Malabar area. The most notable Thiyyar of the

Malabars Malabars () is a term used for Indian people, Indians originating from the Malabar region. The region includes the northern part of present state of Kerala in India, i.e. the Malabar Coast, southwestern coast of the country. Captain João Ribe ...

received the title as Thandan for their service to the state in the administration of

Malabar district Malabar District, also known as British Malabar or simply Malabar was an administrative district on the southwestern Malabar Coast of Bombay Presidency (1792–1800), Madras Presidency (1800–1950) and finally, Madras State (1950–1956) in ...

1. According to Historian A.K.iyer, "In the southern parts of the State, only one man is appointed by the ruler of the State, for specified localities, and he is called the Thandan (head-man of the caste in his village), whose privileges consist in wearing a gold knife and style, walking before a Nair with a cloth on his head, riding on a palanquin or a horse, carrying a silk, umbrella, and having a brass lamp borne before him, for each of which he pays separately a tax to the Government. Any person, using these privileges unauthorized, lays himself open to a penalty. His local deputies, who are Ponambani or Veettukarans, are appointed by him, and besides them, there are elected men, two, four, or six for each village or a number of villages, known as Kaikhars or managers, and their business is to make preliminary enquiries about social disputes and convene meetings before the Thandan for the arbitration and settlement of all such disputes. In Travancore and North Malabar, the head-men of the caste are known by the names of Panikkans and Thara karanavans (the senior men or head-men of the villages), whose social functions and status are substantially the same as those detailed above. Thus, in the Cochin State the name 'Thandan' is given to the head-man of the caste, while in the adjoining Taluks of Palghat and Valluvanad it is referred to a sub-caste, the members of which observe the custom of polyandry".

The Thandan, the privileged Thiyyar-Karanavar in a had to carry out the instructions of the politically powerful. He was powerful enough to rule the caste people in his area. In Malabar, the smallest political unit is known as the . The head of the is known as , "the one who got privilege from the king."

References

{{Reflist Indian castes Malayali people Surnames of Indian origin

Status

See also

References