Nayar

The Nayar, also spelled Nair, is a Hindu social community primarily located in the Indian state of Kerala. Historically, they formed a prominent landholding and warrior class in various periods and played key roles as military retainers and administrators for regional rulers such as those of Travancore and Kochi. The term encompasses a number of lineages and subgroups within Kerala’s broader Hindu society.

A defining feature of traditional Nayar society was its matrilineal kinship system, called marumakkathayam. Under this system, lineage and inheritance were traced through the mother’s line, and property was managed within a tharavadu, or ancestral home. Inheritance typically passed to a sister’s son rather than to a son, and household affairs were centered on the female line of descent. The social unit often included related families living under a single tharavadu, with lineage continuity concentrated in the female line.

Marriage and residence practices in historical Nayar communities included arrangements such as sambandham, a type of alliance between Nair women and men that did not always conform to formal marriage norms. Children from such unions followed the mother’s lineage for inheritance and social status, reflecting the matrilineal structure.

In the modern era, reform movements and legal changes in the 19th and 20th centuries led to significant shifts away from traditional matriliny and warrior-caste privileges. Many Nairs adopted patrilineal inheritance and integrated into the broader Hindu social framework. Today, the Nayar remain one of Kerala’s largest Hindu communities, with a presence in other parts of India and in the diaspora, contributing to Kerala’s social, cultural, and political life.