The history öf Malabar Göntaïns many curious particulars.
All the lands, cultivated and wild, belong to Jelmkars or
Propriétés.- Originally; it is believed that ühfêy were all the
property of the Brahmanical /hierarchy, and*were; attached
to certain pagodas; from which1 they were alienated' to1 the
Jelmkars. This account, which-is/consideréd as authentic,
is connected by the Hindoos with their history', of fthe
country, contained in an ancient^btfok entitled^ if Kerâl-
ótpati or, the Emerging of Kerala from the SleSüsi?
Parasu Rama, Vishnu incarnate, stung with remorse 'f&t
the blpod shed in conquering the Xatriya Rajas, begged
the ocean god Varana to supply a tract Of land for /the
use of pious Brahmans. Kerala emerged and was /occupied.
by the sacred class. The new country reached
from Goukera, a hilPnear Mangalore^fôl^ Caph“Ô©mbrin.
The Brahmans found the country in tested Wby#serpents,
but reduced it to cultivation and ^OŸerned about
one thousand years ago, when-ffeey called in- a foreign
Rajah, Cherumah Perumal, from Çbaldesh. gppideF his
rule it was divided between the Rajas and chief- Na^(s,
who are the landholders, and who date their possession
from that era.
The inhabitants of Malabar are divided into thejm^öwing
castes :—*
1. Brahmans, who are called Namburis.-'
2. Nayrs of various denominations; these are the rajas
or great lords.
3. Tiars,—free cultivators.
4. Malears, musicians and conjurers
5. Poliars, who are serfs, or bondsmen attached to the
soil.
A Nayr may approach but must not touch a Brahman.
A Tiar must not come within thirty-six steps of a Brahman,
or within twelve of a Nayr The lower orders have their
fixed limits of approach. Below all these are Parriahs,
who are held in as much contempt by the Poliars, as are
the Poliars by the Brahmans.
A singular deviation from the ordinary habits of mankind
are the domestic customs established among the Nayrs..
The, marriages of; the Nayrs so termed are contracted when
they are ten years of ag.e>^ but the husband never lives with
Ms wife, who remains, in the home of her mother or brother,
and is at l^|%*ty4e chose any:lover of a rank equal to her
own. Heft'cbildren are not considered as her husband’s,
n,or do theydiuhtsit from him. Every man looks upon his
.sister^ children, who alone are S connected with him by the
■tjes of hlopd, as/his heirs.. The Nayrs a?e all pure Sudras :
they pretend heif oldier®, but aye of different ranks and professions.
They constitute the military of Malabar, directed
by the Brahmans and governed by Rajahs. The slave? are
probably the descendants of the aborigines conquered by
t^e Chola kings and reduced to servitude.
The best aecountof this singular sfat.e of society has been
S i^W ^ d b y Mr, Hamilton. Malabar was probably conquer
id at an-early period by some king’ from above the
Ghauts,/who, established the pagodas and the hierarchy of
Brahmans, who/ for their own convenience introduced a
body of Sudras, designated N^yrs- In process of time
the Nayrs became warriors and rajahs, and continued to
govern Malabar as deputies of the gods who occupied
the. pagodas,.
The towns along the sea coast are occupied chiefly by
Moplays, who were originally Arab traders, and early
embraced Isl&m. They hafe the Hindu idolaters and are
hated by them." •
Calicut is a district of Malabar, and one of the principal
countries of the'Nayrs. The. N?yr rajah of Calicut is
ih.e, chieftain termed by the Portuguese and other Europeans
tbe Zamorin. The Zamorin or Tamari rajah,
which is his proper designation, is always the oldest man
of the Tamarii family by the female line : all the males
of this family are termed Tamburans, and the females
Tamhuretti?.
The natives of Malabar in general are very black,
Among the hills and thick forests, there are some wild
tribes of much fairer colour. The complexion of one tribe
in the wood? of the high Coorg country, termed Malay
Cudiru, is not darker than that of .Spaniards or Portuguese.
V o l . i v . ' . t