Nambudiri
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| Adi Shankara · Namboothiri (artist) · Kaithapram Damodaran Namboothiri | |||
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Nair · Samantha Kshatriya · Pushpaka Brahmin · Shivalli Brahmins |
The Nambudiri Brahmins (Malayalam: നമ്പൂതിരി nampūtiri), also transliterated Namboothiri are Hindu Brahmins from the Indian state of Kerala.
They perform rituals in temples of Kerala based on Tantra Vidhi, a complex and ancient branch of Tantric traditions found only in Kerala and some Mahakshetras ("Great Temples") around India that have a Nambudiri as head priest.
Nambudiris follow the conservative and ritualistic Śrauta traditions and the ancient Mimāṃsā, unlike the majority of other Brahmins in India, who follow the Vedanta. Performance of Vedic rituals such as Agnicayana and Agnistoma, long considered extinct in other parts of India, has been maintained by the Nambudiris.
Nambudiris have the sole right of conducting rituals in Kerala and the Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu. By tradition, only a Nambudiri can become the Rawal, Head Priest, at Badrinath Temple in Uttarakhand, and the Chief Priest at Mookambika in Kollur, Karnataka, and other Mahakshetras around India. Until some 300 years ago, this was also true for the Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu, Nepal, when the priesthood was changed to a Bhatt lineage from Gokarna, Nepal.
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[edit] Etymology
Nambudri nambũdiri is derived from nambuka "to trust" and tiri (from Sanskrit śrī) "blessed". Popular etymology derives the name from Malayalam nambu "the Veda", ōthu "to teach" and tiri "holy".[1]
[edit] Overview
The Nambudiri Brahmins are known for their rigid orthodoxy and sense of caste and purity (Shudham). Although untouchability is now absent in India; in the past Nambudiris considered themselves polluted by even the touch of other Brahmins: Embraan Shudham (by the touch of Tulu Brahmins), Eda Shudham (touch of Tamil Brahmins such as Iyer, Iyengar, Pattar which required the Nambudiri to bathe before resuming activities). Also the Nambudiris were one of the few Hindu communities in India where women were required to wear a veil (Ghosha) in public (a practice abandoned since the 1930s). Members of the community who did not abide by these regulations faced excommunication (Brashtu), the last case occurring in 1918. The Nambudiri women were called Antharjanams. Married women were not allowed to be seen by any males even from her own family or caste. An antharjanam is to move under the cover of an umbrella made of Tallipot palm leaf and is always attended by a female maid servant.[2]
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ A. C. Burnell, H. Yule, A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases: Hobson-Jobson, Routledge (1996), ISBN 0-7007-0321-7, s.v. "Nambooree".
- ^ Bina Agarwal, (1994). "A field of one's own: gender and land rights in South Asia" Cambridge University Press
[edit] Further reading
- Swami Sahajanand Saraswati Rachnawali (Selected works of Swami Sahajanand Saraswati), Prakashan Sansthan, Delhi, 2003.
- Fawcett, Fred; Evans, Florence; Thurston, Edgar (2001) [1900]. Nambutiris (Reprint ed.). Asian Educational Services. ISBN 9788120615755. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ZPpUY4V-XN4C.
- Travancore State Manual by T.K. Velu Pillai (1940)
[edit] External links
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