Caste system in Kerala

The Caste system of the state of Kerala in India is unique and is not found anywhere in the rest of India. Kerala was initially a Dravidian country and Aryanaisation started here only in the 7th or 8th century AD. Initially the Aryans found Kerala uninhabitable and so went away. Later by the above mentioned time, a much smaller group entered Kerala, which was under the rule of the Chera (Nair) emperors. The people of Kerala, which was a flourishing centre for Buddhism and Jainism, converted to Hinduism and the slow and subtle Aryanisation of Kerala started.

Caste system

The caste system of Kerala is of a most peculiar kind. The top caste is that of the Namboodiris. The Namboodiris considered themselves higher than the Brahmin and refused to touch people of any other caste but theirs, including other Brahmins like Kokanasthas, Iyers etc. There are some 64 practices that set the Namboodiris apart from the other Brahmins of India. They called themselves Swadeshi Brahmins of Kerala and migrant Brahmins were called Pardeshi by them and were not allowed jobs in the temples.

The Namboodiris was followed by a very small caste of low Brahmins called Ambalavasis. Ambalavasis were the temple staff and managed the other affairs of the temples though not the actual ceremonies. Ambalavasis were the priests of the lower castes including lower subcastes of the Nairs. Recently for the sake of convinience they were merged with the Nair caste as they are a minority

The Ambalavasis were followed by the warrior caste, the Nairs. Although the Nairs enjoyed the status of Kshatriyas, and it was under their rule that Kerala attained the "Golden Age", they are technically of the Sudra caste. At the same time they are Savarna (non Sudra) as well. This is a contradictory statement, but Nairs were called Savarna Sudras. The Nair caste included people right from the kings themselves to the barbers and oil mongers.

The above mentioned castes are the Savarnas of Kerala. All the remaining thousand castes were Avarna in Kerala.