Chakkala Nair

Chakkala Nair, also known as Chakkala Maran,[1] is one of the subcastes of the Nair community among Keralites. They are distributed throughout Kerala. In Travancore, they are known as Chakkalans, while in Cochin they are known as Vattakattu nairs and in Malabar as Vaniyans or Vaniya nairs [2]

Chakkala Nair
Regions with significant populations
Malabar, Travancore.
Languages
Malayalam
Religion
Hinduism
Related ethnic groups
Nairs

They are further divided in to white and black sub clans. The white, Which is the superior sub clan, Could eat with Nairs of any other subcaste but black can eat no others outside of their own clan. In north of korapuzha in north malabar, Only the superior sub clan that is white sub clans are found.[3]


The traditional occupation of the Chakkala Nair was the production and sale of gingelly or coconut oil.[4] They were pressers of oil for use in Temples.[5]

Father of modern malayalam languageThunchaththu Ezhuthachan hails from Chakkala Nair family of Thrikkandiyoor Amsam in Vettathunadu [6][7] and his family descendants still lives in malappuram district of kerala [8]


In Census of India 1921 it is stated that, "The Chakkalans who have been agitating for being treated as Nairs, may have taken the opportunity of the Census to satisfy their wish."[9] Their title was Pulva.[10]


Presently Vattkattu nairs(That is in south malabar) are classified as a Forward caste[11] whereas Chakkala nairs(South kerala) are classified as an OEC by the Government of India under its system of positive discrimination.

Famous late malayalam veteran actor Jayan (Krishnan Nair) hails from this community.

Caste system

Chakkala/Vattakatan Nairs Ranked 9th between Pallichan and chempukotti Nairs among 18 subdivisions of Nair caste[12]


References
  1. Kumar Suresh Singh. Communities, Segments, Synonyms, Surnames and Titles. Anthropological Survey of India, 1996. p. 289 (Census of 1931).
  2. Fawcett, F. (1 February 2004). Nâyars of Malabar. Asian Educational Services. ISBN 978-81-206-0171-0.
  3. Fawcett, F. (1 February 2004). Nâyars of Malabar. Asian Educational Services. ISBN 978-81-206-0171-0.
  4. Indian Journal of Social Research.
  5. Kumar Suresh Singh, T. Madhava Menon; D. Tyagi. Kerala, Volume 1. Affiliated East-West Press [for] Anthropological Survey of India, 2002. p. 117 (XXVII).
  6. A Brief Survey of Malayalam Literature.
  7. William Logan (1951) [1887]. Malabar manual(Republished). Madras: Govt Press Madras. p. 92. It was no less than a revolution when in the seventeenth century one Tunjatta Eluttachchan, a man of Nair, boldly made an alphabet-the existing Malayalam one derived chiefly from the Grantha-The Sanskrit alphabets of the Tamils which permitted of the free use of Sanskrit in writing-and boldly set to work to render the Chief Sanskrit poems into Malayalam.
  8. "Theekkadal Kadanhu Thirumadhuram". c-radhakrishnan.info. Retrieved 29 January 2017.
  9. Urari S.Krishnamurthi Ayyar. Census of India 1921 - Travancore. p. 107.
  10. Edgar Thurston, K. Rangachari. Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Vol 5 - (M to P). p. 724.
  11. "Forward castes in kerala".
  12. Quoted by Fuller, citing L. K. Anantha Krishna Iyer, The Cochin Tribes and Castes, volume 2 (1912), pp. 14–18
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