Ezhava
Total population | |
---|---|
Approx. 8,000,000 (2018)[1][1] | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Kerala | |
Languages | |
Malayalam | |
Religion | |
Hinduism | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Billava, Sinhalese |
The Ezhavas are a community with origins in the region of India presently known as
Ezhava dynasties such as the
Variations
They are also known as Ilhava, Irava, Izhava and Erava in the south of the region; as Chovas, Chokons and Chogons in
History
Inscriptions
The earliest use of the word Eelam or Ezham is found in a
The Sangam literature
Legend
There are
Social and religious divergence
It has been suggested that the Ezhavas may share a common heritage with the Nair caste. This theory is based on similarities between numerous of the customs adopted by the two groups, particularly with regard to marking various significant life stages such as childbirth and death, as well as their matrilineal practices and martial history. Oral history, folk songs and other old writings indicate that the Thiyyas were at some point in the past members of the armed forces serving various kings, including the Zamorins of Calicut and the rulers of the Kingdom of Cochin. Cyriac Pullapilly has said that only a common parentage can explain some of these issues.[17]
A theory has been proposed for the origins of the
An alternate theory states that the system was introduced by the Nambudiri Brahmins. Although Brahmin influences had existed in the area since at least the 1st century CE, there was a large influx from around the 8th century when they acted as priests, counsellors and ministers to invading Aryan princes. At the time of their arrival the non-aboriginal local population had been converted to Buddhism by missionaries who had come from the north of India and from Ceylon. The Brahmins used their symbiotic relationship with the invading forces to assert their beliefs and position. Buddhist temples and monasteries were either destroyed or taken over for use in Hindu practices, thus undermining the ability of the Buddhists to propagate their beliefs.[17]
The Buddhist tradition of the Ezhavas, and the refusal to give it up, pushed them to an outcaste role within the greater Brahminic society.[17][18] This tradition is still evident as Ezhavas show greater interest in the moral, non-ritualistic, and non-dogmatic aspects of the religion rather than the theological.[17]
Past occupations
The Ezhava used to work as agricultural labourers, small cultivators,
The social anthropologists Filippo and Caroline Osella say that the Ezhavas "... consisted in the mid-nineteenth century of a small landowning and titled elite and a large mass of landless and small tenants who were largely illiterate, considered untouchable, and who eked out a living by manual labour and petty trade." Some Ezhavas were involved in weaving and ship making.[25]
Some Ezhava served in army of local chieftains and local rulers such as of Martial traditions
Chekavar
A subgroup of the Ezhavas considered themselves to be warriors and became known as the Chekavars. The Vadakkan Pattukal ballads describe Chekavars as forming the militia of local chieftains and kings but the title was also given to experts of Kalari Payattu.[27]
Medicine and traditional toxicology
Some Ezhavas had an extensive knowledge of the medicinal value of plants, passed to them by their ancestors. Known as Vaidyars, these people acted as physicians.
Some Ezhavas practiced ayurvedic medicine.[29][30][31]
Culture
Arjuna Nrtam (Mayilpeeli Thookkam)
Makachuttu
Makachuttu art is popular among Ezhavas in
]Poorakkali
Poorakkali is a folk dance prevalent among the Ezhavas of Malabar, usually performed in Bhagavathy temples as a ritual offering during the month of
Customs
Ezhavas adopted different patterns of behavior in family system across Kerala. Those living in southern
These arrangements were reformed by legislation, for Malabar in 1925 and for Travancore in 1933. The process of reform was more easily achieved for the Ezhavas than it was for the Nairs, another Hindu caste in Kerala who adopted matrilineal arrangements; the situation for the Nairs was complicated by a traditional matrilocal form of living called
Polygamy was practised in within certain parts of Ezhava community, but has since died out. There are several proposed arguments for this, the Valiyagraman Ezhavas argue that they practised it for economic reasons, the argument that the older brother would marry first, and share his wife with his younger brother(s) until they could afford to marry. It was also common for one of the brothers to be away for long periods of time.[35]
Following the British settlement in what became Kerala, some Thiyya families in Thalassery were taken as concubines by British administrative officers who were in charge of Malabar District. Children resulted from these relationships and were referred to as "white Thiyyas". These liaisons were considered as "dishonourable" and "degrading" to the Thiyya community and were excluded from it. Most of these women and children became Christians. The Thiyyas in northern Malabar generally had a better relationship with colonisers than the Hindus in other parts of the country. This was due in part to the fact that the British would employ Thiyyas but local princes would not.[36][37][38][39]
Spiritual and social movements
Some Ezhavas converted to
The lowly status of the Ezhava meant that, as
Eventually, in 1903, a small group of Ezhavas, led by Palpu, established
The Ezhavas were not immune to being manipulated by other people for political purposes. The
Between the Travancore census of 1875 and 1891, the literacy of Ezhava men had been increased from 3.15 percent to 12.1 percent. The 1891 census showed that there were at least 25000 educated Ezhavas in Travancore[52] Dr. Palpu had support from Parameswaran Pillai who was editing the Madras Standard. He raised the issue of the rights of Ezhavas in a speech at the National Conference in Pune in 1885, which was also editorialized in the Madras Standard. Pillai and Dr. Palpu also raised their questions regarding Ezhavas in the House of Commons in England in 1897. Palpu met with Swamy Vivekanda in Mysore and discussed the conditions of Ezhavas. Vivekanda has advised him to unite the Ezhava community under the leadership of a spiritual leader. He embraced this advice and associated with Sree Narayana Guru and formed the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (S.N.D.P), registered in March 1903.[53] By mid 1904, the emerging S.N.D.P Yogam, operating a few schools, temples, and a monthly magazine announced that it would hold an industrial exhibition with its second annual general meeting in Quilon in January 1905. The exhibition was skillful and successful and was a sign of the awakening Ezhava community. [54]
The success of the SNDP in improving the lot of Ezhavas has been questioned. Membership had reached 50,000 by 1928 and 60,000 by 1974, but Nossiter notes that, "From the Vaikom satyagraha onwards the SNDP had stirred the ordinary Ezhava without materially improving his position." The division in the 1920s of 60,000 acres (24,000 ha) of properties previously held by substantial landowners saw the majority of Ezhava beneficiaries receive less than one acre each, although 2% of them took at least 40% of the available land. There was subsequently a radicalisation and much political infighting within the leadership as a consequence of the effects of the Great Depression on the coir industry but the general notion of self-help was not easy to achieve in a primarily agricultural environment; the Victorian concept presumed an industrialised economy. The organisation lost members to various other groups, including the Communist movement, and it was not until the 1950s that it reinvented itself as a pressure group and provider of educational opportunities along the lines of the Nair Service Society (NSS), Just as the NSS briefly formed the National Democratic Party in the 1970s in an attempt directly to enter the political arena, so too in 1972 the SNDP formed the Social Revolutionary Party.[48]
Position in society
They were considered as avarna (outside brahmanical varna system) by the Nambudiri Brahmins who formed the Hindu clergy and ritual ruling elite in late medieval Kerala.
The Ezhavas are classified as an Other Backward Class by the Government of India under its system of positive discrimination.[56]
Dispute between different Ezhava communities
Some in the Ezhava community in Malabar have objected to being treated as Ezhava by the government of Kerala, arguing that the Ezhava in Malabar (locally known as Thiyyar) are a separate caste. They have campaigned for the right to record themselves as Thiyya rather than as Ezhava when applying for official posts and other jobs allocated under India's system of positive discrimination. They claim that the stance of the government is contrary to a principle established by the Supreme Court of India relating to a dispute involving communities who were not Ezhava.[57][58] The Thiyya Mahasabha (a sub-group of the Ezhava in Malabar) has also opposed the SNDP's use of the Thiyya name at an event.[59]
In February 2013, the recently formed Thiyya Mahasabha objected to the SNDP treating Ezhavas and Thiyyas as one group, rather than recognising the Thiyyas in Malabar as being distinct. The SNDP was at that time attempting to increase its relatively weak influence in northern Kerala, where the politics of identity play a lesser role than those of class and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has historically been a significant organisation.[60][61]
See also
- List of Ezhavas
- Travancore Labour Association
- Narayana Guru
- Temples consecrated by Narayana Guru
- Padmanabhan Palpu
- R. Sankar
- Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP)
- Sree Narayana Trust
- List of Sree Narayana Institutions
Notes
- ^ Gough describes Ezhava subtenants in Central Travancore, who worked land held by the Nair caste. One-third of the net produce from these lands was retained by the subtenants and the remainder was the property of the Nair tenant.[22]
- 1875 and 1891 censuses, mainly through the work of missionaries rather than government schools.[34]
- ^ Kathleen Gough says of the Mappillas that they "... lived mainly in the ports and at inland trading posts on the banks of rivers. They were partly outside the village ranking system ... and were theoretically outside the Hindu religious hierarchy. Nevertheless Muslims were in some contexts accorded a rank ritually and socially between that of the Nayars and Tiyyars."[40]
References
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- ^ a b c d e f g Nossiter (1982) p. 30
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- ^ "Plea to lower minimum qualification for jobs". The Hindu. 23 May 2012. Retrieved 28 March 2013.
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