Encyclopedia of World Cultures Volume III - South Asia - N pdf

The derivation of thename 'Naga" is not known with anydegree ofcertainty.Accordingto John Henry Hutton,the mostlikely explanationisthatit istheresult of the European lengthening ofthe As

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186 Muslim.

"people of the Book" (and thus, likeJews, Christians, and

Zoroastrians, aseligible for thestatusof"protected

unbeliev-ers"), Muslim rulers and teachers propounded nothing in

India that would haveseemedoutofplacetothe Sunni

faith-fulintheNear East PeterHardyhassuccinctlysummarized

thetenfundamentals ofIslamic beliefasintroducedtoIndia;

1 GodisOne, withoutpartners

2 He isutterlytranscendent,possessing no form and

es-capingall definition

3 He is theAlmighty Creator

4 He knows and ordains everything thatis

5 Godisall-powerful andinwhatever heordains, he

can-notbeunjust(thatis,humanconceptsofjusticeand

in-justice cannotbeapplied tohim)

6 The Quran iseternal

7 ObediencetoGodisbindingupon man because he so

decreedit through his prophets

8 BeliefintheProphet's divinemission isobligatoryupon

all

9 Belief in the Day ofJudgmentisobligatoryasrevealed

by the Prophet

10 Belief in the excellence of the Prophet's companions

and the first four caliphs is required by authentic

tradition

See also Mappila; Mogul; Sayyid; Sheikh

BibliographyAhmad, Aziz, ed (1969).AnIntellectual HistoryofIslam in

India Islamic Surveys, no 7 Edinburgh: University Press

NagasETHNONYMS: none

OrientationIdentification Thedesignation "Naga" is applied to the

numerousIndo-Mongoloid tribes livinginthehillcountry at

the convergence of the borders of India and Myanmar

(Burma) Of these tribes, the following have received

cover-age inanthropologicalliterature: the Kacha, theAngami,the

Rengma, the Lhote, the Sema, the Ao, the Konyak, the

Chang,theSangtam, theYachumi, the Tukomi, the Naked

Rengma, the Tangkhul, and the Kalyo-kengyu or

"slated-house men." Thename"Naga"wasfirstgiven tothesetribal

groupsby the Ahoms in Assamand otherneighboring

peo-ples (e.g., early Indo-Aryans,KamarupaandBengali

Mongo-loids,aswellastheAssameseAhoms)occupying the regions

immediately adjacent tothe districts inwhich the Naga are

found The derivation of thename 'Naga" is not known with

anydegree ofcertainty.Accordingto John Henry Hutton,the

mostlikely explanationisthatit istheresult of the European

lengthening ofthe Assamese word naga, "naked" (Sanskrit

nagna).Huttonalsocitespossibilitiesproposed by others for

themeaningof the word, including"hill man" (from

Hindu-stani nag, "mountain") and "people" (from nok, an Eastern

Nagaword of thesamemeaning).The Naga did not initially

adopt this appellation; individual tribes preferred theuse of

theirrespectiveself-designations.It was not until

nationalis-ticfervor with thedecline of British imperial hegemony

Ahmad, Imtiaz, ed (1973) Caste and Social StratificationamongMuslims in India New Delhi: Manohar Publications.2nd ed 1978

Ahmad, Imtiaz,ed. (1981) RitualandReligion among lims in India New Delhi: Manohar Publications

Mus-Basham, A L (1975) A CulturalHistory ofIndia Oxford:Clarendon Press

Eglar, Zekiye(1960).APunjabi VillageinPakistan New Yorkand London: Columbia University Press

Hardy,Peter (1958) "PartFour:IslaminMedieval India."InSources ofIndianTradition, editedby William de Baryetal.,367-528 NewYork and London: ColumbiaUniversity Press.Qadir, Abdul (1937) "The Cultural Influences of Islam."InThe Legacy ofIndia, editedbyG T Garratt, 287-304 Ox-ford: ClarendonPress

Titus, Murray T (1959) Islam in India and Pakistan cutta: YMCAPublishingHouse

Cal-Zaehner, R C (1969) Hindu and Muslim Mysticism NewYork: Schocken Books

PAUL HOCKINGS

and the resultant advent of increased IndianauthorityovertheNagahomeland that thename"Naga" gained widespreadacceptanceamongthevarioustribes Thusit wasusedinthenamesof thepoliticalorganizationsof the mid-twentiethcen-turythat championedthecauseofNagaindependencefromIndia (i.e., theNagaNationalCouncil, whichdeclared inde-pendence from Indiain1947,and theNagaPeoplesConven-tion, whose effortsresultedinthe formation of the stateofNagalandin 1963).Inthissummary,the focusis ontheAn-

gami, with additional information provided selectively forother Naga tribes

Location The locus of Nagacultureisthehillcountryofnortheast Indiabetween Assam's Brahmaputra Valley to thewest and the Myanmar (Burma) borderto the east It is asteeply ridged and densely forested area bordered by thestatesof Arunachal Pradeshon the north and Manipur onthe south.The approximategeographic coordinatesof there-gion are 24° 00' to 270 30' N and930 00' to 95° 00' E.Demography The 1981 census of the state of Nagalandrecorded a population of 774,930, three-quarters beingNagas But Nagas live also in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam,Manipur, andMyanmar (Burma) In 1971 India had a total

of 467,720 Nagas Figures from 1982 record the followingpopulation estimates by tribe: 75,000 Ao Nagas, 18,000Chang Nagas, 85,000 Konyak Nagas, 11,000MaringNagas,21,000 Phom Nagas, 10,000 Rengma Nagas, 15,000RongmeiNagas, and 26,000 Zeme (Sema) Nagas

Linguistic Affiliation TheNaga arecharacterizedbyaguistic diversity that directly parallels their tribal diversity

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There are about as many Naga dialects asthere are Naga

tribes The lingua franca of the state ofNagalandis Naga

Pidgin (also knownasNagamese,KachariBengali,orBodo)

and is particularlyprevalent inKohima District There are

some twenty-seven known Naga dialects, all part of the

Tibeto-Burman Family, which is itself part of the

Sino-Tibetan Phylum These include Angami Naga, Ao Naga,

Chang Naga, Chokri Naga,KhezaNaga, KhiamnganNaga,

Khoirao Naga, Konyak Naga, and manyothers

History and Cultural Relations

While folk traditions regarding the history of the various

Naga tribes abound, scholarly consensus has not been

reachedconcerning their origin.Generallyspeaking,very

lit-tle is known ofthe origin of any of the Mongoloidgroups

whose southwesterly migration brought them ultimately to

the sub-Himalayan region and northeastern India (e.g., the

Bondos and theGaros).Their presenceis attested in these

areas asearly as the tenth centuryB.C.Whatisknownisthat

these tribesspoke Tibeto-Burman dialects and thatit is

prob-able thattheir original homeland was in the region between

theHuang-Ho and Yangtze (Ch'ang) riversinnorthwestern

China Thesepeoplescame in successivemigratory wavesfor

severalcenturies (after theinvasionsofthe Aryansinwestern

India) Thegeographicextentof thesemigrationswasquite

considerable; Aryan-Mongoloid contact took place in the

centuries that followed The Mongoloid tribeswerenot

ho-mogeneous Theirlanguages, social structures, and cultures

werediverse, and in the early centuries of the Common Era

theybeganextensiveexpansion, from their initialsettlements

in the Irawadi and Chindwin river regions in northern

Myanmar (Burma), throughout Assam, the Cachar Hills,

and theNagaHills From the thirteenth century onward, the

Ahoms-rulers of Assam from 1228 until the British

annexa-tionof the provincein1826-had extensive cultural contact

withvarious Naga tribes.The nature of therelationship

be-tweenthese tribes and the Ahomsranged from cooperative to

antagonistic Nagatribes living near the plains paid annual

tribute toAhomrulersas asignof allegiance, for which the

Nagas were givenrevenue-free lands and fisheries These were

granted with theunderstanding that the Naga would refrain

fromraidsintheplainsareas.Trade andcommerce werealso

extensive, with the Nagas trading salt (a particularly

impor-tant medium ofexchange), cotton, medicinal herbs, ivory,

bee'swax, mats, and daos (adzes) for Assamese rice, cloth,

and beads Attimes, northernAhom raiders attacked Naga

villages, taking booty anddemanding tribute However, these

incursions did not establish lasting Assamese rule over the

Naga Hills region The Naga retained their independence

untilthe British annexationintheearly nineteenth century

The British added Assam to theEast IndiaCompany's

terri-tories in 1820 In 1832they attempted to annex Naga

coun-try but met with sustained and effective guerrilla resistance

fromNagagroups, particularlytheAngami tribe The British

respondedby sendingapproximately ten military expeditions

intoNagaterritory between 1835and1851.Guerrilla activity

continuedunabated and British posts weresubsequently

es-tablished in the Angami region This marked an important

point inthe process ofNagalandannexation Aunified

An-gami response was mounted in 1878 with raids on British

forces undertakenbyvillages andvillageclusters The

impe-rialresponseinvolved theburning of offending villages gamiresistance eventuallymetwithfailure andtheyeventu-ally became an administered tribe under British rule Withthe subjugation of this region, the extension of alien rulethroughout Nagaland soon followed, further widening theculturalgapbetween theNaga and other hill peoples and theIndian inhabitants of the lowlands British treatment oftheNaga was favorable They allowednoIndian tofunctionas

An-administrator of the hill districts and attempted topreventexploitation of the hill peoples by plains folk.Christianmis-sionaryactivitysoonfollowed Britishannexation,with Amer-icanBaptists assumingthe lead Rapidprogress in conversionwas made Increased literacy and a growing sense ofNagasolidarity-forwhich the officialorganofexpression wastheNaga National Council (NNC)-resulted in the NNC'sclaim for regional independence in 1947.The departure ofthe British and theemergenceof Indian self-rulemadeNagapoliticalautonomywithinasovereignIndiaanegotiablepos-sibility Total independence for theNaga homeland, how-ever, was animpossibility Violence eruptedinNagalandin

1955 asIndian forces tried toquell Naga secession efforts,andin 1956theNNCdeclared theexistence of theFederalGovernmentof Nagaland Conflict continuedinspite ofef-forts to satisfy the call for Naga political freedom by thegrantingofstatehood (acausechampioned by the NagaPeo-ples Convention) In 1963 the efforts of this organizationandthesegmentof the Naga populace whichitrepresentedresultedintheformation of the state of Nagaland In spiteofthisaction, hostilities continued Under thesponsorship ofthe Baptist Church, a peace commission was formed and acease-fire declaredbetween the Nagaland federalgovernmentandthegovernmentof Indiaon24 May1964.Thecease-firelasted until1 September1972whenanattempt onthelifeofthe chiefministerofNagaland resultedintheIndian govem-ment's termination of the cease-fire and banning of theNNC Armed resistance by the NNC continued into the1970sandwas notsuppressed until the Shillong Accordwassigned by representatives of theIndiangovernment andtheNagaland federal government in November 1975 Isolatedpockets ofresistancepersistedintothe late 1970s,but effec-tive resistance to Indian hegemony has since ceased Onevery small Nagaunderground antigovernment operationex-isted in exile in Burma in the 1980s, but its influence inNagaland at that time wasminuscule

Settlements

Nagavillagesareautonomous units situated onhilltops.Theaverageelevationof the villagesisbetween900and1,200 me-ters.Because of themountainous terrain and the threat of in-vasionbyneighboringtribes,these smallvillages wereorigi-nallyintended to beself-sufficient and secure Consequentlyearly explorersreported thatNagavillages were heavilyforti-fied.However, withthe cessation of bothintertribalconflictand outside interference (chiefly from British and Indianforces),the needfor security and thedegree ofvillagefortif-cationhas lessenedconsiderably Norms forconstructionvar-iedsomewhat withintheconstituent Naga tribes, yet afewgeneralobservationsmay bemade.Villageshave one ormoreentrances that were once guarded heavily and, at times,booby-trapped Village fortifications included large woodendoors(latched from the inside of the village and hewn froma

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188 Nagas

single piece ofwood), pitfalls, andditches filled withpanjis

(sharply pointed bamboo stakes of varying lengths and

widths) Stone walls(whosethicknessmayreachsome 3

me-ters)surroundAngami villages.Aovillagesare surroundedby

fencescomposedof woodenstakes and reinforced with

pan-jis. Villages are approached bynarrow paths overhungwith

thorny growthandareconstructedso thattheymust be

trav-ersedby walling singlefile.Duringtime of war, roadsleading

toAngami villages wouldbe studded with pegs (driveninto

the ground) to prevent attack Pathsleading to Aovillages

were often paved with rough stones near the village gate.

There arealso roads leadingfrom thevillageto the terraced

fieldsandjhumland that theNagause as farmland.Jhumis

landcultivatedbytheclearingandburningofan areaof

jun-gle,which isthen farmed fortwo yearsand subsequently

al-lowedto return tojungle.An individual livinginthevillage

maintains aclose attachmentto the land of thevillageand to

the family, clan, orvillage quarter (the khel).The khel (an

Assamese word for an exogamous group that corresponds

most closely to the Angami word thino and the Ao word

murphy) isresponsiblefor landcultivation,and eachvillageis

dividedinto several khels The division of avillageinto khels

isbased largelyongeography,butspeakersof the same

lan-guage, members of the same clan, or groups of immigrants

(whose migration to thevillage may have taken place after

thevillage's establishment) mightoccupythesamekhel

Ma-terials usedinhouseconstruction varysomewhatamong the

Naga tribes Angamipractices contain many of the norms

found inotherNagatribes andserve as an appropriate

con-trol group. A typical Angamihouse is a one-story structure

with leveled earth usedasflooring.Itisfrom 10to20meters

inlength and from 6to 12 meters inwidth Material usedin

homeroofingisdeterminedbyindividualstatus inthevillage,

and therearefour suchdegrees.Afirst-degree housemaybe

roofed with thatching grass, a second-degree house with

bargeboards,athird-degreehouse withbargeboardsand kika

(house horns),andafourth-degreehouse with wooden

shin-glesandkika (whichdifferat times inshapeandplacement

on the house) The interior of each house contains three

compartments. The front room (kiloh) ishalf thelength of

the house Paddyis stored hereinbasketsalongone orboth

walls and theroom isfurnished withabench (pikeh) forrice

pounding The secondcompartment (mipu-bu) isseparated

byaplankpartition containing adoorway.It is here thatthe

hearthislocated (consistingof threestonesembeddedinthe

ground toform astand forcooking containers).This room

alsoserves assleepingquarters,and beds(raised or 1 meter

from theground) arefound here The thirdcompartment, 1

meter or so indepth andextendingtheentirewidth of the

house, is the kinutse, where the liquor vat is located This

roomalsocontainstherear entrance tothe house The house

isusuallyhometo no morethan fivepersons.Housesare

ir-regularly arranged in an Angami village, thoughthere is a

supposition that the Angamihouse should face east. Each

house has an open space infront ofitand houses are

con-nected by irregular paths.Smallgardensarefrequentlymade

nearhouses andmay contain maize ormustard.Nearlyevery

Angamivillagehas an open space thatserves as a meeting

placeand ceremonial locus for all of thevillageinhabitants

Thisarea mayalsocontainplinthsforsitting made ofstone

masonry orwood These stations (which often surmounted

villagewallsorotherhighpointsinthevillageand couldrise

ashighas9meters)mayhaveoriginallybeen usedaspostsforwatchers whose purposewas towarnofimpendingenemyat-

tack The morung (dormitory, which serves as guardhouse

andclubhouse forsingle men) is animportant partofmost

Nagavillages However,itdoesnotassume aplaceof nenceinAngamivillages,someof which havenomorungin

promi-the traditional sense;the housesodesignatedisoccupiedbya

family while simultaneously being recognized asthevillage

morung.Villagesaregivennamesbasedonpeculiarfeatures

of thevillage site, the memory ofanancientsettlement thatoncestood where thevillagenowstands (andwhichits cur- rentoccupants wish tocommemorate), particularevents in

thehistoryofthevillage,orthe whim of thoselivingthere

Economy

Subsistence and CommercialActivities Lhotas, Semas,Aos, andother Naga tribes usejhumcultivation almostex-clusively The Angami haveadiversifiedagriculturalsystemthat involvesjhum cultivation and terracing (steephillsidesarearrangedinterraces,orpanikhets,whichareflooded andused as rice fields) Terraces are fed by channels (bearingwater from streams) and hollow bamboo irrigation pipes.Crops aregrown for consumption and sale Rice and milletarethemainstaples.Additional crops grownareJob's tears,maize, great millet (Sorghum vulgare), beans, oil seeds,gourds, cucumbers, chilies, spinach, mustard, and kachu (ataro, Colocasia antiquorum) Cotton and jute for clothing,thatchinggrassfor house construction, wood forhousingandfuel, and bambooarealso grown.Agricultural implementsin-clude thefollowing:ax merere, spadeorhoe(keju),mattock(sivu),rake (paro),hoe(saro),sickle(z.upfino),and the mark-ing stake (kethi-thedi) used for the marking of jungle orthatch for cutting or to prevent crop misfortune resultingfromcomplimentary remarks about their condition.Domes-tic animals include: gayals (for trade), cows (for meat andtrade), gayal/cow hybrids, pigs, dogs (for meat and hunting),cats (in limited number for food and magicoreligious pur-poses), fowl, bees, and goats Hunting for food and sport isknown among the Angami, frequent targets including serows(mountain goats),wilddogs,and deer The usualhuntingim-plementsare spears and guns Fishing by theuseof poison,while frequent among many Naga tribes, is limited in useamong the Angami Iron, conch shells, Assamese chabili(carving knives used by the Ao), and barter were used as cur-rencybefore the arrival of the British rupee

IndustrialArts Angami industrial arts include the ing: themanufacture ofblack, blue, scarlet,paleterra-cotta,andyellow cloth (made of cotton, aspecies of nettle calledwuve,or aspeciesofjute calledgakeh); blacksmithing (partic-ularly themaking ofironspear heads, brass wire, and brassearrings);themaking of claypots (a specialty confinedto cer-tainvillages); basketry; the fashioning of bamboo mats;carv-ing and woodwork; work in hard substances (e.g., shells,ivory, bone, and horns); themanufacture of musical instru-ments; andtheproduction ofsalt (now ararity among theAngami, butone of the chiefproducts oftheKacha, Sang-tams, Tangkhuls, andothers)

follow-Trade The Angamiand other Naga tribes tradeinbeadsand other manufactured items with other Naga tribes and

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Nagas 189

with their Assamese neighbors The Ao trade pan, cotton,

chilies,ginger,gourds,mats,and the gum of theiyangtree to

obtain salt and dried fish from traders intheplains These

commoditiesarethen tradedtothe Phoms andChangsin

ex-changefor pigs and fowl The Ao also tradeinwildteaseed

with plainsdwellers CertainAovillagesgrow cotton,the

sur-plusof whichistradedintheplainsfor salt The decreasein

intertribal conflict and the general political stabilization of

the hill country inthe late 1970s broughtincreased

oppor-tunitiesfor trade

Division of Labor Weaving andcookingarethe exclusive

province ofwomen among the Angami and the Ao, while

hunting and warfare are men's activities Agriculture and

trade arecarriedonbymembers of bothsexes Among the

Tangkhul, women manage most domestic affairs including

the raising ofchildren,the weaving of cloth(andtheteaching

ofthisart tofemaleoffspring),the storage and preparation of

food,thebrewingofricebeer andrice wine (zam),thedrying

oftobacco,thefeedingof pigs,fowl,andcattle,the carrying

of water, and thepoundingofrice Womenalso participatein

agricultural tasks (e.g.,jhuming).Among theKonyak, a

hus-bandisrecognizedashead of the household and theownerof

thefamilyhome (sinceit isconstructedon a sitethatbelongs

tohislineage).He isresponsiblefor theupkeepofthehouse,

itsgranaries, anditsfurnishings.Thepurchaseof metal and

woodenimplements and basketsarehis duties The

prepara-tionof food and the weaving of textilesnotpurchasedfrom

othervillages are theresponsibilities ofKonyakwives Men

claimpersonal ownership of implements associated with their

activities (weapons, tools, etc.) asdowomen (cooking

uten-sils, looms, textiles, etc.).Menareresponsible for rice

cultiva-tion and storage whilewomen plant, harvest, and drytaro

LandTenure Among theAngami, individual ownership

of terracedfields, wood plantations, gardens, building sites,

andmostjhum landisallowed.Assuch,itsdisposition is at

the discretion of the owner In the case of ancestral land, the

sellerretains a small parcel innominal ownership to guard

againstdeath or misfortune In several Angami villages,

how-ever,landonwhichthatchinggrassandcane(for bridge

con-struction) is grown is the property of kindred,clan, or an

en-tirevillage

Kinship

KinGroups and Descent Descent among theAngami

and all other Naga tribes ispatrilineal (although possible

evi-dence exists of the survival of a matrilineal descent system in

thevillageofKohima).Themostdistinct socialunit isthe

ex-ogamousclan Clanloyalties generally supersede loyalties to

other social groupings including thekhel Frequently, clans

willsplinter and new clansform, anindicationoftheirfluid

nature The Angami believe themselves to be descended from

two brothers (or cousins) born of the earth The elder was

named Thevo; the younger was named Thekrono The

Kepe-zomaissued from the elder of the two; the Kepefuma are the

offspring ofthe younger It is believed that the divisions

bear-ing these names were exogamous originally After settling

into their present country these two exogamous kelhusplit,

the result being the formation of the exogamous clans (or

thino) making up Angami society Originally exogamous,

these thino have given waygradually tosubdivisions called

putsa or"kindred" divisions (amoreunifiedbodythan thethino).The Angami hold the thino and then the putsare-sponsiblefor the offenses of individuals Hence, the putsais

inthe processofreplacingthe thinoasthe exogamous group

in Angami society Neither kelhu, thino, nor putsa istotemic

Kinship Terminology Angami kin terms follow theOmahaterminological system

Marriage and Family

Marriage The Angami are monogamous There are twoforms of marriage-one ceremonial, the othernonceremo-nial The ceremonial formisdesiredas asymbolofstatusandconsistsofanelaborate ritualinvolvingtheservicesofamar-riagebroker, thetakingof omens, and the negotiation ofamarriage-price (usually nominal) The nonceremonial forminvolvesthe taking of a woman to the house of a man wherethey remain kenna (forbidden) forone day Divorce is al-lowed and iscommon.The wife gets one-third of thecouple'sjointproperty, exclusive of land The divorced andwidowedarepermittedtoremarry(thoughawidowedwomanmay notremarry intoher deceased husband'shouse).Polygamy is notallowed andwomen areallowedfreedom of choiceinthe se-lection of mates By contrast, the Lhota are polygynous, ahusbandhavingasmany asthree wives Young girls are pre-ferred andbride-pricesarehigh; they are paid in installmentsover ten years Divorce amongthe Lhota is also common Ar-ranged marriagesare the norm with womenhaving no free-dom of choiceinthe selection of a spouse A husband mayalsoallow his brother or nearest relative on his father's side tohave conjugal access to his wife when he is absent for anylength of time.The Semas are also polygynous A Sema hus-band mayhave as many as five to seven wives Sema womenhave freedom of choice in mate selection As is the caseamong the Lhota, marriage-prices are high Marital residencepracticesseem todiffer among the various Naga tribes Part

of the Angami marriage ceremony involves the giving of land

to the newcouple by the bridegroom's parents The new ple work and eat on thisland This may be an indication of apatrilocalpostmarital residence pattern Part of the Ao be-trothalprocess involves the husband's construction of a mari-tal home (location not indicated) with materials gatheredfrom thefields of his parents and the parents of his wife.DomesticUnit The typical Angami household containsaboutfivepersons: a husband, a wife, two to three children,possibly an aged and widowed parent, and perhaps a youngerunmarried brother

cou-Inheritance An Angami man cannot leave property toanyoneoutside of his clan or kindred without considerablecomplication If no special provisions have been made, thenext male heir within a kindred usually inherits a man's prop-erty (after thewidow receives her third) The normal practice

is for aman to divide his property during his lifetime Whensonsmarry, they receive their portions When the father dies,theyoungest son inherits all property including the father'shouse Atthis time, the best field must be given to the eldestson inexchange for another field This and all proceduresgoverninginheritance may be modified by verbal agreement.Theinheritance of adopted sons is determined at the time ofadoption.Land may not be left permanently to daughters It

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190 Nagas

maybe left for thedaughtertoenjoyduringherlifetime,butit

returns tothe male heirsafter her death.Very few exceptions

to thisgeneral rule areknown

Socialization Afteran elaborate postbirth ritual (partof

whichplaces the newborninclose relationship with the

fa-ther'skindred),Angami childrenare suckledbytheir

moth-ersfortwo tothree years Girls'ears arepiercedsix totwelve

months following birth, while those ofboys are piercedas

soon astheyareabletospeak.At4to 6years of age,an

An-gamiboyleaves his mother's side of the house (wherehe has

slept upto thispoint) andmoves to hisfather's side of the

housetosleep Fromthis pointonheisconsideredamember

of the male community andnolonger remainswithwomen

when sex separation takes place atgennas (magicoreligious

rites and ceremonies) Mothers are responsible for the

up-bringing ofchildren anda nuclearfamilystructure obtains

TheAngami morung (youngmen'shouse),which functions

as aguardhouse,clubhouse,andcenterofseveral communal

activities in most Naga tribes (with the exception of the

Sema), isof ceremonial importance only;itdoesnot serve as

an actual residence for young unmarried men (as it does

amongthe Ao, forexample).Girls' houses(found among the

Ao,Memi,and othertribes) arealso locatedin someAngami

villages Naga childrengenerally share inall responsibilities

assumedbytheir parents The socialization of Naga girls

in-cludesinstructionbytheir mothersinweaving, anindustrial

art belonging exclusively to women Boys andgirls are

al-lowed aconsiderableamountofpremarital sexual freedomin

mostNaga tribes

Sociopolitical Organization

SocialOrganization The basic Angamisocial unit isthe

exogamouspatrilinealclan(thino), though the clanhas been

superseded by the kindred (putsa) Individual identity is

boundchiefly to these groups Clan and kindred are

responsi-blefor the behavior ofconstituentmembers.Social status is

reflectedinthe roofing of houses Prestige can be attained by

the collection oftrophiesin warandinsponsorship of

festi-vals Status may also be basedon aperson's individual clan

membership

Political Organization A council of elders functions as

the administrativeauthorityin avillage,andindividuals with

grievances may voice them atcouncil meetings Chiefs are

also part of thepoliticalstructureof thevillage, but the

de-limitation of their powers varies among the several Naga

tribes The government appoints village officials today In

Angamivillages thesearecalled gaonburasand their authority

andresponsibilities are similarto thoseofthe village

chief-tains(pehumas) of the past The office of the gaonbura is not

hereditary The same was true, inmostcases, of that of the

pehuma The gaonbura's majoradministrative responsibility

is the collection of the house tax, thoughhe may also act on

behalf of his villagers as ago-betweenwith government

offi-cials.Thepehuma exercisedmostinfluencein theconduct of

war, the settlement ofdisputes within the village being

dele-gated to the elders' council

SocialControl Conflicts areresolvedwithinAngami

vil-lagesby a council of elders who discuss matters ofdispute

among themselves, with theparties involved, and withthe

generalpublic, until some resolutionis reached Issues

cen-teringontribalcustomareusually referredtothe oldermen

of aclan.Factualquestions are decidedby oath,and the thority of theoath(particularlywhen one party swearsby thelives offamily and clan members) israrely questioned.Conflict Nagatribes maintained ahigh degreeof isolationfromneighboring peoples Conflict between villages, tribes,and clans wasfrequentbefore annexation of thehighlandre-gionsbytheBritish,as werehostilities between theNagaandthe Assameselivingintheplains.Headtaking wasanimpor-tantfeature of warfareamongtheNagagenerally, and weap-onsincluded spears,shields, and guns(acquiredinlarge partafter thecomingof theBritish).Initial British incursions intoNaga-held territories met with substantial resistance TheAngamiinparticularwereactively involvedin anti-British re-sistance,frequentlyconducting guerrilla raidsonBritishout-posts Intime, the conduct of war was augmented by diplo-matic efforts to resolve issues of territorial sovereignty andindependence.As aresult, armed resistance seasoned with di-plomacy has been the Nagamethod ofconflict resolution,first with the British colonial authorities and then with theIndian government

au-Religion and Expressive Culture

Religious Beliefs Christianity has taken root in someNagatribes, butithas by no means eclipsed traditionalreli-gious beliefs The Angamireligious system features belief in anumber ofspirits and supernatural forces associated with thecycle of life.Animateandinanimate objects may be regarded

asembodied spirits, andthere is a distinction drawn betweenthegods andthe souls of dead humans Among the vast num-ber of terhoma ("deities") the following should be noted:Kenopfu (the creator god); Rutzeh (the giver of suddendeath); Maweno (god of fruitfulness); Telepfu (a mischie-vousgod);Tsuko and Dzurawu (husband and wife dwarf godspresidingover wild animals); Metsimo (guardian of the gateleading to paradise); Tekhu-rho (god of tigers); and Ayepi (agod who lives inAngamihouses and brings prosperity) Su-pernatural forces are believed to possess bothbenevolent andmaliciousqualities and, when occasion demands, Angamibe-liefprovides for prayer to be made to them and for their propi-tiation orchallenge by humans

Religious Practitioners Angami religious practitionersinclude the following: the kemovo (who directs public cere-monies and isthe repository of historical traditions and gene-alogical information); the zhevo (who functions as integralpart of theperformance of personal gennas, and who also iscalled on intimes ofsickness to advise an appropriate cere-monialcourse of action to cure the disease); the tsakro (anold man who inaugurates the sowing of crops); and thelidepfu (anold woman who inaugurates the reaping of crops).All of these practitioners arepublic functionaries Other reli-giousspecialists, whose realm of activity is confined to theprivatedomain, are known as well These include: the them-uma, whose knowledge mayrange from competence in partic-ularkinds of divination to knowledge of poisons; the zhumma("invulnerables"), who reportedly can be harmed neither bybullet norspear; thekihupfuma (individualsgifted with pow-ers to cause illness and badfortune); and the terhope (womenwho dream in order toforetell the outcome ofvarious endeav-

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Nagas 191

ors) A similar hierarchy ofpractitioners obtains in many

other Nagatribes

Ceremonies Angami religiouslifecenters on a seriesof

elevengennas (magicoreligiousceremoniesaccompaniedby

behavioralrestrictionsbinding upon community and/or

in-dividual) performed during the year These are connected

withagricultural eventsthat affect the life of the

commu-nity Gennas of lessfrequentoccurrence include those for

wardancing, interclan visitation, and preparation ofanew

village door Individual gennas (i.e., those associated with

the normalcycleof events in aperson'slife) include those

for birth, marriage, and death Some seven social gennas

may be performed in order to gain status Miscellaneous

gennas for illness, rainmaking, head taking, and hunting

may also beperformed Angami religious life also includes

theobservanceofcertainrestrictions onindividualbehavior

(calledkennas) and corporate behavior(called pennas) The

ceremony accompanying the genna (called nanu) involves

theofferingof flesh(partofwhichisofferedtothespirits),

the wearing of ceremonial garments, singing, dancing, the

poundingof dhan(unhusked grain of thericeplant),the

ab-stentionfromwork, and the prohibition of anycontactwith

strangers.Similarity in thestructureof rites andceremonies

obtainsin other Naga tribes

Arts Music and dancing are important components in

Angami gennas Oral literature includes numerous myths and

legends (which are also accompanied by song) Images of

spirits andgodsarelackinginAngamivisualart, but the

rep-resentation of the human form in Angami woodwork is

known Wooden dolls of the human figure in miniature are

made and dressed in traditional clothing Originally these

wereproduced for artistic purposes but their value was

per-ceivedbythose who produced them,makingthemsubject to

sale Life-size human figures are manufactured and placed

overgraves.The representation of the human head is a

com-monfeature of Angami wood carving (e.g.,onvillagedoors,

house gables, and wooden bridges), as are the head of the

gayal, the pig's head, and an image representing either a

human breast or the top of a dhan basket Proficiency in

wood does not obtain among all Naga tribes

Medicine Magicoreligious ceremonies are the major cure

prescribed for ills among the Angami Inaddition to these

rites, a number of medicinalherbs are used for their curative

properties Thebrain of the khokhe fish, the bile of the toad,

the casts ofearthworms, a dog's eyesandhairs, raw eggs, and

the marrow of theserowareamong the animal partsand

by-products used for medicinal purposes by the Angami Among

other Naga tribes (e.g., theAo), magicoreligious means for

the cure ofillnesses are also preferred, but the use of plant

and animalby-products for medicinal purposes also obtains

Death and Afterlife Attitudes toward the burial of the

deadvaryamong the various Naga tribes The Angami place

responsibility for the burial of the dead on the male relatives

of the deceased Burialusually takes place within the village

A graveisprepared either besideone ofthevillage paths or in

front of thedeceased's house The body of a man is interred

in a coffincovered by a whitecloth.With it areburied a fire

stick, one ortwospears,adao, a young chicken (alive),anda

gadzosi seed (placed between the teeth of the corpse) The

gadzosi seed is provided so that the deceased's encounter

with Metsimo in the afterlife will be a successful one Awoman isburied witha few beads,a newunder-petticoat, areaping hook, ayoung chicken (live), and thegadzosi seed.Onceburied, thecoffin is covered withflatstones Ontothe

stones ispoured thecontents ofthe deceased's ceremonialkang("carrying basket"): seed forwet rice,Job'stears,millet(andeveryotherkind of ediblegrain),zu (rice beer),andthedeceased's drinkingcup Thegrave is then covered withearthand leveled Atop thegrave areplaced personalimplementsoncebelongingtothedeceased.Angamieschatology distin-guishes between the fates inthe afterlife of those wholivegood lives and those who donot.The formerjointhe skygodUkepenopfu, while the latterarecondemnedto passthroughseven existencesbeneaththe Earth Lifewith thesky godispresumed to be an extension of earthly life with hunting,headhunting,drinking, and feasting The majorrequirementforentryintothisblessedstate isthatonehave performed thezhatho genna and abstained from unclean meat thereafter.Angami males must struggle with Metsimo on the narrowpassagethat leadstothegateofthe sky god'sdomain.Failureresults in the deceased's being forced to wanderbetweenHeavenand Earth as awandering spirit Similarities betweentheAngami andotherNagatribesregarding eschatology doobtain Belief inthe narrow road leading to Paradise isvirtu-ally universal amongtheNaga

BibliographyAnand,V K (1969) NagalandinTransition New Delhi:As-sociated PublishingHouse

Elwin, Verrier, ed (1969) The Nagas in theNineteenthtury London: Oxford University Press

Cen-Fuchs, Stephen (1973) The Aboriginal Tribes of India NewYork:St Martin's Press

Fuirer-Haimendorf, Christoph von (1969) The KonyakNagas: AnIndianFrontierTribe.NewYork:Holt, Rinehart &Winston

Fiurer-Haimendorf, Christoph von (1976) Return to theNakedNagas New Delhi: VikasPublishing House

Ganguli, Milada (1984) A Pilgrimage to the Nagas NewDelhi: Oxford and IBHPublishing Co

Horam, M (1977) Socialand Cultural Life of Nagas New

Delhi: B R Publishing Corp

Hutton, John Henry (1921) The Sema Nagas London:Macmillan 2nd ed 1968 London: Oxford University Press.Hutton, John Henry (1921) The Angami Nagas London:Macmillan 2nd ed 1969 London:Oxford University Press.LeBar, Frank M (1964) Ethnic Groups ofMainland South-east Asia New Haven, Conn.: HRAF Press

Majumdar,D.N (1944) Races andCultures ofIndia bad: Kitabistan 4th ed 1961 New York: Asia PublishingHouse

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Allaha-192 Nagas

Maloney,Clarence (1974). PeoplesofSouthAsia.NewYork:

Holt,Rinehart&Winston

Maxwell, Neville George Anthony (1973) India and the

Nagas MinorityRightsGroupReportno 17 London Rev

ed 1980 India, The Nagas, and the North-East

Mills, James Philip (1922) The Lhota Nagas London:

Macmillan Reprint 1979 NewYork:AMSPress

Mills, James Philip (1926) The Ao Nagas London:

Macmillan.2nd ed 1973 London: Oxford UniversityPress

Mills, James Philip (1937) The Rengma Nagas London:

Macmillan Reprint 1979 NewYork: AMSPress

groupslivinginKeralaState, India.Mostof thedescription

given inthisarticlerefers toNambudirisociety as itexisted

circa 1900 Traditionally, they were awealthy aristocratic

landedcaste groupof highest ritual and secularstatus,who

maintained their position bythe practice ofprimogeniture

and a complex relationship with lower-ranking matrilineal

castesincluding the Nayars After the adventof the British

toward theendofthe eighteenthcenturytheygradually lost

their politicalpower.They rejectedWesterneducationearly

onand,apartfromthose few who tookto communism,

be-came entrepreneurs inthe second half ofthetwentieth

cen-tury, ormanagedto get anadvanced education, themajority

inthe 1990s areliving inmuch-reduced circumstances.

Traditionally the Nambudiri Brahmans have livedonthe

southwestcoastofIndia, inwhatis nowthestateof Kerala

(Foradescriptionofthearea seethearticleonNayars.)The

Nambudiri Brahmans todaymake upless than 1 percentof

the Hindu population ofKerala,but theirstatus asthe former

elite of the statemakes themimportant to document The

Nambudiri Brahmans speak Malayalam, alanguage

belong-ing to the Southern Branch of the Dravidian Family of

languages

The earlyhistory ofKeralais verycomplexand thereare many

problemsremaining toberesolvedbyhistorians Thehistory

of the Nambudiricommunitystillpresents anumber of

puz-zles According to the legendary Keralolpatty (a traditional

account of Keralahistory, setdown in writing inthe

eight-eenth century), Brahmans were brought to the southwestcoastof Indiabythe sage-warrior Parasurama, andtheyset-tled inthirty-two grammam (from Sanskrit grama, "commu-nity") in the South Kanara District of Karnataka State and inthirty-two grammam in whatis nowKerala Those who set-tled in Kerala are said to be Nambudiri Brahmans Eachgrammamhadits owntempleanditsown setof authoritiesforreligious and secular law anditsenforcement.Mostof thegrammar were localized geographically with their illams(large manorialhomes) located withina 16-to40-kilometerradius of thetemple However, the territory ofonegrammammightoverlap that ofanother,astheywerenot communities

in the usual sense There is considerable argument amonghistorians as towhen the Nayars became matrilineal, somestatingthat thisstarted in the tenth century A&D and othersseeing itasbeing rooted eitherin anearlier tribalmatrilinealsystem orperhaps in an earlier bilateral system such as isfoundin Sri Lanka Thereis some evidence from theircus-tomsand from physical characteristics that the Nambudiriscamefrom outside the area

The heyday of the Nambudiri system was between thetwelfth and the seventeenth centuries The majority of mod-

emhistorians hold thattheycametoKerala between the firstand fourth centuries A.D., though there are some-such as

E.K.Pillai-whobelievethey came later Prior to the British,

in someparts ofTrichur Taluk(subdistrict) of Cochin State,which had the densest Nambudiri concentration, the areawas ruled by the heads of the Vadakunnathan and Peru-manamtemple boards.Where they did notruledirectly, orwhere their rule was weak, they would align themselves withdifferentmatrilineal rulers.When the Zamorin of Calicut wasexpanding his kingdom, he needed the allegiance of theheads of thetwolargesttemple boards of Cochin to capturepower WhentheMaharaja of Cochin recaptured part of hiskingdom, he had tobreak the power of the Nambudiri illams

inTrichur

Apart from their direct political control, Nambudiriswere often able to exercise considerable indirect powerbe-cause of their status as the highest spiritual authorities inKerala

Settlements

(For general details see the article on Nayars.) The graphic distribution of Nambudiris in Kerala was never com-pletely uniform Certain areas were noted for containingthick Nambudiri concentrations, particularly in parts ofSouthMalabarandCochin where they also had the mostdi-rect political control This was the area where the greatestamount of land could be given over to rice cultivation (Withtraditional toolsand technology, control over paddy land was

geo-amajorsourceofwealth.)Nambudiri Brahmans had the unique role of being con-sidered aboveand beyond territorial concerns They would gofrom one rulertoanother and carry messages They had an es-sential communication function for the preservation of thethen-existing political system, and they were considered to begooddiplomats

Economy

(For generaldetails on the area see the article on Nayars.)Traditionally, the vast majority of the Nambudiris derived

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Nambudiri Brahman 193

their subsistence from theincome of their mediumto large

landedholdings Theywere notexpectedtoparticipateinthe

life-crisis ceremonies of castes lower than themselves,apart

from thecoronations ina fewof therulinghouses Theyall

had at least a fewservants intheirhomes.SomeNambudiris,

slightlylower inrank,performed ritualsatwell-known

tem-ples (though many of these also had ritualsperformedby

Em-brandiri Brahmans from South KanaraDistrictof Karnataka

State and byPattar Brahmans from TamilNadu)

Traditionally,theNambudiri Brahmans lived off the

in-come from theirlands, althoughafew also worked inlarge

temples They spent considerable amountsoftimelearning

andreciting Sanskrit slokas andmany of themwere famous

scholars and teachers of the Vedas.Theyalsoparticipatedin

sacrifices

Under the traditionalland tenuresystem,theNambudiri

Brahmansheld landprimarilyasthe rulersoras adirectgrant

from aruler.They did not deal with that landdirectly,

prefer-ring to leaveagriculturalmanagement to tenants and

subten-ants.Their land was held as animpartibleinheritancebythe

eldest son, though younger sons and unmarried daughters

wereeligible to be supported bythe income from the

prop-erty The land tenure laws passed in the 1920s and 1930s

made the Nambudiri property partible The major land

re-form lawmeasures passedinthe early 1970s plus a series of

Supreme court decisions that provided for permanency of

tenurefor their tenants andgaveownershiprightstothe

low-estrungof tenants have had the effect ofcausing many of the

NambudiriBrahmanhouseholdstobeseverelyimpoverished

Kinship

TheNambudiri Brahmanswerepatrilinealandpracticed

pri-mogeniture They weredividedinto variousstatus groups, the

mostsignificantonebeingthedivision between theAdhyans

and theAsyans.TheAdhyans (recognized bythesuffix-pad

at theendof theirnames)were thewealthiestandmost pow

erful.Therewas atendency fortheeightmostpowerful of the

Adhyans to be endogamous The highest-ranking Asyans

werethe ones who had the right to recite the Vedas

Kinship terminology followsa modificationof the

Dra-vidianpattern Thereisastriking absenceofterms to refer to

affinesnotactually livinginone'sillam,indicatingthat

affin-ity was nota critical principle of the system Once a girl was

married she was totallyamalgamatedinto herhusband's

fam-ily and usedthe same termsthat he used The only affines

even given a term are the mother's brother and mother's

brother'swife Theother significant differencefrom the rest

of southIndia is theabsenceofa distinctionbetweencross

andparallelcousins.Among Nambudiris bothareconsidered

tobesimilarto one'sown brothers and sistersandbothare

forbidden asmarriagepartners

Marriage and Family

Only the eldestson wasallowedtotakeawifeor wivesfrom

hisown caste. Theyounger sonseither remained celibateor

else formed permanent or semipermanent liaisons with

womenfromthesomewhatlower matrilineal castes(see the

article onNayars)

Althoughonly the oldest son could marry, he was

al-lowedup tothreewives at a time.Girls tendedtobemarried

tohouseholdswithina two- tothree-days' walk from their

na-tiveillam.Postpubertalmarriagewas mostfrequent.Dowrieswerequitehigh, and gettingagirlmarriedwasconsideredaburdentoherfamily.Sometimesamanmighttakeasecondwifeinexchangeinordertosave onthedowryfor hisdaugh-

ter.After marriageagirlhadnorightsinher natalhome,andwhethershewashappyormiserableshesimplyhadtobearit.

ManyNambudiriwomenfeltthatbeingaNambudiriwomanwas theworst fate any humanbeing could have, and they

sometimesprayedthatnooneshouldever"bebornabudiri woman."

Nam-Thesizeand composition ofthedomesticunithas variedover time Traditionally it included aman and his wife orwivesandtheirchildren, hisunmarriedbrothers,andanyun-married sisters that might remain It was often a three-generation unitwith powerand authority always vested in theoldestlivingmale.When lawswerepassedpermitting youngersons to marry, households sometimes came to include thewives and childrenofbrothers, though by then theselargehouseholds had begun to partition

Traditional inheritance was in the maleline and propertywaskeptintactthrough the rule of primogeniture and impar-tibility.Thishasgreatly changedsincethe1920sand1930s

(See the article on Nayars for generalbackground

informa-tion.) Whenatthe endoftheeighteenth century the Britishtook over direct political control inMalabarand came to play

amajorrole asadvisersin Cochin and Travancore too, theNambudiris,deprived of their political role but still maintain-ingtheir status as religious authorities,withdrew to their es-tates They remained aloof, preferring to reemphasize theirspiritualsanctityandpurity. Inthe first quarter of the twenti-eth century some ofthe Nambudiri youth becameinvolved intheNambudiri reform movement Through this activitytheybecamedirectlyinvolved inpolitics, with many of the oldersonsaligningthemselveswiththeCongresspartybut most oftheyounger sonsandwomenjoiningthe Communists Thehead of the CommunistPartyofIndia(Marxist) for the pasttwenty-five years, E M S.Namboodiripad, came out of theearlier Nambudiri reform movement

Traditionally, socialcontrol was exercisedthrough fearand shaming Traditionally conflicts were handled by thecasteelders.Aspecialkind of court washeld forfemales whowere even suspected ofcommitting adultery These courtscame to anabrupt endwhen oneNambudiri womannamed

sixty-four men (some quite well known) with whom sheclaimed to have committed adultery Today, local conflictsare handled by the village panchayats andmore serious andwide-reaching matters by the civil authorities

Religion and Expressive Culture

TheNambudirisareHindus.Thehigher-ranking Nambudirisperform pujas (individual worship rituals) andsacrifices intheir own homes but do not work asritualspecialistsfor oth-ers.The mainpujaris (temple priests)are TamilBrahmansorBrahmans from SouthKanara,though in a fewtemplestherearealso Nambudiri orKeralaBrahmans Kerala has been in-novative in providing training and certification for well-trained lower-caste pujaris

The most important ceremonies celebrated in KeralaamongHindus areVishu, Onam, andThiruvathira In addi-

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194 Nambudiri Brahman

tion,traditionallythere were numerous temple festivals,and

on occasionNambudiriswereinvolvedinperforming

impor-tantlargeVedic sacrifices (Agnicayana),which could takeas

longas tendays andrequired monthsof preparation

Tradi-tionally,nonon-Brahmansweresupposed tohear the words

of the Vedaorbe presentduringaVedic sacrifice As among

allHindus, there is astrong beliefin reincarnation.

See also Kurumbas

BibliographyBird,Nurit(1983a)."Conjugal Units and Single Persons:AnAnalysisof theSocial System of the Food-Gathering Naiken

ofSouth India." Ph.D dissertation, Cambridge University.Bird, Nurit (1983b) "Wage-Gathering: SocioeconomicChanges, and the Case of the Naiken of South India." InRural SouthAsia:Linkages, Changes, and Development Col-lected Papers on South Asia, edited by Peter Robb, 57-89.London: CurzonPress for the-School of Oriental and AfricanStudies, London

Bird, Nurit(1987) "The Kurumbas of the Nilgiris: An nographic Myth?" Modern Asian Studies 24:173-189.Bird-David, Nurit(1988) "An Introduction to the Naikens:ThePeople and the Ethnographic Myth." In Blue Mountains:TheEthnography and Biogeography of a South Indian Region,editedby PaulHockings, 249-280 New Delhi: Oxford Uni-versity Press

Eth-Francis, Walter (1908) Madras District Gazetters: The giris Madras: Superintendent, Government Press

Nil-NURIT BIRD-DAVID

Nayar

ETHNONYM: Nair

OrientationIdentification The Nayars are one of a number of castegroups living in Kerala State, India Most of the descriptiongiven in this articlerefers to Nayar society as it existed around

1900.Traditionally they were warriors, landowners (who pervised butrarelyworked the land), and rulers Toward theend of the eighteenth century they began to abandon their

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su-Nayar 197

roleas warriorsandgraduallylost theirpoliticalpower.They

tooktoWesterneducationearlyonandcame toforma

signif-icant proportion oftheprofessionalandwhite-collar classby

the middle of the twentieth century

Location Traditionally Nayars belong to the southwest

coastofIndia,inwhatis nowthestateof Kerala Itis along,

narrow areaboundedonthewestbythe ArabianSeaandon

theeastbythehighranges of theWestern Ghats.Thearea

maybe dividedinto(1)a narrowalluvial coastlandextending

onlyafew miles from theseaandmostlyconfinedtothearea

south ofPonnani(thelower two-thirds of thecoastline); (2)

lowlateriticplateaus and foothills between 75 and200

me-tersabovesealevel,covered with grass andscrub;and(3)the

highlands The central region forms the main areaof

tradi-tionalvillagesettlementaswellasthemainareaforrice

culti-vation It consists ofa continually undulating countryside,

withlong, narrow, windingpaddyfields surroundedbyhills

andslopesthatwereearlier coveredbythick vegetation The

climate ismonsoonal withheavyrainsfromboth the

south-west (oncoming) and northeast (retreating) monsoons.The

average temperature is 27° C

Demography The state of Kerala has the highest rural

populationdensityinIndia with 1,244 persons per square

ki-lometerinAlleppey District, 1,182 inTrivandrum District,

1,052 in Ernakulam District, and over 800 inTrichur and

Kozhikodedistricts (1981).Despiteanexceptionally

success-ful familyplanningprogram, these densitiesareexpected to

be even higher in the 1991 censusbecause of the

demo-graphic pyramid Sex ratios in Kerala approximate those in

the "developed world," with 1,032 females to every 1,000

males (1981census) Extrapolating from thecensusof1911,

whichgave greatdetail about caste, it can be estimated that

the Nayars make up approximately 15 percent of the present

population ofKerala, oranumberclose to 3.8 million (as of

1981) or 4.3 million (based on approximate figures for

1990)

linguistic Affiliation Nayars speak Malayalam, a

lan-guage belonging to the Southern Branch of the Dravidian

Family

Theearlyhistory of Kerala is very complicated and there are

manyproblems remaining to beresolved by historians The

region was united betweenapproximately AD 216 and 825,

when theMalayalam era is said to have begun By the

begin-ning ofthe ninthcenturyAD.thearea wasdivided intoa

num-ber ofsmall kingdoms, eachruledbya Nayar orKshatriya

(higher matrilineal subcastes related to Nayars) royal family

Those families wererelativelyautonomous, owinglittle

alle-giance to anyoverlord Between the thirteenth century and

1498 (when the Portuguese arrived in Kerala) two Nayar

chiefdoms, Kolattiri in the north and Travancore in the

south, expanded into smallkingdoms In the central part of

the coast theZamorinofCalicutwas inthe process of

estab-lishing ascendancy over many of the petty rulers and was

slowly expanding his territory through an alliance with the

local Muslims and Arab traders Although the Portuguese

and later the Dutch and the British built up the ruler of

Cochin (another central Kerala coastal kingdom), the

Zamorin'skingdom remained powerful until the invasions of

theMysoreansintheeighteenth century After defeating theMysoreans in 1792, the British amalgamated the sevennorthern kingdoms (including the reduced domain of theZamorin) toform the Malabar District of the Madras Presi-dency Thekingdoms ofCochin and Travancore remainedindependent, though eachhad a British resident and manyBritish businesses When India becameindependentin1947,Malabar District became part of Madras Province andTravancore-Cochin became a separate state; in 1956 thestate ofKerala was formed, uniting the district of Malabarwiththe stateofTravancore-Cochin

Settlements

InKerala prior to the Britishperiod,communicationwastremely difficult Therewere no roads, wheeled vehicles, orevenpack animals Travel and the transportation ofgoodsdependedonhuman porters and boats plying thenumerousriversand backwaters as well asthe seacoast.Onlylocal rulersandpetty chieftains could ride onelephants orhorses, andeventhen their use was primarily confined to processions.Since Indian independence and especially since theforma-tionof KeralaState, roads have been built linking all parts ofthe state and all villages by bus A railroad now links thesouthern city of Trivandrum to Mangalore in the SouthKanara Districtof Karnataka (apart from links to Madras andthe rest of India); there is one international airport (atTrivandrum) and two regional airports (at Cochin andCalicut) By the mid-1980s all of the villages wereelectrified.Thesettlement pattern in Kerala has always beendispersed,with thehouse of eachlandowner standing on its own patch

ex-ofhigher ground The actual physical features of the sidedo not encourage the formation of compact settlements,though today there is a tendency for some parts ofsettle-ments to hug theroads It isimpossible to tell where one vil-lage ends and another begins The ideal Malayali house wasset inits own compound with its food-producing trees, sothat the dwelling space did not subtract from cultivationspace Formerly (prior to the twentieth century) the largeNayarhouse, set in its own compound with its walls for pro-tection, was a veritable fortress Nambudiri Brahman houses

country-aswellasmiddle-class Tiyyar houses followed the same tern Every homehad a name and theindividuals belonging

pat-to a givenhouse were known by that name The members oflowand Untouchable castes attached to a Nayar house wereknown also bythe name of that house Today settlements arestill dispersed, though because ofpopulation growth many ofthe spaces in betweenhave beenfilled in

Economy

Subsistence and Commercial Activities TraditionallytheKerala economy was extremely complex The main sub-sistence food was rice It wassupplemented by a wide variety

of rootvegetables and some leafy ones, eggs, fish, poultry,goatmeat, and for most of the population (apart from Nayarsand NambudiriBrahmans) beef orwater-buffalo meat.Allofthe Brahmans (about one percent of the population) andsomeof thehigher-ranking Nayars (especially those thatin-termarried with Brahmans, see below) were vegetarian.Today, thedietincludes bread and many other wheat prod-ucts as well asWesternvegetables such as carrots and pota-toes It is hard toseparatecommercial activitiesfrom trade,

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198 Nayar

but it is importanttonote thateveryvillage supportsalarge

number oftea shops, toddy shops, general stores, and rice

mills,aswell as numerous otherenterprises Kerala has

prob-ably more small-size printing andpublishingestablishments

thananywhere inthe world

IndustrialArts IndustrialartsuniquetoKeralainclude a

wide variety of products made fromcoconutfiber,thevery

ad-vanced manufacture of traditional Ayurvedic medicines for

worldwide distribution, thecraftingofexceptionallyfinegold

jewelry inintricatetraditional designs,bellmetalwork, until

recently very delicate ivory work,and the construction of

tra-ditional seagoing boats andships.Thenewerproducts made

inthe regionare discussedinthenext section

Trade Apart fromthefact that thesocietywasextremely

hierarchical with severallayers ofnonworking overlords,the

region was not self-sufficient in rice production (the main

subsistence grain) even in the fifteenth century (Vascoda

Gama reported seeing ships carrying rice in the port of

Calicut in 1498.) However, the port of Calicut and many

lesser ports weregrand emporiums for exportby seainthis

pe-riod Traders came from China, from the Middle East, and

even from Rome Becauseof the greatdemandinEurope for

black pepper (at thattimegrownonlyinKerala),oneofthe

placesColumbuswastryingtoreachwhenhe sailed west was

the port of Calicut Apart from black pepper, many other

items were traded there: other spices, copra, gems of many

kinds, peacock feathers, rice (used medicinally in ancient

Rome), teak andmahogany,elephants and ivory, and cloth of

various kinds, including both cotton and silk Today Kerala

exports pepper,cashew nuts, frozen freshwater fish and

sea-food, woventextiles, and (to other parts ofIndia aswellas

manythird-world countries) paper and paper products,

con-doms and other rubber products, coirrope and other coir

products, radios and watches, fruits, and fertilizers However,

Kerala'smajor exporttoday consists of people, primarily

edu-catedpeople, bothtothe Middle Eastand to the developed

world Therearelarge numbers of Nayars workingasdoctors,

lawyers, nurses, scholars, and other professionals in the

UnitedStates, Canada, and Great Britain

Division of Labor Since the Nayars are part of an

ex-tremely hierarchical society with complex caste and class

dis-tinctions, it ishardtodescribe the division oflabor simply

Traditionally, Nayars formed the militia of the countryside, as

well as functioning as landlords In somevillages they were

the highest level oflandowners, in other villages they held the

land onlessertenures Inthe extreme north of Kerala andin

some parts of Cochin-Travancore, poor Nayar households

actually worked the land But in the rest of Kerala, while

Nayars(both males and females) might supervise production,

they didnotworkinthefields.Thisarrangement haschanged

to someextent in very recent times Where Nayars worked in

agriculture, the division of labor betweenthe sexes wasthe

same as that followed by other Malayali groups within a given

region (though there were and are regional differences

be-tweenthenorth and the south)

Land Tenure Traditional Kerala land tenure resembled

the feudal systeminEurope, withseveral levels of

subfeuda-tion andinfeudation Land was owned either by an

individ-ual,anunpartitionedfamily,or atemple Theownersderived

theirincomefrom rents or customary paymentsby their

ten-antsand lessertenants orsubtenants Often the Nayarswerethe tenants,the Tiyyars or Ezhuvas the subtenants, and theagresticslave castes the manual laborers However, thereweresomeNayarowners andsomeNayar subtenants.Aseriesof

land-tenure laws was passed starting in the late 1920s inTravancore, culminating in major land-reform laws in theearly 1970s andaseriesof supremecourtdecisions that pro-vided notonly for permanence of tenure but also for the gift

of actual ownership rightstothe lowest rung of tenants in theformer hierarchy Asaresult, onefinds today a large classofsmall landowners, an even larger class of landless laborers,andasmallnumber of larger landowners (someof whomwereformer tenants and held land from a number of higher-rankinglandowners) who have found ways to circumvent thelegal land ceilings

Kinship

KinGroups and Descent The Nayars were traditionallymatrilineal Thetraditional Nayar taravad consisted of all thematrilineallyrelatedkin,male and female, descended from acommon female ancestor, living inonelarge taravad houseandcompound The property was heldimpartible, and theseveral members each were entitled to maintenance withinthetaravad house but couldnotclaim aseparate share Thishas all changed since the 1930s, when partition became le-gally possible A traditional taravad was composed of awoman, herchildren, her daughters' and her granddaughters'children, her brothers, descendants through her sisters, andher relationsthrough her dead female ancestors Within eachtaravad asignificant subgroup consisted of the set of individ-uals headed by aliving female ancestor called a tavari Whenpartitions became possible, theyoriginally occurred on tavarilines

Kinship Terminology Kinship terminology follows theDravidian pattern, with theexception that kin terms tradi-tionally werenotused forpaternal kin Today, usage is com-pletely of the Dravidian pattern with a clear distinction be-tween mqtrilateral and patrilateral kin Mothers' sisters arecalled elder or younger mothers, and cross cousins aredistin-guished from parallel cousins, who are equated with one'sownbrothers and sisters

Marriage and Family

Marriage Marriage customs among the Nayars haveevoked much discussion and controversy in India amongbothjuristsandsocialscientists There was considerable sub-regional variation as well as variation bysubcaste and familyprestige Details presented here refer to south Malabar andtheformer Cochin State There were twokinds of marriage:talikettu kalyanam (tali [necklet]-tying ceremony); and sam-bandham (thecustomary nuptials of a man and woman) Thetali-tying ceremony had to be held beforepuberty and oftenthe ceremony was held for several girls at the same time tosave on expenses Depending on the group the tali could betied by a member of a linked lineage (often two Nayar line-ages thatfrequently intermarried were linked to one anotherand called enangar lineages), by a member of a highersub-

caste of Nayars, by one ofthe matrilineal Ambilavasi (templeservant) castes, or by amember of a royal lineage By the mid-1950s, it became common for some girls tohave the tali tied

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Nayar 199

by theirmothers.It isstill controversialas towhether this

cer-emonywas ever a formalmarriageoriforiginallyit wassimply

anage-gradeceremony,since itoften includedalargenumber

ofgirls ranging in age from 6 months to 12 or 14 years

Womendid observe formalmourning practices for the men

whotied their talis, andin some instances-forexample, if

the girlwasclose to puberty-itwaspossible that the

mar-riage mightbeconsummatedduringthisceremonialperiod

How often this occurred is unknown By contrast,

sam-bandan involveda manhavinga'visitinghusband"

relation-ship witha woman.Whilesuchrelationshipswereconsidered

tobemarriagesby the woman'sfamily,especiallywhenthey

occurred with males ofhighersubcastes orcastes, themales

tendedto viewthe relationships asconcubinage

Tradition-ally Nayar women wereallowedtohavemorethanone

"visit-ing husband" eithersimultaneously orserially

Domestic Unit The size andcompositionof the domestic

unithave variedover time Beforepartitionwaspermittedit

couldconsistofasmanyas 50 to 100people However,once

partitionwasallowed, the size ofunitsdecreasedrapidly, so

thatby the late 1950sand1960sthe normalunitconsisted of

one or moremarried womenwith theirchildren, their mother

(ifliving),andpossiblysomeadult male members of the

ma-trilineage Traditional Nayar family organization provided

oneoftherelativelyunique exceptionstothenear

universal-ityofthenuclearfamily The"visitinghusband"had very

lit-tle importance inhis wife's family and hadnoresponsibility

forany children hemightsire His mainresponsibilitieswere

forhis sister'schildren.The practice ofpolyandry also placed

alimitationonrelationships betweenmenandtheir own

bio-logicalchildren.Today householdsare evensmaller,

consist-ingoften of only the nuclear unit,thoughamatrilineal

rela-tiveof thewomanmight often reside withamarried couple

Inheritance Traditional inheritance was inthe matriline

only Anyproperty a man possessed went to his sisters and

theirchildren As men took to modem, Western professions

and startedaccumulatingpersonalwealthasopposedto

fam-ily property, they began passingit on totheir own biological

children As a result, there are today slightly different laws

regulating inherited and acquired wealth However, even

todayit iscustomaryfor a mantoput hisself-acquired

prop-erty in his wife'sname so thatit canthen beinherited

matri-lineally Furthermore, a man feels greater responsibility for

hissister'schildren than for his brother's children Even men

living away from Kerala in DelhiorNew York are more likely

to sponsora sister's son or daughter thanabrother's

Socialization Traditional socialization patterns involveda

strongemphasis on the use of shaming as a technique of

con-trol Traditionally, in all but the poorest taravads, children

(female as wellasmale) were expectedtolearnto read and

writeSanskrit written in theMalayalam alphabet, and assoon

asEnglish educationcame totheregion,boys started

learn-ingEnglish Girls onlystarted learning English later

Sociali-zationtrainingstrongly emphasized what people knew (i.e.,

keeping upappearances) rather than superego (i.e.,

internal-ized conscience andvalues)

Social Organization Society in traditional Kerala was

highly hierarchical, with a fairly close (though not

one-to-one) correlation between caste and class Most of the less, land-attached laborers were from the Untouchablecastes and tribal groups The semi-Untouchable Tiyyars orEzhuvas tended to be tenants, and the Nayars (as notedabove) generally held landonvarious levels ofinfeudationand subfeudation Socially, each middle- or upper-classNayar taravad was acorefor social aswell aspolitical organi-zation.Today this has all changed,astaravads have splitintosmaller andsmaller units,aspopulation increase has blurredvillage boundaries even more, and as there are now areaswhere the normal Indian rural/urban distinction does notapply Social ties today tend tobeclosest among members ofthe same caste and socioeconomic position, though amongtheeducated elite caste distinctions are less prevalent TheNayarsweredividedinto anumber of subcastes allhierarchi-callyplaced, though the subdivisions varied from one placetoanother In central Kerala, the highest-ranking ones wereoften referred to asSamantans Some Samantans were power-ful rulers (The Zamorin ofCalicut was a Samantan from theEradi subcaste.) The Samantan women marry either otherSamantans or NambudiriBrahmans The Nayars themselvesincluded: Stani Nayars (local chieftains), high-caste Nayarswhotraditionally served in the military or in some other im-portant capacity for Nambudiri Brahmans, Kshatriyas, orSamantans; the middle-ranking Nayars who did not inter-marry or interdine with those higher than themselves, andwho performed various tasks for the temple; and the smallgroup oflow-caste Nayars who served other Nayars as washer-men, barbers, and oilmongers The majority of Nayars be-longs to thehigh-caste groups

land-Political Organization Thetraditional political tionwas feudal in nature with many small states Rulers hadonlylimitedcontrol After the British occupation of Malabarand the posting of British resident officers in Cochin andTravancore, the state came to have greaterinfluence SinceIndependence, large units of approximately 10,000 to 12,000peoplehave been governedby an elected panchayat (villagecouncil) There is a large bureaucratic structure and anelected legislativeassembly in the state Politics and politicalparties,especially those of the left, have penetrated into everynookand cranny of the state

organiza-SocialControl Social control is effected through the ily, through ageneral concern about what people will think orwhat people will say and a strong emphasis on bourgeoisvalues

fam-Conflict Traditionally, conflicts were handled by the casteelders In theMiddle Ages, many of the Nayar men were war-riors,fighting against neighboring principalities Today, localconflicts are handled by the village panchayats, and large-scale ones by the police and the courts

Religion and Expressive CultureReligious Beliefs The Nayars themselves are Hindus.However, in Kerala there are also many Christians (ofvariousdenominations) and Muslims

ReligiousPractitioners Nayars frequently attend Hindutemples.The mainpujaris (temple priests) are Tamil Brah-mans orBrahmans from South Kanara, though in a fewtem-ples there are alsoNambudiri or Kerala Brahmans Kerala has

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