Namboothiries

(Notes:- For preparing this article I mainly depended on the webpage http://www.namboothiri.com. No much changes have made to the article)

Tradition is that Brahmanans (Namboothiri) were established in Kerala (i.e. the land between Gokarnam and Kanyakumari) in sixtyfour villages. Thirtytwo of them are said to be between Gokarnam Perumpuzha in Tulunadu, remaining 32, were to the south of Perumpuzha river in Kerala proper. Now twentythree of them survive today. Thirtyone out of thirtytwo could be identified satisfactorily. Apart from these thirtytwo original villages, several others emerged by fusing together the already existing ones. Thus, many Upagramams and other independent settlements developed, constituting a network throughout Kerala, with command over land, a large number of tenants and the entailing feudal privileges. By the close of AD 18, the Brahmanan settlements had become a vital force in society to such an extent that society itself was completely reoriented with these groups as the superior elements. This has been shown to be one of the causative factors in the revival of the Chera kingdom.

The power of these Namboothiri settlements was so that the king's council known as the Nalu Tali in the Chera capital, Mahodayapuram, represented these settlements. A very important fact about these settlements in Kerala is that they were temple-centred and that the temple was synonymous with the Brahmanan settlement. The temple committee was the village assembly and it looked after the affairs of the property belonging to the temple and the Brahmanan settlers. The temple in Thiruvalla village possessed a fabulous extent of land. Donors from very distant places including Srilanka (Ceylon) had made donations to the temple. In addition to land, the temple possessed wealth in the form of gold. The temple used to grant loans and act as a bank. Often, the right to extract taxes from certain villages was made entirely over to the temple and the temple committee was placed above the " wrath of Kings and feudatories". The different daily and seasonal ceremonies of the temple have been described in detail. In describing the Onam festival, the responsibility of each class of people were given, indicating thereby the position of each class in society and pointing to the level of social classification. It is also seen that the practice of granting land on service tenure, whereby occupations were made hereditary, had already begun. The development of feudal institutions and the multiplycity of sub-casteswere also existed. In short small Brahmanan colonies grew in many places and economic, social and political activities centered with them. Later it developed into a large agrarian feudal system. From AD 9 onwards these temple council members were Brahmanans and ownership of property and right to Vedams passed over them. A Vedic or Brahmanical culture developed in these Brahmanan settlements and along the west coast of India.It is well-known that Parasuraman or Bhargavaraman tradition is cherished by all the Brahmanans of the west coast. The tradition originated in the Sourastra region and moved gradually southward. Archaeological evidences also suggest that the Brahmanical tradition moved to the south along the westcoast. The process of brahmanan migration and settlement in Kerala may have begun as early as the age of Sangam Period which is spanning from 300 BC to the middle of the 700 AD. Brahmanical culture played a crucial role in the formation of Kerala society. Several Brahmanan settlements were founded in Kerala well before the re-establishment of the Chera kingdom with their new capital at Mahodayapuram. Every Namboothiri Brahmanan, would claim his ancestry to one of the above thirtytwo villages. Thus, the traditional accounts about the original settlements of Kerala Brahmanans as given in Keralolpathi may be believed.

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