Nayar of India Essay -- Sociology, Horticulture, Hinduism

The Nayar live is a caste that is located in the India state of Kerala. They are considered to be horticulturalist which is non-mechanized and non-intensive form of plant cultivation. Although, they depend on plants they do hunt and collect wild food such as fruits and nuts. The Nayar can also be considered industrialists because they either own or have some type of involvement with the many industries. In this paper you will read about their Kinship, gender relations, beliefs and values. The Nayar group within India is very different people than anyone else in the world. They consist of many types of lineages and different spectrums of wealth. They are considered to be horticultures and some are considered to be industrialists. But their families are all made up of the same ancestors. The Nayar practice Hinduism and are matrilineal. When it comes to their family unit things begin to get a little strange. Their family unit consists of brothers, sisters, and latter children. Within the old and aristocratic families sometimes the households would consist of fifty to eighty people all the way up to two hundred people. The Nayars undivided family may live under the same roof but the males have to occupy other rooms separate from the females. But if a particular family is considered to be rich the males may live within a neighboring compound. The Muttam is a closed piece of ground that is located in front of the families’ house (Panikkar, 1918). Sometimes this piece of land is used as an ornamental garden and no men are allowed to step foot on this particular piece of ground. Even though the men are not allowed on that piece of ground the children are allowed to play in it during the day but by night the females perform their da... ... railway also brought coconuts and pepper for export as well as the cashew which was the first introduced by the Portuguese and became a very important cash crop. Rice among other imports has become greatly needed from Europe. Since all the new trade the larger villages have started selling of British or American toilet articles, glass, metal ware and other goods (Gough, 1952). The Nayars have a generation type system of kinship. So they can organize by sex, age and gender which are the most important principals. Although they quite frequently over turn their lineage affiliations so they can perform rituals. So as you can see the Nayars are an odd group but rather interesting. They have rituals that they follow and adhere to in their daily lives. The Nayar also do rituals and traditions that we as Americans would not even think about doing in our own lives.