The Ezhavas (Īḻavar) are a community with origins in the region of India presently known as Kerala. They are also known as Ilhava, Irava, Izhava and Erava in the south of the region; as Chovas, Chokons and Chogons in Central Travancore; and as Tiyyas, Thiyas and Theeyas in Malabar. The Malabar Tiyya group have claimed a higher ranking in the Hindu caste system than do the others, although from the perspective of the colonial and subsequent administrations they were treated as being of similar rank.

As well as being agricultural laborers, small cultivators, toddy tappers, and liquor businessmen, some Ezhavas were also involved in weaving and some practised ayurvedic medicine. Ezhava dynasties such as the Izhathu Mannanars also existed in Kerala. The Chekavar, a warrior section within the community, were part of the militias of local chieftains and kings. There were also renowned Kalari Payattu experts among them.

The etymology of Ezhava is uncertain.

According to legend and some Malayalam folk songs, the Ezhavas were the progeny of four bachelors that the king of Ceylon sent to Kerala at the request of the Chera king Bhaskara Ravi Varma, in the 1st Century AD. These men were sent, ostensibly, to set up coconut farming in Kerala. Another version of the story says that the Sri Lankan King sent eight martial families to Kerala at the request of a Chera king to quell a civil war that had erupted in Kerala against him.^{[clarification needed]}

Sri Nārāyana Guru (Malayalam: ശ്രീ നാരായണ ഗുരു) (1856–1928), also known as Sree Nārāyana Guru Swami, was a Hindu saint, sadhu^{[Full citation needed]} and social reformer of India. The Guru was born into an Ezhava family, in an era when people from backward communities like the Ezhavas faced much social injustices in the caste-ridden Kerala society. Gurudevan, as he was fondly known to his followers, led Reform movement in Kerala, revolted against casteism and worked on propagating new values of freedom in spirituality and of social equality, thereby transforming the Kerala society and as such he is adored as a prophet.

Nārāyana Guru is revered for his Vedic knowledge^{[citation needed]}, poetic proficiency^{[citation needed]}, openness to the views of others^{[citation needed]}, non-violent philosophy^{[citation needed]} and his unrelenting resolve to set aright social wrongs. Nārāyana Guru was instrumental in setting the spiritual foundations for social reform in today's Kerala and was one of the most successful social reformers who tackled caste in India. He demonstrated a path to social emancipation without invoking the dualism of the oppressed and the oppressor.