The Ezhavas (''Īḻavar'') are a community with origins in the region 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.
Etymology
The etymology of ''Ezhava'' is uncertain.
History
Legend
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.
Theories of origin
According to historian C. V. Kunjuraman, the two gods of the
Buddhist Ezhavas, namely Cittan and Arattan, are in fact Buddhist Sidhan and Arhatan from
Buddhism. T. K. Veluppillai, the author of ''The Travancore State Manual'', believes that during Buddhist ascendancy in Kerala, before the arrival of the
Tulu Brahmins, "the Ezhavas enjoyed great prosperity and power" (II, 845). However, he also says that it is very unlikely that the Ezhavas came from Sri Lanka and spread all over Kerala; instead they were the mainstream of Munda-Dravidian immigrants who left
Tamil Nadu in the fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries to avoid persecution at the hands of their political enemies.
Inscriptions
The first reference to the word Ezhava found in Arittapatti inscriptions of 3rd century BC near Madurai, talks about 'Eelava perumal, chief of Nelveli, has caused the carving of this auspicious cave'. Famous Kilavalavu
Jain cave inscriptions of 3rd century BC talks about an ezhavan who built Buddhist monastery there. Another inscriptions of BC 2nd century found near Alakarmalai talks about an ezhava textile trader 'ezhathu theevan athan'.
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 Ezhavas 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
Cochin dynasty. Pullapilly has said that only a common parentage can explain some of these issues.
A theory has been proposed for the origins of the caste system in the Kerala region based on the actions of the Aryan Jains introducing such distinctions prior to the 8th-century AD. This argues that the Jains needed protection when they arrived in the area and recruited sympathetic local people to provide it. These people were then distinguished from others in the local population by their occupation as protectors, with the others all being classed as out-caste. Pullapilly describes that this meant they "... were given ''kshatriya'' functions, but only ''shudra'' status. Thus originated the Nairs." The Ezhavas, not being among the group protecting the Jains, became out-castes.
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 AD, 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.
The Buddhist tradition of the Ezhavas, and the refusal to give it up, pushed them to an outcaste role within the greater Brahminic society. Nevertheless, 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.
Past occupations
The traditional occupation of the Ezhavas was tending to and tapping the sap of coconut palms. This activity is sometimes erroneously referred to as ''toddy tapping'', toddy being a liquor manufactured from the sap. Arrack was another liquor produced from the palms, as was jaggery (an unrefined sugar). In reality, most Ezhavas were agricultural labourers and small-time cultivators, with a substantial number diverging into the production of
coir products, such as coconut mats for flooring, from towards the end of the 19th-century.
Some Ezhavas were involved in weaving and ship making.
Martial traditions
Many were employed as guards or sentinels in the palaces of Cochin and Travancore. Kalari
Panickers from an Ezhava tharavaad based at Kulathoor were trainers of the
Ettuveetil Pillamars, and their descendants have looked after the
Chamundi Devi (Kalari devatha) temple at Thozhuvancode,
Thiruvananthapuram.
Syrian Christians of Kerala, who were privileged in the pre-colonial period to have their own private armies, recruited Ezhava members due in part to this tradition.
Chekavar
A subgroup of the Thiyyas 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.
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. Itti Achuden was probably the best known Ezhava physician who directly influenced the classification of
Hortus Malabaricus in the 17th century. Itti Achuden's texts were written in the
Kolezhuthu script that Ezhava castes used, for they were prevented from learning the more sanskritized Aryazuthu script which was the preserve of the upper-castes.
Some Ezhavas practiced ayurvedic medicine.
Culture
Teyyam (Teyyattam) or Kaliyattam
In northern Kerala,
Teyyam is a popular
ritual dance. This particular dance form is also known as Kaliyattam. The main deities of Ezhavas include Vayanattu Kulavan, Kativannur Viran, Pumarutan and
Muttappan.
Arjuna Nrtam (Mayilppili Tukkam)
Arjuna Nrtam ("the dance of
Arjuna") or Mayilppili Tukkam is a ritual art performed by men of Ezhava community and is prevalent in the
Bhagavathy temples of south Kerala, mainly in
Kollam, Alappuzha and
Kottayam districts. Arjuna nritham is also called "Mayilpeeli Thookkam" as the costume includes a characteristic garment made of mayilppeeli (
peacock feathers). This garment is worn around the waist in a similar fashion as the "uduthukettu" of
Kathakali. The various dance movements are closely similar to
Kalarippayattu techniques. The performers have their faces painted green and wear distinctive headgears. The all night performance of the dance form is usually presented solo or in pairs.
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
Meenam (March — April). Poorakkali requires specially trained and highly experienced dancers, trained in Kalaripayattu, a system of physical exercise formerly in vogue in Kerala. Standing round a traditional lamp, the performers dance in eighteen different stages and rhythms, each phase called a niram.
Parichamuttu kali
Parichamuttu kali is a martial folk-dance prevalent among the Ezhavas around the Alappuzha, Kollam,
Pathanamthitta, Kottayam,
Ernakulam,
Palghat and
Malappuram districts. It is also performed by Christians and some other Hindu communities. Its origins date back to when Kalaripayattu, the physical exercise of swordplay and defence, was in vogue in Kerala. The performers dance with swords and shields in their hands, following the movements of sword fight, leaping forward, stepping back and moving round, all the time striking with the swords and defending with shields.
Makachuttu
Makachuttu art is popular among Ezhavas in
Thiruvananthapuram and Chirayinkizhu taluks and in
Kilimanoor, Pazhayakunnummal and Thattathumala regions. In this, a group of eight performers, two each, twin around each other like serpents and rise up, battling with sticks. The techniques are repeated several times.
Sandalwood paste on the forehead, a red towel round the head, red silk around the waist and bells round the ankles form the costume. This is a combination of
snake worship and
Kalarippayattu.
Aivar kali
Literally, Aivarkali means the play of the five sets. This was a ritualistic art form performed in almost all important temples of Kerala. Today it is found in central Kerala. This is also known as Pandavarkali, which means the play of the Pandavas, (the five heroes of the ''
Mahabharatha''), and is performed by Asari, Moosari, Karuvan, Thattan and Kallasari communities. This ritualistic dance is performed beneath a decorated pandal with a
nilavilakku at its centre. The five or more performers with their leader called Kaliachan enter the performance area after a ritualistic bath, with sandalwood paste over their foreheads, dressed in white dhoti, and with a towel wrapped around their heads.
Customs
Family system
Ezhavas adopted different patterns of behavior in family system across
Kerala. Those living in southern
Travancore tended to meld the different practices that existed in the other parts of Kerala. The family arrangements of northern
Malabar were matrilineal with patrilocal property arrangements, whereas in northern Travancore they were matrilineal but usually matrilocal in their arrangements for property. Southern Malabar saw a patrilineal system but partible property.
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 ''taravadu'' and by their usually much higher degree of property ownership.
Subcastes
The sub-divisions among Ezhavas of southern Kerala were Kollakkar or Channar Ezhava, Malayalam Ezhava ("those earliest to Kerala"), Nadi Ezhava, Pachili Ezhava ("those who married from fishermen community"), and Puzhakkar Ezhava ("menial servants of Malayalam Izhava"). The Channar Izhava claims superiority over other subdivisions.
There were mainly three sub-castes among Ezhavas of northern Malabar namely Thiyya Chone , Pandi Chon (Izhuvan) and Velan Kandi Chon. The South Malabar Thiyyas were subdivided into the Thiyya Chon, Vaisya Thiyya (Thekkan Chon), and Pandi Chon (Izhuvan).
Dispute between Ezhavas and Thiyyas
Disputing the general belief that Ezhavas of Travancore and Thiyyas of Malabar in Kerala are the one and the same community, the book 'Lanka Parvam' by T. Damu claims that they have no hereditary or historical link as they migrated to the State centuries ago from two different geographical regions. Nelliatt Shyamalan, father of
Manoj Night Shyamalan, who belongs to the Nelliatt family of
Kannur, a Thiyya family took a DNA test. The DNA testing revealed that it matches with the
Indo-Aryan race that came all the way from
South Africa through
Kyrgyzstan, showing that Thiyyas and Ezhavas have different origins.
The Supreme Court order dated March 28, 2006 has categorically stated the quantum of reservation as 14 per cent to Ezhavas and Thiyyas, 10 to Muslims, 5 to Latin Catholics, SIUC and Anglo Indians, 1 per cent to backward Christians and 10 to OBC. In the Supreme Court order, the Thiyyas and the Ezhavas together can claim 14 per cent reservation. But the state government has excluded the Thiyya community from the 14 per cent reservation. The order by various departments including the state Public Service Commission that Thiyyas have to write ‘Ezhava’ in their application for jobs and government appointments is against a verdict of the Supreme Court dated March 28, 2006. The Thiyya Mahasabha and the Global Thiyya Initiate have decided to move the court against the injustice done to them by the state government under pressure from the SNDP and the Ezhavas.
Position in society
Although Ezhavas performed the works associated
Sudra Varna, they were considered as
untouchables (Avarna) by the
Nambudiri-
Brahmins who formed the
Hindu clergy and ritual ruling elite in late medieval Kerala.
Conversion to Christianity
A sizeable part of the Ezhava community, especially in central
Travancore and in the High Ranges, embraced
Christianity during the
British rule, due to caste-based discrimination. In
Kannur,
Protestant missions started working in the first half of the 19th century, notably the
Basel German Evangelical Mission.
Conversion to Sikhism in central Kerala
During the Vaikom Satyagraha movement against untouchability, a few Akalis, an order of armed Sikhs, came to Vaikom in support of the demonstrators. After successfully completing the Satyagraha and after the Temple Entry Proclamation, some of the Akalis remained. Some Ezhava youth were attracted to the concepts of the Sikhism and as a result, joined the religion.
Spiritual and social movements
The lowly status of the Ezhava meant that, as Nossiter has commented, they had "little to lose and much to gain by the economic and social changes of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries". They sought the right to be treated as worthy of an English education and for jobs in government administration to be open to them. In 1896, a petition with more than 13,000 signatories was submitted to the government asking for the recognition of the right of the Ezhavas to enter government service; the upper caste Hindus of the state prevailed upon the
Maharajah not to concede the request. The outcome not looking to be promising, the Ezhava leadership threatened that they would convert from Hinduism en masse, rather than stay as helots of Hindu society.
Diwan, Sir C. P. Ramaswamy Iyer, realizing the imminent danger, prompted the Maharajah to issue the
Temple Entry Proclamation, which abolished the ban on lower-caste people from entering Hindu temples in the state of Travancore.
Eventually, in 1903, a small group of Ezhavas established Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalan Yogam (SNDP), the first caste association in the Kerala region, naming it after Sree Narayana Guru, who had established an ''ashram'' from where he preached his message of "one caste, one religion, one god" and a Sanskritised version of the Victorian concept of self-help. His influence locally has been compared to that of Swami Vivekananda. The organisation attracted support in Travancore but similar bodies in Cochin were less successful. In Malabar, which unlike Cochin and Travancore was under direct British control, the Tiyyas showed little interest in such bodies because they did not suffer the educational and employment discrimination found elsewhere, nor indeed were the disadvantages that they did experience strictly a consequence of caste alone.
The Ezhavas were not immune to being manipulated for covert political purposes. The Vaikom Satyagraha of 1924–1925 was a failed attempt to use the issue of ''avarna'' access to roads around temples in order to revive the fortunes of Congress, orchestrated by T. K. Madhavan, a revolutionary and civil rights activist, and with a famous temple at Vaikom as the focal point. Although it failed in its stated aim of achieving access, the satyagraha (movement) did succeed in voicing a "radical rhetoric".
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 of properties previously held by substantial landowners saw the majority of Ezhava beneficiaries receive less than 1 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.
See also
List of Ezhavas
Notes
References
Bibliography
External links
Ezhava.org
Category:Social groups of Kerala
Category:Indian castes
Category:Narayana Guru
Category:Malayali people
Category:Brewing and distilling castes
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