Ezhava

2026-04-05T11:35:41Z

172.71.182.160:

{{Short description|Hindu community of Kerala, India}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}}
{{use Indian English|date=December 2017}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
|group= '''Ezhava'''
| image = Ezhava Temple.png
| image_caption = An ancient Ezhava temple in 19th Century near Trivandrum.
|regions = [[Kerala]]
| region2 =
| pop = Approx. 8,000,000 (2018)<ref name="ecostat.kerala.gov.in">https://www.ecostat.kerala.gov.in/images/pdf/publications/Vital_Statistics/data/vital_statistics_2018.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220511142922/http://www.ecostat.kerala.gov.in/images/pdf/publications/Vital_Statistics/data/vital_statistics_2018.pdf |date=11 May 2022 }} {{Bare URL PDF|date=April 2022}}</ref>
| ref = <ref name="ecostat.kerala.gov.in"/>
| langs = [[Malayalam]]
| rels = [[Hinduism]]
| related_groups = [[Billava]], [[Sinhalese people|Sinhalese]]
}}

The '''Ezhavas''' ({{IPA-ml|iːɻɐʋɐ}}) are a community with origins in the region of India presently known as [[Kerala]], where in the 2010s they constituted about 23% of the population and were reported to be the largest [[Hindu]] community in modern day Kerala.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/india/south/story/caste-based-organisations-nss-sndp-form-hindu-grand-alliance-in-kerala-115305-2012-09-05|title=Caste-based organisations NSS, SNDP form Hindu Grand Alliance in Kerala|first=M. G. |last=Radhakrishnan|date= 5 September 2012|work=India Today}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.firstpost.com/politics/guess-whos-after-the-hindu-vote-in-kerala-hint-its-not-the-bjp-2619712.html|title=Guess who's after the Hindu vote in Kerala? (Hint: It's not BJP)|work=Firstpost}}</ref> 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 ''Thiyyar'', ''Tiyyas'' and ''Theeyas'' in the [[Malabar region]].<ref name="Nossiter1982p30"/><ref>{{cite book |title=Society in India: Continuity and change |first=David Goodman |last=Mandelbaum |author-link=David G. Mandelbaum |publisher=University of California Press |year=1970 |isbn=9780520016231 |page=[https://archive.org/details/societyinindia01mand/page/502 502] |quote=Another strong caste association, but one formed at a different social level and cemented by religious appeal, is that of the Iravas of Kerala, who are also known as Ezhavas or Tiyyas and make up more than 40 per cent of Kerala Hindus |url=https://archive.org/details/societyinindia01mand/page/502 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Matrilineal Kinship |editor1-first=David Murray |editor1-last=Schneider |editor2-first=E. Kathleen |editor2-last=Gough |chapter=Tiyyar: North Kerala |first=E. Kathleen |last=Gough |author-link=Kathleen Gough |page=405 |year=1961 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-02529-5 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lfdvTbfilYAC&pg=PA312 |quote=Throughout Kerala the Tiyyars (called Iravas in parts of Cochin and Travancore) ... }}</ref> Some are also known as ''Thandan'', which has caused administrative difficulties due to the presence of a distinct caste of [[Thandan]] in the same region.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.newindpress.com/sunday/sundayItems.asp?id=SET20021221042249&eTitle=Think+Piece&rLink=0 |title=Ezhavas: Their many dimensions |publisher=Newindpress.com |first=K. K. |last=Kusuman |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929104931/http://www.newindpress.com/sunday/sundayItems.asp?id=SET20021221042249&eTitle=Think+Piece&rLink=0 |archive-date=2007-09-29}}</ref><ref name="stdg">{{cite web |url=http://164.100.24.208/ls/CommitteeR/Social/20threport.pdf |title=Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment (2006-2007) |page=13}}</ref> The Thiyyas<ref name="Smith1976pp31-32">[[#Smith1976|Pullapilly (1976)]] pp. 31–32</ref> group have claimed a higher ranking in the Hindu caste system than do the Ezhavas, although from the perspective of the [[Colonial India|colonial]] and subsequent administrations they were treated as being of similar rank.<ref name="Nossiter1982p30">[[#Nossiter1982|Nossiter (1982)]] p. 30</ref><ref name="Kodoth2001p350">{{cite journal |title=Courting Legitimacy or Delegitimizing Custom? Sexuality, Sambandham and Marriage Reform in Late Nineteenth-Century Malabar |first=Praveena |last=Kodoth |journal=Modern Asian Studies |volume=35 |issue=2 |date=May 2001 |page=350 |jstor=313121 |doi=10.1017/s0026749x01002037 |pmid=18481401 |s2cid=7910533 }}</ref>

Thiyya dynasties such as the [[Mannanar]] existed in Kerala.<ref name="Smith1976pp31-32"/> British formed the [[Thiyyar Regiment]] in Malabar during the colonial rule.<ref>L.K.A.Iyer, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=XGSuAwWHa0kC The Mysore Tribes and caste]''. Vol.III, A Mittal Publish. Page.279, Google Books</ref><ref> Nagendra k.r.singh ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=Xcpa_T-7oVQC Global Encyclopedia of the South India Dalit's Ethnography]'' (2006) page.230, Google Books</ref><ref>L.Krishna Anandha Krishna Iyer(Divan Bahadur) ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=hOyqKkYi6McC The Cochin Tribes and Caste]'' Vol.1. Johnson Reprint Corporation, 1962. Page. 278, Google Books</ref><ref> {{Cite book|last=Iyer|first=L. K. Anantha Krishna|url=http://archive.org/details/dli.csl.7757|title=The Cochin tribes and castes vol.I|date=1909|publisher=Higginbotham, Madras}}</ref> There were lesser known Thiyya regiments and Thiyyar Pattalam formed by the French and British governments in Mahe and Thalassery.<ref>{{Cite book|last=P.R|first=Nisha|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=My8DEAAAQBAJ|title=Jumbos and Jumping Devils: A Social History of Indian Circus|date=2020-06-12|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-099207-1|language=en}}</ref> The British deployed the unit in various military operations.<ref> {{Cite book|last=M.D|first=N. C. SHYAMALAN|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wYWVBQAAQBAJ|title=North Africa To North Malabar: AN ANCESTRAL JOURNEY|publisher=Notion Press|isbn=978-93-83416-64-6|language=en}}</ref>

==History==
===Inscriptions===
The earliest use of the word Eelam
or Ezham is found in a [[Tamil-Brahmi]] inscription as well as in the [[Sangam literature]]. The [[Tirupparankunram]] inscription found near [[Madurai]] in [[Tamil Nadu]] and dated on palaeographical grounds to the 1st century BCE, refers to a person as a householder from Eelam (''Eela-kudumpikan'').<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Being a Tamil and Sri Lankan|last=Civattampi|first=Kārttikēcu|date=2005|publisher=Aivakam|isbn=9789551132002|pages=134–135|language=en}}</ref> The inscription reads,

{{Blockquote|: erukatur eelakutumpikan polalaiyan "Polalaiyan, (resident of) Erukatur, the husbandman (householder) from Eelam." .<ref name="Schalk">{{Cite book | last=Schalk | first=Peter | contribution=Robert Caldwell's Derivation īlam<sīhala: A Critical Assessment | editor-last=Chevillard | editor-first=Jean-Luc | title=South-Indian Horizons: Felicitation Volume for François Gros on the occasion of his 70th birthday | place=Pondichéry | publisher=Institut Français de Pondichéry | isbn=978-2-85539-630-9 | pages=347–364 | year=2004 }}.</ref>}}

The Sangam literature ''[[Paṭṭiṉappālai]]'', mentions ''Eelattu-unavu'' (food from Eelam). One of the prominent Sangam Tamil poets is known as [[Eelattu Poothanthevanar]] meaning Poothan-thevan (proper name) hailing from ''Eelam''. ([[Akanaṉūṟu]]: 88, 231, 307; [[Kuṟuntokai]]: 189, 360, 343; [[Naṟṟiṇai]]: 88, 366).<ref>{{Cite book|title=Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature: Sasay to Zorgot|last=Lal|first=Mohan|date=1992|publisher=Sahitya Akademi|isbn=9788126012213|pages=4155|language=en}}</ref> The Tamil inscriptions from the [[Pallava]] & [[Chola]] period dating from 9th century CE link the word with toddy, toddy tapper's quarters (''Eelat-cheri''), tax on toddy tapping (''Eelap-poodchi''), a class of toddy tappers (''Eelath-chanran''). Eelavar is a caste of toddy tappers found in the southern parts of [[Kerala]].<ref name=":0" /> ''Eela-kaasu'' and ''Eela-karung-kaasu'' are refers to coinages found in the [[Chola dynasty|Chola]] inscriptions of [[Parantaka I]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Politics of Tamil Nationalism in Sri Lanka|last=Sivarajah|first=Ambalavanar|date=1996|publisher=South Asian Publishers|isbn=9788170031956|pages=122|language=en}}</ref> However it is to be noticed that Ezhava as a caste had not been formed yet. Eelam means modern day Northern Ceylon / Srilanka. And Eela also has the etymological meaning of toddy.

===Legend===

There are [[myth of origin|myths of origin]] for the Ezhava. According to some [[Malayalam]] folk songs like [[Vadakkan Pattukal]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bright |first1=William |title=Review of Dialect Survey of Malayalam (Ezhava-Tiiya) |journal=Language |date=1978 |volume=54 |issue=1 |pages=249 |doi=10.2307/413041 |jstor=413041 }}</ref> {{which|date=April 2020}} and legend, the Ezhavas were the progeny of four bachelors that the king of [[Sri Lanka|Ceylon]] (Sri Lanka) sent to what is now [[Kerala]] at the request of the [[Chera dynasty|Chera]] king Bhaskara Ravi Varma, in the 1st century CE. These men were sent, ostensibly, to set up [[coconut]] farming in the region.<ref>[[#Smith1976|Pullapilly (1976)]] pp. 25–26</ref>

===Social and religious divergence===
The first mention of Ezhavas as a caste comes from a 14th century mention by Italian seafarers and traveler Ludovico de Varthema. He mentioned that

"''The women of these two classes of people, that is, the Poliari and Hirava, suckle their children for about three months, and then they feed them upon cow's milk or goat's milk. And when they have crammed them, without washing either their faces or their bodies, they throw them into the sand, in which they remain covered up from the morning until the evening, and as they are more black than any other colour, they cannot be distinguished from little buffalos or little bears; so that they appear misshapen things, and it seems as though they were fed by the devil. Their mothers give them food again in the evening. These people are the most agile leapers and runners in the world''"<ref>Pg No 171''', [https://archive.org/details/travelsofludovic00vartrich/page/170/mode/1up The travels of Ludovico di Varthema in Egypt, Syria, Arabia Deserta and Arabia Felix, in Persia, India, and Ethiopia, A.D. 1503 to 1508]''' by Varthema, Lodovico de, 15th cent; Jones, John Winter, 1805-1881; Badger, George Percy, 1815-1888</ref>

Ezhavas were noted as a people similar to Pulayas in apperance and lifestyle. Therefore during 14th century Ezhavas and Pulayas were still not completely separated castes although they had started to socially diverge as evident from adoption of different caste name.

The divergence of Ezhavas from the agrarian Pulayas may have occured when more and more Ezhavas over time adopted toddy related proffesions rather than subsisting solely on manual labour or agrarian work.

Another reason may be that Ezhavas submitted to Savarna hegemony via customs like Adhyaratri Avakasham<ref>Kadathanadan Nombarangal by Bhaskaran Manantheri</ref><ref>Pg No 71, [https://books.google.co.in/books?id=FkVnEQAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=social+mobility+in+kerala&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&ovdme=1&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=social%20mobility%20in%20kerala&f=false Social Mobility in Kerala by Filippo Osella]</ref>, Pulayas resisted these advances (as documented in traditional Pulaya folklore).

Eventually in colonial era due to good relationships with the British, Ezhavas in Malabar gained upper hand in public office employment, and thus rising above all Avarnas including Vishwakarma/Viswabrahmins in colonial era records .

==Past occupations==
They used to work as agricultural labourers, small cultivators, [[toddy tapper]]s and liquor businessmen, some Ezhavas were also involved in weaving and some practised [[Ayurveda]].<ref name="Smith1976pp31-32" /><ref>{{cite book |last=Rao |first=M. S. A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tZAiAAAAMAAJ&q=Chekor+kalari |title=Social Movements and Social Transformation |publisher=Macmillan |year=1979 |isbn=9780333902554 |page=23}}</ref> An upper section, by reason of wealth and/or influence, came into the position to acquire titles such as Panicker from the local rulers. These people lived in Nalukettu, had their private temples and owned a large amount of land.<ref name="Osella50" />
[[File:Pictorial Depiction of a Thiyar Couple.jpg|thumb|A Thiyya Couple, 18th century]]

The social anthropologists Filippo and Caroline Osella say that the Ezhavas "... consisted in the mid-nineteenth century of a small landowning and titled elite and a large mass of landless and small tenants who were largely illiterate, considered untouchable, and who eked out a living by manual labour and petty trade."<ref name="Osella8">{{cite book |title=Social Mobility in Kerala: Modernity and Identity in Conflict |first1=Filippo |last1=Osella |first2=Caroline |last2=Osella |publisher=Pluto Press |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-7453-1693-2 |page=8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rMRw0gTZSJwC&pg=PA8}}</ref>{{efn|Gough describes Ezhava subtenants in Central Travancore, who worked land held by the Nair caste. One-third of the net produce from these lands was retained by the subtenants and the remainder was the property of the Nair tenant.<ref>{{cite book |title=Matrilineal Kinship |editor1-first=David Murray |editor1-last=Schneider |editor2-first=E. Kathleen |editor2-last=Gough |chapter=Nayars: Central Kerala |first=E. Kathleen |last=Gough |author-link=Kathleen Gough |page=315 |year=1961 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-02529-5 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lfdvTbfilYAC&pg=PA315 |quote=Tiyyars (called Iravas in Cochin)}}</ref>}} [[A. Aiyappan]], another social anthropologist and himself a member of the caste,<ref name="Osella8" /> noted the mythical belief that the Ezhava brought coconut palms to the region when they moved from Ceylon.<ref name="Osella50">{{cite book |last1=Osella |first1=Filippo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rMRw0gTZSJwC&pg=PA50 |title=Social Mobility in Kerala: Modernity and Identity in Conflict |last2=Osella |first2=Caroline |publisher=Pluto Press |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-7453-1693-2 |pages=55}}</ref> Their traditional occupation, or ''avakasam'', was tending to and tapping the sap of such 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.<ref name="Nossiter1982p30"/> The coastal town of [[Alleppey]] became the centre of such manufacture and was mostly controlled by Ezhavas, although the lucrative export markets were accessible only through European traders, who monopolised the required equipment. A boom in trade for these manufactured goods after [[World War I]] led to a unique situation in twentieth-century Kerala whereby there was a shortage of labour, which attracted still more Ezhavas to the industry from outlying rural areas. The [[Great Depression]] impacted in particular on the export trade, causing a reduction in price and in wages even though production increased, with the consequence that during the 1930s many Ezhava families found themselves to be in dire financial circumstances.<ref name="Osella50" /><ref>{{cite book |title=Communal Road to a Secular Kerala |first=George |last=Mathew |publisher=Concept Publishing Company |year=1989 |isbn=978-81-7022-282-8 |pages=137–138 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1TuPeXFP0WgC&pg=PA137}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title='Destroy Capitalism!': Growing Solidarity of Alleppey's Coir Workers, 1930–40 |first=Robin |last=Jeffrey |author-link=Robin Jeffrey |journal=Economic and Political Weekly |volume=19 |issue=29 |pages=1159–1165 |date=21 July 1984 |jstor=4373437}}</ref> [[File:Chogans.JPG|thumb|upright=1.1|right|An Ezhava couple, 19th century]]

Some Ezhavas were involved in weaving and ship making.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bVgeAAAAMAAJ&q=jaggery|title= Religion and ideology in Kerala |page=246|first=Geneviève |last=Lemercinier|publisher=D.K. Agencies |year=1984|isbn= 9788185007021 |access-date=2011-06-21}}</ref>

===Martial traditions===
Some Thiyyas served in army of local chieftains and local rulers such as of [[Kadathanad]] and [[Kurumbranad]] of Kerala<ref>{{cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=A6MfPh-9DiEC&pg=PA25 | page = 20 | title = On life and times of George Joseph, 1887–1938, a Syrian Christian nationalist from Kerala | author = Joseph, George Gheverghese | publisher = Orient Longman | year = 2003 | access-date = 2007-12-09 | isbn=978-81-250-2495-8}}</ref>

====Chekavar====
Although a caste ambiguous title initially, a subgroup of the Thiyyas learned martial arts like Kalaripayattu and became known as the Chekavars. The ''[[Vadakkan Pattukal]]'' ballads describe Chekavars as forming a small part of the militia of local chieftains and kings but the title was also given to experts of Kalari Payattu.<ref name = "chek1002">{{cite book |first=Elamkulam P. N. Kunjan |last=Pillai |title=Studies in Kerala History |publisher=National Book Stall |location=Kottayam |year=1970 |pages=111, 151–154}}</ref>. However according to historical mentions and evidence, until the colonial era , the Thiyya Chekavars were only called for angams (duels) to be settled between smaller Nair tharavads who did not want to send their own members.

===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. [[Itty Achudan]] was probably the best known Ezhava physician: he directly influenced the botanical classification in ''[[Hortus Malabaricus]]'', published during the 17th century. Achudan's texts were written in the [[Kolezhuthu]] script that Ezhava castes used, for they were prevented from learning the more Sanskritised Aryazuthu script which was the preserve of the upper-castes.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Indigenous Knowledge and the Significance of South-West India for Portuguese and Dutch Constructions of Tropical Nature |first=Richard |last=Grove |journal=Modern Asian Studies |volume=30 |issue=1 |date=February 1996 |pages= 121–143|jstor=312903 |doi=10.1017/s0026749x00014104|s2cid=144682406 }}</ref>

Some Ezhavas practiced ayurvedic medicine.<ref name="Alan Bicker 2000 9">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FS7dkOgNGT0C&pg=PA9|title= Indigenous environmental knowledge and its transformations|page=9|first=RF Ellen Peter Parkes |last=Alan Bicker|publisher=Routledge |year=2000|access-date=2011-06-15|isbn= 9789057024832}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8XJ2HHZcM6oC&pg=PA83|title= Ecological Journeys |page=82|first=Madhav |last=Gadgil|publisher=Orient Blackswan |year=2005|access-date=2011-06-15|isbn= 9788178241128}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WwNUblS-jpwC&pg=PA3120|title= Modern World System and Indian Proto-Industrialization |page=312|first=Abhay Kumar |last=Singh|publisher=Northern book center |year=2006|access-date=2011-06-15|isbn= 9788172112011}}</ref>

==Culture==
[[File:The traditional attire of Thiyyar (Tiyya) Bridegroom and companions who dressed as warriors and holding raised sword in their right hand ,in 1912.jpg|thumb|upright=1|left|The traditional attire of Thiyyar (Tiyya) Bridegroom and companions, in 1912]]

===Arjuna Nrtam (Mayilpeeli Thookkam)===
[[Mayilpeeli Thookkam|Arjuna Nrtam]] ("the dance of [[Arjuna]]") is a ritual art performed by Ezhava men and is prevalent in the [[Bhagavathy]] temples of south Kerala, mainly in [[Kollam]], Alappuzha and [[Kottayam]] districts. The ritual is also called "Mayilpeeli Thookkam" because 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 similar to kalarippayattu techniques. The performers have their faces painted green and wear distinctive headgears. The all-night performance of the dance is usually presented solo or in pairs.<ref name="ezh22">{{cite book | last=Bernier|first=Ronald M. | title = Temple Arts of Kerala: A South Indian Tradition | publisher = Asia Book Corporation of America | year = 1982 | isbn = 978-0-940500-79-2}}</ref>{{page needed|date=April 2020}}

===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, twine 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]].<ref name = "ezh22"/>{{page needed|date=April 2020}}<ref name = "ezh23">Krishna Chaitanya, Temple Arts of Kerala: A South Indian Tradition (Abhinav Publications, 1987,{{ISBN|8170172098}})</ref>{{page needed|date=April 2020}}

===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. Standing round a traditional lamp, the performers dance in eighteen different stages and rhythms, each phase called a niram.<ref name="ezh22"/>{{page needed|date=April 2020}}

==Customs==
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 (Northern Kerala)|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.<ref name="Nossiter1982p30"/><ref name="jeffrey1974">{{cite journal |first=Robin |last=Jeffrey |author-link=Robin Jeffrey |title=The Social Origins of a Caste Association, 1875–1905: The Founding of the S.N.D.P. Yogam |journal=South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies |series=1 |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=39–59 |date=1974 |doi=10.1080/00856407408730687}}</ref>

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 [[Caste system in India|Hindu caste]] in Kerala who adopted matrilineal arrangements; the situation for the Nairs was complicated by a traditional matrilocal form of living called ''[[tharavadu|taravadu]]'' and by their usually much higher degree of property ownership.<ref name="Nossiter1982p30"/> That said, certainly by the 1880s, the Ezhavas appear increasingly to have tried to adopt Nair practises in a bid to achieve a similar status. [[Robin Jeffrey]] notes that their women began to prefer the style of jewellery worn by Nairs to that which was their own tradition. Further, since Nairs cremated their dead, Ezhavas attempted to cremate at least the oldest member of their family, although cost usually meant that the remainder were buried. Other aspirational changes included building houses in the Nair tharavad style and making claims that they had had an equal standing as a military class until the nineteenth century.<ref name="jeffrey1974"/>
[[File:An Ezhava family.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|right|An Ezhava family of early 20th century]]
[[Polyandry|Polygamy]] was practised in within certain parts of Ezhava community, but has since died out. There are several proposed arguments for this, the Valiyagraman Ezhavas argue that they practised it for economic reasons, the argument that the older brother would marry first, and share his wife with his younger brother(s) until they could afford to marry. It was also common for one of the brothers to be away for long periods of time.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Filippo Osella|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rMRw0gTZSJwC&dq=social+mobility+in+kerala+filippo+osella+polyandry&pg=PA89|title=Social Mobility In Kerala: Modernity and Identity in Conflict|author2=Caroline Osella|date = 20 December 2000|isbn=0-7453-1694-8|pages=89–90}}</ref>

Following the British settlement in Kerala, some Thiyya families in [[Thalassery]],were taken as concubines by ruling british administrative officers,mostly of which [[Resident minister]]s who were in charge of [[Malabar District]] and subsequently had children. This community was referred to as "white Thiyyas".These liaisons were considered as "dishonorable" and "degrading" to the samudhayam (community), and were excluded from the community. Most of these women and children had converted to Christianity. The Thiyyas in northern Malabar generally had a better relationship with colonizers than the Hindus in other parts of the country. This was due in part, to the fact that the British would employ Thiyyas, but Kerala's local princes wouldn't.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Robin Jeffrey|title=Politics, Women and Well-Being: How Kerala Became 'a Model'|date=27 July 2016|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ENC-DAAAQBAJ&dq=Tiyyas+in+north+Malabar+fared+better+than+in+south+Malabar%2C+perhaps+because+land+was+more+readily+available.+They+were+matrilineal+before+the+British+East+India+company+estalished+forts+at+Telicherry+and+Cannanore+in+the+early+eighteenth+century%2C+and+some+Tiyya+families+permitted+their+women+to+form+liaisons+with+Europeans.+A+small+community+%E2%80%94+the+so-called+%E2%80%98white+Tiyyas%E2%80%99+%E2%80%94+resulted%2C+and+though+the+suggestion+of+concubinage+with+Europeans+became+a+great+embarrassment+in+the+twentieth+century%2C+such+arrangements+brought+considerable+advantage+in+the+eighteenth+and+nineteenth+centuries.+Tiyyas+in+north+Malabar%2C+even+if+not+members+of+%E2%80%98white+Tiyya%E2%80%99+families%2C+developed+a+smoother+relationship+with+the+European+rulers+than+Hindus+elsewhere+in+Kerala.+The+British%2C+unlike+Kerala%27s+princes+readily+employed+Tiyyas%2C+and+Tiyya+factotum+became+a+constant+companion+of+some+British+officials&pg=PA50|isbn= 978-1-349-12252-3|page=50}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rMRw0gTZSJwC&dq=social+mobility+in+kerala+filippo+osella+pallor+skin+tone&pg=PA83|title = Social Mobility in Kerala: Modernity and Identity in Conflict|isbn = 9780745316932|last1 = Osella|first1 = Filippo|last2 = Caroline|first2 = Filippo|last3 = Osella|first3 = Caroline|date = 20 December 2000}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://science.thewire.in/politics/caste/janaki-ammal-geeta-doctor-caste-poems/|title=E.K. Janaki Ammal and the Caste Conundrum – The Wire Science|date=15 August 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Abraham |first1=Janaki |title=The Stain of White: Liaisons, Memories, and White Men as Relatives |journal=Men and Masculinities |date=October 2006 |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=131–151 |doi=10.1177/1097184X06287764 |s2cid=145540016 }}</ref>

==Spiritual and social movements==
[[File:Narayana Guru.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|left|Narayana Guru]]

Some Ezhavas converted to [[Islam]] from around the 9th century, due to the influence of Arab traders. These people, and other Muslim converts in the region, are now known as [[Mappilla]]s.<ref name="Gough313" /> A sizeable part of the Ezhava community, especially in central [[Travancore]] and in the [[Western Ghats|High Ranges]], embraced [[Christianity]] during the [[British Raj|British rule]], due to caste-based discrimination. In [[Kannur]], [[Protestant]] missions started working in the first half of the 19th century, notably the [[Basel Mission|Basel German Evangelical Mission]]. Most of their converts were from the Ezhava community.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wFsbAAAAIAAJ&q=cannanore+thiyya|title= Kerala District Gazetteers: Palghat|page=188|first=C. K |last=Kareem|publisher=printed by the Superintendent of Govt. Presses |year=1976|access-date=2011-06-24}}</ref> The [[Congregational]]ist [[London Missionary Society]] and the [[Anglican]] [[Church Mission Society]] were also prominent in the movement for religious conversion, having established presences in the Travancore region in the early 19th century.<ref>{{cite book |title=Missionary Encounters: Sources & Issues |editor1-first=Robert A. |editor1-last=Bickers |editor2-first=Rosemary E. |editor2-last=Seton |publisher=Routledge |year=1996 |isbn=9780700703708 |chapter=Who is to benefit from missionary education? Travancore in the 1930s |first=Dick |last=Kooiman |page=158 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=98D8AemziJoC&pg=PA158}}</ref>

The lowly status of the Ezhava meant that, as [[Thomas 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.<ref name="Nossiter1982p30"/> An early Ezhava campaigner and their "political father", according to Ritty Lukose, was [[Padmanabhan Palpu]].<ref>{{cite book |page=209 |first=Ritty A. |last=Lukose |chapter=Recasting the Secular: Religion and Education in Kerala, India |title=Everyday Life in South Asia |editor1-first=Diane P. |editor1-last=Mines |editor2-first=Sarah |editor2-last=Lamb |edition=2nd |publisher=Indiana University Press |year=2010 |isbn=9780253354730 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=828fOvb61wIC&pg=PA209}}</ref> In 1896, he organised a petition of 13,176 signatories that was submitted to the [[Maharajah]] of the [[princely state]] of Travancore, asking for government recognition of the Ezhavas' right to work in public administration and to have access to formal education.<ref>{{cite book |title=Being Middle-class in India: A Way of Life |editor-first=Henrike |editor-last=Donner |first=Caroline |last=Wilson |chapter=The social transformation of the medical profession in urban Kerala : Doctors, social mobility and the middle classes |publisher=Routledge |location=Abingdon, Oxon |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-415-67167-5 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1_e8FT54FjIC&pg=PT193 |pages=193–194}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Different Types of History |editor-first=Bharati |editor-last=Ray |chapter=Subjects of New Lives |first=Udaya |last=Kumar |publisher=Pearson Education India |year=2009 |isbn=978-81-317-1818-6 |page=329 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9x5FX2RROZgC&pg=PA329}}</ref> Around this time, nearly 93 per cent of the caste members were illiterate.<ref name="Padmanabhan">{{cite book |chapter=Learning to Learn |first=Roshni |last=Padmanabhan |title=Development, Democracy and the State: Critiquing the Kerala Model of Development |editor-first=K. Ravi |editor-last=Raman |publisher=Routledge |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-13515-006-8 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IGiMAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA106 |page=106}}</ref>{{efn|Robin Jeffrey notes that literacy among Ezhava men increased from 3.15 per cent to 12.10 per cent between the [[census of India prior to independence|1875 and 1891 censuses]], mainly through the work of missionaries rather than government schools.<ref name="jeffrey1974"/>}} 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 [[helot]]s of Hindu society. [[C. P. Ramaswamy Iyer]], realising 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.{{citation needed|date=March 2013}} Steven Wilkinson says that the Proclamation was passed because the government was "frightened" by the Ezhava threat of conversion to Christianity.<ref>{{cite book |title=Votes and Violence: Electoral Competition and Ethnic Riots in India |first=Steven I. |last=Wilkinson |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2006 |edition=Reprinted |orig-year=2004 |isbn=978-0-521-53605-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tLpRFbLSxvAC&pg=PA179 |page=179}}</ref>

Eventually, in 1903, a small group of Ezhavas, led by Palpu, established [[Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP)]], the first caste association in the region. This was named after [[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]].<ref name="Nossiter1982pp30-32" /> One of the initial aims of the SNDP was to campaign for the removal of the restrictions on school entry but even after those legal barriers to education were removed, it was uncommon in practice for Ezhavas to be admitted to government schools. Thus, the campaign shifted to providing schools operated by the community itself.<ref name="Padmanabhan" /> 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,<ref name="SchneiderGoughp304">{{cite book |title=Matrilineal Kinship |editor1-first=David Murray |editor1-last=Schneider |editor2-first=E. Kathleen |editor2-last=Gough |chapter=Nayars: Central Kerala |first=E. Kathleen |last=Gough |page=304 |year=1961 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-02529-5 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lfdvTbfilYAC&pg=PA304}}</ref> the Ezhavas 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.<ref name="Nossiter1982pp30-32">[[#Nossiter1982|Nossiter (1982)]] pp. 30–32</ref>

The Ezhavas were not immune to being manipulated by other people for 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 [[Indian National Congress|Congress]], orchestrated by [[T. K. Madhavan]], a revolutionary and civil rights activist,<ref name="Smith1976p38">[[#Smith1976|Pullapilly (1976)]] p. 38</ref> 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", according to Nossiter.<ref name="Nossiter1982pp30-32"/> During this movement, a few [[Khalsa|Akalis]]{{mdash}}an order of armed [[Sikh]]s{{mdash}}came to Vaikom in support of the demonstrators. After the eventual passing of the Temple Entry Proclamation, some of the Akalis remained. They attracted some Ezhava youth to the concepts of the Sikhism, resulting in Ezhava conversions to that belief.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C8EBAAAAMAAJ&q=sikhism+ezhava|title= The abstention movement|page=19|first=K.K |last=Kusuman|publisher=Kerala Historical Society |year=1976|access-date=2011-06-15}}</ref>

Between the Travancore census of 1875 and 1891, the literacy of Ezhava men had been increased from 3.15 percent to 12.1 percent. The 1891 census showed that there were at least 25000 educated Ezhavas in Travancore<ref>''Cash, Caste and Customs. The Decline of Nair Dominance: Society and Politics in Travancore 1847-1908'', Robin Jeffrey, Manohar Classics. p. 187-190</ref> Dr. Palpu had support from Parameswaran Pillai who was editing the Madras Standard. He raised the issue of the rights of Ezhavas in a speech at the National Conference in Pune in 1885, which was also editorialized in the Madras Standard. Pillai and Dr. Palpu also raised their questions regarding Ezhavas in the House of Commons in England in 1897. Dr. Palpu met with Swamy Vivekanda in Mysore and discussed the conditions of Ezhavas. Vivekanda has advised him to unite the Ezhava community under the leadership of a spiritual leader. He embraced this advice and associated with Sree Narayana Guru and formed the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (S.N.D.P), registered in March 1903.<ref>''The Brahmin-Nair Official Elite and its competitors. The Decline of Nair Dominance: Society and Politics in Travancore 1847-1908'', Robin Jeffrey, Manohar Classics. p. 187-190</ref> By mid 1904, the emerging S.N.D.P Yogam, operating a few schools, temples, and a monthly magazine announced that it would hold an industrial exhibition with its second annual general meeting in Quilon in January 1905. The exhibition was skillful and successful and was a sign of the awakening Ezhava community.
<ref>''"Social Civil War". The Decline of Nair Dominance: Society and Politics in Travancore 1847-1908'', Robin Jeffrey, Manohar Classics. p. 187-190</ref>

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 {{cvt|60000|acre|ha}} of properties previously held by substantial landowners saw the majority of Ezhava beneficiaries receive less than one 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.<ref name="Nossiter1982pp30-32"/>

==Position in society==
They were considered as ''avarna'' (outside brahmanical varna system) by the Nambudiri Brahmins who formed the Hindu clergy and ritual ruling elite in late medieval Kerala.<ref name="Nossiter1982p30"/> [[Kathleen Gough]] says that the Ezhavas of Central Travancore were historically the highest-ranking of the "higher polluting castes", a group whose other constituents included [[Kanisan]]s and various artisanal castes, and who were all superior in status to the "lower polluting castes", such as the [[Pulayar]]s and [[Paraiyar]]s. The Nairs and, where applicable, the Mapillas ranked socially and ritually higher than the polluting castes.<ref name="Gough313">{{cite book |title=Matrilineal Kinship |editor1-first=David Murray |editor1-last=Schneider |editor2-first=E. Kathleen |editor2-last=Gough |chapter=Nayars: Central Kerala |first=E. Kathleen |last=Gough |author-link=Kathleen Gough |pages=312–313 |year=1961 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-02529-5 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lfdvTbfilYAC&pg=PA312}}</ref>{{efn|Kathleen Gough says of the Mappillas that they "... lived mainly in the ports and at inland trading posts on the banks of rivers. They were partly outside the village ranking system ... and were theoretically outside the Hindu religious hierarchy. Nevertheless Muslims were in some contexts accorded a rank ritually and socially between that of the Nayars and Tiyyars."<ref name="Gough313" />}} From their study based principally around one village and published in 2000, the Osellas noted that the movements of the late 19th- and 20th centuries brought about a considerable change for the Ezhavas, with access to jobs, education and the right to vote all assisting in creating an identity based on more on class than caste, although the stigmatic label of ''avarna'' remained despite gaining the right of access to temples.<ref>{{cite book |title=Social Mobility in Kerala: Modernity and Identity in Conflict |first1=Filippo |last1=Osella |first2=Caroline |last2=Osella |publisher=Pluto Press |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-7453-1693-2 |pages=16, 29 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rMRw0gTZSJwC&pg=PA16}}</ref>

The Ezhavas are classified as an [[Other Backward Class]] by the [[Government of India]] under its [[Reservation in India|system of positive discrimination]].<ref name="obc">{{cite web|title=Central List of OBCs: Kerala|url=http://ncbc.nic.in/User_Panel/GazetteResolution.aspx?Value=mPICjsL1aLvX4YwLqUBC2NUPs1mZbhKbKhWJfmW%2b7ZgXWaQGOVNjwfOOnQuzOlde|publisher=National Commission for Backward Classes, Government of India|access-date=2017-04-16}}</ref>

==Dispute between different Ezhava communities==
Some in the Ezhava community in Malabar have objected to being treated as Ezhava by the government of Kerala, arguing that the Ezhava in Malabar (locally known as Thiyyar) are a separate caste. They have campaigned for the right to record themselves as Thiyya rather than as Ezhava when applying for official posts and other jobs allocated under India's system of positive discrimination. They claim that the stance of the government is contrary to a principle established by the [[Supreme Court of India]] relating to a dispute involving communities who were not Ezhava.<ref>{{cite news |publisher=News 18 |title=Thiyyas to move SC against Government order |date=23 January 2012 |first=Kalathil |last=Ramakrishnan |url=https://www.news18.com/news/india/thiyyas-to-move-sc-against-government-order-439733.html |access-date =18 June 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |newspaper=The Hindu|date=23 May 2012 |title=Plea to lower minimum qualification for jobs |url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-kerala/plea-to-lower-minimum-qualification-for-jobs/article3447946.ece |access-date=28 March 2013}}</ref> The Thiyya Mahasabha (a sub-group of the Ezhava in Malabar) has also opposed the SNDP's use of the Thiyya name at an event.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=The Hindu|url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-kerala/thiyya-forum-lashes-out-at-sndp/article4349866.ece |date=27 January 2013 |title=Thiyya forum lashes out at SNDP |access-date=9 March 2013}}</ref>

In February 2013, the recently formed Thiyya Mahasabha objected to the SNDP treating Ezhavas and Thiyyas as one group, rather than recognising the Thiyyas in Malabar as being distinct. The SNDP was at that time attempting to increase its relatively weak influence in northern Kerala, where the politics of identity play a lesser role than those of class and the [[Communist Party of India (Marxist)]] has historically been a significant organisation.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=The Hindu|date=1 February 2013 |title=Ezhava-Thiyya convention in Kozhikode |url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-kerala/ezhavathiyya-convention-in-kozhikode/article4367837.ece |access-date=28 March 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |publisher=The New Indian Express |date=1 February 2013 |title=SNDP out to make a dent in CPM citadels in Malabar |url=http://newindianexpress.com/states/kerala/article1444651.ece |access-date=28 March 2013}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[List of Ezhavas]]
*[[Travancore Labour Association]]
*[[Narayana Guru]]
*[[Temples consecrated by Narayana Guru]]
*[[Padmanabhan Palpu]]
*[[R. Sankar]]
*[[Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP)]]
*[[Sree Narayana Trust]]
*[[List of Sree Narayana Institutions]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

===Bibliography===
*{{cite book |title=Communism in Kerala: a study in political adaptation |first=Thomas Johnson |last=Nossiter |publisher=University of California Press |year=1982 |chapter=Kerala's identity: unity and diversity |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8CSQUxVjjWQC |isbn=978-0-520-04667-2 |author-link=Thomas Nossiter |access-date=2011-06-09 |ref=Nossiter1982}}
*{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xNAI9F8IBOgC&pg=PA38 |title=Religion and Social Conflict in South Asia |volume=22 |series=International studies in sociology and social anthropology |editor-first=Bardwell L. |editor-last=Smith |publisher=E. J. Brill |first=Cyriac K. |last=Pullapilly |author-link=Cyriac Pullapilly |chapter=The Izhavas of Kerala and their Historic Struggle for Acceptance in the Hindu Society |location=Netherlands |year=1976 |access-date=2011-06-09 |isbn=978-90-04-04510-1 |ref=Smith1976 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/religionsocialco0000unse}}

{{commons category|Ezhava}}
{{Narayana Guru}}

[[Category:Ezhava| ]]
[[Category:Social groups of Kerala]]
[[Category:Indian castes]]
[[Category:Narayana Guru]]
[[Category:Malayali people]]
[[Category:Brewing and distilling castes]]
[[Category:Other Backward Classes]]

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