Nair priests to replace Brahmin priests at temples of Nair Service Society

One of the most interesting announcements made by Nair Service Society General Secretary G Sukumaran Nair at the 136th Mannam Jayanthi celebration concluded at NSS headquarters Changanasseri on Jan 3, 2013 was decision of the organization to promote Nairs as priests instead of Brahmin Priests at temples owned by NSS.

Addressing a mamoth gathering of Nairs at Nair Delegates’ Meet on the first day of the two-day celebration, Sukumaran Nair emphasised the need to promote learned Nairs as priests

The aim is to identify members of the community who possess ‘brahmanyam, Nair said and pointed out that exploitation exists in spiritual arena even now.

Leading English newspapers which quoted Nair said Nair pointed out that Sections of Brahmins who used to take advantage of the Nair community at various power centres are continuing the practice in spiritual arena and to stop this, those Nairs with tantric knowledge have to be made priests. NSS will start more Tantrik vidyapeets he asserted.

When the NSS started its first Thanthra Vidya Peethom, there was opposition from certain sections. However challenges were overcome and the first batch of candidates have passed out and are receiving wholehearted acceptance from Nair community, Sukumaran Nair said. However Nair clarified that his criticism is not against all Brahmins but only against those who claim to be Brahmin and lack knowledge of Vedas and other Hindu scriptures and pooja practices.

Sukumaran Nair’s announcement is timely and it is high time that Nairs appointed learned Hindus as priests in temples owned by them rather than looking for those who bear  Brahmin caste names. As Rigveda said “Janmana Jayathe Sudra, Karmanya Diwija Uchyathe,’. This can be roughly translated as everyone is born Sudra but attains Brahminhood by studies and culture.

One cannot forget the acts of former Sabarimala Tantri Kantaru Mohanaru who was banned from performing duties at Sabarimala following findings of Travancore Devaswom Board that he engaged in acts not expected from him. Once a learned three member inquiry commission which investigated into irregularities in Devaswom Board interviewed Mohanaru. Many newspapers had reported the answers given byMohanaru to commission. Mohanaru admitted before the commission that  he does not know Sanskrit, Veda mantras. He was unable   to tell the commission the birth star of Lord Ganapathi or recite  Bhagyasooktham even though he claimed he conducted Ganapathi Homam.  When this was the plight of a Sabarimala Tantri who claimed traditional right to the post, it is better Learned Nairs conducted pooja themselves.

Kerala’s communal harmony lost its warmth: AK Antony at Mannam Jayanthi

Inauguration of Mannam Jayanthi celebrations 2013 of Nair Service Society became an occasion to analyze social conditions in Kerala famed for social justice and communal harmony. Indian Defence Minister A.K Antony who inaugurated the celebrations at Nair Service Society headquarters on Jan 2, 2013 said some soul stirring truths.

Antony said those who occupy top positions should ensure that social justice and communal balance should be maintained. Antony added that this was essential to maintain communal harmony in Kerala. The audience including a large number of Nairs and other community members welcomed Antony’s words with thunderous claps.

Antony’s words assume significance in the context of opinions expressed by Nair Service Society and SNDP earlier that some of the decisions of Kerala government had adversely affected social justice and communal balance in Kerala. Nair Service Society general secretary Sukumaran Nair had earlier pointed out that appointing a fifth minister from Muslim League will have negative impact on social and communal balance in Kerala. But UDF leaders succumbed to Muslim League’s pressure.

At the Nair meet, Antony also pointed out that that Kerala’s communal harmony has lost its warmth and conflicts between different communities in Kerala have increased. He pointed out that communal harmony in Kerala will be ensured only when social justice and communal balance is maintained.

Of late Nair and other Hindu community leaders have been complaining that minority communities in Kerala are cornering a major chunk of benefits of welfare steps being taken by Kerala and union governments. Nair and Ezhava leaders have often pointed out that majority Hindus are now being treated as second class citizen in Kerala. Current Nair-Ezhava unity in Kerala is the result of this feeling that Nairs, Ezhavas and other Hindus in Kerala are being neglected.

A.K Antony’s brave words on communal situation in Kerala are likely to result in hot debate on Kerala’s politics and social conditions. Antony had always tried to tell the truth unlike some other leaders who tried to suppress the truth to protect their personal interests. Antony had earlier been forced to resign as chief minister following his speech at a Namboothiri Yoga Kshema Sabha meet on the plight of majority community in Kerala.

At Mannam jayanthi Antony warned that Kerala will become a mental home if the current situation in the state continued. Anonty’s words should be an eye opener to those who rule Kerala.

Mannam jayanthi celebrations 2013 of NSS reiterates Nair-Ezhava unity

Mannam Jayanthi celebrations 2013 progressing at NSS headquarters Changanasseri have become an occasion to reiterate Nair-Ezhava Unity. Nair Service Society general secretary G Sukumaran Nair who inaugurated all Kerala Nair delegates’ meet on the new year day of 2013 said Nair-Ezhava unity would be preserved at all costs.

It seems finally NSS-SNDP unity is showing signs of lasting long. Previous unity moves had been abandoned following reasons ranging from ego of leaders to manipulations by leaders of minority communities and political parties in Kerala. Sukumaran Nair said Nair-Ezhava unity would eventually grow to include all sections of Hindus in Kerala.

Sukumaran Nair said politicians are trying to divide castes in Kerala. He said Nairs should realize this.

It is really welcome that NSS leadership has realized the threats being faced by Hindus in Kerala. Though Hindus are still majority in Kerala, the ruling coalition United Democratic Front lead by Congress has a majority MLAs from minority communities in Kerala. Similarly, recently the Congress unit in Kerala reconstituted office bearers and a majority of DCC presidents now belong to minority communities. Congress had earlier tried to ensure social equilibrium while reconstituting committees. But this time it seems Hindus got a raw deal while district committee of Congress was reconstituted. Congress leadership should realize that there is a real threat of party losing its hold among Hindus, especially Nairs.

Nairs along with Christians used to be the major vote bank of Congress in Kerala. At this rate Nairs may join BJP and some may vote for CPI (M), if Congress fails to correct imbalance. 

Women empowerment and freedom to women among Nairs in Kerala

Women empowerment and emancipation of women are ideals and future goals for many sections in the society but for Nairs it is a reality from ancient times and Nair women are one of the few groups in the world who enjoyed equality with men in almost all walks of life.

Ancient Nairs followed a system known as Marumakkathayam which provided security and freedom to Nair women at those times. This was unknowingly translated as matriarchy by some western educated scholars. Though women commanded respect among Nairs, Nairs cannot be called a matriarchal society in the real sense. Let us bear in mind the complexities of Nair society and family when we speak of empowered Nair women.

Ancient Nair women were free and it was almost impossible for erring men to exploit sexually or otherwise the proud and brave Nair women. But Nair women never dominated men as some academics have tried to portray and Nair women never headed Nair families or had an upper hand in social set up compared to men as written by some half baked intellectuals. This equality among men and women gave security to Nair women and Nair women did not consider men as opponents.

Actually, in ancient times Nair joint families were headed by Old maternal uncles instead of fathers. Maternal uncles and elders commanded immense respect of nephews. Their views were normally obeyed. This was the general norm. But in the case of rich there was freedom to differ within the system. Rich husbands often gave separate gifts to their wives and clearly had a special say in the upbringing of children. Like other Hindus, Nair women also respected husbands and conducted many religious rights for the well being of husbands. The social set up ensured freedom as well as security to Nair women.

Though old males headed who headed joint families guided Nair women, she enjoyed a fair degree of freedom economically and socially. Ancient Nair women had the right to choose their husbands and divorce if she found it was impossible to maintain healthy relationship. Dowry system was not prevalent among Nairs before 1940s. Nair women were also allowed to learn martial arts (Kalari) and had the right to education.

Nair women enjoyed sexual freedom also but there were checks and balances to prevent it from becoming anarchy. Sexual crimes were less and Males would think twice before trying to attack armed Nair ladies.

When heads called Karanavars took decisions, they took into consideration views of women folk also. Autocracy of Uncles was not tolerated.

Many western trained academics did not understand this complex system and they simply termed Nairs Matriarchal like some tribal communities. But it is far from truth. Such wrong conclusions are the result of trying to define position of Nair women using parameters fixed by Western sociologists. Many of such conclusions are only partial truths and do not really reflect the social system that existed among Nairs.

Such complex family systems came into place as young Nair males were mainly warriors by profession and could not concentrate on the day to day affairs of the family. Old males were into agricultural activities and looked after families.

Nairs owned vast tracts of land in Kerala and their women had the right over crop yields of certain portions. This gave them economic freedom to a certain extent. Of course, the main income had to be distributed by uncles. Normally married girls continued to live with her parents and husbands came to her family. It meant there was little chance for women to face harassment from in laws.

(Marumakkathayam has been abolished by law in Kochi in 1920, Travancore in 1925 and Malabar in around 1933. Nairs now have nuclear families consisting of father, mother and children and sometimes grandfather and grandmother)

Mannam International Socio-Cultural and Charitable Centre of Delhi NSS inaugurated

 Mannam International Socio-Cultural and Charitable Centre set up by Delhi NSS was opened at Dwarka in New Delhi in November 2012. President Pranab Kumar Mukherjee formally declared the centre open at a function organised in Rashtrpati Bhavan.

According to a report that appeared in The Hindu on the occasion, the centre, located at Dwarka, seeks to provide care for senior citizens, healthcare to the underprivileged, temporary shelter to the needy who visit the capital, and space for community functions.

Though this blog has no formal connection with Delhi NSS, I think this should be reported to the world as it is an important event for Nair community throughout the world, especially in Delhi and nearby states. But I wish the patrons of Delhi NSS realised the importance of publishing this event through Centre's own website so that those who would benefit come to know about it. Anyway an international institutions needs to have own website and issue periodical newsletters.

In his inaugural speech the president recalled the contributions of Mannam to the socio-cultural renaissance in Kerala.

‘‘Mannathu Padmanabhan participated in the Vaikom Satyagraha in Kerala which resulted in streets around the Vaikom Shiva temple being opened to the socially underprivileged sections of Hindu society as well as the Guruvayur Satyagraha which led to entry of underprivileged classes into temples,’’ Mukherjee said.

He pointed out that Mannam worked with rare zeal and single-minded devotion for the transformation of the downtrodden in society. A large number of dignitaries were present at the function at Rashtrapati Bhavan who included Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development Shashi Tharoor and T.K.A. Nair, Adviser to the Prime Minister.

Let us all congratulate Delhi NSS for opening such a centre. Nairs had significant presence and were influential in Delhi right from the days of independence. However Nairs did not have any organisation or community office in Delhi. Delhi NSS has not only fulfilled the role but has taken the lead in bringing together influential Nairs in Delhi on a common platform for the greater common good of the community and the society. I hope Delhi NSS grows to a big organisation and help and guide Nairs based in North India.

Wikipedia Page on Famous Nairs Being Vandalised

Who is afraid of Famous Nairs? Those who read this might think why should anybody be afraid of #FamousNairs. Yes I also thought like that till I saw Wikipedia page on FamousNairs. The page on #Famous Nairs is being edited every day to remove many names from the list.

Now it is obvious that there are people who are afraid of #FamousNairs; or perhaps envious that so many famous personalities were born in Nair community. Now who is editing #Wikipedia too frequently to remove names of #FamousNairs. I don’t know. It would be difficult for you also to find culprits. But we can do one thing. We can e-mail to #Wikipedia authorities to pinpoint those who vandalize Nairs page on #Wikipedia.

I have done another thing. I have decided to update the article #FamousNairs in this blog including names of Nairs who are famous in fields like Freedom movement of India, politics, administration, literature, business and economy, and many more. I have started updating the list.

Nairs are often not considered to be good business men though the community has produced many famous bureaucrats and politicians. But when I began searching for #FamousNairs among business people, I was amazed. There are many top business men in Nair community. If you take a list of ministers and bureaucrats it would amaze you. You will find endless number of names.

Take film field; you find hundreds of actors, directors, singers and others who contribute to film industry. #Take the names of Jananpith award winners from Kerala. Nairs are in majority. When we include this in the list #FamousNairs it is natural for intolerant people to feel jealous. How should we defeat their designs. We should produce more #FamousNairs in every field of life. These jealous people can delete names from the list of #FamousNairs in #Wikipedia. But that does not reduce the number of #FamousNairs. The ever increasing list of #FamousNairs should inspire our community’s youngsters to become big in their field.

This is a competitive world. Nairs don’t have reservation in jobs. But this should make us more competitive; we should be become the crème de la crème.

Here is an appeal to #FamousNairs in different fields. After becoming famous you should not forget your brethren. You should do something for our youth. Lend them a helping hand so that the list of #FamousNairs increase.

Muslim League, Nair-Ezhava Unity and secularism

Ever since Nairs and Ezhavas, the two biggest and most influential Hindu communities in Kerala started talking about close cooperation between them, criticisms and sarcastic comments about the unity have started appearing.

Certain organized groups in Kerala society seem to be uneasy about the impact of Nair-Ezhava unity on the social scenario in Kerala. Some vested interest groups had reaped benefits in the past by making Ezhavas fight Nairs in the name of job reservation and ‘wrongs committed in the past’. Meanwhile these groups silently cornered benefits from government like job reservation by getting themselves wrongly included in the category of backward communities eligible for reservation.

Most vehement criticism about Nair-Ezhava unity came from organizations like Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), Popular Front of India and  Jama at Council. The other main criticism came from Mahila Congress. The critics have targeted NSS mainly, which represent Nairs. An analysis of the reasons for their opposition leads to the conclusion that they fear that the benefits they wrongly took away may be lost in the emerging situation. Even if it does not happen they won’t be able to get undue benefits anymore. Actually Nair-Ezhava unity will restore the true secular character of Kerala society which is under threat r currently. Let us analyse how Nair-Ezhava unity will benefit secularism.

 History of unity moves

Since the state of Kerala was formed in 1956, merging the erstwhile kingdoms of Travancore in the south, Kochi in the middle and Malabar (Calicut) in north, power was shared by an elite group of four dominant communities; Nairs, Christians, Ezhavas and Muslims. These communities often formed alliances among themselves whenever they wanted to gain an upper hand or when they found that one in the group was getting upper hand.

 Ezhavas and Nairs, the biggest Hindu castes in Kerala first formed an alliance in 1950s to counter the caste inequilibrium in Indian National Congress’ state leadership which was then dominated by Christian leaders but Nair masses were a major vote bank of Congress. But the unity did not last long. There had been allegations that fissures in the Nair-Ezhava were brought about by those who felt threatened by the emerging new force. Of course, the criticism was aimed at Christian leaders of Congress.

 Though Muslim League was a significant force in Kerala politics even during 1950s, then they did not control power in Kerala and their agenda was limited. So they did not vehemently oppose Nair Ezhava unity then. Slowly by 1970’s, stake of IUML in Kerala politics grew and population of Muslims in Kerala also grew rapidly.

 Muslim-Backward unity against Nairs

 The first intelligent move of IUML aimed at gaining more social influence and power in Kerala was floating of the idea unity of backward castes and Muslims in Kerala which clearly aimed to reduce influence of NSS representing Nairs in Kerala politics. Media and academicians were also used to spread the idea that forward castes, especially Nairs in the past had exploited backward communities. This is actually a travesty of truth as influential sections among major castes and religions in Kerala had exploited backward communities.

 Using backward communities as a shield to fight Nairs, certain religious groups got reservation for jobs in Kerala. Remember reservation based on religion is not approved by constitution of India. Till a few decades back reservation benefits were given to only backward sections in Muslim religion in Kerala. Now almost everybody in that religion gets it by getting themselves branded as backwards.

 Changed social scenario and new emerging equations

 Because of the changed demography of Kerala, parties like Muslim League do not need the support of organizations of backward communities or scheduled castes now. Kerala Media has pointed out that Muslim population as a percentage of total population  in Kerala in 1960s was around 18 per cent currently it is around 25 per cent. It is now difficult to defeat Muslim League candidates in many of their constituencies. While NSS or SNDP may have influence in certain regions in Kerala organizations like Muslim League or Sunni Yuvajana Sanghom have international influence. NSS and SNDP are simply no match to them. The demographical change, increased representation in ministries and the social  progress gained by minority communities in Kerala have made the idea of Minority-Backward coalition meaningless. Minority groups in Kerala have now rejected the idea as they have new aims.

 Though Nair community is branded as forward a major section of the community is now economically backward.  Now backward communities and Nairs have realized that both of them have lost by their needless rivalry. When they fought jackals were waiting to lick their blood first and eat their flesh when they lose their strength. Nair-Ezhava unity is a symbiotic relationship and both communities are likely to benefit. Moreover, it will restore social equilibrium in Kerala which had been facing threat due to change in demography and socio-economic conditions. Thus it will benefit the whole society and reduce communal tensions there by giving rise to a true secular society.