The Nayars

THE NAYARS
1. - Identify and explain the key characteristics of Nayars in terms of kinship and marriage.
The Nayar culture is one of matrilineal kinship, whose members trace their descent throughthe female line. Nayar families traditionally lived jointly in Taravads. A Taravad consists of all the descendants of a female ancestor however remote in female line they are. Male descendants wereconsidered members, but their children were not.
The eldest male of the Taravad, known as Karanavan, had legal rights to managing the Taravad. The management of the Taravad and its property was undercontrol of the Karanavan alone, so Karanavan was described as the key of the matrilineal family. Nevertheless, the Karanavan could delegate the management of the Taravad, provided that it was done to amember of the Taravad.
The relationship between the Karanavan and other members from the family was quite formal. However, both men and women had the same freedom; women not only participated withmen in public affairs but also in all family functions. In fact, women had a high social position in the Taravad, and women older than the Karanavan could make decisions influencing him. Women werealso free to select their partners and to divorce them.
Nonetheless, in the traditional Nayar marriage system they were attached to the royal families of Nambudiri and Brahmins through hypergamousalliances. Besides this form of marriage, in Nayar culture there were two institutionalised forms of marriage: Talikettukalyanam and Sambhandham. The first one was between a pre-pubescent girl and a man,whilst the other was celebrated when the woman reached the age of 20.
The Talikettukalyanam or Tali tying was performed on a girl between 11 and 13. The Tali tied to the neck of the girl had to bedone by her family. The tier, always older than the girl, belonged to the same or a superior caste, due to prohibition of marriages between Nayar girls and men from a lower caste. After the ceremony...