Kaniyar

Kaniyar is a caste from the Indian state of Kerala. There are regional variations in the name used to define them. They are listed under the Other Backward Communities (OBC) by the Kerala Government.[1]

Traditions of origin

Kathleen Gough has recorded that the caste believes that they descended from a degraded section of the Tamil Brahmins and that they ascribed their "rudimentary" knowledge of Sanskrit, medicine and astrology to those origins.[2]

Traditional occupations

Gough says that the caste in many ways played the role of

pseudo-Brahmans in relation to the lower castes ... Their lore was, of course, a much simplified version of Brahman lore. Through them, however, some of the elements of Sanskrit religious belief and practices were filtered to lower caste people who could not attend high-caste temples or receive Brahmanical services ... [They] served as media for the Sankritisation of the lower castes ...[2]

Although the modern dances (which occur in the temples of Alappuzha, Kollam, Pathanamthitta and Kottayam) are performed by Nairs (a caste which had a social rank higher than the Kaniyars),[2] it is the Kaniyars who decorate the elaborate costumes.[3]

The Kaniyar were also once teachers, primarily of low caste children in village schools.[2] The arrival of the British in the area saw the demise of traditional teaching, with Sanskrit teaching being deprecated in favour of its English counterpart, disruption due to various wars and also a discouragement of the village schools in general. The standard of literacy declined greatly for nearly a century and began to improve once more with the advent of state aid for (principally English-based) education at the end of the 19th century.[4]

Aside from general teaching,they also taught fencing to the Izhava caste.[2] Kalari Panicker and Gurukkal are other names used for the northern group because of their involvement with these schools. They asserted that because of this they were superior to the Asan members of the caste, who were primarily to be found in southern Travancore.[2]

References
  1. "Kerala Public Commission - List of other backward classes".
  2. Gough, Kathleen (2005) [1968]. "Literacy in Kerala". In Goody, Jack (ed.). Literacy in traditional societies (Reprinted ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 148–149. ISBN 0-521-29005-8.
  3. "Padayani". Government of Kerala portal. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
  4. Gough, Kathleen (2005) [1968]. "Literacy in Kerala". In Goody, Jack (ed.). Literacy in traditional societies (Reprinted ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 155. ISBN 0-521-29005-8.

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