Kiryathil Nair
Kiryathil Nair or Kiriyath Nair is a Kshatriya subdivison of Nair caste, of martial nobility, having performed the functions of Kshatriyas in Kerala, India. This subcaste was among the highest-ranking subcastes of the Nair community along with Samantan Nairs with whom they share a close history. They constituted the ruling elites (Naduvazhi) and feudal aristocrats (Jenmimar) in the regions of Malabar and Cochin in present-day Kerala, India, and have traditionally lived in ancestral homes known as Tharavads and Kovilakams.
Anonymous 16th century Portuguese illustration from the Códice Casanatense, depicting a Malabarese couple of the Nair warrior caste. It illustrates a Nair soldier and his wife, with the inscription reading, "Malabarese gentiles that are called Nayars." | |
| Total population | |
| Less than 4% of the total Nair population | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Mostly in Malabar and Cochin, and also in parts of Travancore | |
| Languages | |
| Malayalam, Sanskrit | |
| Religion | |
| Hinduism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Nairs, Samantha Kshatriya, Nagavanshi, Samantha Nair, Kaimal, Menon, Nambiar, Eradi, Achan, Nayanar |
In medieval Kerala, most of the kings belonged to extensions of the Samanthan and Kiryathil Nair castes, including the Zamorins of Calicut who were from the Eradi subgroup of the Samantan Nair subcaste. The Koratty Kaimals and Kodassery Karthas under the Perumpadappu swaroopam who were also from the Kiryathil Nair subcaste. Historians have also stated that, "The whole of the Kings of Malabar belong to the same great body, and are homogeneous with the mass of the people called as Nairs."
The Kiryathil Nairs were the original descendants of the Nāgas who, according to the Brahmanical text Keralolpathi, migrated to Kerala from the North as serpent-worshippers and asserted their supremacy before the arrival of the Namboodiris, and therefore were historically given status and privileges that were not extended to other Nairs. In the words of the British anthropologist Edgar Thurston CIE, "The original Nairs were undoubtedly a military body, holding lands and serving as a militia." The Kiryathils, due to their ruling and martial exploits, claim descendance from the mythical Nagavanshi Kshatriya dynasty.