Veluthedath Nair

 

Veluthedath Nair Caste

Veluthedath Nair is a Sub caste of Nair community in Kerala. They use the title 'Nair'. They are populated in almost all districts of Kerala.

Veluthedath Nairs were a temple oriented servile caste which worked for other predominant sections. They were traditionally associated with temple rituals and services. Their major role was submitting Clean Clothes which is known as "Thiruvudayaada" to the idols of deities. Thiruvudayaada is a traditional cloth item, often red ,green, or golden decorated with silky designs, used as a decorative element in religious ceremonies, symbolizing prosperity and good fortune.

It was also the duty of Veluthedath Nair to purify within the sanctum sanctorum of the Temple and that purification ritual is called "Suddham cheyyal".It is said that they worn sacred threads as they were ambalavasis. In older times Veluthedath Nairs belonged to ambalavasi group and later they absorbed into the wider Nair community.

A Sub sect of Veluthedath Nair caste called 'Pothuven' in older Cochin state had role in performing purificatory ceremonies.The sacred specialists from Veluthedath Nair caste also performed the birth, marriage and death rites among the Nair community. There is a belief that Veluthedath Nairs were initially Brahmins who got ostracised from Brahmin community by lord parasuram.

Nair community 

The Nair community holds a significant position in Kerala's culture and history. The classification of Nairs is quite extensive, with numerous sub-castes within the Nair community, often differentiated based on historical roles, geographical locations, and social status.There were Kings, warriors,land owners ,accountants, administrators, temple servants and other labour castes from Nair community. Nair community has over 100 subcastes and they are classified into Nair superior, Nair proper, Nair auxiliary and Nair inferior. According to Kerala mahathmyam, these classifications might have happened in 17th century.

Reservation policy
 
Some Nair subcastes are classified as General category and some subcastes as Other backward classes. 
Veluthedathu Nair caste is classified as  other backward classes by Government of india for positive discrimination in education and employment as they are a minority today.

Important Verdicts

The Kerala High court on Friday, 10 july 2015 in a judgement titled VM Sasi v/s Kishore held that the petitioner who belongs to the sub-sect of ‘Veluthedath Nair’, no doubt, a Nair for all practical purposes and therefore, he could not be treated as an ‘Avarna Hindu’.
“When he belongs to a sub-sect of the Nair community, he squarely falls within the category of the fourth ‘Varna’ namely ‘Shudra’. Hence he is a Savarna Hindu,” the court held. The verdict in this case proves that Veluthedath Nair is a Savarna Hindu caste.

References

-Kerala Mahathmyam
-Census of India 1891 pdf
-Enacademic website
-The Indian Law Reports pdf 
-Communities, Segments, Synonyms, Surnames and Titles pdf
-India's communities Volume 6 Book 
-Religion and society Volume 24 Book
-People of India Volume 1 Book
-VM Sasi v/s Kishore case Verdict by the highcourt of Kerala (2015)

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