Nair - Historical Customs and Traditions - Marriage System

Marriage System

Fuller has commented that "The Nayars' marriage system has made them one of the most famous of all communities in anthropological circles", and Amitav Ghosh says that, although matrilineal systems are not uncommon in communities of the south Indian coast, the Nairs "have achieved an unparalleled eminence in the anthropological literature on matrilineality". None of the rituals survive in any significant way today. Two forms of ritual marriage were traditional:

• the pre-puberty rite for girls known as thalikettu kalyanam, which was usually followed by sambandham when they became sexually mature. The sambandham was the point at which the woman might take one or more partners and bear children by them, giving rise to the theories of them engaging in polyandrous practices. A ritual called the tirandukuli marked the first menstruation and usually took place between these two events.
• a form of hypergamy, whereby high-ranked Nairs married Samantans, Kshatriyas and Brahmins.

There is much debate about whether the traditional Nair rituals fitted the traditional definition of marriage and which of thalikettu kalyanam or sambandham could lay claim to it. Thomas Nossiter has commented that the system "was so loosely arranged as to raise doubts as to whether 'marriage' existed at all."