Customs and Practices
The Samanta Kshatriyas practiced matrilinial inheritance (marumakkathayam) that was uxorilocal. The women performed ceremonies Kettu Kalyanam and Tirandu Kalyanam like the Nairs whereas the men performed Upanayanam indicative of being a Dwija / twice born. The women of the household were known as Thampuratis meaning princesses while males used the title of Thampuran prefixed by Varma, indicative of Kshatriya rank. The form of marriage practiced was known as Sambandham and most alliances with Namboodiri Brahmin husbands were sought for womenfolk. An exception is the Travancore Royal Family who choose spouses for their womenfolk from Kshatriya(Koyi thampurans of chiraykal descendents) families only and males marrying from four Ammavedu of Nair Thampi clan. In the Kingdom of Cochin, Namboodiri husbands were permitted to enter into Sambandham with the princesses. Males married either from other Malayala Kshatriya houses, known as Kovilakams or Kottarams meaning palace, or else ladies of the Nair nobility, known as Nethyar Amma. In the case of the Travancore family, the children of the Thampurans from Nair wives, known as Panapillai Ammas were bestowed the title of Thampi.
Read more about this topic: Samantha Kshatriya
Famous quotes containing the words customs and, customs and/or practices:
“No man ever looks at the world with pristine eyes. He sees it edited by a definite set of customs and institutions and ways of thinking.”
—Ruth Benedict (1887–1948)
“We set up a certain aim, and put ourselves of our own will into the power of a certain current. Once having done that, we find ourselves committed to usages and customs which we had not before fully known, but from which we cannot depart without giving up the end which we have chosen. But we have no right, therefore, to claim that we are under the yoke of necessity. We might as well say that the man whom we see struggling vainly in the current of Niagara could not have helped jumping in.”
—Anna C. Brackett (1836–1911)
“To learn a vocation, you also have to learn the frauds it practices and the promises it breaks.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)