Castes and Professions
The castes which comprised the Ambalavasi community each contained only a few members. They lived in villages either where the land was owned solely by one Nambudiri Brahmin family or where the land was owned by a temple, the running of which was in the control of a group of Nambudiri families. The latter villages were called sanketams.
The temples in which they worked comprised four basic types:
- those in sanketams were large and were dedicated to deities which were worshipped throughout India, such as Shiva and Vishnu.
- private temples, owned by Nambudiri families, which were smaller versions of those found in the sanketams.
- the private temples of the royal lines, feudatory chiefs and vassal chiefs of what is now Kerala, which were dedicated to Bhagavati and Bhadrakali
- village temples dedicated to Bhagavati and run by senior Nairs who had been appointed by local rulers
A brief description of each of these castes are given below:
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