# Castes and Tribes of Southern India/Sāmantan

​Sāmantan.— "This," the Census Superintendent, 1891, writes, "may be called the caste of Malayālam Rājahs and chieftains, but it is hardly a separate caste at all, at any rate at present, for those Nāyars and others who have at any time been petty chieftains in the country, call themselves Sāmantas. The primary meaning of the word Sāmanta is given by Dr. Gundert † as the chief of a district." The number of people who returned themselves as Sāmantas (including a few Sāmantan Brāhmans) ​at the Census, 1881, was 1,611, and in 1901 they increased to 4,351.
In a suit brought against the Collector of Malabar (Mr. Logan) some years ago by one Nilambūr Thachara Kōvil Mana Vikrama, alias Elaya Tirumalpād, the plaintiff entered an objection to his being said by the Collector to be of "a caste (Nāyar), who are permitted to eat fish and flesh, except of course beef." He stated in court that he was "a Sāmantan by caste, and a Sāmantan is neither a Brāhman, nor a Kshatriya, nor a Vaisya, nor a Sūdra." Sāmantan, according to him, is a corruption of Sāmantran, which, he stated, meant one who performs ceremonies without mantrams. He said that his caste observes all the ceremonies that Brāhmans do, but without mantrams. And he gave the following as the main points in which his caste differs from that of the Nāyars. Brāhmans can take their food in the houses of members of his caste, while they cannot do so in those of Nāyars. At the performance of sradhs in his caste, Brāhmans are fed, while this is not done in the case of Nayars. Brāhmans can prepare water for the purpose of purification in his house, but not in that of a Nāyar. If a Nāyar touches a Sāmantan, he has to bathe in the same way as a Brāhman would have to do. For the performance of marriages and other ceremonies in his caste, Malabar Brāhmans are absolutely necessary. At marriages the tāli is tied by Kshatriyas. A Sāmantan has fourteen days' pollution, while a Nāyar has fifteen. He can only eat what a Brāhman can eat. He added that he was of the same caste as the Zamorin of Calicut. A number of witnesses, including the author of the Kēralavakhsha Kramam, were examined in support of his assertions. It was noted by the District Judge that no documentary evidence was produced, or reference to ​public records or works of authority made in support of the theory as to the existence of a caste of Sāmantas who are not Nāyars, and are classed under Kshatriyas, and above the Vaisyas. The following account is given by the author of the Kēeralavakhsha Kramam of the origin of the Sāmantas. Some Kshatriyas who, being afraid of Parasu Rāma, were wandering in foreign parts, and not observing caste rules, came to Malabar, visited Chēraman Perumāl, and asked for his protection. On this Chēraman Perumāl, with the sanction of the Brāhmans, and in pursuance of the rules laid down by the Maharājas who had preceded him, classed these people as members of the Sāmantra caste. "That this book," the Judge observed, "can be looked on as being in any way an authority on difficult and obscure historical questions, or that the story can be classed as more than a myth, there are no grounds for supposing." No linguistic work of recognised authority was produced in support of the derivation of the word Sāmantan from Sāmantran, meaning without mantrams.
One exhibit in the case above referred to was an extract from the report of a commission appointed to inspect the state and condition of the province of Malabar. It is dated 11th October, 1793, and in it allusion is made to the 'Tichera Tiroopaar' who is described as a chief Nāyar of Nilambūr in the southern division of the country. Evidence was given to show that Tichera Tiroopaar is the Nilambūr Tirumulpād. And, in a letter from the Supervisor of Malabar, dated 15th November, 1793, allusion is made to Tichera Tiroopaar as a Nāyar. Two extracts from Buchanan's wellknown work on Mysore, Canara and Malabar, were also filed as exhibits. In one Buchanan relates what was told him by the Brāhmans of the history of 'Malayāla'. ​Among other things, he mentions that Chēraman Perumāl, having come to the resolution of retiring to Mecca, went to Calicut. "He was there met by a Nāyar who was a gallant chief, but who, having been absent at the division, had obtained no share of his master's dominions. Chēraman Perumāl thereupon gave him his sword, and desired him to keep all that he could conquer. From this person's sisters are descended the Tamuri Rajahs or Zamorins." In the second extract, Buchanan sums up the result of enquiries that he had made concerning the Zamorin and his family. He states that the head of the family is the Tamuri Rajah, called by Europeans the Zamorin, and adds: "The Tamuri pretends to be of a higher rank than the Brāhmans, and to be inferior only to the invisible gods, a pretension that was acknowledged by his subjects, but which is held as absurd and abominable by the Brāhmans, by whom he is only treated as a Sūdra."
An important witness said that he knew the plaintiff, and that he was a Sūdra. He stated that he had lived for two years in the Zamorin's kōvilagom, and knew the customs of his family. According to him there was no difference between his own caste customs and those of the Zamorin. He said that Sāmantan means a petty chieftain, and drew attention to the 'Sukra Niti,' edited by Dr. Oppert, where a Sāmantan is said to be "he who gets annually a revenue of from one to three lakhs karshom from his subjects without oppressing them." There are, according to him, some Nāyars who call themselves Sāmantas, and he added that when, in 1887, the Collector of Malabar called for lists of all stanom-holders * in the district, he examined these lists, and found that some of the Nāyar chiefs called themselves Sāmantan. ​"A consideration of all the evidence," the Judge writes, "appears to me to prove conclusively that the plaintiff is a Nāyar by caste . . . What appears to me, from a consideration of the evidence, to be the safe inference to draw is that the members of the plaintiff's family, and also the descendants of certain other of the old Nāyar chieftains, have for some time called themselves, and been called by others, Sāmantas, but that there is no distinctive caste of that name, and that the plaintiff is, as the defendant has described him, a Nāyar by caste."*
The Sāmantans are summed up as follows in the Gazetteer of Malabar. " Sāmantan is the generic name of the group of castes forming the aristocracy of Malabar, and it includes the following divisions: — Nambiyār, Unnitiri, Adiyōdi, all belonging to North Malabar; and Nedungādi, Vallōdi, Ērādi, and Tirumulpād, all belonging to South Malabar. There are also Nāyars with the title of Nambiyar and Adiyōdi. Nedungādi, Vallōdi and Ērādi, are territorial names applied to the Sāmantans indigenous to Ernād, Walavanād, and Nedunganād respectively; or perhaps it may be more correct to say that the tracts in question take their names from the ruling classes, who formerly bore sway there. Ērādi is the caste to which belongs the Zamorin Raja of Calicut. It is also the name of a section of Kiriyattil Nayars. The Rāja of Walavanād is a Vallōdi. Tirumulpād is the title of a class of Sāmantans, to which belong a number of petty chieftains, such as the Karnamulpād of Manjeri and the Tirumulpād of Nilambūr. The ladies of this class are called Kolpāds or Koilammāhs. Many Nambiyārs in North Malabar claim to belong to ​the Sāmantan caste, but there is at least reason to suppose that they are properly Nāyars, and that the claim to the higher rank is of recent date. That such recruitment is going on is indicated by the difference between the number of persons returned as Sāmantans in the censuses of 1901 and 1891 (4,351 and 1,225 respectively), which is far above the normal percentage of increase of population. Kshatriyas wear the pūnūl (thread); Sāmantans as a rule do not. Most Kshatriyas eat with Brāhmans, and have a pollution period of eleven nights, indicating that their position in the caste hierarchy lies between the Brāhmans with ten days and the Ambalavāsis proper with twelve. Sāmantans as a rule observe fifteen days' pollution, and may not eat with Brāhmans. Both follow marumakkatāyam (inheritance in the female line), and their women as a rule have sambandham (alliance) only with Brāhmans or Kshatriyas. Those who belong to the old Royal families are styled Rāja or Tamburān (lord), their ladies Tamburāttis, and their houses Kōvilagams or palaces. Some Sāmantans have the caste titles of Kartāvu and Kaimal. But it does not appear that there are really any material differences between the various classes of Sāmantans, other than purely social differences due to their relative wealth and influence."
"Tradition," writes the Travancore Census Superintendent (1901), "traces the Sāmantas to the prudent Kshatriyas, who cast off the holy thread, to escape detection and slaughter by Parasu Rāma. They are believed to have then fled to uninhabited forests till they forgot the Sandhyāvandana prayers, and became in certain respects no better than Sūdras. Thus they came, it is said, to be called Amantrakas, Sāmantrakas, Sāmantas, or having no mantra at all. Referring to this, ​Mr. Stuart says * ' Neither philology, nor anything else, supports this fable.' From the word Sāmantra, Sāmanta can, no doubt, be conveniently derived, but, if they could not repeat mantras, they should have been called Amantras and not Sāmantras. In the Kērala Māhatmya we read that the Perumāls appointed Sāmantas to rule over portions of their kingdom. Taking the Sanskrit word Sāmanta, we may understand it to mean a petty chief or ruler. It is supposed that the Perumāls who came to Malabar contracted matrimonial alliances with high class Nāyar women, and that the issue of such unions were given chiefships over various extents of territories. Changes in their manners and customs were, it is said, made subsequently, by way of approximation to the Kshatriyas proper. Though the sacred thread, and the Gāyatri hymn were never taken up, less vital changes, as, for instance, that of the wearing of the ornaments of the Kshatriya women, or of consorting only with Nambūtiri husbands, were adopted. Those who lived in Ernāt formed themselves by connections and alliances into one large caste, and called themselves Erātis. Those who lived in Valluvanāt became Vallōtis. The unification could not assume a more cosmopolitan character as the several families rose to importance at different times, and, in all probability, from different sections of the Nāyars."
In the Travancore Census Report (1901) the chief divisions of the Sāmantas are said to be Atiyōti, Unyātiri, Pantāla, Erāti, Vallōti, and Netungāti. "The Unyātiris," the Travancore Census Superintendent writes further, "look upon themselves as a higher class than the rest of the Sāmantas, as they have an Āryapattar to tie the tāli of their girls, the other five castes employing only ​Kshatriyas (Tirumulpāts) for that duty. The word Atiyōti has sometimes been derived from Atiyān, a slave or vassal, the tradition being that the Kattanat Rāja, having once been ousted from his kingdom by the Zamorin of Calicut, sought the assistance of the Rāja of Chirakkal. The latter is believed to have made the Kattanat Rāja his vassal as a condition for his territory beinof restored. The Unnittiris are not found in Travancore, their place being taken by the Unyātiris, who do not differ from them materially in any of their manners and customs. The word Unnittiri means the venerable boy, and is merely a title of dignity. The word Pantāla comes from Bhandārattil, meaning 'in or belonging to the royal treasury'. They appear to have been once the ruling chiefs of small territories. Their women are known as Kōvilammamār, i.e., the ladies of palaces or rānis. The Erāti, the Vallōti, and Netungāti are British Malabar castes, and receive their names from the localities, to which they may have been indigenous — Ernāt, Valluvanāt, and Netungānāt. The Zamorin of Calicut is an Erāti by caste. [In 1792, the Joint Commissioners wrote that 'the Cartinaad and Samoory (the principal families in point of extent of dominion) are of the Samanth or Euree (cowherd) caste.'] * Some of these Erātis, such as the Rāja of Nilambūr, are called Tirumulpāts. The only peculiarity with these Tirumulpāts is that they may tie the tāli of their women, and need not call other Tirumulpāts for the purpose, as the rest of the Sāmantas have to do. A title that several Sāmantas often take is Kartāvu (agent or doer), their females being called Koilpāts, meaning literally those who live in palaces. The Sāmantas of Manchēry and ​Amarampalam in Malabar are also called Tirumulpāts. The Sāmantas of Chuntampattai and Cherupulāssēri are called Kartāvus. Both Kartas and Tirumulpāts are called by the Sūdra castes Tampurān or prince. The caste government of the Sāmantas rests with the Namputiri Vaidikas, and their priesthood is undertaken by the Nampūtiris. They follow the marumakkathayam law of inheritance (through the female line), and observe both the forms of marriage in vogue in the country, namely, tāli-kettu and sambandham. Women wear the three special ornaments of the Kshatriyas, viz., the mittil or cherutāli, entram, and, kuzhal. The chief of these is the mittil, which is used as the wedding ornament. It has the appearance of Rāma's parasu or battle-axe. The houses of those Sāmantas, who are or were till recently rulers of territories, are known as kottarams or palaces, while those of the commonalty are merely called mathams, a name given to the houses of Brāhmans not indigenous to Malabar. The occupations, which the Sāmantas pursue, are chiefly personal attendance on the male and female members of Royal families. Others are landlords, and a few have taken to the learned professions." In the Cochin Census Report, 1901, it is stated that " Sāmantas and Ambalavāsis do not interdine. At public feasts they sit together for meals. Brāhmans, Kshatriyas, Nampidis, and most of the Ambalavāsi castes, do not take water from them. Birth and death pollution last for eleven days."
In the Madras Civil List of titles and title-holders, the Zamorin of Calicut, and the Valiya Rājas of Chirakkal, Kadattanād, Palghāt, and Waluvanād, are returned as Sāmantas.
* ↑ † Malayalam and English Dictionary.
* ↑ • Sthanam = a station, rank or dignity. Moore: Malabar Law and Custom.
* ↑ * Original Suit No. 31, 1887, Court of Calicut. Appeal No. 202, 1888 High Court of Madras.
* ↑ * Madras Census Report, 1891.
* ↑ • Sec Malabar Quart. Review, II, 4, 1903.