firstly the nairs were prominent from far earlier than the th century eg the aaruveetil madambis who were sent in ad to protect the kandiyur temple inscriptions dating back a years mentioning these madambis even today exist in kandiyur ambalam so that point stating that they gained ascendancy because of namboodiris is wrong these madambis were kiriyathil nairs who donot allow their womenfolk to marry from other castes nevertheless ive heard of the cold war that exists between the nairs and ezhavas and very often i hear that the nss and sndp keep opposing each other etc etc