HISTORY OF MALABAR :DISCUSSIONS.

[kalanirnay]

What I've read(long back) is Cherthala - it was annexed from Kochi kingdom to Travancore for reason unknown. it is "Chertha-Sthalam" . can't vouch for authenticity.

Ayyanattu parayi/thekkanattu parayi?

The land transfer part is true and the reason for transfer is also known.

Cherthala was transferred from the State of Cochin to the erstwhile State of Travancore as tribute for protecting them from Tipu Sulta during his invasion.

The title the Chera kings was Kulasekara and since the fall of Venad swaroopam of kollam in 1096 at the hands of the Chola, the Tranvancore Vermas became the kulasekara i.e. the Chera King. one of the possible reason for the name cherthala was "land ceded to the cheras" post Tipus invation. Which is what I meant by "Chera tala" i.e. land belonging to Chera's.

Ayyanattu has further divisions but I do not want to reveal more specifics since this is an open forum. But how do you know of the tharavade peru ? Most of the new gen. is unaware. Thekanattu parayi are Tharakan, we were kaimals.

 

[SrNair]

I am sorry, I am between jobs and also physically in transit. It isn't easy for me to keep up with the usual fora. I will try to respond if I can. Bear with me if I can't.



Wikipedia is an extremely unreliable resource. DO NOT consult it except for a quick head-up.

Yes.You are right.
But in this case I think details in the
wiki are 95% right.Only mistake I saw in that page was wrong mentioning of commanders name.
It was not Kesava Pillai.It was Kunjaikutti pillai Sarwadikaryakar.

In local legends in our area he was the one who flooded Periyar earlier.
But is just a legend not a verified history.

 

[abjktu]

Tipu's father Hyder Ali once captured areas around world famous Guruvayoor Temple .But he received hefty ransom from Hindus for the protection of that temple.

.......... in the case of Guruvayoor Temple, the idol was shifted to Ambalapuzha Sri Krishna Temple in Travancore State before the barbarian army of Tipu Sultan reached there. However, both of them were brought back and ceremoniously installed after the withdrawal of Tipu from Malabar towards the end of 1790. The Guruvayoor Temple was destroyed only partly because of the pleadings
by Hydrose Kutty who was a favourite of Hyder Ali Khan besides being a devotee of Lord Krishna before his conversion .....

The land transfer part is true and the reason for transfer is also known.

Cherthala was transferred from the State of Cochin to the erstwhile State of Travancore as tribute for protecting them from Tipu Sulta during his invasion.

The title the Chera kings was Kulasekara and since the fall of Venad swaroopam of kollam in 1096 at the hands of the Chola, the Tranvancore Vermas became the kulasekara i.e. the Chera King. one of the possible reason for the name cherthala was "land ceded to the cheras" post Tipus invation. Which is what I meant by "Chera tala" i.e. land belonging to Chera's.

Ayyanattu has further divisions but I do not want to reveal more specifics since this is an open forum. But how do you know of the tharavade peru ? Most of the new gen. is unaware. Thekanattu parayi are Tharakan, we were kaimals.

Tharakkan paraayis are Christians...They are mostly in the Northern part of Cherthala thaluk....very very wealthy and influential sects...

 

[SarthakGanguly]

I am sorry, I am between jobs and also physically in transit. It isn't easy for me to keep up with the usual fora. I will try to respond if I can. Bear with me if I can't.



Wikipedia is an extremely unreliable resource. DO NOT consult it except for a quick head-up.

Sure, and best wishes for your future work/next assignment.

@INDIC - I think you are refering to the Battle of Rajasthan. It was significant, yes, but not comparable to Tours. The most convincing argument would be this -
Battle of Tours marked the farthest extent of Islamic rule in France. From then on it was a (at times very slow but) steady decline culminating in the destruction of Islamic Grenada. Another important fact is that all local cheifs were able to bury their hatchet, even though temporarily, to turn back the Umayyids. Even in the Iberian peninsula there were multiple Christian kingdoms who often fought against each other. But there was a general consciousness that the Arabs must be defeated first. The soldiers in the Northern Pyrenees as well as those just north of Grenada - were all at least aware of the Muslim threat.

In India, but for the battle of Rajasthan, there was no serious attempt to create a federation of sorts, even temporarily to turn back the tide of the Arabs/Turks/etc. The rulers in Bengal or in the South were just not bothered about what was happening in the kingdoms of Rajputanas. Therein lies the crucial difference.

I ain't a historian. All this I learned after I was inspired playing the Age of Empires game.

As for the relative insignificance of the Marathas in school history - I agree. Even I was astonished to see they even went as far upto Peshawar and the Mughals were nothing but titutal heads post 1758!

 

[kalanirnay]

Any history of Kerala would be incomplete without the history of Nairs. So I am taking some time to highlight that part of history that is not known to many,

The sense of integrity, honour and belonging, is still strong in the Nair community and in very similar to the Samurai of Japan. The Nairs have been known as a martial community since antiquity. The Roman philosopher Pliny the Elder called them "Nareae, the swordsmen, the military caste of the Indian coast" in his Naturalis Historia, published in AD 77 during the reign of Emperor Titus. (It must be noted here that Romans had a flourishing trade with the Malabar coast at this time - and Roman merchants and sailors came into close contact with the local population through the ancient port of Muziris, now Kondungalloor). "The Nareae are shut in by the Capitalis range, the highest of all the mountains of India (referring to the Western Ghats)." Megasthanes, the Greek traveller who visited India much earlier - in 302 BC, also makes a mention of the ‘Nairos’.

Kerala’s archaeologists have found the earliest mention of the word ‘Nair’ on a stone wall of the Dwaraka Krishnan Temple in Suchindram dating to AD 400 (it was recorded that a ‘Pallikkan Nair’ was the temple uralan or caretaker/trustee). The word ‘Nair’ also appears on the walls of a 9th century stone fortress called Bhoodathan Kotta at Trikodithanam (on the outskirts of Changanaserry). There are references to ‘Pada Nairs’ (warriors) in two stone carvings dating to the early Chera era (AD 900) at the Shiva temple of Nedumpuram Thali in Talapalli taluk of Thrissur.

This is possibly one of the oldest pictures of Nair recorded. It is the procession of the king of cochin with his Nair bodyguards.

That particular style of sword would prevent it from being put in a sheath. which meant the sword would always have to be held up at all times.

You can also see such sword at the right side of this sword collection. This was before western style sword was introduced in Kerala. You will observe that subsequent photos of swords changes with the time.

More than 450 years ago, in 1553, a soldier poet called Luis de Camoens, sailed with a Portuguese troop ship from Lisbon to the West Coast of India. Camoens is known today as the creator of an epic work called The Luciad. During his sojourn in Malabar, he came into contact with the Nayar community (Nairs) and he wrote about them thus:

"By the proud Nayres the noble rank is claimed ;
The toils of culture and of art they scorn,
The warriors' plumes their haughty brows adorn ;
The shining faulchion brandish'd in the right,
Their left arm wields the target in the fight ;
' Of danger scornful, ever armed they stand
Around the king, a stern barbarian band.'

This image describe it much better. Its to be noted that during battle the Nair's wore nothing except a small cloth to cover their private parts. No armour, only a leather coated wooden sheild. The shields and sword in the picture is different as this picture was commissioned some where around 1598.

Jonathan Duncan, who was governor of Bombay for the English East India Company in the late 1790s, visited Malabar (of course, Malabar here means Kerala as an entity, comprising the then kingdoms of the Samootiri in Calicut, the Raja of Cochin, the Maharaja of Travancore and the many petty fiefdoms of Nair chieftains called Naduvazhis). Duncan recorded that: "These lines (Comoen's verse) contain a good description of a Nayar who walks along, holding up his naked sword with the same kind of unconcern as travellers in other countries carry in their hands a cane or walking staff. I have observed others of them have it fastened to their back, the hilt being stuck in their waist band, and the blade rising up and glittering between their shoulders."

 

[kalanirnay]

This was obviously the period when Nair military prowess showed itself in all its glory and gave birth to legends during the reign of Chera Emperor Rama Varma Kulashekhara (1020-1102), the most famous of the Cheraman Perumals. It was a time when wars with the Imperial Cholas raged across Malabar and the Nair armies formed suicide squads to do battle for the Cheras. The defence of the kingdom was entrusted to a group of Nair warriors called Patinayiram (10,000) with a Patamel Nair as its chieftain. From the Chera bastion of Kodungalloor (then known as Mahodayapuram), elite squads called Chaver-pada (meaning, one who has elected to die fighting), spread terror among the invading Chola forces.

An inscription in Tirukkalukkunram, (a small town near Mahabalipuram or Mamallapuram in Tamil Nadu) reads: “During the 14th year of his reign (A.D. 1083-84) the Chola King Kuluttunga I* conquered Kudamalai-nadu, (the Western hill country - Malabar), whose warriors (the ancestors of the Nairs of the present day) perished to the last man in defending their independence. Another inscription in the ancient Vattezhuttu script of Tamil says: " ...all the heroes in the Western hill-country (Kudamalai-nadu) ascended voluntarily to heaven.” (as cited by South-Indian Inscriptions Vol. Ill, p. 130. - Epigraphica Indica, Dr. E. Hultzch, 1915).

The Chera-Chola wars lasted more than a hundred years, bringing about major societal upheavals and creating many Nair traditions like the anthropologically interesting matrilineal way of inheritance (marumakkatayam) and the 'sambandham’ marriage system. The 'sambandam' system was, of course, a product of the times. The kings of Malabar instituted matrilieny so that the Nairs would always be available for war and would not have to be responsible for looking after their families or rearing their children. The Nair was thus able to devote his time to practicing in the ‘kalaris’ and get ready to die on the battlefield for his overlords.

Above is an representation of Goda Varma's Cochin Nair Army fighting against Dutch Army. Not much of people know, that there was a bloody Coup attempted for the Cochin Throne between two princes, H.H Goda Varma II and Veera Kerala Varma V. It was for the first time, in the royal family, a terrible feud occuring, which went on into a full scale civil war between two sections. Initially Dutch Government in Fort Kochi, were reluctant to interfere into the issue, considering the issue being an internal matter of Royal family.

However, in 1662, it intervened, after receiving intelligence reports, that the reigining Ruler- H.H Goda Varma Raja II has a strong support of Zamorin and Calicut is funding heavily to make Cochin aligned to the Zamorin.Dutch Governor Hendrik Van Rheede along with a huge Dutch Army, met Cochin Army which supported Goda Varma II and had an intense battle at Kalavetty Palace grounds. Meantime, Hendrik and a huge force, stormed into Kalavetty Palace, to arrest H.H The Queen of Kochi and placed her custody at Malabar House (the modern Malabar House hotel in Fort Kochi)

It later turned out, the move of Hendrik was to make Queen name her first Brother Veera Kerala Varma as the new King, which resulted in arrest of Goda Varma II and displaced him from Throne. The Dutch Intervention helped Kochi to remain as one state, which otherwise would have divided into two states.....

This image is of the king of kochi sending his Nairs to welcome the the Dutch Generals. The dutch generals where considered to be most trusted loyalists of Kochi Kings. As a result, they are invited for all Durbar meets at Kochi Palace. The image shows the grand receptions accorded to Dutch Governors for their attendance at Kochi Durbars. This image is dated around 1660. You can see that the Nair's in this image is clothed since its not a battle field.

 

[Joe Shearer]

Sure, and best wishes for your future work/next assignment.

@INDIC - I think you are refering to the Battle of Rajasthan. It was significant, yes, but not comparable to Tours. The most convincing argument would be this -
Battle of Tours marked the farthest extent of Islamic rule in France. From then on it was a (at times very slow but) steady decline culminating in the destruction of Islamic Grenada. Another important fact is that all local cheifs were able to bury their hatchet, even though temporarily, to turn back the Umayyids. Even in the Iberian peninsula there were multiple Christian kingdoms who often fought against each other. But there was a general consciousness that the Arabs must be defeated first. The soldiers in the Northern Pyrenees as well as those just north of Grenada - were all at least aware of the Muslim threat.

In India, but for the battle of Rajasthan, there was no serious attempt to create a federation of sorts, even temporarily to turn back the tide of the Arabs/Turks/etc. The rulers in Bengal or in the South were just not bothered about what was happening in the kingdoms of Rajputanas. Therein lies the crucial difference.

I ain't a historian. All this I learned after I was inspired playing the Age of Empires game.

As for the relative insignificance of the Marathas in school history - I agree. Even I was astonished to see they even went as far upto Peshawar and the Mughals were nothing but titutal heads post 1758!

I have to correct you on one point - the Christian kingdoms were far from united. They habitually took sides with the Muslims. For instance, Abd ar-Rahman was allied with Duke Odo the Great in Aquitaine and Vasconia. Later, in the reign of the grandson of Charles Martel, Charles the Great, or Charlemagne, it was Christian marauders who attacked the Emperor's rearguard and killed Roland.

The Marathas went up to Attock and the river Indus.

 

[kalanirnay]

What were you doing since 7:19 pm yesterday? Sleeping?

You are not the only one who is busy. My request was for all who are posting non Malabar stuff.

 

[SarthakGanguly]

I have to correct you on one point - the Christian kingdoms were far from united. They habitually took sides with the Muslims. For instance, Abd ar-Rahman was allied with Duke Odo the Great in Aquitaine and Vasconia. Later, in the reign of the grandson of Charles Martel, Charles the Great, or Charlemagne, it was Christian marauders who attacked the Emperor's rearguard and killed Roland.

The Marathas went up to Attock and the river Indus.

Yes, true. Many times they allied with the Muslims to hit another. There was this game - Age of Empires where El Cid the Conquistador, Castillian Knight would fight both for Spanish kingdoms and the Moors. That was what piqued my interest in it.

 

[kalanirnay]

The below image is a Portuguese representation of the final battle of cochin when the Samudri king was defeated which was around 1504.

Gaspar Correia (1496 – 1563) was a Portuguese historian, author of "Lendas da Índia ( Legends of India) which is one of the earliest and most important works about Portuguese rule in Asia. He also wrote "three voyages of Vasco da Gama" in which he writes,

"" In this region of Malabar, the race of Gentlemen is called Nairs who are people of war. They are people who are very refined in blood and customs and separated from all other people.. The Nayros must [in all places] where they go or stand wear such arms as are appointed for them and always be ready at the King's commandement. As these Nayros go about in the streets they cry po! po!”. Gaspar desribes how three Nair nobleman from the Zamorin’s court came aboard Gama’s ship. They had gold ear-rings, gold bracelets above the elbow, they were bare-chested and carried a sword and shield. "

The shouting was due to the edict that no common man could approach 24 paces of a Nair warrior. This was possibly to ensure no surprise attack too place on these warriors.

Above are the swords used by the Nairs. You can see the changes in the design of the swords that shows foreign influence.

In Nair families, young boys began military training at the age of seven in the several kalaris that dotted the land. Italian Jesuit Giovanni Maffei talked about the Nairs in his Historiarum in 1588: "Young Nairs ....they are expert wrestlers but still more proficient in the use of weapons...At one time, their weapons were the spear, arrows, the sword and the shield....now they emply all cannons and fireams with consummate skill; ...naked, with only their private parts covered, do they go into battle, wearing neither breastplates nor helmets." The ‘kalari’ teachers were noted for ‘marma adi’ an advanced way to disable a person temporarily for a short period or permanently or even to kill an opponent by placing a finger on specific nerve points or accupuncture points and these were imparted to selected students.

Above pictures is a Stamp issued by Portugal in Honour of Zamorin.

Jesuit Giovanni Maffei also gives a glimps of the Nair's inclination for guerilla warfare."Their greatest protection is flight...but they flee and reappear in a flash and they hurl their javelins ...and if there is hand to hand combat they do most of the killing."

The Nair always showed a fascination for weapons. Dutch Rear-Admiral John Splinter Stavorinus wrote about this aspect in 1798: “Amongst the Malabars, the Nairs are the nobles and warriors of the land; they are known by the scimitar which they always wear whenever they stir abroad, and in the management of which, I was told they are very dexterous, particularly against a flying enemy. They have many privileges above the common people.”

Dr. Claudius Buchanan, a Scottish theologian, in his Christian Researchers in Asia (1811) said: “Their childlike delight is in parading up and down fully armed. Each man has a firelock, and at least one sword; but all those who wish to be thought men of extraordinary courage carry two sabres and they are more inclined to use them for assassination or surprise, than in the open field.”

Tomé Pires, a Portuguese apothecary *1515) gives gives us the same image: "...they are fighters with sword and buckler and arches. They are men who adorn their king and if by chance the king dies in battle they are obliged to die ... The Nairs are loyal and not traitors ... No Nair when he is fit to take up arms can go outside his house unarmed even if he be a 100 years old, and when he is dying he always has his sword and buckler by him so close that if necessary he can take hold of them. They always make a deep reverence to the masters who teach them".

But this carrying of arms also led to the Nairs being involved in endless violent altercations, especially when they were practising the system of Changatham. Here, a Nair served as a bodyguard to travellers in a land where banditry was rather common and Diderot's Encyclopaedia (France - 1700s) said that "these Nairs are so loyal thay they kill themselves, should he whom they were protecting is killed on the road.” The Changathams were also suicide squads and their remuneration was called ‘kaval panam’ of ‘Rakshabogam’.

The shields that the Nairs used were made of wood covered with leather, usually coloured bright red. A British official F. Fawcett described it as :“Within were some hard seeds, or metal balls loose in a small space, so that there is a jingling sound like that of the small bells on the ankles of the dancer, when the shield is oscillated or shaken in the hand. The swords are those which were used ordinarily for fighting. There are also swords of many patterns for processional and other purposes, more or less ornamented about the handle and half way up the blade.”

 

[kurup]

Ceylon-Eezhavas...

Ezhava from Ceylon?
That was a new knowledge.
Please explain it.

Not only Eezhavas read somewhere that even Nairs are also said to have a ceylon ancestry according to a theory .

 

[kalanirnay]

Not only Eezhavas read somewhere that even Nairs are also said to have a ceylon ancestry according to a theory .

It would be more logical to conclude that ceylon has Nair ancestry rather than the other way around ............ SL is an island after all.

 

[Joe Shearer]

Any history of Kerala would be incomplete without the history of Nairs. So I am taking some time to highlight that part of history that is not known to many,

The sense of integrity, honour and belonging, is still strong in the Nair community and in very similar to the Samurai of Japan. The Nairs have been known as a martial community since antiquity. The Roman philosopher Pliny the Elder called them "Nareae, the swordsmen, the military caste of the Indian coast" in his Naturalis Historia, published in AD 77 during the reign of Emperor Titus. (It must be noted here that Romans had a flourishing trade with the Malabar coast at this time - and Roman merchants and sailors came into close contact with the local population through the ancient port of Muziris, now Kondungalloor). "The Nareae are shut in by the Capitalis range, the highest of all the mountains of India (referring to the Western Ghats)." Megasthanes, the Greek traveller who visited India much earlier - in 302 BC, also makes a mention of the ‘Nairos’.

Kerala’s archaeologists have found the earliest mention of the word ‘Nair’ on a stone wall of the Dwaraka Krishnan Temple in Suchindram dating to AD 400 (it was recorded that a ‘Pallikkan Nair’ was the temple uralan or caretaker/trustee). The word ‘Nair’ also appears on the walls of a 9th century stone fortress called Bhoodathan Kotta at Trikodithanam (on the outskirts of Changanaserry). There are references to ‘Pada Nairs’ (warriors) in two stone carvings dating to the early Chera era (AD 900) at the Shiva temple of Nedumpuram Thali in Talapalli taluk of Thrissur.

This is possibly one of the oldest pictures of Nair recorded. It is the procession of the king of cochin with his Nair bodyguards.

That particular style of sword would prevent it from being put in a sheath. which meant the sword would always have to be held up at all times.

You can also see such sword at the right side of this sword collection. This was before western style sword was introduced in Kerala. You will observe that subsequent photos of swords changes with the time.

More than 450 years ago, in 1553, a soldier poet called Luis de Camoens, sailed with a Portuguese troop ship from Lisbon to the West Coast of India. Camoens is known today as the creator of an epic work called The Luciad. During his sojourn in Malabar, he came into contact with the Nayar community (Nairs) and he wrote about them thus:

"By the proud Nayres the noble rank is claimed ;
The toils of culture and of art they scorn,
The warriors' plumes their haughty brows adorn ;
The shining faulchion brandish'd in the right,
Their left arm wields the target in the fight ;
' Of danger scornful, ever armed they stand
Around the king, a stern barbarian band.'

This image describe it much better. Its to be noted that during battle the Nair's wore nothing except a small cloth to cover their private parts. No armour, only a leather coated wooden sheild. The shields and sword in the picture is different as this picture was commissioned some where around 1598.

Jonathan Duncan, who was governor of Bombay for the English East India Company in the late 1790s, visited Malabar (of course, Malabar here means Kerala as an entity, comprising the then kingdoms of the Samootiri in Calicut, the Raja of Cochin, the Maharaja of Travancore and the many petty fiefdoms of Nair chieftains called Naduvazhis). Duncan recorded that: "These lines (Comoen's verse) contain a good description of a Nayar who walks along, holding up his naked sword with the same kind of unconcern as travellers in other countries carry in their hands a cane or walking staff. I have observed others of them have it fastened to their back, the hilt being stuck in their waist band, and the blade rising up and glittering between their shoulders."

There are instances of dedicated communities of warriors in the south throughout the region: the Nairs in Kerala, the Thevars in the Madurai region, the Bunts further north on the Konkan coast.

It is not clear what the point about the sword is; what is shown in the collection of swords and daggers is a katar, a punching dagger, good examples of which could pierce chain mail or even plate armour. A katar is unique to India. It was worn in the sash of a nobleman, so there was no covering.

Of the "swords" shown in the procession scene, there is, to the left, held hilt uppermost, a double-sized broadsword, and to the right, at the end of a shaft, with a cross-piece, a halberd, or a pike. A broadsword could be sheathed, a pike, obviously not.

There are ancient examples of straight-edged swords throughout Indian history. Until the curved scimitar, or tulwar, was introduced, Indian swords were typically straight-edged. It is not clear why such a straight-edged sword is ascribed to European influence, when it was actually the original Indian style. The wide variety of tulwars shown in the collection of swords (and katars) is probably due to the links of the Kerala country with the Arabs, from whom they would have acquired these curved swords.

This is possibly one of the oldest pictures of Nair recorded. It is the procession of the king of cochin with his Nair bodyguards.

That particular style of sword would prevent it from being put in a sheath. which meant the sword would always have to be held up at all times.

You can also see such sword at the right side of this sword collection. This was before western style sword was introduced in Kerala. You will observe that subsequent photos of swords changes with the time.

It would be logical to conclude that ceylon has Nair ancestry rather than the other way around ............ SL is an island after all.

And how would the Ceylonese have acquired an Aryan language, across the intervening Dravidian languages in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telengana and Karnataka?

 

[abjktu]

Not only Eezhavas read somewhere that even Nairs are also said to have a ceylon ancestry according to a theory .

..but these stories and myths have no substantial proofs or evidence..we may came from different parts or source ,but the Modern Malayali groups(especially so called High castes) are largely intermixed one....Actually there is no notable difference between a Nair and a Syrian Christian of Kerala....
for eg-Knanaya Christians of Kerala are believed to be from Syria....But they look exactly like that of other Malayali group,not Syrians...

 

[kalanirnay]

There are instances of dedicated communities of warriors in the south throughout the region: the Nairs in Kerala, the Thevars in the Madurai region, the Bunts further north on the Konkan coast.

It is not clear what the point about the sword is; what is shown in the collection of swords and daggers is a katar, a punching dagger, good examples of which could pierce chain mail or even plate armour. A katar is unique to India. It was worn in the sash of a nobleman, so there was no covering.

Of the "swords" shown in the procession scene, there is, to the left, held hilt uppermost, a double-sized broadsword, and to the right, at the end of a shaft, with a cross-piece, a halberd, or a pike. A broadsword could be sheathed, a pike, obviously not.

There are ancient examples of straight-edged swords throughout Indian history. Until the curved scimitar, or tulwar, was introduced, Indian swords were typically straight-edged. It is not clear why such a straight-edged sword is ascribed to European influence, when it was actually the original Indian style. The wide variety of tulwars shown in the collection of swords (and katars) is probably due to the links of the Kerala country with the Arabs, from whom they would have acquired these curved swords.

And how would the Ceylonese have acquired an Aryan language, across the intervening Dravidian languages in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telengana and Karnataka?

The samurais of japan were also a warrior community. Is this thread about Japan ?

The Left most sword is a narrow sword with a broad tip. The kind that cannot be put in a scabbard. Looks at "deathless", the one in the earlier pic is similar except the tip is more rounded. I have seen such swords in real life but I do not have pics of it right now.

It made sense for cavalry to have curved sword since they moved fast, it made sense for infantry to have straight double edged sword. It has nothing to do with arab influence. Its just science at play.

Genetics have shown ceylonese are similar to Bengalis and biharis. Open a separate thread on this if you want to.

..but these stories and myths have no substantial proofs or evidence..we may came from different parts or source ,but the Modern Malayali groups(especially so called High castes) are largely intermixed one....Actually there is no notable difference between a Nair and a Syrian Christian of Kerala....
for eg-Knanaya Christians of Kerala are believed to be from Syria....But they look exactly like that of other Malayali group,not Syrians...

Genetically there is no difference between anyone but do not twist history to suite a bias or personal agenda.

Caste differentiation was very strong in kerala so formal caste intermingling was minimal. Any mix breeding would be informal. I would suspect the ezhavas to have greek or roman or arab blood more than nair. They are certainly a very good looking caste.