Nayar

Member of a people living on the Malabar Coast of India. Traditionally the women lived together and brought up their children as members of a joint family, taravad. Each woman might have several husbands, and descent was traced in the female line. Their husbands visited them but had no rights over their wives or children. This arrangement is often cited as an exception to the almost universal custom of marriage.

There were both peasant and aristocratic castes. The men were feared as soldiers but their armies were disbanded by the British in the 19th century. Monogamy was later enforced, and division of the estate permitted for inheritance. As a result the taravad has lost its importance, and patrilineal tendencies have developed. Today many of the Nayars are members of the professional classes.