The Samantha Kshatriyas are a noble community of Kerala, India. They were historically ruling elites (Naduvazhi) and feudal aristocrats (Jenmi) in the Kingdom of Cochin and Kingdom of Travancore. Despite their nomenclature suggesting that they are a part of the Kshatriya class in the Hindu ritual ranking system known as Varna, that system has never existed in South India.
Anthropologist Christopher Fuller suggests these claims are vanity and that "most unbiased observers ... have concluded that the Samantha Kshatriya and Samantan Nair subdivisions should be treated merely as the highest Nayar (Nair) subdivisions". The notable exception to that scholarly consensus is the sociologist Louis Dumont.
References
- ^ Fuller, Christopher J. (December 1975). "The Internal Structure of the Nayar Caste". Journal of Anthropological Research. 31 (4): 283–312. doi:10.1086/jar.31.4.3629883. ISSN 0091-7710. JSTOR 3629883.
- Narayanan, Muttayil Govindamenon Sankara (January 1996). Perumāḷs of Kerala: Brahmin Oligarchy and Ritual Monarchy : Political and Social Conditions of Kerala Under the Cēra Perumāḷs of Makōtai (c. AD 800-AD 1124). Current Books Thrissur. ISBN 8193368320.
- Barnett, Marguerite Ross (2015) . The Politics of Cultural Nationalism in South India. Princeton University Press. pp. 15–16. ISBN 978-0-69164-407-3.