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Chekavar

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For the film, see Chekavar (film).

Chekavar (Also known as Chekon or Chevakar, Cekavar) were a martial caste in Malabar of Kerala. The Chekavar are a subcaste of the Hindu Thiyya community. Many Thiyya families today trace their roots to this Chekavar lineage. Exceptionally talented Thiyyar practitioners of Kalaripayattu were given the title chekavan or chekon, and each local ruler had his own militia of chekons. Despite all this, the chekons were lined up for combats and duels, representing the dominant in disputes. In short, they were mercenaries who fought and died for the dominant, protecting their life and property. Some of the Chekavar families migrated from Malabar to Southern parts of Kerala with the invitation of the respective kings of the region to train soldiers and lead war.Chekavar formed the army of the Chera empire.

Some of these heroes are remembered and worshipped even today through folk songs like Vadakkan Pattukal, like 19th century Kuroolli Chekon who fought against the British is remembered through folk songs while Sangam age hero,the Commander-in-chief of the Chera army,Akathooty Chekavar was imbibed into Theyyam forms and worshipped as a war deity today.

Etymology

Chekavar is derived from the Sanskrit words Sevakar, Sevakan or Sevaka, which means soldiers in service or soldiers in royal service. Hermann Gundert's English-Malayalam Dictionary, defines the term as toddy tapper and warrior.

Origin

Hero stones found in Kerala depict Chekavar engaged in combat, often on behalf of a lord. On these hero stones, Chekavar are generally depicted by an image of an armed man along with a Shiva Linga. Hero stones were traditionally erected during the Sangam period to commemorate men who had fallen in battle or cattle raids.

History

The Thiyyas community was a toddy tapping caste that immigrated from Sri Lanka. They had their own style of toddy tapping, although it have infiuenced Coconut farming of the Chera Empire. Jacob Canter Visscher's Letters from Malabar says, 'They may be justly entitled born toddy rappers but turned warriors, as by virtue of their descent they must always bear arms.In spite of the fact that few Thiyyas were also practitioners of payatt and had a minute presence in the militia of the ruler, they were allowed in the military services. In civil war or rebellion, the Chekavars were bound to take up arms for the Bovereign; and some princes employed them as soldiers, if they had not a sufficient force of Nairs. Hendrik van Rheede, governor of Dutch Malabar between 1669 and 1676, wrote about Chekavar in Hortus Malabaricus as " Chekavas are bound to war and arms.The Chekavars usually serve to teach fellow chekavar toddy tapping and fencing in kalari school".Hortus Malabaricus, Hendrik van Rheede,governor of Dutch Malabar

According to Indudara Menon, "The songs of the Vatakkan pattu (northern ballads) are about a clan of martial Chekavars who were Thiyyas and masters of the martial arts". The word Chekavar deriverd from Sanskrit and Malayalam languages. According to David Levinson, "The Chekavar families played an important role in the practice of Kalaripayattu in the Malabar District".

According to historian A. Sreedhara Menon:

Northern songs are represented in Malabar where the Unniyarcha and Aromal Chekavars of the Puthuram Veettil house are an important Thiyyar family known for their martial arts. Golden Age of Martial Arts In the background of the social life and institutions described above, we may review the lives and achievements of some of the heroes and heroines celebrated in the folk songs. Their age was indeed a golden age in the history of the martial arts and institutions of Kerala, for these personages were actuated in their military combats and actions by the loftiest spirit of idealism and sense of chivalry which serve as an inspiration to the youth even in the present day. The area of their activities comprised the medieval principalities of Kolathunad, Kadathanad and Kottayam.


Later, during the British rule, British formed a separate regiment called the Thiyyar Regiment in the British Indian Army, with thousands of thiyyar soldiers, and officers raised among them , seeing their obedience and loyalty which can be attributed to their Chekavar lineages..

See also

References

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  2. ^ Edward Balfour (1862) (1977). The encyclopedia Asiatics, Comprising india Subcontinent. p. 274.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ Nisha, P. R. (12 June 2020). Jumbos and Jumping Devils: A Social History of Indian Circus. ISBN 9780190992071.
  4. ^ Menon, A. Sreedhara (4 March 2011). Kerala History and its Makers. D C Books. pp. 82–86. ISBN 978-81-264-3782-5. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
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  6. Vishnumangalm Kumar, "Kuroolli Chekon: Charithram Thamaskaricha Kadathanadan Simham" (Keralasabdam, 2007-9-2),Page 30-33, ISBN 96220924
  7. "Theyyaprapancham".
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  15. Heniger, J. (22 November 2017). Hendrik Adriaan van Reed Tot Drakestein 1636-1691 and Hortus, Malabaricus. ISBN 9781351441070.
  16. Indudhara Menon (2018). Hereditary Physicians of Kerala: Traditional Medicine and Ayurveda in Modern India. Taylor & Francis, 2018. ISBN 9780429663123.
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