Chakkiyar caste is surname of many people in southern India. Chakkiyar caste meaning is The Chakkiyars are a class of Ambalavasis, of whom the following account is given in the Travancore Census Report, 1901. The name is generally derived from Slaghyavakkukar (those with eloquent words), and refers to the traditional function of the caste in Malabar society. According to the Jatinirnaya, the [8]Chakkiyars represent a caste growth of the Kaliyuga. The offence to which the first Chakkiyar owes his position in society was, it would appear, brought to light after the due performance of the upanayanasamskara. Persons, in respect of whom the lapse was detected before that spiritualizing ceremony took place, became Nambiyars. Manu derives Suta, whose functions are identical with the Malabar Chakkiyar, from a pratiloma union, i.e, of a Brahman wife with a Kshatriya husband.9 The girls either marry into their own caste, or enter into the sambandham form of alliance with Nambutiris. They are called Illottammamar. Their jewelry resembles that of the Nambutiris. The Chakkiyar may choose a wife for sambandham from among the Nambiyars. They are their own priests, but the Brahmans do the purification (punyaham) of house and person after birth or death pollution. The pollution itself lasts for eleven days. The number of times the Gayatri (hymn) may be repeated is ten.
The traditional occupation of the Chakkiyans is the recitation of Puranic stories. The accounts of the Avataras have been considered the highest form of scripture of the non-Brahmanical classes, and the early Brahmans utilised the intervals of their Vedic rites, i.e, the afternoons, for listening to their recitation by castes who could afford the leisure to study and narrate them. Special adaptations for this purpose have been composed by writers like Narayana Bhattapada, generally known as the Bhattatirippat, among whose works Dutavakya, Panchalisvayamvara, Subhadrahana and Kaunteyashtaka are the most popular. In addition to these, standard works like Bhogachampu and Mahanataka are often [9]pressed into the Chakkiyars service. Numerous upakathas or episodes are brought in by way of illustration, and the marvellous flow of words, and the telling humour of the utterances, keep the audience spell-bound. On the utsavam programme of every important temple, especially in North Travancore, the Chakkiyarkuttu (Chakkiyars performance) is an essential item. A special building, known as kuttampalam, is intended for this purpose. Here the Chakkiyar instructs and regales his hearers, antiquely dressed, and seated on a three-legged stool. He wears a peculiar turban with golden rim and silk embossments. A long piece of cloth with coloured edges, wrapped round the loins in innumerable vertical folds with an elaborateness of detail difficult to describe, is the Chakkiyars distinctive apparel. Behind him stands the Nambiyar, whose traditional kinship with the Chakkiyar has been referred to, with a big jar-shaped metal drum in front of him called milavu, whose bass sound resembles the echo of distant thunder. The Nambiyar is indispensable for the Chakkiyarkuttu, and sounds his mighty instrument at the beginning, at the end, and also during the course of his recitation, when the Chakkiyar arrives at the middle and end of a Sanskrit verse. The Nangayar, a female of the Nambiyar caste, is another indispensable element, and sits in front of the Chakkiyar with a cymbal in hand, which she sounds occasionally. It is interesting to note that, amidst all the boisterous merriment into which the audience may be thrown, there is one person who has to sit motionless like a statue. If the Nangayar is moved to a smile, the kuttu must stop, and there are cases where, in certain temples, the kuttu has thus become a thing of the past. The Chakkiyar often makes a feint of representing some of his audience as his characters [10]for the scene under depictment. But he does it in such a genteel way that rarely is offence taken. It is an unwritten canon of Chakkiyarkuttu that the performance should stop at once if any of the audience so treated should speak out in answer to the Chakkiyar, who, it may be added, would stare at an admiring listener, and thrust questions on him with such directness and force as to need an extraordinary effort to resist a reply. And so realistic is his performance that a tragic instance is said to have occurred when, by a cruel irony of fate, his superb skill cost a Chakkiyar his life. While he was explaining a portion of the Mahabharata with inimitable theatrical effect, a desperate friend of the Pandavas rose from his seat in a fit of uncontrollable passion, and actually knocked the Chakkiyar dead when, in an attitude of unmistakable though assumed heartlessness, he, as personating Duryodhana, inhumanely refused to allow even a pin-point of ground to his exiled cousins. This, it is believed, occurred in a private house, and thereafter kuttu was prohibited except at temples.
It is noted, in the Gazetteer of Malabar, that Chakkiyars or Slaghyar-vakukar are a caste following makkattayam (inheritance from father to son), and wear the punul (thread). They are recruited from girls born to a Nambudiri woman found guilty of adultery, after the date at which such adultery is found to have commenced, and boys of similar origin, who have been already invested with the sacred thread. Boys who have not been invested with the punul when their mother is declared an adulteress, join the class known as Chakkiyar Nambiyars, who follow marumakkattayam (inheritance in the female line), and do not wear the thread. The girls join either caste indifferently. Chakkiyars may [11]marry Nangiyars, but Chakkiyar Nambiyars may not marry Illotammamar.
Chakkiyar caste is one of the many castes subcastes of India.
India has thousands of castes and subcastes, they are in existence and practice since the Vedic times. They were created to solve the problem of division of labor. Chakkiyar caste name could indicate the type of work people belonging to the Chakkiyar caste do or did in earlier times. Many last names in India indicate the place the person originally belongs to. All castes sub castes are primarily divided into 4 categories:
1.Brahmins – The learned or priestly class
2.Khastriyas – The warrior class or those with governing functions
3.Vaishyas – The trader, agriculturalists or cattle rearers class
4.Shudra – The class that serves other three categories
Chakkiyar caste belongs to one of the above 4 categories. Indian caste system is the best system to solve the problem of division of labor. In earlier times there was no rigidity in caste system. Indian caste system is still the best solution for the problem of division of labor, the only change that is needed as per changed times is that rather than having a vertical hierarchical system with Brahmins on top and Shudras at bottom, it would be good to have a horizontal socialist system with Brahmins, Khastriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras all at same level.
The caste system of India is in ruins at present. It is also cause of bloody quarrels in certain parts of the rural India. People of backward castes have reservations in government jobs, this facility is widely misused in India. Many of the backward caste people have become rich and still use the facility for their benefit. Many in India believe reservation in jobs should be given on the basis of poverty rather than caste because there are many poors in upper castes as well.
Many criticize the Indian caste system because of bad material condition of lower castes but if they observe in an unbiased way they would find that there are many in upper castes with bad material conditions. The problem lies in power not in castes, power can corrupt anyone be it from upper caste or lower caste.
All cultures, all countries, all religions have caste system in one form or the other. Christians have different churches depending on the region or language or skin color of people. Muslims have a priestly class that tries to control everything. Arab Muslims before the oil boom were so much divided among tribes that if you drank water from a well of a different tribe you could be shot dead. Tribal divisions still exists among Muslims. You can also see the caste system in a different form in your corporate companies. I had seen different food and drinking facilities for people at different levels.
Chakkiyar caste is also known as Chakkiyar Gotra.
Caste situation is quiet different in urban India, people in urban areas especially youngsters don?t bother about castes. Inter caste, inter religious, inter lingual marriages are quiet common in urban India. Inter caste, inter religious and inter lingual marriages in rural areas attract severe criticism and many times people are expelled from community for not marrying as per religious and caste rules.