Chakkala Nair, also known as Vattakkat Nair,[1] and VaniyaNair[2] is one of the intermediate subcastes[3][4][5] of the Nair community. They are distributed throughout Kerala. In Travancore, they are known as Chakkala, while in Cochin and Malabar they are Vattakattu[6] and In the extreme north of Malabar they are called Vaniya[7][8]
Vattakattu Nairs[9] is a Forward caste and are now part of the mainstream Nair caste. [10][11][12]while vaniya nairs and chakkala nairs were recently added to the central OBC category and get a minimal reservation of 3% sharing with 70 other castes on a rotational basis.
It was the duty of Peru Vaniyan Nambiar [13][14] section among Vaniya nairs in Kurumbranad to present the Kurumbranad Raja with oil on the occasion of his formal installation[15]
Muchilot Bhagavthi is the patron deity of the Vaniya Nairs and the community serve as the custodian of 108 Muchilot Bhagavathi temples[16] spread across North Malabar from Tulu Nadu to Kozhikode resembling the 108 Shiva Temples mentioned in the Shivalaya Stothram . It is believed that Bhagavthi first manifested herself to Muchilot PadaNair, a chieftain of Mushika dynasty from the Vaniya nair sect.[17][18]
^Pallichan and Vattakad were treated as an intermediate class of Shudras because there was neither inter-dining nor inter-marriage between the members of these subdivisions and the high caste Shudras-Census of India, 1961 - Volume 7. p. 19.
^CM Shankaran Nair, better known as CMS Chandera., CMS Chandera (1976). വടക്കേ മലബാറിലെ പാട്ടുത്സവം [The Song Festival of Northern Kerala.] (in Malayalam). The Author. p. 10.
^Innes, Charles Alexander (1997). "Peruvanian Nambiyars , Chelladan Nayars and Vennapalan Nayars . All three observe fifteen days ' pollution . The name Peruvanian means " great " or " principal oil - man and it is the duty of this caste to present the Kurumbranad Raja". Malabar Gazetteer. Kerala Gazetteers. p. 120.
^Thurston, Edgar; Rangachari, K. (1909). Castes and tribes of southern India. University of California Libraries. Madras : Government Press. p. 306.