Nambiar((नम्बियार) is a caste found in Kerala. It is often mistaken as a sub-caste of Nair caste. Because in the British era Nambiar and many other independent castes were recorded as sub-castes of the Nair caste in the Census Reports. But actually Nambiar is an independent community. The name of their community organisation is Nambiar Mahasabha. All the members of this caste are General Category Hindus. The surnames of this caste are Nambiar, Menon, Poduval, and Pillai.
In Tamil, Nambiar means 'trusted one'. Shri. Muriyadathu Nambiar was one of the chieftains in the kingdom of Kochi. The families of Erambala, Varikkara and Vengayil were initially Nambiars but were additionally dignified with the title Nayanār by an assembly of Chirakkal Raja and Brahmins. The Vengayil Nayanar family owned 200,000 acres (810 km2) including forest lands- Kallyat ;-They were one of the largest landlords of Malabar and owned 36,779 acres (148.84 km2) of land. The senior Nambiar of this family was styled Kalliat Eshamanan-Nambiar and Nayanār.
The sub-castes of Nambiar caste are as follows,
1) Nambiar-Pillai - They are General Category Hindu Pillais and are mostly found in Kochi and Travancore regions of Kerala. The other General Category Pillais are Mārār-Pillais and Illathu Nair-Pillais. Though all three of them are General Category, they are not related to each other.
2) Nambiar-Menon - They are General Category Menons. In the British Era, there were different types of General Category Menons like Paricha Menon, Pattola Menon etc. They were divided into these types according to their professions.
3) Payyanur Poduval - This sub-caste of Nambiar is found in Northern Malabar. Sometimes they are mistaken as Ambalavasi Poduvals. But they are not related to Ambalavasi Poduvals in any way.
Members of General Category Nambiar caste prefer to marry from their caste only. They don't prefer to marry from other General Category castes and OBC/SC/ST castes. The male members of Hindu Royal families of Malabar and Kochi marry only from General Category Nambiar and Nambiar-Menon families.
