Ilayatu literally means younger, and the name is employed to denote a caste, which is supposed to be the last among the numerous sub-divisions of Malabar Brāhmans. The caste-men make use of two titles, Ilayatu and Nambiyatiri, the latter of which has the same origin as Nambūtiri, meaning a person worthy of worship. Women are generally known as Ilayammas, and, in some parts of North Travancore, also Kunjammas. By the caste-men themselves the women are called Akattulavar, or those inside, in the same way as Nambūtiri women. Children are called Kunjunnis. The Ilayatus exact from the Nāyars the name of Ilayachchan, or little father.
According to the Jatinirnaya, a work ascribed to Parasurāma, the Ilayatus were once Brāhmans of undiminished purity, but became degraded owing to the priestly service which was performed for a Nāyar servant attached to one of their households. Two members of the house of Azhvāncheri Tamprākkal were brothers. The younger resolved to go to a foreign country, and could get no other Nāyar servant than one who was obliged to perform his mother's anniversary ceremony on the way. He promised to act as the priest on this occasion, and is even believed to have eaten the food prepared by the Nāyar. When the matter became known to his elder brother, he assembled all the Vaidik Brāhmans, and the younger brother was excommunicated. This tradition, like the majority of Malabar traditions, has to be accepted with reserve. The Ilayatus assert that, until interdicted by Rāma lyen Dalawa in revenge for a supposed dishonour to him, they had the privilege of commensality with Nambūtiri Brāhmans; but Rāma lyen's authority, large as it was, did not extend to Cochin and British Malabar, where too the Ilayatus appear to
