by Mr. Logan as prevailing in Malabar. "The Nayars," he writes, " were, until the British occupied the country, the militia of the district. Originally they seem to have been organised into 'Six Hundreds,' and each six hundred seems to have had assigned to it the protection of all the people in a nad or country. The nad was in turn split up into taras, a Dravidian word signifying originally a foundation, the foundation of a house, hence applied collectively to a street, as in Tamil teru, in Telugu teruvu, and in Canarese and Tulu teravu. The tara was the Nayar territorial unit for civil purposes." It has been stated that "the Malabar Nair chieftain of old had his nad or barony, and his own military class ; and the relics of this powerful feudal system still survive in the names of some of the taluks (divisions) of modern Malabar, and in the official designations of certain Nair families, whose men still come out with quaint-looking swords and shields to guard the person of the Zamorin on the occasion of the rice-throwing ceremony, which formally constitutes him the ruler of the land. Correspondingly, the Bants of the northern parts of Canara still answer to the territorial name of Nad Bants, or warriors of the nad or territory. It is necessary to explain that, in both ancient Keralam and Tulu, the functions of the great military and dominant classes were so distributed that only certain classes were bound to render military service to the ruling prince. The rest were lairds or squires, or gentleman farmers, or the labourers and artisans of their particular community, though all of them cultivated a love of manly sports." *[1]
Few traces of any such organisation as has been indicated now prevail, great changes having been made
- ↑ * Calcutta Review.
