- Illam
Illam (pronEng|ˈɪləm) is a
malayalee lineage system used for classification and identification of castes inKerala ,South India . The House ofNamboothiri es (theBrahmins of Kerala) are also called the Brahmaalayam orMana . The house is built according to the canons ofVaasthusaasthra m, meaningarchitecture inSanskrit language.Each Namboothiri male (or unmarried female) is identified by his/her respective paternal family name. A married female adopts her husband's family name. Each family is affiliated to a "Gothra" and "Pravara". The Gothra name demonstrates the family's traditional style of knowledge acquisition and expertise in ancient theories. Based on the fact that cross-breeding of excellent but different species yields better quality, marriage from a family belonging to the same Gothra was and is still banned for Namboothiris. Looking from another angle, Namboothiris believe that marriage from the same Gothra has a better chance of generating mentally retarded or physically handicapped children or at least children of less intellectual capacity. Each Gothra has several sub-classes known as Pravara. If by mistake, a boy marries a girl of same Gothra, he is not allowed to have sex with her. He has to treat her like he treats his mother.
Common gothra (and their pravara in brackets) among Namboothiris are:
* "Bharadwaajam" (Amgirasam, Bhaarhaspathyam, Bharadwaajam)
* "Kousikam" (Viswaamithram, Akhamarshanam, Kousikam)
* "Vaatsam" (Bhaargavam, Chyavanam, Aapthavaanam, Ourvam, Jaamadagnyam)
* "Koundinyam" (Vaasishtam, Maithraavarunam, Koundinyam)
* "Kaasyapam" (Kaasyapam, Aavatsaaram, Naidruvam)
* "Vaasishtam" (Vaasishtam, Indrapradamam, Aabharaswath)
* "Jaamadagnyam" (Bhaargavam, Chyavanam, Aapthavaanam, Ourvam, Jaamadagnyam)
* "Viswaamithram" (Viswaamithram, Devaraatham, Oudalam)
* "Gouthamam" (Amgirasam, Aayasyam, Gouthamam)
* "Athri" (Aathreyam, Archanaanasam, Syavaaswam)Eight more Gothras also exist among Namboothiris, as branches of the Gothras listed above. They are: "Kutsam, Mudgalam, Aamgirasam, Gaargyam, Naidruvam, Saandilyam, Dhaananjayam, and Samkhyaayanam."
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