Chekavar (Also known as Chekon or Chevakar, Cekavar) was a warrior title of the Hindu Thiyya community in Malabar of Kerala .[1][2][3] Many Thiyya families today trace their roots to this Chekavar lineage.[4]

Warrior role

Exceptionally talented Thiyya practitioners of Kalaripayattu were known as chekavan or chekon, and each local ruler had his own militia of chekons. The chekons were lined up for combats and duels, representing the rulers in disputes. In short, they were warriors who fought and died for the empire in wars, protecting the country and it's people's life. Chekavar formed the army of the Chera Empire.Some of the Chekavar families migrated from Malabar to Southern parts of Kerala at the invitation of kings, to train soldiers and lead war.[5][6]

Some of these heroes are remembered and worshipped even today through folk songs like Vadakkan Pattukal; for example, the 19th century Kuroolli Chekon who fought against the British is remembered through folk songs while the Sangam age hero Akathooty Chekavar, Commander-in-chief of the Chera army, was adopted into Theyyam forms and is worshipped as a war deity today.[7][8]

Etymology

Chekavar is derived from the Sanskrit words Sevakar, Sevakan or Sevaka, which mean soldiers in service or soldiers in royal service.[9][10]

Origin

Hero stones found in Kerala depict Chekavar engaged in combat, often on behalf of a lord. On the stones, Chekavar are generally depicted by an image of an armed man along with a Shiva Linga.

History

The chekavar community was a warrior caste.[11][12] that inhabited present day Malabar and Tulu Nadu.[13]

They had their own style of martial arts, although it was influenced by the martial arts of the Chera Empire.[14][15]

Jacob Canter Visscher's Letters from Malabar says: 'They may be justly entitled soldiers, as by virtue of their descent they must always bear arms. In spite of the fact that Thiyyas were also practitioners of payatt and had a unavoidable presence in the militia of the ruler, they were allowed in the military services.'[5]

Hendrik van Rheede, governor of Dutch Malabar between 1669 and 1676, wrote about Chekavar in Hortus Malabaricus: "[Chekavas] are bound to war and arms. The Chekavars usually serve to teach nayros (nair) in the fencing in kalari school".[16]

According to Indudara Menon, "The songs of the Vatakkan pattu (northern ballads) are about a clan of martial Chekavars who were Thiyyas and masters of the martial arts".[17] According to David Levinson, "The Chekavar families played an important role in the practice of Kalaripayattu in the Malabar District".[18]

According to historian A. Sreedhara Menon:

Northern songs are represented in Malabar where the Unniyarcha and Aromal Chekavars of the Puthuram Veettil house are an important Thiyyar family known for their martial arts. The area of their activities comprised the medieval principalities of Kolathunad, Kadathanad and Kottayam.[2]

Notable people

References

  1. ↑ P., Girija, K (2021). Mapping the History of Ayurveda : Culture, Hegemony and the Rhetoric of Diversity. ISBN 978-1-000-48139-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. 1 2 Menon, A. Sreedhara (4 March 2011). Kerala History and its Makers. D C Books. pp. 82–86. ISBN 978-81-264-3782-5. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  3. ↑ Kurup, K. K. N. (1985). "History of the Tellicherry Factory, 1683-1794".
  4. ↑ Ullekh.N.p (2018). Kannur:inside India's Bloodiest. Penguin Random House India Private Limited, 2018. p. 201. ISBN 9789353051051.
  5. 1 2 Nisha, P. R. (12 June 2020). Jumbos and Jumping Devils: A Social History of Indian Circus. ISBN 9780190992071.
  6. ↑ "Seventh sense: Night Shyamalan is from Africa | Chennai News - Times of India". The Times of India. 15 January 2012.
  7. ↑ Vishnumangalm Kumar, "Kuroolli Chekon: Charithram Thamaskaricha Kadathanadan Simham" (Keralasabdam, 2007-9-2),Page 30-33, ISBN 96220924
  8. ↑ "Theyyaprapancham".
  9. ↑ Mathew, George (1989). Communal Road to a Secular Kerala. Concept Pub.Co, 1989. p. 30. ISBN 81-7022-282-6.
  10. ↑ Smith, Bardwell L. (1976). Religion and Social Conflict in South Asia. BRILL. p. 27. ISBN 90-04-04510-4.
  11. ↑ James John (2020). The Portuguese and the Socio-Cultural Changes in Kerala: 1498-1663. Routledge. ISBN 9781000078718.
  12. ↑ Binu John Mailaparambil (2011). Lords of the Sea: The Ali Rajas of Cannanore and the Political Economy of Malabar. Brill. p. 36. ISBN 9789004180215.
  13. ↑ Zahira, M. (2014). "Folk performances: Reading the cultural history of the Thiyya community in Kerala". Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance. 19 (2): 159–164. doi:10.1080/13569783.2014.895619. S2CID 191468000.
  14. ↑ Jenniffer G.Wollok (2011). Rethinking Chivalry and Courtly Love. ABC publishing. p. 250. ISBN 9780275984885.
  15. ↑ Folk-Lore (1975). Folk-Lore. p. 96.
  16. ↑ Heniger, J. (2017). Hendrik Adriaan van Reed Tot Drakestein 1636-1691 and Hortus, Malabaricus. ISBN 9781351441070.
  17. ↑ Indudhara Menon (2018). Hereditary Physicians of Kerala: Traditional Medicine and Ayurveda in Modern India. Taylor & Francis, 2018. ISBN 9780429663123.
  18. ↑ David Levinson, Karen Christensen (1996). Encyclopedia of World sport:from Ancient times to the present vol.3. ABC. p. 615. ISBN 9780874368192.


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