Is Nair a Brahmin caste

Answer 1

The Question itself is slightly flawed because there is a presumption.

The Brahmin Caste is at the apex of every society that inhabited India and continues to do so now, though in a less rigid way.They are found in all ethno-linguistic groups. Brahmins are NOT all Aryan(as in the tribe) though many of the groups are including the bulk of the Nambudiris of Kerala.

Nairs or Nayars are a race of people who inhabited Kerala before the arrival of the Nambudiri Brahmins. All professions from Priests to Undertakers can be found in the Nayar Race.

Illam Nairs including its sub-castes from Ambalavasis to Maarans were Brahmins of their day.

Samanthas including its sub-castes from Samantha Kshatriyas, Swaroopam Nairs to Padamangalam Nairs were Kshatriyas.

Vaaniyans (Bania origin Traders), Chettis, et al. were considered equal to Nairs and were Vaisyas.

Sudras were the peoples who did the various services to Nair Households from Idasseris or Pandaris (Milkmen & Maids) & Chakkalas(Oil Mongers) to Barbers(Vilakkithalavans), Washermen (Veluthedams) and Asthikurrichis(Undertakers).

The Nayar Caste System amalgamated into a new one that included the ritually superior Nambudiris at the helm, upon their arrival and existed till the mid 1950s. Including the Nambudiris and their off-springs with various caste women and the Sudra Nairs, it forms a system which evolved into one where birth was the only criterion.

Other Keralan communities were not at all part of the caste-system and those below it- from the Ezhavas to Pariahs and Hill Tribes were considered untouchables because of their living conditions in those days and were not even permitted to come near the temples were the caste-hindus or Savarnas worshipped. These communities had their own temples and they worshipped minor-divinities such as spirits of nature and even demons and animals.

The vast majority of Christians found now in Kerala, except the land-holding Syrian Christians with distinct Jewish feautures, came from this class of Untouchables.

Read more in Encyclopaedia Brittanica 1936 Edition.

Pillai,T.K.V., Travancore State Manual