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This article is about a Hindu caste. For the UAE tribe namesake, see Marar (tribe). For the place namesake, see Marar, Ramgarh. For other uses, see Marar (disambiguation).

Marar is the name given to the caste of hereditary temple musicians[1] of Travancore, Cochin and Malabar region in the state of Kerala, whose primary duty was to provide the traditional temple Sopanam music.[citation needed] They belong to the Ambalavasi caste.[1][2]

Etymology

The word 'Marar' comes from the tamil word 'mar', which means 'beat' and marar meaning the one who beat instruments like chenda and idakka in temples.

Men of marar caste are called Mārar and ladies are called Mārasyar or Amma.

Paani, the indispensable part of high tantric rituals of temple such as ulsavabali, sreeboothabali etc. is  another main hereditory temple profession of Marar.[3] They were also known for their playing of chenda (valam thala represents deva vadyam (usually play inside the nalambalam) and edam thala represents asura vadyam) and idakka[2] (deva vadyam) in temples[4][5] Sopanadwani[6] is the monthly publication of Akhila Kerala Marar Kshema Sabha.

Social status

Marar of Kerala maintained a high ritual life akin to Brahmins and other Ambalavasi castes. 

They were popularly known as antharala jathikal, with a ritual rank lying between Nairs and Brahmins[7] [8].They formed Akhila Kerala Marar Maha Sabha for the welfare of Marars.

In South Kerala, Marar and Pathamangalakkar, along with other temple-related Ambalavasi castes, were taken into Nair caste. They were not part of the Nair caste until the middle of the 20th century. The history of Travancore itself records that in southern Kerala too, the Marar sect was between Brahmins and Nairs and all of them were pure vegetarians.[9].Despite being Ambalavasi, they were also known as Nair-Marar, and were part of Akhila Kerala Marar Maha Sabha along with the Nair Service Society.The Ambalavasi who have the most temple rights in southern Kerala were also Marars. Apart from this, these people also inherited music.

Notable People

  • Peruvanam Kuttan Marar, artist.
  • K. Karunakaran, ex-chief minister.
  • Kuttikrishna Marar,writer.
  • Kizhakkoottu Aniyan Marar, artist.
  • Aparna B. Marar, classical dancer.
  • Annamanada Parameswara Marar, artist.
  • Shadkala Govinda Marar, musician.
  • Mahakavi G sankara kuruppu, poet and essayist
  • K. G. Marar, Indian social worker and politician
  • Padmasree Leela Omchery, singer and musicologist
  • Kamukara Purushothaman, singer
  • Balabhaskar, Violinist and Musician
  • MG Radhakrishnan, singer and Music director
  • Ambalappuzha brothers, Nagaswaram players, Musician and kathakali artists
  • Ambalappuzha Vijayakumar, Musical artist (Sopana sangeetham)
  • Thiruvizha Jayasankar, Nagaswaram player
  • Karuna Moorthy, Thavil artist
  • Thiruvalla brothers, Nagaswaram players and Musicians
  • B sasikumar, Violinist and Musician

References

  1. ^ a b Bodies of Silence, Floods of Nectar: Ritual Music in Contemporary Brahmanical Tantric Temples of Kerala. Yale Journal of Music & Religion: Vol. 7: No. 2, Article 2.
  2. ^ a b "It is God's own instrument". The Hindu. 27 December 2018.
  3. ^ https://malayalimanasu.com/us-news/arivinte-muthukal-7/ PMN namboothiri
  4. ^ Vishnu, Achutha Menon (2020). "The Rhythmic Structure of Melam". The Chitrolekha Journal on Art and Design. 4 (2): 1–14. doi:10.21659/cjad.42.v4n202. S2CID 242270596.
  5. ^ "On a journey with the edakka". 21 May 2015. Retrieved 29 March 2023 – via www.thehindu.com.
  6. ^ "SOPANADHWANI". Readwhere - India's Largest Digital Newsstand. Retrieved 28 October 2022.
  7. ^ "Census of India (cochin) 1901 vol.20".
  8. ^ Thurston, Edgar (1909). Castes and Tribes of Southern India.
  9. ^ "Report on the Census of Travancore - Census 1871".
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