Maniyani
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The Maniyani are the Kshatriyas of Kerala, India. Maniyanis are also known as kola- aya(kolayars).They are Yadavas of Kolathnadu and Thulunad.They are seen in kannur and kasargod Districts.Ayar is a common surname for Yadavas through out India.They settled in north Kerala about 3000 years back. Kola is the name of Yadava clan who settled in North Kerala Southern Karnataka.
According to legend they are said to be the descendants of the pioneer coloniser Sage Agasthya.
Kolayans and Eruvans are the two clans.They are also known as Ayars, Mayars and Kolayans.Yadavas are also wildely known as Nair, Oorali Nair (Ooru=Land, Ali=Ruler). Kerala Yadava Sabha was oraganised in 1980s by N Somanathan, Advocate, Kannur, Kerala and established oraganizational contact throughout India with All India Yadava Sabha .
Legend has it that Yadavas followed Sri Parashurama from the northern part of Bharath (India) through the river banks of Godavari and the first settlement of them were in Trichambaram, in Taliparamba, Kannur where the SreeKrishna temple is situated. Parashurama at his rage killed most of the Kshatriya Kings and was later confronted by Lord Ram and realized the truth and ended the rage. He requested Varuna to give land and the ocean receded back. The land was later called Kerala. Land was donated to Brahmins and Yadavas came along with them.
Maniyani is a title given to Kolayans or Yadavas by the Kolathiri, a Yadava dynasty ruled in the North Malabar area for their excellence in temple construction. Later on they began to be known as Nairs.
Yadavas of Malabar follows the matriarchal lineage and children are born into their mother's family. Females inherited most of the property and the male got only a life interest in it. Married women stayed with her parents instead of their husband’s home. The marriage was known as Pudavamuri'’, a simple ritual of giving Pudava by the bridegroom to the bride, and no thali or gold rings were exchanged.
The system of inheritance was known as Marumakkathayam where in the male child also lives with their family and takes care of their land and extended family members. Male only visits their wives and never lived with her family. The oldest male member of the family is known as Karanavar and he makes the decisions with the help of the oldest female member of the family. Marumakkathayam was abolished in 1970s by state law.
Maniyanis are divided into Illam and Kiriyam according to their blood lineage and were forbidden to get married with certain group who contains same blood. Even recently certain families do not marry each other. It is believed that they lost track of the relatives while migrating from the northern part of India. The Kolathiri rajas also never married any females from the Yadavas. Yadavas accepted the name Varma after performing the ritual known as Hiranya Gharbha. They end up marrying other Nairs and those are known as Kettilamma etc. It is said that Ayar and Anayar existed in the Hindu caste system. Ayars are the Yadavas or the Kings clan and rest were Anayar (Other Ayar).
Seven Illam and Three Illam were the prominent among Maniyanis of North Malabar.
The group known as Three Illam settled mostly around Cherukunnu area of Kannur in and around Sri Annapoorneswari temple. This temple was constructed by the Kolathiris and the temple construction were undertaken and supervised by Maniyanis around the area. They end up marrying other Nairs who inturn became Samanthans or Samantha Kshatriya.Some of the Three Illam groups were settled around Narath and Kannadiparmbu area of Kannur.
Palamruthan is another sect of Yadavas/Maniyani who is incharge of the milk supply to the temples of Malabar.Trichambaram ( Taliparamba) the community is well settled around the Yadava Krishna Temple. This famous temple there are many stories which is hard to understand, the belief is the deity is Baby Krishna or who is in the adolescent stage where his own uncle King Kamsa kept demon like elephants to guard his palace and to kill Krishna and his elder brother Balarama. Kamsa knows that Devaki Nandan Vasudeva puthra Krishna, his own Nephew will end the demon Kamsa’s rule and establish the statuesque, Krishna killed those elephants to enter in to the palace
In the festival time of the temple, no elephants are used, even now no elephants transported in lorry or truck goes through that part of National Highway 15. There were many incidents happened which cannot be explained.
