NAMBUDARI, commonly pronounced and written Nambari. MALEAL., A Brahman tribe of Malabar who make high claims to sanc tity, look down on all other Brahmans, and are regarded by the other castes almost as sacred. They are said, however, to be descendants from a fisher race. According to the legend of the Hindus, the country of Kerala, which includes Malabar and Canara, was (together with the Konkan) miraculously gained from the sea by Parasu Rama, the conqueror of the Kshatriya, and as miracul ously peopled by him with Brahmans who emi grated into this province, and introduced their religion amongst the inhabitants. The province was divided by them into 64 districts, which were governed by an ecclesiastical senate presided over by a Brahman every three years. But on the arrival of the Portuguese in 1498, they found a Hindu ruler, designated Zamorin, ruling over one of the most important of the principalities into which the country had been divided in the 9th century. Kerala is also called Parasu Rain Kshetrom, and is a long narrow strip of country stretching from Cape Comorin to Gokurnom. Of this, the tract of country below the ghats, from the river Canjarote pooya, the original southern boundary of Carrara, to Travancore, inclusive, is now called Malealam or the Malabar coast. Kerala, from about n.c. 68 to A.D. 352,
was ruled by 37 Peruinal or viceroys from the Chem or Salem rulers, and after them by the ancestors of the present nominal raja.
None of them reside in South Travancore, which is only visited by them from time to time, for the celebration of religious festivals and cere monies for the kings and temples. They are large landed proprietors, and to preserve their properties intact, it is usual only for the eldest son of a family to marry ; the younger sons associate with the Nair women, and their daughters often remain unmarried. The landlords are designated Janami in the Malealam country, and their numbers are greatest in the fastnesses of the mountains.
A Namburi Brahman of Malabar is always the Rawal or chief priest of the temple of I3adarinath in the Mamma pass of. the Himalaya. When the Namburi Brahman women are guilty of cornice tion with inferior castes, they are often sold by their relatives, and chiefly to the Muhammadan Mapilla. Under the terms head-price and breast price, the princes of Malabar, in granting certain lands to the Christians in A.D. 316, allowed them the revenues derived from the sale of males and females for serious caste offences, a practice which the Namburi continue.—Mateer's Travancore.