Abbreviation | NSS |
---|---|
Formation | 31 October 1914 |
Founder | Mannathu Padmanabhan |
Type | Caste-based organization |
Headquarters | Perunna, Changanassery |
Location | |
Official language | Malayalam |
General Secretary | G. Sukumaran Nair |
Website | nss.org.in |
Formerly called | Nair Brithya Jana Sangham |
The Nair Service Society (NSS) is an organisation created for the social advancement and welfare of the Nair community that is found primarily in the state of Kerala in Southern part of India. It was established under the leadership of Mannathu Padmanaban. [1] The NSS is a three-tier organisation with Karayogams at the base level, Taluk Unions at the intermediate level and a central headquarters operating from Perunna, Changanassery in Kerala. G. Sukumaran Nair is the present General Secretary.
The Society owns and manages many educational institutions, hospitals, hostels and agricultural estates.
The Nair Service Society was formed on 31 October 1914 [2] as a reaction to perceived communal slights in the princely state of Travancore in southern India, which now forms a part of the state of Kerala. [3] At the time of formation, K. Kelappan was the president and Mannathu Padmanabhan was the secretary. Nairs were the most economically and socially dominant community, as well as the most numerous, in what was traditionally a staunchly Hindu kingdom that rigorously and officially enforced distinctions between castes. [4] Some Nairs had felt provoked by the rise to prominence of the Saint Thomas Christians during the era of British rule and whose members were being elected as chairs of various official bodies during a period when the political systems were being modified. [3]
The Nairs believed Travancore to be a Hindu state [3] and the founders of the NSS believed that their own community could only counter the changing socio-political situation if it presented a united front and did away with its internal social subdivisions. [5] [lower-alpha 1] [1]
Obviously, the strength of NSS lies in its 5000 plus Karayogams which are functioning in almost every nook and corner of the state . The NSS Karayogam movement was started by Mannath Padmanabhan in the Malayalam Calender year 1104 Dhanu from the village Thattayil with the assistance of T. P. Velukkutty Menon who was a unique organiser as well as an orator. Two prestigious Nair Tharavadu in Thattayil such as Edayirethu and Kalluzhathil were selected by Mannathu Padmanabhan to stage the inaugural ceremony of Karayogam Movement and hence the No: 1 and No: 2 Karayogam were declared to be started functioning from the village Thattayil in Adoor Taluq.
Expatriate Nairs both in other states of India as well as in foreign countries have formed Nair Service Societies in their states and countries of domicile. Examples are Karnataka Nair Service Society with 30 Karayogams [6] and the Kanyakumari Nair Service Society with 27 Karayogams, [ citation needed ]NSS Vidarbha, which unites Nairs living in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra. NSS is also having branches in Nagpur, Chandrapur [7] and NSS of North America (NSSONA) with many Karayogams in North America. [8] In Qatar there's an outfit of it called KSCA affiliated with aegis of the embassy.
In 2010 October, Nair organisations from around the world decided to form a united body. As a result, the Global Nair Service Society was founded after a meeting attended by thousands in New Delhi. [9]
As of 2010 [update] the NSS comprised: [10]
NSS has also started many schools under its supervision directly and also under many of its units like Taluk Unions and Karayogams. Collectively named NSS HSS or NSS High Schools, these schools function in almost all parts of the state of Kerala. [10]
The official organ of the organization is a bi-weekly named 'SERVICE' - which has completed its 100 years in 2019.
Past presidents include K. Kelappan who was the first president of NSS and K. P. Karunakara Menon.
Changanassery, also spelt Changanacherry, is a municipality in Kottayam district in Kerala, India. It is also the headquarters of the Changanassery Taluk. The town is spread over an area of 14.3 km2 (5.5 sq mi) and has a population of 47,685. Changanassery is located 17 km (11 mi) south of the district headquarters Kottayam and 117 km (73 mi) north of the state capital Thiruvananthapuram.
Pillai or Pillay, meaning "Child of King" (Prince) or "Child", is a surname found among the Malayalam and Tamil-speaking people of India and Sri Lanka.
The Nair also known as Nayar, are a group of Indian Hindu castes, described by anthropologist Kathleen Gough as "not a unitary group but a named category of castes". The Nair include several castes and many subdivisions, not all of whom historically bore the name 'Nair'. These people lived, and continue to live, in the area which is now the Indian state of Kerala. Their internal caste behaviours and systems are markedly different between the people in the northern and southern sections of the area, although there is not very much reliable information on those inhabiting the north.
Koyapalli Kelappan was an Indian politician, independence activist, educationist and journalist. During the Indian independence movement, he was the lead figure of Indian National Congress in Kerala and was popularly known as Kerala Gandhi. After Indian independence, he held various seats in Gandhian organisations. He was the co-founder and the first president of the Nair Service Society and was also the founder of Kerala Kshetra Samrakshana Samiti.
Mannathu Padmanabhan was an Indian social reformer and freedom fighter from the south-western state of Kerala. He is recognised as the founder of the Nair Service Society (NSS), which represents the Nair community that constitutes 15.5% of the population of the state. His birthday(January 2) is observed as Mannam Jayanti every year. Padmanabhan is considered as a visionary reformer who organised the Nair community under the NSS.
Govindan Parameswaran Pillai, also known as Barrister G. P. Pillai, was a freedom fighter, social reformer, barrister, journalist, and publisher. He established the first English language newspaper in South India, The Madras Standard. He drafted the Malayali Memorial in 1891. Pillai is the only Malayali whom Mahatma Gandhi has mentioned in his autobiography. He regularly wrote columns in various newspapers. Pillai stood against autocratic governance in Travancore and promoted civil rights and equal opportunity among all classes.
The Nambudiri, also transliterated as Nampoothiri, Nambūdiri, Namboodiri, Namboothiri and Nampūtiri, are a Malayali Brahmin caste, native to what is now the state of Kerala, India, where they constituted part of the traditional feudal elite. Headed by the Azhvanchery Thamprakkal Samrāṭ, the Nambudiris were the highest ranking caste in Kerala. They owned a large portion of the land in the region of Malabar, and together with the Nair monarchs, the Nambudiris formed the landed aristocracy known as the Jenmimar, until the Kerala Land Reforms starting in 1957. Naturalized Tulu Brahmins who took up Nambudiri customary ways are known as Embranthiri Brahmins.
Guruvayur Satyagraha took place in 1931–32 and was a Satyagraha in the present-day Thrissur district, which was then part of Ponnani Taluk of Malabar district, now part of Kerala, India. It was an effort to allow entry for Marginalised communities into the Guruvayur Temple.
The Nair Brigade was the army of the erstwhile kingdom of Travancore in India. Nairs were a warrior community of the region. The personal bodyguard of the king Marthanda Varma (1706–1758) was also called Thiruvithamkoor Nair Pattalam. The Travancore army was officially referred as the Travancore Nair Brigade in 1818.
The Ezhavas are a community with origins in the region of India presently known as Kerala, where in the 2010s they constituted about 23% of the population and were reported to be the largest Hindu community. The Malabar Ezhava group have claimed a higher ranking in the Hindu caste system than do the others, although from the perspective of the colonial and subsequent administrations they were treated as being of similar rank.
Thattayil is a village near Pandalam in the Pathanamthitta district, state of Kerala, India.
Government Law College, Thiruvananthapuram also known as GLC Trivandrum, is an institution for legal education at graduate and post-graduate levels in Kerala, India. Established by the then Maharaja of the state of Travancore in 1875, it is one of the oldest law colleges in India, and is affiliated to the University of Kerala. Alumni of the college consists of judges of the Supreme Court of India including Justice Fathima Beevi, judges of various High Courts, statesmen and noted academicians like N. R. Madhava Menon.
K. P. Karunakara Menon (1930–2002) was the president of Nair Service Society till his death in 2002. He was succeeded by Sri. P. V. Neelakanta Pillai. Menon, who hailed from Thrissur was one of the few Nair outside Travancore to become the president of NSS. He is best remembered for his fierce stand against the reservations and affirmative quotas for lower castes in the educational institutions of Kerala.
Madampi(equivalent to Lord in English) is an aristocratic title given to the uppermost subdivisions of Nairs in Kerala, by the Maharajahs of Travancore and Cochin. Usually, it was given in addition to the Pillai title. Madampis served as Jenmis or landlords during the pre-independence era. Their power was severely reduced after the Communist government passed the Land Reforms Ordinance. The title Madampi was also used in Cochin, to denote the 71 Nayar chiefs who ruled under the Maharajah of Cochin. A few Nambuthiri landlord families, most notable of whom being those in Vanjipuzha and Makilanjeri, were also given the Madampi title. In Cochin, the Madampis had their own armies, but seldom numbered more than 100. Their power was only a little bit higher than that of the Desavazhis. Madampis supplied chieftains along with soldiers in times of war to the King.
Pillai, meaning Prince, is a title of nobility which can either refer to a ruling chief, members of the nobility, or junior princes of the royal family historically ranked immediately below the king. The oldest lineages of Pillais include not only Kshatriyas but also brahmins who took up the sword. From the early modern period, the title also came to be bestowed upon Savarna subjects by the Kings for services military or political, most of whom were of Nair origin.
NSS Hindu College, Changanassery is one of the oldest and largest institutions of higher education of Nair Service Society (NSS) was established in 1947 by Indian social reformer and freedom fighter Sri. Bharatha Kesari Mannathu Padmanabhan and is located on par with NSS Central Headquarters at Perunna, Changanassery. It is one of the sixteen Arts and Science colleges under the NSS and is the very first in terms of establishment. The college is affiliated to Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala and is re-accredited by National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), an autonomous body of UGC with "A" grade. Its academics is a conglomerate of 14 Undergraduate, 11 Postgraduate and 10 Doctoral programmes over various disciplines of Arts, Science and Commerce.
K. Kumar (1894–1973) was an Indian orator, reformer and writer of the Indian pre-independence era. He was one of the earliest socio-political leaders to have brought Gandhi's message and the spirit of the national movement to the erstwhile Travancore State. A gifted translator, he traveled with Gandhi during his Kerala tours, interpreting his English speeches in Malayalam. He was also an Advisor to the Nehru government. Kumarji was the President of the Travancore Congress Committee and was also in charge of Gandhiji's Travancore tour more than once. He served on the AICC and on the working committee of the AICC, TC-PCC/ KPCC heading its Constructive Work Committee during crucial years of the freedom movement. He also functioned as the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee of Travancore
M. R. Ry. Chempakaraman Padmanabhan Kesava Pillai of Kandamath, Pillai of Kandamath (1830–1924), was an Indian Zamindar, one of the jenmis of Travancore and a member of the Sree Moolam Popular Assembly.
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