Vaniya Nair
Vaniya Nairs/Vaniya Chettiars are old Nair sub-caste among Nairs in northern Malabar.
They engaged in production and selling of oil. Vaniyar of north Malabar are believed to be the immigrants from sourashtra(In which they are part of Baniya Caste)& came to kolathunadu(Which is present North Malabar) for trade purposes and settled here. They widely belonged to Vaishya Varna among four varnas but since Vaishya varna didn't existed in Malabar they were granted to use 'Nair' title by kolathiri rajas of kolathu nadu,They also use chettiar as their surname. Vaniyars are endogamous in nature and usually they don't inter-marry with other Nairs sub-castes of Kerala.
The chief goddess of vaniya community is Muchilot Bhagavathi and there are 118 muchilot temples in Malabar spread across Kasaragod, Kannur, and Kozhikode districts
Muchilot bhagavathi got that name from Muchilottu PadaNair who was a vaniya nair and chieftain of local king's Army
Vaniyars have 9 illams or clans namely Muchilot,thachilam,Pallikkara,Chorulla,Chanthamkulangara,Kunjoth,Nambram,Naroor,&Valli
Modh ghanchi community of Gujarat are north Indian counterpart of vaniya caste of Malabar
Vaniyars of Malabar have sole organisation for the upliftment of vaniya community in their socio, economic, educational, cultural, employment fields and to strengthen,protect the unity and cultural heritage of the community, It is named vaniya samudaya samithi. The comnunity also runs a school 'Thunchathacharya Vidyalaya' in chovva,Kannur
Famous businessman C. P. Krishnan Nair
Former calicut district collector-Prasanth Nair IAS
Founder of gemini circus-M.V Shankaran
T.Raghavan Nair IPS
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