narayanavaneevrutan

February 06, 2023

POTTIS of Travancore -

-Narayana Vanee Vruthan-

Potti is a Malayalam word not a Tamil word;

Thunchath Raamaanujan Ezhuthachan in his Aadhyatma Ramayanam addressing Lord Rama and Siva as “ Parameswara Potti”,which means “The Lord who protects us”;Synonyms for the same in Malayalam are “Thampuran”,”Empraan”,and “Embrassan” referred to Brahmins of Kerala.

A similar ”Poojya padam”, a word used to address Brahmins of Kerala is,” Namboothiri” which means to respect one who stands for truth.All these words came into use only in the later period i.e. after the first AD only.

POTTIS are mainly of Five types:

Those came to the very earlier ancient period along with the Namboothiris
Those came just before the birth of Sankaracharya called “Haveega” Brahmins from “Sapta Konkan” of Karnataka called “Embrassan”,”Naludesi “, and “Anchudesi” in northern Malabar later merged to Namboothiri culture and later used the surname Namboothiri..
Third category the Haveegas came to southern Travancore lately and called POTTIS as the first category of people who were addressed in southern Kerala and adopted Malayalam culture like the POTTIS came earlier and used the surname potti and merged to the Malayalam Namboothiri culture.(But the Haveega Karnataka Brahmins who were the followers of Sankara like Namboothiris, the same category as “Anchudesi” and “Naludesi” belonged to Haveega khanda of Saptha Konganam migrated to Travancore whose head quarter is Gokarna and Basnavalli also were called as Pottis who though at once migrated to Malayalam Namboothiri culture like the earlier migrants ie Anchudesi and Naludesi but unfortunately they were also called as Tulu Brahmins by some confused Namboothiris of northern Kerala.)
The fourth type are called Empraans not Haveegas but from Tulu Desam of Saptakonkan of Karnataka who never merged in to Namboothiri community and maintained the use of Tulu language as their mother tongue like “Empraanthiris” ,called “Akkaradesis” who live beyond the northern border of Kerala or “Kokkada potti” who got entitled to bear the Nambiship of Sri Padmanabha Swami temple later and many temples in Travancore as temple priests.
Another group of northern Kerala who migrated from the “Kotaa” Desaam of Saptha Konkan of Karnataka who are non Haveegas and called as “Empraanthiris” who never migrated to Malayalam Namboothiri culture but got entitlement for Pooja rights as temple priests in temples all over the Northern Kerala even from an earlier period.
Then another group migrated from “Sheevalli” desam of Sapta Konkan of Karnataka to the northern Kerala and merged in to Malayalam Namboothiri culture who were called as “ Ikkara Desi”;They were entitled to do the work of temple priests from an early period in important temples like Shri Padmanabhaswamy temple of Travancore.

Later the Anchudesi,Naludesi and Haveega pottis who were not having political overlord ships only were allowed to participate in Mutrajapam along with the Namboothiris of northern Kerala at Shri Padmanabha swamy temple since all of them are having Vedhaadhikaram and Yaagadhikaram and having Malayalam namboothiri culture in the later history of Kerala.

The pottis who settled in Travancore at a very ancient period were feudal political overlords and reluctant and not in need to perform the duty of temple priests having Nair armies and were the owners of almost all fertile land of Neermanna Gramam and were engaged in resisting many of Pandya and Chola invasions during the seventh century and twelfth century along with Aay dynasty and though they were performing Somayagas were themselves distanced from Vedic chanting due to political reasons and regular invasions but they were holding the prestigious post of Tantris doing special rituals in temples of many of the ancient temples of Travancore and so were reluctant to participate in Murajapam.

Many authors of the chronicles and history of Travancore like Nagamayya and Kanippayyur Sankaran Namboothiri were confused about presenting the social position of the different categories of Pottis of Travancore and Brahmins migrated at different periods from different olaces and were in utter confusion in clearly remarking the social and brahmanical status of “these different types of Malayalee Brahmins some of them were Namboothiris and some were non Namboothiris “ in which case confusingly all of them were called as Pottis.

This confusion Kanippayyur explains in his chronicle but failed to distinguish the different status of all of them clearly as being existed in Travancore and the Pottis were not yet come forward to clear the confusion existed due to the non comprehension of reality regarding the same existed in the history Travancore and Kerala.

Here another point confuses many also to be considered. The land north of Kerala was generally termed as “Tulu”,but Tulu means one of the Saptakonganam near to Kerala where people speak Tulu language as their mother tongue and thei head quarters is Udupi .The “Akkaradesi”, ie “Kookada pottis” were Madvas and speak Tulu language as their mother tongue.

But the Haveega Karnataka Brahmins who were the followers of Sankara like Namboothiris, the same category as “Anchudesi” and “Naludesi” belonged to Haveega khanda of Saptha Konganam migrated to Travancore whose head quarter is Gokarna and Basnavalli also were called as Pottis who though at once migrated to Malayalam Namboothiri culture like the earlier migrants ie Anchudesi and Naludesi but unfortunately they were also called as Tulu Brahmins by some confused Namboothiris of northern Kerala.

Santhi or the Temple Priest ship were given to Brahmins up to Gokarnam which was a part of Sixty Two Earlier Namboothiri Gramom even in the northern part of Kerala from earlier times and they were called as “Embrathiris”, a term identical to the job of a Temple priest ie Santhi;Even if a Namboothiri of higher status did the same job he was also called as an “Embranthiri”.

The Santhi or Temple Priest of Vadakkum Natha Temple Trichur is even today addressed as an “Embranthiri” while he is assumed in the job of “Santhi” or Temple Priest.

Another point of confusion:

So arguments put forward by Chattmpi swamikal and many Namboothiris from North Kerala that unlike the Karnataka speaking Howeegha Brahmins the Tulu Brahmins migrated called Akkaradesi followers of Madhvachraya got priest hood as Temple Poojari ie Santhi by confusion created due to the term Empran similar to Emprasan was used to call all Brahmins migrated from Karnataka near to northern border of Kerala ie “Tulu “,Thoulava desam “

may not be correct because the Travancore kings and people easily would have detected the use of their mother tongue Tulu language and would have expunged from the job rather since they also once the part of sixty four namboothiri gramoms south of Gokarna and all Namboothiris having feudal lordship were reluctant and rather considered the job of “Embranthiri” ie as Temple priest inferior and never willing to do the job in earlier times which necessitated them to be appointed as “Kokkadapotti” by Travancore kings in temples like Sri Padmanabha swamy temple and Thiruvattar Temple.

References and different sources used in the discussion: