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Nambiar is a caste from Kerala in south India . They are similar to Nair / Menons and other martial community . But they are also ambalavasis { ambala meaning Temple and vaasis meaning inhabitants } .. in other words they are temple inhabitants who are associated with the priestly caste in managing the affairs of the temple thought not the actual conduct of ceremonies . They were protectors of the temple from a martial point of view against marauding fiefdoms . Traditionally , the ambala vaasis were used to marrying from the priestly community , the Nambuduri community .. though they were not given the rights of inheritance and children thus born were never considered as the brahmins to do the priestly duties . Invariably , the Nambuduri priest had one pivotal wife from his community and a couple of sambandams { meaning affiliations or relationships} with those from other ambalavaasis . There is a school of thought which believes that Nambiars are from the vaishyacommunity but the jury is still out on that . Over a period of time as sociological revolutions against the hegemony of the upper caste developed in a highly forward kerala societal structure , Nambiars preferred to associate themselves more with the Nairs than what they considered the unequal status amongst the Nambuduris .
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