Caste system in Kerala

The caste system in Kerala differed from that found in the rest of India. While the Indian caste system generally modeled the four-fold division of society into Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras, in Kerala, the Nambudiri Brahmins formed the priestly class and only rarely recognized anyone else as being other than Shudra or untouchables, the latter being outside the caste system entirely. Thus, the Kerala caste system was ritualized but it was not the varna model found elsewhere. In Southern India, only in Kerala did there appear warrior lineages approximate to the Kshatriya model.These warriors never lost their identity as sudras.

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