The Iyers::The great culture

Lifestyle and culture

Traditional ethics

Iyers generally lead orthodox lives and adhere steadfastly to their customs and traditions. However, of recent, they have started abandoning their traditional duties as temple priests for more secular vocations, causing contemporary Iyers to be more flexible than their ancestors Iyers follow the Grihya Sutras of Apastamba and Baudhayana apart from the Manusmriti. The society is patriarchal but not feudal.

A portrait of vocalist M. V. Sivan. The three horizontal lines visible on his chest, arms and forehead are made with holy ash (vibhuti) which is usually used by orthodox Saivites

Iyers are generally vegetarian. Some abjure onion and garlic on the grounds that they activate certain base senses. Cow milk and milk products were approved. They were required to avoid alcohol and tobacco.

Iyers follow elaborate purification rituals, both of self and the house. Men are forbidden from performing their "sixteen duties" while Women are forbidden from cooking food without having a purificatory bath in the morning. Food is to be consumed only after making an offering to the deities.

The bathing was considered sufficiently purifying only if it confirmed to the rules of madi. The word madi is used by Tamil Brahmins to indicate that a person is bodily pure. In order to practice madi, the brahmin had to wear only clothes which had been recently washed and dried, and the clothes should remain untouched by any person who was not madi. Only after taking bath in cold water, and after wearing such clothes, would the person be in a state of madi. practice of madi is followed by Iyers even in modern times, before participating in any kind of religious ceremony.

As the consumption of alcoholic beverages is prohibited for Brahmins, the Iyers have taken a special liking for coffee

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Until the turn of the last century, an Iyer widow was never allowed to remarry. Once her husband dies, an Iyer woman had to tonsure her head. had to remove the kunkumam or the vermilion mark on her forehead, and was required to smear her forehead with the sacred ashes. All these practices have, however, greatly dimimished with the enactment of reforms.

Traditional attire

Tamil Brahmins (Iyers and Iyengars) in traditional veshti and angavastram at a convention of the Mylai Tamil Sangam, circa 1930s

Iyer men traditionally wear veshtis or dhotis which cover them from waist to foot. These are made of cotton and sometimes silk. Veshtis are worn in different styles. Those worn in typical brahminical style are known as panchakacham(from the sanskrit terms pancha and gajam meaning "five yards" as the length of the panchakacham is five yards in contrast to the veshtis used in daily life which are four or eight cubits long). They sometimes wrap their shoulders with a single piece of cloth known as angavastram (body-garment). In earlier times, Iyer men who performed austerities also draped their waist or chests with deer skin or grass.

The traditional Iyer woman is draped in a nine yard saree, also known as madisār.

Patronage of art

For centuries, Iyers have taken a keen interest in preserving the arts and sciences. They undertook the responsibility of preserving the Bharata Natya Shastra, a monumental work on Bharatanatyam, the classical dance form of Tamil Nadu. During the early 20th century, dance was usually regarded as a degenerate art associated with devadasis. Rukmini Devi Arundale, however, revived the dying art form thereby breaking social and caste taboos about Brahmins taking part in the study and practice of the dance.

DK Pattammal (right) ,Classical Music Singer, in concert with her brother, DK Jayaraman; circa early 1940s.

However, compared to dance, the contribution of Iyers in field of music has been considerably noteworthy. The Trinity of Carnatic Music were responsible for making some excellent compositions towards the end of the 18th century. Today, there are Iyers who give traditional renderings as well as playback singers in Indian films like Nithyashree Mahadevan , Usha Uthup, Shankar Mahadevan, Mahalaxmi Iyer, Hamsika Iyer and Naresh Iyer . Iyers have also contributed considerably to drama, short story and temple architecture.

In the field of literature and journalism, the Iyer community has produced individuals like R. K. Narayan, R. K. Laxman, Subramanya Bharathi, Kalki Krishnamurthy, Ulloor Parameswara Iyer, and Cho Ramaswamy to name a few. They have also contributed in an equal amount to Tamil language and literature

Food

The main diet of Iyers is composed of vegetarian food, mostly rice which is the staple diet for millions of South Indians. Vegetarian side dishes are frequently made in Iyer households apart from compulsory additions as rasam,sambar,etc. Home-made ghee is a staple addition to the diet, and traditional meals do not begin until ghee is poured over a heap of rice and lentils. While tasting delicious, the cuisine eschews the extent of spices and heat traditionally found in south Indian cuisine. Iyers are mostly known for their love for curd. Other South Indian delicacies such as dosas, idli, etc. are also relished by Iyers. Coffee amongst beverages and curd amongst food items form an indispensable part of the Iyer food menu.

The diet of Iyers comprise mainly of Tamil vegetarian cuisine, comprising rice

The food is taken only after it is purified by a ritual called annasuddhi which means "purification of rice".

Agrahāram

Agrahāram

In ancient times, Iyers, along with Iyengars and other Tamil Brahmins, lived in exclusive Brahmin quarters of their village known as an agrahāram(in Sanskrit Agram means tip or end and Haram means Shiva). Shiva and Vishnu temples were usually situated at the ends of an agrahāram. In most cases, there would also be a fast-flowing stream or river nearby.

A typical agrahāram consisted of a temple and a street adjacent to it. The houses on either side of the street were exclusively peopled by Brahmins who followed a joint family system. All the houses were identical in design and architecture though not in size.

With the arrival of the British and commencement of the Industrial Revolution, Iyers started moving to cities for their sustenance. Starting from the late 1800s, the agrahārams were gradually discarded as more and more Iyers moved to towns and cities to take up lucrative jobs in the provincial and judicial administration.

However, there are still some agrahārams left where traditional Iyers continue to reside. In an Iyer residence, people wash their feet first with water on entering the house.

Language

Tamil is the mother tongue of most Iyers residing in India and elsewhere. However, Iyers speak a distinct dialect of Tamil unique to their community. This dialect of Tamil is known as Brāhmik or Brahmin Tamil. Brahmin Tamil is highly Sanskritized and has often invited ridicule from Tamil nationalists due to its extensive usage of the Sanskrit vocabulary. The Palakkad Iyers have a unique sub-dialect of their own.Palakkad Tamil is characterized by the presence of a large number of words of Malayali origin. The Sankheti Iyers speak a sub-dialect of Brahmin Tamil called Sankheti.

Iyengars speak a separate dialect of Tamil called Iyengar Tamil. Some regard the Iyengar speech not as a dialect at all, but only as a sub-dialect of Brahmin Tamil.

Further information: Brahmin Tamil