Nairs

“ These nairs, besides being all of noble descent, have to be armed as knights by the hand of the king, or lord with whom they live, and until they have been so equipped they cannot bear arms nor call themselves nairs, but they enjoy the freedom and exemption and advantages of the nairs in many things. In general when these nairs are seven years of age they are immediately sent to school to learn all manner of feats of agility and gymnastics for the use of their weapons. ”

“ These men go naked from the waist upwards, and barefooted, having only a cloth wrapped about their thighs. Their hair is long and rolled up on the top of their heads, and they go always armed, carrying bucklers and naked swords. The Nairs have their wives in common among themselves, and when any of them goes into the house of one of these women, he leaves his sword and buckler at the door, and while he is within no other dare enter the house. The king's children never inherit the kingdom after their fathers, lest perchance they may have been begotten by some other man ”

“ First they learn to dance and then to tumble, and for that purpose they render supple all their limbs from their childhood, so that they can bend them in any direction.... These Nairs live outside the towns separate from other people on their estates which are fenced in. ”

“ The most important portion of the population is included in the eleven classes of Nairs, [390] a race of pure Sudra caste. They pretend to be born soldiers, and formed the armies of the Zamorin and Cochin Rajahs, the lower castes not being allowed to bear arms. The Nairs now hold most of the land in Malabar, and are frequently very rich. Both the Zamorin of Calicut and the Rajah of Cochin are Nairs ”

“ See Berar Gazetteer, 196.]
NAIR, s. Malayal. nāyar; from the same Skt. origin as Naik. Name of the ruling caste in Malabar. [The Greek νάουρα as a tract stood for the country of the Nairs. For their customs, see Logan, Malabar, i. 131.]
1510.—"The first class of Pagans in Calicut are called Brahmins. The second are Naeri, who are the same as the gentlefolks amongst us; and these are obliged to bear sword and shield or bows and lances."—Varthema, pp. 141-142.
1516.—"These kings do not marry ... only each has a mistress, a lady of great lineage and family, which is called nayre."—Barbosa, 165. ”

“ Down to the time of Tippoo the whole of Malabar was governed by the descendants of the sisters of these thirteen Nair chiefs. The Zamorin of Calicut has some influence, though he is much reduced in wealth and importance since the days of Vasco de Gama.
The Nairs live under the remarkable institution called murroo-muka-tayum. Sisters never leave their homes, but [Pg 345] receive visits from male acquaintances, and the brothers go out to other houses, to their lady-loves, but live with their sisters. ”

“ Goës, in Cathay, &c. ii. 554.
CAIMAL, s. A Nair chief; a word often occurring in the old Portuguese historians. It is Malayāl. kaimal.
1504.—"So they consulted with the Zamorin, and the Moors offered their agency to send and poison the wells at Cochin, so as to kill all the Portuguese, and also to send Nairs in disguise to kill any of our people that they found in the palm-woods, and away from the town.... ”

“ M. Mahé de la Bourdonnais, who had some experience of their fighting qualities in the field, thus described them: 'Les Nairs sont de grands hommes basanés, légers, et vigoureux: lls n'ont pas d'autre profession que celle des armes, et seraient de fort bons soldats, s'ils étiaent disciplinés: mais ils combattent sans ordre, ils prennent la fuite dès qu'on les serre de près avec quelque supèriorité ”

“ A few days later, when the sun was setting on the prairie, making the whole sky crimson, and flooding the world with its last rays of light, they buried him by the river's edge, Nares reading the funeral service over him, who, though perhaps he had said less of religion than most men, had lived a life so close to Nature, and face to face with God and His works, that he must have learnt the great secret and loved the Creator, as he undoubtedly in his own rough way loved all His beautiful creation. ”

“ Lord Nairne (this was the second Lord Nairne, Lord William Murray, fourth son of the Marquis of Atholl, who married Lady Nairne and took her title) , as I have said, died in 1724. It was his son, the third Lord Nairne, who was out in the '45, and here again the cold facts of history are too much for us, for after the catastrophe of the Act of Attainder he settled in France, and not in Hampshire; and at that date Richard Nyren was already twelve years old. Richard Nyren may have been a Nairne, but, if so, it was through another branch of the family. ”

“ India ink pressed into fantastic shapes, and writing-brushes made of deer’s hair, are carefully tied up in the pilgrim’s wallets, with the famous little Nara ningio, or images carved in wood. The Nara ningios always represent the legendary priests and people who founded Nara, and in these carvings the rural artists display great talent, giving wonderful expression to the tiny faces that are left rough faceted as first chipped off with the knife. ”

“ Nan, with her white veil cloud-like round her face, looked at the track of light across the water. The moon wore a cloud round her face, too, but she looked in and out. The girl was very still.
"Oh, my dear! my dear!" Napier's heart cried so loud that in a kind of terror he fell upon audible speech. "It is the most wonderful night I ever—" and he stopped. His voice sounded strange. As she turned from the moon-path on the water to meet Napier's look fastened on her, he saw that her eyes had brought away some of the restlessness as well as some of the glitter of the sea. ”

“ Naraini, meanwhile, behind her veil, gurgled with soft laughter, pleased at being able to test the value of her beauty on the man she meant to rule by it. So they stood--she in the shadow at one end of the alley, he in the shadow at the other; between them the scented path bordered by the runnels of water slipping by to bring a deluge to some portion of that little world. Some might have called it a pretty scene, instinct with the joy of youth; others might have turned their heads away, praying to be delivered from the world, the flesh, and the devil. ”

“ Napier's right hand tightened on the bar of his crutch. He leaned an instant against the shoulder of his servant, feeling the dreaded onset of that dizzy sickness which comes back upon men who have had a touch of gas. Still, he was master enough of himself to notice that the captain moved a little as he put up his hand in recognition of some one on the wharf. Then Napier saw her—or was it Nan? ”

“ Involuntarily Nare whistled. In the hazy twilight it was not easy to distinguish shapes exactly, and the desolate moorland with the black bare Mill frowning in its midst, only a single skeleton sail left to show for what purpose it had been built centuries ago, and the utter silence, except for the homing bees, no doubt tended to ghostly thoughts. But either Nare was dreaming or——
"Whatever is that?" cried Miss Corcoran, suddenly catching sight of it. She put a startled hand on his arm, and Nare regained his cheerfulness. ”

“ The Nayres, who are their nobles, if they chance to touch any of the common people, purify themselves by ablution, as was done by the Jews and Samaritans. The women among the Nayres axe common to all, but chiefly those, of the Bramin cast, so that no one knows his father, nor is any one bound to maintain the children. These Nayres are wonderfully expert in the use of their weapons, in which they begin to exercise themselves at seven years of age. ”

“ That was exactly what Nare did not know. Looking down through the trap, he was conscious of a pair of fierce yellow eyes glaring up at him.
"A good deal depends on the tiger," he said. "As this is one from a menagerie it may know how to behave itself in company, but—isn't there a top floor to this Mill?"
There was, and another ladder leading to it. And Miss Corcoran, followed by Nare, reached it in less time than it takes to tell. The tiger had reared its paws on to the lower ladder and delivered itself, of another terrific growl. ”

“ Major Nairne thus became a peer (being the fifth Lord Nairne of Nairne, Perthshire) , and his wife was thenceforth known as Baroness Nairne.
Lady Nairne's chief object in life was now the training of her only son. Up to his fifteenth year she mainly taught him herself. Then she selected tutors with the greatest care. On the death of Lord Nairne in 1829 she left Edinburgh with the boy, settling first with relatives at Clifton, near Bristol. ”

“ When any husbandman goes through the streets they must continually call out aloud hoo hoo ; for if commanded by a nayre to make way, they may be slain if they refuse. The king cannot raise any one to the rank of a nayre , who are all such by descent. These nayres serve very faithfully under those who give them their wages, not sparing by day or night to use their best endeavours to serve their chiefs, nor making any account of want of food or sleep, or of fatigue, when their service is required or may be effectual. ”

“ She was shaking a small finger toward the face with the black flashing eyes. “If you don’t tell me all about your secret I shall tell Uncle Jerry. Now do you understand?”
“Secret? What is ‘secret’?”
“The thing up in the attic is a secret,” persisted Nora, although she feared her voice might disturb the others now.
“That thing big Cap. He always at night sniff so much,” said Vita. “Now, I go to bed,” she spoke this very emphatically. “I go to bed and you go to sleep.”
“All right, go,” ordered Nora. “And don’t you dare go up in that attic again tonight. ”

“ Everything was so still, but Nora was not lonely—her own reflections kept her such noisy company that isolation had no terror for her. Just outside the cedar grove a strip of road waited for traffic. Few persons passed, but even woodlands must have roads, just as skies must have clouds.
Feeling more at home in her costume every moment, Nora stepped proudly outside the grove into the clearance. A fat little hoptoad crossed the path, but otherwise the prince was lord of all he surveyed. The whole world was busy, evidently, and even a visiting prince attracted no attention in the wild woodlands. ”

“ Suddenly, with a burst of high, childish laughter, the veil full of citron-blossoms was flung in his face, and Naraini was off down the alleys, while he, with anger added to admiration, was after her.
The walls echoed to the soft thud of their flying feet--down one path, up another, round by the tomb, scaring the parrots to a screaming wheel. Confident in her superior knowledge, she paused on the topmost step, ere scudding across the causeway, to fling back a handful of flowers lingering in a fold. He set his teeth hard. If she tried short cuts, so could he ”

“ Nairn was happy in his escape from the humiliation of being asked in marriage, and impatiently counted the days of mourning until he could make his demand on Mademoiselle de Sarennes “selon tous les règles de la bienséance.” That he was in love, even to the point of blindness, was amply proved by his astonishment that there were others in the like case as himself.
“Captain Nairn,” I said to him, in Margaret's presence, the day before his departure for Montreal with the troops, “as you are the head of your family, I have the honour to demand of you the hand of your sister in marriage.” ”

“ Antonio Fernandes in this journey, seeking to go to India by Melinda in company with Fecur Egzie ambassador, passed through this country; but none of the Jesuits ever went to Narea with a view of converting the people, at which I have been often surprised. There was enough of gold and ignorance to have allured them. That softness and simplicity of manners for which the Nareans are remarkable, their affection for their masters and superiors, and firm attachment 315 to them, would have been great advantages in the hands of the fathers. ”

“ Nora was too far up now to hear Vita’s step in the kitchen.
“But this must lead to the attic,” she reasoned. “I may as well go on up as to go—down.”
Cobwebs a-plenty here. She jerked back from their tangles, fearing spiders and other crawling things.
“Oh,” she exclaimed. “I do wish I had not come this way. It’s so—spooky!”
At every step the darkness increased and the light dwindled. Reaching a good-sized platform, Nora stood, thankful to draw an easy breath. She could just about see that she had only one short flight of steps to go to reach a door. ”

“ By bearing inland, Napier would cross at its narrowest the neck of what he used to think looked like the wreckage of a pier. Quite suddenly he would come into a gentler region, a gradual acclivity that led through willow and heather and bracken up to the apex of the height which, midmost of the island, commanded all points of the compass. If there was an installation, it would be there masked from the mainland, among the rocks at the top of the gorge. And if the installation was there, Napier would find it, provided somebody did not first find him. ”

“ A fortnight previously the Earl of Mar had addressed the following curious letter to Captain Henry Straiton, [113] at Edinburgh, to whom many of Lord Mar's epistles are written. The allusion to Margaret Miller refers to Lady Nairn, the sister-in-law of the Marquis of Tullibardine, and wife of Lord Nairn, who, in compliance with a Scottish custom, took his wife's title, she being Lady Nairn in her own right [Pg 117] . The allusion to "a dose" which will require the air of a foreign country to aid it, seems to offer some notion of the Earl's subsequent flight. ”