The Nayars are a caste found in the Indian state of Kerala. Horticulturists are considered to be a non-mechanized and non-intensive form of plant cultivation. Although they depend on plants, they hunt and gather wild food such as fruits and nuts. Nayars can also be considered industrialists because they own or have some kind of involvement with many industries. In this article you will read about their parentage, gender relations, beliefs and values. The Nayar group in India is made up of people very different from anyone else in the world. They are made up of many types of lineages and different spectrums of wealth. They are considered horticulturists and some are considered industrialists. But their families are all made up of the same ancestors. The Nayars practice Hinduism and are matrilineal. When it comes to their family unit, things start to get a little strange. Their family unit is made up of brothers, sisters and last children. Within ancient and aristocratic families families sometimes consisted of fifty to eighty people up to two hundred people. The undivided Nayars family can live under the same roof but the males have to occupy other rooms separate from the females. But if a particular family is considered wealthy, males may live in a nearby compound. The Muttam is an enclosed piece of land located in front of the families house (Panikkar, 1918). Sometimes this piece of land is used as an ornamental garden and no man is allowed to set foot on this particular piece of land. Although men are not allowed on that piece of land, children can play on it during the day, but at night the females do their thing by... middle of paper... the railway also brought coconuts and pepper for export as well as the cashew which was the first introduced by the Portuguese and became a very important cash crop. Rice, among other imports, became much needed from Europe. After all the new trade, larger villages began selling British or American toiletries, glass, metalware, and other goods (Gough, 1952). The Nayars have a generational kinship system. Then they can organize themselves by sex, age and gender, which are the most important principles. Although they quite often flip their lineage affiliations so they can perform rituals. So, as you can see, the Nayar are a strange but rather interesting group. They have rituals that they follow and adhere to in their daily lives. The Nayar also celebrate rituals and traditions that we Americans would not even think of doing in our lifetime.