The Namboodiri women were called "antharjanam" (lit., people inside) and were not expected to come out of their secluded quarters at any time. The rest could have "sambandham" (sexual relationship with women of other castes, mostly from aristocratic nair households and women of royal lineage) but could not marry from their own caste. For the information of members who are unfamiliar with this custom, I may tell that among Namboodiris it was the custom (not practised now) that only the eldest of the brothers married a Namboodiri girl.
As some of the senior members of our forum may know, the Malayalam cinema "Parinayam", meaning 'Marriage', depicts the Namboodiri custom of "smARta vichAram" in a more or less realistic (I suppose so, because the last such exercise was in 1905, which was slightly different from all the previous ones.) manner.
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