NAYAR, or NAIR  , a caste or tribe on the W. coast of S . India, who form the dominant race in Malabar . Traditionally they are soldiers, but many have taken to professions, and one was in 1910 a judge of the high court at Madras . Their total number in all India in 1901 was just over one million . Their most peculiar customs are: (I) marumakkattayam=" descent through sister's children," or inheritance, in the female line; and (2) sambandham, a loose form of union, taking the place of marriage, without any responsibility of the husband towards either wife or children . In 1896 an act of the Madras legislature enabled a saraband ham to be registered, and have the force of a legal marriage . Little advantage has been taken of this act, while it is alleged that the sambandham now usually lasts for a lifetime . See Malabar District Gazetteer (Madras, 1908) .