Nairs and Bunts of Kerala and Tulu Nadu who claim Kshatriya descent from the nagas as well as Namputhiri and Tuluva Brahmins(Hindu philosophers Adi Shankara and Madhvacharya belonging to these communities) trace their origins to this place.
In 1911 Census of India, E.A. Gait mentions polyandry of the Tibetans, Bhotias, Kanets of Kulu valley, people of state of Bashahr, Thakkars and Megs of Kashmir, Gonds of Central Provinces, Todas and Kurumbas of Nilgiris, Tolkolans of Malabar, Ishavans, Kaniyans and Kammalans of Cochin, Muduvas of Travancore and of Nairs.
The six thousand strong Travancore army, trained in the European mode of warfare by Eustachius De Lannoy, held up the French trained war-hardened, fourteen thousand strong army of Tipu Sultan till April 1790, inflicting heavy casualties (local legends state that one of the Mysorean commanders, who happened to be Tipu's own cousin was killed in the fighting and that, following an ambush, Tipu himself was wounded and his personal effects captured by the Nairs of the Travancorean army).