Social Challenges and Kerala Nair Responses

33
Chapter - V Social challenges and nayar responses

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Social Challenges and Kerala Nair Responses

Transcript of Social Challenges and Kerala Nair Responses

Page 1: Social Challenges and Kerala Nair Responses

Chapter - V

Social challenges and

nayar responses

Page 2: Social Challenges and Kerala Nair Responses

CHAPTER - V

SOCIAL CHALLENGES AND NAYAR RESPONSES

Patrilineal and Matrilineal

A distinctive feature of the social organization of Travancore

till recent times was the prevalence of Marumakkathayam or the

matrilineal system among certain castes and communities. It was one of

the peculiar customs that strangulated the Nayars for long. Makkathayam

or the patrilineal system was the prevalent form of succession in the

civilized society1. Marumakkathayam involved the inheritance and

succession through the sisters children in the female line. The antiquity of

the system has been a theme of controversy among scholars. The

traditional views propagated by the Brahmin aristocracy and expounded

by the authors of the Keralopathi is that marumakkathayam is of hoary

antiquity.

However, it is believed that the patrilineal was the system of

inheritance prevalent in ancient Kerala, and that matrilineal came into

vogue at a later period of Kerala history under the impact of some

compelling forces.2

Matrilineal had been the system of inheritance and succession

prevailing in ancient Kerala and that had been in a state of suspended

____________________________________________________________

1. Nagam Aiya, V., Travancore State Manual, Vol. II, Trivandrum, 1906, p. 363.

2. Wester Marie, The History of the Human Marriage, New York, 1921, p. 97.

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during the period of the ascendancy of the patrilineal Brahmin caste

and again it staged a revival at a later period.3

A Nayar tharavad or family consisted of a group of persons

male and female, all tracing descent from a common ancestress living

under the control and management of the eldest male who was called the

karanavan. In its simplest form a family consisted of a mother when

children living together with their maternal uncle that was the mother's

brother as karanavan. It was the mother that form the stock of the descent

and kinship as well as rights to property were traced through females and

not through males. Each of the mother and her children and descendants

in the female line formed a thavazhi. (Thai means 'mother' vazhi means

'line') meaning a mother line.4

Every member male or female had an equal interest in the

tharavad property. But could not claim his or her share of it. The karanavan

was legally responsible for the well beings, control and management of the

tharavad and was bound to meet the wants of the members arising from

their social status. But he had no right to alienate the immovable property

of the family without the consent of all the members, atleast of all the adult

male and female members. The internal management of the tharavad was

vested in the karanavan and he held the family purse and was practically

____________________________________________________________

3. Sreedhara Menon, A., A Survey of Kerala History, Kottayam, 1967, pp. 84 - 85.

4. Nagam Aiya, V., op.cit., Vol. II, p. 363.

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the family itself rather than its agent or representative. The disposal of the

movable property of the family was under his control and he was not

bound to account except when he habitually wasted the property or did

not administer it for the benefit of the other members in which case a

suit might lie to dispose him from the karanavanship.5

Origin of Marumakkathayam

The origin of the marumakkathayam system still lies in

obscurity. There are various theories with regard to the origin of the

marumakkathayam system. Many European writers believe that the

system of the inheritance in the female line was prevalent among the

Nayars must have originated from the polyandry or free love. In order

to ascertain the origin of the marumakkathayam it is necessary to go back

to its early stages and examine the condition of society which have rise to

it. Sir Henry Maine views that the origin of society was in patriarchal

families, that polyandry and kinshif through females were of temporary

duration liable to be brought about at a stage in the progress of a society

by peculiar circumstances under which it may be placed.6 Andrew Lang

observed that "the Aryan races have generally passed through the stage of

scarcity of women, polyandry, absence of recognized kinship and

recognitions of kinship through women.7

____________________________________________________________

5. Ibid., p. 36.

6. Sir Henry Maine, Early Law and Customs, New York, 1971, p. 202.

7. Andrew Lang, Customs and Myth, New York, 1885, p. 775.

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Of the Aryan races there can be no question that they too had

passed through the several stages before reaching the final one of paternal

kinship. So the maternal family and inheritance in the female line need not

necessarily be the result of polyandry. Among the Tibetians, the Todas,

the Aimons of Japan and other races that practiced polyandry and had

hardly any system of settled marriage8, marumakkathayam was found

among some of the kshatriyas, vellalas and muslims also but polyandry

was never practiced by them.9

Thus the question is of polyandry did not lead to

matrilineal inheritance of marumakkathayam. What caused its origin?

K.P. Padmanabha Menon has dealt with this question in detail. He was

firmly of the opinion that marumakkathayam began in Kerala only in

recent times, on account of some special circumstances unknown to us

now.10

Mc Lennan, Morgan and Engels have put forward the theory that

in early stages of human history the patrilineal system was the common

basis of inheritance and succession and the matrilineal system evolved

later.11

This may be the common process of social development and

progress. But in some societies owing to certain peculiar circumstances

development might have taken place in the reverse order. According to

____________________________________________________________

8. Wester Marie, The History of the Human Marriage, New York, 1921, p. 98.

9. Elamkulam, P.N., Kunjan Pillai, Studies in Kerala History, Trivandrum, 1970,

p. 29.

10. Ibid., p. 292.

11. Mc Lennan, J.F., Studies in Ancient History, London, 1938, pp. 27 - 44.

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Engles, the patrilineal system marked the age of civilization. But certain

tribes which still exist in rude savagery follow the matrilineal system for

example the hill tribes of the sahyadri region.12

Circumstances Responsible for it

The early Chera kings who ruled Kerala in the Sangam age,

followed the patrilineal system as was shown by the Sangam literature. But

the descendant of the Cheras in the medieval times followed the matrilineal

system.13

Due to the force of compelling circumstances people under the

patrilineal system adopted matrilineal system. None of the foreign

travellers who visited Travancore before 14th

century had seen any thing

peculiar in the family organization of the land. Frair Jordanm who lived at

Quilon early in the 14th

Century was the first foreign visitor who referred to

the peculiar laws of inheritance in vogue in Travancore. After him Ibn

Batuta (1342), Abdul Raza] (1442) Nicolo Conti (1444) and many others

have mentioned this peculiar institution. Since all visitors till the 14th

century were silent of the matrilineal system, the system of inheritance in

Travancore must have been patrilineal upto the 14th

century. The 14th

and

15th

centuries were marked with the growth of landlordism all over India.14

In Travancore also it became the way of life. The Nayars were the tenants

____________________________________________________________

12. Krishna Iyer, L.A., The Aboriginals of Travancore, Trivandrum, 1941, p. 92.

13. Padmanabha Menon, K.P., A History of Kerala, Vol. II, New Delhi, 1981, p. 88.

14. William Logan, Malabar Manual, Vol.I, Madras, 1951, p. 282.

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of the Nambudiri Brahmin land lords or Jenmies, who followed the

patrilineal system of inheritance. These Brahmin land lords insisted upon

the tenants that the Jenmam lands could only be enjoyed by them and

transfer should be made by the Jenmies.15

Majority of the lands of the

Nayars were Jenmam lands and it was from the enjoyment of these

Jenmam lands the collections or joint family system emerged among the

Nayars. The Jenmies insisted that even though there were sub-tenants,

the tenants were responsible for the Jenmam lands and cultivation. The

younger members of Brahmin families condemned by customary law of

life and long celibacy had to seek asylum with the Nayar families. They

entered into loose unions called sambandham. It was for the advantage of

the Brahmin Jenmies and for the sexual pleasures of the Brahmins and

they compelled the Nayars to change the law of inheritance, from

patrilineal to the matrilineal, under which individualism was ignored, the

Brahmins succeeded in erecting a strong body contented, handed tenancy

and not a landed aristocracy which was the base of marumakkathayam or

matrilineal system of inheritance.16

Under marumakkathayam, the Nayar

tharavad (family) was a union of relation of varying degrees of

propionquity traced through a common female in joint ownership of

corporate property under the beneficial management of a common

____________________________________________________________

15. Nagam Aiya, op.cit., Vol. II, p. 363.

16. Sasitharan Nayar, N., History of Social Legislation in Travancore, 1811 - 1925,

An unpublished Ph.D. Thesis , University of Kerala, Trivandrum, 1987, p. 251.

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Karanavan (uncle). Ordinarily a man does not take as much interest in

his distant kinsman as in the children of his own mother, his brothers, his

sisters and their children. The benefits of legal marriages, parental rights

domestic rule, the obligation to support the wife and children were ignored

under the system.17

The individual members of a tharavad had only the

right to maintenance. The system of marumakkathayam led to a life of

idleness among the members of the family which stood against the

prosperity of the society. The karanavans were practically voice less, when

karanavan was not bound to provide for them beyond subsistence and

improve their, moral and intellectual condition.18

The arbitrary and

absolute powers of the karanavan naturally tended to foster a feeling of

discontent among the other members regarding the management of the

tharavad and led to quarrels.

Under marumakkathayam again the marriage tie was very

loose and temporary. Marriage as a duly recognized social institution did

not exist in the Nayar community.19

Although the Sambandham union has

in it all the elements of a valid marriage, it had no legal sanction. Even the

powers of disposing by will of self acquired property was not recognized

in the case of Nayars by the law of marumakkathayam.

____________________________________________________________

17. Ibid., p. 253.

18. Nagam Aiya, V., op.cit., Vol., II, p. 364.

19. Travancore Law Reports, Vol.I, Ernakulam, 1904, p. 22.

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The most important merit of the matrilineal system was that

the Nayar women enjoyed freedom and independence in the management

of the family Property descended in the female line and the

marumakkathayam succeeded in keeping Nayar tharavad from being

dismembered. It prevented alienations also. In addition to all these it

encouraged a feeling of collectivism and mutual love and affection

among the members of the tharavad. With the advance of education

marumakkathayam became hopelessly unworkable. It worked against

every principle of political dictums and of healthy family life. It was based

upon the doctrine that there was no merit in female virtue and no sin in

being unchaste, by freeing a man from the obligation of maintaining his

wife and off-spring.20

Opposition

Towards the end of the 19th

century, the Nayar began to

question the existing social institution. They considered their system of

inheritance and succession a primitive way of life. The advance of English

Education among the Nayars and the free contact they had with developed

communities made them look upon the primitiveness of their family

Institution and clamoured for a change.21

The convenience and comfort of a man living with his

mother and sister and his wife and children in peace and quite of separate

____________________________________________________________ 20. Malabar Marriage Commission Report, p. 37.

21. Robin Jeffrey, The Decline of Nayar Dominance, New Delhi, 1976, p.154.

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home has come to be preferred to the primitive habit of living and messing

together in the uncongenial surroundings of an over grown tharavad22

,

want of affection had alienated the sympathies of the distant nephews or

anandaravan and turned him into a permanent enemy which led to the

disobedience of junior members to the karanavan and made the

management of the tharavad difficult. The idea of division was not

revolutionary one in the social history of the Nayars. A group of patriotic

men commenced a compaign to educate public opinion on the necessary

for a law of partition for the Nayars. Among such patriotic men, the first

who tried to educate Nayars was P. Thanu Pillai who was a teacher in the

Maharajan cottage of Trivandrum in the 1870 as latter an official Thanu

Pillai was the leading Nayar official and an enlightened safe and trusted

leader of the Nayar community.23

In the year 1870 he founded a cultural

association called the Malayali Social Union.24

Members of the Malayali Social Union worked against the

marriage customs and other social systems that existed among the Nayars.

When he turned to be a critic of the social order he was transferred from

Trivandrum to Quilon, which shattered the work of the Malayali Social

Union. But it was revived by C. Krishnapillai. He changed the name of

____________________________________________________________

22. Velu Pillai, T.K., Speeches in the Travancore Legislative Council, Trivandrum,

1941, pp. 24 - 25.

23. Parameswaran Nair, Raman Pillai, Compilers Regional Records Survey

Committee, Trivandrum, p. 86.

24. Travancore Government English Records, Cover File No. 1228.

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the Malayali Social Union as Malayali Sabha in 1884. It aimed at

promoting the welfare of the Malayali community through western

knowledge. The Sabha encouraged female education and stood for

reforming the marriage system.25

Malayali Newspaper

In order to achieve its aims the Sabha began to publish a

Malayalam newspaper in 1886 called the Malayali, edited by C.V. Raman

Pillai. The Sabha had also some non Nayar members. At the first the

Sabha enjoyed the support of the officials of Travancore government, with

the attack of the members on the Brahmin supremacy in the sirkar service,

the government turned against it. In 1887 the Maharaja and his Brahmin

favourites in the sirkar service came under bitter attack in a Madras

newspaper the Standard.26

In 1887 T. Rama Rao became the Dewan of

Travancore and patronized Brahminsm in the state on 15 August 1887 the

Standard attacked the Dewan and the Maharaja for being under the

influence of Brahmins.27

In January 1891 the Malayali Sabha presented a memorandum

to the Maharaja which demanded Travancore for Travancoreans. The

Malayali Memorial wanted to put and end to the supremacy of

____________________________________________________________

25. Madras Standard, 21 December 1887, p. 2.

26. Ibid., p. 179.

27. Madras Standard, 15 August 1887, p. 2.

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non-malayali Brahmins in the sirkar service. The memorial expressed the

grievances of Nayars and demanded a change in their family

organisation.28

How ever the Malayali Memorial was the first open attack

against the non-malayali Brahmin monopoly of government services and

also their special supremacy in Travancore.

The endeavour of the Malayali Sabha brought them some

advantages in the field of employment. But with regard to the social evils

like the tharavad system and marriage, nothing was gained in the 19th

century. There was incessant dispurses and litigations among the Nayar

tharavads. Eventhough tharavads were willing to divide themselves into

branches, those divisions could not have the force of law. In the decades of

1879 - 89 there was an average of 60% suits a year for tharavad partition.

From 1889 - 90 to 1898 -99 the average increased to 80 suits annually

from 1889 - 1890 to 1903 -1904 the average was 96 in a year.29

Economic Deterioration

The economic deterioration led to the ruin of many of the

Nayar tharavads Brahmin sambandhams with Nayar women were also in

the increase. With the advance of education among the Nayars, they could

know the changes taking place in the rest of life. In 1890, C. Sankaran

Nayar member of Central legislative council introduced a bill to permit

____________________________________________________________

28. Travancore Government English Records, Cover File No. 1744, p. 34.

29. Administration Report of Travancore for the year 1905, p. 23.

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Nayars in British to register their sambandhams.30

The proposed bill was

objected to by the orthodox Nayars and the Nambudiris of Travancore.

The Orthadox Nayars were unwilling to give up their old system. The

Madras Government appointed the Malabar Marriage Commission headed

by Sir T. Muthuswamy Aiyar to study the whole system of marriage of

Malabar. It was on the basis of their report that the Malabar Marriage

Bill was passed in 1896. The bill in its provisions allowed any caste in

Malabar which followed marumakkathayam to register their marriage.

This made sambandham a legal marriage and a man could make wills over

his self acquired property to his wife and children. But the act was only

permissive, there was no compulsion. The Malabar Marriage Bill gave an

impetus to the Nayars of Travancore to have such an act to remove the

evils of their sambandhams and matrilineal system.31

Agreed partition had risen from 301 in 1896 - 97 to 516 in

1906-07. It shows that within the ten years period nearly 3500 tharavads

had unanimously agreed to partition and executed the partition in the

courts. In addition to the partition members wishing to live apart

from their tharavads negotiated agreements for maintenance. In 1896 - 97,

205 such agreements were executed and in 1906 - 1907 the number rose

to 385.32

Finally the committee came to the conclusion that the

____________________________________________________________

30. Robin Jeffrey, op.cit., p. 185.

31. Travancore Legislative Council Proceedings, 20 June 1896, p. 9.

32. Ibid., p. 10.

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traditional organizations of the Nayars had to be abolished and

advocated partition. In their letter of 28th

August embodying their

recommendations and also a draft bill to give effect to them. The

government passed orders on the report. Since there was some opposition

against the partition of the tharavad, the bill sent in by the committee was

amended and it was declared that the bill would be introduced in the

council in due course.33

Government felt that there was a rapidly growing

sentiment in favour of partition but one section of the Nayars was against

partition. So the government came to the conclusion that some provision

was necessary for partition unless a tharavad became unmanageable. As to

the mode of division some were for division per stripes and the rest for

division per capita. In this situation government thought that a middle

course should be taken.34

A bill revised in accordance with the views of the government

was introduced in the council by the official members on 6th

April 1911.

It was intended to remove doubts as to the validity of the conjugal union

among certain clans of Hindu marumakkathayees viz. samanthas and

Nayars and to provide for certain matters connected there with and to

define and amend the law of succession and family management among

them. Under the bill, no individual partition, no partition during the life

______________________________________________________________________

33. Travancore Government Gazetteer, dated 27.12.1910, p. 22.

34. Report of the Marumakkathayam committee, 1908, pp. 30-70.

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time of a common ancestors or her children was allowed. Subject to these

conditions, it allowed each collateral thavazhees (thavazhees of a female

means of a group of persons consisting of that female and her issue and

thavazhee of his mother) to claim out right partition of property common

to all he thavazhees. The bill was passed by the council on 17th

October

1912 and became Regulation 1st of 1088 M.E.

35

Question of Succession

The Regulation I of 1088 M.E. defined and clarify the law of

marriage and succession and family management of the Nayars. Even

though one of the purposes of the bill was partition of the tharavad

properties, that was omitted when the bill was finally passed by the

council. The bill reduced the powers of the karanavan. The non-official

Nayar members were strongly against the partition of the tharavad

properties and the government had to yield to these non official Nayar

members.36

Another important omission was that the samanthas were

excluded from the scope of the bill. The marumakkathayam committee

proposed that their recommendations were applicable to all samanthas and

Nayars. But the president of the council pointed out that there were only a

few Samantha females and most of them did not apparently want this

legislation. It was not to force upon the Samantha community a piece of

____________________________________________________________

35. Ibid, p. 57. 36. Abstract Proceedings of the Travancore Legislative Council I, 16

th April, 1923, pp. 820-21.

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social legislation which they did not unanimously ask for.37

This

was against the committee's recommendations.

Regulation I of 1088 M.E. recognized a public sambandham

as a legal marriage. The husband was made the legal guardian of his wife

and children as long as they lived with him. A man could dispose of all his

self acquired property by making a will. This bill reduced the powers of

the karanavan and simple procedures for divorce were laid upon.38

However the legislative council ignored the pressing demands of the

Nayar Community demand for partition of tharavads.

In spite of its defects, the Regulation I of 1088 M.E.

succeeded in recognising some of the demands of the Nayar Community.

The wills Regulation and the Nayar. Regulation I of 1088 had their effect

in the neighbouring state if Cochin as well. There was an attempt of the

Cochin Darbar to pass a wills. Regulation of 1908 on her lines of the

Travancore wills Regulations. In view of the strong protest of the orthadox

section of the Nayar community it was finally decided by the Darbar to

drop the proposed measure shortly after the passing of the Travancore

Nayar Regulation I of 1088 M.E. 1 December demanded a similar of social

legislation for them too.39

In the year 1916 a large representative body

______________________________________________________________________

37. Travancore Legislative Council Proceedings, dated 05.02.1912, p. 11.

38. Regulations and Proclamations of Travancore, Trivandrum, Vol. I, 1928, p. 820.

39. Travancore Law Reports, 1917, p. 242.

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headed by K. Raman Menon who was the Chief Justice of Travancore

high court approached the Raja of Cochin praying for a legislative

enactment on matters of marriage, inheritance and family management.

They submitted their suggestions in the form of draft bill. Sensing the

desires of the Nayar Community the Cochin government appointed a

committee to study the question of the above draft T.S. Narayana Iyer

Chief Judge was the president of the committee. The committee submitted

its report on 30 October 1917. It was on the basis of that Cochin Nayar

Regulation was passed.40

An important merit of the Regulation I of 1088 was that it

legalised the existing sambandhams of the Nayars In addition to this it

restricted autocracy of the karanavans of the Nayar tharavads. The

Regulation gave a stimulus to the Nayar community to strive further for

social reforms.

The alarming growth of family dissensions and the

unquenchable thirst for litigations in the Nayar community for family

partition affected the moral law and material prosperity of the Nayar

tharavad, the disease of the tharavad was traced to the evil effects of the

joint family system in which the individual had no defined right or

responsibility. The Nayar Regulation I of 1088 was not a solution to the

____________________________________________________________

40. Mannath Padmanabhan, op.cit., pp. 97-98.

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evils of the marumakkathayam system. But the Nayars continued their

agitation in a more organised and intensified form focusing their entire

attention on the question of makkathayam and individual partition. The

cry for change was loud persistent and large in volume.41

It was the opinion of the marumakkathayam committee that

among Nayars marriage was merely a civil contract that it was dissoluable

at the will of either party and that it was not expedient to prohibit or

restrict divorce in any manner except by way of compelling the husband

when he was the petitioner, to give compensations accordingly the law was

enacted in 1088 M.E.42

In the amendment of the Nayar Regulation II of 1100 M.E.

the martial tie was made as strong as possible. Accordingly divorce was

not possible on mere payment of compensation but it could be allowed

only when the fact was proved in a civil court except in cases where the

parties mutually agreed to dissolve the marriage. In a makkathayam

family it was absolutely necessary that the martial tie should be strong

unlike under marumakkathayam. This provision was added by the

legislative council. The bill was in favour of monogamy and limited

divorce for specific reasons and through the decree of a regular civil

court.43

____________________________________________________________

41. Ibid.

42. Report of marumakkathayam committee, p. 97.

43. The Regulation and Proclamations of Travancore, Vol. V, p. 650.

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The Nayar Regulation of 1088 M.E. and its amendment of

1100 M.E. brought for reaching changes in the social and economic life of

the community. The Nayar community had permitted polygamy which

spoiled the morality of the community. By the Regulation of 1088 M.E.

polygamy was made unlawful and monogamy was enforced prevention of

bigamy strengthened the family life and saved the children from the

bastardship.44

Divorce was restricted and rules were framed for

detornivies the amount of compensation and it compensation was in

sufficient provision was made for appeals to the high court of Travancore.

The out standing features of the Nayar Resolution of 1100 M.E. were two

viz. (1) Rights of inheritance incases of non-Nayars marrying Nayar

females. (2) Provision for partition of tharavad properties on the

individualistic basis. Till the Nayar Regulation of 1100 M.E. the Nayar

females were treated by the Brahmins as just objects of pleasures. Non-

Nayar marriages with Nayar females were viewed as morganatic

marriages. The children could not inherit properties of non-Nayar fathers.

The Nayar son of a Brahmin was not permitted to give a drop of water to

his dying father or touch his body at the time of cremation. He had no

right to offer the funeral cake. That system was put an end to through the

Nayar Regulation.45

The Nayar Regulation established that the children of

____________________________________________________________

44. Travancore Law Reports, 1917, p. 66.

45. Ibid., p. 74.

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a non-Nayar by a Nayar wife should have equal rights with the rights and

privileges of other Nayar children. The wife and children were made the

sole legal heir to all the husband self acquired property.

Regulation II of 1100 M.E. abolished the matrilineal joint

family system and established an individualistic society called

makkathayam. Under the system every adult member of a tharavad

became entitled to claim his or her share of the properties of the tharavad.

In the new system the abolition of the Karanavan had been abolished as he

became only a figure head.46

The Nayar Regulation of 1925 was turning point in the social

system of the Nayars community in South Travancore. Like wise with the

amendment of the Nayar Regulation in 1925 the autocracy of the

karanavans of the Nayar tharavads came to an end. According to the

Nayar Regulation, Brahmin who married Nayar women were bound to

give their property to their Nayar wives and children. The effect of the

new religion was to allow thousands of Nayars to take their share of the

tharavad‘s assests and leave the joint family.47

The Nayar Regulation

became a model to the other matrilineal communities like the Ezhavas,

Nanjilnad Vellalas and Krishnavakas. The Nayar Regulation was the most

____________________________________________________________

46. Ibid.

47. Madras Mail, 11 June 1920, p. 6.

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149

important social legislation of 20th

century. It gave another shock to the

Brahmins over the Nayar community. The Nayar Regulation were an

outcome of the agitation and representations made by the Nayar social

leaders as well as voluntary social organisations like the Nayar Service

Society and the Keraliya Nayar Smajam.

Vivaham (Older Form)

Presently the Nayars do not practice either of the three forms

of marriages described earlier but perform Vivaham (Marriage) recognized

by the Hindu Marriage act of 1955. It is ceremonially the shortest in

comparison to its counterparts from other Indian castes and regions. The

marriage ceremony among Nayars has changed considerably over the past

two hundred years. Originally, the process started with the examination of

the horoscopes of the bride and bridegroom to see if their respective stars

agree astrologically. This is still done today in some conservative Nayar

families.48

If the stars do not match, families may go so far as to cancel

the marriage and seek another prospective bride or groom. If the

astrological predictions are favourable, further examination is undertaken

to appoint an auspicious date and time for the ceremony. During the

celebration, there would be a presentation of danom (wealth or alms) to

____________________________________________________________

48. Fuller, C.J., The Nayars today, Cambridge University Press, 1976, pp. 99-100.

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Brahmins, and a sadhya (feast). The bride and bridegroom would meet in

the central room of the house, rice would be sprinkled on their heads.

This was the essence of a basic Nayar marriage about two hundred years

ago. In addition to these general ceremonies, there are local variations.

In North Malabar (Northern Kerala), there is a Podamuri or

Vastradanam ceremony.49

In this ceremony, the initial examination of

horoscopes takes place at the house of the bride in the presence of the

bride's and bridegroom's families. The astrologer writes his calculations

and opinion on a piece of palmyra leaf and hands it over to the

bridegroom's relations. If the horoscopes match, a day is fixed for the

ceremony. This date is also written down and handed to the bride's

Karnavar and to the bridegroom's relations. The astrologer and the

bridegroom's party are then invited to a feast in the bride's house. The

astrologer also receives gifts in the form of money or cloth.

Three to four days prior to the wedding date, the bridegroom

visits his Karnavars and caste-elders to receive permission to leave for the

wedding. The bridegroom presents them with betel leaves and areca nuts

and obtains formal sanction for the wedding. The bridegroom then

proceeds, accompanied by a number of his friends to the house of his

bride.50

He is received at the gate of the house by the bride's relations and

____________________________________________________________

49. Faw Cett, F., Nayars of Malabar, New Delhi, 1985, p. 234.

50. Ibid.

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is led with his friends, seats provided in the thekina (southern hall) of the

house. The bridegroom distributes gifts to all the Brahmins present there.

After this, the whole party is invited to take part in another sadhya. The

astrologer then announces the auspicious hour that has been fixed and

leaves after receiving his dues. The bridegroom is then taken by one of his

friends to the padinitta (principal/western room of the house, where

religious ceremonies are conducted).

New clothes, betel leaves and areca nuts brought by the

bridegroom's party are placed in this room.51

The room is decorated and

turned into a bedroom for the occasion. In this room are placed a number

of lamps as well as the ashtamangaliyam (eight articles symbolizing

mangaliyam or marriage). These are rice, paddy, the tender leaves of the

coconut tree, an arrow, a looking glass, a well-washed cloth, a burning fire,

and a small rounded wooden box called a cheppu. The bridegroom with his

groomsman enters the room through the eastern door, while the bride,

dressed in beautiful clothes and jewelry, enters the room through the

western door accompanied by her aunt or another elderly lady of the

family. The bride stands facing east with the ashtamangalyam and lamps

in front of her. The groomsman hands over to the bridegroom a few pieces

of the new cloth and the bridegroom puts them into the hands of the bride.

____________________________________________________________

51. Faw Cett, F., op.cit., p. 232.

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After this, the lady who accompanied the bride sprinkles rice over the lit

lamps and over the heads and shoulders of the bride and bridegroom. The

bridegroom then leaves the room to go to the thekina to present his elders

and friends with cakes, betel leaves and areca nuts. After the guests have

left, the bride and bridegroom retire to the bedroom. Next morning, the

vettilakettu or salkaram ceremony is conducted and the bridegroom's

female relations take the bride to the husband's house, where a feast is held

in honour of the occasion. After marriage, the bride remains in her

tharavaadu, and her husband will often visit her, while remaining a

member of his own tharavaadu. The children, of course, will belong to

their mother's tharavaadu in accordance with the marumakkathaayam

system.52

Vivaham (Newer Form)

These days, a number of the individual ceremonies have been

abandoned or condensed. However, one can still see elements of the older

ceremonies in the new ones. Families may observe all or part of the

following ceremonies. The first ceremony is the Vivaha Nischayam or

simply Nischayam. In this ceremony, an astrologer is consulted to set an

auspicious date for the wedding. Horoscopes may or may not be compared

____________________________________________________________

52. Faw Cett, F., op.cit., p. 233.

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depending on the wish of the individual or their families.53

After both

families' consent to the marriage, the couple visits the bride's home. This

meeting may be a simple affair, or a large celebration. During the

celebration, there may be a mothiram mattal (ring exchange) ceremony.

This ceremony may also be conducted later, during the actual vivaham

ceremony. If it is done at bride's house, it is usually done around a lit nila

vilakku (brass oil lamp).

On the evening before the wedding the families of both the

bride and the groom, gather in their respective homes to bless them. On the

day of the wedding, the bride and the groom will separately visit a temple

near their homes.54

The temple can belong to any God except Lord

Ayyappan or Lord Hanuman as they are bachelors. The bride's parents

carry the mangalyasutram or taali, a necklace that is a symbol of eternal

union, to be blessed by the priests. While returning home, the bride and

groom touch the feet of the elders of the family and receive blessings. This

is called Namaskaaram.

The actual wedding may take place in a kalyana mandapam (a

hall rented for the occasion), temple, or hotel. The bride's family receives

the groom's family at the entrance of the venue to the tune of nadaswarams

(long wind-instruments) and the beats of the thayli (large drums beaten

____________________________________________________________

53. Ibid., p. 234.

54. Velu Pillai, T.K., Travancore State Manual, Trivandrum, 1940, pp. 415, 415.

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with curved sticks). The groom stands on a wooden plank while the bride's

younger brother washes his feet. The bride's aunts perform aarti for the

groom with a thaali (platter), on which wicks made of twisted cotton are

arranged. The groom is then escorted to the mandapam (platform

constructed to perform the wedding rites) by two rows of young girls.

One girl carries the changala vatta (sacred oil lamp), while another carries

the ashtamangaliyam. The girls following the first two, carry the taala

phuli (platters of rice, turmeric, and flowers on which oil lamps made of

coconut shells are placed). With his parents on either side, the groom

follows the girls around the mandapam and seats himself on the right

side of the canopy, which is decorated by flowers, fabric, palm fronds,

and banana stalks. The bride is then escorted by her aunt to the

mandapam to the sound of the nadaswarams and thaylis. All those who are

present on the mandapam stand when the bride arrives. She stands

facing the east, with the groom facing her. At the auspicious moment

set by the astrologer for the muhurtham (the most auspicious time), the

groom ties the thali around the bride's neck to the beating of drums. He is

assisted by the bride's uncle because on no account should the thaali be

allowed to fall. In some Nayar communities, the traditional thaali is a

gold pendant strung on a yellow thread.55

The bride has to wear this for

____________________________________________________________

55. Faw Cett, F., op.cit., p. 235.

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three days after the wedding ceremony. After the three days have

passed, the thread is replaced by a golden chain.

After tying the thaali, the groom gifts the bride a sari and a

blouse on a platter. This signifies that he will now assume the

responsibility of providing for her. The groom's mother also gifts the bride

with some jewelry at this time. The couple then exchange garlands

accepting each other as life partners. The bride's father then places the

bride's hand in the groom's, thus handing over his daughter to the groom in

holy matrimony. The couple is then escorted to a room by their older

relatives, who bless them. After the marriage ceremony, the bride gets a

send-off from her house. The couple leaves for the groom's house

escorted by a few people from the bride's family. The groom's mother and

older female relatives perform aarti with an oil lamp (which rests on a

platter heaped with rice mixed with turmeric) and receive them at the

entrance. Both bride and groom enter the house, right foot forward. The

bride is then required to kick over a large pot containing rice, symbolizing

prosperity. After the wedding ceremony a wedding reception may be

performed if the families so wish.

Despite the claims of Brahmin ownership in Kerala up to the

coming of Europeans had most of the kingdoms belonging to the Nayars.56

____________________________________________________________

56. Nagam Aiya, V., op.cit., Vol. II., p. 328.

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Some with visible names like the Kartas and Kaimals, though some of

them adopted the new Chaturvarnya title of Kshatriyas. Only a few states

in later periods were of the Brahmins like Edappally, Piravam and

Chempakassery. Piravam, incidentally, was the one which took in large

populations of Jews and Syrian Christians and still have the historic

remains.57

The majority Nayar kings and nobility existed side by side

with a concocted history like the infamous ‗Keralotpathi‘ which states that

Kerala was formed by Parasurama and donated to them, hence Kerala

belonged to Brahmins. These ‗Sudras‘ were brought to do menial jobs for

them. Veracity of this claim, said to be concocted as recently as the 18th

century, was effectively questioned, many of the old practices continuing

to this day only very recently.

Available historic proof about the 600 ‗Tharas‘ under Nayar

chieftains, of the post-Sangam periods are rarely discussed.58

Neither the

golden age of Kerala, when world travelers like Marco Polo called

Malabar, Kerala, the ‗richest and noblest‘ country in the world. Caste

oppressions by the upper castes, outrageous practices of Brahmins‘ marital

relationships with Nayar women, ‗Sambantham‘, though it was a marginal

practice spread over a short period, are however of repeated pieces of

____________________________________________________________

57. Sreedhara Menon, A., op.cit., p. 86.

58. Ibid., p.83.

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history.59

The colonial missionary lead attacks on culture and history of

Kerala swept away the self esteem of the Malayali, mainly the Nayar

nobility. The Christian segment helped to spread this later with their

media. Though the contributions of Brahminical phase can not be lost

sight of, caste divisions and priestly monopoly in faith remains intense

and are melting away only gradually. Terminology of Sudras, servile

classes of the caste pyramid, attributed to the Nayars remained by and

large unchallenged. Inhuman treatment of the lower castes also remained

in practice. Nayar community alone, among all the castes, continued

to follow the compulsive Brahminical dictum with regard to religion and

rituals with out question.60

Nayars, a martial community has also lost almost all its

martial arts and the traits passing as it did through the Brahminical and

later European domination, where there were deliberate efforts to contain

them. As Chattambi Swamigal tells, the Dravidian nobility was cleverly

manipulated in to subjugation, much later another phase of European

colonisation further eroding the Nayars. Land, their mainstay was lost,

the martial spirit was long gone and the barring exceptions refused,

proud as they were, to take on new pursuits. Kerala Hindu society that the

____________________________________________________________

59. Nagam Aiya, op.cit., Vol. II, p. 364.

60. Robin Jeffrey, The Decline of Nayar Dominance, New Delhi, 1976, pp. 97-99.

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missionary phase helped to divide remained in fighting and the animosity

created among the various castes with exaggerated stories of oppression

almost neutralized the leader community of Nayars. Eventually creating a

scene of total anarchy, the naturally endowed place saw total destruction.

Kerala once leading the world now becoming the world capital of

suicides. Once nature‘s own land has become god‘s own, but whose god is

that is what matters.61

Changes in the Economy

After the colonial loot of resources and attacks on native

culture the state had another shock in the post-independence phase. With

its international connections, major changes occurred in the economy.62

Those linked to the global economy controlled from Europe, mainly the

Christians, and Muslim segments with their links to oil rich West Asia of

the population, received large amounts of international capital when those

without it starved of capital. Cost of life spiraled and the local incomes

paled in to oblivion. Those with capital and vote bank politics were also

able to stake control of the state‘s resources and used it for their own

community good. In the flood of international capital the only saleable

asset the others had was land and the sale of land to these rich groups had

____________________________________________________________

61. Galletti, A., et al., The Dutch in Malabar (Dutch Records No. 13), Madras

Govt. Press, 1911.

62. Nagam Aiya, V., op.cit., Vol. II, p. 365.

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reached alarming proportions. It had displaced the Hindus, large numbers

of Nayar families, who were landless, and they became landless laborers.63

Uprooted large populations were migrating outside the state. The mindset

of encroachment among the Syrian Christian segment, was that once they

had been refugees, even ate in the tribal belts and the hapless tribals were

thrown out of their small holdings. With their clout in government the

encroachers made this injustice legitimate. Agriculture, the mainstay of

Kerala, traditional sectors like coir making was collapsed and only the

islands of Christian Muslim rich remained in Kerala. With the neo-rich

arrogance they are now dictating terms to all others.

Unionism

The post-colonial Nayars, only beginning to organize, are

required to compete with organised and moneyed communities like

Christians and Muslims who have taken undue advantages at the cost of

the others. Missionary spread stories of caste oppression, alienated the

Kerala communities co-existing for centuries and made them enemies of

each other. Capital starved and having lost their other footholds like farm

lands, the Nayar community has very high rates on unemployment and

are getting extremely marginalised.64

There are also psycho-spiritual

____________________________________________________________

63. Padmanabha Menon, K.P., op.cit., p.89.

64. Krishna Iyer L.A., op.cit, p.93.

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challenges of faith especially in the context of post-atheist communist

phase as a large number of Nayars took to communism.65

There is a

vacuum of faith and confusion about what to do next. There is enormous

human suffering and some are converting to Christianity. Return of the old

dogmatic religion is another challenge. With out organizing themselves

there is no choice for the Nayar community and it is going to be a stiff

fight nevertheless. The other Hindu segments are also equally in trouble

though such debates are not being tolerated in Kerala Hindu society.

Kerala‘s nature and ecosystem are devastated. Christianized Kerala society

has lost its symbiotic cultural traits.

It is necessary to have a combined all inclusive action plan to

restore confidence in the community. The man made sufferings in the state

should be wiped out. There have been efforts through history of the Nayars

trying to unite the latest being under the umbrella of the Nayar Service

Society. The NSS did yeoman service in the community in organizing

people and setting up modern western educational institutions. It now has

a statewide organizational structure though it was sub-optimally used

earlier. It is a great tribute to the Nayar community that it has withstood

centuries of onslaught and kept up its morale where a new beginning has

to be made. As social beings required to co-exist with other communities,

____________________________________________________________

65. Sreedhara Menon, A, op.cit., p. 86.

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coming to terms with history, it is essential that the community redefines

its role in the present context, Once again taking the lead in bringing

justice. And there is no doubt that the various schools of thought like

Brahminism and the Vedic religion, Christianity and Islam, even

Communism for that matter, have enriched the community in myriad ways.

It is also true that the genesis of the Nayar community itself is complex,

having been a nobility it must have taken in many peoples and races

through time.66

Historians quote that people are trying to claim that they

are Nayars and many must have assimilated. Titles like Pillai and Menon

were also designations of officers at certain points of time. The new

challenge is to redefine the community goals, decide whom to associate

with and to what degree, with a sense of confidence and enlightened self

interest.

____________________________________________________________

66. Panikkar, K.M., op.cit., p. 409.