Courting legitimacy or delegitimizing custom? sexuality, sambandham, and marriage reform in late nineteenth-century Malabar

Modern Asian Studies

Volumn 35, Issue 2, 2001, Pages 349-384

  Kodoth, Praveena ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY; ECONOMICS; EDUCATION; ETHNOLOGY; GENDER IDENTITY; HISTORY; HUMAN; HUMAN RELATION; INDIA; JURISPRUDENCE; LEGAL ASPECT; MARRIAGE; PATERNALISM; PHYSIOLOGY; POLITICAL SYSTEM; PROSTITUTION; PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECT; PUBLIC HEALTH; RACE; SEXUAL BEHAVIOR; SEXUALITY; SOCIAL BEHAVIOR; SOCIAL CHANGE; SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY; SPOUSE;

ANTHROPOLOGY, CULTURAL; COLONIALISM; CONTINENTAL POPULATION GROUPS; GENDER IDENTITY; HISTORY, 19TH CENTURY; HISTORY, 20TH CENTURY; HUMANS; INDIA; INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS; JURISPRUDENCE; MARRIAGE; PATERNALISM; PROSTITUTION; PUBLIC HEALTH; SEXUAL BEHAVIOR; SEXUALITY; SOCIAL BEHAVIOR; SOCIAL CHANGE; SOCIAL VALUES; SPOUSES;

EID: 0041902496     PISSN: 0026749X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0026749X01002037     Document Type: Article

References (239)

1. I am grateful to Dr D. Narasimha Reddy and Dr Sanjay Palshikar for the sustained criticism that helped in developing this paper.
2. K. P. Padmanabha Menon, History of Kerala, Vol. 3 (Madras: Asian Educational Services, 1984) (reprint of 1933 edition), p. 199. Inscribed onto the framework of Victorian morality in the nineteenth century, the exposure of a woman's upper body was marked as shameful and coded sexually in a way it had been innocent of. The breast-cloth controversy grew out of efforts, particularly by Christian missionaries, to secure for chanar (a lower caste) women in Travancore the right to wear the upper garment. The controversy reached its peak in 1858-59, with acts of violence by the upper castes against the introduction of such a practice. As Cohn suggests, interpretation of the controversy as merely an instance of lower caste assertion against feudal privilege underscores many aspects. Changes in dress became the tokens of much wider social, economic and political changes. Particularly significant was the functional alliance, suggested by a missionary, between the economic potential for imperial industry from the demand tor cloth and the civilizing mission. Bernard Cohn: Colonialism and its Forms of Knowledges: The British in India (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1997), p. 143. For interpretation of the case as a site of articulation of colonial modernity see also K. T. Rammohan, 'Material Changes and Developmentalism: Interpreting Economic Change in Colonial Travancore, 1800-1945', Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum, (1996), pp. 37-41.
3. K. P. Padmanabha Menon, History of Kerala, Vol. 3 (Madras: Asian Educational Services, 1984) (reprint of 1933 edition), p. 199. Inscribed onto the framework of Victorian morality in the nineteenth century, the exposure of a woman's upper body was marked as shameful and coded sexually in a way it had been innocent of. The breast-cloth controversy grew out of efforts, particularly by Christian missionaries, to secure for chanar (a lower caste) women in Travancore the right to wear the upper garment. The controversy reached its peak in 1858-59, with acts of violence by the upper castes against the introduction of such a practice. As Cohn suggests, interpretation of the controversy as merely an instance of lower caste assertion against feudal privilege underscores many aspects. Changes in dress became the tokens of much wider social, economic and political changes. Particularly significant was the functional alliance, suggested by a missionary, between the economic potential for imperial industry from the demand tor cloth and the civilizing mission. Bernard Cohn: Colonialism and its Forms of Knowledges: The British in India (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1997), p. 143. For interpretation of the case as a site of articulation of colonial modernity see also K. T. Rammohan, 'Material Changes and Developmentalism: Interpreting Economic Change in Colonial Travancore, 1800-1945', Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum, (1996), pp. 37-41.
4. K. P. Padmanabha Menon, History of Kerala, Vol. 3 (Madras: Asian Educational Services, 1984) (reprint of 1933 edition), p. 199. Inscribed onto the framework of Victorian morality in the nineteenth century, the exposure of a woman's upper body was marked as shameful and coded sexually in a way it had been innocent of. The breast-cloth controversy grew out of efforts, particularly by Christian missionaries, to secure for chanar (a lower caste) women in Travancore the right to wear the upper garment. The controversy reached its peak in 1858-59, with acts of violence by the upper castes against the introduction of such a practice. As Cohn suggests, interpretation of the controversy as merely an instance of lower caste assertion against feudal privilege underscores many aspects. Changes in dress became the tokens of much wider social, economic and political changes. Particularly significant was the functional alliance, suggested by a missionary, between the economic potential for imperial industry from the demand tor cloth and the civilizing mission. Bernard Cohn: Colonialism and its Forms of Knowledges: The British in India (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1997), p. 143. For interpretation of the case as a site of articulation of colonial modernity see also K. T. Rammohan, 'Material Changes and Developmentalism: Interpreting Economic Change in Colonial Travancore, 1800-1945', Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum, (1996), pp. 37-41.
5. K. P. Padmanabha Menon, History of Kerala, Vol. 3 (Madras: Asian Educational Services, 1984) (reprint of 1933 edition), p. 199. Inscribed onto the framework of Victorian morality in the nineteenth century, the exposure of a woman's upper body was marked as shameful and coded sexually in a way it had been innocent of. The breast-cloth controversy grew out of efforts, particularly by Christian missionaries, to secure for chanar (a lower caste) women in Travancore the right to wear the upper garment. The controversy reached its peak in 1858-59, with acts of violence by the upper castes against the introduction of such a practice. As Cohn suggests, interpretation of the controversy as merely an instance of lower caste assertion against feudal privilege underscores many aspects. Changes in dress became the tokens of much wider social, economic and political changes. Particularly significant was the functional alliance, suggested by a missionary, between the economic potential for imperial industry from the demand tor cloth and the civilizing mission. Bernard Cohn: Colonialism and its Forms of Knowledges: The British in India (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1997), p. 143. For interpretation of the case as a site of articulation of colonial modernity see also K. T. Rammohan, 'Material Changes and Developmentalism: Interpreting Economic Change in Colonial Travancore, 1800-1945', Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum, (1996), pp. 37-41.
6. Marumakkatayam referred to the practice of tracing 'depth' or lineage through one's sister's children. Here 'ego' is necessarily male. However, the andro-centricity that this suggests needs to be considered in the context of the understanding of marumakkatayam in opposition to makkatayam (patriliny) the practice of the more dominant community. Aliyasantana is the kannada equivalent for marumakkatayam, and referred to matriliny practiced by a number of Tulu-speaking social groups in South Canara.
7. The term sambandham has been used very generally. The term used to denote marriage is known to have differed according to region and social group. While sambandham was used by Nairs in south Malabar and understood across Malabar, podamuri seems to have been used more widely by Nairs in north Malabar. The Tiyas in north Malabar used the term mangalam. Report of the Malabar Marriage Commission (henceforth RMMC) I (Madras: Lawrence Asylum Press, 1891), p. 98. Appendix A, Home Judicial Proceedings (May 1896), no. 245-55, Part B. National Archives of India (henceforth NAI).
8. The term sambandham has been used very generally. The term used to denote marriage is known to have differed according to region and social group. While sambandham was used by Nairs in south Malabar and understood across Malabar, podamuri seems to have been used more widely by Nairs in north Malabar. The Tiyas in north Malabar used the term mangalam. Report of the Malabar Marriage Commission (henceforth RMMC) I (Madras: Lawrence Asylum Press, 1891), p. 98. Appendix A, Home Judicial Proceedings (May 1896), no. 245-55, Part B. National Archives of India (henceforth NAI).
9. The term sambandham has been used very generally. The term used to denote marriage is known to have differed according to region and social group. While sambandham was used by Nairs in south Malabar and understood across Malabar, podamuri seems to have been used more widely by Nairs in north Malabar. The Tiyas in north Malabar used the term mangalam. Report of the Malabar Marriage Commission (henceforth RMMC) I (Madras: Lawrence Asylum Press, 1891), p. 98. Appendix A, Home Judicial Proceedings (May 1896), no. 245-55, Part B. National Archives of India (henceforth NAI).
10. By official discourse I mean a way of understanding local customs that was elaborated through the legal, judicial and other administrative processes of the colonial state.
11. In north Malabar there were few Ezhavas and more Tiyas. It must be mentioned that though in colonial and later reform narratives the Ezhavas and Tiyas were reckoned on par, they did observe caste distinctions.
12. For a consideration of such reports see K. N. Panikkar, Culture, Ideology and Hegemony: Intellectuals and Social Consciousness in Colonial India (New Delhi: Tulika, 1995), pp. 183, 189-94. The relevant chapter is a revised form of a paper which appeared in The Indian Historical Review in 1977. However, the first expression of discontent with matriliny on the west coast of India available to us came from people following aliyasantana law in a memorandum addressed to the Government of Madras in 1869. RMMC I, p. 38. See also copy of memorial in Appendix III, RMMC II.
13. For a consideration of such reports see K. N. Panikkar, Culture, Ideology and Hegemony: Intellectuals and Social Consciousness in Colonial India (New Delhi: Tulika, 1995), pp. 183, 189-94. The relevant chapter is a revised form of a paper which appeared in The Indian Historical Review in 1977. However, the first expression of discontent with matriliny on the west coast of India available to us came from people following aliyasantana law in a memorandum addressed to the Government of Madras in 1869. RMMC I, p. 38. See also copy of memorial in Appendix III, RMMC II.
14. Malabar Special Commission, Malabar Land Tenures Report, 1881-82 (henceforth RMSC), Vol. I (Madras: Government Press, 1882), p. 108.
15. Panikkar, Culture, Ideology, p. 195.
16. In the legal discourse the taravad referred to the matrilineal joint family as a coresidential unit with a joint estate. In a wider sense, it comprised all descendants, in the female line, of a common ancestress.
17. Members of the Sabhas (assemblies that administered temples) at Avittattur and Sukapuram (Nambudiri settlements) were thus proscribed. M. G. S. Narayanan and Kesavan Veluthat, 'A History of the Nambudiri Community in Kerala', in Frits Stal (ed.), Agni: The Vedic Ritual of the Fire Alter, Vol. 2 (Delhi: Motilal Banarasidas, 1983), pp. 262-3.
18. Ibid., p. 272.
19. K. N. Ganesh, Janmam-Kanam Maryadai: Changing Land Relations in Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century Kerala', The Indian Economic and Social History Review, Vol. 28, no 3 (1991).
20. Ibid., p. 316.
21. Ibid., p. 321.
22. Panikkar, Culture, Ideology, p. 188. Panikkar shows that the battle for land in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, up to the enactment of the Malabar Tenancy act, 1930, was between two affluent sections with interests in land i.e., the janmis, mostly Nambudiri and the intermediary tenants, visibly Nair. Panikkar, 'Agrarian Legislation and Social Classes: A Case Study of Malabar', Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 12, no. 21 (1977), p. 880.
23. Panikkar, Culture, Ideology, p. 188. Panikkar shows that the battle for land in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, up to the enactment of the Malabar Tenancy act, 1930, was between two affluent sections with interests in land i.e., the janmis, mostly Nambudiri and the intermediary tenants, visibly Nair. Panikkar, 'Agrarian Legislation and Social Classes: A Case Study of Malabar', Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 12, no. 21 (1977), p. 880.
24. Panikkar, Culture, Ideology, p. 188. Panikkar shows that the battle for land in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, up to the enactment of the Malabar Tenancy act, 1930, was between two affluent sections with interests in land i.e., the janmis, mostly Nambudiri and the intermediary tenants, visibly Nair. Panikkar, 'Agrarian Legislation and Social Classes: A Case Study of Malabar', Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 12, no. 21 (1977), p. 880.
25. For interpretations of this aspect of the transformation see G. Arunima, 'Multiple Meanings: Changing Conceptions of Matrilineal Kinship in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Malabar', The Indian Economic and Social History Review, Vol. 33, no. 3 (1996); Praveena Kodoth, 'Immutable "Custom", Contesting Practices: Matriliny, Women and Property in Colonial Malabar', South Indian Studies, (forthcoming).
26. For interpretations of this aspect of the transformation see G. Arunima, 'Multiple Meanings: Changing Conceptions of Matrilineal Kinship in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Malabar', The Indian Economic and Social History Review, Vol. 33, no. 3 (1996); Praveena Kodoth, 'Immutable "Custom", Contesting Practices: Matriliny, Women and Property in Colonial Malabar', South Indian Studies, (forthcoming).
27. Fuller writes, identifying a perceived crisis in the taravad in the late nineteenth century, that the important point was that Nair leaders and reformers, though in a small minority, were 'prone to quote Bentham and Mill, who they thought provided some kind of philosophical backing to their arguments' that the taravad was linked to their economic failure. C. J. Fuller, The Nayars Today (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976), p. 130.
28. Fuller writes, identifying a perceived crisis in the taravad in the late nineteenth century, that the important point was that Nair leaders and reformers, though in a small minority, were 'prone to quote Bentham and Mill, who they thought provided some kind of philosophical backing to their arguments' that the taravad was linked to their economic failure. C. J. Fuller, The Nayars Today (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976), p. 130.
29. In understanding the dominant conception of sexuality, I have drawn upon Catherine A. Mackinnon, Toward a Feminist Theory of the State (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1989), pp. 124-54.
30. Partha Chatterjee, 'Secular State: Reflections on an Indian Impasse', Public Culture, Vol. 8, no. 1 (1995), p. 16.
31. Partha Chatterjee, 'The Nationalist Resolution of the Women's Question', in Kumkum Sangari and Sudesh Vaid (ed.), Recasting Women: Essays in Colonial History (New Delhi: Kali for Women, 1989), p. 237. More recently, Sarkar has argued that colonial rule in the second half of the nineteenth century tried to keep its distance 'from the more intimate areas of human existence - family relationships, family property and religious life', adding to the nationalist conviction that this was 'an interior space that was as yet inviolate'. Tanika Sarkar, 'Rhetoric against Age of Consent: Colonial Reason and Death of a Child-Wife', Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 28, no. 26 (1993), p. 1871.
32. Partha Chatterjee, 'The Nationalist Resolution of the Women's Question', in Kumkum Sangari and Sudesh Vaid (ed.), Recasting Women: Essays in Colonial History (New Delhi: Kali for Women, 1989), p. 237. More recently, Sarkar has argued that colonial rule in the second half of the nineteenth century tried to keep its distance 'from the more intimate areas of human existence - family relationships, family property and religious life', adding to the nationalist conviction that this was 'an interior space that was as yet inviolate'. Tanika Sarkar, 'Rhetoric against Age of Consent: Colonial Reason and Death of a Child-Wife', Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 28, no. 26 (1993), p. 1871.
33. Partha Chatterjee, 'The Nationalist Resolution of the Women's Question', in Kumkum Sangari and Sudesh Vaid (ed.), Recasting Women: Essays in Colonial History (New Delhi: Kali for Women, 1989), p. 237. More recently, Sarkar has argued that colonial rule in the second half of the nineteenth century tried to keep its distance 'from the more intimate areas of human existence - family relationships, family property and religious life', adding to the nationalist conviction that this was 'an interior space that was as yet inviolate'. Tanika Sarkar, 'Rhetoric against Age of Consent: Colonial Reason and Death of a Child-Wife', Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 28, no. 26 (1993), p. 1871.
34. Ibid.
35. Kathleen Gough, 'Changing Kinship Usages in the Setting of Political and Economic Change among the Nayars of Malabar', Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol. 82 (1952), pp. 71-88; Gough, 'Nayars and their Definition of Marriage', Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol. 89 (1959), pp. 23-34; Joan Mencher, 'The Nayars of South Malabar', in M. F. Nimkoff (ed.), Comparative Family Systems (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1965); Fuller, The Nayars Today; Melinda Moore, 'Taravad: House, Land and Relationships in a Matrilineal Hindu Society' Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago at Illinois (1983).
36. Kathleen Gough, 'Changing Kinship Usages in the Setting of Political and Economic Change among the Nayars of Malabar', Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol. 82 (1952), pp. 71-88; Gough, 'Nayars and their Definition of Marriage', Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol. 89 (1959), pp. 23-34; Joan Mencher, 'The Nayars of South Malabar', in M. F. Nimkoff (ed.), Comparative Family Systems (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1965); Fuller, The Nayars Today; Melinda Moore, 'Taravad: House, Land and Relationships in a Matrilineal Hindu Society' Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago at Illinois (1983).
37. Kathleen Gough, 'Changing Kinship Usages in the Setting of Political and Economic Change among the Nayars of Malabar', Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol. 82 (1952), pp. 71-88; Gough, 'Nayars and their Definition of Marriage', Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol. 89 (1959), pp. 23-34; Joan Mencher, 'The Nayars of South Malabar', in M. F. Nimkoff (ed.), Comparative Family Systems (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1965); Fuller, The Nayars Today; Melinda Moore, 'Taravad: House, Land and Relationships in a Matrilineal Hindu Society' Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago at Illinois (1983).
38. Kathleen Gough, 'Changing Kinship Usages in the Setting of Political and Economic Change among the Nayars of Malabar', Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol. 82 (1952), pp. 71-88; Gough, 'Nayars and their Definition of Marriage', Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol. 89 (1959), pp. 23-34; Joan Mencher, 'The Nayars of South Malabar', in M. F. Nimkoff (ed.), Comparative Family Systems (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1965); Fuller, The Nayars Today; Melinda Moore, 'Taravad: House, Land and Relationships in a Matrilineal Hindu Society' Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago at Illinois (1983).
39. Kathleen Gough, 'Changing Kinship Usages in the Setting of Political and Economic Change among the Nayars of Malabar', Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol. 82 (1952), pp. 71-88; Gough, 'Nayars and their Definition of Marriage', Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol. 89 (1959), pp. 23-34; Joan Mencher, 'The Nayars of South Malabar', in M. F. Nimkoff (ed.), Comparative Family Systems (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1965); Fuller, The Nayars Today; Melinda Moore, 'Taravad: House, Land and Relationships in a Matrilineal Hindu Society' Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago at Illinois (1983).
40. Panikkar, Culture, Ideology, pp. 176-99.
41. Gough, 'Nayar: Central Kerala; Nayar: North Kerala; The Modern Disintegration of Matrilineal Descent Groups', in D. M. Schneider and Kathleen Gough (ed.), Matrilineal Kinship (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1961), p. 640. Panikkar, Culture, Ideology, pp. 184, 198.
42. Gough, 'Nayar: Central Kerala; Nayar: North Kerala; The Modern Disintegration of Matrilineal Descent Groups', in D. M. Schneider and Kathleen Gough (ed.), Matrilineal Kinship (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1961), p. 640. Panikkar, Culture, Ideology, pp. 184, 198.
43. Ibid., p. 198.
44. Ibid., pp. 182-3.
45. Srinivasan cautions that the leading role played by men of the community in the reform movement in the twentieth century to abolish the female profession of temple dancing cannot be understood without reference to the absolute nonavailability of the devadasi to their own men. This aspect was underscored by their privileged access to rich patrons and their wealth, which combined to underline the power and influence of the devadasi as women and as artists. Amrit Srinivasan, 'Reform or Conformity: Temple "Prostitution" and the Community in the Madras Presidency', in Bina Agarwal (ed.), Structures of Patriarchy: State, Community and Household in Modernising Asia (New Delhi: Kali for Women, 1988), p. 187.
46. Srinivasan cautions that the leading role played by men of the community in the reform movement in the twentieth century to abolish the female profession of temple dancing cannot be understood without reference to the absolute nonavailability of the devadasi to their own men. This aspect was underscored by their privileged access to rich patrons and their wealth, which combined to underline the power and influence of the devadasi as women and as artists. Amrit Srinivasan, 'Reform or Conformity: Temple "Prostitution" and the Community in the Madras Presidency', in Bina Agarwal (ed.), Structures of Patriarchy: State, Community and Household in Modernising Asia (New Delhi: Kali for Women, 1988), p. 187.
47. Of the 370 principal janmis from among the Nambudiris identified by William Logan in 1881, 356 were in the five southern taluks, 11 in Wynad and seven each in Chirakkal and Kurumbranad. Kottayam drew nil. RMSC I, p. 55. Alongside this were the differences in the tenures of the south and north, which we have argued elsewhere was linked to the virtual absence of the intermediate kanakkar in north Malabar. See Praveena Kodoth, 'Women and Property Rights: A Study of Land-Tenure Structure and Personal Law in Malabar, 1890-1940', Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Economics, University of Hyderabad, (1998), pp. 127-35. For a discussion of the differences in cultivation regimes and tenures of the north and south see Ravindran Gopinath, 'Garden and Paddy Fields: Historical Implications of Agricultural Production Regimes in Colonial Malabar', in Murshirul Hasan and Narayani Gupta (ed.), India's Colonial Encounter: Essays in Memory of Eric Stokes (Delhi: Manohar, 1993).
48. Of the 370 principal janmis from among the Nambudiris identified by William Logan in 1881, 356 were in the five southern taluks, 11 in Wynad and seven each in Chirakkal and Kurumbranad. Kottayam drew nil. RMSC I, p. 55. Alongside this were the differences in the tenures of the south and north, which we have argued elsewhere was linked to the virtual absence of the intermediate kanakkar in north Malabar. See Praveena Kodoth, 'Women and Property Rights: A Study of Land-Tenure Structure and Personal Law in Malabar, 1890-1940', Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Economics, University of Hyderabad, (1998), pp. 127-35. For a discussion of the differences in cultivation regimes and tenures of the north and south see Ravindran Gopinath, 'Garden and Paddy Fields: Historical Implications of Agricultural Production Regimes in Colonial Malabar', in Murshirul Hasan and Narayani Gupta (ed.), India's Colonial Encounter: Essays in Memory of Eric Stokes (Delhi: Manohar, 1993).
49. Of the 370 principal janmis from among the Nambudiris identified by William Logan in 1881, 356 were in the five southern taluks, 11 in Wynad and seven each in Chirakkal and Kurumbranad. Kottayam drew nil. RMSC I, p. 55. Alongside this were the differences in the tenures of the south and north, which we have argued elsewhere was linked to the virtual absence of the intermediate kanakkar in north Malabar. See Praveena Kodoth, 'Women and Property Rights: A Study of Land-Tenure Structure and Personal Law in Malabar, 1890-1940', Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Economics, University of Hyderabad, (1998), pp. 127-35. For a discussion of the differences in cultivation regimes and tenures of the north and south see Ravindran Gopinath, 'Garden and Paddy Fields: Historical Implications of Agricultural Production Regimes in Colonial Malabar', in Murshirul Hasan and Narayani Gupta (ed.), India's Colonial Encounter: Essays in Memory of Eric Stokes (Delhi: Manohar, 1993).
50. A sunni Muslim group with considerable interest in land and trade. Of the 140 principal janmis identified by Logan in the taluks of north Malabar, only 14 were Nambudiris as against 79 Nairs, 25 Mappillas and three Tiyas. RMSC I, p. 55. Gough points out that all Nair taravads in north Malabar were janmis over at least some land. Gough, 'Nayar: North Kerala', p. 390.
51. A sunni Muslim group with considerable interest in land and trade. Of the 140 principal janmis identified by Logan in the taluks of north Malabar, only 14 were Nambudiris as against 79 Nairs, 25 Mappillas and three Tiyas. RMSC I, p. 55. Gough points out that all Nair taravads in north Malabar were janmis over at least some land. Gough, 'Nayar: North Kerala', p. 390.
52. In a later paper, however, Panikkar reads Indulekha, the late nineteenth-century Malayalam novel, quite differently. Quite untrammeled by the feudal context of matriliny, Panikkar contends that Indulekha's defence of marumakkatayam in Indulekha echoed the gender equality that Nair women had enjoyed for centuries. Panikkar, Culture, Ideology, p. 138.
53. In a later paper, however, Panikkar reads Indulekha, the late nineteenth-century Malayalam novel, quite differently. Quite untrammeled by the feudal context of matriliny, Panikkar contends that Indulekha's defence of marumakkatayam in Indulekha echoed the gender equality that Nair women had enjoyed for centuries. Panikkar, Culture, Ideology, p. 138.
54. Fuller, The Nayars Today, p. 145.
55. The reference here is to the conferment of ownership rights on the janmis in Malabar by the British in 1793. In Travancore where much of the land was the janmam (superior interest interpreted by the British as freehold right) property of the state, ownership rights were conferred upon the kanakkar only in 1865. Ibid. T. C. Varghese, Agrarian change and Economic Consequences: Land Tenures in Kerala, 1850-1960 (Bombay: Allied Publishers, 1970), p. 64.
56. The reference here is to the conferment of ownership rights on the janmis in Malabar by the British in 1793. In Travancore where much of the land was the janmam (superior interest interpreted by the British as freehold right) property of the state, ownership rights were conferred upon the kanakkar only in 1865. Ibid. T. C. Varghese, Agrarian change and Economic Consequences: Land Tenures in Kerala, 1850-1960 (Bombay: Allied Publishers, 1970), p. 64.
57. The reference here is to the conferment of ownership rights on the janmis in Malabar by the British in 1793. In Travancore where much of the land was the janmam (superior interest interpreted by the British as freehold right) property of the state, ownership rights were conferred upon the kanakkar only in 1865. Ibid. T. C. Varghese, Agrarian change and Economic Consequences: Land Tenures in Kerala, 1850-1960 (Bombay: Allied Publishers, 1970), p. 64.
58. Fuller, The Nayars Today, p. 147.
59. Ibid., p. 146. Fuller contends that the ideology derived from a theory, that both matriliny and joint families were a bar to economic progress, which though invalid, served as self-fulfilling prophecies. For documentation of the influence of patrilineal ideology on Nair reformers see also Robin Jeffery, The Decline of Nair Dominance: Society and Politics in Travancore 1847-1908 (New Delhi: Manohar, 1994) (reprint of 1976 edition).
60. Ibid., p. 146. Fuller contends that the ideology derived from a theory, that both matriliny and joint families were a bar to economic progress, which though invalid, served as self-fulfilling prophecies. For documentation of the influence of patrilineal ideology on Nair reformers see also Robin Jeffery, The Decline of Nair Dominance: Society and Politics in Travancore 1847-1908 (New Delhi: Manohar, 1994) (reprint of 1976 edition).
61. Fuller, The Nayars Today, p. 130.
62. This crisis of survival is depicted starkly in evidences collected by the Malabar Marriage Commission and in accounts dealing with the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. RMMC II. See particularly Moyarath Sankaran, Ente Jeevitha Katha (The Story of My Life) (Calicut: P. K. Brothers, 1965); C. H. Kunhappa, Smaranakal Matram (Memoirs) (Calicut: Mathrubhumi Printing and Publishing Co., 1981); K. Kannan Nair, Atmakatha (Autobiography) (Calicut: Mathrubhumi Printing and Publishing House, 1989); A. K. Gopalan, Ente Jeevitha Katha (The story of my life) (Trivandrum: Chinta Publishers, 1995).
63. This crisis of survival is depicted starkly in evidences collected by the Malabar Marriage Commission and in accounts dealing with the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. RMMC II. See particularly Moyarath Sankaran, Ente Jeevitha Katha (The Story of My Life) (Calicut: P. K. Brothers, 1965); C. H. Kunhappa, Smaranakal Matram (Memoirs) (Calicut: Mathrubhumi Printing and Publishing Co., 1981); K. Kannan Nair, Atmakatha (Autobiography) (Calicut: Mathrubhumi Printing and Publishing House, 1989); A. K. Gopalan, Ente Jeevitha Katha (The story of my life) (Trivandrum: Chinta Publishers, 1995).
64. This crisis of survival is depicted starkly in evidences collected by the Malabar Marriage Commission and in accounts dealing with the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. RMMC II. See particularly Moyarath Sankaran, Ente Jeevitha Katha (The Story of My Life) (Calicut: P. K. Brothers, 1965); C. H. Kunhappa, Smaranakal Matram (Memoirs) (Calicut: Mathrubhumi Printing and Publishing Co., 1981); K. Kannan Nair, Atmakatha (Autobiography) (Calicut: Mathrubhumi Printing and Publishing House, 1989); A. K. Gopalan, Ente Jeevitha Katha (The story of my life) (Trivandrum: Chinta Publishers, 1995).
65. This crisis of survival is depicted starkly in evidences collected by the Malabar Marriage Commission and in accounts dealing with the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. RMMC II. See particularly Moyarath Sankaran, Ente Jeevitha Katha (The Story of My Life) (Calicut: P. K. Brothers, 1965); C. H. Kunhappa, Smaranakal Matram (Memoirs) (Calicut: Mathrubhumi Printing and Publishing Co., 1981); K. Kannan Nair, Atmakatha (Autobiography) (Calicut: Mathrubhumi Printing and Publishing House, 1989); A. K. Gopalan, Ente Jeevitha Katha (The story of my life) (Trivandrum: Chinta Publishers, 1995).
66. This crisis of survival is depicted starkly in evidences collected by the Malabar Marriage Commission and in accounts dealing with the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. RMMC II. See particularly Moyarath Sankaran, Ente Jeevitha Katha (The Story of My Life) (Calicut: P. K. Brothers, 1965); C. H. Kunhappa, Smaranakal Matram (Memoirs) (Calicut: Mathrubhumi Printing and Publishing Co., 1981); K. Kannan Nair, Atmakatha (Autobiography) (Calicut: Mathrubhumi Printing and Publishing House, 1989); A. K. Gopalan, Ente Jeevitha Katha (The story of my life) (Trivandrum: Chinta Publishers, 1995).
67. Fuller, The Nayars Today, p. 123.
68. Dilip Menon, Caste, Nationalism and Communism in South India, Malabar, 1900-1940 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), p. 11 citing E. J. Miller, 'An Analysis of the Hindu Caste System in its Interactions with the Total Social Structure in North Kerala', Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Cambridge, 1950.
69. Dilip Menon, Caste, Nationalism and Communism in South India, Malabar, 1900-1940 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), p. 11 citing E. J. Miller, 'An Analysis of the Hindu Caste System in its Interactions with the Total Social Structure in North Kerala', Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Cambridge, 1950.
70. Arunima, 'Multiple Meanings', pp. 291-3.
71. Ibid., p. 292. It was maintained in earlier research that land was not freely bought and sold in pre-colonial Malabar and became a commodity with the aid of British land policy. Gough, 'Nayar: Central Kerala', pp. 308, 640; Fuller, The Nayars Today, p. 145.
72. Ibid., p. 292. It was maintained in earlier research that land was not freely bought and sold in pre-colonial Malabar and became a commodity with the aid of British land policy. Gough, 'Nayar: Central Kerala', pp. 308, 640; Fuller, The Nayars Today, p. 145.
73. Ibid., p. 292. It was maintained in earlier research that land was not freely bought and sold in pre-colonial Malabar and became a commodity with the aid of British land policy. Gough, 'Nayar: Central Kerala', pp. 308, 640; Fuller, The Nayars Today, p. 145.
74. Dharma Kumar, 'Private Property in Asia? The Case of Medieval South India', Comparative Studies in Society and History, Vol. 27, no. 2 (1985).
75. Kozlowski points out that under the Mughals, not land itself but its produce, which enabled command over surplus, was the measure of wealth. G. C. Kozlowski, 'Muslim Women and Control of Property in North India', in J. Krishnamurthy (ed.), Women in Colonial India: Essays in Survival, Women and the State (Madras: Oxford University Press, 1989), p. 116. Habib shows that land had a more broad-based socioeconomic rather than merely an economic meaning. Irfan Habib, 'The Social Distribution of Landed Property in Pre-British India: A Historical Survey', in Essays in Indian History: Towards a Marxist Perspective (New Delhi: Tulika, 1995). For the debate on rupture and continuity in the context of colonialism, see also Irfan Habib, 'Studying a Colonial Economy - Without Perceiving Colonialism', Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 19, no. 3 (1985).
76. Kozlowski points out that under the Mughals, not land itself but its produce, which enabled command over surplus, was the measure of wealth. G. C. Kozlowski, 'Muslim Women and Control of Property in North India', in J. Krishnamurthy (ed.), Women in Colonial India: Essays in Survival, Women and the State (Madras: Oxford University Press, 1989), p. 116. Habib shows that land had a more broad-based socioeconomic rather than merely an economic meaning. Irfan Habib, 'The Social Distribution of Landed Property in Pre-British India: A Historical Survey', in Essays in Indian History: Towards a Marxist Perspective (New Delhi: Tulika, 1995). For the debate on rupture and continuity in the context of colonialism, see also Irfan Habib, 'Studying a Colonial Economy - Without Perceiving Colonialism', Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 19, no. 3 (1985).
77. Kozlowski points out that under the Mughals, not land itself but its produce, which enabled command over surplus, was the measure of wealth. G. C. Kozlowski, 'Muslim Women and Control of Property in North India', in J. Krishnamurthy (ed.), Women in Colonial India: Essays in Survival, Women and the State (Madras: Oxford University Press, 1989), p. 116. Habib shows that land had a more broad-based socioeconomic rather than merely an economic meaning. Irfan Habib, 'The Social Distribution of Landed Property in Pre-British India: A Historical Survey', in Essays in Indian History: Towards a Marxist Perspective (New Delhi: Tulika, 1995). For the debate on rupture and continuity in the context of colonialism, see also Irfan Habib, 'Studying a Colonial Economy - Without Perceiving Colonialism', Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 19, no. 3 (1985).
78. For attiper or sale of janmam right documents see, for instance, Deeds no. 5, 9, 12, 13, 35, 38 in William Logan, Malabar, Vol. 2 (Madras: Asian Educational Services, 1989), pp. cxix-clxiv; K. K. N. Kurup, Koodali Granthavari (Calicut: Calicut University, 1995), pp. xi, 35-107.
79. For attiper or sale of janmam right documents see, for instance, Deeds no. 5, 9, 12, 13, 35, 38 in William Logan, Malabar, Vol. 2 (Madras: Asian Educational Services, 1989), pp. cxix-clxiv; K. K. N. Kurup, Koodali Granthavari (Calicut: Calicut University, 1995), pp. xi, 35-107.
80. E. M. S. Namboodiripad, Selected Writings (Calcutta: National Book Agency, 1985), p. 227. Bernard Cohn, An Anthropologist among Historians and Other Essays (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1987), p. 570. Derrett makes a useful distinction in the conceptualization of property while pointing out that in Hindu texts land, houses, jewelry and so on were markers of relationships between people and things, whereas in western legal theory property signified a right over things. Duncan Derrett cited in C. V. Kala, 'Trends of Change in Matrilineal Kinship: The Nayar Case', Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Sociology, University of Delhi (1982), p. 113.
81. E. M. S. Namboodiripad, Selected Writings (Calcutta: National Book Agency, 1985), p. 227. Bernard Cohn, An Anthropologist among Historians and Other Essays (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1987), p. 570. Derrett makes a useful distinction in the conceptualization of property while pointing out that in Hindu texts land, houses, jewelry and so on were markers of relationships between people and things, whereas in western legal theory property signified a right over things. Duncan Derrett cited in C. V. Kala, 'Trends of Change in Matrilineal Kinship: The Nayar Case', Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Sociology, University of Delhi (1982), p. 113.
82. E. M. S. Namboodiripad, Selected Writings (Calcutta: National Book Agency, 1985), p. 227. Bernard Cohn, An Anthropologist among Historians and Other Essays (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1987), p. 570. Derrett makes a useful distinction in the conceptualization of property while pointing out that in Hindu texts land, houses, jewelry and so on were markers of relationships between people and things, whereas in western legal theory property signified a right over things. Duncan Derrett cited in C. V. Kala, 'Trends of Change in Matrilineal Kinship: The Nayar Case', Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Sociology, University of Delhi (1982), p. 113.
83. E. M. S. Namboodiripad, Selected Writings (Calcutta: National Book Agency, 1985), p. 227. Bernard Cohn, An Anthropologist among Historians and Other Essays (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1987), p. 570. Derrett makes a useful distinction in the conceptualization of property while pointing out that in Hindu texts land, houses, jewelry and so on were markers of relationships between people and things, whereas in western legal theory property signified a right over things. Duncan Derrett cited in C. V. Kala, 'Trends of Change in Matrilineal Kinship: The Nayar Case', Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Sociology, University of Delhi (1982), p. 113.
84. Particularly significant here is a deed in Logan's collection wherein two women, Kurikkalote Palakkal Mittalevittil Ummanga and Uchchira, in 1739 transfer 'as far as their share of the Tara, kandam (fields) and swamps below their house'. Deed no. 35 in Logan, Malabar, Vol. 2, p. cxlvii. While this tells us that it was possible to separate and alienate shares of family property, it does not indicate on what basis such separation and the ability to sell were achieved/available.
85. Particularly significant here is a deed in Logan's collection wherein two women, Kurikkalote Palakkal Mittalevittil Ummanga and Uchchira, in 1739 transfer 'as far as their share of the Tara, kandam (fields) and swamps below their house'. Deed no. 35 in Logan, Malabar, Vol. 2, p. cxlvii. While this tells us that it was possible to separate and alienate shares of family property, it does not indicate on what basis such separation and the ability to sell were achieved/available.
86. Particularly significant here is a deed in Logan's collection wherein two women, Kurikkalote Palakkal Mittalevittil Ummanga and Uchchira, in 1739 transfer 'as far as their share of the Tara, kandam (fields) and swamps below their house'. Deed no. 35 in Logan, Malabar, Vol. 2, p. cxlvii. While this tells us that it was possible to separate and alienate shares of family property, it does not indicate on what basis such separation and the ability to sell were achieved/available.
87. A revealing instance was the denial of the right to partition except by common consent of all members of a taravad. This drew upon an expression of individual right in every member's right to dissent. Collective right, then, and holding property in the collective capacity were founded in the official legal discourse upon a form of individual right. Praveena Kodoth, 'Women and Property Rights', p. 47.
88. A revealing instance was the denial of the right to partition except by common consent of all members of a taravad. This drew upon an expression of individual right in every member's right to dissent. Collective right, then, and holding property in the collective capacity were founded in the official legal discourse upon a form of individual right. Praveena Kodoth, 'Women and Property Rights', p. 47.
89. The 'principles of marumakkatayam law' though never laid out systematically, were called upon constantly in judicial interpretations to validate certain practices as customs over others. The latter were recognized, if at all, as exceptions. For discussion of the nuances of a specifically colonial conception of custom as it was elaborated in colonial Punjab, see Neeladri Bhattacharya, 'Remaking Custom: The Discourse and Practice of Colonial Codification', in R. Champakalakshmi and S. Gopal (ed.), Tradition, Dissent and Ideology: Essays in Honour of Romila Thapar (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1996).
90. The 'principles of marumakkatayam law' though never laid out systematically, were called upon constantly in judicial interpretations to validate certain practices as customs over others. The latter were recognized, if at all, as exceptions. For discussion of the nuances of a specifically colonial conception of custom as it was elaborated in colonial Punjab, see Neeladri Bhattacharya, 'Remaking Custom: The Discourse and Practice of Colonial Codification', in R. Champakalakshmi and S. Gopal (ed.), Tradition, Dissent and Ideology: Essays in Honour of Romila Thapar (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1996).
91. Appendix I, RMMC II.
92. If inscribed onto the moral-legal framework of the colonial state, sambandham took on the shape of concubinage, it fell into a pattern of similar interpretations. For instance, Srinivasan has pointed out that echoing a common set of political-moral imperatives, if sacrificial infanticide and sati had been banned earlier as 'murder', then by the late nineteenth century temple dancers were being presented as prostitutes. Srinivasan, 'Reform or Conformity', p. 178.
93. If inscribed onto the moral-legal framework of the colonial state, sambandham took on the shape of concubinage, it fell into a pattern of similar interpretations. For instance, Srinivasan has pointed out that echoing a common set of political-moral imperatives, if sacrificial infanticide and sati had been banned earlier as 'murder', then by the late nineteenth century temple dancers were being presented as prostitutes. Srinivasan, 'Reform or Conformity', p. 178.
94. Carole Pateman, The Sexual Contract (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1989), p. 11.
95. Ibid., p. 3.
96. Ibid., p. 11. Pateman's purpose lies precisely in looking at the problems with the idea of contract itself, in that the modern form of patriarchy was embedded in it, and hence marriage as 'real' contract has little appeal for her.
97. Ibid., p. 181.
98. Ibid., p. 157.
99. A judge in the United States in 1888, ibid., p. 155.
100. John Stuart Mill in The Subjection of Women concurs with Thompson on this point though Mill goes on to push the case for contract as embodying freedom, ibid.
101. However, this raises other problems, specially when contract as the enemy of status was posited as the solution to the subjection of women. Here, as Pateman points out, the contemporary criticism of the ascriptive construction of 'wife' and 'husband' based on sexual difference, unlike earlier attacks on the indissoluble marriage and its non-negotiable terms, directed at the husband's conjugal right, faces an insuperable problem. For the 'individual' was a unilinear masculine 'individual', a patriarchal category. Contract may be the enemy of status but it is also the mainstay of patriarchy; the consolidation of its modern form, ibid., p. 187.
102. There seems to have been no instance of adjudication in the High Court on the question of marriage under marumakkatayam law. Lewis Moore, Malabar Law and Custom (Madras: Higginbothams, 1905), p. 80. The Malabar Marriage Commission assumes identity between the two sets of practices. 'It is as certain as anything can be that any ruling which holds that there is no marriage known to the Aliyasantana law must a fortiori apply to Marumakkatayam also.' RMMC I, p. 25.
103. There seems to have been no instance of adjudication in the High Court on the question of marriage under marumakkatayam law. Lewis Moore, Malabar Law and Custom (Madras: Higginbothams, 1905), p. 80. The Malabar Marriage Commission assumes identity between the two sets of practices. 'It is as certain as anything can be that any ruling which holds that there is no marriage known to the Aliyasantana law must a fortiori apply to Marumakkatayam also.' RMMC I, p. 25.
104. Subba Hegadi v Tongu, Madras High Court Reports, Vol. 4, 1868, p. 196, in Moore, Malabar Law (1905), p. 80.
105. Thompson cited in Pateman, The Sexual Contract, p. 158.
106. L. Weitzman, cited in ibid., p. 165.
107. Ibid., p. 183.
108. Kottieth Ramunni, RMMC II, p. 242. A similar point was made by A. C. Kannan Nambiar, a staunch votary of change to patriliny, who nevertheless objected to the import of the English law of divorce, when the marumakkatayam Hindus had a law 'which it is the tendency of modern civilizations to attain', ibid., p. 207.
109. Kottieth Ramunni, RMMC II, p. 242. A similar point was made by A. C. Kannan Nambiar, a staunch votary of change to patriliny, who nevertheless objected to the import of the English law of divorce, when the marumakkatayam Hindus had a law 'which it is the tendency of modern civilizations to attain', ibid., p. 207.
110. Varikara Vadake Vittil Valiya Parvati v Varikara Vadake Vittil Kamaran Nayar (Turner, C. J. and Kindersley, J.) Indian Law Reports (all references are to the Madras series), Vol. 6 (1883), p. 341.
111. T. Kunhiraman Nair pointed out that Islamic law sanctioned divorce 'by the husband at his will and pleasure' and yet no one was 'bold enough' to urge on that there was no legal marriage under that system. RMMC II, p. 158. Illustrating a similar process but with different results, Poonacha argues that customary marriage among the Coorgs/Kodava, a patrilineal society in south-west India, was reworked through a colonial discourse that restricted women's options. Marriage was recognized as legal but premised upon the fidelity of women, curtailing women's rights to divorce while permitting polygamy. Poonacha argues that this was a colonial reinterpretation of customary law. Veena Poonacha, 'Redefining Gender Relationships: The Imprint of the Colonial State on the Coorg/Kodava Norms of Marriage and Sexuality', in Patricia Uberoi (ed.), Social Reform, Sexuality and the State (New Delhi: Sage Publications, 1996).
112. T. Kunhiraman Nair pointed out that Islamic law sanctioned divorce 'by the husband at his will and pleasure' and yet no one was 'bold enough' to urge on that there was no legal marriage under that system. RMMC II, p. 158. Illustrating a similar process but with different results, Poonacha argues that customary marriage among the Coorgs/Kodava, a patrilineal society in south-west India, was reworked through a colonial discourse that restricted women's options. Marriage was recognized as legal but premised upon the fidelity of women, curtailing women's rights to divorce while permitting polygamy. Poonacha argues that this was a colonial reinterpretation of customary law. Veena Poonacha, 'Redefining Gender Relationships: The Imprint of the Colonial State on the Coorg/Kodava Norms of Marriage and Sexuality', in Patricia Uberoi (ed.), Social Reform, Sexuality and the State (New Delhi: Sage Publications, 1996).
113. T. Kunhiraman Nair pointed out that Islamic law sanctioned divorce 'by the husband at his will and pleasure' and yet no one was 'bold enough' to urge on that there was no legal marriage under that system. RMMC II, p. 158. Illustrating a similar process but with different results, Poonacha argues that customary marriage among the Coorgs/Kodava, a patrilineal society in south-west India, was reworked through a colonial discourse that restricted women's options. Marriage was recognized as legal but premised upon the fidelity of women, curtailing women's rights to divorce while permitting polygamy. Poonacha argues that this was a colonial reinterpretation of customary law. Veena Poonacha, 'Redefining Gender Relationships: The Imprint of the Colonial State on the Coorg/Kodava Norms of Marriage and Sexuality', in Patricia Uberoi (ed.), Social Reform, Sexuality and the State (New Delhi: Sage Publications, 1996).
114. It was pointed out that sambandham was regulated by custom, requiring the grant of notice before termination and the consent of taravad elders for such termination. C. Ramunni Menon, RMMC II, p. 153. Institutions cited as prevalent among the Tiyas were Nyayam Kodukuka (to do justice) and Kaiyum Kanakkum Nokuka (to settle accounts), indicating negotiation of termination of marriage. E. K. Krishnan, ibid., p. 171 and A. C. Kannan Nambiar, ibid., p. 205.
115. It was pointed out that sambandham was regulated by custom, requiring the grant of notice before termination and the consent of taravad elders for such termination. C. Ramunni Menon, RMMC II, p. 153. Institutions cited as prevalent among the Tiyas were Nyayam Kodukuka (to do justice) and Kaiyum Kanakkum Nokuka (to settle accounts), indicating negotiation of termination of marriage. E. K. Krishnan, ibid., p. 171 and A. C. Kannan Nambiar, ibid., p. 205.
116. It was pointed out that sambandham was regulated by custom, requiring the grant of notice before termination and the consent of taravad elders for such termination. C. Ramunni Menon, RMMC II, p. 153. Institutions cited as prevalent among the Tiyas were Nyayam Kodukuka (to do justice) and Kaiyum Kanakkum Nokuka (to settle accounts), indicating negotiation of termination of marriage. E. K. Krishnan, ibid., p. 171 and A. C. Kannan Nambiar, ibid., p. 205.
117. Sir Fitzjames Stephen in a debate in the Viceroy's Legislative Council in 1872, cited in Panikkar, Culture, Ideology, p. 194. For a similar view see Logan, Malabar, Vol. 1, p. 136. Despite the general practice to the contrary, the marriage commission views polyandry as sanctioned by marumakkatayam law, and hence as constituting custom. RMMC I, p. 11.
118. Sir Fitzjames Stephen in a debate in the Viceroy's Legislative Council in 1872, cited in Panikkar, Culture, Ideology, p. 194. For a similar view see Logan, Malabar, Vol. 1, p. 136. Despite the general practice to the contrary, the marriage commission views polyandry as sanctioned by marumakkatayam law, and hence as constituting custom. RMMC I, p. 11.
119. Sir Fitzjames Stephen in a debate in the Viceroy's Legislative Council in 1872, cited in Panikkar, Culture, Ideology, p. 194. For a similar view see Logan, Malabar, Vol. 1, p. 136. Despite the general practice to the contrary, the marriage commission views polyandry as sanctioned by marumakkatayam law, and hence as constituting custom. RMMC I, p. 11.
120. J. Sturrock, South Canara, Vol. I, Madras District Manuals (Madras: Madras Government Press, 1894), p. 141.
121. Ibid.
122. Ibid.
123. Koraga v. the Queen, Indian Law Reports, Vol. 4, 1882, p. 374, in Moore, Malabar Law, p. 82.
124. For instance, the marriage commission in its report does not even consider this possibility suggested by several observers. Chandu Menon, RMMC I, p. 103; C. Gopalan Nair, RMMC II, p. 186; Govinda Menon, ibid., p. 294; Sturrock, ibid., p. 156.
125. For instance, the marriage commission in its report does not even consider this possibility suggested by several observers. Chandu Menon, RMMC I, p. 103; C. Gopalan Nair, RMMC II, p. 186; Govinda Menon, ibid., p. 294; Sturrock, ibid., p. 156.
126. For instance, the marriage commission in its report does not even consider this possibility suggested by several observers. Chandu Menon, RMMC I, p. 103; C. Gopalan Nair, RMMC II, p. 186; Govinda Menon, ibid., p. 294; Sturrock, ibid., p. 156.
127. For instance, the marriage commission in its report does not even consider this possibility suggested by several observers. Chandu Menon, RMMC I, p. 103; C. Gopalan Nair, RMMC II, p. 186; Govinda Menon, ibid., p. 294; Sturrock, ibid., p. 156.
128. Indicating the contradictions inherent in the colonial interpretation, Kottieth Ramunni, a witness before the marriage commission, points out that in-as-much as property rights emerging from marriage were absent, this was so among the marumakkatayam mappillas as well, but their marriages were recognized as legal. Ibid., p. 242.
129. T. Kunhambu, ibid., p. 340; K. Rammunni, ibid., p. 242; E. Ambu Nair, ibid., p. 275.
130. T. Kunhambu, ibid., p. 340; K. Rammunni, ibid., p. 242; E. Ambu Nair, ibid., p. 275.
131. T. Kunhambu, ibid., p. 340; K. Rammunni, ibid., p. 242; E. Ambu Nair, ibid., p. 275.
132. Kannambra Rammunni Nair, janmi and District Board member, ibid., p. 121; T. V. Anantan Nair, District Munsif, Shernad, ibid., p. 122; T. Kunhiraman Nair, Judge, High Court, Trivandrum, ibid., p. 158; A. C. Kannan Nambiar, District Munsif, Badagara, ibid., p. 197; E. Ambu Nair, Sub Registrar, Ponnani, ibid., p. 275; Othena Menon, Sub Registrar, Payyoli, ibid., p. 307. See also depositions before the commission by Vengayil Kannan Nair, janmi; A. K. Anandan Nambiar, adhigari and janmi; Kalliat Chathu Nambiar, janmi; Appendix IV, ibid.
133. Kannambra Rammunni Nair, janmi and District Board member, ibid., p. 121; T. V. Anantan Nair, District Munsif, Shernad, ibid., p. 122; T. Kunhiraman Nair, Judge, High Court, Trivandrum, ibid., p. 158; A. C. Kannan Nambiar, District Munsif, Badagara, ibid., p. 197; E. Ambu Nair, Sub Registrar, Ponnani, ibid., p. 275; Othena Menon, Sub Registrar, Payyoli, ibid., p. 307. See also depositions before the commission by Vengayil Kannan Nair, janmi; A. K. Anandan Nambiar, adhigari and janmi; Kalliat Chathu Nambiar, janmi; Appendix IV, ibid.
134. Kannambra Rammunni Nair, janmi and District Board member, ibid., p. 121; T. V. Anantan Nair, District Munsif, Shernad, ibid., p. 122; T. Kunhiraman Nair, Judge, High Court, Trivandrum, ibid., p. 158; A. C. Kannan Nambiar, District Munsif, Badagara, ibid., p. 197; E. Ambu Nair, Sub Registrar, Ponnani, ibid., p. 275; Othena Menon, Sub Registrar, Payyoli, ibid., p. 307. See also depositions before the commission by Vengayil Kannan Nair, janmi; A. K. Anandan Nambiar, adhigari and janmi; Kalliat Chathu Nambiar, janmi; Appendix IV, ibid.
135. Kannambra Rammunni Nair, janmi and District Board member, ibid., p. 121; T. V. Anantan Nair, District Munsif, Shernad, ibid., p. 122; T. Kunhiraman Nair, Judge, High Court, Trivandrum, ibid., p. 158; A. C. Kannan Nambiar, District Munsif, Badagara, ibid., p. 197; E. Ambu Nair, Sub Registrar, Ponnani, ibid., p. 275; Othena Menon, Sub Registrar, Payyoli, ibid., p. 307. See also depositions before the commission by Vengayil Kannan Nair, janmi; A. K. Anandan Nambiar, adhigari and janmi; Kalliat Chathu Nambiar, janmi; Appendix IV, ibid.
136. Kannambra Rammunni Nair, janmi and District Board member, ibid., p. 121; T. V. Anantan Nair, District Munsif, Shernad, ibid., p. 122; T. Kunhiraman Nair, Judge, High Court, Trivandrum, ibid., p. 158; A. C. Kannan Nambiar, District
137. Kannambra Rammunni Nair, janmi and District Board member, ibid., p. 121; T. V. Anantan Nair, District Munsif, Shernad, ibid., p. 122; T. Kunhiraman Nair, Judge, High Court, Trivandrum, ibid., p. 158; A. C. Kannan Nambiar, District Munsif, Badagara, ibid., p. 197; E. Ambu Nair, Sub Registrar, Ponnani, ibid., p. 275; Othena Menon, Sub Registrar, Payyoli, ibid., p. 307. See also depositions before the commission by Vengayil Kannan Nair, janmi; A. K. Anandan Nambiar, adhigari and janmi; Kalliat Chathu Nambiar, janmi; Appendix IV, ibid.
138. Kannambra Rammunni Nair, janmi and District Board member, ibid., p. 121; T. V. Anantan Nair, District Munsif, Shernad, ibid., p. 122; T. Kunhiraman Nair, Judge, High Court, Trivandrum, ibid., p. 158; A. C. Kannan Nambiar, District Munsif, Badagara, ibid., p. 197; E. Ambu Nair, Sub Registrar, Ponnani, ibid., p. 275; Othena Menon, Sub Registrar, Payyoli, ibid., p. 307. See also depositions before the commission by Vengayil Kannan Nair, janmi; A. K. Anandan Nambiar, adhigari and janmi; Kalliat Chathu Nambiar, janmi; Appendix IV, ibid.
139. Kannambra Ramunni Menon, janmi and District Board member, pointed out that a woman was entitled to such maintenance until she married again, ibid., p. 121.
140. Gough 'Nayar, North Kerala', p. 392; Logan, Malabar, Vol. I, p. 343; Sreedhara Menon, Survey of Kerala History (Kottayam: National Book Stall, 1967), pp. 181, 202; C. R. Karunagara Menon, Vakil, Appendix IV, RMMC II.
141. Gough 'Nayar, North Kerala', p. 392; Logan, Malabar, Vol. I, p. 343; Sreedhara Menon, Survey of Kerala History (Kottayam: National Book Stall, 1967), pp. 181, 202; C. R. Karunagara Menon, Vakil, Appendix IV, RMMC II.
142. Gough 'Nayar, North Kerala', p. 392; Logan, Malabar, Vol. I, p. 343; Sreedhara Menon, Survey of Kerala History (Kottayam: National Book Stall, 1967), pp. 181, 202; C. R. Karunagara Menon, Vakil, Appendix IV, RMMC II.
143. Gough 'Nayar, North Kerala', p. 392; Logan, Malabar, Vol. I, p. 343; Sreedhara Menon, Survey of Kerala History (Kottayam: National Book Stall, 1967), pp. 181, 202; C. R. Karunagara Menon, Vakil, Appendix IV, RMMC II.
144. K. P. Raman Menon, High Court Vakil, while stating that putavakasam did not constitute a right, points out that the civil courts did not recognize it as such, ibid., p. 271. Suggestive of the influence of the conception of custom, Gough mentions that gifts of land to wife and children were known long before the British period, 'although they were against the law'. Gough, 'Nayar: North Kerala', p. 392.
145. K. P. Raman Menon, High Court Vakil, while stating that putavakasam did not constitute a right, points out that the civil courts did not recognize it as such, ibid., p. 271. Suggestive of the influence of the conception of custom, Gough mentions that gifts of land to wife and children were known long before the British period, 'although they were against the law'. Gough, 'Nayar: North Kerala', p. 392.
146. A. Chathu Nambiar, District Munsif, Nadapuram, ibid., p. 137. Deposition by John Leonard Rozario, Vakil, ibid., Appendix IV. A. C. Kannan Nambiar, District Munsif, Badagara, pointed out that the custom received its coup-de-grace in the last ten years with rising conflict between karanavan and anadiravan though 'gifts of self-acquired property by father to children are still designated by the old name of putravakasam', ibid., p. 20. This was in contrast to responses, mostly terse, that putravakasam was only a gift to children by fathers and did not indicate a right.
147. A. Chathu Nambiar, District Munsif, Nadapuram, ibid., p. 137. Deposition by John Leonard Rozario, Vakil, ibid., Appendix IV. A. C. Kannan Nambiar, District Munsif, Badagara, pointed out that the custom received its coup-de-grace in the last ten years with rising conflict between karanavan and anadiravan though 'gifts of self-acquired property by father to children are still designated by the old name of putravakasam', ibid., p. 20. This was in contrast to responses, mostly terse, that putravakasam was only a gift to children by fathers and did not indicate a right.
148. A. Chathu Nambiar, District Munsif, Nadapuram, ibid., p. 137. Deposition by John Leonard Rozario, Vakil, ibid., Appendix IV. A. C. Kannan Nambiar, District Munsif, Badagara, pointed out that the custom received its coup-de-grace in the last ten years with rising conflict between karanavan and anadiravan though 'gifts of self-acquired property by father to children are still designated by the old name of putravakasam', ibid., p. 20. This was in contrast to responses, mostly terse, that putravakasam was only a gift to children by fathers and did not indicate a right.
149. A. Chathu Nambiar, District Munsif, Nadapuram, ibid., p. 137. Deposition by John Leonard Rozario, Vakil, ibid., Appendix IV. A. C. Kannan Nambiar, District Munsif, Badagara, pointed out that the custom received its coup-de-grace in the last ten years with rising conflict between karanavan and anadiravan though 'gifts of self-acquired property by father to children are still designated by the old name of putravakasam', ibid., p. 20. This was in contrast to responses, mostly terse, that putravakasam was only a gift to children by fathers and did not indicate a right.
150. The right of a taravad member to dispose of separate property was recognized by the High Court in a case in 1863, stipulating, however, that after his death it would pass to the taravad. Moore, Malabar Law, p. 175.
151. The right of a taravad member to dispose of separate property was recognized by the High Court in a case in 1863, stipulating, however, that after his death it would pass to the taravad. Moore, Malabar Law, p. 175.
152. Madras Native Newspaper Reports, Kerala Patrika, (20 April 1893), p. 193.
153. A. Govinda Pillai, Dewan Peishcar, Trivandrum, RMMC II, p. 171. In a written statement to the Commission, the Dewan of Cochin, Tiruvenkatachariar, questioned the use of the term natural to certain arrangements. Against the notion that marumakkatayam proceeded against nature in compelling 'a man to give his property to one for whom he can have little or no natural affection', he argued that 'nature' and 'natural' were relative terms. He asked what was natural and/or just about makkatayam law when it denied inheritance rights to daughters. Ibid., p. 208.
154. A. Govinda Pillai, Dewan Peishcar, Trivandrum, RMMC II, p. 171. In a written statement to the Commission, the Dewan of Cochin, Tiruvenkatachariar, questioned the use of the term natural to certain arrangements. Against the notion that marumakkatayam proceeded against nature in compelling 'a man to give his property to one for whom he can have little or no natural affection', he argued that 'nature' and 'natural' were relative terms. He asked what was natural and/or just about makkatayam law when it denied inheritance rights to daughters. Ibid., p. 208.
155. A. C. Kannan Nambiar, ibid., p. 207.
156. For instances see ibid., p. 205, and Appendix IV, ibid. Joan Mencher and Helen Goldberg, 'Kinship and Marriage Regulations among the Namboodiri Brahmans of Kerala', Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol. 2, no 1 (1967), p. 100.
157. For instances see ibid., p. 205, and Appendix IV, ibid. Joan Mencher and Helen Goldberg, 'Kinship and Marriage Regulations among the Namboodiri Brahmans of Kerala', Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol. 2, no 1 (1967), p. 100.
158. For instances see ibid., p. 205, and Appendix IV, ibid. Joan Mencher and Helen Goldberg, 'Kinship and Marriage Regulations among the Namboodiri Brahmans of Kerala', Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol. 2, no 1 (1967), p. 100.
159. For instances see Panikkar, Culture, Ideology, p. 193.
160. K. R. Krishna Menon RMMC II, p. 214. Added to such tendencies, he continued, was the belief of a Nambudiri that 'he has a right to have sexual intercourse with a Nair lady, what ever might be the position of her husband'. emphasis ours.
161. K. R. Krishna Menon RMMC II, p. 214. Added to such tendencies, he continued, was the belief of a Nambudiri that 'he has a right to have sexual intercourse with a Nair lady, what ever might be the position of her husband'. emphasis ours.
162. Panikkar, Culture, Ideology, p. 194.
163. RMMC I, p. 34.
164. Panikkar, Culture, Ideology, p. 195.
165. Diary of the Commission, Appendix VI, RMMC II. In order to collect information the Commission framed and despatched questionnaires to 474 persons described as belonging to 'the official and educated classes, from representatives of influential families or tarawads in the interior and from members of the Bar in the district'. Of them 322 sent in replies. Local public opinion was sought to be ascertained through a few leading men from each taluka who were invited to appear before the Commission which led to the examination of 121 witnesses. In response to an announcement in the district gazette inviting representations from persons/ societies not specially invited, the Commission received 38 petitions and representations from 12 meetings held in various parts of the district. RMMC I, p. 4.
166. Diary of the Commission, Appendix VI, RMMC II. In order to collect information the Commission framed and despatched questionnaires to 474 persons described as belonging to 'the official and educated classes, from representatives of influential families or tarawads in the interior and from members of the Bar in the district'. Of them 322 sent in replies. Local public opinion was sought to be ascertained through a few leading men from each taluka who were invited to appear before the Commission which led to the examination of 121 witnesses. In response to an announcement in the district gazette inviting representations from persons/ societies not specially invited, the Commission received 38 petitions and representations from 12 meetings held in various parts of the district. RMMC I, p. 4.
167. Diary of the Commission, Appendix VI, RMMC II. In order to collect information the Commission framed and despatched questionnaires to 474 persons described as belonging to 'the official and educated classes, from representatives of influential families or tarawads in the interior and from members of the Bar in the district'. Of them 322 sent in replies. Local public opinion was sought to be ascertained through a few leading men from each taluka who were invited to appear before the Commission which led to the examination of 121 witnesses. In response to an announcement in the district gazette inviting representations from persons/ societies not specially invited, the Commission received 38 petitions and representations from 12 meetings held in various parts of the district. RMMC I, p. 4.
168. In the questionnaire itself attention was directed predominantly at the question of marriage, seeking to generate information on the rituals connected with tali-kettu kalyanam and sambandham, significance of these rituals, and civil and ritual rights arising from these customs. Appendix III, RMMC II.
169. In the questionnaire itself attention was directed predominantly at the question of marriage, seeking to generate information on the rituals connected with tali-kettu kalyanam and sambandham, significance of these rituals, and civil and ritual rights arising from these customs. Appendix III, RMMC II.
170. Questionnaire circulated by the Commission, Questions 1-10, ibid.
171. F. Fawcett, Nayars of Malabar (New Delhi: Asian Educational Services, 1990), (reprint of 1901 edition), p. 231; RMMC I, p. 14.
172. F. Fawcett, Nayars of Malabar (New Delhi: Asian Educational Services, 1990), (reprint of 1901 edition), p. 231; RMMC I, p. 14.
173. Questions 11-22, ibid.
174. Questions 22-28, ibid.
175. Imbichunni Nair, First grade pleader, Tellicherry, indicated to the marriage commission that the nature of the questionnaire despatched indicated that legal recognition of sambandham was not possible, ibid., p. 134.
176. Sir Fitzjames Stephen in the Viceroy's Legislative Council in 1872 cited in RMMC I, p. 13.
177. J. Shouler, cited in Pateman, The Sexual Contract, p. 155.
178. RMMC I, p. 27.
179. V. Chappan Menon, Deputy Collector, Appendix IV, RMMC II, cited in RMMC I, p. 32.
180. RMMC I, p. 31.
181. RMMC I, 1891, p.10.
182. President's Supplementary Memorandum, RMMC I,pp. 79-80. He observed that the revised Bill presented by Sankaran Nair embodied provisions which were at once at variance with extant custom and opposed to the feeling of the majority of marumakkatayam society, including the educated classes. Muthuswami Aiyar, is compelled to point out that the Nambudiri point of view that sambandham did not constitute a marriage binding on him, as it was not established upon vedic rites, was not sufficient reason to conclude that as between Nairs it was not regarded as binding either, ibid., p. 87.
183. President's Supplementary Memorandum, RMMC I,pp. 79-80. He observed that the revised Bill presented by Sankaran Nair embodied provisions which were at once at variance with extant custom and opposed to the feeling of the majority of marumakkatayam society, including the educated classes. Muthuswami Aiyar, is compelled to point out that the Nambudiri point of view that sambandham did not constitute a marriage binding on him, as it was not established upon vedic rites, was not sufficient reason to conclude that as between Nairs it was not regarded as binding either, ibid., p. 87.
184. Ibid., p. 39.
185. Witness, for instance, his objection to the Muthusami Aiyar's proposal of making minimum changes. 'We import into the system the notion of marriage which is every bit repugnant to, but ultimately destructive of, that system.' Home Judicial Proceedings, nos 162-82, (April 1895), NAL.
186. From the third session of the Indian National Congress at Madras 1887, he is known to have taken a leading part in the Social Reform Movement. K. P. S. Menon, C. Sankaran Nair (New Delhi: Publications Division, 1979) (reprint of 1967 edition), p. 26.
187. Home Judicial Proceedings, nos 162-82, (April 1895), NAI. For discussion of his position that 'marriage did not form a part of the marumakkatyam system' see also Home Judicial Proceedings (May 1896), nos 254-5, Part B, NAI.
188. Home Judicial Proceedings, nos 162-82, (April 1895), NAI. For discussion of his position that 'marriage did not form a part of the marumakkatyam system' see also Home Judicial Proceedings (May 1896), nos 254-5, Part B, NAI.
189. RMMC I, p. 102.
190. Home Judicial Proceedings, nos 162-82 (April 1895), NAI.
191. Ibid.
192. RMMC I, p. 39.
193. Sankaran Nair is careful to add, however, that, '[t]o support such legislation we are not bound to maintain that the absence of a marriage law and the severance of the sexual union at will is a disgrace. We only assume that there is no rule of public policy which prevents those willing to do so from abandoning the Marumakkatayam system'.
194. Home Judicial proceedings, nos 162-82, (April 1895), NAI.
195. He cites two other points on which the proposal militated against social reform, i) tacit sanction of polygamy and polyandry and ii) recognition of customary caste barriers to marriage by legislation, ibid.
196. Ibid.
197. Ibid.
198. Ibid.
199. Ibid.
200. Chandu Menon is well known as the author of Indulekha, a Malayalam novel written more or less after the English fashion, as he put it. Written over a period of two months in 1889 it was among the first in the genre in Malayalam. Chandu Menon started his career in 1864 as a clerk in a small causes court and rose through the ranks to the position of a sub-judge. During his tenure as member of the marriage commission he was posted as a munsiff in Calicut. Barring brief tenures in Mangalore and Tirunelvelli, he spent his entire career serving in the judicial apparatus in Malabar. Murkkoth Kumaran, Oyyarath Chandumenon (Thrissur: Kerala Sahita Akademi, 1996) (reprint of 1932 edition), p. 36.
201. Chandu Menon is well known as the author of Indulekha, a Malayalam novel written more or less after the English fashion, as he put it. Written over a period of two months in 1889 it was among the first in the genre in Malayalam. Chandu Menon started his career in 1864 as a clerk in a small causes court and rose through the ranks to the position of a sub-judge. During his tenure as member of the marriage commission he was posted as a munsiff in Calicut. Barring brief tenures in Mangalore and Tirunelvelli, he spent his entire career serving in the judicial apparatus in Malabar. Murkkoth Kumaran, Oyyarath Chandumenon (Thrissur: Kerala Sahita Akademi, 1996) (reprint of 1932 edition), p. 36.
202. RMMC I, p. 91.
203. Ibid., p. 95. C. Karunakara Menon too linked taravad prosperity with individual acquisitions. Yet, like Chandu Menon and contrary to arguments put forward by colonial administrators, he did not see this as incompatible with testamentary power. Legislative dept. G. O. no. 108 (21 Dec. 1911), Tamil Nadu Archives.
204. Ibid., p. 95. C. Karunakara Menon too linked taravad prosperity with individual acquisitions. Yet, like Chandu Menon and contrary to arguments put forward by colonial administrators, he did not see this as incompatible with testamentary power. Legislative dept. G. O. no. 108 (21 Dec. 1911), Tamil Nadu Archives.
205. RMMC I, p. 97.
206. Ibid., p. 96. That customary common sense attached a religious basis to marumakkatayam is evident in the reference by 'liberal' and orthodox respondents to the Commission, to Queen Victoria's Proclamation of 1858 promising non-interference with religious observances. See responses of Manjeri Karanamulpad, janmi, RMMC II, p. 130; Karamvelli Kunhunni Kurup, janmi, ibid., p. 142; Kottieth Ramunni, first-grade pleader, Tellicherry, ibid., p. 242.
207. Ibid., p. 96. That customary common sense attached a religious basis to marumakkatayam is evident in the reference by 'liberal' and orthodox respondents to the Commission, to Queen Victoria's Proclamation of 1858 promising non-interference with religious observances. See responses of Manjeri Karanamulpad, janmi, RMMC II, p. 130; Karamvelli Kunhunni Kurup, janmi, ibid., p. 142; Kottieth Ramunni, first-grade pleader, Tellicherry, ibid., p. 242.
208. Ibid., p. 96. That customary common sense attached a religious basis to marumakkatayam is evident in the reference by 'liberal' and orthodox respondents to the Commission, to Queen Victoria's Proclamation of 1858 promising non-interference with religious observances. See responses of Manjeri Karanamulpad, janmi, RMMC II, p. 130; Karamvelli Kunhunni Kurup, janmi, ibid., p. 142; Kottieth Ramunni, first-grade pleader, Tellicherry, ibid., p. 242.
209. Ibid., p. 96. That customary common sense attached a religious basis to marumakkatayam is evident in the reference by 'liberal' and orthodox respondents to the Commission, to Queen Victoria's Proclamation of 1858 promising non-interference with religious observances. See responses of Manjeri Karanamulpad, janmi, RMMC II, p. 130; Karamvelli Kunhunni Kurup, janmi, ibid., p. 142; Kottieth Ramunni, first-grade pleader, Tellicherry, ibid., p. 242.
210. Ibid., p. 96. That customary common sense attached a religious basis to marumakkatayam is evident in the reference by 'liberal' and orthodox respondents to the Commission, to Queen Victoria's Proclamation of 1858 promising non-interference with religious observances. See responses of Manjeri Karanamulpad, janmi, RMMC II, p. 130; Karamvelli Kunhunni Kurup, janmi, ibid., p. 142; Kottieth Ramunni, first-grade pleader, Tellicherry, ibid., p. 242.
211. RMMC I, p. 103. There were lengthy attempts by respondents to show the marumakkatayam shared the sacred aspects of a 'Hindu' system. For instance, Karunakara Menon, sub-editor of The Hindu, wrote that the marriage ceremony among 'all higher caste Hindus' was divided into two parts: '(1) that in which the religious ceremonials form the chief feature and which is known as betrothal and, (2) that which is popularly known as consummation.' The first part, titled among the Nairs as the tali kettu kalyanam, according to the marriage commission had been described variously as a religious marriage or a marriage sacrament to a sham marriage, an empty form and a waste of money. He argued that the tali kettu kalyanam was imbued with religious significance, as 'in other Hindu customs (also) it will be found that while the letter of the law is strictly adhered to, the spirit is sometimes lost sight of'. RMMC II, p. 292.
212. RMMC I, p. 103. There were lengthy attempts by respondents to show the marumakkatayam shared the sacred aspects of a 'Hindu' system. For instance, Karunakara Menon, sub-editor of The Hindu, wrote that the marriage ceremony among 'all higher caste Hindus' was divided into two parts: '(1) that in which the religious ceremonials form the chief feature and which is known as betrothal and, (2) that which is popularly known as consummation.' The first part, titled among the Nairs as the tali kettu kalyanam, according to the marriage commission had been described variously as a religious marriage or a marriage sacrament to a sham marriage, an empty form and a waste of money. He argued that the tali kettu kalyanam was imbued with religious significance, as 'in other Hindu customs (also) it will be found that while the letter of the law is strictly adhered to, the spirit is sometimes lost sight of'. RMMC II, p. 292.
213. RMMC I, p. 103. There were lengthy attempts by respondents to show the marumakkatayam shared the sacred aspects of a 'Hindu' system. For instance, Karunakara Menon, sub-editor of The Hindu, wrote that the marriage ceremony among 'all higher caste Hindus' was divided into two parts: '(1) that in which the religious ceremonials form the chief feature and which is known as betrothal and, (2) that which is popularly known as consummation.' The first part, titled among the Nairs as the tali kettu kalyanam, according to the marriage commission had been described variously as a religious marriage or a marriage sacrament to a sham marriage, an empty form and a waste of money. He argued that the tali kettu kalyanam was imbued with religious significance, as 'in other Hindu customs (also) it will be found that while the letter of the law is strictly adhered to, the spirit is sometimes lost sight of'. RMMC II, p. 292.
214. RMMC I, p. 99.
215. Ibid., p. 101.
216. Ibid., p. 103.
217. Ibid., p. 101. Raman Unni records a distinction between sambandham and concubinage, the latter being a secret relationship, not socially recognized. Mencher, 'The Nayars of South Malabar', p. 174. Kala points out that the term swakaryam (a private affair) was used to refer to sexual relationships that were not socially sanctioned. Kala, 'Trends of Change in Matrilineal Kinship', p. 208.
218. Ibid., p. 101. Raman Unni records a distinction between sambandham and concubinage, the latter being a secret relationship, not socially recognized. Mencher, 'The Nayars of South Malabar', p. 174. Kala points out that the term swakaryam (a private affair) was used to refer to sexual relationships that were not socially sanctioned. Kala, 'Trends of Change in Matrilineal Kinship', p. 208.
219. Ibid., p. 101. Raman Unni records a distinction between sambandham and concubinage, the latter being a secret relationship, not socially recognized. Mencher, 'The Nayars of South Malabar', p. 174. Kala points out that the term swakaryam (a private affair) was used to refer to sexual relationships that were not socially sanctioned. Kala, 'Trends of Change in Matrilineal Kinship', p. 208.
220. O. Chandu Menon, Indulekha, A Novel from Malabar (Kozhikode: Mathrubhumi Printing and Publishing Company, 1965) (first published in 1890).
221. Ibid., p. 42.
222. Ibid.
223. Chandu Menon anticipates criticism that it was not possible to find a woman like Indulekha and states that the only quality that hundreds of Nair ladies in respectable taravads lacked vis-à-vis Indulekha was knowledge of English, which he sees as a cultural attainment, ibid., p. xx. Noting the speculation that Indulekha was modeled on a highly westernized Tiya woman, of Chandu Menon's acquaintance, in Tellicherry, Ramachandran warns against reading 'Indulekha' as an archetype of matrilineal society. Far from representing 'feminine' spaces, he contends that matriliny in a feudal society was highly patriarchal. T. K. Ramachandran, 'Notes on the Making of Feminine Identity in Contemporary Kerala Society', Social Scientist, Vol. 23, nos 1-3 (1995), p. 122. However, dismissal of matriliny on such grounds could serve to underscore the patrilineal/patriarchal influences that dominated reform thought in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
224. Chandu Menon anticipates criticism that it was not possible to find a woman like Indulekha and states that the only quality that hundreds of Nair ladies in respectable taravads lacked vis-à-vis Indulekha was knowledge of English, which he sees as a cultural attainment, ibid., p. xx. Noting the speculation that Indulekha was modeled on a highly westernized Tiya woman, of Chandu Menon's acquaintance, in Tellicherry, Ramachandran warns against reading 'Indulekha' as an archetype of matrilineal society. Far from representing 'feminine' spaces, he contends that matriliny in a feudal society was highly patriarchal. T. K. Ramachandran, 'Notes on the Making of Feminine Identity in Contemporary Kerala Society', Social Scientist, Vol. 23, nos 1-3 (1995), p. 122. However, dismissal of matriliny on such grounds could serve to underscore the patrilineal/patriarchal influences that dominated reform thought in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
225. Chandu Menon anticipates criticism that it was not possible to find a woman like Indulekha and states that the only quality that hundreds of Nair ladies in respectable taravads lacked vis-à-vis Indulekha was knowledge of English, which he sees as a cultural attainment, ibid., p. xx. Noting the speculation that Indulekha was modeled on a highly westernized Tiya woman, of Chandu Menon's acquaintance, in Tellicherry, Ramachandran warns against reading 'Indulekha' as an archetype of matrilineal society. Far from representing 'feminine' spaces, he contends that matriliny in a feudal society was highly patriarchal. T. K. Ramachandran, 'Notes on the Making of Feminine Identity in Contemporary Kerala Society', Social Scientist, Vol. 23, nos 1-3 (1995), p. 122. However, dismissal of matriliny on such grounds could serve to underscore the patrilineal/patriarchal influences that dominated reform thought in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
226. Chandu Menon anticipates criticism that it was not possible to find a woman like Indulekha and states that the only quality that hundreds of Nair ladies in respectable taravads lacked vis-à-vis Indulekha was knowledge of English, which he sees as a cultural attainment, ibid., p. xx. Noting the speculation that Indulekha was modeled on a highly westernized Tiya woman, of Chandu Menon's acquaintance, in Tellicherry, Ramachandran warns against reading 'Indulekha' as an archetype of matrilineal society. Far from representing 'feminine' spaces, he contends that matriliny in a feudal society was highly patriarchal. T. K. Ramachandran, 'Notes on the Making of Feminine Identity in Contemporary Kerala Society', Social Scientist, Vol. 23, nos 1-3 (1995), p. 122. However, dismissal of matriliny on such grounds could serve to underscore the patrilineal/patriarchal influences that dominated reform thought in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
227. Janaki Nair, Wonen and Law in Colonial India (New Delhi: Kali for Women, 1995), p. 155.
228. RMMC I, p. 3.
229. Chatterjee argues that the penetration of a newly established state authority into the social formation and the transformation of power relations into legal-political forms of state power is itself a historical process. Pointing out the need to think of state formation (codification being a part of the process) in terms of the inter-penetration of the two domains, he maintains that 'the point is not only to study how the "other" domain resists such incorporation, but also how, in the process of domination and resistance it affects the course of evolution of politics (and society) in the first domain and is transformed by it'. Partha Chatterjee, Bengal: The Land Question, 1920-1940 (Calcutta: K. P. Bagchi and Co., 1984), p. xxxviii.
230. Chatterjee argues that the penetration of a newly established state authority into the social formation and the transformation of power relations into legal-political forms of state power is itself a historical process. Pointing out the need to think of state formation (codification being a part of the process) in terms of the inter-penetration of the two domains, he maintains that 'the point is not only to study how the "other" domain resists such incorporation, but also how, in the process of domination and resistance it affects the course of evolution of politics (and society) in the first domain and is transformed by it'. Partha Chatterjee, Bengal: The Land Question, 1920-1940 (Calcutta: K. P. Bagchi and Co., 1984), p. xxxviii.
231. RMMC I, p. 34.
232. Home Judicial Proceedings (May 1896), nos 254-5, Part B, NAI.
233. Revenue Department, D. Dis. 1524 (24 June, 1918), Kerala Regional Archives (henceforth KRA). Kannan Nair, a prominent social reformer and a leading member of the Nair Service Society in Travancore in the early twentieth century writes of the efforts by his wife's kin to nullify the registration of their marriage. Ka. Kannan Nair, Atmakatha, p. 105.
234. Revenue Department, D. Dis. 1524 (24 June, 1918), Kerala Regional Archives (henceforth KRA). Kannan Nair, a prominent social reformer and a leading member of the Nair Service Society in Travancore in the early twentieth century writes of the efforts by his wife's kin to nullify the registration of their marriage. Ka. Kannan Nair, Atmakatha, p. 105.
235. Revenue Department, D. Dis. 1524 (24 June, 1918), KRA.
236. Varankot Naryanan Nambudiri v Varanakot Narayanan Nambudiri, Indian Law Reports, Vol. 2 (1878-81), p. 328.
237. Moore, Malabar Law, p. 124.
238. Ibid., p. 82.
239. Thathu Baputty v Chayakath Chathu, Civil Miscellaneous Regular Appeal no. 406 of 1872, Madras High Court Reports, Vol. 7 (1871-74), p. 179. Women and junior members were denied explicitly the right to manage property unless it was with the consent of the karanavan. Special Appeal 434 of 1878 in Moore, Malabar Law, p. 121.