CHAPTER IV MODERNITY AND THE CHANGING CONTOURS OF SOCIO-POLITICAL IMAGINATIONS IN KAYAR

Metamorphoses in the socio-political consciousness in conjunction with the structural and institutional transformations form another significant aspect of the social change process conveyed through the Kayar narrative. Transformation of socio-political life from a feudalistic orientation to a democratic moorings form the kernel of this process as gets representation in the narrative. The structural changes effected by colonialism had brought down the feudal aristocracy from power and replaced it with a commercial middle class having inculcated the vibes of progress and civilizational advancement as their social ethos1. They acted as the protagonists of modern ideology based on the notions of individual liberty, private property rights and political mobilization. Modern education proved to be the chief disseminating agency of the new culture and ideology2. The new cultural ideology born out of the colonial discourse was neither purely indigenous nor alien. It represented a kind of hybridity characterized by the concealed adaptation of feudal ideologies and practices even in the functioning of modern structures and institutions of power. The process of ideological reorientation and its socio-political implications form the theme of this chapter.

Ideology and Socio-political ordering in the Indigenous Imaginings

Second half of the nineteenth century, where the Kayar narrative begins presents the scenario of a society steadily undergoing change operationalized by colonial influences. As elsewhere in the subjected societies, colonial economy in the context of too was marked by the impeded growth of the internal productive forces. Colonial administration made use of the apparatus of the feudal structure as an ally and a less expensive tool to serve their political designs. Ruling sections were allowed to

1 S. Ramachandran , “Land Reforms and Agriculture in Kerala” in E. K. G. Nambiar (ed.) Agrarian : Problems and Perspectives, Calicut, 1999, p. 124 2 See Anirudh Deshpande, “The History of Politics and the Politics of History: Colonial Discourse and the Post-colonial Indian Modernity” in The Inclusive Voll.1 No.9, July 2016, Available on the Internet @ http://www.theinclusive.org/posts/2016-02-spart-01.html

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retain their formal status and absolute land ownership rights were invested with them3. In return, these newly created privileged sections accepted the colonial supremacy. Thus, the feudal apparatus was retained without much content by the colonial administration and old customs and faith were used as the ideological state apparatus by the colonial state and its feudal dependents4.

Such a socio-political order was naturally beset with internal contradictions at many levels. There were conflicts between the feudal mode of social production rooted in the values of economic subsistence and the emerging unitary market representing commercial social production5. While the growing market economy generated a new sense of national identity, the feudal colonial system was trying to perpetuate the old social hierarchy. While the land had been acquiring the status of a commodity, the clutches of feudal forms were being accelerated. This resulted in the unique form of change and changelessness from the beginning of the nineteenth century6. Caste-based feudal social apparatus had been officially sanctified through colonial ethnography. Consequently, caste system got tightened, at least at the level of conceptualization in the context of the changes in the land relations brought about by colonial administration7.

The profile of indigenous society encountering colonial domination was one characterized by a low productivity subsistence economy. Culturally, it was a stratified one along status hierarchies. The Brahminical perception of social hierarchy or Varna ideology with potentiality for considerable local variations proved to be hegemonic force in the society8. An associated concept of the cyclical time well known by the ‘Yuga’ scheme endlessly recurring with a trajectory of retrogressive morals culminating in the present epoch of ‘Kaliyuga’ as the worst of age characterized by the mighty Sudras and insubordinate women also appeared to be influential in the social sensibility of the privileged sections. Historians have now evaluated the upholding of right caste

3 V. V. Kunhikrishnan, “Changing Dimensions of British Land Policy in Malabar” in E. K. G. Nambiar (ed.) , op.cit., p. 93 4 Sunil P. Ilayidom, “Cross Currents within a Cultural Critique of Kerala Renaissance”, Paper Presented a Seminar on Kerala Towards New Horizons, Janasamskriti, New Delhi, February 21/2009, p. , Available on the Internet @ http://www.janasamskriti.org/ilayidom.pdf 5 “The social order adapted to the earlier conditions of a subsistence economy was no longer felt suitable.” In S. Ramachandran Nair, Social and Cultural History of Colonial Kerala, Kalady, 1999, p.3 6 Sunil P. Ilayidom, op.cit., p. 11 7 David Washbrook, “South India 1770-1840: the Colonial Transition” in Modern Asian Studies (Vol. 38 No. 3), July 2004, p.508 8 The term ‘Varna Ideology’ is borrowed from Suvira Jaiswal, “Varna Ideology and Social Change” in Social Scientist (Vol.19 No.3/4), March-April, 1991, pp.41-48

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and gender hierarchies through dystopia as the principle role of the Yuga cycle in the Brahminical discourses. It has been argued that, the two (caste and gender) had been imagined as closely interdependent, for purity of caste lineage is vitally related to control over women ensured through marriages within the permitted boundaries9.

Historically, the peculiarity of geographical landscape did not favor the formation of elaborate centralized polities in Kerala. The geography of Kerala dotted with hillocks and pits, large number of rivers and prospects of annual had altogether made large scale military engagements involving the deployment of cavalry, chariots and elephants unfeasible to a considerable extend. Community of little kingdoms or Nadus had been the political tradition of Kerala during the early and medieval epochs10. Fertile soil and a congenial to the growth of rarefied vegetation had made the region rich in natural endowments. As compared to landscapes in the neighboring regions of and Tamilnadu where a more or less arid climate prevails, the winds had provided Kerala with the blessings of plenty of rainfall and rivers. It fostered the growth of agricultural prosperity as a natural condition in Kerala without the construction of large scale dams or irrigation channels by expending collective effort11. In Kerala, village settlements were dispersed rather than nucleated ones. During the pre-modern period, there was no state management of the economy and almost no bureaucracy in the petty kingdoms. Although imposing palaces and homes were built for the royal and aristocratic houses, there were few or no large temples or other state built monuments. The government in these states was carried on through chains of personal service and sworn fealty between military lords and vassals drawn from the various matrilineal Nair, Samantan or Kshetriya castes having different local specific social ranks. Each chain of feudal bonds would culminate in a petty chieftain or in one or two Brahmin households who govern temples with landed estates in different parts of the realm12. Feudal rank was hereditary in lineages. Feudal rank typically combined the military, judicial, landed and ceremonial rights and obligations13.

9 Sumit Sarkar, Writing Social History, New Delhi, 1996, p.7 10 M. G. S. Narayanan, “Rashtreeya Parambaryam” (Political Tradition) in Panmana Ramachandran Nair (ed.), Kerala Samskara Patanangal (Studies on Kerala Culture), , 2011, p.959 11 Ibid. 12 Kathleen Gough, “Modes of Production in Southern India” in Economic and Political Weekly (vol.15 no.5/7), February 1980, p.350 13 Ibid.

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However, in , the military and judicial aspects of feudal controls had almost fell into disuse during the reign of Martanda Varma itself, when political power structure and administration was centralized and bureaucratized on modern lines. The recalcitrant local chiefs were consciously wiped out and in their place dependable persons loyal to the Raja were appointed. The military was reorganized and transformed it from a feudal force rallied by local chiefs to a salaried, drilled and uniformed array. The centralization of political and military power was an incursion on the independence of the local chieftains14. With the adoption of British Indian Civil and Criminal Procedure Codes, the vestiges of judicial powers rested with the feudal machineries had got undone, at least in a formal sense15. Yet another dimension of feudal power structure was the land control regime. It was the control over land that had invested feudal superiors with the political and judicial powers. Rights over land were not a legal claim to ownership of the soil, rather than a customary authority to exercise power upon those who live on it16. All the land was owned by the Sirkar, the great temples, the Brahmins and the Matampimar. They had held the entire agricultural populace in subjection. Janmam inclusive of the Brahmaswam and Devaswam was the highest land tenure. Down the hierarchy, there would be military Nair tenants who hold land on Kanam tenure, artisans and other village servants, households of tenant-serfs belonging to such intermediary lower castes as and the lower untouchable slave castes who carry out actual tilling operations in rice cultivation like Pulayas and Parayas. At the village level, personal and inter-household ties of service bound every sections of agrarian populace17.

These are some of the glimpses of facts about the functioning feudal order portrayed in Kayar when the narrative begins. The most conspicuous feature of the reigning ideology that legitimized the feudal social order as represented in the narrative was the veneration of Brahmins and kingship18. For much of 19th century, cursing the Brahmin or king was considered as more grievous a sin than self-annihilation19. The kingly duty (Raja Dharma) was conceived as the obligation of the ruler to protect

14 K. M. Panikkar, A , Annamalanagar, 1961, pp. 241-242 15 See Regional Record Survey Committee, History of Freedom Movement in Kerala Vol. 1, Trivandrum, 2000, pp. 89-93 16 See Introduction in Robert Eric Frykenberg (ed.) Land Control and Social Structure in Indian History, Madison, 1969. 17 Kathleen Gough, op.cit., p. 351 18 Kayar, 1. 19 19 P. Bhaskaranunni, Pathonpatam Noottandile Keralam (Nineteenth Century Kerala), Trissur, 1987, p. 25

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Dharma, to secure peace, prosperity, justice and order in the society. Brahmaswam and Devaswam properties were free holds and that was the basis of the pre-colonial land system.

…O Kurup! Will income from the temple and Brahmin land be tax-free?” “Yes, it must be so. That is the foundation of the policy of our princely house.20 ….Kodanthara Mootha Kurupp Asan to the temple manager: “…You do one thing. Get as much land as possible assigned to the temple. For the temple, it will be tax-free. Win over the classifier by catering to all his needs. It is for the temple, and not for our personal gain.21

In the indigenous socio-political imaginations, a monarchy exercising authority in the society for upholding the system of social hierarchies caught acquiescence. Those who wield power were expected to preserve and protect the social order without any disharmony22. Customs and precedents regulated social interactions by investing the social order with a sense of permanence. Chief purpose of the customs was to preserve the social hierarchy without a break and ensure the mutual sustenance of all. The coercion of power was aimed towards this end. Questioning the authority of the social superiors seems to be something out of the way in the society. Since the concept of progress was alien to the indigenous imaginations, the prevailing social order with whatever privileges and disabilities was the one and the only setup that could have envisaged.

As has been mentioned earlier, the concept of divine kingship and the duties of the king (Rajadharma) had provided ideological legitimacy to the princely rulers. The king of Travancore like many other princes made a clear claim to divine status. The tutelary deity Sree Padmanabha was declared to be the real ruler of the state and the Maharaja was constitutionally defined as the servant of tutelary deity. This political sagacity of exercising secular authority in the name of divinity had helped to prevent internal commotions against the kingship23. Elaborate ceremony of Murajapam where in the Namboothiri Brahmins would chant Vedic hymns for fifty six days in receipt of customary beneficence was institutionalized. Besides, Uttupura or free feeding houses for the Brahmins were opened in many part of Travancore. These measures were meant

20Kayar, 1. 20 21 Kayar, 1. 18 22 The role of Nayar militia in the bodypolitic during the pre-colonial phase See William Logan, Malabar Manual, Madras, 1951, p. 597 23 P. Shungoonny Menon, A History of Travancore from the Earliest Times, Madras, 1887, pp. 170-171

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for conciliating the Brahmins who were roughly handled in the wake of the annexations of Martanda Varma24.

In general, royalty was held in high esteem by the people. According to a contemporary observer, the people look up to the Raja with a degree of respect bordering on devotion25. Piety, simplicity, credulousness and innocents were some of the virtues attributed to royalty in the popular discourses as presented in the narrative. Those who were enjoying privileges and enlisted into the echelons of power hierarchy had inkling for the glorification of the kingship26. However, what about those who remain outside the corridors of power!? How might they have conceived royal authority and its pomp! It has been harped on in the narrative. A group of women comparing their own social predicament with that of their royal counterparts has been presented.

....She is a woman: we are women- why do you have to be so disgruntled about it?” She (Kunjikka) asked. “What else?” Kunjithevi said, “What is our fate? Look at hers! We are women, she is a woman. But our standards and hers are quite different.” Kunjikka was furious. “I haven’t seen any such female. Yet, one thing I do know-“Kunjithevy cut in loudly: “Woman! Don’t shout! You are talking about the Maharaja’s wedded wife. Your life will be in peril.” No one heeded her. Kunjikka went on: “We are women, and she is a woman. Just as we become pregnant and bring forth children, she also becomes pregnant and brings forth a child.” “Woman, don’t talk like that! Don’t say pregnancy; it is royal conception. So also, it is not delivering a child; it is royal birth!” Kunjithevy said. Kunjikka paid no heed. Her words flowed until the urge died out finally declaring: “Just as our sweat smell foul so does hers. We sometimes fart and she does the same. She has nothing that we do not have.” As Kunjikka became more vociferous, the other women had moved away from her. They did not dare listen to such treasonous rantings. They stood away, fearing she had gone stark mad. They were astounded to here that the golden complection was due to drinking gold dissolved in milk and to be reminded that when the lights are out, color makes no difference. Kunjikka resumed her tirade: “All women are alike, when they dye and are buried, they will be eaten by worms, if burned, will be reduced to ashes. Whosoever it might be, if in a grave become worms; if burned, becomes ashes.27

Those who have experienced a direct royal encounter were represented as nursing loyalty, where as those who were not into such an experience had lacked inquisitiveness seems to be the point that the narrative sought to suggest28. In the pre-

24 Robin Jeffrey, The Decline of Nayar Dominance: Society and Politics of Travancore 1847-1908, New Delhi, 1976, p. 4 25 Lt. Col. Sentleger to the Chief Secretary, 13 Feb. 1809, Tinnevelly Collectorate Records as Sited in Koji Kawashima, Missionaries and A Hindu State: Travancore 1858-1936, New Delhi, 1998, p. 5 26 Kayar (), 1. 22 27Kayar, 1. 6-7 28 Ibid.

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modern scenario, political power was maintained through theatrical displays in the form of processions, progresses, royal entries, coronations, funerals and other rituals that guaranteed the well-being and continued power of the rulers over the ruled. There would be a galaxy of specialists such as priests, ritual preceptors, historians, bards, artists, and artisans etc. to legitimize the royal power by employing the various forms of knowledge at their disposal29. The construction of an image of aura and mystery associated with kingship and royalty was the most important strategy of legitimizing power before the popular gaze. However, despite the exalted image of the kingship and the political legitimacy it enjoyed in the minds of the people, people were presented as apprehensive of the various shady practices entrenched in the system.

….The tax belonged to the Maharaja, That is, to the deity, Sree Padmanabhan. Even the Maharaja could not squander it. But a share of the offerings to the classifier might reach the palace also. His Highness might also require a personal fund. Anybody would require some money for a needy hour. Even for His Highness it was a must. But the Mullakkaran could not believe that his gracious Highness wanted black money. But there were rumors to that effect. Through three generations the story had been handed down, from his grand uncle downwards. In the vault of the main palace, there were seven huge jars filled with melted gold. It was the ill-gotten wealth of a ruler. That granduncle had lived Trivandrum at that time and had reliable information about it. A reserve fund for the royal family is a must, as it is for everyone else.30

Not withstanding the hegemony of feudal ethos like authority and obedience, there were strong elements of dissent and protest in the social setup was the another aspect that the Kayar narrative sought to furnish. But these elements were articulated through different mediums and various social forms depending on the local environments and diverse ways of life associated with them.

East of the temple tank and between the entertainment halls, dances were held from the first to the tenth of Medom. After the supper ritual of the deity, there would be mass dancing. On both sides of the wood fire, drummers would beat out the rhythm. All the men and women of the six villages would assemble there for this function. The great poet Kunjan Nambiar had used the same platform to inaugurate his innovation of Thullal through which he had pocked fun at the headmen and the people of that period. Nanussar was not great poet, but he could hit at the weak spots of the men in authority. Further, abuse during Padayani could not be complained about and there would be no reprisal or revenge on that score. Was it not a good arrangement?31

29 Bernard S. Cohn, Colonialism and its Forms of Knowledge: The British in India, New Delhi, 1996, pp. 2-3 30 Kayar, 4. 38-39 31 Kayar, 16. 122 and 125

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Even while, the dominant value of the indigenous society was oriented towards hierarchical social relations, it was respectful of the right of every section to coexist in the society. In a subsistence society, mutual cooperation between different classes was a matter of indispensability rather than a choice32. There were mythologies and believes relating to evil spirits in the indigenous imaginations which would sometimes curb the unwarranted actions of the aristocracy towards the underprivileged in the society. Similarly, the natural cataclysm like the death and other forms of helplessness make the rules of social hierarchies meaningless. These considerations were very much there in the traversal of the caste boundaries in the indigenous society.

….A man and a woman, both Muslims came to her just after nightfall. She was requested to help to deliver the child as the labour pains were of two days duration and two other midwives had failed to do so. Never before or after that day, Kalyani Amma (a lower caste Nair woman- midwife) served anyone below the rank of Nair. Everyone in the house objected, but she thought of the consequences of the woman with the child in her womb dying due to want of proper attention. She would become an evil ghost and would harass every pregnant woman in the land. To rid the place of harassment, religious rituals more rigorous than those who appease the ghosts of those who die of plague and smallpox would have to be performed. She also felt, a midwife should not consider the caste of a woman in labour as a criterion for agreeing to assist her during child birth, a Namboothiri woman and a Pulaya woman were equal. So she walked off in the direction of the place of woman in labour as if inspired.33

Since mutual cooperation between different social sections was a necessity in the indigenous society, it was a social imperative to ensure the support of all sections of the society in facilitating the stability of the system. Customary obligations were structured by being sensitive to this social reality. Customs made the aristocracy responsible for the preservation of the statusquo by the coercion of power by commanding the different social groups to fulfill their respective ascribed obligations. In the process, all forms of coercions conforming to the standards of the customs of the land, physical and ideological could be employed, but should not amount to the obliteration of the race. Even though, the feudal class had monopolized the right to oppress and subjugate their social inferiors, there were certain absolute limits to these. This was especially in the context of the surviving lower levels of production and accumulation of surplus. In the non-mechanized scenario, human labour was crucial to the production process to go on. Therefore, whatever powers the aristocracy had wielded to subdue their dependents, they would not be amounted to a total disregard to the natural rights of the latter to work

32 M. G. S. Narayanan, Cultural Symbiosis, Trivandrum, 1971, p. 1 33 Kayar, 50. 309

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on the soil and to live on. Society had evolved ideological injunctions of such actions through the perpetuation of such notions as the story of ‘deadly sin’. ‘Deadly sin’ involves oppressive actions on the part of the rich and superiors that could lead to the violation of the basic rights of the people. It has been pointed out that, customarily, conceptions about ‘deadly sin’ and the need of avoiding such sins would be a part of the social teachings that had been instructed to the younger generations by the elders. But, when social order was adapted to a capital oriented machine driven economy, respect for the human labour, that had been explicit in the social outlook of the natural economy was diminished. Those who enjoy power began to act without a regard even to the natural rights of their subordinates to live. The notion of ‘deadly sin’ was communicated to the popular ethoses through a social belief in evil spirits. It was held in the popular imagination that, those who die afflicted by feudal oppression would appear as ghosts and demons symbolizing evil powers. The victims would reappear as oppressor and would take revenge. There would be no escape from the harmful effects of the ‘deadly sin’ that one commits. No religions or holly texts had prescribed absolutions for this kind of sin. This sensibility which was very much a part of the social consciousness has been alluded to in various forms in the Kayar narrative.

….There was the deadly sin for which there was no absolution. It had not been defined in any religion. But it would work its curse on all the succeeding generations. Gregory had committed the deadly sin. As a boy he used to wonder what the deadly sin was. One day, he saw his uncle of Poonjar beating a Pulaya thief with the intention of breaking the bones of his hands and feats. Then his grand uncle had intervened and told his son not to commit a deadly sin because the Pulaya had to make his living by manual labour. His grandfather and great grandfather used to talk about the deadly sin after their prayers. But no one who committed such a sin would speak of it. Such a sin was not enumerated in the Bible. Even the priest had no right, on hearing a confession of such a sin to absolve the sinner.34 ….Before he got out in the morning and during supper, Unnoolliamma went on harping one thing: “Pacharan, don’t make my last moments horrible with Chakrasvasam.” At this last word, the Mullakkaran started this horror visit on dying unrepentant sinners: with only the back of the head and heals touching the ground, the sinner’s body rises in a semi-circle like a drawn bow only to come down with a bang. Then and then only does one breath come out. Immediately after that, the heads shoots up with the mouth opens wide as if to bite something on the ceiling and the cycle goes on repeating itself till the sinner is dead. It was said that once someone in the throes of Chakrasvasam had shot up and bit a roof beam! Unnoliamma’s plea was that she should not be condemned to suffer this horror on her deathbed. To protect her from it, her brother should not hurt the people any more. If he hurt people, they would curse him. If a thousand people with wounded feelings cursed a person, he would surely die of Chakraswasam. No religious ceremony

34 Kayar, 125. 679-680

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performed by priests or other holy men could prevent it. One had to suffer it. No god can save anyone from the curses of people with wounded feelings. Not only the persons who commit the sin, but their relations also would die like that. If the curse had been pronounced with tears gushing out from real anguish, the culprit would suffer even more. When a thousand wronged people curse, there is no atonement for that sin for the wrong doer.35

Along with the elements of mutuality and social reciprocity, there was greater room for conflicts emanating from the practice of feudal oppression in the society. The custom of Pulappedi, Mannappedi or Parappedi seemed to be a reflection of such a conflict-ridden social relations. According to the custom, the members of lower castes like Pulayas, Mannan etc. enjoyed the privilege of harassing the women of higher castes, particularly the Nair women during certain months every year. The observance of this practice was reported by many writers, both foreign and indigenous36. A mention of it can be seen in the Kayar narrative as well.

….Most of the Parayas were attached to feudal families as bonded labourers. But some had retained their independence and became highway robbers. For a month from the end of February, the Parayas including the bonded labour would go out of control. Even animals had their periods of revolt like pet dogs running away to find mates in October. The Paraya gangs would create fear all over the land and everyone would be on their guard. After a harvest, the yellow stubble alone would be left in the field. The land would seem to have been covered by a thick sheet of yellow silk. During that period, the women would not go to the empty spaces to cut grass. After night fall, they would not step out of their houses.37

In conformity with the received historiographical wisdom, the Kayar narrative too depicts a temple-centered village complex as the cross section of the indigenous society that encountered modernity. Being the highest land owner, the temple had socio- economic roles to play38. As far as the elite social life was concerned, it remained as a cultural center. But the lower castes as well as the non-Hindu groups had no access to it. Nevertheless, through various mythologies and customary rights, the temple had extracted the emotional loyalties of those groups as well. Customarily rights of management of temple properties rests with feudal families. When the various feudal families were dispossessed of their control over land in the wake of the various socioeconomic changes induced by colonialism, feudal ascendancy became irrelevant.

35 Ibid., 5. 45 36 A. Sreedhara Menon, A Survey of Kerala History, Kottayam, 2007, p. 221 37 Kayar, 40. 259 38 The temple appear in the Kayar narrative is the Takazhi Dharma Sasta Temple. This temple is believed to have had Buddhist heritage. See S. Gupthan Nair (ed.), Visva Vijnana Kosam (World Encyclopedia) Vol. 7, Kottayam, 1989, p. 245

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The caste-Hindus who had customarily enjoyed the rights of access to temple began to be involved in the management of temple affairs. When the temples of Travancore came to be opened to all castes during twentieth century, the temple-centered Hindu community formation had been completed39. Along with the modernization of Christian community and their consequent middleclassing, the hold of emotional loyalty that had been at work through local mythologies and customs gave way for the discourses of institutionalized religions40. The fact that the lower caste groups following an almost parallel pantheon to the Brahminical system has been amply acknowledged in the narrative41.

Modernization and Societal Implications

From 1860s onwards, there were efforts from the part of the government to modernize the economy and society. As part of this, commercial monopolies were abolished, ownership rights were granted to tenants on the government lands and extensive road networks came to be opened. Further, administration was centralized, examinations were introduced for government servants and networks of schools began to be opened. European missionaries began to carry out intensively their conversion and educational endeavors among the lower orders. In the hills, European planters opened up estates and in the coastal towns like Quilon and Alleppey, both foreign and native merchants started merchandising the agricultural products from the interiors. In 1875, the government conducted first modern census after the fashion of the all-India census of British India in 187042. The land survey and settlement of 1883 and the land classification scheme being mentioned in the beginning of the Kayar narrative came as a continuation of these changes.

….Kunjilekshmi Amma opened the subject. “Can you aspire to become a Peshkar?” Kochu Pillai raised his head, looked at her, smiled and said, “For that there are several steps to ascend.” “The Peshkar must come from a reputed family. He must have sufficient experience and ability. Only after being promoted as Tahasildar, will one be appointed as Peshkar. I don’t belong to such a great family.” “The old order is changing. The land assignment is its first stage. His Majesty can act only according to the new system that is coming into

39 See Louise Ouwerkerk, No Elephants for the Maharaja: Social and Political Change in the Princely State of Travancore 1921-1947, New Delhi, 1993, pp. 91-97 40For institutionalization of religions and its societal implications See C. A. Bayly, The Birth of the Modern World 1780-1914, Massachusetts, 2004, pp. 330-333 41 See Samuel Mateer, Native Life in Travancore, London, 1883, pp.53-57 and See Kayar, pp. 44-45 42 See Robin Jeffrey, op.cit., pp. 98-101

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force. The present custom is that Peshkars are appointed from two great families and village officers are appointed from families of importance. That system has to go. Learning and experience will be the criteria in future. That will be the procedure henceforward.43

Thus, with the new land survey settlement the village had been slowly, but steadily got integrated into a unitary market economy where there would be no royal dues in the official sense and therefore such officers as Adhikari (customary village officer), Mullakkaran (Enforcement Officer) and Kanakkapilla (accountant) would no longer be required. Consequently, those families customarily holding such positions would be dispossessed of power and privileges. On their place, people who had been introduced to English education began to be appointed.

….Mathu Pillai knew more about the public affairs. He informed Kaimal that the Maharaja was paying heavy sums annually as tributes to the white men. They were responsible for upholding untouchability and it was with their support that the system continued unhampered. At that period, there were some people of the land who learned the language of the white man. Some had become judges and officers, others were advocates. Mathu Pillai had also mentioned that to get jobs in government, people had to learn their languages44.

As regards Travancore, the foundation for modern education in the state was laid as early as 1834. The Raja’s free school started functioning in the same year in the capital which eventually developed as the Trivandrum College by the 1870s. By the 1860s, the government began to show greater encouragement in promoting vernacular education45. In every Taluks vernacular schools imparting instructions on modern lines began to be established. Through the activities of the Text Book Committee, curriculum was modernized. Provisions were made for training teachers. The government began to make liberal grants in aide to private institutions. Identical textbooks as well as trained teachers began to be appointed in the private schools as well. These measures greatly enabled the promotion of vernacular education in the state46. Parallel to the advent of fresh forces of change in the economic functioning of the village, new influences began to make presents in the cultural life of the people. The advent of school imparting modern learning was the most far-reaching among them. The Modern schooling and the cultural engagement it initiated was a new experience for the indigenous psyche. Education opened up the opportunity for bureaucratic recruitment.

43 Kayar, 5. 49-50 44 Kayar, 28. 208 45 Regional Record Survey Committee, History of Freedom Movement in Kerala Vol. I, pp. 101-102 46 Ibid.

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….In that year, by an order of the king, a school had been started in that locality. It was a thatched shed on teak pillars opposite the village office. It was enclosed on all sides by woven leaves. The method of teaching there was different from that followed in the traditional Kalaris. The students would be given a black plank like slab, made of a particular kind of stone. They were each also supplied with a pencil resembling a stick. So the era of palm leaf and the iron stylus was over. Arithmetic was also being taught along with the alphabets. There were only six students. None from the esteemed families send their children, as they could not have them associate with all and sundry. A Tamil Brahmin was the only teacher. He had free boarding from the temple and slept in the ground-floor of the temple outhouse.47 ….Kalyani Amma’s son was called Kesavan. He returned from school one day and told his mother that the teacher had directed them not to address him as Iyar. She fondled him and asked him how the Iyer wanted to address him. They were to address him as sir, he said. Kalyani Amma had never heard that word. It did not find a place in the epics and it sounded strange. She feared that it would be a sin to call the Brahmin sir. But Kesavan had learned four letters that day. They were “A”, “NA”, “RA” and “SA”. To learn letters without basic grounding in the traditional order “Hari”, “SREE” was beyond Kalyani Amma’s comprehension. She doubted whether the teaching by an unorthodox method was correct. Could knowledge be gained without the ” usual system of learning the alphabet by heart?48 ….The Sir- Iyer: “Let him learn here for four years and he will certainly get a job in government service. If Kesavan continued under the new scheme, he would become a village officer or a teacher like himself.” 49

The penetration of modern education into lower caste groups form the next stage in the modernization of society as gets exposition in the Kayar narrative. By the beginning of twentieth century, the government had accepted the responsibility of imparting primary education to all irrespective of caste or creed50. In 1894-1895, funds were earmarked for the establishment of special schools for the backward communities. In the next year, fifteen such schools had been started in different parts of the state. The Christian mission schools (L.M.S. in the south and C.M.S. in the north) admitted children of all castes. The government sponsored liberal grants in aid considerably encouraged private agencies in their educational initiatives51. When modern education began to disseminate, indigenous schools which had been imparting learning, often on caste basis fell into oblivions. The process of their decline was expedited by the introduction of an education code in 1909-1910 which laid down strict conditions for management, teachers’ qualifications, equipments, fees, textbooks, school records etc52. In 1911, restrictions on the admission of Pulaya children to public schools were

47 Kayar, 17. 140-141 48 Kayar, 18. 141 49 Idem. 50 The Travancore Administration Report 1903-1904, p. 51 51 V. Nagam Aiya, Travancore State Manual Vol. II, 1906, p. 482 52 Ibid., pp. 44-46

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removed. In 1935-1936, the government started the scheme of providing lump-sum grants to students belonging to backward communities53. The dissemination of education to the lower classes of the indigenous society and the responses of various sections to this development have been mapped out in the Kayar narrative.

The news that a school was going to be established for the children of the untouchables disturbed the leaders of the community. Kunjan Pillai and Karthavu discussed the problem. The orders had already come. A shed made of teak saplings and bamboo was to be put up on the government land for immediate use. Seelanthipillil Kalyani Amma’s son had been called to the Taluk office and his consent to being a teacher was secured. The two had agreed that this school would be a threat to the caste Hindus. Some upper class youngsters had by that time graduated from school. All of them hated physical exertion. They used to bath and dress well and loaf about and do no work. They got their hair cut twice in a month and had no experience whatsoever of using a spade or pickax or even a chopper. So the two friends inferred that the sons of the untouchables would also shun physical labour after completing the school course. It was a matter of wonder to them that the ruler had passed so ill-advised an order and the suzerain British government which had stood for non- interference in ancient traditions and customs had permitted. Kunjan Pillai, after pondering the issue asserted that it was a threat to farming. Karthavu agreed and added that the educated workers would insist on proper wages. Kunjan Pillai quoted the scriptures which banned learning to and condemned the attempt to educate the backward classes. Why His Majesty had agreed to this breach of the code of ethics, they could not comprehend. They evolved plans to counter the move.54 ….The Ezhavas held the Parayas and Pulayas to be untouchable and the Pulayas consider themselves to be superior to the Parayas. Further, among Ezhavas, there were feudal families like Alumoodu, Anasthanam,, Komalezham etc. In Sherthalai also, there were such families who would not mingle with ordinary Ezhavas. The Tiyyas of the north were also prominent in society. There were great scholars among them, as there were scholars in Seelanthipillil. The Channars of Alumoottil look like the Brahmins from the North and their men and women were very handsome, the men with the tuft of hair tied to the left, with ash and sandal marks on their foreheads, with gold chains and earrings were impressive indeed. In spite of their wealth, they observe their social obligations scrupulously. Their logic was that if they did not keep their distance from the Nairs and Brahmins, the Parayas and Pulayas would not maintain the distance of the untouchables from them. So the leaders decided to work up the caste sentiment of the Ezhavas.55 ….There had been a school in Ambakkattu all along to teach Ezhavas and Christians and the heads of the Ambakkattu family had all through the years been teaching the children of locality. That had raised their status in society. Then the church came and took over the teaching of Christians. But the head of the Ambakkattu family continued his teaching.” “Both in the South and in the North, there were scholars and physicians. In Tellicherry and Kannanore, there were Tiyyas living like Europeans and they knew the white man’s language. Kambakkadan had heard that some of them felt ashamed to be and

53 P. R. Gopinathan Nair, “Education and Socioeconomic Change in Kerala 1793-1947” in Social Scientist Vol. 4 No. 8 (March 1976), p. 33 54 Kayar, 38. 250-251 55 Ibid.

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pretended to be Europeans. They were ashamed of speaking Malayalam. But the Nairs had facilities for education. There were Seelanthipillil Paramu Asan and there were other great scholars to instruct them. But Paramu Asan was a great man. He never refused to teach anyone from any caste, including Ezhavas and Christians because he considered a sin to deny knowledge to anyone who sought it.” “There was a holy pedestal in the south western corner of the Attakkattu family home. The family had died out. The guru who was enshrined there used to be worshiped by the local people. They lighted a lamp everyday and sometimes sacrifices were also made as special offerings. The saint of Attakkattu was a great scholar and a great astrologer. It was believed that he had acquired his knowledge from a Seelanthipillil Asan, several generations ago. At that time, Kambakkadan pointed out, the Seelanthipillil family was at the lowest rung of the Nair social ladder. So according to them, Seelanthipillil people were only slightly higher than the Ezhavas. When it was pointed out that both in the north and south of Kerala, the Nairs were being taught by the Ezhavas, the reply was that for instructional purposes, there were no caste distinction, untouchability nevertheless remained and had to be observed. Just as they were unwilling to send their children to the school for the untouchables, they also refused the privilege of being taught along with the Nairs who consider the Ezhavas untouchables.56 ….Kesavan had got a government job. He wanted to build his future.” “Kesavan pointed out those poor untouchable children were also human beings.” “Kesavan Pillai did not appreciate the arguments advanced by the two leaders of the community. He felt that if they had been given facilities to get educated and cultured, anti-social elements like Thiruvanchan and Ittiyappan would not have arisen from the lower castes.” “Kesavan Pillai went from door to door by explaining to the Parayas and Pulayas the need for educating their children. His arguments convinced everyone, but none dared to disobey the two leaders.57 ….Kunjan Pillai and Karthavu prohibited the Parayas and Pulayas from sending their children to school. But Ittiyappan openly resisted and declared that he would do so. Ittiyappan wanted to know why his children should not be taught to read and write. An old bonded labourer of Mangalassery tried to keep him quite and advised him to obey the managers of the temple. “You are all born slaves,” he retorted |”I challenge anyone to prevent me from sending my children to school.” He had been a rebel all along.58

These excerpts propose a multidimensional process of social change characterized by an interactional engagement between different social groups. While the landed interests and caste Hindus exemplified by the conservative mind attempts to ward off the penetration of liberal influences into the lower social classes, the educated sections exemplified by the progressive mind perceives the possibility of humanizing them through education. If get educated, the labouring castes, , would not be available for agricultural operations was the major anxiety of those who oppose change. Such oppositions by the landed sections can be seen to have been raised in connection with

56 Kayar, 43. 276 57 Ibid., 38. 252-253 and 40. 262 58 Ibid., 40. 260-261

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the debates regarding the abolition of slavery during the mid-nineteenth century as well59.

The image of society that gets illuminated from the narrative representation is the one functioning on hierarchical caste-sub-caste basis. The census of Travancore 1891 written on about 75 sub-caste variations among Nairs and about 7 of such variations among Ezhavas60. Down the ladder, there were similar rank variations among the Pulayas as well61. Among Ezhavas, there were a privileged section consisting of traders, teachers, astrologers, physicians, militia men etc. right during the pre-colonial period itself. The non-Brahmin origins of their Sanskritic knowledge could be traced back to the Buddhist as well as Jain traditions of antiquity62. Once, structural changes in the economy under colonial persuasion became a reality, many aspects of the traditional caste system underwent transformation63. Colonial law neutralized the high-caste privileges as the exponents and administrators of law, at least in a theoretical sense. Expansion of economy generated employment opportunities in trade, commerce and manufacturing industries. The privileged high-castes who despised manual labour and considered it beneath their dignity could not took advantage of the expansion of the secondary sector of the economy. On the other hand, many social groups who stood at the lower order according to the traditional social hierarchies could positively leverage the new opportunities. In the emerging socioeconomic environment, caste-based social regimentation and controls came to be felt increasingly obsolete and redundant. Consequently voices of oppositions appeared against the oppressive aspects of the traditional society. Vary often, those sections who experienced mobility in terms of economic as well as educational development gave leadership to such movements, even though there were exceptions to it64.

Second half of the nineteenth century witnessed attempts by the various lower caste groups to shackle off the rigorousness of traditions. Such efforts were strongly resisted by the higher castes resulting on many occasions in violent clashes. Getting

59 See S. Ramachandran Nair, “The Movement for Social Justice in Travancore: an Economic Interpretation” in Journal of Kerala Studies Vol. XIII, March-December 1989. 60 Census of Travancore 1891, pp. 980-984 61 See the sections on Pulayas in Samuel Mateer, op.cit., pp. 33-60 62 D. Damodaran Namboodiri, “Caste and Social Change in Colonial Kerala” in P. J. Cheriyan (ed.), Perspectives on Kerala History, , 1999, p. 436 63 S. Ramachandran Nair, Social and Cultural History of Colonial Kerala, p. 2 64 Ibid., p. 16

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access to public roads and schools, , fair share in the government service etc formed the major objectives of the struggles by the lower caste groups. A school opened by the Pulayas at Venganoor was destroyed by the caste Hindus. In protest, Ayyankali gave a call for the boycott of agricultural work in the fields of upper caste Hindus. The struggles of the Pulayas for access to roads and schools led to Pulaya riots in many places like , , Kanyakumari etc65. The government notification allowing children belonging to lower castes to be educated in the public schools evoked bitter responses from the orthodox sections among the caste-Hindus. In places like , , Karunagappally, Mayyanad, Paravur etc. disturbances broke out66. In Balaramapuram and Pullattu, conflicts between Nairs and Pulayas turned violent. In Pullattu the Nairs went to the extent of burning the school where children belonging to the lower caste groups were admitted67. The situations presented in the novel narrative must have been conceived by giving currency to these historical events.

As has been seen, second half of the nineteenth century saw the increasing penetration of market processes in the functioning of the regional economy. With their tradition of trade, commerce and cash crop cultivation, the Syrian Christians had achieved remarkable economic mobility during this period. Tenancy legislations and encouragement of commercial cultivation promoted capitalist relations in agriculture. In Kayar, many Christian families bettering their lot through such efforts as joint cultivation, merchandising of agricultural products in the nearby towns, establishing plantations in the Eastern Hills etc. have been portrayed68. Thus, there emerged a Christian middle class based on capitalist cultivation. As per the narrative representation, it was through this class that influences of Christianity being brought on to the lower caste agricultural labourers. It has been a historically acknowledged fact that Christianity and Islam had served as shelters for the lower caste groups to get escaped of feudal oppressions through conversion69. During the colonial phase, with the advent of European missionaries, the pace of conversion increased. But, how far conversion helped the non-caste groups to improve their lot and how it had affected their

65 See P. F. Gopakumar, “Ayyankali and the Radical Intervention in the Process of Social Reform” in P. F. Gopakumar (ed.), Faces of Social Reforms in Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, 2015, pp. 67-69 66 K. R. Ushakumari, Parameswaran Pillai and the Socio-political Evolution of Modern Travancore, Thiruvananthapuram, 2009, pp. 71-77 67 D. Damodaran Namboodiri, op.cit., p. 431 68 See this point being discussed in Chapter II, pp. 64-66 69 S. Kenneth W. Jones, Socio-religious Reform Movements in British India, New Delhi, 2003, p. 159

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identity is a question gets a mention in the narrative. One version of historical scholarship perceive the issue as this; though a tiny sections of the Pulayas got educated in missionary schools and some of them were also converted to Christianity, their material and social milieu hardly changed70. Here are the excerpts from Kayar on this aspect.

….A lot of Parayas and Pulayas had lined up for the feast. The priest asked Thoma whether they were all his bonded labourers. When he replied that he had eighteen families bonded to him, the priest suggested converting them all to Christianity and saving their souls. The Christian Missionary Society (CMS) people had started converting the coastal people and their church had started conversion in other places as well. It was a new idea. One from the gathering had a doubt. What was the good of converting them when a Paraya remained as a Paraya even after conversion. The priest suggested bringing them to the way of god because the path of Christ was opened to Parayas also. He promised to send two competent priests for handling the conversions and asked them to meet the expenses and render all the help required. Because god had been kind to them, they were asked to spend a portion of their income for redeeming the sinners. Because they were doing it for god, the priest assured them, it would enhance their prosperity.71 ….The priest who was in charge of conversion pointed out that those who were converted was all of one caste with all other Christians. They prayed together under one shepherd. Though they had minor differences and disputes, when they obeyed the directions of one pastor and prayed to one god, all were knit together into a solid block. He cited the example of the river side. That watery place had been converted into a part of the Garden of Eden by Christians alone without any assistance from others, thanks to their unity. Varkey agreed with the priest and said “he detested people of other religions.” All the others felt likewise. Mathai said that they were a nuisance, though it was true that some properties of those fellows had been taken over for cultivation by Christians or bought over by them by them making only part payments. At early dawn, some of them would turn up and if one saw them in the morning, the whole day would be ruined. Peeli added that they had no honesty, no truth and no integrity. The priest pointed out that all this originated from the fact that they did not believe in the true god. To substantiate the point, Varkey recounted one of his recent experiences. In February, his worker Thevan cleared an opening to let in the water. But he did not open the outlet. When Varkey saw that he went in search of Thevan. As he was not in his house, Varkey went to the Pulakkadu (the Pulaya Shrine). There was a celebration going on, all the Pulayas were assembled there. He called Thevan who agreed to go and open the second outlet, but he did not do it. The priest pointed out, this was due to the fact that he belonged to another caste. Varkey added that had he been of their own caste, he would observe only their holidays and would be available for work when ever called for. So Varkey wanted the workers to be of their caste.72 ….Peeli did not agree to accept Parayas and Pulayas as members of their caste. The priest mollified him by saying that Varkey only meant that they should be made to believe in the real god. Varkey asked what harm there would be if they were included in the same caste as themselves. Peeli retorted by asking him, whether he would give his daughter in

70 D. Damodaran Namboodiri, op.cit., p. 431 71 Kayar, 42. 271 72 Ibid., 42. 273-274

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marriage to Thevan’s son, if he became a Christian. Varkey was really embarrassed. The priest intervened and told them that what the bishop wanted was to bring as many persons as possible to the path of the true god.73 …..After the first service on a Sunday, the priest read out a message from the Bishop regarding the converts. It dealt with the necessity of establishing a school to lead them along the path of the true faith. The priest was directed to take the initiative and set up the school with the active support of his parishioners. After the message was red, everyone made the customary sign of the cross. As they dispersed, Peeli asked Varkey “did you hear the bishop’s message? What do you think about it?” “It is mischievous,” Varkey replied. “The bishop is a European,” Peeli commented, “He cannot understand our peculiarities and his confidants do not advise him properly.” “If they get educated, will they come for manual labour?” Anthony wondered. While Peeli agreed that there was a possibility that they wouldn’t, Varkey anticipated another danger. “They will start bargaining,” he said. Both of them expressed their great appreciation of the foresight of the temple manager and Paramu Karthavu who had anticipated the ill-effects of providing a school for the untouchables. In spite of the royal order, they had finally thwarted the attempt and set fire to the school building and had been perfectly justified in doing it. Though the Pulayas and Parayas got converted to Christianity, they would continue only as Pulayas and Parayas and they should, according to Varkey continue to be so. They alone could put up firm outer bunts for the fields, they alone could have mastered the art of cultivation and without them agriculture could not be carried out. For proper growth, paddy plants had to get the smell of the Parayas and Pulayas. Peeli said in a thoughtful mood. “Suppose we obey the directive of the bishop and build a school for them under the active leadership of our priest, we would then be antagonizing the Nairs and Ezhavas for restarting something they had rejected.” They debated as to why the Pulayas and Parayas had to be educated, when even upper-caste Christians were debarred from reading the bible.74 ….When Chunakkulathu Pappu Pillai let his 100 para on rental to the Attukadavil family, Seethankan was forced to lend his services to the new cultivators. At the behest of the new masters, he got converted to Christianity and became Samuel. It was as simple as changing the label on a bottle of water.” “Samuel had got himself converted. So he had no obligations to make offerings to the demon gods. One could either worship the demon god and the Sasthavu of the temple or bow down to Christ. As he had been anointed and had become a Christian, he decided to continue as Samuel. But Kochulaki did not entirely approve of this. She was afraid of the terrible powers of demon god and goddess. They had got converted at the behest of their present employers, so she was prepared to worship an additional deity, the more god the better for them, she felt. We don’t know which god is likely to come for our aid at an hour of distress, so let us worship both the demon god and Christ.75…. ….Olampi, the priest of the untouchable’s temple was horrified at the gushing flow of his people to the Christian fold. It was as though the entire community had gone mad. Why they shaved their heads and wore cross was an enigma to him. Perhaps they might be hoping to become upper-caste persons by conversion. He revived the ceremonies in the temple. Everyday there would be singing and drum beating. He would get possessed by the deity and beating his chest he would call out in a prophetic torn “are you testing me?” No one answered when he asked whether they were challenging the demon god. When the converts heard the sound of the celebrations, they would be prompted to join. The priests

73 Kayar., 42. 274 74 Ibid., 44. 282-283 75 Ibid., 44. 280

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and the new masters had warned them against it. The young men of Paruthikkadu had threatened to demolished their huts and throw their properties into river. So they had hesitated.76….

These descriptions suggest that economic motives went hand in hand with religious considerations in the conversion programme. The landed interests, (both the Nairs and Syrian Christians) did perceive the social advancement of the bonded labourers as disadvantageous to the interests of farming. This perception shared by the novel narrative may be favorably corroborated with an observation made by a social anthropological study conducted in Central Travancore. The said study testifies the anxiety of the dominant groups, both Hindus and Christians about the probability of the new converts refusing to work or to obey pollution rules behind their opposition to the philanthropic activities by the missionaries77. Yet another supposition that becomes clear from the fragments from Kayar quoted above points to the ambivalence experienced by the lower castes caught in the midst of two religious traditions, the (pre-Christian and Christian). This aspect too has been a historically established one78. The Kayar narrative proposes that, the influence of indigenous pantheons continue to be influential among the Pulayas even after their formal conversion.

Education and Changing Societal Consciousness

Colonial rule had engendered classes capable of consuming colonial ideologies as a part of its endeavor to broaden and strengthen the colonial base in India. Through education, a new class capable of influencing the thoughts and actions of the masses were moulded.79 The dissemination of colonial education was closely associated with the rise of a new middle class resourceful of engineering social change. Education proved to be an avenue of opportunity for social and economic mobility for many. With the linking of bureaucratic positions of power and influence to educational qualifications, social implication of acquiring educational attainments was changed80. Education turned out to be a way towards power and positions for the masses. Many

76 Kayar., 44. 281 77 See C. J. Fuller, “Kerala Christians and the Caste System” in Man New Series Vol. 11 No. 1, March 1976, p. 63 78 P. Sanal Mohan, Imagining Equality: Modernity and the Social Transformation of Lower Castes in Colonial Kerala, PH.d Dissertation Submitted to Mahatma Gandhi University, 2005, p. 53, Available on the Internet @ http://hdl.handle.net/10603/47 79 S. Ramachandran Nair, M. T. Narayanan etal., Democracy and Power: Electoral Politics in Kerala, New Delhi, 2013, p. 11 80 Siva Prasad Nanda, Economic and Social History of India 1757-1947, New Delhi, 2003, p. 377

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aristocratic families who had been steadily declining in their economic prominence on account of the strengthening of colonial economic environment saw in Western education as a golden opportunity in sustaining their social prominence. Kayar presents the case of many families having not so noble traditions as per the traditional social norms, but have swelled up economically by taking advantage of the opportunities engendered by the socio-economic transformations getting incorporated into the echelons of power through educational attainments81.

The conservative sections had dubiously confronted the dissemination of modern education. They preferred traditional system of training in the three R’s from the Kalaris (indigenous schools). They were particularly unrelenting about the preservation of caste status of their offspring by restricting them from getting into frank social interaction with the children belonging to the lower castes82. To conservative mind, caste and customs were essential for the preservation of the social order. Strongly grounded in the Puranik traditions, the conservative mind perceived efforts at reforming the caste system and the associated practices and customs as the indications of the reign of Kali. However, such pedantic concerns and anxieties of the conservatives became pointless in front of the realization of a more tangible and pragmatic utility of modern education. Moreover, the potential power and prestige associated with government employment was cogent enough to make the conservative opposition to modern systems of schooling on grounds of caste loss became bleak. Schools became the centers where new ideas of cleanliness and civility, and practices of hygiene were instilled in the indigenous mind83. Inside the family, new strategies of habits were invented to avoid the embarrassment of caste loss84.

….Chennatan asked Kampakkattu Velu: “you are Ezhavas from families of good standing. How is it that people from Kampakkattu got involved in this melee of caste confrontations? “Your worship knows that we get schooling for our children as of old from Sherthalai or Muttom. Even at this time, Velu is not convinced. Kumaran, Ittira and others came and so we also followed. Ezhavas

81 Kayar, p. 328 82 Indigenous schooling was caste-specific See P. Sudheerkumar, Education and Political Consciousness in Kerala With Special Reference to Malabar 1900-1950, Ph.d Dissertation Submitted to Department of History, Calicut University, 2005, pp. 40-41, Available on the Internet @ http://hdl.handle.net/10603/20216 83 See the dual civilizing roles of schools in Divya Kannan, Recasting the Self: Missionaries and the Education of the Poor in Kerala (1854-1956), Hypothesis of the Research Project, Available on the Internet @ https://ies.hypotheses.org/303 84 See this aspect being mentioned in P. Kesava Dev, Etirpp (Rebel), p. 57

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of Kampakkattu would not be a party to upsetting caste distinctions,” Velu replied. Ittira intervened, “That Kochu Thampuran said that it was the orders of the Maharaja to admit all Ezhava children to the school. Otherwise the police would come and arrest us,” he said. That the Maharaja had ordered this was another development that disturbed Kunchu Nair. Chennatu went to the headmaster, Cheriya Madhathil Unni of Ambalapuzha. The people of Cheriya Madhom were superior even to Nairs and practiced Brahminic rites and observances. “Has there been an order to enlist Chovas in this school?” Chennatu Kunchu Nair asked. After a pause, which showed his own personal aversion, Unni replied: “Yes Kunchu Nair, there is such an order.” He took out a paper from the table drawer and read it aloud. It was an order issued on the directions of the Maharaja. It clearly directed that if Ezhava children sought enrollment, they should be admitted to the school. Chennatan listen with rapt attention. “What can I do?” The headmaster said: “I am wedded to the caste system and its observances. You Kunchu Nair know our family.” Chennatu had no doubt about the headmaster who was very correct in his personal life and observances. “Am I to understand that the Venatu princely family had decided to discard untouchability and caste distinctions?” the headmaster had nothing to say. He was also mentally upset. “Did the British Suzerain also agree to these changes?” Unni admitted that it must be so.85 ….I have directed all children coming to this school, the headmaster explained “to answer the second call of nature in the morning so that they don’t contaminate the atmosphere of the school. I will spot those boys who pollute the air of the school and send them out. Those who come in without bathing will be made to bathing here. They will have to come to school in clean washed cloths. I will use my cane mercilessly to remind the students of their duties. It is all for their good. I am sorry to say that boys nowadays do not ware the traditional underwear, the Langot. The first thing I will do each morning was to find out whether they are wearing one. I will direct all of them to turn around face away from me so that I might check. I will punish those boys without Langots. I will also insist the students come to school each day with the lessons taught the previous day thoroughly revised and having gone through the lessons for the day. I have directed all the teachers of the school to be strict in this respect. I supervised strictly without fear or favor. But things are going from bad to worse. Some dirty fellows come in with their stomachs bulging with fish and without cleaning their dothis and washing hands. They foul the purity of the atmosphere of this school. I am at a loss to find a way out.86 ….Kunchu Nair had to fight it out with Kunjimalu Amma. Her two brothers had completed their local schooling. Raghavan was studying in Alleppey boarding with a family in Kalarcode. Kesavan was studying in Kottayam boarding with a family at Karapuzha. It was unfair to deny schooling to Manikantan. She wanted him to pass the higher examination and get a government job, a distinction that the male members of the family had long been enjoying. They must move with the times, other Nair boys were in school with Ezhavas. The boy could bathe both at noon and in the evening before taking his meals and two additional baths would do him no harm. She pointed out that it was the same as the routine that was followed when there was agricultural work to be done in the fields.87

With the penetration of liberal values in the society through the dissemination of education, systematic attempts were made by the reformist sections of the society to

85 Kayar, 69. 394-395 86 Ibid., 69. 395 87 Kayar, 69. 396

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purge out many meaningless and objectionable practices survived as part of traditional influences. Reform of the society on modern lines became their major agenda. There was the mobilization of a wider social sentiment in favor of the abolition of the practice of untouchability. Removal of restrictions to various castes in accessing public roads, offices, schools, temple etc. caught the social imagination of the progressive mind. Those social groups with greater density of educated population gave leadership to such movements88. Attempts were made to promote the practices, spirits, values and concepts suited to the modern conceptions of life and social order among all the sections of the society. One of their agendas as presented in the narrative was the forceful enrollment of children belonging to the lower caste groups in the newly emerging public institutions of learning89. As part of adapting the backward classes to the fold of civilization, they were persuaded to shed their ancestral names in favor of more good looking names, often conforming to the standards of the upper caste ethos90. They employed all the means and tacticses for attaining their noble goals. General advances in the communication systems in the form of the extension of post and telegraph and the development of modern press greatly facilitated in popularizing the reformist messages91.

Central to the social reconfiguration affected by colonialism in the indigenous society was the replacement of the principle of caste by personal attainments (both educational and economic) as the determinant of status. Caste came to be perceived as the antithesis of democratic ideal that is all are equal. Democratic conceptions had formed the core of the new social associations built around the identity of caste. Therefore, the caste associations carried out vigorous propaganda against those practices which they had considered as unfit to democratic spirit92. However, there was considerable apathy and indifference towards change among the conservative sections. This polemic over change has been mapped out in the novel narrative.

….Education was basic to social work. The social transformation had to be expedited.93 ….Kunjan Nair (the progressive protagonist): “Caste distinction is the curse of our land. What is the preaching of the great Narayana Guru?” “Kochuraman Vaidyar (Ezhava leader and an orthodox protagonist) smiled and said, “Swamikal is a seer and a great scholar. But I doubt whether he can

88 P. K. K. Menon, History of Freedom Movement in Kerala Vol. II, Trivandrum, pp. 28-31 89 Kayar, p. 395 90 Ibid., p. 398 91 Ibid., p. 424 92 P. K. K. Menon, op.cit., p. 32 93 Kayar, 70. 405

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comprehend the future. According to me, caste distinctions will not be erased from our land and I am definitely of the opinion that they shouldn’t be. The caste system is based on the Smritis and pronouncements of the saints. Now Ezhavas have been admitted to the school. Tomorrow an order might come admitting Pulayas and Parayas. Then you may go round all the huts of Pulayas and Parayas and canvas their enrollment also. Then the Ezhavas also become your enemies.94 ….Kunjan Nair to Iravi Chovan (ordinary labourer): Tomorrow the holy Guru Swami is coming to Alleppey. Are you going there?” “Who is coming?” “Nanu Guru Swamikal.” “The rich can have such fads. Manjappilli Vaidyar and others like him may go to him. We, the poor do not know anything about such things. When Mangallassery’s prosperity went down, Iravi also went down. We do hard labour to make both ends meet. I have also heard of the ‘Kuruswami’. He can travel long distances in a trice. He is also reported to belong to our caste. They are all big men. What does it matter if he belongs to the same caste.95 ….Narayanan Namboothiri said: “How do we adversely affect by the Ezhavas getting schooled? The scriptures forbid Nairs from being taught the alphabets. Now, they are getting educated. Let the untouchables also get their schooling. “The young people did not accept the idea that because Ezhavas were admitted, the school should be close down. The school was indispensable. Because of the school, several persons in that locality had got jobs, both in government and private institutions. There were teachers, village clerks, employees of the excise department etc. and many families had progressed. It was those families that had been at the bottom that were coming to the top of the ladder.96”

Thus, the narrative presents that out of the tussle between the conservative and progressive perspectives on the direction of social change, there was always assured the triumph of progressive forces. In line with that trend, there emerged a broader social consensus in favor of the spread of modern education and the impending social reforms in the indigenous society. Fight against the caste based social exclusion had involved the questioning of ritual monopoly enjoyed by the upper classes based on their hereditary status97. It was because the indigenous conceptions of ritual purity and pollution that served as the ideological justification for the institution of caste. Therefore the ritual exclusion of the groups who were ascribed lower ranks in the ritual hierarchy from the mainstream religious ceremonies and institutions epitomized the tradition of their social banishment. The conservative mind had perceived the ritual questioning of caste in a different light. Strongly grounded in the conceptions of social evolution as exposed by the Brahminical texts, the conservative mind comprehended them as the popping up of contradictions as the reign of Kali gets consolidated in the time cycle98. Antipathy

94 Ibid., 70. 404 95 Ibid., 70. 406 96 Ibid., 70. 407 97 Kenneth W. Jones, op.cit., p. 180 98 K. Satchidanandan, “Reversing the Gaze: West in the Indian Imaginations” in Indian Literature Vol. 45 No. 5, September-October 2001.

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towards one’s ascribed social duties and prerogatives by all sections of the society from top to bottom was their diagnosis of the phenomenon.

….Guru Swamikal was going to establish a new temple and install a deity in it. Guru Swamikal had setup reputed temples like those at Aravukadu and Kidanganparambu all over Kerala. The festivals in those temples were being conducted on a grand scale. “But Chennatan, would anyone other than the holy Tantdris (Namboodris) have the authority to establish the idol of the deity?” “Guru Swamikal is not an ordinary man. He is saintly and has acquired divine powers. There is another such saint in the south also. He is Kunjan Pillai Chattambi Swamikal. He has the necessary erudition to qualify him for installing deities, but whether he has the sanction for it is a different matter. Erudition is different from Vedic authority. According to the scriptures, he has no authority. The authority vests with the Brahmins. But the Brahmins generally do not have that much learning.” “Would the idol gain the divine powers if it is installed by a very erudite person, but one without Vedic authority?” “That is one of the effects of the onset of the era of Kalli. In this evil age, an unauthorized person also can install an idol. It will attain divinity provided the man who does it has the necessary erudition. According to the Smritis, the Guru Swamikal has no authority, but he has the erudition, this being the era of Kali, the idol will have divinity. “The Gurudevan is a saintly person”, Chennatan continued. “He can read the past, the present and the future. Like the Sants, he knows the temples meant for Ezhavas will gradually be accepted by all the classes, including the Namboodris.” “After a pause, Chunakkalavan asked, “Why doesn’t the saintly person in the south, Chattambi Swamikal installed the deities, even though he is a Nair and not an Ezhava?” “Do the Nairs require separate temples? They do not. Swamikal knows what should be done in the Kali era. He knows all the social institutions have to be channeled along with the trend of the time.” “The idol that Sree Narayana Guru Swamikal installed was not that of any god or goddess like Vishnu, Shiva or Shakthi. He installed a mirror that reflected the worshiper as god. That struck at the very foundations of society. But Chennatan could explain it. He said: “Look at his greatness. He like any other great man knows his limitation. He knew he had not the authority to install the deities. He went by the scriptures and would not transgress their decrees. That itself proves that he is a saint. By his penance, he has reached the status of sainthood. There is Vedic authority for that.99

The Satyagraha movement launched at Vaikam was an important episode in the anti-untouchability campaign in Travancore. It was actively attended by educated class belonging to all caste/community groups of the society. Modelled after the non-violent Gandhian mode of agitation, Vaikam Satyagraha had attained larger social support within a shorter period itself. The involvement of many national level leaders, Congress leaders from the Madras Province, and the Akalis from Punjab helped the movement to get wider attention at the national level. The news papers also wrote in support of the cause of the movement. There were attempts to mobilize opinion in favor of the movement from sections of the upper caste groups. To this effect two Jathas towards

99 Kayar, 71. 416-417

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Trivandrum were held, one from the South and the second from the North and submitted memorandum to the government pleading for the abolition of the cruel practice of untouchability100. After a period of 20 months, the Satyagraha was finally called off in November 1925. Departing from their earlier position, the Government of Travancore and the Devasvam had opened up all the roads around the Vaikam temple except the lane leading to the Eastern approach road to all castes and communities. Considering the convenience of the public, an understanding was made to construct a new road on the Northern side of the temple at a short distance from the Eastern gate101.

The Vaikam Satyagraha had generated considerable debate on the question of untouchability and other caste-based social discriminations in Travancore society. The conservative sections of the society who were disinclined to change had perceived the movement at Vaikam for the right of the lower castes to walk through the roads near the temple was the first step towards their demand for the right of all, irrespective of the caste distinctions for temple entry. They were scared of the eventuality of the lower caste groups entering the temples102. It was believed that, that would be the end of the age-old usages of caste and social customs. It was pointed out that, there were no natural inclination among the lower orders for worshiping in the Brahminical temples. Customarily each of the separate groups outside the four-fold Varna social order in the indigenous society was having distinct faiths, rituals and pantheons. It was with the educated populace getting upper hand in the society that, the demand for the right of temple entry for all had cropped up. They were dismayed at the general course of events where in the educated upper castes spearheading the movement for lower caste groups. Dissecting the politics of the movement, it was discerned that, the temple entry movement was devised with a view to arrest the tide of conversion from the lower caste fold to Christianity103. Subjecting the process of change into analysis, they diagnosed the spread of education and the oncoming of newspapers with information about the outside developments as the real cause of the change. They had attempted to undo this tide of change by putting restrains upon the younger generations.

100 S. Ramachandran Nair, Freedom Struggle in Colonial Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, 2004, pp. 96-98 101 Ibid. 102 Rich and aristocratic Brahmins and some Nair officials in the state administration were the forces ranged against the movement. Indanthuruthu Nilakantan Nambiathiri was the leader of conservative block. 103 See Robin Jeffrey, “Temple Entry Movement in Travancore 1860-1940” in Social Scientist Vol. 4 No. 8, March 1976, pp. 3-27

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While a section of conservatives found themselves difficult in getting adapted to the changing social environment, there were few voices from the conservative circles itself in support of change. Those who had traditionally enjoyed command over scriptures were able to get accustomed to change even more easily. They were quite interested to receive the forces of change without sacrificing their traditions. Furthermore, they were quite aware of the implications of the systemic changes in the offing and the near impossibility of individual upsetting the same. A glance of these debates has been portrayed in Kayar.

….Vaikam temple was considered to be the Kashi of the south. Satyagraha was going on there. It was in support of the demand of the untouchables for temple entry. They didn’t openly ask for it then though it was their ultimate objective. Strangely enough, it was not the untouchables who made that demand, it was made by upper caste agitators.104 ….Half the untouchable population had already been converted. If the rest also got converted, the number of the Hindus would go down and the majority of the people in the land would be Christians. Chennatan did not agree. Even after conversion, Parayas and Pulayas continued to be untouchables. Andi Pillai asserted that they were the subjects of His Highness the Maharaja and it was their birth right to walk along the highways. But Chennatan argued that the Vedas have clearly denied them of their rights. Andi Pillai retorted that these were old stories. During the recent times, the untouchables have eminent men among them like the Nanu Guru Swami of the Ezhavas.105 ….The Vaikam Satyagraha was on, and he had gone there to see it. He described the scene. “Men come from all over the land, like a from the mountains singing songs. There is a barrier of bamboos with police men guarding it. They brushed the barrier aside. They are beaten up and quicklime is poured on their faces. Yet, the flood rolls on. They do not hit back. Even Intamthuruthi, the very orthodox head priest condemns the scale of that repression. Could one stand the sight of people being beaten to pulp? Those who beat them are also human beings. They too will get tired and it cannot go on much longer.” Chennatan asked whether they could not stem that flow of people? Ganapathy replied that it should not be done because the whole country was astir. Every day the crowd was increasing, the Nairs, Wariers, Namboothiris along with the backward communities were involved in the movement. The northern parts of the land where the Congress has a great hold was entirely involved in it. They were organized under the Congress and Gandhi was adamant about the removal of untouchability. In the north where the highest dignitaries of the Namboodris held sway, they have decided to allow everyone to use the highways. High priests from temple were also among crowd offering Satyagraha at Vaikom. Ganapathy had even more surprising news to convey about the decisions of the Yogakshema Sabha of those Namboothiris such as approving widow remarriages, giving up the exclusive right to use special umbrellas and ending the dowry system by the young women and men of the Illams. They claimed that these changes were meant to humanize the Namboothiris. Many of those young Namboothiris joined Vaikam Satyagraha.106

104 Kayar, 77. 449 105 Ibid., 77. 450 106 Kayar, 77. 453

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Nationalism and the Making of a New Socio-political Consciousness

Nationalism in the sense of a political consciousness of unity and oneness as an imagined community is essentially a modern phenomenon. In the Indian scene, it grew as a natural corollary of the colonial discourse. It was the engaging educated middle class intelligentsia who pioneered the nationalist activities during the second half of the nineteenth century107. They formulated their politics on the ideological foundations of the socio-cultural and economic critique of colonialism. The nationalist leadership cutting across their ideological leanings and programmatic differences, were all committed to Swaraj or the right of the Indians to decide their political fortune. Towards the dawn of twentieth century, nationalist movement got a mass character. By the thirties and forties, there was a socialist orientation as well. With the national movement steadily expanding its social reach and scope, democracy and universal political participation came to be embedded in the nationalist political agenda108. With the deepening of the nationalist movement, masses were increasingly enlightened on the exploitative character of the colonial politics. The spread of education, both formal and informal was a powerful factor in the political mobilization of the masses. While the schools turned out an ever increasing number of formally educated classes who were progressively incorporated in the colonial bureaucracy, newspapers and reading rooms fed the common peoples’ appetite for getting acquainted with the timely happenings109. Elements articulating strong urge for change was visible from all sections of the society. Attempts were made to homogenize the life customs and bodily practices by eliminating differences. The aim was to civilize and humanize the groups accustomed to traditional ways.

….Things were changing all over the world. A great wa110r was over. In the western countries, many emperors had been dethroned. The emperor of India had won the war. Great changes were taking place every day. By reading news papers one could keep in touch with them. The German emperor has been defeated. The Congress wanted peoples’ rule in India.111…. ….Ganapathy replied that they could not interfere as they themselves were in difficulties because the Congress movement has become a big flood in the territories

107 Partha Chatterjee, “Whose’ Imagined Community?” in Sekhar Bandyopadhyay (ed.) Nationalist Movement in India: A Reader, New Delhi, 2009, pp. 2-3 108 Satish Saberwal, “Democratic Political Structure” in T. V. Sathya Murthy (ed.), State and Nation in the Context of Social Change, New Delhi, 2000, p. 177 109 A. R. Desai, Social Background of Indian Nationalism, Mumbai, 2000, pp. 220-221 110 War Mentioned in the Context is the World War I 111 Kayar, 77. 452

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directly ruled by them. He pointed out that Great Britain was only a small island in the middle of the sea where as India was a big country. Easwaran said that the British were merchants who sold cloths, steal and other products in our lands and subsisted by trade because they did not have sufficient land to cultivate food grains. They would not be interested in enforcing our rites and customs. Congress men were contenting that they were exploiting us and that their goods should not be purchased that we should boycott them.112 ….Vettippurackal Kunjan Nair was at the root of all the mischief in the place. He had converted his house into a reading room. The moment the news paper reached the place, one young man would read it aloud and the others would listen. Then they would confabulate and plot.113

Gandhian political programmes were exceedingly popular among the Malayalis as well. Following the all-India pattern, nationalist movement became popular in the Malayalam speaking regions as well with the ascendancy of Gandhi to politics. The Satyagrahas practiced at Vaikam, Sucheendram and Guruvayoor had much to do with the social transformation of the society during the early twentieth century114. However, notwithstanding the political stature enjoyed by the Gandhian trend, its impact in terms of a political culture and social mentality in India was marginal. The emphasis on truth, purity of heart, and celibacy were accepted as high ideals, and therefore were perceived as difficult and not pragmatic for the common people to practice. Thus, despite the strengthening of anti-colonial upsurge, the Gandhian programme had failed to evoke a larger social legacy in the practical plane.

….What was the way to build Rama Rajya- a society based on high ideals? It might be a long process and in the course of it the country would become free. But for Rama Rajya to be achieved, men of caliber like Gandhiji are required. Would people like himself who lived like Gandhiji fail to measure up to the ideal? The common goal of independence which all of them cherished would have to be achieved one way or another. But to establish Rama Rajya, there was only one way, the path of truth and non-violence. Kunjan Nair was not prepared to forsake that goal. If he lost route on way, he would end his life there and then.115 ….The basic tenant of the Gandhian struggle was nonviolence and that was to be the basis for building up the future free India. The Gandhi Ashrams would have to play their role in the future also. But the people were deserting the Ashrams. Had Gandhiji failed? Had he been rejected by India? The move to divide India was also gaining ground. The British imperialists had driven communal hatred deep into the heart of mother Bharat. Kunjan Nair felt, even if the four hundred million people succeeded in winning their freedom, without adhering to the Gandhian philosophy of truth and nonviolence, India would be lost. The hold of the terrorist was increasing. The patriotism of Bhagat Singh was lauded, but his path was decried. But the youth, with their warm blood

112 Ibid., 77. 454 113 Ibid., 77. 451 114 Gopalkrishna Gandhi, “Kerala and Gandhi” in Indian Literature Vol. 56, No. 4, July-August 2012, pp. 145-174 115 Kayar, 88. 517

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would not accept non-violence. Truth was an indefinable concept. So dependence on violence was spreading and was being fostered by Russia where a bloody revolution had established a new order of society.116

With the structural changes getting consolidated in the socio-economic organization of the society, there was a profound transformation in the social relations. Disruption of the practice of subsistence farming and the growth of commercial cultivation were decisive influences that had fostered the new social relations. Consequently, in addition to the traditional social oppression as sanctioned by the feudal ideology, economic exploitation became a major factor to be reckoned with in the social relations. It was in this context that the masses began to be mobilized for impelling socio-political change. Campaigns against untouchability were the earliest plank upon which the lower caste groups were mobilized and were sensitized of their political rights. Later attempts had been made to mobilize the lower caste groups on class lines by politicizing their socio-economic backwardness117. It was the educated sections among the various social classes who had directed the course and direction of the mass movement. Most of the early communist leaders were drawn from the lower middle class families which were the products of the newly generated colonial economic environment. They were endowed with the spirit of idealism and self sacrifice. Many of them started their political career by participating in the social reform campaign and nationalist political activities. They initiated the process of mobilizing the tenant farmers, industrial workers and agricultural labourers under the banner of the Communist party and thus inaugurated the strategy of class politics118. The anti imperialist struggle of the party was not mere an agitation to get political independence by replacing the foreigners but aimed to build up a new society based on equality and dignity through revolution. Liberation from oppression necessitated the destruction of the economic and social structures that had been created by colonial rule119.

Mobilization of the people on class lines was central to the political programme of the Communist party. But there were certain powerful social contradictions existing at the ground level for class consciousness to get engrafted in the social psyche. The remnants of caste identities exercising powerful influences upon the various life situations and habits of the masses proved to be a deterrent in the progress of realizing

116 Ibid., 94. 544-545 117 T. J. Nossiter, Communism in Kerala: a Study in Political Adaptation, New Delhi, 1982, pp. 77-82 118 S. Ramachandran Nair, Freedom Struggle in Colonial Kerala, p. 87 119 Ibid., p. 153

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class formation at the grass route levels. Forsaking the baggage of traditions was felt to be very trying for the masses and their leaders. However the vary reality of economic exploitation of the labourers had left much room for the political intervention by the trade unions vindicating their economic and political demands. Attempts at politicizing workers on class lines by organizing them into trade unions had greatly improved their collective bargaining. Exposure to the organizational ventures taking shape among the industrial labourers like the coire workers, oil mill workers etc. centering around the small towns served as an important stimulant for unionization among the agricultural workers120.

….Surendran (the Communist protagonist from the rural background) was active organizing Pulayas and Parayas in their hutment colonies and had learned a lot from closely associating with them which he wanted to convey to Manikantan (college student). Manikantan on his part, wanted to instruct Surendran on all the revolutionary politics he had learned in the study circle. Surendran told him that they had organized an agricultural workers’ union as the first step towards ushering in the dictatorship of the proletariat. P. Krishna Pillai had visited from the northern parts.121…. Manikantan to Surendran: ….Whether he was dining regularly in the Pulaya huts. His reply was that “he had been de- classed.” Hiding the fact that the phrase was beyond his comprehension Manikantan asked him whether he did not feel like vomiting when he took Pulaya food for the first time. He admitted that there had been reservations on the first day, but as a comrade of Chotharu Pulayan he had asked for some gruel. When they hesitated to serve him, he had himself taken the spoon and served himself. He swallowed this helping in two mouthfuls and thus got over his compunction.122 ….Surendran felt confident enough to convene a meeting of the agricultural workers. He knew there would be stiff opposition from the farmers who were anticipating the demand for an increase in wages. Though all the workers joined the union, they had not yet gained the confidence to openly declare that they had done so. Everybody agreed that it was necessary to organize the union, but at the same time the workers declared that they had no animosity towards their employers. The refusal to imbibe the spirit of class war perturbed Surendran. He feared that if he insisted on their declaring animosity towards their employers they would forsake the union. They had decided to hold the meeting, but they had no place of their own where it could be held. All of them living in the property of one cultivator or another. After some inconclusive discussions, one of the labourers stood up to leave. Kunjalikutty, a young girl reported that when she went to Aryad to meet her mother, she saw a procession of coir factory workers. She suggested they should also go in a procession. Surendran was enthused.123 ….Congress Convention: Various committees were constituted with anti-social elements who had all along opposed the Congress and its ideals as members. Surendran pointed out that Paruthikkadan, Attukadavan, Vattathra and Thumbekkalavan headed the sub-committees and

120 A. V. Jose, “The Origin of Trade Unionism Among the Agricultural Labourers in Kerala” in Social Scientist Vol. 5 No. 12, July 1977, pp. 33-34 121 Kayar, 92. 538 122 Ibid., 92. 539 123 Ibid., 93. 542

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their purpose was to continue in power after the British had left the country. That was why they had cornered the Congress organization. Surendran was of the opinion that the vested interests had started taking keen interest in the Congress, only after they workers organizing themselves.124

When societies at the local and regional levels were fused into supra-regional or national societies as part of the colonial discourse, there followed the process of interaction and assimilation between the micro cultural elements and those at the macro levels. One of the key aspect in this interaction was the transformation of religion from a faith or belief of the people living in a locale to an institutionalized community governed by clearly defined rituals and practices. With institutionalization, emphasize was shifted from faith aspect of religion to the strict adherence to the observance of rites by the followers125. Spread of capitalism and the deepening of commercialism engendered a middleclass in the society favorably disposed towards ritualism and priest craft. It was often the well-to-do sections of the society who were acted as the greatest legitimists of institutionalized religions. Even though, universal humanism as an abstract notion informed the fundamental religious ideal when it was conceptualized as part of the social reform movement, the institutional rigidity that religion attained had fostered the process of homogenization among various religious communities. The process of homogenization and community formation transcending the local social boundaries drastically altered the social identities of the adherents. It disrupted the symbiotic relations that had been in existence for long among the various religious and caste groups at the local levels126. Vary often fluctuations in the material status of various groups and the resultant social disorientation had embittered religious strife. Restricted schemes of representation in the legislature, relative dominance of a particular group over others in the legislature and bureaucracy, Deepening of competition among the educated unemployed sections, the spread of literacy and education among all sections of population, the demand for greater representation in legislature by the under- represented groups, all considerably intensified the intergroup rivalries in the society. Animosities and contentions were more wide spread among the middle classes rather than the menial sections of the society127. Clash between those who monopolized power

124 Ibid.,, 94. 546-547 125 S. Ramachandran Nair, M. T. Narayanan etal, Democracy and Power: Electoral Politics in Kerala, New Delhi, 2013, p. 14 126 Idem. 127 George Mathew, Communal Road to a Secular Kerala, New Delhi, 1989, pp. 147-148

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and those who want to share power characterized the social conflicts. Often, different groups were pawns in the hands of colonial administration.

By the beginning of colonial phase itself, Christians and Muslims had already become well established as the two non-Hindu communities. It was during the colonial period, as part of the social reform campaigns that, unity and homogeneity was forged among the various groups adhering to the Brahminical traditions under the fold of Hinduism. Traditionally, the lower caste groups as a matter of fact were not well exposed to the Brahminical traditions. They were accustomed to distinct forms of pantheons parallel to the Brahminical systems, conforming to regional specificities. However, the social reformation process grounded in the Brahminical ideology tried to Sanskritize the lower caste groups128. Assimilative of the Brahminical symbols, the ideology of nationalism too was instrumental in the formation of a pan-Hindu identity. As a continuation of that process, systematic efforts were made for the right of lower caste groups to enter and worship in the temples. With the right of temple entry for the lower caste groups was legalized, the institutionalization of Hinduism too had taken place.

Along with the institutionalization of religions, the culture of mutual trust and good will among the different groups was replaced by mutual competition and assertion of group identities129. This gave rise to a fear psychosis among various socio-religious groups often promoting the tendencies of communalism in politics. Dedicated efforts had to be carried out for combating the culture of communalism. The nationalist leadership committed to the ideal of social symbiosis was always concerned with the strengthening of communal tendencies in the body politic.

….After that incident, none of the Nairs would go to the riverside and none of the Christians would visit the temple site. It had all along been their common homeland. But a definite cleavage had taken place. However, the labourers went about their jobs as usual. The fear complex was only among the rich.130 ….As if in soliloquy, Rassak said that the older generation were decent people who lived together in amity. It was the educated young men who gone mad and he wondered on their lack of culture.131 ….Though the Ashram lost its glory, the people of the area had learned many things there. The prayers the children sang at dusk were prayers that integrated all religions.132 ….All values once

128 Kayar, p. 462 129 Kenneth W. Jones, op.cit., pp. 184-185 130 Kayar, 85. 505 131 Ibid., 114. 632 132 Ibid., 97. 555

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considered sacred were being shattered. But faith in god was increasing as evident from churches put up in every village. Huge pillars bearing statues of St Joseph and the Virgin Mary were being erected everywhere. Temples and mosques were being rebuilt and special Poojas and ceremonies for the well- being of the people were constantly being held. Mass prayers and religious festivals were being observed in great splendour.133….

Polity and Power Structure from Feudal to Democratic Orientation Its Societal Implications

The experience of administrative centralization and parliamentary governance that led to political integration of India was a colonial legacy. Colonialism had refashioned the pre-colonial indigenous political arrangements, social structures and economic relations in certain fundamental manner. It introduced a state-centric political order in the indigenous society. By wielding enormous military power and realizing a massive appropriation of resources, the colonial state marked a departure from the erstwhile indigenous administrative institutions. It became the agency of all the socio- economic changes in the subjected society134. Ability to afford protection was the criterion of superior social rank and feudal power. Coercion of power was realized through various means such as the use of force and ritual authority. Since the demarcation between the ritual and political status in the society was very slender, ritual power very often exercised for political ends affecting socio-economic life of the people. But once ritualism was displaced from the socio-political center through colonial legal discourse, state and its power apparatuses had captured the space of public protection135. Economic foundation of this newly evolving state was the sprouting middleclass which was a product of the increasingly commercialising economy. The social complection of this middleclass was ambiguous, characterized by an admixture of modern and traditional attitudes. Politically, they were enthusiastic of sharing power through emerging representative institutions, to modernize socially through organization and education and to prosper economically on capitalist lines. But, at the same time, the

133 Ibid., 122, 669-670 134 Satish Saberwal, op.cit., p. 174 135 See Walter C. Neale, “Land is to Rule” in Robert Eric Frykenberg, Land Control and Social Structure in Indian History, Madison, 1969, pp. 3-16

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notions of inherited social hierarchies expressed through caste ranks had continued to exercise some influence in their mindset136.

Transformation of the feudal orientation of society had profound recoils as regards the values and notions of the popular life was concerned. Changing values superseded the rustic notions of life and livelihood which were engrafted in the indigenous traditions. Even though the society was having subsistence orientation, the practice of wealth making was very much in currency. Accumulating wealth in favor of once family through toiling in the soil was held in high esteem in the society. Wealth was chiefly produce of the land and rights over land were family entitlements. Occasional windfalls in terms of good harvests and dearer prices in the market made the prosperity of farmers. Deliberate disposal of land and other resources, unless otherwise not called for, was uncommon. Preserving the wealth in tact as it has been handed down by the by gone generations and adding up to it by means of frugality in spending for the future generations was considered as the greatest financial virtue. The overriding social ethic that had shaped the outlooks and perceptions of the masses was based on the notions of subsistence and sustainability137.

Modern industrial civilizations had thrived on the flourishing markets perpetuated by a strong centralized state established at the center of the society. It transformed the natural condition of the people being members of the society into citizens connected to the state by bureaucracy and the consumers meant for the markets. Aversion to physical labour together with excessive dependence on market nurtured an inordinate sense of present disconnected with the future in the minds of the people. The tremendous speed with which wealth is being produced and reproduced in the capitalist economy reinforces inequalities based on wealth in society138. With the deepening of capitalist social ethic in the society, conflict between the two values viz. the traditional mores that bears on sustainability of the system, and the new social spirit which whooped the unlimited personal freedom to accumulate wealth as private property became imminent.

136 Sreejith K. “Negotiating Tradition and Modernity: Middleclass Dilemmas in Malabar” in Social Scientist Vol. 41 No. ¾, March-April 2013, pp. 35-48 137 S. Ramachandran Nair, Social and Cultural History of Colonial Kerala, pp. 131-132 138 Fast and Furious Economics, Times of India, 26/10/2014, Available on the Internet @ http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31806&articlexml=Fast-and-furious-economics-

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With the universalization of social values conforming to the commercial economy, many of the long-standing usages and social envisioning fell into disuse. The agrarian social ethic that held that only those wealth that attained through honorable means i.e. through toiling in the soil would deserve worth had lost its all pragmatic validity. Social prejudices related to incurring debts characteristic of feudal societies had lost its social acceptability.

….He (Chennattu Kunchu) knew the art of buying properties and paid full value for them, never indulging in cheating or embezzlement. He held to the principle that without paying the full value when acquiring land and without the seller being fully satisfied with the deal, the land would not yield good crops to the buyer. Fields wet with the tears of unhappy sellers would turn out to be bad.139 ….The attitude of the older generation was to hold on to whatever they could secure and to strive to secure more. They wanted to have money and paddy, not only for themselves, but also for future generations. But they found the young men were indifferent to their future and kept silent about their plans.140 ….The great social changes that came about during those few years were indeed revolutionary. Chotharu Pulayan could not understand or appreciate these changes. The distress of the owner who was denied rental did not affect the crop. On the other hand, the fields yielded forty-fold. So Pappy raised the demand for more wages.141

With the socio-political orientation of the state was transformed from feudal to democratic structure, feudal landed gentry was replaced by the civilian masses as the legitimists of the social system. When constitutionalism based on the notions of equality and liberty of all became the official ideology of the state, the state had to espouse the rhetoric, welfare of all classes as its ultimate aim. In pursuance of this goal, new laws and rules had to be framed, and existing legal codes, concepts and machineries had to be construed and reinterpreted to this effect. In the process, various economic practices and social conceptions conforming to the material milieu of the natural economy became extinct. Concept of land ownership changed from land to rule to land to own142.

….Ownership of property no longer brought the power it once did. Being in debt held out no threat. Wealth has lost its due respect.143 ….More than half the paddy fields in that area belonged to just a ten families. In the past they had belonged to many houses and the crops from them totaled less than half the present yield. In those days, there were no means of destroying pests and no chemical fertilizers to boost production. Now fertilizers and pesticides were

139 Kayar, 66. 373-374 140 Ibid., 103. 578 141 Ibid., 122. 669 142 Walter C. Neal, op.cit., p. 7 143 Kayar, 122. 670

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freely available in the market and there was electricity to pump out water. Agriculture was being carried out by investing money in it and agriculture had become an industry. Paruthikkadan, Vattathra, Attukadavan and Thumbekkalavan had invested the proceeds from their agricultural industry in plantations and in several other industries. They own more than half the land and could with ease have bought up the rest of it, but the owners would not sell at any price. If a few such capitalists would join together and buy off the entire land in the state, they would get complete control of its affairs. But this was a dream that could never come true. In the old days, force was the law of the land; a few powerful people had been able to take possession of the land and the vast majority became landless. This, in those times was sanctioned by truth and law. In every new era, however, the definition of truth and law underwent a change. Even in the atomic era, people would adhere to truth and law, but with different definitions. Kilimannoor Kochu Pillai laid down the boundaries, listed the properties and handed over the ownership deeds. Though there had been land assignments earlier, only after the assignments during the time of Nagan Pillai and Kochu Pillai, the owners were called upon to register the deeds. Even when some Karanavars transferred properties by registered sail deeds, some lawyers disputed the erstwhile owners’ right to sell and reduced the buyers to mere beneficiaries of the family properties. But the saying, that there could be no wealth when debts accrued was accepted by everyone. So sail deeds to pay off debts became valid. Truth was reflected only in such payments. Ganapathi Iyer and his forefathers had acclaimed the feudal chiefs of Kodanthara, Cheeratta and Konnothu as truthful men because they accepted the accounts of the Madhom unquestioningly. But their descendants discarded the truth in disputing the accounts of the Madhom. Then the Christians of Attumali maintained truthful dealings with the Iyers by returning their loans with interests at the correct times. During the war, loaning out of paddy was forbidden, so the Iyers started loaning out of money at interests. The Christians took the loans only to invest them in profitable businesses. They worked hard and handled their enterprises intelligently. So they had no reason to be untruthful. When they could earn a thousand rupees from a loan of one thousand, why should they stint paying two hundred rupees as interests. They planted coconut saplings, started coffee and rubber plantations and entered into other profitable businesses so that their capital holdings grew steadily. But in the era of Kali, truth again suffered a setback. The debtor got relieved. Under the debt relief act, debtors had to pay back only a portion of the overall amount and in small installments. In its wake, came the demand “land to the tiller”. But meanwhile, legislation was in the offing to write off all arrears and to abolish landlordism. The Palathol Illom had a thousand decrees in their favor and yet had to buy paddy for food. As they had no money to file fresh suits, some of the loans got time buried. Vasudevaru would go to the house of all tenant cultivator and appeal to their generosity. Some of them gave him a few Paras of paddy or a few rupees. With that amount he would initiate a court action against a debtor against whom he had secured a decree. But when he went to take over the property, the debtor would produce a stay order from a higher count and the recovery proceedings would get bog down in further litigations. But the capitalist cultivators with amble funds could win over the officers of the court and by giving them sumptuous dinners and bribes and get their decrees enforced secretly and in times. The land became the property of the tiller. Though the legislation had not yet been enacted, eviction of tenant cultivators was banned. So no one paid any rent and the properties they held in their possession were divided among their children as if they were the owners of the property.144

144 Kayar, 122. 666-668

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The narrative introspects on the character of corruption and nepotism under feudal and democratic regimes. It perceives the horizon of corruption getting expanded in the society in a democratic system that functions as an appendage of a monetized commercial economy. Given the subsistence oriented economic production facilitated by non-monitory exchange and the localized public sphere rested on the notions of status hierarchies, there were absolute limitations to the magnitude of socio-political degeneracy. Notwithstanding the constitutional idealism, the political class in the democracy, as was the case with the feudal scenario have continued to be tempted towards exercising power in favor of vested interests by sacrificing their much aired commitment to public good145. A clear-cut paradox between the pattern of development institutionalized in the society through the active state patronage and the aspirations and concerns of exploited sections became apparent. The fruits of the so-called development were either not available to the groups that are socially oppressed and economically exploited, or did they place themselves in an advantageous position to reap benefits from them146.

….The ancients Kodanthara Mootha Asan, Konnothu Valiyachan and Cheeratta Kaimal were resting in the netherworld. Let us hope they were confined to hell for too long a time, for their sins were not vary grave. Yet, some might contend that stealing the property of god deserve severe punishment. But it had to be born in mind that what was once considered wrong would lose its stigma among the succeeding generations. Insulting a Brahmin was once a sin, opposing the king was once a heinous crime. But the connotation of the words sin and crime would change with the time. Misappropriation of the funds of political parties and charitable institutions has ceased to be a sin. Anyone could today misappropriate anyone’s wealth without compunction. That the ancient trio did not sin heinously enough to warrant detention in hell for long could not be disputed because their misappropriations were insignificant. The concept of justice would be binding in hell also: a person who had misappropriated five paras of paddy could not be penalized on a par with one who misappropriated 5,000 paras. God’s justice would not equate the killing of a fly with the murder of a man. Temporal justice, being patterned on divine justice followed the same principle.147 Modernity and Transformations in Culture and Consciousness

Social discourse to which the indigenous society had been exposed under the egis of colonialism resulted in the transformation of a whole range of aspects relating to

145 Kayar, 127. 686-687 146 Neera Chandhoke, “The Assertion of Civil Society against the State: The Case of Post-colonial World” in Manoranjan Mohanty etal (ed.), People’s Rights, Civil Society and the State in the Third World, New Delhi, 1998, pp. 31-33 147 Kayar, 127. 686-687

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culture, fashions, morals, social relations and conceptions. These social refashioning was closely associated with the genesis and growth of the modern middle class. Opportunities of socio-economic mobility facilitated by colonial contact had led to the formation and consolidation of this modern middle class in Travancore. It was this class which became the chief aspirants of modernity in all aspects of life right from dress and food to morality and conscience. In the pre-colonial scenario, dress and deportments were symbolically representing status hierarchies in the society148. Caste superiors dressed themselves up in peculiarly distinct form from the rest of the society, lived in distinct forms of structures, ate different forms of food and used distinct slangs. A noteworthy feature of the indigenous social life as represented in the colonial narratives was the relatively lesser use of cloths and attires by the people in everyday life. Nudity of the body above the waistlines was the norm for all sections of people in the society regardless of caste and gender149. Still, the practice of wearing peculiar attires on special occasions was in currency among the aristocracy. Kattimundu and Neriyathu were the chief fashions in the society. However, as a matter of fact, baring the breast was considered as a sign of showing respect.

When Victorian morality was strongly internalized in the indigenous social imaginations through modern education, notions of uprightness conforming to new standards of sexual morality was established as the core of gender relations. Under the influence of this new moral conceptions, sexual identity and functions of female body was over-emphasized in social discourses centering around gender. In tune with this, new dressing conventions and fashions seeking to enhance the aesthetic appeal of the body as well as to restrain and clearly define the sexual mores of the people had replaced the conventional modes and styles of dressing150. As far as male appearance was concerned, the most conspicuous change was the abandonment of the practice of raising the tuft of hair. Female bodies came to be universally adorned with blouses and saris. For both men and women, covering the body in public was stressed as important. Conventional social codes of controls regarding male-female social interaction became matter of the past. In tandem with the flowering of individual identity and consciousness, the desire and passion for attractive self-representation in the public had

148 Bernard S. Cohn, op.cit., p. 114 149 Ibid., p. 130 150 G. Ushakumari, Udal Oru Neyth: Samskarathinte Stree Vayana (Weaving Body: a Feminist Reading of Culture), Kottayam, 2013, p. 17

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also emerged as an important sentiment. Spread of social reforms and modern education had succeeded in generating a social consensus against the perpetuation of caste discriminations in the public domain. Individuals having familiarity with the modern institutions had began to be increasingly adopted modern modes of dress, fashions and ornamentations. Modern dress had instilled a sense of self-worth and consciousness of human dignity in the individuals. Those who are accustomed to modern ways of attiring finds generally disinclined towards physical exertion is the reflection that gets expressed in the writings of many social observers of the early 20th century151.

Along with the unfolding of modernity, capitalist ethos came to be strongly engrafted in the visions of life and attitudes of the people. It led to the institutionalization of every aspects of human life. Self worth of individuals began to be counted in terms of the wealth that one could earn.

The culture of Malayali social life was historically conditioned by the traditions of mutual co-existence and reconciliation of conflicts. In the colonial period, the desire for wealth and exploitation of others to achieve one’s own ends became a noticeable feature. Profit or monitory gains emerged as the main spring of all human action.

With the deeper integration of local spaces with the regional, supra-regional or national and even global terrains, horizons of social imaginations were broadened. Several of the ontological notions having customary and ritualistic character muddled with conceptions of supernatural agencies had been a part of the localized myths and social consciousness in the indigenous society. These elements had reflected the underlying shared values and symbiotic relationships between various groups in the society152. With the influx of modern cultural values in society owing to the dissemination of modern education, civil laws, improvements in technology, transport and communication and above all, the emergence of civic institutions impacting the day- today life of the people and the consequent social interaction between people on an ever widening scale had rendered those social conventions meaningless and insignificant.

….The trio came to their village. The blazing electric lights blinded them. Then they found that all the age-old trees had been cut down. These had been replaced by umbrella-shaped mango trees which were producing new varieties of fruit. There was no old monument to denote the antiquity of the place,

151 Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai, Autobiography, Trissur, 2007, p. 207 152 M. G. S. Narayanan, Cultural Symbiosis in Kerala, p. 7

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everything was new. The ancient families and their wooden walled houses had disappeared along with the sentinel call of the temple. Perhaps the place no longer required any protection because the evil spirits along with the Gandharvan, had left the land. The daughters of the women who used to wear the double cloth in Kerala style and went about naked to the waist had been completely transformed sartorially, as if they were from some other world. Their hair had been fluffed out artificially and tied up artistically in ribbons: their breasts were smothered in tight cloth binders. They wore colourful sarees without firmly covering their waists. Their ornaments were also of new designs. No man had grown his hair to be tied into a not. The women moved freely with the men. The old eight-winged edifices had disappeared along with the groves of the Gandharvas. The wooden walled houses had given way to stone and concrete buildings. The cloth shops and general shops dazzled their eyes. Instead of paddy, currency notes which were available in plenty became the medium for transaction. Women had worshiped their lovers all through the ages and they had continued to do so at that period also. But there was a radical change in the social relationship. The attachment to sisters and nephews had disappeared along with the Tarwad. Wife and children took their place. New families and new codes of ethics had developed. Homes resembled offices with their tables and chairs.153

The foregoing account tried to make a survey of the changing contours of socio political imaginations experienced by the indigenous society in the wake of its encounter with colonial modernity. As elsewhere in the colonial societies, formation of a modern middleclass was critical in the process of modernization in the case of Travancore as well. This middleclass owed its origin to the various changes initiated by the state (the economic, administrative and educational) in the society since the second half of the nineteenth century. While embracing socio-political and cultural aspects of modernity, various markers of indigenous traditions such as caste, family, locality, religion etc. continue to be influential in the middleclass social conscience. Different movements such as social reformation, struggles for opportunities and democratic rights and later nationalist political activities had assured the triumph of the forces of change over those of statusquo in the society during the early twentieth century. However, influences of tradition proved to be stronger in the long run. This interactional process of social change has been amply illustrated in the Kayar narrative

153 Kayar, 127. 687-688

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