The Decline of Nayar Dominance

Title: The Decline of Nayar Dominance – Society and Politics in Travancore, 1847-1908

Author: Robin Jeffrey

Publisher: Vikas Publishing House, 1976 (First)

ISBN: 0706904869

Pages: 376

The southwestern state of Kerala leads most other states of India on the indices of social progress and human development. This belies an era of extreme oppression faced by the lower castes among Hindus. Learning of the inhuman treatment of the slave castes and licentious nature of marital customs of the upper castes, Swami Vivekananda once likened Kerala to a lunatic asylum. The Nair community swept aside other Hindu castes in carving out a powerful niche for themselves. Their monopoly was total in the administration and military of the princely states that constituted Kerala. In addition, they controlled virtually the entire land resources and agriculture. Trade and commerce by individuals were non-existent around the beginning of the nineteenth century, since the state exercised monopoly on the sale of pepper, tobacco and most other cash crops. This book is a study of the social and political changes resulting from the impact of a cash economy, Western-style education, improved communications, and a British-inspired system of law on the complex social structure of Travancore. It also deals with the breakdown of the matrilineal social system and with the growth of social assertiveness and political aspirations among low-caste Hindus and Christians. It is the story of a dominant caste brought down from comfortable supremacy over its neighbours to keen competition with them in sixty years. At the time of publication of this book in 1976, Robin Jeffrey was a research fellow in the Australian National University at Canberra. A Canadian by birth, Jeffrey taught in a high school in India from 1967-9 and the Regional Institute of English in Chandigarh.

Kerala Brahmins had weaved a web of myth and legend to justify their position at the apex of society. Even though Nairs dominated the society on material means, being Sudras, they were at the bottom of the Varna system. It was believed that sage Parasurama had brought Sudras to the reclaimed land of Kerala to act as the servants and bodyguards of Nambudiri Brahmins. Established custom demanded Nairs not to have formal marriage relations among themselves and to keep their women always in a state of availability to satisfy the sexual desires of Nambudiris. Innovating further, Nairs extended their accessibility to all upper castes, including non-Malayali Brahmins, Kshatriyas and rulers of the land. This ritual pimping secured the position of the males among them and the community predominated over all other castes. Ritual pollution, which in the rest of India was transmitted only by touch, could in Kerala be communicated over a distance. Non-approachability was an invention of Nairs and Nambudiris.

Travancore came under the paramountcy of the British by around 1800 after it sought their assistance to defeat Tipu Sultan's aggression. Christian missionaries flocked in large numbers to the state and wielded great influence in politics through the British Resident. With a view to enable religious conversions, they set up schools for children. Low-caste adherents to these missions were benefiting from education, which not only gave them an enhanced idea of their own status but the skills to carry on trade or seek salaried work outside Travancore. This helped bolster the literacy levels in the kingdom. In 1901, Travancore had a literacy rate of 22 per cent which was the highest in India. In nine small towns, it was higher than that of Kolkata. By 1905, there were more than twenty Malayalam and English newspapers. Nairs also benefited. Even though they constituted only twenty percent of the population, they held much of the land and sixty per cent of the jobs in government.

The time period of the subject matter of this book is the 61 years from 1847 to 1908. Historical events of profound significance took place in this interval between the accession of Uthram Tirunal Marthanda Varma and the height of the reign of Moolam Tirunal Rama Varma when serious discussions to do away with the matrilineal joint family were being undertaken. On second thoughts however, I feel the author should have extended his study till 1936, by which time reservations in government jobs were assured to the lower castes and the Temple Entry Proclamation came into force. Earlier, the hiring of lower-caste Hindus in public service was due to specific concessions granted to them on a one-time basis, but reservations brought in a systematic program to deliberately exclude the Nairs and upper castes. This served the most severe blow to Nair dominance. The early part of the period was a time of progressive thought in Travancore. In the 1860s, the Dewan, Maharaja and the royal family showed a positive enthusiasm for certain aspects of administrative modernization and pursued new programs with determination and zeal. However, this did not mean that they reformed their personal lives. Ayilyam Tirunal and Visakham Tirunal were typical conservatives. Both were not prepared to eat in the same room with Englishmen. They conscientiously performed the many costly religious ceremonies of their theocratic state and received their European guests in the early morning, before their purificatory bath. When Visakham Tirunal lay dying in 1885, his Nair wife and children were forbidden by his own orders not to come near him to avoid ritual pollution. Only Brahmins were allowed to touch his body, and thereby denying competent medical care to reach him.

Jeffrey describes the minutiae of the reforms that sounded the death knell of Nair dominance. Most joint families of Nairs possessed Sirkar pattam (government lease) lands that could not be sold or disposed to a third party other than lapsing back to the government. In 1867, the government granted full ownership rights to the possessors. Land could be monetized from then onwards and land value shot up for the first time. Forced labour from the lower castes was enlisted for public works by a system known as Uzhiyam. This was abolished and wages in cash were given to the labourers in return for their work. The increased freedom of labour to stay away from work produced shortages which further notched up the wages. Upon the constant pressure from Madras government to liberalise the economy, Travancore lifted the state monopoly on pepper and tobacco and imposed duties in its place. This helped to usher in an era of cash economy and enabled the lower castes to improve their lot in a big way. Their labour was now rewarded with cash and coir products which they manufactured fetched money in the export markets. Nairs were at the receiving end of this new phenomenon. Apart from a few government employees, most Nairs felt it humiliating to work under the orders of another person, especially if he belonged to an inferior caste.

The social transformation portrayed by Jeffrey in these pages was palpable, but by no means irreversible, if Nairs turned out to be a bit more pragmatic. Syrians, other Christians, non-Malayali Brahmins and Ezhavas, who had less burdensome family institutions than the impartible, matrilineal joint family (marumakkathayam tharavad) of the Nairs were prepared to attempt new occupations and had some experience in dealing regularly with money. Almost a tenth of the present day Kerala population is employed outside its frontiers and we see the origins of this practice in the era under study in this book. From the 1840s, educated converts had been going to Sri Lanka to work on coffee estates. More than providing a lucrative income for the expatriates, it provided a safe place for the converts to flourish, away from the watchful eyes of the Nairs. Later, other lower castes followed in their footsteps for the same set of reasons. This so spread in society that all castes were eventually willing to go abroad in search of greener pastures. By 1908, the unquestioned dominance which Nairs had enjoyed sixty years earlier had vanished. They still held many advantages, but these were not unchallenged and the economic power of the majority of Nair families was manifestly on the decline. The book ends on this note.

The book is typeset like it was done using a primitive typewriter, with both sides of the paragraph not even properly aligned. This makes it difficult to read. It is true that it was published in 1976, but we have seen books better in presentation and style that was brought out much earlier. It uses strange spellings that were not in common use even in 1976. It uses ‘Nayar’ for Nair, ‘Irava’ for Ezhava, ‘Shanar’ for Channar and so on. The greatest plus point of the book is that it brings into the open the transformation of Kerala from the medieval to modern times that was running coterminous with the fall of Nair dominance. Over time, the caste identity of a person ceased to be his lone characteristic. Class, education and intellectual achievement also became parameters in fully describing a person. The extensive tables of statistical data presented along with the text makes this book unique in its genre.

The book is highly recommended.

Rating: 4 Star