Sreejith K. - The Middle Class in Colonial Malabar: A Social History

This volume deals with the social history of the middle class in colonial Malabar. And, while doing so, keeping theoretical abstractions to the bare minimum, it explores the lived experiences of people who constituted the middle class and what they made of the changes rapidly evolving around them.

I hail from Malabar, and did my schooling from Tellicherry, one of the principal towns in the region before shifting to Kozhikode, the district headquarters during the colonial period. My father, like some characters in this book, went to Madras for his higher education, after which, returning to Malabar, he served in various colleges, for the most part, at Brennen College, one of the oldest educational institutions in this part of the world. Thus, hailing from Malabar and belonging to a middle-class family, the topic of research has held an abiding interest to me over the years. The book took a long time in its making partly because, after getting a job in West Bengal when the work was only half-done, Malabar had become physically so remote. However, biannual visits to Kerala kept the research going. And, now when fmally, as the book is sent off to press, there is a strong sense of relief.

The volume of course is based on my PhD thesis. While the work was in progress, I received help from various people. I take this opportunity to thank them all.

I am deeply indebted to Prof. K.N. Panikkar, who guided me through various stages of writing this work. Prof. Kunal Chakravarty was extremely helpful in seeing me through the formalities required for re-registration. I could not have had a better co-guide than the late Prof. M.S.S. Pandian, whose informal ways helped one tide over the tension of the last few days before submission.

I remember on this occasion Prof. P.P. Sudhakaran, whose wonderful lectures on historical methodology at Govt. Arts and Science College, Calicut got one seriously interested in the subject. Thanks are also due to Prof. M.G.S. Narayanan and Prof. P. Venu who were never hesitant in sharing books as well as ideas.

Friends in the same profession like M.R. Manmadhan and M.C. Vasisht helped in locating sources. Debates with fellow-researchers from JNU Raziuddin Aquil, Kadakkal Ashraf, K.G. Pradeep, Madampat Shajahan and Gilbert Sebastian in particular helped in formulating ideas and sharpening them. Friends in Bengal like Simonti Sen, Parimal Bhattacharya, Pranabes Bhattacharya and Pradip Chattopadhyay helped me gain insight into the ways of the Bengali bhadralok. Soman Nath inspired me to convert the thesis into a book, and meticulously went through the drafts, offering invaluable suggestions in the process.

Over the years, apart from the library at JNU, I have visited several libraries and archives across India NMML, Sahitya Akademi, and National Archives in Delhi, Connemara Library, the Adyar Library run by the Theosophical Society and Tamil Nadu State Archives in Madras, Kerala Sahitya Akademi and Appan Thampuran Library in Trichur, Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Library in Paral, Deshaposhini Library Calicut University Library and Regional Archives in Calicut. I thank the staff of these institutions for providing help during my research.

Ammachi, Aroon, Anand and Priya have been a constant source of support all along. My daughter, Brishti, was born after the work was started. Playing with her often provided an escape from the harsh world of research. Urmita was a wonderful companion throughout.

My thanks to all at Manohar Publishers, especially Ramesh Jain and Siddarth Chowdhury, for making a dream come true.

I dedicate this work to the memory of my father and my father-in-law, both of whom passed away while this work was in progress.

SREEJITH K.

In 1975 the historian Arnie J. Mayer, while lamenting that academics, over time, have not done research on the middle class even as they write prolifically on the working and peasant classes, wondered whether it was due to the fact that social scientists are hesitant to expose the aspirations, lifestyle, and world view of the social class in which so many of them originate and from which they seek escape.1 This was the period when the Indian academia as well, dominated as it was, by Marxists of various persuasions, exhibited a similar reluctance in exploring the history of the Indian middle class. Since then, however, a large body of work on the middle class has come forth both nationally and internationally. Regional studies have enriched our knowledge about this class which came into their own during the colonial period. However, except for the odd writings on some aspects of its history, a comprehensive work on the middle class in colonial Malabar is yet to appear. This work tries to fill the gap partially in so far as it attempts to explore its social history in Malabar during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In doing so, political and religious dimensions, on which there have been numerous studies, have been excluded.2 The year 1871, when the first Census appeared, has been taken as the starting point with the account coming to a close in 1947, when the nation gained its Independence.