J Devika - Engendering Individuals: The Language of Re-forming in Early Twentieth Century Keralam

En-gendering Individuals

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E N-GENDERING I NDIVIDUALS
The Language of Re-forming in
Twentieth Century Keralam

J. Devika

Orient Blackswan Private Limited

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Orient Blackswan Private Limited 2006
First Published 2006

eISBN 978 81 250 5329 3

e-edition:First Published 2013

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Dedication

To Nizar mash
Who taught me to read, think and write

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

List of Abbreviations

Acknowledgements

This is a book that grew out of my doctoral work at School of Social Sciences, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam. It was an attempt to engage with some of the questions that I had begun to ask myself about Malayalee society and the way Malayalees lived out gendered existences. When I started work in 1991, I had little more than a set of inchoate ideas, which were by themselves, almost unworkable. If I have managed to give them better shape, the credit goes entirely to my teachers at the School of Social Sciences. Rajan Gurukkal kept me busy with frequent presentations that helped clarify historiographic and methodological issues; S. Raju introduced me to ideas that transformed my thinking; the late M. Muralidharan not only conducted several stimulating classroom discussions but also offered criticism and praise wherever these were due. The M Phil/Ph D coursework of 199495 remains unforgettable for his warm and jovial presence and spirited intervention in debates. M. Gangadharan was an ideal guide; I thank him, above all, for having faith in me. T.K.A. Neesar followed this work from beginning to end. When I first started discussing my ideas with him, someone warned: 'You will never finish. He has too sharp an eye for faults.' While the first part of the warning has happily been proven false, how thankful am I that the second part was indeed true! To say the least, it is he who has taught me to 'read' and 'write', and indeed 'think'. The long discussions and arguments we had were the most enjoyable part of this project. This book is dedicated to him, with much love.

Several friends kept me going through innumerable minor crises. I have had enjoyable times at the homes of Sreedevi and Adi, Smt Padmini Varkey, Mini, Girish and Anna, Asha and Rajagopal, Elizabeth, Kabir and Ramakrishnan, Radhika, Muralidharan and Unny. My batch mates at the School of Social Sciences, particularly Reena, Susan, Sujata and Smt Omana made 199495 a thoroughly enjoyable year. Several friends provided me with valuable source materials: Ram Mohan, Jayachandran, Dinesan, Susan, Gopalakrishnan. N.K. Ravindran gave me his entire collection of articles. Geetadevi helped me to resolve several practical difficulties. I am especially grateful to S. Sivadas for his timely advice, which prevented me from dropping this project altogether at one particularly difficult moment. Dr P.K. Michael Tharakan and Dr K.N. Panikkar gave me useful criticism and suggestions for improvement. I want to specially thank Mary John and Janaki Nair, for encouraging criticism and the warmth of their friendship. If not for them, this would have probably remained a thesis even now.

This work was given final shape in times excruciatingly painful for me; but CDS gave me the warmth of a home. If not for Praveena, Beena, Gilbert, Mala, Judith, Ruchi, Misra, Vineeta, Christopher, Narayanan, little Ambili/Pulari and all the wonderful children on campus, my colleagues and Radhamani chechi, I would have felt lonely and lost in the world.

Other friends are warmly remembered: Shajahan Madampat, Bindu Menon, Usha Zacharias, Anushka Ravi Shankar, Gauridasan, Anindita, Nissim Mannattukkaran, Narayanan, George Varghese, Paul Zacharia and Udayakumar, many of whom patiently read many drafts, offered sound advice and many, many reassuring words. I would also like to thank the staff of all the libraries from which material was collected for this work, especially G. Priyadarshan at the Malayala Manorama Reference Library, Kottayam, for giving me the benefit of his immense experience with historical documents, and Govindan Nair of the Mahakavi Ulloor Smaraka Grandhasala, Thiruvananthapuram, for his generosity and helpfulness.

I also remember with affection and gratitude the editors at Orient Longman, especially Nandini Rao, Veenu Luthria, and Preeti Anand, for their words of encouragement, and Vidya Rao, who edited it and whose persistence alone has made this a readable text.

I have two mothers who have sustained me all through in their distinct ways: Dr C. Jayakumari and Smt S. Rugmini Amma. It is their reassuring presence that has helped me tide over many setbacks, depressed moods and disappointments. To them I owe a debt of gratitude that can never be fully repaid; I cannot thank them enough. My brothers have always inspired me to work hard and persist through difficulties, and have given me all possible support. Dr. Gopalakrishnan has been a wonderful father, but an even more wonderful friend. There are so many others all my aunts at Mutukulam and Thiruvananthapuram who continued to believe in a wild creature they could barely understand; cousins and uncles; and many, many other near and dear ones without whom this project would not have budged an inch. Last but not least, I must thank Shreekutty and Kunhammu, my two babies who 'punctuated' this work, for being such sources of joy. Special thanks are due to them for their amused tolerance of Amma's obsession with books and writing, her strange ideas and funny moods.

CHAPTER 1

Introduction

T HE A RENA

In the period of concern here, present-day Keralam Each group had specific codes of conduct, systems of alliances and regulations for everyday life. Eating, dressing, talkingjust about everything signified one's position in the social hierarchy, and one's difference from others. Deference to the higher jatis, and ritual purity was fastidiously observed by all, including the lowest jatis, with both untouchability and inapproachability. This applied for the Christians and Muslims also. This social order may be called the order of janmabhedam ('difference by birth'). It was one in which external signs of compliance had to be produced without fail by the 'lower' jatis. Moreover, these signs of compliance were relentlessly wrested by the jati higher up in the hierarchy from the ones below. The social status of individuals followed from where they were born in the social hierarchy. However, by the late nineteenth century, the signs of change and challenge to the established order were too obvious to be ignored. This, of course, is not to claim that challenges to authority were absent before the colonial period.