TK Anandi’s ‘Revolution Within’: Defying patriarchy, feudalism

TK Anandi’s ‘Revolution Within: Nampudiri Women as Agents of Social Reforms in Kerala’ traces the awakening of Nampudiri (Kerala Brahmins also spelt as Namboodiri and Nambuthiri, among others) women from their cloistered existence in an extremely casteist society unto the 20th century to a relatively democratised position in a modern society now. Their story is set against the backdrop of a renaissance movement that swept across all castes and communities and subverted the basic fabric of a highly conservative society.

A character in ‘Adukkalayil Ninnu Arangathekku’ (‘From Kitchen to the Stage’), a play by the renowned writer and social reformer VT Bhattathirippad, says, “If indeed there is a rebirth, one may be born as dog, a cat or any other creature, but never as an aphan.” In pre-colonial Kerala, a Nampudiri household, or illam, followed a primogeniture system, with all the rights resting with the eldest son. Only he could marry from the community and bring his wife into the house. Without ownership rights to the illam property, the aphans or the younger male members were condemned to survive on the kindness of the elder and the ritualistic offerings they received from outside. As they were barred from marrying within their community, they sought conjugal relations with women from Ambalavasi or Nair households. Their precarious existence was matched (or even worse) only by that of Nampudiri women or antherjanams, meaning those who stay inside, aptly implying their insulated life within illam’s living quarters.

Bound by moral Vedic codes, they were confined to a life of prayers, rituals and fasting. If even a faint doubt was cast over her morality, she would be brutally excommunicated.

The advent of the 20th century saw great blows being struck at the roots of feudalism and casteism that led to the emergence of a new middle class influenced by Western liberal ideas. The Nampudiri community was the last to hitch on to this wagon. The aphans finally raised the flag of revolt and were joined by antherjanams, who dared to defy the patriarchy by throwing aside their covering cloths and umbrellas.

VT and a host of other reformers from the community took the cue for their actions from reforms in other caste groups in Kerala. Literature, theatre, marches, strikes, widow remarriage, inter-caste dining, etc, changed the situation. Anandi says this internal transformation the Namboodiri community went through was significant for the constitution of the modern progressive Kerala society.

Carefully curated chapters discuss the position of illam as a territorial, kinship and cultural unit in medieval Kerala, the social location of Nampudiri women as against that of women from other castes, changes in land and domestic relations brought about by colonial interventions, the reform movement and the revolution within the Nampudiri community. The concluding chapter presents a case study of a panchayat in Palakkad — Srikishnapuram — where 17 Nampudiri families lived, as a testament to the cultural changes brought about by the Nampudiri social reform movement.

The book, according to the author, attempts a sociological analysis to study women’s location in close relation with other social, psychological and cultural factors and to bring out their responses to the reform processes.

Extensive research using interviews and sources like newspapers, government documents, family records, diaries, etc, is employed to look at how women used their private domain to organise themselves and fight modes of patriarchy. In the end, the question remains, how far have women achieved what they set out to do? Or, have modern hypocritical modes of control replaced patriarchy to gift them with an illusion of freedom? ‘Revolution Within’ is an engaging read for anyone and everyone.

— The writer is a Delhi-based translator