Changes in The Hindu Caste System

There have been changes in the caste system in the village, the most important of which have been in the weakening of economic interdependence, in concepts of purity and pollution and in marriage forms, family structure and inheritance laws. Table 3.7 shows that there are 14 castes in Palankara. Although they are listed according to the ranking in the past, neither the ritual purity of the higher castes nor the large numbers of lower castes such as Izhvas and Pulayas make them dominant. It be said that the village is moving towards an egalitarian society, because caste rigidity has reduced to a large extent.

78

Table 3 . 7 .Distribution of Castes According to Number of Households and Percentages of Hindu Population

Caste Groups Number of Households Percentages of Hindu Population Nambuthiri 3 N 1313 1.6 Tulu Brahmin* 1 0.5 Nayar 18 6.6 Velathedath Nayar 12 in o Konkani* 1 4.9 Asari 3 1.1 Kollan 12 4.9 Ganakan 1 0.6 Shiva Vellala* 4 1.4 Panditar 4 1.2 Velan 2 1.0 Izhavas 71 25.8 Pulayan 115 47.8 Parayan 5 2.1 252 100.0

Note: Listed according to the caste ranking.

* These castes members are migrants from neighbouring states Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and they are ranked according to their proximity with the Nambuthiris at the time of the study.

Source: Household census, Palankara, 1984-85.

By the end of the nineteenth century all the castes started to adapt themselves to the changing political, social and economic environment in the country as a whole and the state in particular. As a consequence of these changes, a new society emerged in the state. This section discusses changes in the caste system which have had a bearing on demographic behaviour in the state and the village in particular.

3.3.4.1.Nambuthiris

Nambuthiri Brahmins are the priestly caste at the top of the caste hierarchy. Of the three Nambuthiri households

in the village, two belong to the same lineage. The household was divided in 1964 as a result of the Land Reform Act. The members of the third household migrated to the study village because the wife of the head of the household is a teacher in a nearby school, five kilometres from the village. Two of the Nambuthiri families once owned two-thirds of the land in the village and enjoyed ritual, social and economic power. Though they have since lost ownership of the land, they still perform priestly functions and command social respect.

They followed patrilineal descent and patrilocal residence. The major change in this caste since 1933 has been in the form of marriage. Among Nambuthiris, only the eldest son was permitted to marry into his own caste; other sons had Sambandham marriages with the women from the Nayar and Kshatriya castes. In this system of marriage, the junior sons had sexual relations with women belonging to the Nayars or Kshatriyas and children born to such unions belonged to the women's families. Nambuthiri women could marry only Nambuthiri men; this meant often that Nambuthiri girls married an old Nambuthiri or delayed their marriages.

Nambuthiris at that time felt that this unique system of marriage had certain advantages. First, it prohibited the division of land so that they remained wealthy; secondly, the sambandham relationships with Kshatriya women who belonged to the ruling community and Nayar women who belonged to the warrior community gave them unique political power. This system of marriage helped them to

have both economic and political power in the state along with ritual power. Mencher (1966:189) observed,

80

these wealthy landlords had far more influence and power than they would have had if their property had been split every generation or two, as was the case with the Brahmins of other parts of India.

By the early twentieth century the situation was changing rapidly. Many junior members of the Nambuthiri families who were influenced by the changes in the society started revolting against the system. They wanted to learn English and also to marry within their caste. Partly as a result of this revolt and partly because of changes in the society, the Madras Nambuthiri Act was passed in 1933; it conferred on all the Nambuthiris the right to marry within their own caste and the children of all such marriages became legal heirs to property. The division of property was also allowed under the new Act. In the village, the Nambuthiri families do not now follow the concepts of purity and pollution as in the past and they have lost their past economic status. However they still enjoy ritual status because people still expect them to perform the rituals in temples and places of worship.

3.3.4.2 Nayars

Among the 18 Nayar households, 14 belong to the same matrilineal lineage ; the other four households migrated to the village for various reasons. Because of this matrilineal lineage, the Nayars enjoyed political and economic power in the village.

Of all the castes in the village, perhaps the greatest changes were experienced by the Nayars. They had to change

their family structure, marriage forms and also inheritance laws to adapt themselves to the changing social and political situation.

In the past they practised matriliny and matrilocal residence. The eldest male became the head of the household (called karanavan) and all his maternal relatives lived under the same roof. Ideally, a Nayar family was an extended family (generally called a tarvad) consisting of all the relatives traced through the female line. The property and assets of the tarvad belonged to all the members and no individual could claim his share of the

joint property.

Among Nayars, the women had sexual relations with men from higher castes or from their own castes. The children born to the women inherited the mother's family name and property. The bond between husband and wife was not strong, partly because they did not live under the same roof, and the man only visited his wife at her residence. Moreover, a man did not have the responsibility of bringing up his children, but had more responsibility towards his sisters' children. A woman from this caste had the freedom to choose her husband and also could break the alliance very easily. Generally, women in this caste enjoyed more freedom than the women in patrilineal castes (Gough, 1968:151).

Along with the external pressures, there was also a great amount of unrest within the tarvads (Jeffrey,

82

exposed to western ideas, rebelled against the marriage practices. From 1891, many laws were passed, recognizing sambandham as legal marriage and allowing the wife and children of a Nayar male to inherit half of his self- acquired property. In 1925, the Second Nayar Act was passed in Travancore allowing almost unrestricted partition of joint family property. Similar laws were passed in 1933 and 1938 in the Cochin and Malabar regions of the state. Eventually every marriage in the state was legal and the wife and children could inherit the property of a deceased m a n .

By the second half of the twentieth century, Nayars on the whole adopted patrilineal descent and patrilocal residence. However, inheritance is often bilateral. The result of the laws in 1933 and 1938 was that tarvads were divided and nuclear families replaced them.

3.3.4.3.Velathedth Nayars

Velathedth Nayars are the traditional washermen. The 12 households of this caste belong to two different tarvads. Though they are the village washermen, they washed clothes only of Nambuthiri and royal families but not the clothes of upper caste Nayars and other lower castes. The Velathedth Nayars had jajmani4 relationships with the Nambuthiri caste. Of the 12 households only two now serve as washermen and the others are engaged in other occupations such as casual labouring. With the introduction