XXXI Abstracts Part 1 page 1-189

Kings and regulated their destiny. Religious authority and the control of temples were vested in them. They were the
spiritual head of the state and were exempted from all social and religious liabilities. No Brahmin could be sentenced to
death, however, heinous his crime was”[3]. That they enjoyed complete freedom in sexual life is clear from the orders of
Venmani rulers: “The women who do not yield to the wish of the man of the same or superior castes are immoral and should
be put to death immediately” [4]. The Nambudiris already with access to land political power religious authority and sexual
freedom were also pampered with free meals through the ‘Oottupuras’ (dining halls).
A scientific gradation of untouchabilty was created in Kerala. Col. Macaulay was forced to remark: “if the poor
wretch who tills the soil and reaps the grain should happen accidentally and ignorantly to cross any Nair in his path, the
monster draws his sword and kills him on the spot with impunity”[5].
The above was possible because the rules were framed to protect such anarchies.
For example: the Nadars and Ezhavas should remain atleast 12 feet away from the Nairs. “A Nair who immediately
kills an Ezhava for going within 36 feet of a Brahmin would attain heaven”[5].
The humiliation meted out to women, particularly of the lower castes was unimaginably bad. For example the Nair
women should be always available to satisfy the desires of the Nambudiris[6]. The well- known ‘sambandham’ system
legitimized the above said anarchy and further demanded that if a Nambudiri enters the house of a Nair (and signals this by
leaving his sandals outside) the owner of the house should keep away as long as the sandals remain there.
It was required of women that ‘the women of the humbler castes should expose, at the approach of the Brahmins
their bosoms” [4]
The insult heaped on poorer castes like Pulayas were unimaginably harsher (see the section 5).
3. The story of the liberation of Shanars: The ‘Ayyavazhi’ movement
3.1 Shanars fall foul of the King and become outcastes and untouchables
The poorer / politically depressed segments of Nadars were called Shanars. They were Kshatriya’s and served as
accountants and administrators in Chera and Pandya kingdoms.[4,6] They were found in South Travancore as well as in the
Thirunelveli-Madurai belt. The Nadars of Thirunelveli-Madurai fought against the Vijaya Nagara and Naicker armies in
Madurai under Kumaravira Marthanda Nadar and were pushed to the sandy deserts of Thirunelveli when the Naicker
Armies overran them[4].
Similarly, the Nadars of Travancore became victims of the political twists created by the matriarchal system.
After Ravi Varma Kulashekhara (AD 1295-1333) matrilineal system came into Travancore’s political succession.
Trouble started when Rama Varma (AD 1271 – 29) handed over power to Marthanda Varma (as per the matrilineal system).
His sons Pappu Thampi and Raman Thampi resented this and their consequential refusal to the proposal of Marthanda
Varma to marry their sister Kochi Madamma led to a cold war in which the Nadars took the side of the Thampis. The
complexity of the palace-politics was such that an incident of attempt on the life of the king led to the branding of the men in
his security squad as the conspirators. Since these men were from the Nadar community the caste itself had to suffer.
Some Nadar families who accepted the matrilineal system or were involved in saving the life of the king were rewarded with
land-grants and were permitted to lead a normal life with the title of Nadans. Others (Shanars) had to face an extremely
oppressive and degrading environment.
Robert L. Hardgrave describes the situation as follows: “Nadars must remain 36 paces from a Nambudiri-Brahmin
and must come no closer than 12 feet to a Nair. As members of a degraded caste, Nadars were prohibited from carrying an
umbrella and from wearing shoes or golden ornaments. Their house cannot be higher than one-storey. They were not
allowed to milk cows. Nadar women were not permitted to carry pots of water on their hips as was the custom among the
higher castes; nor were they permitted to cover the upper part of their bodies. They were subjected to heavy taxation and
while they were not enslaved, as were the Pulayas, the Nadars were forced to peform covree labor in service to the State.”
[7]