Caste Nationalism and Communism in South

Cambridge South Asian Studies
Editorial B oard
C.A. Bayly,.G,P, Hawthorn, Gordon Johnson, S.J. Tam biah
A list o f the books in the series w ill b e fo u n d at the en d o f the volume

Caste, nationalism and
communism in south India
M a la b a r , 1 9 0 0 - 1 9 4 8
D ilip M . M en on
University o f Cambridge
CAMBRIDGE
UNIVERSITY PRESS
|\ |l v
N ft
Published in India by
! Nehru Memorial Museum 1
Foundation Books and Librar
Library
2/19 Ansari Road
Daryaganj
13 0 q 05
Acc. No.
New Delhi 110 002
I D ate..?. 9. J U .U m ..
Cambridge University Press, 1994
First Indian Edition 1994
4
Special edition Tor sale in South Asia only. <
Not for export elsewhere.
ISBN 81-85618-43-7
This edition of Dilip M Menon: Caste, Nationalism and Communism

in South In d ia is published by arrangem ent with Cam bridge
U niversity Press, The Edinburgh B uilding, Shaftesbury Road,
Cambridge CB2 2RU,. U.K.
Published by Manas Saikia for Foundation Books and printed by

Mohan M akhijani at Rekha Printers Pvt. Ltd,, A -102/1 Okhla
Industrial Area, Phase II, New Delhi 110 020.
tm
Contents
Preface
List o f abbreviations
Glossary
Map o f Malabar District administrative divisions.
I
Introduction
1 The agrarian economy and households, 1900-1930
2 Shrines and [he community of worship, 1900-1910
3 Shrines, temples and politics, 1900-1930
4 Civil disobedience and temple entry, 1930-1933
5 The transformation of rural politics, 1934-1940
6 Community and conflict, 1940-1948
Conclusion
Eibliography *
Index
Preface
This book began as a slim idea about popular culture in Malabar, grew into a
corpulent ambition to encompass the social and intellectual origins of commu
nism in Kerala, and has now hopefully acquired the svelte shape of an enquiry
into the historical origins of communism in Malabar with comparative excursions
into other regions of India. Communism in Kerala was far more than just a
political movement organising the proletariat and peasantry into militant entities
pressing for exigent economic concessions. Euphoric visions of a new order and
a rampant rejection of past hierarchies found expression in popular songs,
literature and films. Malayalam literature, which had been peopled by gods,
kings and the genteel, suddenly broke out in a rash of characters who were poor,
indigent or criminal. Their heroism lay in the fact that they were rebels who were
cynical of a society where caste, birth and privilege determined the status of a
person. Between 1900 and 1950 a new aesthetic emerged, the story of which will
have to be deferred for another book.
There is a reason. Very little work has been done on the contemporary history
of what became the slate of Kerala in 1956, cobbled together as it was from the
princely states of Travancore and Cochin as well as the erstwhile district of the
Madras Presidency, Malabar. The few studies that exist have been content to
marvel at Malabars unique features - matriliny, Marxism and the militant
Mappila Muslims - and to try and establish a causal connection between these.
Apart from the fascination of alliteration, the rcluctancc to accommodate
variation from theoretical models constructed for the rest or the Presidency has
been the major stumbling block. There is another consideration. The records of
the Malabar Collectorate, held at the Kozhikode Regional Archives, were
precisely catalogued only as late as 1986. This archival material allows the
historian to begin to construct a social and economic profile of Malabar in the
nineteenth and twentieth century - an image that thus far could be seen only as
through a glass darkly. And it is as an initial enterprise that this work is intended.
Malabar had its peculiarities and the trajectory of its politics may have been
different at times; but on the whole the similarities that surface when compared
with the historiography of other regions do not warrant its treatment as an
anomaly.
x Preface
The INLAKS Foundation granted me the initial scholarship to come to

England, and were liberally accommodating of my idiosyncrasies; no one could
wish for a more generous patron. I would like to thank Trinity College for
awarding me an External Research Studentship in 1986 which enabled me to
start work on my dissertation. The Edward Boyle Memorial Fund provided
additional funds for research andotherexpenses. Both theSmuts Memorial Fund
and the Princc Consort and Thirlwall Fund have helped with finances towards
conducting archival research and fieldwork in India, Finally, I am indebted to the
Master and Fellows of Magdalene College for electing me to a Research
Fellowship in 1989, and providing me with the means and convivial surroundings
to complete my book.
I am also grateful lo the staff of the various archives and libraries where most
of the research for this dissertation was done; the University Library and the
Centre of South Asian Studies, Cambridge; the India Office Library and
Records, London; the National Archives of India and the Nehru Memorial
Museum and Library, New Delhi; the University Library, the Kerala Secretariat
Archives and the CPI State Council Library, Trivandrum; the Appan Thampuran
Library, Trichur, the Kozhikode Regional Archives, Calicut; the Tellicherry
Courts Record Room, Tellicherry; theT ami I Nadu Archives and the Theosophical
Society Library, Madras. In particular. I would like to thank: Dr Lionel Carter,
amineofinformationaboutlibrary resources; K. Ravindran, Archivist, Kozhikode
Regional Archives and his helpers, Verghese and Majeed who furnished friendly
assistance while heroically cataloguing the mass of files and papers of the
Malabar Collectorate; and Raghavan Nair at the Trivandrum Secretariat Cellar
who was unstinting in his assistance.
Among the individuals who read through earlier drafts and offered criticism,
both temperate as well as trenchant, I am grateful to: Chris Bayly, Raj
Chandavarkar, Javed Majeed, Polly OHanlon, Sumit Sarkar and Tanika Sarkar.
Dr Anil Seals enthusiasm and support for the work in its early stages was a great
source of encouragement Above all, I would like to thank Anu, with whom this
work has been debated every step o f the way; if the book has any clarity, it is due
to her.
Keraleeyan, K. Madhavan, T.C. Narayanan Nambiar, P.T. Bhaskara Panikkar
and Sarmaji gave unselfishly, of their time and knowledge, and provided me with
much o f the background o f the communist movement in Kerala. Professor
K.K.N. Kurup, Professor M.G.S. Narayanan and Dr Raghava Variar of the
University of Calicut were a source of constant intellectual stimulation and
encouragement Murkkoth Kunhappa generously provided me with the unfin
ished manuscript of his fathers autobiography.
The work has been discussed with many friends over a period of time: in
particular, Hari and Tapati, Neel and Chitra, Uday, Nandini, and Riccardo.
Finally, I would like to mention those who contributed in intangible but
Preface xi
important ways: my parents, who brought Kerala alive for me in a way I cannot
hope lo match; N Gopinathan Nair. who actcd as the inspiration behind this
dissertation; and Amin Saheb, in whose classes I learnt the pleasures of history.
Abbreviations
AICC All India Congress Committee

ARDMP Administration of the Registration Department of the
Madras Presidency
ARMP Report on the Administration o f the Madras
Presidency
CWMG Collected Works o f Mahatma Gandhi
FR Fortnightly Reports
10L India Office Library and Records
KCP Kerala Communist Party
KCSP Kerala Congress Socialist Party
KPCC Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee
KRA Kozhikode Regional Archives
KS Kerala Secretariat
MCTI Malabar Compensation for Tenants Improvements Act
MLTR Malabar Land Tenures Report
MPBEC Madras Provincial Banking Enquiry Commission
MPIR Report on Public Instruction in the Madras
Presidency
MSLRR Report on the Settlement o f Land Revenue in the Madras
Presidency
MSP Malabar Special Police
MTA Malabar Tenancy Act
MTCR, 1927 Malabar Tenancy Committee Report, 1927
MTCR. 1940 Malabar Tenancy Committee Report, 1940
NAI National Archives of India
NMML Nehru Memorial Museum and Library
P and J Public and Judicial
RAPMP Report on the Administration o f Police in the Madras
Presidency
RARMP Report on Administration o f the Abkari Revenue o f the
Madras Presidency
RCU Royal Commission on Labour in India
xiv Abbreviations
RDAMP Report o f the Operations o f the Department o f

Agriculture o f the Madras Presidency
RDIMP Report o f the Department fo r Industries o f the Madras
Presidency
RSTMP Review o f seaborne trade o f the Madras Presidency
SCRMP Season and Crop Report o f the Madras Presidency
SNDP Sri Narayana Dharma Panpalana Yogam
TCRR Tellicheny Court Record Room
TNA Tamil Nadu Archives
Glossary
adhikari village headman

amsam revenue division, an aggregate of desams
chenkallu branches of prominent households in outlying areas which
negodated terms of cultivation with tribal groups
desam the smallest revenue paying division
janm i landowner
jatha political procession
kanakkaran cultivating leaseholder or mortgagee
karanavan an cider, head of the household
karshaka sangham peasant union
kavu shrine
kshetram temple
kuzhikanakkaran tenants on improvement leases
marumakktHhayam matriliny
melkoyma right o f suzerainty of kings/chieftains over religious
institutions
modan hill paddy
mundu waistcloth
muthalali term o f deference, used while 'addressing landlords
paramba garden lands
punam shifting cultivation
tavazhi branch of household
teyyattam ritual dance at shrines
tharavadu matrilineal household
uralan manager o f shrines/temples
verumpattakaran cultivator, usually on wetlands
XV
c o o u g
CHIHAKKAL
KOTTAYAM
Tllichen>)
CALICUT
Manjri
Map of Malabar District administrative divisions

Introduction
Ideologies, like poetry, lose a lot in translation: nuances evanesce, meanings

merge and unintended ironies surface. Communism has inspired revolution,
authoritarian rule and gerontocracy in different parts of the world, and as yet
genuine socialism seems to have remained beyond reach. In Kerala, irony is the
dominant motif of the metamorphosis of communist ideology. A movement
perceived as a revolutionary threat both by the colonial government and the
nascent Indian state came to power in 1957 through parliamentary means.
Kerala became the first state in the world, apart from the minuscule Italian
principality of San Marino, to form a democratically elected communist
government. An egalitarian crusade against caste inequality was nevertheless
led by caste elites. The adherents of a supposedly atheistic, or at best agnostic,
creed were responsible for shoring up religion in the countryside. And last, but
not least, when in 1970 Kerala became the First state in India to abolish
landlordism, those who benefited were neither unambiguously tillers or even
primarily engaged in agriculture. Despite this plethora of intriguing paradoxes,
the history of the origins of communism in Kerala has not yet been written.1
This may be said to be true of the history of communism in India as well. Most
writings have tended to concentrate less on regional specificities and more on
the unravelling of the theoretical tangles of the Party line and its ostensible
transcriptions in local contexts 2
' There is a substantial literature on the Communist ministries and their achievements, or which
T.J Nossiter, Communism in Kerala, a study in political adaptation (London, 1982) is the
most incisive. See also V.M, Tic. Krrala: the Yenan o f Indin {Bombay, 1970); R J. Herring,
Ltinil la /hr tiller: the political ecomimy o f agrarian reform in south Asin (New Haven, CN,
1983); O.K. Lielcn, The first communist ministry in Kerala, 1957-59 (Calcutta, 1982). The
official party history of the movement is E.M.S. Nambudiripad. Kammyunislu party keralathil
(The Communist Party in Kerala), 3 volumes (Trivandrum, 1984-flB). For a general account
see R. Jeffrey. Politics, women and welt being: how Kerala became a 'model' (Basingstoke,
1992).
! J. H. Kuutsky, Moscow and the CPI: a study in the post war evolution o f international
communist strategy (New York, 1956); G,D. Overstreet and M. Winditiiller, Communism in
India (Berkeley, CA, 1959); B. Sengupta, Communism in Indian politics (New York, 1972);
B. Josh, The communist movement in Punjab, 1926-47 (Delhi, 1979) and Struggle fo r
hegemony in India, 1920-1947: the colonial state, the I*ft and the national movement, vol.
2 (New Delhi, 1993). A good preliminary reader is P. Brass and M.F.Frandacds.,Rd/<rfl/po/ificj
it1 south Asia (Cambridge, MA, 1973); S. Jashi. Struggle fo r hegemony in India, 1920-1947
the colonial state the Left anti the national movement, vol 1 (New Delhi, 1992).
I
2 Caste. nationalism and communism in south India
This book focuses on the erstwhile region of Malabar, (he northern part ot
Kerala, which was the bastion of the communist movement and which
continues to succour the party in its election forays The major reason why the
communists came to power in Malabar, while in the rest of India the Congress
w a s baski ng i n the afterglow of Independence, was the reshaping of communis m
into a doctrine of caste equality. This is part of a w.ider and as yet neglected
question, Wfiile most historians writing on twcnticth-ccnlury India have
concentrated on the story of nationalism. South India seems to pose other
issues. It witnessed few fervid demonstrations of nationalist activity. Ilather.
in the Madras Presidency, caste and its resolution seem to have informed
political activity far more than nationalism. It has been argued that it was not
until the last days of the British Raj that Dravidian ideology confronted) the
question of colonialism as a central problematic of politics or perceivejd)
British rule as the cause of social oppression' 3
In Malabar, as in the rest of the Presidency, political activity at different
points addressed itself almost wholly to the issue of caste differences. This was
not surprising* because there were refinements within its caste system*, not
found elsewhere in India. An extreme form o f hierarchy meant that not only
were there untouchable castes, there were unseeable" ones as well. What was
different, and significant, in political activity in Malabar was the fact that the
notion of community surfaced constantly and became a major source of
contention within political discourse. This was not surprising in a region where
inequality was evident; an imagining of community could mediate between
differences. In a sense, we argue a paradoxical ease. While the presence of
inequality and differences acted as the spur to a desire for community, these
veiy factors hindered its eventual realisation. The intimations of equality
offered by caste movements, nationalism and communism were thwarted by
the fractures within society - of caste, kinship, religion and locality. Nation
alism tried to project a community of Indians, but its expansive sweep, eager
to paper over cracks in society, found little purchase in Malabar. For a brief
moment in 1921, Congress, Khilafat and local concerns o f agrarian inequities
came together. The Congress became wary o f involving Malabar in the
national struggle after the M appila rebellion of 1921 had broken the fragile
unity o f the alliance oLthe Congress with the Khilafat movement. This fact has
dominated most of the worics published on Malabar, which have concentrated
See D.A. Washbrook, Caste, class and dominance in modem Tamil Nadu; non Brahmanism,
Dnvidianism and Tamil nationalism in F. Frankel and M.S. A. Rao cds.. Dominance and stale
power inm odem India: decline o f a social order (Delhi, 1989), 1,211; alsoM.R. Barnett, The
politics ofcultural nationalism in south India (Princeton, NJ, 1976); E.F. Irsctiick, Politics and
social conflict in India: the non-Brahman movement and Tamil separatism, /9/<5-29(Bcrkelcy,
CA, 1969).
introduction 3
mainly on the relations between Hindus and Mappilas in south Malabar, and
the origins of the Mappila rebellion of I921.4
In the delineation of categories which aggregate the activities of individuals
in society, the notion of community has gained credence, of late, In the
historiography of modern south Asia. Community has been defined in diverse
and often contradictory ways. Some historians perceive it as a notion essential
to the reproduction of the existing social order. Others see the creation of a
sense of community its underlying the expression o f opposition to entrenched
simctiircs o f power. Common to hoili positions is llic assumption that there is
a coherence within these com m unities-of interests, actions and values-w hich
binds together the actions of individuals and engenders fixed identities. The
writings of the subaltern group o f historians suggests an a priori sense o f
community among subordinate groups, which is bom out of the experience of
oppression. It is a collectivity defined negatively, and in terms of resistance to
the existing, unequal social order.5 While there is an element of statlcity and
essentialism in the subaltern approach, Sandria Freitags recent work on
northern India tries to historicise notions of community. Communities are
studied in the process of formation. Nevertheless, in her work too, there is an
assumption that individual identities can be subsumed in collective action,
which then creates a coherent, consistent [realml of symbolic behaviour'.6
There seems to be a misplaced concreteness in the idea that collectivities are
created' in any real sense or for all time. W hilecaste, occupation anBTSjigtrage,
may act as fundamental community identities' which glue individuals to
gether, these very factors could well create fissures and segmentation within
putative unities.
Recent south Indian historiography has taken up the idea of religious
community, not in the context of the creation o f oppositional entities, but in the
reproduction of social order. Common worship and festivals at temples are
seen as performing an integrative role by mediating between castes and
' S.F. Dale, Islamic socittv on the south Asian frontier, the Mappilas o f Malabar, 1498-1922
(Oxford, 1980); K N. P^nikkar, Against lord and state: religion and peasant uprisings in
Malabar, 1836-1921 (Delhi, 1989); C. Wood, The Moplah rebellion and its genesis (Delhi,
1987). t
'T his sense of an oppositional 'subaltern' community runs through thedi verse pieces assembled
in the six volumes of Subaltern studies publ ished so far. For explicit theoretical statements, see
R. Guha, Elementary aspects o f peasant insurgency in colonial India (Delhi, 1983): A. Sen,
'Subaltern studies; capital, class and community' in R. Guha ed.. Subaltern studies: writings
on south Asian history and society (Delhi, 1987). V, 203-55; P.jChatterjee, 'Caste and subaltern
consciousness' in Guha ed.. Subaltern studies, VI (Delhi. I9C9), 169-209.
S B. Freitag, Collective action and community: public arenas and the emergence o f commu-
naltsm in north India (Berkeley, CA, 1989), 6 . There is an implicit teleology in the 'emergence'
of hardened Hindu and Muslim identities, from activities fostering a perception of 'commu*
niiy' among hitherto inchoate groups.
Fteicag, Collective action. 42. See R.S, Chandavarkar, 'W orker's politics in Bombay between
the wars'. M odem Asian Studies, 15,3 (1981), 603-47, for an argument about how caste and
occupation serve to fragment the labour force in ihe mills of Bombay.
4 Caste, nationalism and communism in south India
creating a space for the redistribution of ritual resources.8 Such an analysts is

more holistic in that it tries to explain not only the behaviour of certain social
groups but the working of society itself. However, there is little sense of
fractures, of the initiatives of individual actors and of the continuing disparities
between the constituents o f the community which entails, surely, that unity
must be fragile and transitory. Moreover, there is a tendency to treat ritual
spaces as the microcosm of the social world - a substitution of the part for the
whole - even though the' participants at these festivals are nearly always only
Hindus.
tt will be argued here that thejcla of community represents an aspiration
and not an achieved.entity; it is alwaysTn^lieprocess ol formation wiTHouT-
reacfimgjgfllitauoii. W hile'^jecnofTrofTom m uTittyêelrttrb^ all-mctDsfver-
aispanties within society entail considerable fluctuations in the constituency
appealed to, and therefore a constant redefinition. Competing notions of
community seek to include m ore groups within it, and underlying its protean
character, is the endeavour of negating difference. Moreover, there can only be
comunctural creations of community when a temporary balance is acmeved
between diverse individual initiatives and subjective perceptions of disparities.
We shall be looking at several negotiations of community, all of which tried to
mediate between differences in rural society: of caste and of access to
agricultural resources. At brief moments in time, local attempts to construct
community became enmeshed in the wider conceptions of nationalism, and
communism but, inevitably, widerimaginings of community gave way to local
resolutions. _______ .______ _______ 1
The first theme is ^community o f subsistence p/W\cb was negotiated between
dominant landowners and cultivators. In north Malabar, settlement tendedto
be centred on the matrilineal households of the Nayars (tharavadus) which
controlled wastelands and forests, and had a near monopoly over wetlands.
These tharavadus were granted rights over non-navigable rivers as well,
making theircontroloveragricultural resources more complete than elsewhere
in the Presidency. This seemingly absolute power was mitigated by several
factors which prevented an unconditional exercise o f authority. In the years
before the Depression, the availability of land and the high prices of cash crops
like pepper and coconut provided opportunities to small cultivators producing
for export. The profits from exports, the availability of credit from diverse
sources and, ultimately, the fact that tharavadus needed to secure cultivators,
gave the latter it degree of independence. Moreover, in a period of land
availability, when titles to far-flung plots of land were still disputed, politic
1 A. Appadurai and C.A. Breckenbridge, The south Indian temple: authority, ho.iour and
redistribution', Contributions to Indian Sociology (NS). 10, 2 (1976), 190; A. Appadurai.
Worship and conflict under colonial rule: a south Indian case (Cambridge, 1981), 225-6: N.B.
Dirks, The hallow crown: the ethnchistary o f an Indian kingdom (Cambridge, 1987), 211-12
Introduction 5
tenants and cultivators'could play off landowners against each other. The
ability of the tharavadus, with their wetlands and granaries, to provide subsis
tence, in a region deficient in food, arbitrated between the independence o f
cultivators and the authority of a tharavadu. This community o f subsistence was
attenuated by the Depression, when there was a slump in the exports of cash
crops and a crisis of food which disturbed the balance that had been maintained
so far. The first chapter deals with the negotiation-of this community of
subsistence.
Tharavadus. cultivators, and dependent labourers were involved in a
/com m unity o f worjîn/around shrines where all worshipped together regard
less of caste. This is the major theme o f the second chapter. The pantheon of
gods was flexible and all inclusive: Nayar ancestors, tribal gods, local heroes
and heroines and brahminical deities jostled one another. Worship involved the
use of alcohol and the sacrifice of animals though, occasionally, rituals
enjoined vegetarianism and purer forms. There were three kinds of shrine
festivals, each of which envisaged a different notion of community. The first
kind involved different castes at separate stages in the rituals, emphasising the
interdependence o f tharavadu, shrine and worshippers and indirectly, the status
of each caste. In a sense, the community of subsistence was reproduced, since
devotees made offerings of grain to the shrine and received grain in return.
Secondly, both upper and lower castes went on pilgrimages together to shrines,
and the bacchanalian rituals emphasised the possibility o f subsuming differ
ences. While one form of community emphasised disparity and interdependence,
the olherenvisaged the concerted behaviourof equals. The third kind of shrine
festival emphasised both community as well as the relations of power within
rural society. Most of the deities worshipped were lower castes who had
suffered injustice at the hands of their superiors. Festivals were marked by the
performance of a ritual dance called the tevvattam which retold the circum
stances of the outrage to an audience of lower and upper castes. People were
involved in several forms of worship, each emphasising community, but in
different ways. Besides, the reiteration of rituals of community could not mask
the divergences between the constituents and the next chapter takes up an
attempt to resolve the difference.
While the two themes discussed above dealt with arbitrations between the
differences and the disparity between the constituents of community, the third
chapter deals with attempts to stand apart by creating alcommunity' o f casi j f
Jxjuotf. At the beginning of this century, an elite had emerged among the lower
*âste of Tiyyas (a significant number among whom were toddy tappers), de
riving ihcir position from education, employment as lawyers and civil servants,
involvement with trade and commerce, and the setting up of factories. In the
towns, they had to compete with already established groups and, therefore,
they turned lo their putative caste brethren in the villages. By emphasising
those aspects of rural shrine festivals which reiterated caste identities, this elite
tried to draw Tiyyas to new temples in the towns which were to be for Tiyyas
alone. This attempt to create a community of equals was premised not only on
alternative forms of worship, but the ability to provide credit and employment
as well. However, this notion of community was undermined in many ways.
Many Tiyyas continued to stay within earlier circuits of shrine worship. Other
lower castes and untouchables were not admitted to the new Tiyya temples,
which afforded an opportunity to members of tharavadus to assert their links
with their dependents and shore up the comnniniiy minimi Ihe shrines, More
over, the id caofa community ul euuals around tommies waselevatcd to another
levelby the intervention of the Conere-ss.
Nationalism had to conceive of a more universal unity* and here lay the
problem. While at a broader level, anti-imperialism and the sense of belonging II
to a nation could be the basis of an aspiration to community, at the local level
the question of differen c e s as predominant. In Malabar, theTiyyas had thrown
Uown the gauntlet by raising the question of the inequality between castes and
the activities of the Congress in Malabar would confine itself largely to
addressing this issue. The initial workings of nationalism, i.e. the civil
disobedience movement, in north Malabar, involved mainly members of the
Nayar tharavadus. Very often it assumed the nature of an assertion o f their
authority in the wake of the erosion of rural community occasioned by the
setting up of Tiyya temples. Congress activity helped to build a sense of
community among the Nayars, without drawing in wider sections of people and
this informed the next stage of nationalist activity.
The Congress in Malabar attempted to solve caste inequality by treating it
aslfprobjeni within religion. Earlier attempts to move away from the shared
culfare uf iheslnllles were coupled with an effort to gain entry for lower castes
into Hindu temples. The limited Tiyya ideal of a community o f equals around
temples was replaced by the idea of a wider community o f equal Hindus sans
caste difference. This vision of a Hindu community was momentary and the
'attempt to pain temple entry for lower castes was constrained hv two factors.
/First, thgftTayarleaflersof [he campaign, with theirnew found unity, transformed
/ it into a personal campaign against the authority of brahminsTlRtlitmgits scope
I and appeal. Secondly.^he political conjucture of th^P oona P a c ty ith the
colonial government necessitated the semblance of m e'unity oFldl castes
behind the Congress and the potentially divisive campaign for temple entry
was abandoned. Many Tiyvas remained Invnl in thpirtpmplpc,JuuhiUth<failure
of temple entry meant a revival of the shrines in the countryside. The fourth
chapter is concerned with tms local resolution of the themes of nationalism.
The growth o f socialist activity in Malabar refIectedT at one level. Ihe
tiationwidfiênse of discontent with the mode rate programmejfjG andhi. At
another, and more important level, it was an attempt to resolve, locally, the
Introduction 7
issue of caslc inequality and to renegotiate rural community in the aftermath

o f [he Depression. In the thirties, many of the tharavadus were adversely
"affectecTby two pieces of legislation, one allowing the partition of their
property and, the other, providing security of tenure for tenants on their lands.
Simultaneously, small cultivators who had soared on the profits of cash crops
were hrought back to earth by the slump in prices and the virtual cessation of
exports. Moreover, as more land had been converted to cultivating cash crops
10 service international demand, the tharavadus came to exercise a monopoly
over rinnlnr;iinv Tin- balance Iwitwccn independent cultivator and lliiiriiviidu
which hud existed prior to -the Depression was upseTM any of theTfiaravadus
attempfetTTO e x c rfta thrim urtm rityrand at the same time nil their coffers by
imposing feudal levies on lower-caste cultivators. A younger generation
^within the tharavadus. largely from the branches cut adrift by ^ p a r titio n of
households, and drawn towards socialism, alliecfthemselves withcultivators
. and labourers and questionedlhese excessive demands. The collective activity
of peasant unions soon began challenging the imposition of deference on lower
castes, and political initiatives were beyond the control of the leaders. In a
sense, socialist activity had initialed the challenging o f inequality in the
coumryside, and imon unions and the police were in conflict. The socialists
conceived of ^comm unity o f peasantsp s against landlords and thisTiatTScen
useful in the formation of unions. It soon became evident thatsuch a community
uould prove transicmras~casTe, class and locality pulled activity in different
directions. The fifth chapter considers theeffortsof the socialists to renegotiate
rural relations with the maintenance of an uneasy balance between peasant
union radicalism and the need for community.
At a wider levej, tharavadus still controlled wastelands, forests and wetlands,
and cultivators would have to negotiate with themTThe earlier senseof rural
community natfUSen eroded by caste activity/nationalism and the Depression.
Now ostensibly, it could only be sustained by the threat of conflict, i.e. the
ability of peasant unions to force the hand o f tharavadus. Two conjunctures
conditioned attempts to build community in the next decade. One was the
willingness of the state to use violence to support tharavadus and maintain law
and order. The other was the severe crisis o f food precipitated hy tha. WrmH
World War which underscored the dependence of cultivators on the tharavadus
The final chapter deals with the decade of tHeTortT&fwhich witnessed the limits
of rural radicalism. Unions had managed to successfully contest the excesses
of authority of the tharavadus, less by concerted activity than divergent
initiatives which added an edge o f violence to! their actions. While caste
movements and nationalism had worked within a religious idiom which
aspired towards a wider community o f equals, socialist activity had confined
its horizons and sought to check the secular authority of tharavadus. Demo
graphic pressures, the slump in cash crops, the crisis of food, and the need to
bring wastelands under the cultivation o f subsistence crops meant that the
tharavadus would be calling the shots in this decade. Fora brief period between
1942 and 1945 the communists (as in the rest of India, the socialists in Malabar
had moved to the communist party in 1939). were able lo mediate between
cultivators in need of land and tharavadus in need of compliant cultivators. The
ensis of food necessitated a conjunctural recreation of community in which
'tharavadus provided for cultivators, which had ramifications in the revival of
the shrine culture as the centre of a community of subsistence as well as of
worship. Moreover, by hamesring the land hunger of shifting cultivators, the
communists were able to create red villages formally under their c3ntTPt:
However, the pulls oithe landless, and the alacrity with which the state acted
to put down radical "acrtvity-m canFthat community could no longer be
negotiated as it had been all along. While the authority of the tharavadus could
be contested at the local level, to undermine their power required an engage
ment with the stale. Politics in north Malabar would have to look beyond
attempts to create community at the level of the locality.
1 The agrarian economy and households,
1900-1930
In 1927, Malabar was'being described by observers as a land of gardens

cultivated by prosperous small cultivators. Within a decade, the effects of the
Depression had levelled these entrepreneurs and enforced a shift towards
subsistence crops. By 1945, Malabar was in the grip of severe food shortage
und a storm was brewing over access to cultivable land. These remarkable
shifts highlight two seemingly contradictory trends within the agrarian economy.
The first was the growth of a class of small cultivators, premised on the
availability of land and the high world prices of cash crops, like coconut and
pepper. The second trend, heightened by the Depression, was the increasing
dependence of these cultivators on the large landowning tharavadus of the
region both for subsistence as well as access to land. North Malabar was a
region deficient in loodgrains, a fact which had been accentuated by the
conversion of wetlands to growing cash crops. The production of subsistence
crops like paddy came to be concentrated in the hands of a few, large
landowning tharavadus, whose granaries underpinned theirauthority. With the
development of a crisis in food supply, cultivators were forced to shift to
growing subsistence crops on the poorer margins. The control exercised by the
tharavadus over wastelands and forests introduced a further element of de
pendence,, This determined, to a considerable degree, the trajectory of rural
politics between 1900 and 1948, which evidenced a move towards confrontation
and conflict over the control of agricultural resources.
With the soaring prices for pepper and coconut in the twenties, the small
cultivator producing for the market came to the fore. This degree of integration
into the market did not necessarily mean the undermining of patronal, recip
rocal re lations bet ween large tharavadus and dependent labourers and cultivators.
Given the nature of the fluctuating profits from cash crops, determined by the
vagaries of international demand, which financed the import of rice into the
region,1 cultivators relied on the tharavadus for the provision of subsistence.
This underlay a sense of rural community, fraught with tension, in which
1 C A Inncs, Maiabar Gazvtietr (Madras, f951 First cdn 1908), 249.
9
cultivators expected that they would be provided for in a time of food crisis, and
allowed access to agricultural resources. This expectation was offset by the
ability, or the willingness, of tharavadus to dispense their obligations. The
effects of the Depression rendered negligible the profits from cash crops and
precipitated a crisis of food supply. Rural community came to be founded more
on the capability of the landowning tharavadus to provide subsistence.
This chapter looks at the economy of north Malabar in the period before the
Depression with reference to the cultivation of paddy, coconut and pepper and
the relations between landowning tliaravailtisaiukulii valors. The iiicw|inrtiim
of tharavadus in the revenue bureaucracy, their control over agricultural
resources and a near monopoly over wetland made them the focus of authority
in the villages of north Malabar. A schematic distinction is made between the
eastern, inland regions and the western,coastal regionsof Chirakkal, Kottayam
and Kurumbranad taluks. a region covering 1,668 square miles. The eastern
region was characterised by rough terrain, with dense forests to the north and
north east, which were controlled by large landowning tharavadus. Pepper was
grown on a large scale and both large landowning tharavadus as well as
pioneering cultivators were at the forefront of the expansion of cultivation into
the forests. Paddy was produced in both the eastern as well as western regions
and the control of wetlands tended to be concentrated in the hands of a few large
landowners. Shifting cultivators in the east, however, exercised a degree of
sclf-rcliancc by producing hill rice for themselves.
In the western regions, coconut was the main crop and it was exported, along
with pepper, from the port towns of Tcllicherry, Cannanore and Badagara.
Merchants, mainly Mappila Muslims, were responsible for the import of rice
to these ports to feed the regions. The towns along the coast were also the source
of casual employment and work in the factories, and credit for petty trade as
well as larger ventures. In the aftermath of the Depression, which severely
affected the prospects of employment in the towns, and a food crisis aggravated
by the Second World War, more cultivators were to become dependent on the
land. The eastern regions were to become the site of an increasing conflict
between landowners and cultivators over land resources, reaching a climax in
1948.
Nayar tharavadus and the organisation of production
Malabar was wrested by the East India Company fromTipu Sultan in 1792, but
it was not until 1806 that the Iasi flicker of resistance was quelled with the
defeat of the Pazhassi raja. Following the warfare of the late eighteenth and
early nineteenth century, pioneering Nayar tharavadus had managed to carve
The agrarian economy and households. 1900-1930 II
out areas of influence with the opening up of forests and the expansion of land
frontiers. William Logan wrote of Nayars of ability who wrested landholding
rights and attracted the great body of cultivators to agricultural production
centred on their households. However, he traced this process of the breakdown
of communal rights over land in favour of individual families to the fifteenth
century.2 The Nayar tharavadu followed malrilineal inheritance and, over
dccade s of legal rede fini Iion, was presumed to be under the ultimate management
of the eldest male known as the karanavan.3 The younger members were
cniiilctl in mainlcnancc from the income of the tharavadu from its lands. In
south Malabar, the women of dominant Nayar families entered into relation
ships with Nambudiri brahmins, but often continued to live in their own
tharavadus. The children of all such relationships were maintained by the
tharavadu of the mother. In the north, Nambudiris were fewer, as was their
i n (luence, and Na> ar women tended to live with their husbands rather than with
their own tharavadus.4 Over the nineteenth century, the legal profile of the
Nayar tharavadu was consolidated, and it came to be defined as an impartible
and co-residential unit (eventually decided by the Madras High Court in
1867).5 However, particularly in north Malabar where land was available for
colonisation and profits from pepper were high, tharavadus continued to
expand into (he interior setting up branches called tavazhis, each tracing de
scent from a female member of the parent tharavadu. Each of these branches
was allocated land on improving tenures, and they constituted the cutting edge
of the extension of cultivation.
The expansion of dominant tharavadus into the interior brought them into
contact with the shifting cultivation practised by tribal groups who produced
hill rice and pepper on the foothills. Their random, migratory cultivation was
brought under the control of Nay ar tharavadus under a system called cherikallu.
Younger members of the tharavadu were allotted an expanse of forest and, with
aManiyani tribal as supervisor, trees were cleared for the cultivation of pepper
J Malabar LandTenures Report, 1881-82 (Madras, 1882)(henceforthMLTR), I,xv. SeeK.K.N.

Kurup, Paihassi samarangat (Pazhassl revolt4) (Trivandrum, 1980).
* L. Moore. Malabar law and custom (second edn, Madras, 1900), 73. 108. In north Malabar,
Tiyyas, Mappilas and some Nambudiri brahmin families in Payyanur followed malrilineal
forms of inherilancc. See E.K. Gough and D.M. Schneider. M.itrilineal kinship (Berkeley, CA
* Genealogical data belonging to several families studied by E J . Miller suggest that for over 300
years, Nayar women o f north Malabar had been living with the households of their husbands.
E J. Miller. 'An analysis of the Hindu caste system in its interactions with the total social
structure in north Kerala (unpublished PhD dissertation. University of Cambridge, 1950),
' Moore, Malabar law and custom, 6 -8 . For a complex discussion of the structure of the
tharavadu and the process or its legal redefinition see G. Aninima, Colonialism and the
transformation of matriliny in Malabar, 1850-1940 (unpublished PhD dissertation, Univer
sity of Cambridge, 1992).
I
and hill rice.6 Every garden and acre of land in north Malabar was gi v?i< a name
regardless of whether it was unoccupied or cultivated. This constituted a
customary claim to title of. sorts and could frequently be disputed by both other
landowners and enterprising cultivators. Shifting cultivators who were not part
of the c h e r ik a lltt system changed their designation according to the name of the
tharavadu from which they had leased their land.7 Vettuvartribals worked on
the coconut plantations of Nayars and other castes and were sometimes
employed on the fields during the hiyvcst. They observed death pollution for
a period of fifteen days if working on a Nayars gardens and for ten days if on
a Nambudiris. Their identities were seen as being coterminous with that of
their landlords. However, these tribal groups could up and leave if treated
harshly, and their lack of loyalty to their masters made their names
( n a m b u v e ttu v a r ) 'synonymous with ingratitude*, according to an early ama
teur anthropologist.^ Systematic encroachment on the preserves of the tribals,
combined with the attempts at forest conservancy by the Government, had
already caused the migration of families of tribals northwards to Mysore and
Coorg. In thfrlate nineteenth century, the Conservator of Forests in Malabar
found that there were still large tracts or foothills where the local tribes and
hillmen gave neither dues nor allegiance to anyone' iind were for all intents
and purposes the owners of the soil by rights of lung and undisturbed
possession'. The Board of Revenue expressed its firm opinion that the sticky
question of the rights of tribals should not be raised,9
The growth of cash crop cultivation did not necessarily erode patronul lies
between the tharavadus and the subordinate tribal labour. Payments of rent
were made in kind and subsistence cultivation continued to be dependent on the
tharavadus for cash advances and seeds. While tribal production and tribals
were being brought under the sway of an export economy, they were also being
converted, in most cases, to the status of predial slaves. Thurston had recorded
in 1909 that in the old days, inhabitants were entered in the contract when
forests were sold and that many tribals called themselves men of'Janmis'. 10 At
llic harvest the jttiim is colletled their share til the |im d iu r ami m,untamed
* K. Madhnvan, Payawinivtule teeraltu (On the banks t*f ihe river ltn w * ini) (Trivandrum.
m 7 ) . 14.
1 p. Fawcett. The Nayars o f Malabar (Madras, IW I), IW.
1 T.K.G. Panikkar. Malabar and ill folk: a systematic description o f ihe social customs ami
institutions o f Malabar (second cdn, Madras. 1900), 162-3.
* Board o f Revenue (LR .) Proceedings. Forest no. 110 dated 7 March /<fS8 (Kozhiki*dc Re
gional Archives) (henceforth KRA); Board o f Revenue <LR. I Proceedings. Forest no. f>35
dated 30 November 1888 (KRA).
E. Thurston and K. Rangachari, Castes and tribes c f southern India, It (Madras, 1909). 452
3. The enquiries into the existence or slavery in Malabar in the early nineteenth century
revealed that even on ordinary leases o f land, Mavilan and Karimbalan tribals were sold as
part of the contract. Interviews with mukhyastans of Chericul and mukhyastans of Rondaterra,
Tellicherry and Irwanaad. PP. 1828. X XIV (125).
The iinrariot) economy arid households, 1900-1930 13
paironal relations through gifts and donations on the occasion of festivals,

particularly the harvest festival of Onam in September. This practice continued
well into the twentieth century on account of the vesting of complete rights over
forests and wastelands in the landlords, and the refusal of the Government to
consider the vexed question of the rights of tribals over the land they cultivated.
Even as late as 1938, volunteers of the Kerala Congress Socialist Party found
that Mavilan and Karimbalan tribals were bcing_spld for 10 to 15 measures of
grain as cultivators.11
Forays by tharavadus, to expand cultivation into forests and wastelands,
often created conflict over territories. Dominant tharavadus in the same region
were usually in a permanent state of feuding (kudipaga)- over territory, water
and labour- and some of these feuds were resolved through marriage alliances.
U is significant that precisely those families which were involved in kudipaga
were the ones which tended to cement their truces through marriage. Since the
property of mairilincal tharavadus passed through the women, a strategic
marriage could bring with it the property in dispute. Madhavan recollects that
many of theconflicts over land between his own powerful household Ecchikanam
and the neighbouring Kodom were settled by such methods.12 Alliances could
cut across the boundaries of villages, and territorial divisions were covered
with webs of property and kinship, The formation of branches of a lharavadu
either as a result of internal dissensions or as the cutting edge of cultivation in
far-flung areas created filiations of a ritual kind. Those who were members of
the parent lharavadu were said to be connected by mudat sambandham
(community of property) while those who had formed branches were related to
each other and lo ihe parent body through pula sambandham (community of
pollution). The latter'm eant lhat the death of any member of the parent
lharavadu would necessitate the members of the branches to keep fasts and
observe the period of death pollution.13 Several families in ihe eastern villages
grew powerful in this way, aided by the availability of land which allowed ils
massing in huge blocks. Kalliattu Chathukutty Nambiar, one of the largest
landholders in north Malabar, held over 30,000 acres of land in easlcm
( 'liirakkal. The iliaravadiis of Karnkkalitalliil and Kalliattu which were related
through marriage owned 17,000 acres of ihe 20,000 or so acres of forest in the
revenue division of Kallyad.1,1 The degree of control exercised by such land
lords, in ihe veritable little kingdoms they managed lo establish, gained fur
them the popular epithet of katiu rajakkantnar or the kings of the forest.
Many large tharavadus built up informal empires, by subordinating tribal
11 Prabhail.am, 14 November 1938

UK. Madhavan, Payaswintyude teerattu, 18
11 Moore, Malabar law and custom. 4
14Malabar Tenancy Committee Report, 1927 (Madras, 1928) (henceforth MTCR. 1927), II.
Appendix 11; Settlement register o f the amiam o f Kallyad (Calicut, 1904).
labour in the forests and through judicious alliances with other powerful
tharavadus. Their authority was further buttressed by the control over agricul
tural resources vested in them by the state. That the landlords in Malabar
possessed absolute rights in the soil was recognised as early as 1807. The Board
of Revenue had maintained in 1818 that the janm i possessed a property in the
soil more absolute than even that of the landlord in Europe'1In 1916, in the
landmark Olappamanacase, the Madras High Court decreed that the ownership
of non-lidal and non-navigable rivers was lo be vested in the owners of the
banks on either side of ihc riv e r 16The shorl distance between Ihe hills and the
western coasl made Ihe courses of rivers brief mid therefore difficult to harness
for irrigation. Cultivators bccamc dependent on landowners even for watering
their crops. Despite the court ruling, actual control over water resources
required negotiation with the use of muscle power. Pitched battles between the
retainers of rival landlords were common as also the erection of bunds to dam
off the flow of water to other fields. The Collector of Malabar observed in some
despair that the decision in the Olappamana ease meant that there was nothing
to prevent the riparian janm i from reclaiming, damming or diverting rivers at
pleasure'.17
Control over the ancillaries of agriculture did not necessarily mean that
landlords were able to liberate themselves from the bonds of community and
customs. Rights were constantly being contested with other landholders as well
us recalcitrant tenants who refused to forgo their customary interests in the
land. Control over people still mattered more than control over land. The
necessity o f attracting and keeping agriculturists meant that a landlord never
really could exercise monopoly rights. Independent cultivators occupying
wasteland were either encouraged or evicted; violence characterised agrarian
relations and necessitated the creation of blocks oftandlords and their retainers.
An early report stated baldly that once a person had got possession o f land it
was difficult to turn him out again except by force of arm s'.18 Well inlo Ihe
twentieth century, village officials sometimes had to resort to murdering
squatters lo regain possession of fields.19 Control over agricultural resources
"B oard o f Revenue Proceedings, vol. 2537 dated 3 January /<(/; Thomas Warden, Report on
the Land Tenures in Malabar. 12 September 1815 (Caltcut, 19 tO). paras. 3-8. See also, T.C.
Varghese, Agrarian change and economic consequences: land tenures in Kerala, 1850-1960
(Calcutta, 1970), 20-2,53-5T . .
'*Revenue Department G.O 2564 dated 9 December 1929 (India Office Library and Records)
(henceforth IOL).
Revenue Department C .0 .2425 dated 23 November 1921 (IOL); The Board of Revenue was
forced to recognite lhal unless they could lay stress on the fa d that the rights o f a landlord in
Malabar were not more extensive than (hose of a ryotwari proprietor, the position of Ihc
Government was 'hopeless1. Revenue R.Dis. 6525/20 dated 18 September 1920 (KRA).
"W illiam Thackeray. A Report on the revenue affairs o f Malabar and Canara dated 7 September
1807 (Calicut. 1911), 6 .
Repart on the administration o f the Police Department o f the Madras Presidency (henceforth
. RAPMP), 1936, 15. On 21 February 1932, A.C. Kannan Nayar, a landlord from Hosdrug,
The agrarian economy and households, 1900-1930 IS
had lo be negotiated and rights granted by the law were blunted by local
circumstance,
The possibility of migration gave cultivators a relative degree o f indepen
dence and blunted, to an extent, the authority exercised by large landowners.
In 1931, we find Kannan Nayar recording in his diary that sixteen Cherumas
had migrated from the neighbouring village to bis lands, because they were
unable to bear the oppression o f their jan m is'2 0 Availability of land and a
shortage o f labour meant that agricultural wages in the interior continued to be
high as late as 1930. Short-term migrants from Malabar provided most of the
labour for the plantations in Coorg lo the north.21 After cultivating the fields
before the onset of the monsoons in July-August, labourers would leave for the
plantations, returning home just before the harvest in September. Those with
single crop lands worked on the plantations for five or six months a year. In the
two decades before the Depression, there was a considerable outflow of
emigrants to the tea estates in Ceylon and rubber plantations in Malaya.2^ By
the mid twenties, Ceylon had reached the saturation point for Indian labour and
in 1931. with the depression in the rubber trade, recruitment to Malaya was
completely stopped.23 Thus, by 1930, the alternative of emigration had virtu
ally ceased. With the unfavourable ratio of labour to land in the aftermath of
the Depression, the authority exercised by tharavadus was to increase. How
ever, many of the lower caste emigrants who returned to M alabar found
tlvemselves at odds with local authority and notions of hierarchy. Their
experience of anonymity and, Iherefore, a degree of equality, in the countries
where they had worked underlay theirpamphleteeringagainstcaste restrictions.
A pamphlet of 1927 spoke of the 'absence of caste in Singapore, Penang, and
even in savage Africa.2-*
The authority of the tharavadu
Migration and the independence afforded by the cultivation of cash crops

meant that tharavadus cou Id not exercise absolu te contra 1over their tenants and
labourers. In the last instance, however, their control over wastelands, water
recorded in his diary Ihe shooting dead of a member of his lharavadu in a dispute over land.
Diaries o f A.C. Kannan Nayar. Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (henceforth NMML).
* Diaries o f Kannan Nayar, 25 October 1931; see also entry for 19 M uch 1938.
:i Census o f India, 1911, XII, Madras, p a n I, Report. 27.
Most of the emigrants lo Ceylon were untouchables and about 10,000 Parayans had emigrated
between 1900 and 1921. Census o f India, 1921. XIII. Madras, part I, Report. 49 .
J'tn 1926, 10,572 persons emigrated from Malabar to the Straits Settlements and Malaya. In
1931. Ihe number had dropped to 2,807. Public Works and Labour Dept. C.O. 1257 L dated
7 May 1931 (IOL).
J*K.S. Narayanan, Teendalvairi (Against untouchability) (Calicut, J927), verses 43-5.
16 Caste, nationalism und communism in south India
and granaries was lo increase th eir authority. Tharavadus formed Ihe foci o f
settlement in north Malabar on account of the rough terrain which enforced
scattered occupation. Authority was exercised by individual tharavadus over
those who held land from it, laboured on its fields and performed specialised
services. Whereas ihe Nayar tharavadus exercised powers of arbitration over
in ferio rs, there was no local authority above them capable o f regulating their
relation with their In ferio rs.25
The incorporation of heads of tharavadus in the lower echelons of the
revenue bureaucracy further fcxtendcd their authority. This was done partly
because of the exigencies of the situation arising after pensioning off the rajas
in 1801. The Joint Commissioners appointed to took into the conditions in the
newly acquired region observed that Ihese lesser rajas, orheads of tharavadus,
possessed in their different districts the same rights as lo justice and revenue
which the rajas hail themselves and were totally exempted from tribute.26 In
1822, H.S. Graeme organised the district into revenue divisions called amsams
which were further subdivided into desams. A hereditary official called the
adhikari was made responsible for the collection of revenue from the amsams,
and he was chosen from an influential landholding family, usually one
dominating several desams!27This had profound implications since settlement
tended to be clustered around powerful tharavadus particularly in he eastern
region. The revenue division in most cases came lo be congruent with the
sphere of influence of a family. In 1896. when ihe government escheated the
Kannoth lands in Chirakkal it was found that ihe enitrcdesam of Kannothumchala
had belonged lo one Kannoth Kelappan, the head of the now extinct family.28
Regulation XI of 1816 had placed the village police under the heads of villages,
adding on the coercive powers of the stale to the traditional authority of the
adhikari. There were complaints late into the nineteenth century that the
adhikaris were a law unto themselves and rarely, if ever, reported offences to
magistrates, preferring instead toexercise theirown authority 29 Moreover, by
the mid 1880s, it became one of the cardinal principles of police recruitment
that lower castcs were lo bechosen only where other recruils were unobtainable.
tnMiilabar, Nayars came lo comprise Iwo-lliirdMil'thccnnsiiituilaiy by 1920.
As the younger sons from prominent tharavadus went in for education and
jobs in the colonial bureaucracy, local influence came to be buttressed by extra
j.p . Mcncher, Kerala and Madras: a comparative study of ecology and social structure'.
Ethnology, 5.2 (1 9 5 6 ), 135-71.
JW.G. Farmer lo Taylor. October 1792, quoted by B.S.W. Swai, The Brinsh in Malabar. 1792-
1806 (unpublished D Phil dissertation. University of Sussex. 1975). 146.
William Logan, Malabar Manual, t (3 volumes, London, 1887). 89; Report nn Ihr revenue
administration o f Malabar dated 14 January IH22 (Calicut, 1898), 4
KevenurR. Dis. IfiTJRev IN</6 dated 25 January IXV<i (KRA).
*[)R Magisterial I22.M/GL dated II March IH9I (KRA).
1,1 David Arnold, Police power and colonial rule. Madras. /S59-/V47 (Delhi, 19156). 4 1
The librarian economy and households, 1900-1930 17
local authority. In 1899, members of the Legislative Council pointed out in

debates over the passing of ihe compensation for tenants' improvements bill
that the 'illiberal treatment o f tenants could be attributed to the fact that the
District Munsifs were nearly all of them junior members of tharavadus. A
Nayar inebriated with Western education and the progress made under
British rule observed at the beginning of this century that society was now
under the guidance of 'that marvellous piece' df~legi$lation, the IPC [Indian
Penal Code I.31However, at the level of the amsam the long arm o f the law was
a wooden one and the adhikaris held the strings. As late as 1950, the erstwhile
revenue divisions were held together by the allegiance to formerly powerful
families and the selection of adhikaris from these families.32
The influence of a landowning tharavadu was not restricted only to the
desam in which it was physically situated. Many of Ihe largest landholders
owned land in several desams which were at times managed by its branches.
For their tenants, in such cases, it was not so much the fact of the land which
they occupied being in a particular area, but their relation with the tharavadu
which was of prime importance When Ihe first settlement operations were
undertaken in Malabar, it was found that the five wealthiest janm is held lands
in 149 desams,33 Rural political activity in the late thirties was facilitated by
this as the resentment towards one landowner necessarily had a significani
geographical spread.
Rural settlement tended to be centred on a Nayar or Tiyya tharavadu and the
lands and labourers it commanded. More specifically, the word tharavadu also
meant the family house; the land where the ashes of the ancestors lay (which
was usually within the compound of the house).34 It incorporated both the
immediate members of the tharavadu as well as labourers working on its lands
who were identified with the tharavadu they worked for. Around each major
tharavadu there were families of service castes - oil pressers, washer people,
potters and barbers - who held hereditary rights and privileges in the produce
as well as the family p/td local shrine.35 In 1901, the settlement register for
Kuriveltur amsam recorded nine oil pressers (Vnniyiins), ten washermen
(Vannuii/Mammn), two weavers iCImliyun), eight shrine priests and oracles
(Komaram/Velichapad), four astrologers (Kanisans), two barbers for castes
below Nayars (Kavutiyan) and two traditional teachers (Panikkar/Vadhyar),who
held land from shrines managed by dominant Nayarlharavadus,36Traditionally,
11 Pamkkar, Malabar and us folk, 266

,:E.J Miller, Village structure in north Kerala' inM.N.Srinivased../rt</io'jWMajjfj(Bombay,
I960), 49.
K>Revenue Dept. G.O 477 dated 22 December 1904 (IOL), 17.

M-awccit, The Nnyars o f Miilalmr, !J9.
" E K . Gough, 'Changing kinship usages in the setting of political and economic change among
the Nayars of Malabar, Journal o f the Royal Anthropological Institute, 82. I (1952), 72.
Settlement Register fo r Kariveltur amsam, Chirakkal taluk (Calicut, 1904)

IK Caste, nationalism and communism m south India
Nayar tharavadus had charged a tax called kitdicillara which was collected on
the implements of the profession of the potters, blacksmiths and the like.17
Within a village, Mappilas too shared a right in the services of artisans and
other lower castes and the occupations of these latter groups reflected more a
secular, community obligation rather than their position within a religious
framework of responsibilities towards Nayar tharavadus alone. Some o f the
dominant Nayar tharavadus had Tiyya retainers called atliyans who rendered
service in personal quarrels, acted as the private armies of landlords, and
policed" the castes below them lo prevent any infringement of caslc mores.-18
The tharavadu in north Malabar Ivtuled lo he more paternalistic and had ihe
authority to settle civil disputes as well as conflicts between the castes clustered
around them unlike south Malabar where assemblies constituted by several
Nayar tharavadus were more powerful,59 In some parts of Chirakka! and
Kottayam where the Tiyyas were in a majority, dominant Tiyya tharavadus,
whose control extended over three or four revenue divisions, exercised powers
o f civil jurisdiction. The four major Nayar or Tiyya families in a region
decided on questions of caste precedence and petty quarrels and imposed
traditional punishments like the stopping of (he services of the washer people,
preventing an individual orgroupfrom participating in community ceremonies
or imposing the ultimate sanction of excofnmunicalion. When a branch of a
dominant tharavadu was set up in another region, it would sometimes assume
rights of caste jurisdiction over the inhabitants ol that region .'w*Where a Nayar
tharavadu was more powerful, the headman of the Tiyya caste assembly
(ihandan) acted as the intermediary between his community and the ultimate
appellate authority of the Nayar. The prominent Nayar yajamunan families,
particularly those in Kottayam, decided disputes among their Mappila tenants
as well and as a measure o f their patronage donated rice to the local mosque.
Miller records an interesting incident from 1937 when a group of Mappilas
decided to become Ahmadiyyas. The yajamanan refused to accept gifts from
them (which necessarily involved the concomitant denial o f patronage to the
heretic body) and rescinded the right to use the common Muslim burial
ground.41 As yet, in the early decades of this century, the secular authority of
the tharavadu over a region was not seen as detrimental to the influence
exercised by the mosque and Mappila ulemas. Religious difference seemed to
count for little. In Tellicherry, the Muthur tharavadu had four tavazhis; all the
descendants of one had converted'to Islam. The karanavan of the branch was
Logan, Malabar Manual, II, Appendix XIII, clxviii-xix, cxcviii.

A. Aiyappan, travasand culture change (Madras, 1944), 49: Miller. Village structure in north
Kerala", 50.
WE J. Miller. An analysis of the Hindu caste system1. 121-2.
"M anuscript of unfinished autobiography of Murkkoth Kumaran (1937) (In author's posses
sion).
11 Miller. An analysis of the Hindu caste system. 158-9
The agrarian economy and households, 1900-1930 19
a Hindu and the lharavadu conlinucd to function as before without any censure
of llic M vttzhi4-
The authority exercised by tharavadus was also manifested in the degree of
restrictions placed on the movement, dress and speech of lower caste tenants
and labourers. Significantly, such restraints fell more heavily on the backs of
those working on a iharavadu's wetlands, mainly Cherumas and Pulayas, and
those dependent on it for lands or sustenance. It was not so much the operation
of an abstract set of caste rules which is evident in the restrictions but the fact
(hat deference was embedded in quotidian routines of spcech, dress and
manner. It was in ihe p n u tic c of certain actions and modes of behaviour within
a specific situation, i.e. the interaction between high and low castes, that the
relations of power were emphasised. The enforced repetition o f gestures and
of speech forms sought to make seem natural what was arbitrary and imposed.
Lower caste agricultural labourers were expected to keep a certain distance
from upper castes, as Pulayas and Cherumas were believed to pollute from
a distance. In 1929, Congress activists took up the cause o f Pulaya labourers
tn Pappinisseri and Kalliasseri villages, who were not allowed to use the
narrow paths between fields when a Nayar was walking on them. Some o f the
Pulayas had to backtrack a distance of two to three furlongs to give way to
higher castes so that they would not have to step into the marshy fields.43 Other
restrictions provide an arbitrary and wide-ranging list. Tenants were not
allowed lo tile their roofs and had lo be content with thatched ones. In parts of
Chirakkal, every lower caste labourer's hut had to have a chair for the local
landlord when he visited, an event as rare as would, otherwise, have been the
presence of a chair in a hut. Different castes had to calltheir houses by different
names; Parayas called theirs cheri, Cherumas called theirs chala and the artisan
castes, pura. In speaking with a person of higher caste, therefore, these castes
had to use debasing terms about themselves and all that was associated with
them. It was made evident in the way people dressed whether they belonged to
the upper or lower castes. Nayar landlords wore silk waistcloths (mundus)
reaching their ankles. Artisans, washermen and the like wore them reaching
midway between the ankle and the knees and the lowest castes wore them
above the knee. Kanakkans shaved their hqads clean, Pulayas and Cherumas
retained frontal tufts of hair, Nayars grew their hair long and tied it in a knot
on the side of the head. While walking on the road, lower castes had to take off
their head cloths in the presence o f Nayars or Nambudiris. Nayars and
Nambudiris had to be addressed in an elaborate manner. The headcloth had to
be taken off, tucked under the armpit and with one hand covering the mouth and
eyes fixed on the ground a lower caste would make the sound R-r-a-n (a
shortening of thampuran or lord). Each caste addressed a Nayar differently;
Hamid All. Custom and law in Anglo-Muslim jurisprudence (Calcutta, 1938), 50.
11Mathrubhumi, 26 November 1929.
20 Caste, naitonalism and communism in south India
Tiyyas as yaxhamanan, Vaniyars (oil pressers) and Vannans (washermen) as

nay ana r and Malayan iribals and the lowest castes as ihampu ran.44 Adherence
to such 'rules was the only means of telling people apart, a breach of rules often
served as a disguise. As early as 1822, it was observed that slaves escaping from
Malabar to Coorg disguised themselves by putting on a larger quantity of
clothing and altering their headdress.45
The maintenance of marks of subordination did not necessarily lead to an
internalisation of feelings of low/iess. Explanations which seek to link a lower-
caste world view of acceptance of inequality with textual concepts of karma or
the station of people within a structured hierarchy overplay the aspect of
consensus within society.46 Moreover, they presume an almost unmediatcd
dissemination and acceptance o f ideas of acquiescent subordination. Eric
Miller, who conducted his field work in Malabar in the late 1940s, found that
ideas such as karma ^nd its relation to cycles of life were familiar only to those
informants who belonged to the upper castes and had a knowledge of all
Indian Hinduism.47 There does not seem to have been an unquestioning
acccptancc, by lower castes, of prescribed modes o f behaviour. In 1800,
B uchanan recorded that Nayars would cut down lower-caste men who ventured
on lo the main road, which seems lo indicate less a consensus than something
maintained by force.48 In 1901, Fawcett wrote about aT iyya tenant who was
murdered by his N,iyar landlord when the former refused to present some
sweets as token of his allegiance.49 Genuflection and self abasement were
extorted as much by the use of power as they came to be, if at all, instilled as
habit. Dumont with his model of consensual hierarchy was hard put to explain
the necessity for force in Kerala. He therefore maintained that the situation here
was a contradiction o f the hierarchical principle because what should have
been admitted as custom had lo be imposed by power.50
However, lo understand relations between tharavadus and their cultivators,
particularly in the context of subsequent political mobilisation we need lo look
at the idea o f deference. Authority, and its acceptance, was rooted not solely
in cultural constructs, but was born out of the sense of an occupational
u Written evidence of T. Chathu, Schoolmaster, Badagara, MTCR, IV27, II. 346-7; Madhavan,
Payaswinhudeleenitiu, \S-2T, Logan. Malabar Manual, I Ki.lnncs. Malabar Gazelieer, 143:
Panikkar, Malabar and Us fo lk, 156,
* Extract from Mr Graeme's report on Malabar, 14 January 1822. PP IH2H, XXIV [125). 920
Kathleen Gough sees the Brahmins as the sublleclaborators of the unequal social structure who
ihcn reconciled the lower orders to their existence by instilling a belief in notions of karma,
dharma. and the like. E. Kathleen Gough, Rural society in south east India (Cambridge, 1981),
26-7. See also M. Moffall, An untouchable community in South India (Princeton. NJ, 1979)
'M iller, 'An analysis of the Hindu caste system', 140
"Q uoted in Fawcett, The Nayars c f Malabar, 254,
"Ib id ., 311.
*'L, Dumont. Homo Hierarchicus: ihe caste system and its implications, trans. Murk Sains,mry
el ill (Chicago. 1L, I9B0), 82,
The agrarian economy and households, 1900-1930 2!
community consisiing of landowners and cultivators. Many of the younger

members of tharavadus were involved in the actual work of cultivation, while
the older men and women were either employed in supervisory functions oral
various stages in the harvest. Moyyarath Sankaran, who was from one of the
larger tharavadus in north Malabar, recalled how his mother used to winnow
during harvests and his grandmother transplanted and tied haystacks in her
time.51Younger men worked alongside houschold-labourers on the fields, and
led forays to divert water supplies or lay claim over disputed land. The degree
of interaction between tharavadus and cultivators was extensive, and there may
have been less of a feeling of us apd them. At the end of a working day, and
more often on the occasion of festivals, the men of all castes would gather at
the local toddy shop and experience a temporary camaraderie with their
workmates. This is not lo posit an Arcadia where master and servant lived as
equals. Precisely because of everyday association at work, the maintenance of '
the deferential demeanour of cultivators was important. Personal contact
produced familiarity but also allowed for the passing of strictures on unusual,
or unacceptable behaviour. Moreover, charily and indulgences, marking the
benevolence of ihe superior, were as much part of this quotidian interaction as
Ihc regulating of the behaviour of lower castes. Deference emerged out of and
was maintained by the nature of work relations. This mix of uneasy intimacy
and formal hierarchy was accentuated by the dependence of labourers on the
tharavadu for subsisicnee wilhin an agrarian economy short of foodgrnins.
Rural agitation in Ihc 1930s would define deferential behaviour as an arbitrary
imposition by upper castes, but (he initial leadership came from the tharavadus.
The economy or pepper and coconut
The economy of Malabar has hitherto been depicied in gloomy terms and a
characteristic evaluation has it lhat the peasantry in Malabar . . . lived and
worked in conditions o f exiiemc penury entailed hy ihe twin exactions of lord
and state.52 Such judgements stem from a model of the economy, which is
more concerned to explain that favourite conundrum of historians of Malabar:
who are the Mappilas and why do they rebel? Even though the agitations in the
nineteenth century o f the Mappila peasantry and the final upsurge in 19 2 1 have
been provided with ideological underpinnings, the consensus seems to be that
these outbreaks had predominantly agrarian origins. Despite Ihe fact lhat the
*
' Moyyaralh Sankaran, Ente jivithakalha (An autobiography) (Calicut, 1965). 205
Pamkkar, Against lord and stole, 48. For characteristic statements see also K .P. Kannun. O f
rural proletarian struggles: mobilisation and organisation o f rural workers in south writ
India (Delhi, 19881 and Varghcse. Agrarian change and economic consequences
22 Caste, nationalism and com m unism in south India
Mappila outbreaks were restricted to three of the eight taluks of Malabar, and
that too in the south, this has not prevented a tendentious extrapolation for th e
economy or Malabar as a whole. Rack renting, insecurity of tenure, evictions,
the British policy of pauperizing the peasantry' through exorbitant revenue
demands and a stagnant wetland economy which led cultivators to cultivate
cash crops out of desperation; these are the broad outlines of the picture.
Kannan goes so far as to state that the major characteristic of the economy till
the Depression was a majority of landless labourers attached to their mas
ters.51
This set Iion willclaluiralciidilicicnl approach winch does not sec uilti v.ilms
as trapped within a torpid economy and at the mercy of big landlords. The main
theme will be that of commercialized agriculture, fuelled by international
demand, in which small cultivators participated willingly, und to their profit.
It was this eagerness to cultivate pepper and coconuts for an export market, and
the shift away from subsistence cultivation which was to highlight the latent
flaw in the nature of the agrarian economy: Malabar did not produce sufficient
paddy to feed itself. Thus, instead of a tale of consistent poverty within a
subsistence economy, we have the picture of fragile affluence created by a cash
crop economy. Seen in this light Malabar does not seem to he an anomaly
within the larger south Indian economy, for which recent work suggests that the
region should be seen as one characterised by independent market-oriented
small farmers rather than of agrarian dependents under the sway of rural
magnates.54 Moreover, we need to revise the picture of the cultivator dulled by
the revenue exactions of the state into an inability to innovate or respond to the
lure of the export market. As Washbrook has shown, the proportion of total
revenues represented by land revenue dropped by over half in the period
between 1880 and 1920 Jn addition, unreal property revolution may have been
occasioned by the fact that the weight of land revenue in relation to the value
of agricultural produce may have declined by as much as two-thirds in the same
period.55
The first settlement report of Malabar, completed in 1904, found that
jungles and hills occupied more than half the classified area. Practically all of
"Kannan, Rural proletarian struggles, 48-9.

Sec David Luddcn. Peasant hutory in south India (Princeton NJ. 1985), ch.5 and Productive
power in agriculture: a survey oT work'on the local history oT British India' in M. Dcsai, S.H
Rudolph and A. Rudra eds.. Agrarian power and agricultural producm ily in south Asia
(Delhi, 1984), 51-99. B. Robert, in 'Economic change and agrarian reorganisation in "dry
south India, 1890-1940: a reinlerpretalion', Modern Asian Studies, 17, I (1983), 59-78 offers
a comprehensive critique of Washbrook's formulation overplaying the role Df big landlords as
the sole movers of the economy. See D. A. Washbrook. Country politics: Madras. 1880-1930.
Modem Asian Studies, 7. 3 ( 1973), 475-531.
,JD.A. Washbrook, The emergence o f provincial politics: the Madras Presidency. 1870-1920
(Cambridge, 1976), 50-2 and Law, stale and agrarian society in colonial India,' in G. Johnson
el al. eds.. Power, profit and politics (Cambridge, 1981), 677-9,
The uxrtirum et tintm y <mil households, 1900-1930 23
these, and the wastelands, were under the control of landowners and only 5,000
acres were available to the government, for any schemes it wished to imple
ment 56 The region was badly off for roads, and at the beginning of the century
the north east was inaccessible except on foot, making (he enforcement o f law
and order by the government a problem. Kottayam had been opened up only at
the turn of the nineteenth century when the East India Company had driven
roads through the intractable terrain during its campaigns against the rebellious
raja of Pazhussi.-'7 Communications and trade utilised the rivers and streams,
and boats were the only means o f transport from Chirakkal northwards to
Kasngodc m south Kanara. Trade along the rivers was mainly in the hands of
Mapptlas, who. though they were concentratcd in the port towns, had major
settlements in Irikkur and Valapattanam to the interior, on th banks of
navigable rivers.
The boom in world prices for pepper in the twenties underlay the prosperity
of the few, large tharavadus with plantations and of small entrepreneurial
cultivators. However, two significant factors conditioned the profits accruing
from exports of pepper. Malabar was a secondary supplier to the world market
and prices were determined, in the last instance, by the availability or failure
of crops from the plantations in south-east Asia. Secondly, Malabar could not
a v ail itself of the economics of scale that these plantations possessed since
cultivation was largely in the hands of small cultivators. While this allowed
flexible responses to fluctuations in world demand, in the long run, Malabar
pepper was relegated to the sidelines.
In the years before the Depression there was a spurt in land colonisation,
particularly in Kottayam where the wastelands and forests to the north-easi
were cncroached upon.58 The availability ofland and the necessity of ensuring
that there was a constant production for the market gave a particular character
to the tenures on the frontiers. In the eastern desams of Chirakkal, wasteland
was given on improving tenures or kuzhikanam for periods ranging from forty
to ninety-six years.59 In real terms this meant that the cultivators would not be
uprooted from their plots; what was required in a period of profits was that there
should be no hindrance to the extension of cropping. Deforestation and the
expansion of cultivation were going on dven in the second decade o f the
twentieth century when pepper prices were at theirhighcst; new clearings were
opened up in the forested hillocks of Chirakkal and Kottayam. The line of
''Hrvenue Dept. C.O. 477 dated 22 December 1904 (IOL), 11.

"Innes, Malabar Gazetteer, 268-9.
"T he average increase in culii vated area Tor Malabar was 37.5 per cent between the years 1911-
SI. The figures for the period 1913-30 were Chirakkal-30.t percent; Kottayam-50.06 per
cent; Kurumbranad34,27 percent. Varghese, Agrarian change and economic consequences,
123; Statistical atlas o f Malabarfo r the decennium 1920-30 (Calicut, 1933).
''Note of visit by the President and others to M allanurdesam, 14 October 1927 MTCR, 1927
1. 140,
I
24 Casle. nationalism and comm unism in .south India
expansion followed the major routes of communication, like the road leading
from Tellicherry to Coorg, and pushed into the forested territory on either
side.60 Smaller cultivators, responding to the soaring prices of pepper, were
responsible for this thrust forward. Landlords made large sums of money
yearly by leasing out areas from the unsurveyed parts of their forests for
cultivation.61
At times, tenants took a large plot of dry land on lease along with garden land
to make what they could from cultivation of pepper, plantains, coconuts and
other cash crops. In small, overqrowded plots, pepper vines were trained on
standing arcca or coconut trees and plantains were grown to provide shade for
the new vines. In Kottayam and Chirakkal, pepper was the chief commercial
crop, occupying about 18 per cent and 14 percent respectively of the cultivated
area in I925.fl2 On the larger plantations the Nayar tharavadus bore the
expenses of cultivation. The smaller growers, who were in the majority,
borrowed money from the agents of the Mappila traders on the coast. The crop
was the security offered and it was usually sold to the agents at less than the
market rales at least a year before it had formed/'-1 Since the landlord had to be
paid a fifth of (he gross produce and the rest of the crop was usually pledged
to a merchant, smull cultivators made huge profits only when there were swings
in the world prices of pepper to their advantage. Mappila traders were the
crucial nexus betwec i production and the market and even the larger Nayar
tharavadus depended on (hem for selling their produce. Merchants or their
agents visited the hamlets lying near important market towns regularly and
purchased paddy. ifoconut and1 pepper directly from the cultivators.
Srikandapuram, in north-east Chirakkal, had a large bazaar where the produce
of the hill cultivation was collected, and sent down the river to Tellicherry for
export. Tellicherry was the terminus of feeder roads, from the interior to the
railway and to its port, from where the whole of the pepper crop from Chirakkal
and Koliayam was exported.
The warfare of the late eighteenth century had resulted in the large scale
destruction of vines nnd reduced the production of pepper by almost half. By
the lime Malabar henimc pari of the Madras Presidency, the golden days of
the pepper trade were over', and in 18(K) only Hper cent ol ilic |iep|H;r produced
in the East was grown here whereas Sumatra alone produced more than 50 per
cent w However, by 1836, the 'peculiarly indulgent system of land revenue,
-R evenue R.Dh.I2A/IVM )dated 5 March /WO(KRA) 26

**Revenue Dept,G.O,477 tinted 22 December 1904 (IOL). II.
Revenue H Dts.l2A/l9.10 timed 5 March 1930 (KRA), Appcndi* VI,
*' Written cvidenee ofChellarian Karuvan, Member. District Board. Madrat Provincial Banking
Enquiry CnmmiMion. TO0-31 (henceforth MPBEC). II 19.1; letlerufN.MacMichael.Special
Settlement Officer. Malabar. Proceedings n f the Hoard a/Revenue 477 dated 22 December
/W W tlO I.). 21).
MFrancis, Buchanan. A journey fram Madras through the countries o f Mysore. Catiara and
whereby the wastelands of the interior were not as heavily assessed as the lands
near the coast, had allowed the extension of pepper cultivation to the forests,
and restored export levels to the heights of the mid eighteenth century.65
Although growing pepper was highly profitable, it was not classified as
garden producc and, therefore, charged a lower rate of assessment. This
meant that wel I into the twentieth century a large part of the cultivation was still
being carried on by tenants who took improvement leases on jungle land at the
foothills of the Western Ghats.66 ~ -
Until the Depression, the pressure of demand from European markets and
the fluctuations in supply from the Malay Peninsula and the Straits Settlements
were to determine the price of pepper. Pepper vines, once planted, started to
bear only in three to four years. This made cultivation a risky business as there
was no guarantee of a steady demand over such a long period. For example, in
1905-06, a bumper crop in Malabar coupled with a poor one in the Straits
Settlements and Java saw exports to Germany, Italy and the USA touch Rs. 35
lakhs. The very next year as a result of overstocked markets in Europe and the
indiscriminate plantation ofinfcrtile vines in Malabar, exports to these countries
fell by 66 per cent.67 Till the beginning of the war in 1914, there had been an
artificial spurt in demand due to the activities of speculators, but through the
war there was a steady decrease in exports. The period between 1925 and 1929
again saw a rise in the exports of pepper as a result of a failure of crops in the
East Indies. If we assume abase price of Rs. lOO percwlof pepper in 1900-01,
by 1928 prices had rocketed to Rs. 274.78 per cwt. This sparked off a manic ,
renovation, by small cultivators, of old pepper gardens and the planting of new .
ones all over north Malabar.68 The enthusiastic response of cultivators is
reflected in the extent of land under the cultivation of pepper which rose from
23,857 acres in 1903 to 111,057 acres in I92$.69 From the early thirties, the
effects of the Depression combined with increasing competition from planta
tions in south-east Asia, led to a steady decline in demand from Europe. By
1935, Italy had become the only country which continued to import pepper
Maiahar, II (London. 1B07. 3 volumes), 531, Pamclu Nightingale, Trade and empire in
western India. I7H4 IHIKt (C'imi>IwiiIj,i\ |<)7(I1 HI
h1 rlrmciilMm, A Urpm I tut Rci-enne tint/ rtht't m nil t.\ t titlii t'tl t'rl with Mtthtlnir tltlh'tl J l
December /tf.M(Calicul. 19 lb), H; Sullivan, Report mi Ihe Provinces o f Malabar and Cttnara.
IS4I (Calicut, 1911). 2
Revenue R Dis I2 A / W O ,fated 5 March K R A ) 6.1.
1,1Revieu o f the sen hom e trade o f the Madras Presidency (henceforth RSTMP), (90S 06, 16
1906-07, 16.
RSTMP, 1916-26. Report ttflhe operations r f the department o f agriculture in the Madras
Presidency (hcntcforth RDAMP). 1928 RSTMP. 1930-31 Report on the Working o f the
Department o f Industry in the Madras President v (henceforth RDIMP), 1932-33, 10.
Rciurn of agricultural Mausiics for the year 18 9 1-92, Public Dept. Madras Hoard o f Revenue
(R.S., L R . tm dA ) Proceedings tw, M 5 dated 2 i A p ril/AW (Tamil Nadu ArchivcsHhcncefonh
T N A ). Season ttntl Crop Rt port o f die Madras President v (Iwncefof Ih SCRMP 1,1902 -03,1920-
I I , 1927 28
from Malabar.70 From the mid thirties, Ihc sm all cu ltiv a to rs who hail spear
headed ihc p e p p er b o o m would b e forced lo sh ift lo the cultivation o f
subsistence crops. They were to become dependent on the large tharavadus, as
cultivation expanded into the poorer margins.
Coconut was the main cash crop in the gardens along the wesi. largely
because the palm grew best on sandy soils All along Ihe western coast, land
revenue was paid from the sales of coconut crops between January and May.
The coconut palm needed lo be tended and manured for the first ten years afler
which with a minimum of maintenance it would continue lo bear for another
forty years. This left individual cultivators with ih e lime to en g ag e in petty
trade or pursue a variety o f occupations like toddy tapping, making coir, and
manufacturing oil from copra involving their crop. When women were not
employed on Ihe fields, they would lake coir lo the market and barter it for rice,
chillies and other necessities. Tiyyas, Mappilas and Vciiuvans along the coast
engaged in making coir ropes and mats for the market, and some banks were
willing lo lend money on the mortgage of coir yam .71 Tenants on improving
leases, unlike their eastern counterparts, were not dependent on ihe profits from
the sale of their crop alone, and would be hit less hard by the crash in prices in
the thirties. The port towns o f Cannanore, Tellicherry and Badagara handled
both ihe exports of coconui as well as (he vilal imports o f paddy which fed Ihe
region. Mappilas - merchants, petty traders and moneylenders - clustered
along the coast and constituted a significant proportion o f the population of
these towns, 12 Badagara exported most of ihe coconut and copra crop and this
trade was ihe monopoly of the Mappilas.
The profits from coconut followed a trajectory similar to lhat from pepper,
rising to a peak in the mid twenties and collapsing by the middle of ihe next
decade. Here again, small cultivators producing for the market from their
homestead!) were unable to face the competition from plantations in south-east
Asia and, nearer home, Ceylon.11 The problem was aggravated by a tenancy
act which was initially beneficial, providing security of tenure fo r cultivators
by requiring the payment of compensation for improvements on eviction.
However, cultivators increasingly resorted to overplantation on their plots in
the hope of pricing iheir holdings beyond the payment of compensation. This
RDIMP, 1934-35. 31; 1935-36,38. RSTMP 1929-30, 1935-36. An indication oFhow sensitive
pnccs in Malabar were to event* in Europe li ihe fiict that on the very next day after Italy
declared war on Abyssinia, ihe price of pepper fell in the Calicut and Tellicherry markets.
Mathrubhumi, 9 October 1935,
"D . Nnrayana Rao, Report on the Survey o f Cottage Industries in the Madras Presidency
(Madras, 1929), 133-6.
ln 1921. the percentage of Mappilas in ihe population was forty-two in Cannanore, Ihirty-eigju
in Tellicherry and fifty in Badagara. Census o f India 1921, XIII, Madras, Table 4 and 5
P.J . Thomas and N Sundararama Saslry. Commodity pricer in south India (Madras, 1940), 18
led to poorer quality of the crop us well as an occasionally disastrous glut in the
market-
The first two decades of the twentieth century saw a boom in coconut
cultivation as Malabarcopra became the leader in the world market because of
its higher oil content. The prices for coconut reached their peak in 1928 with
a thousand coconuts selling for Rs. 49-2-10. By 1931, the rale was well below
the average price over the previous decades, having fallen to Rs. 27 for a
thousand nuts.74 In 1930, Chirakkal, Kottayam and Kurumbranad had 20 per
cent, 26 per cent and 42 per cent respectively o f their cultivated area devoted
to growing coconul 71 Lands were convened from paddy cultivation lo the
growing of coconut, and many leases on wetland were beginning to include the
stipulation that (hey should be converted lo coconut gardens.76 A definite
geographical profile was emerging in north Malabar, and one respondent to the
Tenancy Committee of 1927 described the region as a 'land of parambas
1gardens|. The ambition of every aspiring cultivator was to build a house in
a garden plot of half to one acre in area and plant coconut and areca palms.77
As plots decreased in size, there was a fall in productivity on account of
overcrowding.
' Before 1914, coconut oil was exported mainly to Germany, France, Holland
and Austria-Hungary both for the manufacture of soap and margarine as well
as for industrial uses. Home demand was as great as foreign demand, and Indian
buyers were prepared to buy as much; figures for coaslwise trade to Bombay
and Karachi sometimes exceeded exports lo Europe. Therefore a cessation of
international demand would be less unsettling Tor the economy than in the case
of pepper, most of which was exported to the European market. The increase
of Indian import tariffs during the war opened up a line lo the oil mills in
Bombay and Karachi which drew the surplus of copra from Malabar.78 It was
this lifeline which would prove to be of great importance when, by acombina-
tion of circumstances in the mid twenties, ihe demand for coconut oil from
Malabar declined. In 1918, the export of coconut oil from Malabar to Europe
touched 4 million gallons. By 1937 oil exports had dwindled to almost nothing,
while ihose of copra had virtually ceascd as early as 1930.79 The rise of large-
scale plantations in the Dutch East Indies, the Philippines and Ceylon meant
that they could export ai far more competitive prices, and Kerala became ihe
dumping ground for coconuts from Ceylon, taking 35-40 per centofherexporis
' JRevenue Department 0 .0 493 dated 4 March 1931 (KS).
'Revenue R D is.H A/1930dated 5 March 1930 (KRA), 58 and Appendix 6 ,
Written evidence of M. Anantan Nayar, Dy. Collector (retd.) and oral evidence of Paloran
Koran. MTCR, 1927-28, II, 185. 243; written evidence of M. Giriappa, Dy. Registrar of
Cooperative Societies. MPBEC, 1930-31. III. 844. By 1930, the value of land growing
-oconuts along the coast had risen to well over 300 per cent of lhat of wetlands.
"W ritten evidence of E.G. Nair, High Court vakil, Tellicherry, MTCR, 1927-28 tl 151.
" RSTMP, 1914-15, 18; RSTMP, 1917-18, 16.
RDIMP, 1936-7,35; Thomas and Sastry, Commodity prices in south India. 16-18.
between 1930 to 1935.80 By the mid thirties a combination of cultivation on

overcrowded gardens, competition from the plantations of east Asia and the
decline of exports to Europe had seriously hit the small cultivators.
The Compensation for Tenants Improvements Act, 1900
Tenancy Icgislathon was partly responsible for the rise of the small cultivator
sensitive to the market. A rise in agricultural prices in the late nineteenth
century had led to an increase in evictionsof tenants.81 Even though prosperous
tenants had enough money to renew their leases, landlords did not wish to
entrench a class of tenants at a time when there were more profits to be derived
from soliciting higher payments of rent. The continuing unrest among the
Mappila cultivators in south Malabar, made the government aware of the fact
that evictions needed lo be curtailed. This view was stated with great force in
the tenancy report of the Collector, William Logan, who argued that the roots
of unrest lay in the fact that cultivators did not have security of occupation.*2
In 1887, an act was passed, giving tenants the right to compensation on
eviction. Instead of checking evictions, it resulted in the prevalence o f the
mehiutrlh. or overlea.se, whereby Ihe person receiving the overlcasc agreed lo
bear the costs of evicting the incumbent tenant and pay the landlord an
enchanced rent. There was consternation about the fact that the kanajaitma
maryada, the customary relations between landlords and tenants, were being
eroded and janntis were acting in utter disregard of the moral, unwritten
law '.8*
The Compensation for Tenants Improvements Act of 1900 sought to plug
this loophole and was comprehensive in its scope It included not only those
who were lessees or nportgagees of land but also those who, without the
permission of the landowner, had brought land under cultivation with the
bonafide intention of aitorning and paying the customary rent to the person
entitled lo cultivate or l{t wasteland'. In order to entitle the tenant lo eoinpett
sation it was not necessary lhat the improvements had lo have been done by ihe
tenant.84 It was deemed sufficient lhat, at the lime of eviction, improvements
"'T h o m u s und Sastry, Ct>nmwdil\ prices in sttulh India , 15, Malhrubhumi, I 1 January 1936,
*'MLTR, 1881. 1. Ixxv
,JMLTR. IS til, I. Uxviiii. For Ihe influence of Mappila unrest on tenancy legislation, see
Panikkar, Against turd and stale, ch. 3.
Explanatory note by V. Krishna Menon, MTCR. 1927-28, I, 95.
"T h e tenant Dn an improvement lease, the tzAi*nam, was expcctcd to cffect improvements uf
three kinds; ku ih ikku r-op the usufruct, including Ihe planting of coconut, areca and jack trees,
pepper vines; cham ayam -the crectionof buildings; veiiuchamayam - the improvement of the
soil. MLTR, 1881, I, xliv; Legislative Dept. G V 8 9 dated 20 April 1886 (TNA).
had been made, even if by a previous occupant. Court decisions took cognisance
of the increasing tendency towards the cultivation of cash crops and decreed
lhat even the conversion of paddy land to the growing of coconut would be
deemed lo be an improvement.85
Apart from an increase in litigation (by 1910, Malabar had become the most
litigious district in the Presidency) the Act created new opportunities for the
small cultivator on the improving lease, the majority of them gained de facto
permanency of occupalion.86 Their lessors found the rates of compensation for
improvements too high at a time of soaring prices for cash crops. Even the
larger landlords found their vast holdings a liability as any attempt at evicting
tenants usually involved phenomenal payments. A respondent to the Malabar
Tenancy Commitlcc of 1927 stated that the rajas of Kadathunad and Chirakkal
were unable in many cases to pay off the value of improvements and the latter
had had lo borrow Rs. 75,000 to settle claims.7 It has been argued that the
actions of the state in the nineteenth century which entrenched resident
cultivators' meant that large accumulations of capital found it difficult to gain
access and control over agricultural production. Since small-holding farmers
came to control production, the agrarian base remained insensitive to market
changcs.88 However, in Malabar, it was these very small-holding farmers'
who responded with alacrity to the needs of the market, and as we have argued
with grievous consequences for themselves.
The MCTI Act provided a fillip lo Ihe aspirations of small cultivators who
now saw ihcirsalvalion in the growing of pepper or coconut. By the first decade
of the twentieth century it had become the practice for agricultural labourers
as well as new tenants to request plots for the cultivation of cash crops as a
safety net against the occasional failure of paddy crops,89 In the inter-waryears
ihere was a tenfold increase in occupied garden land with a sudden spurt in the
twenties when the prices of cash crops peaked.90 The flip side o f the boom was
that fluctuations in prices on the world market and the inexperience of new
cultivators in dealing with local cartels of merchants meant that many fell by
the wayside. By 1927, revenue officials had begun to notice Ihe existence of'
thousands' of impccunious small landowners who owned one to Iwo acres and-
werc deeply in debt and in arrears with their revenue payments.91 Apart from
the strengthening of the small cultivator, the major consequence of the passing
Malubor Gimpensation fo r Tenants' Improvements Act. 1900 (Madras Act I o f 1900) and
commentary, (Madras. 1933), 24-33.
tnnes. Malabar Gazetteer. 385.
Oral evidence of E.G. Nair, High Court vakil. Tellicherry. MTCR, 1927-28. II, 180-81.
Washbrook. Law, siale and agrarian society', 677-9.
Letter from A.R. Mac Ewen, Special Settlement Officer, 25 March 1927, Revenue Dept. G O.
1609 dated 19 August 1927 (IOL); ARDMP. 1900-02. y -
"R evenue R.Dis.34.11/36 dated 2 April 1936 (KRA|.
Minute of dissent by H.R. Pate. MTCR. 1927-28.1.91 Nehru Memorial Museum
and Library
N U
30 Caste, nationaiism and communism in south India
of the MCTI Act of 1900 was overplantation on plots, as tenants tried to

increase the value of the plot beyond what the landlord could afford to pay as
compensation. Customary strictures on the improving lease stating that a
tenant should plant palms not less than twelve yards from each other were
quickly jettisoned. Poor quality coconuts, the competition from plantations in
Ceylon, and the fall in prices from 1930 undermined the relative independence
of the small cultivator
The cultivation or paddy
The fluctuating profits from the production of pepper and coconut gave
cultivators a degree of independence and money in their pockets. Yet it also
increased their dependence on landlords for subsistence in moments of crisis
as they moved away from cultivating paddy in search of quick profits. Large
tharavadus were beginning to acquire a near monopoly over wetlands and
stocks of grain. In the months of July and August when the torrential monsoons
prevented agriculture or any occupation whatsoever, agricultural labourers
and small cultivators were forced to exhaust their reserves of foodgr<iin,s and
seed for the next crop. Some landlords lent grain at phenomenal rates of interest
which had tobe repaid in grain at the next harvest*92 Landlords controlling scarce
wet lands were able to wield considerable clout. Kurumathur Parameswaran
Nambudiripad owned all the 93 acres of wetland in Aticheri and S. Mammi
Supi owned over half the wetland in Kolanta.93 Ultimately, cultivators were
dependent on tharavadus which acted as a safety net in times o f a crisis in the
supply of food. It is not without significance that the granaries of the dominant
tharavadus were the centres of authority in the countryside and it was here that
Nayar landlords sat to administer justice in local c a s e s . 9 4
The amount of paddy produced by smaller cultivators was just sufficient for
consumption, and the payment of revenue had to be done out o f the profits of
pepper and coconut crops. Large tharavadus could retain paddy for domestic
consumption, paying the wages of agricultural labourers, and still have enough
to stock their granaries.95 A greater part of the cultivation was carried out with
,1 These loans, called kadam vaypadharam, were made in grain and had to be repaid at the rate
of thirteen measures for every measure borrowed Written evidence of V V.G. Nayat, Member
Excise Board, MPBEC, 1930-31. II, 83.
Settlement Registers of Alicheri desam, Malapattamasnsam and Kolanta desam, Irikkur amsam.
(Calicut, 1904). T.W. Shea Jr, Economic study of a Malabar village', Economic Weekly. 7
(1955), 997-1003.
"Testim ony of Polckan Gurikkal et aL File on the oral history o f Kasergode taluk (A.K. Gopalan
Centre, Trivandrum).
Revenue Dept, 0 ,0 .4 7 7 dated 22 December 1904 (IOL).
The tigrtiriiM m um m y and households. 1900-1930 31
the help of hired labour - Nayars, Mappilas orTiyyas - who were at liberty to
change their service when they wished. Only ihc larger landlords and tharavadus
owning exiensi ve wetlands had families of labourers who worked primarily on
these lands. Such labourers were shared between branches of tharavadus as part
uf kinship obligation and members of the tharavadu themselves worked on
their relatives plots.96 Powerful tharavadus had patronal relations with their
dependent labourers and cultivators premised, to a large extent, on their control
over scarce resources of paddy and iheir ability to provide subsistence. An
inchoate community of subsistence existed, comprised of two concentric
tild e s . There was the wider and more fluctuating circle or small market-
oriented cultivators who were dependent on the tharavadus only at a time of
crisis of food. The more immediate and constant circle consisted of labourers
and service castes who held wetlands from the tharavadus and whose depen
dence was less conjunctural.
The idea of a community of subsistence requires some elaboration. It was
not premised on the idea of an all powerful, bountiful patron from whom
largesse, in the form of paddy, flowed down to helpless dependents. The
demand for subsistence, and the obligation to provide, arose only in exigent
situations when there was dearth and tharavadus were then expected to sustain
the community out of reserves held in trust.97 In the final chapter, we shall
explore this idea of paddy as community property in political practice. The
argument is similar to that or James Scotts notion of a 'subsistence ethic, i.e.
that landowners should provide, and that the States exactions should not
encroach upon, the minimum needs' of cultivators. Scott, however, reifies the
idea as the bottom line of peasant expectations: a moral principle binding
landlord and labourer. In north Malabar, cultivators responded more flexibly,
and 'in the facc of the inability and reluctance of households to provide
subsistence during the food shortage of the forties, they bargained for access
to land instead.98 The understanding that the tharavadus would provide subsis
tence at a time of crisis was manifested in both charity as well as ritual
assertions. Tharavadus made a show o f paternalist benevolence at the new year
festival of Vishu when they distributed grain, cloth and money to labourers and
dependents. During the period of torrential rqonsoons in July and August, the
""/VC. Mayer, Land and society in Malabar (Bombay, 1952), 72-3.

'Paul Greenough employs several melaphors in elaborating the subsistence bond between
landlords and labourers in Bengal; lhai of gods and humans, parents and children, and stresses
the 'idiom of indulgence 1 in hierarchical relationships. It is not clear, however, that these
historical, ofien metaphysical (the Bengali conception of prosperity resembles 'poetry,
alchemy, and ritual) constructs help us understand the nuances of an agrarian work ethic. Paul
R. Greenough, Prosperity and misery in modem Bengal: the/amine o f 1943-1944 {New York,
1982), 14-32,38, 42.
" See James C. Scoll, The moral economy o f the peasant: rebellion and subsistence in south east
Asia (New Haven, CT. 1976), 1 10.
32 Casie, nationalism and communism in south India
poorer sections were forced to draw on stocks of tapioca for food and get grain
loans from landlords. At such times, lharavadus would very often set up
lemporary structures called tannir pandals for distributing gruel to the starv
ing.99 Very often, poor families living in the vicinity of a tharavadu would
solicit rice and oil regularly, performing occasional services in return.100
Moreover, during the monsoons, there was a ritual assertion of community
when Malayan triba|s would visit a tharavadu and the houses of dependents
within a region dressed as the god Siva in his manifestation as hunter. They
were received with a bowl of charcoal water and a lamp; the idea was that evils
like dearth and death would be drawn into the blackness o f the charcoal. The
same houses would later be visited by Vannans(washermen) who would wash
away the dearth by pouring water mixed with charcoal on the northern side,
the direction associated with Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity.101
Cultivation on the paddy fields was concentrated around April and May for
the kanni crop and August and September for the magaram crop. Wooden
ploughs were used and very often the plots were too small to allow the
employment of animals. A tiller pulling the plough managed to break not more
than three to four inches of the surface soil and the customary method was to
plough and cross plough between two to fifty times to pulverise the soil, The
buffaloes used in ploughing were usually undersized and the good cattle
imported from Mysore and Coimbatore could be afforded only by the more
prosperous cultivators.102 Men ploughed the land, levelled, sowed, and manured
it, while the women broke the clods into a fine dust and played the major part
in transplanting and threshing. The back-breaking labour involved in produc
ing a meagre paddy crop rendered the prospect of converting the land to
growing cash crops very attractive.101 The difficulty of getting labourers solely
to work on wetlands was responsible for a peculiarity in the wetland tenure or
verumpaitam in north Malabar. It was normally held for a period of four to five
years, and sometimes even up to thirty years. In south Malabar the pressure on
wct-lands had made the verumpaitam a yearly tenure.104
The smaller cultivators who continued to grow paddy on their small plots
w Aiyappan, im v tu and culture change^ 34, 115-

"" See Katamandalum Krishmin Nair, Ente jiritham: aranf-Uum aniyarayilum {My Jife be
tween the greenroom and the stage) (Trivandrum, 1991). In K. Damodaran s political play
of the 1930s, PattabakVi (Rent arrears), he draws a rich picture of the networks of ehari ijr and
loans in which the poor in ihe village survived. Patlabakki (Trivandrum, 1987).
A.M.A. Ayrookuzhiul, The sacred in popular Hinduism (Madras, 1983), 116-17.
,t" Innes, Malabar Gaitlieer, 212; RDAMP, 1927, 3.
10 In the first three decades of ihe twentieth century, Iherc was a 50 per cent increase in
cull ivated area in Koltayam However, the number of work ing buffaloes decreased by 75 per
ccnt between 1904-65 and 1940. while the number of ploughs decreased hy 50 per cenl
Statistical atlas o f Malabar fa r the year 190405 (Calicut. 1907); Statistical alias o f Malabar
fo r the decade ending 19-10 (Calicut, 1941).
I*H Note of visil lo Edakkul amsam. Chirakkal 15 October 1927 MTCR. 1927, I. 142
were dependent on the forests of landowning tharavadus for green leaves and
dry sticks used as manure. Immediately after the harvest of the kanni crop,
heaps of green manure were dotted over the field and left to decay after which
further ploughing and levelling took place.105 Sometimes, a tenant would take
wetland on a lease which included the adjoining unoccupied dryland in the
agreement. The latter would be used as a source o f green manure and, at times,
sublet to an agricultural labourer.106The collection of dry and green leaves and
sticks was essential for the second crop. Access to the forests was based more
on custom, since landlords had complete rights over all forests.
The cultivation o f hill rice by shifting cultivation, punam, did not involve
as much labour. The seeds were sown in April, after a clearing had been mode
with axe and billhook.107 Beyond occasional weeding not much attention was
paid to the crop until it was reaped in September. As in the case o f pepper, plots
were cleared in the forest forcullivation, and afterevery two or three years, land
was allowed to lie fallow for a similar period. Another crop called modart was
grown on the open hilltops in the less-forested villages of the east. Since the
yield was minimal and just enough for subsistence no extra rent was charged
on this crop. Though the punam crop had a higher yield, partly on account of
its being grown on virgin, fertile soil, often there was only enough for
consumption by the cultivators. Both modan and punam were classed as
fugitive cultivation by the Board of Revenue and no revenue was charged
since the land was not continuously under cultivation for more than three
years.108 Though loans had to be taken from landlords for seeds and imple
ments, both forms of hill cultivation allowed the small cultivator to exert some
independence as they <ould avoid complete dependence on the dominant
family in the region for subsistence.
In the long run, however, the landlord exercised control over wasteland and
forest as shifting cultivators did not enjoy security of tenure under the law.
Matters reached a head only in the latter years of the thirties. Landlords tried
to lease their forests for the cultivation of lucrative plantation crops, even as a
food crisis made the crop from shifting cultivation a necessity lo supplement
inadequate imports o f paddy. The number of small cultivators growing paddy
decreased steadily over the years and there was an increasing polarisation
between the large landlords with a monopoly o f wetland in their villages and
shifting cultivators on the hills and in Ihe forests. As cultivators responded to
the market and grew crops for profit, they became ultimately dependent on the
larger landlords and dominant tharavadus for subsistence. In Bengal, the other
Revenue DR8IS3/34 dated 24 January 1934 (KRA).

Revenue R,D is.l2A/l930 dated 5 March 1930 (KRA).
m MLTR. 1881,1. Report, xx.
Revenue Dept. C.0.883 dated 29 August 1900 (TNA); Board o f Revenue Proceedings no. 3
dated 5 January 1901 (10L); Revenue R.Dis.l2A/1930 dated 5 March 1930 (KRA).
Caste, nationalism and communism in south India
major rice-producing area, a similar picture emerges of a potentially disastrous

shift from subsistence locash crops in thiscentury, though the search forprofiis
occurred more in the context of agrarian overpopulation.'09
North Malabar had never produced enough paddy for its subsistence and
was dependent on imports, both from south Malabar, as well as from other parts
of the Presidency. British observers, however, were sanguine about Malabar.
The crystal clear backwaters, lush vegetation and swaying palms which were
so much in contrast to the more arid areas of the Madras Presidency lulled them
into overlooking Ihe fragile balance of the economy. The 1911 Census waxed
eloquent about Malabar: conditions, it said, may recall Ihe great and jolly
nation of the Do-as-you-likes who sal beneath the wild Hapdoodlc tre e '.1111
From the nineteenth century, rice had been exported from Palghat and
Ponnani in the south by land to the northern region and Coimbatore and by sea
to the ports of Tellicherry and Cannanore By 1918, the major supply of rice to
the region came from south Malabar, south Kanara and particularly Burma
through the port at Calicut A large proportion o f the trade at the northern ports
consisted of the collection of rice by merchants, who then retailed the produce
throughout the hinterland.111 Two groups of importers and merchants domi-
natcd the trade in rice, one of which consisted of Cuichi Mcmons and Mappilas
who had agents in every port in Burma. The other was an importer's syndicate
of Hindu merchants who had agents only in the main port at Rangoon.1,2These
merchants were quick lo respond to fluctuations in prices and supply and were
able, by functioning as a cartel, to commandeer finances to exploit a situation
for profit. An instance of the flexibility of their response was the financing, in
1918, of the building of over 50 sailing ships ranging from 30 to 300 tons. This
was in response to the crisis of u shortage of rice coupled with the decrease in
the number of coasting steamers on account of the w ar.113 Before the war there
had been occasional exports of rice to Ceylon and Mauritius from south
Malabar, particularly when there was a shortage of supplies from Bengal and
Assam. After 1918, imports from Burma were becoming the norm and the
traders on the coast relied for profits on the movement of grain within Malabar,
exporting grain from areas o f dearth to regions where prices were higher.
Merchants and their agents purchased grain directly from the bigger producers
"" Greenough notes that the nercropped area for foodgrains in Bengal remained static from 1891
to 1947. and between 1901 and 1947 the output of foodgrains decreased by 38 per cent. See
G reenough. Prosperity and misery, 6 8 -9 ,8 1-3 and S. Bose. Agrarian Bengal: economy, social
structure and politics, 1919-49 (Cambridge. 1986), 52 -3
Census o f India, 1911. XII, Madras, pan I, 8.
1The distribution of foodgrains and other articles o f daily consumption was carried on by
means of small boats called paihamars trading up and down the const. Revenue R.Dis I2AJ
1930 dated 5 March 1930 (KRA), 19.
MI Development Department G,0.356 dated 25 February I94S (KS).
" Revenue ISpecial) Department C O.584 dated 22 October 19/S (KRA).
The unrarit ui t xonom v ntul hiitt ichoit ls, IVOO-I9 3 Q
o f the interior and grain cam e to be massed at the p o rp , the nexus o f the trade
network.
During the First W orld War, as in the rest o f thj Presidency, there were
attem pts to start licensing imports o f rice from Rangoon, and place restrictions
on the sale and import of rice from ports. T he C ollector o f M alabar attem pted
to get the merchants operating at Calicut and the northern ports lo sign a bond
which would place all exportable stocks o f rice at his disposal. Inevitably this
broke down, becausc o f the m erchants' unw illingness both to reveal their
holdings and allow them selves to be placed under any restraint. T he m erchants
p it ilu-ii sen ility deposits hack-, s o iih * o f ihcni lodged com plaints that they
should have got interest on their deposits as w ell!114 The G overnm ents re
luctance lo interfere with private enterprise m eant that the m erchants exercised
a near m onopoly over distribution, which the increasing reliance on imports
from Burma only served to au gm ent.115 The control exercised by the Cutchi
and M appila m erchants in providing foodgrains was increased in 1942, when
the Japanese laid siege lo Rangoon, since the Hindu im porters did not have
access to the other ports It was only with the introduction o f rationing in 1944
lhat their stranglehold would be relaxed.
C re d it a n d th e s tr u c tu re o f la n d h o ld in g
There were tw odistinci kinds o f credit relations in the interior Large tharavadus
and w ell-off peasants provided credit to dependent labourers and cultivators
w orkingonw ettands. A.second group consisting o f peppercultivators, shifting
cultivators o f hill rice, and those who grew subsistence crops as also coconut
and pepper on their hom esteads, relied lo a lesser degree on tharavadus. They
borrowed from M appila traders, the landowners on w hose land they grew their
crops, as well as from each other. Some o f the larger tharavadus, with pepper
plantations, borrow ed money at a custom ary rate o f 10 per cent, called the
manrada palisa, from the traders who sold their crop s.116 They lent lo their
tenants as well as the sm aller tharavadus, and this could, at tim es, act as a
method o f extending their ow nership o f land. As w e shall see later, in the
context o f the Depression, the larger tharavadus m anaged to extend their land
holdings considerably by taking over the lands o f their debtors. Tenants and
sub-tenants borrow ed cultivation expenses from landow ners and these loans
had to be repaid in paddy. Any arrears w ere collected w ith interest w henever
Public DR.D.Dis.5223/19 dated 22 September 1918 (KRA).

See Da vid A rnold, L ooting, g rain riots and governm ent policy in south India, 1918, Past and
Present, 8 4(1979), 136-8
H* Oral evidence o f M. Giriappa, Dy. Registrar o f co-operative societies, M PBEC, II, 550.553.
36 C aste, nationalism and com m unism in south India
there was a good cro p .117 Collection o f loan repaym ents in kind underw rote the
authority o f the tharavadus by strengthening their role as the repositories of
grain in a region deficient in paddy.
An inform al system o f credit prevailed am ong cultivators who exercised a
relative degree o f independence by producing for the market. They built up
casual loan networks am ongst them selves. T hese were called kuris and con
sisted o f a certain num ber o f people com ing together, each contributing a
certain sum o f money. .The total sum o f money thus collected would go in turn
to each individual over a period<of tim e. T he tim e period o f a kuri could be
between one to five years, and the total sums could be as high as Rs. 20,000.
Kuris w ere a flexible form o f saving and, in their sim plest form, they were an
informal method o f investm ent to get a lump sum after a period o f tim e, tyore
often than not, such savings w ent towards purchasing a small plot o f land'and
acquiring the status o f a landholder and som etim es even the title o f janmi. Kuris
could not alw ays function at the level o f cooperation between cultivators. At
tim es, landow ning tharavadus held feasts called Kuri kalyanams lo which all
their tenants and cultivators w ere invited on the paym ent or a fee.1111
Landow ners w ith huge debts would som etim es pul up their land as security and
conduct a kuri to help clear the d eb t.119
Along the coast there were diverse sources o f credit and money could be
found for anything ranging from the setting up o f a teashop to the financing of
a consignm ent to Europe, There w ere several rungs on the ladder o f the crcdit
hierarchy. The Imperial Bank at Tellicherry and the branches o f the Ncdungadi
Bank lent only to those w ho had 'property and c re d it', and theirm ain custom ers
were m erchants-and m oneylenders who lent at a higher rate o f interest the
money they them selves had taken on loan. Cooperative credit banks and
sm aller banks allow ed the pledging o f ornam ents und lent money on the
strength o f prom issory notes and even on the security o f m ortgages. Petty
trading was financed by cooperative banks, moneylenders and professionals in
the towns with money to lend.120
In the distribution o f landholdings while there may have been a polarisation
between a dominant landlord and agricultural labourer, in the middle ilierr
were small landow ners who were tenants und cultivators o f the wetlands of
other landow ners, w hite holding usufructuary rights on a plot. An individual
"'W ritte n evidence o f M.A. Kesavan, Registrar, Tellicherry, MPBEC, 111, 952.
There were instancrs, early this cenlury, o f landlords who had collected sums us high as Rs
30,000 from their tenants. Note by C.A. Inncs, Revenue Dept G O,3021 ICon/dl,) dated 2f>
September 1917 (10L).
"P resid en tial address by T.M . Appu Ncdungadi, T ellicherry tenants conference, M ay 1919
Revenue Dept. G.0 7 5 1 0 dated 3 November IV I9 (TNA)
l!" W ritten cvidcncc of V. V. Oovindan Nayar. Member, Excisc Licensing Board. MPBEC, 11,83;
Oral cvidcncc o f V K. Menon. President, The M alabar District Cooperative Federation Lid
C alicut. M PBEC. IV. 530-1.
could be absentee landhold, cultivating landow ner, tenant, interm ediary as

w ell as cultivator all rolled into o n e .121 In m ost cases, landow ning rights were
held on the plot o f land w here a person lived (on w hich coconut palms,
plantains, ja c k trees and a few pepper vines were grown fo r the m arket) and for
their subsistence they would cultivate, as tenant o r labourer, the lands o f
several landow ners scattered over a very .wide are a,122 M oreover, it is difficult
to establish an absolute correspondence betw een the land tenure structure and
the social-ritu al status structure, as som e analysts o f political change in
M alabar have done. R.J. H erring argues that a close coincidence o f caste and
class was an im portant explanation for the mobi lisation o f the rural poor by the
left' in the thirties and forties.I2^ H ow ever, this appears to be less true than the
fact that a slogan such a s ' land to the ti Iler* could attract cultivating landow ners,
tenants and labourers o f all castes. T his seem s to be true right through from
1828, when the C ollector observed that a higher castem an not infrequently
cultivates as a hired man the land of another o f inferior caste to 1927, when
the T enancy com m ittee found lhat janm is could be tenants o f people occu
pying a low position socially and m a teria lly '.124 H igher castes like the N ayars
as well as low er ones like the Tiyyas could be, todifferent degrees, landowners,
tenants and cultivators.
T he author o f the report on the second resettlem ent o f M alabar in 1930,
observed that distinctions between cultivating and non-cultivating and land
ow ner and tenant were m isleading and not o f m uch value - a person could be
the janmi o f a plot o f w etland and a tenant o f their garden and h o u se.125
However, there was a clear distinction betw een the janmam (landholding) right
on a plot on land and the right o f being called a janmi. T hom as M unro had
observed, in 1820, that the title o f janmi had a dignity beyond the possession
o f land, and that the price of the 'em p ty ' nam e o f janmi was worth h alf the
price at which the productiveness o f his land was valued .126 T his continued to
be iruc into the tw entieth century and land was seldom sold outright by
impecunious but proud landowners since parting with the fulljanmam title [was]
considered dishonourable. A system o f com plicated sub-tenures cumc into
being whereby ihe janmi divested him self o f rights in the soil w hile retaining
the title o f honour 127
JJI T.W Shea Jr., 'T he land leitufe structure o f M alabar and its influence upon capital formation
in agriculture' (unpublished PhD dissertation. University o f Pennsylvania 1959), 221-2.
,!I Note o f a visit by the President and others to M nttam irdejam , 14 O ctober 1927 .MTCR, 1927,
11, 141.
111See Herring, Land to the tiller, 158,
114 Letter lo Ihe Board o f Revenue from J. Vaughan, Collector, 2 Septem ber 1822, P P 1828, XXIV
(I25U written statement or K.T, Kammaran Nam biyar, K oodali, MTCR, 1927-28, II, 299,
,B Revenue Dept R .D is.l2 M W O dated 5 March /W O (K R A ), 14.
116Quoted in MLTR, 1881, 1, xiv.
111 Statistical atlas fo r the Malabar district fo r the decennium ending 1940-41, 13
Small cultivators possessing an acre or two, and tilling their hom estead,
w ere the norm in north M alabar.1*11 W hen the first com prehensive settlem ent
o f M alabar w ascom pleted in 1904, it was found that over75 per cent o f the title
holders paid a revenue assessm ent o f Rs.10 or less, the figures for Chirakkal
and Kottayam being 83 p e rc e n t and 84 p e rc e n t respectively.129 House sites
w ere not exem pted from assessm ent and they accounted for the bulk o f the
titles paying Rs.10 or less, and it was in these m inute plots that pepper and
coconut were cultivated for the market. The frontiers o f expansion o f cultivation
were set by the dom inant landow ning thuraviidus like those o f the Vengayil
Nayanar, who held two lakh acres nllaiul and the Kallialtii Nam hiar who held
over 36,000 acres in K ottayam .11" However, this disparity was o f not much
consequence during a period o f high prices for cash crops, and it was the small
size o f the holdings rather than the inequality in their distribution which was
the m ajor problem.
T he Depression upset the balance that had been m aintained between
independent cultivators and dom inant landowners at a lime ofland availability,
high prices for cash crops and the possibility o f em ploym ent on the coast. As
m ore cultivators were forced to depend solely on the land and move away from
cash crops towards subsistence, they were forced to encroach on to w astelands
and the poorer m argins controlled by dom inant landowners. In 1904-05.43 98
p ercen t und 33.52 p erc en t o f the total arable land in Chirakkal and Kottayam
respectively had been occupied. This shot up to 62.09 p e rc e n t and 63.43 per
cent by 1940.1-*1 The population pressure per 1,000 acres o f cultivated land,
between 1911 and 1941, rose dram atically from 701 to 2,418 (244.9 p ercen t)
in Chirakkal and from 1,441 to 2,422 (68 per ceni) in K ottayam .132 The
polarisation betw een large landowners and the landless became starker, pro
viding an edge to the rhetoric o f rural politics in the late thirties.
Conclusion
The tharavadus were involved in a network o f relationships with a w elter of

agrarian entities: shiftingcultivators.tenantcultivalors on homesteads, artisanal
groups who held land infeturn for services, ritual perform ers who held rent free
land from shrines and tem ples m anaged by tharavadus and untouchable castes
D .D is.9222/21. Collector to Secretary, Law (General), 23 January 1922. Laiv (General) Dept.
G.O.2732 dated 13 November 1923 (K erala Secretarial Records) (henceforth KS).
Revenue Dept. G.0.477 dated 22 December 1904 (IOL), Appendix N.
'*MTCR. 1927. A ppendix It,
Statistical Atlases o f the Malabar district, 1904-05 and 1940-41.
111SCRMP. 1911, 8; SCRMP. 1941, 13.
The agruricin economy and households, 19001930 39
who worked 011 the paddy fields. D ependence on the lharavadu ranged from the
peripheral (cash and .seed advances) as in the case of the shifting cultivators,
to the absolute as in the case o f the untouchable labourers. At the centre of these
fluctuating relationships stood the pathayapura o r the granary o f the tharavadu
representing the possibility o f a still point in a fragile economy. T he promise
o f sustenance was a resource, the existence o f which was reiterated ritually in
agricultural practice and religious cerem ony during the boom years o f the
twenties. The enthusiastic response o f cultivators to the market need not be
seen as contradictory to the presence ami coniinuatkm o f patronal relations. It
lias been convincingly argued for nineteenlh-ccntury north India that the
jajmani mode o f relations betw een rural patrons and dependents was not
subverted by the forces o f the market. It was in fact strengthened in the
conditions o f population grow th and price inflation that prevailed. More
recently. Fuller has pressed for a more holistic understanding o f the economy
in w hich market exchange as well as patronal relations should be seen as major
features o f the econom ic system as a w hole.133 In Malabar, patronal relations
were the outcom e o f relations within an agrarian economy unable to provide
food for itself. The crash in prices follow ing the Depression, the decline o f
international dem and, and a crisis in the supply o f food were to not only
undermine the self-reliance o f the small cultivators but to call into question the
ability and w illingness o f the tharavadus to provide subsistence. Landowners
and cultivators cam e to be bound together in an uneasy com m unity. However,
there was another and m ore intangible em phasis on interdependence. This was
rooted in a shared religious culture incorporating upper and low er castes, as
well as landowning tharavadus and cultivators. However, here too there was a
recognition o f the differential access to, and control of, material resources
between their constituents. The next chapter looks at how a religious culture
centred on shrines provided the space for negotiation o f the disparity in pow er
between the com ponents o f rural com m unity.
"* S, Com m ander, The Jajmani system in north India: an exam ination o f its logic and status
across two ccm uries. Modem Asian Studies. 17, 2 (1983), 307-8 and C J . Fuller, 'M iscon
ceiving the grain heap; a critique o f the concept o f t|je Indian jajm ani system in M. Bloch and
I P. Parry eds.. Money anti the morality o f txchange (Cam bridge, 1989), 5 1.
2 Shrines and the community of worship, 1900-1910
In north Malabar, a fragilecom m unity o f subsistence was sustained by the fact

that the control o f a tharavadu over agricultural resources was offset by its
obligations to dependents. M oreover, such control was premised as much on
the use of bcnevolence as o f guile and violence. If the nature o f the econom y
promoted dependence on tharavadus and enforced a com m unity o f subsistence,
there was space for negotiation w ithin a com m unity o f worship centred on
shrines. It was a religious culture shared by both upper and low er castes but
understood and appropriated differently. In this chapter, we shall consider the
com munity of worshippers around local shrines in north M alabar, T his'w as
com posed o f dom inant N ayar and T iyya tharavadus and the other castes who
lived around the shrine and worked on the lands o f the tharavadus o r perform ed
specialised services for them.
It has been argued for the M adras Presidency that, following the colonial
land settlement, local elites had little to do with the sustaining o f com m unity
other than the application o f credit, em ploym ent and revenue sanctions and of
unchecked physical force, 1 In M alabar, unlike the rest o f the M adras Presi
dency, landowning tharavadus continued to play an important role in (he
management o f temples and shrines. T he melkoyma, or the right o f kings and
landlords to superintend religious endow m ents was not taken over by the
government. Tharavadus played a com plex role in the religious practices o f the
region. In their capacity as overseers o f the wetlands which m aintained shrines
and temples, they supervised large slocks o f paddy. M oreover, worshippers
brought offerings o f grain on the occasion o f festivals, and consequently the
tharavadu-shrine com plex loo, reiterated the com m unity o f subsistence. The
tharavadu and shrine were also at the centre o f a com m unity o f worship which
em phasised inter alia the interdependence betw een castes.
A sense o f com munity arose out o f diverse religious practices; in the
1 D.A. W ashbrook, The developm ent o f caste organisation in south Ind ia', in C J Baker and
D.A. W ashbrook eds.. South India: political institutions and political change (Delhi. 1975>.
166. For a general overview of the Presidency see Burton Stein, The integration of the
agrarian system of south India", in R.E. Frykenberg cd , Isintl nm trnl und social structure in
Indian history (California, 1968), 201-3.
40
Shrines and the community o f worship. 1900-1910 41
im m ediate physical sense o f com m unity it involved a definable body of

w orshippers at a certain shrine m anaged by a certain tharavadu. In another
sense, tharavadus and cultivators, upper castes and low, shared an eclectic
pantheon o f worship. In the process o f ihe expansion o f tharavadus inlo the
inlerior, th eir ancestors, local heroes and heroines, spirits, and brahm inical
deities began 10 rub shoulders in shrines. W ithin this com m unity o f w orship
there was also a recognition o f the fact that its constituents w ere not equal either
in term s o f status o r access lo resources. This gave rise lo distinct forms o f
religious practice prem ised on different notions o f com m unity. First, there
were festivals centred on the tharavadu-shrine com plex, w hich em phasised
interdependence and obligations. Secondly, there were pilgrim ages to shrines
which em phasised the possibility o f interaction as equals despite differences
in caste status. In the third form o f w orship, there was a direct recognition o f
the skewed balance o f the relations o f pow er betw een tharavadu and cultiva
tors. Low er caste victims o f upper caste authority w ere deified in certain
shrines and thus, the lim its o f authority w ere defined to an extent.
T he current orthodoxy on south Indian religious festivals and w orship at
tem ples tends to see them both as a m icrocosm o f social relations as well as the
m eans by w hich such relations are reproduced over lim e.2 Such explanations
o f ritual have origins in correspondence theory, w ith a lineage going back lo
D urkheim , w hich seeks to establish a direct correlation betw een sym bolic
representations o f the social world and actual patterns o f conduct.3 Rules o f
caste hierarchy are elaborated, and enacted, at tem ple festivals w hich then help
to keep the 'sy s te m ', so to speak, functioning. W ithin tem ple rituals, specific
functions are allocated lo castes w hich ostensibly signify as well as reiterate
their position in the hierarchy. T he relation betw een Ihe deity and w orshippers
parallels, and is the model for, the relation between higher and low ercastes and,
m ore generally, betw een superior and inferior.4 T oo little attention has been
paid to S teins jud icious form ulation that a tem ple is a 'com plex and transitory
outcom e o f an extraordinary range o f relatio n sh ip s... (em phasis added)5 An
argum ent needs lo he constructed w hich allow s for dissonance and difference
and assum es lhal individuals may be involved in several religious and social
1 See for instance Ihe w orks o f A ppadurai, Worship and conflict. 35-6; Dirks, The hollow crown;
Appadurai and Breckcnbridge, The south Indian tem p le', 190. Appadurai provides a self-
critique in a recent article, arguing against a holism lhat snares anthropologists in the image
of the m icrocosm , Ihe part lhat stands perfectly .,. for the w hole', 'I s hom o hieraxchicus7',
American Ethnologist, 13, 4 (1986), 745-61
1 For a critique o f correspondence th eo ry ', see R.P, W erbner, Introduction', Regional cults
(London. 1977).
4 E J . M iller, Caste and territory in M alabar', AmericanAnthropologist, 5 6(1954),410-20. See
also Dirks, The hollow crown, 47-8 and Ludden, Peasant history in south India (New Jersey,
1985), 65.
Burton Stein, Introduction, in Stein ed.. South Indian temples: an analytical introduction
(D elhi, 1978), 3.
42 Caste, nationalism and comm unism m south India
practiccs not all of w hich purvey the unitary idea of a hierarchical society.
Some religious festivals may assert, at particular junctures, hierarchy and the
interdependenceofcastcs. Others may convey an altogether opposed conception
o f social relations. The assum ption of the existence o f options within any given
system o f belief, in w hich a host o f identities are asserted and transform ed
over tim e would make our understanding o f social change more nuanced.
Looking ai a religious culture which is shared by lower and upper castes but
understood, and appropriated, differently overtim e, would help in historicising
the experience o f culture.
T h a ra v a d u s a n d tem ples
W hen the M adras Endow m ents and Escheat Regulation relating to the control
o f charitable endow m ents and trusts (temples were regarded as trusts) was
passed in 1817, it was not made applicable to M alabar. The Collector of
M alabar m aintained that temples in the region were more in the nature o f
'private endow m ents' than sites o f public worship. When the question was
raised again in 1915, the then Collector, C-A. Innes, observed that, having
regard to the usage o f a hundred years ... Governm ent cannot apply these
R e g u la tio n s'6 In the rest o f the Presidency, temples came to be supervised by
the judiciary, and subsequently the executive, rather than the king o r local lord
whose ritual authorities were underm ined.7
T he head o f a dom inant N ayar or T iyya tharavadu, w ho was also, in many
cases the head o f th cdesam, or the sm allest revenue paying division, possessed
a com plex o f religious and secular powers. Rights o f a seat of honour at the
temple and the superintendence o f its affairs were vested only in the village
headm an and the karanavan. The proprietary right of the w hole o f the revenue
division ( desam) and o f representing political authority in the area formed the
second set o f rights.8 The traditional investiture o f these rights in a tharavadu
cem ented its local dom inance, giving some desams the character o f little
kingdoms. Moreover, major Nayar tharavadus and their branches were connected
to each other through.jicom m unity o f property and a com m unity o f pollution
involving the common ob's6rvance-of death pollution rituals. Local authority
was com bined with links with powerful tharavadus in contiguous regions.
* Revenue DR D I9 I/R I5 dated 16 February I9 I6 (K R A ).

1 Appadurai, Worship and a m flia , 105. 162-3. There is a nice irony in the fact lhat when ihc
Hindu Religious Endowment Board was established in 1926, and the executive assumed
control. Ihis was represented by the Government as a reversion lo Ihe ancient south Indian
practice of stale "protection* o f temples. See F. Prcsler, Religion under bureaucracy: policy
and administration fo r Hindu temples in south India (Cam bridge. 1987), 24-9
" Logan, Malabar manual. II, Appendix XIII, clxvui.
Stniiu-x aitil the <iinmiiiiiilv o f worship, 101)0-1910 43
There was thus, a constellation o f tharavadus possessing religious and secular

powers over a w ide area. Some like the Ayillyath in Chirakkal were so
powerful lhat when a m em ber died, the whole region observed pollution
rituals.9 It was not necessary that tharavadus should have possessed, over
generations, the uraima, or the right lo adm inister (he affairs o f local shrines
and temples. At times they founded tem ples and appointed themselves as
managers. In other cases, the actual possession o f a tem ple or a shrine and its
prope rlies over a period o f t wel ve years was consi dered enough for a possessory
mli* 10 the itivinui.1(1Tlniravailus without access to governm ental power, o r a
plan- in the revenue bureaucracy, could extend their local influence by
assuming the rights o f overlordship and m aintenance over a local shrine or
temple.
Control over a temple did not only mean the exercise o f influence over an
imagined or actual com m unity o f worshippers. It also meant an access to the
stocks o f grain a tem ple com m anded, thus underw riting the authority o f a
lharavadu. The Kooihali Nayar, one o f the big landowners o f Kurumbranad,
had the right o f overlordship over four temples and the tenants o f the paddy
lands held from these tem ples paid their rent in paddy. A to n e o f the temples,
the annual dem and was 32,000 measures o f grain an d h h e proceeds w ent
towards m aintaining lemplc officiants - the priest, drum m er and ritual dancer
am ong others.11 Rents on temple lands were always paid in grain and even
during the food shortage o f the forties, rents continued to tW collected in kind.
The settlem ent register for Kari vellur in 1904 gives the details o f lands held by
iwelve temples and eleven shrines. Both service and ritual casles were given
jtinmam rights on wel or garden lands and rent was collected in kind.12 O f course,
the dues paid lo the temple were no different from the renls colleclcd by the
landlord on other lands; they had to be collected with the use o f force at times.
An enquiry at the end o f ihe nineteenth century into the special dues charged
on lands held by tem ples observed lhat tenants, in form er times, had paid out
of rcspect for the Diety |.v/cj\ but now only the fear o f the janmi' could make
ihem fulfil their obligations.13 T h ere.w ere a w hole range o f special dues
collccted by landlords for ihe m aintenance o f ihe temples and shrines and.
noiionally, the ow nership o f temple lands was vested in the deity. Custom arily,
the lemple would send m en' to w atch o ver the fields during the harvest,
C.H. Kunhappa, Smaranakal mutram (Memoirs) (Calicut, 1981), 3.
w Moore, Malabar law and custom, 276-7.
Revenue R.Dis. 7034/39 dated 23 January 1941 (KRA): Report o f the special duty tehstldar,
15 August 1939.
* Tlic list includes nine oil prcssers (Vam yans). ten washermen (Vannan/M annan), (wo
weavers (Chaliyan), eight shrine priests and oracles (Kom aram /V clichapad), four astrologers
(Kamsans), two barbers for castes below Nayars (K avm iyan) and two traditional teachers
(Panikkar/Vadhyar). Settlement Registerfo r Karivelluramsam. Chirakkal taluk (Calicut. 1904).
IJ Report on Ihe pattonnu assessm ent from the tahsildar, Chirakkal taluk. Revenue R.Dis 126-
R dated 22 May 1894 (KRA).
44 Caste, nationalism and comm unism in south India
receiving a certain sum from the tenants for this service.

Though most o f the shrines and temples were managed by N ayar tharavadus,
in Chirakkal there were a certain num ber o f temples under the control o f the
small yet powerful Nambudiri com m unity.14 Institutions like the Tali temple
at Taliparam ba and the Perul Siva icmplc in Eramam were sustained by lands
set aside for their m aintenance and theexiravagances o f the annual cerem onies
A network o f m inor tem ples in the imm ediate vicinage held lands from which
an annual rent was paid lo thc\ m ajor te m p le.15 W orship and religious cer
em onies at these tem ples were conducted solely by Nambudiris and even the
higher caste Nayars were given only restricted access within the temple and not
allowed to enter theinnercourtyard surrounding the Within
north M alabar, the higher groups o f N ayars were broadly divided into the
Puraihu charna Nayars - the m artial' clans, and the Agaihu chnrna Nayars -
the clerks, dom estics, and revenue o fficers.,(l Those Nayars w ho were per
mitted inside were prohibited from ringing the bells hanging from the ceiling
as this was a privilege allow ed only to N am budiris.17
A large majority o f the temples, however, were those owned by individual
tharavadus and managed by their heads (kaniiutvtinnwr). They were private
temples in the sense that only members of the tharavadu w orshipped there.
Officials at these temples were usually senior mem bers o f the family, who had
given them selves up to a religious life ."1Annual cerem onies were held at other
temples, which allowed entry to all castes. On such occasions alone. Brahm in
priests officiated and used fish and toddy in the rituals; most o f the tem ples
being.devoted to S iv a o rs/iu M , the use o f alcohol and meat was common.
Shrines and shared worship
The basic distinction between tem ples (kshcimms) and shrines (Ayivh.y) w as that
only Ilie Nayar landholders and Naiulmdiri Brahm ins were allow ed lo pray at
14 tlh a s been argued that the Nam budiris in their migration from ihe north some time m the cu il\
centuries *i>(lhc tluic rem ains in dispute) scllled in areas where wetland tulliv ation etiu td Ih.'
practised. See K. Velulhat. Brahmin settlements in Kerala (Calicut. I97B) Chirakkal w a n lic
main rice-producing are* in north M alabar, which could explain the targe num ber of
Nam budiris in ihe region.
" Revenue R.Dis. 126-R dated 22 May 1894 (KRA): P ubik OR D918/Pub, dated 24 June 1903
(K R A ).The Perul Siva tem ple had nine item s of land set aside for tem ple expenses atone which
had an annual-yield o f 2,500 seen.
11 See Fawcett, The Nayars o f Malabar, 188-9.
Vishnu Bharatceyan, Adimakat engane udamakaltivi (Him the slaves became masters)
(Trivandrum. 1980), 25.
" Kunhappa. Smaranakal matram, 41. Kunhappas grandfather actcd as priest at the family
shrine and devoted him self to Ihe study o f the Vedanw. hunting and breeding dogs
Shrines and llie community of worship, 1900-1910 45
the former. Kavus were o f various kinds, but generally they w ere the focus of
worship o f a com m unity o f lower and upper castes within a region defined by
the sphere of overiordship (melkoyma) o f the dom inant fam ily or families
m anaging the shrine. Shrines were the characteristic site o f worship and in
1881, of the 240 religious institutions belonging to superior castes, only forty-
five were to be found in north M alabar.19
Kavu literally means a grove o f trees, and tnany.tharavadus had a few stone
idols situated in a wooded com er o f their backyards, w here snake deities and
other nature spirits w ere worshipped. At tim es, a kavu consisted o f a stone idol
under the vast, leafy, expanse o f a banyan (ficus indicus) orpipal (ficus religiosa)
tree beside the road. The more formalised kavus were built along the lines o f
tem ples, and the structure which housed the deity had acircum am bulatory path
running around it. The whole com plex could be surrounded by four walls
( chiittambiilam ), on the outside o f which w ere rows o f lamps which were lit
during festivals. Even in such formal structures, there were holes in the roof ju st
above the image, to indicate that originally, Ihe deity was exposed to the
elem ents.20 It was at the level o f the shrines that a greater degree o f integration
o f the com plex o f tharavadu, shrine and low er caste adherents was visible. The
sphere o f worship at shrines could correspond at one level with the tharavadu,
its branches, and their labourers. Therefore, apart from the religious domain,
the adherents o f a shrine could reflect the pattern o f shared irrigation networks,
shared labour and so on. N either loyalties nor devotion to a particular shrine
stem m ed from primordial allegiances, and could constantly shift. It was
perhaps only the m em bers o f tharavadus and their tied labourers - Pulayas and
Cherum as - who may have constituted a hard core o f worshippers. In every
N ayar tharavadu, som e form o f ancestor worship was practised, the most
com m on being the setting apart o f a room in the house as the abode of the
ancestors. T he symbol o f the ancestor - a sword if the person had been o f a
martial tem peram ent, and beads and slippers if they had been spiritually
oriented - was w orshipped in an outhouse and one o f the male mem bers of the
family acted as a priest. W orship o f these ancestors and the goddess of the
tharavadu was linked, and together, they represented a check on morality
within the tharavadu.2* Sometimes, these fam ily shrines were throw n open to
the public if offerings to the ancestor were seen as effective in preventing or
curing diseases. In times o r epidem ics (smallpox continued to be prevalent in
MLTR. 1881-82, IU.

* See C . Achulhn Menon, Kali worship in Kerala (M adras, 1943), 8 -16 for a discussion on the
historical developm ent o f ih i Jtavu from grove to established shrine.
K.R. PLsharoti, Notes on ancestor worship current in K erala', Man, 6 0(1923), 99-102; E.K.
C ough, 'C ults o f the dead am ong the N ayars, Journal o f American Folklore, 71 (1958), 447-
52. Gough m akes an interesting com parison with Ihe princcly state o f Cochin to the south
where com pact village settlem ent led to ancestor worship within a household being linked to
tile goddess, im pinging on a wider sphere o f m orality.
46 Caste, naiionalisni and comm unism in south India
M alabar as late as the forties), the shrine o f the N ayar ancestor anil therefore
the tharavadu itself becam e a focus of the com m unity.22 Such shrines cam e to
be seen over lime as being shared in com m on between those residing in the
vicinity (kaviivailntu) and daily expenses - rice, coconuts, oil - were met by
those living around it.
Some Nayar tharavadus set up a revered ancestor in a local shrine merging
ihe family cull with a local cull. The reverse could happen when local heroes
and heroines, usually victim s of pcrceivcd injustice at the hands o f members
o f the tharavadu, were deified and worshipped along with the a n c e s t o r s '
Thus, even as Nayar tharavadus attem pted in iiierease llieii sphere nl authority
by transposing iheir ancestors in local shrmes, they them selves had loconsianlly
attest their legitim acy by atoning for excesses com m itted. Deceased ances
tors, local heroes and heroines, gods of the Vedic panlheon, and nature gods all
rubbed shoulders in a seam less fabric o f worship. M em bership in a com m unity
o f worship defined a collectivity to some extern but the dissonances were
evident. The punishm ent or killing o f low er castes clearly indicated lhat
tharavadus possessed authority, and wou Id use it. T hat atonem ent was necessary
defined, to som e extent, the lim its o f an exercise o f authority. For instance, at
the beginning o f this century, when the head o f the M anakam pat family put a
P ulayayouihio death, suspecting h im o fp raclisin g sorcery, he had lo b e deified
and w orshipped alongside the ancestors o f the N ayar tharavadu.24
The expansion o f tharavadus into the forests, incorporating tribal groups
into production for the m arket, created an interface betw een two belief
systems. Very often, the deity at a family tem ple (Siva, V ishnu or Bhagavathi)
was merged with a local deity. At Pandicode, in a tem ple managed by the
Koothali tharavadu, the local goddess of the mountains. Payyormala paradevata,
had becom e the family deity and was w orshipped alongside Siva.25 Questions
, o f cognition are difficult to resolve but, it is possible that o ver a period o f tim e
t these two entities m ight have merged and Siva wou Id have becom e as much a
folk deity as the Payyorm ala devata a goddess o f the Nayars. This m erger o f
the gods o f the upper caste landholders and those o f the low er caste or tribal
adherents w as another facet o f the presum ed com m unity around the tem ples o r
shrines. T he word presum ed is im portant in this context as it was only on the
occasion o f worship, festivals, o r dearth w hich entailed dependence on the
tem ple granary that a setise o f com m unity may have been sum m oned up. In
11 Achutha Menon, Kali worship in Kerala, 82.

u V.K.R. M enon, Ancestor, worship among the Nayars*, Man. 25 (1920), 42-3: Gough, Culls
o f the dead', 467; M. Unni N air, My Malabar (Bombay, 1952).
14 Unni N air. My Malabar. Kathleen C ough w rites o f a prominent N ayar household in Koltayam
which had shrines for six to eight alien ghosts in its com pound. Cough, Cults o f the d e a J ',
467.
" Revenue R.Dis.7034/39 dated 23 January 1941 (KRA).
Shrines and the a m tm uniiy o f worship. IW 0 ~ I9 I0 47
M nttanur, N ayars look offerings to the annual nercha (festival) at the local
mosque but this was a more fragile link renewed only once a year.26
Thurston records a striking instance o f the m elange o f beliefs created
between castes and religious com m unities, He w rites o f the houses o f a large
num ber o f Tiyyas in M alabar, where regular offerings were made to a person
called Kunnaih Nayar and his M appila friend Kunhi Rayan. T he form er was
believed to have control over all the snakes in the land. Near M annarghat.
M appila devotees collected alms for a snake m osque.27 If low er castes were
beginning to worship higher deities, upper castes had to acknow ledge lower
d u tie s. In liy an lia k a s h \ study ol relations between k tim ia s (bonded labour)
and m a lik s (landlords) in south Bihar, he shows how the landlords by subor
dinating the spirit cults o f their bonded labour to Hindu beliefs, reproduced
the caste hierarchy.28 In M alabar, as we have seen, there is a tw o-way process
and landlords are as much under the sway o f low er caste spirits and gods. A
com m unity o f worship was sustained by this tension between integration and
the possibility o f deities retaining their separate identities for different groups
o f worshippers. For exam ple, at a shrine in Kunuthur, the characters o f the
Muhabharata have been transform ed by the local religious idiom. Kunti and
Panchali (D raupadi) arc portrayed as m other and daughter (not as m othcr-in-
la w and daughter-in-law ). Together with the five Panduvas. they are worshipped
as gods in the form o f leopards 29 Historians and anthropologists, w orking
within different theoretical paradigm s argue that low er caste culture consists
o f replication and im itation o f the dom inant culture o f the upper castes.30
Looking at the process o f the formation, expansion and interm ingling o f the
.shrines o f N ayar ancestors, goddesses and local heroes and heroines, the social
order appears to be far more dynamic.
Shrine festivals - interdependence and obliga tion
A study o f the shrine festival at Pishari kavu, near the port town o f Q uilandy
m Kurum branad will help to illustrate the reiteration o f caste identity as well
G.J. Milter, An analysis o f the Hindu caste system ', 164,

L. Thurston, Omens and superstitions o f southern India (London, 1912), 128-9,
Sec Cyan Prakash, 'R eproducing inequality: spirit cults and labour relations in colonial
eastern India, Modem Asian Studies. 2 0 ,2 (1986). 216-21.
> Chaw hera. Kaliyattam, 47.
Michael M offait argues for replication on the grounds o f the perm eating structure o f purity
and poHut ion inbuilt into an undifferentiated caste culture. Dirks. (hough more processual and
willing lo historicise the notion o f culture, again stresses the cultural apathy or inefficacy o f
client castes who 'had minimal control over the articulation o f their social o rd e r'. M offait. An
untouchable community. 9; Dirks, The hollow crown , 269.
s a sense of communiiy.-51 A Mussad (Nam budiri) perform ed worship in the

shrine and castes below the Nayars were prohibited entry into the shrine
During festivals, washerm en, tribals and oracles were an integral part of the
cerem onies. M ost o f the ritual officiants and religious perform ers held rent free
land from the shrine and the annual yield from the small plots provided a bare
subsistence. T he festival at Pishari kavu was held over seven days in the months
o f April and an account o f the cerem onies on each o f the seven days shows how
different castes were associated at different stages with the festival.
<
First day -T h e Mussad (Nambudiri) swept the shrine and five Nambudiris bore the
five products of the cow and sacred grass for use in worship at the shrine. The heads
of the four trustee Nayor families presented the shrine flog to the shrine servant
(piahamdi) who hoisted it on the eastern side,
Next three days - The image of the goddess (bhagavalhi) was carried in procession
round the desam.
Fifth day - A washerman ( vanrtan), who held a hereditary landholding office with
the shrine announced the procession of the bhagavalhi. Accompanied by a tribal
(murtnuitan) can-ying an umbrella, he led devotees to the shrine.
Sixth day - The headman of the fisherpeople (m ukkuvar ) arrived at the shrine
together with the blacksmith and the goldsmith. The goldsmith 'repaired' the silver
umbrella of the shrine which was then given to the headman along with half a sack of
rice. Meanwhile, the blacksmith 'repaired' the shrine sword. In the afternoon, the
headman of the Tiyyas arrived with two of his easterner) carrying bunches of young
coconuts. They led a procession followed by the blacksmith and the goldsmith carrying
the shrine sword while the chief of the fisherpeople brought up the rear holding the
shrine umbrella.
Seventh day - After the daily procession, an umbrella maker (partan), danced
before the shrine carrying a small umbrella. In the afternoon, the oracles ( velichapud)
danced before the shrine cutting their foreheads with swords.
Nine Tiyyas bearing pots of milk and toddy ran around the shrine and received five
measures of rice and a piece of the sacrificial goat. Then a procession of eight
caparisoned elephants, preceded by a Nayar bearing a sword, set out with a priest
seated on the leading elephant. As the procession left, a washerman performed a ritual
dance at the main gate while a Munnuttan tribal performed at the eastern gale. When
the procession returned, cocks were flung to the dancers who wrung the heads off and
losscd them lo the crowd.
The Tiyyas gave their pots of toddy lo the shrine servants and collected rice for
themselves from a pit which devotees had filled with their offerings. The principal
ritual dancers flung rice towards the gathered crowd and ihen moved to the houses of
the four Nayar trustees. Each tharavadu put out a measure of grain which was then
carried to the shrine. At the shrine, the priest on the elephant and the sword in his hand
both began to tremble and he was carried inside the shrine where sacred water was
11T h i s a c c o u n t is token from a description o f t h e fcslival in 1901. Fawcctt, hiayars o/MttUtbtir.

255-64.
Shrines and the community of worship. 1900-19(0 49
p o u re d o n th e sw o rd . T h e c h ie f d a n c e r m a d e an o r a c u la r a n n o u n c e m e n t a b o u t th e
p ro sp e c ts Tor th e fu tu re an d th e c ro w d d e p a rte d .
A fte r th is, fo u r g o a ts a n d se v e ra l c o c k s w e re s a c rific e d o n b e h a lf o f th e f o u r N a y a r
th a ra v a d u s. T h e fle sh o f th e s a c rific e d a n im a ls w as c o o k e d w ith ric e an d th e p rie sts
re c ite d p ra y e rs o v e r it. T h e n e x t d ay th e N a m b u d iris p e rfo rm e d w o rsh ip th ric e at
th e s h rin e .33
D uring the course o f the festival, each caste perform ed the role traditionally
associated with it: the blacksm ith repaired the sword, the um brella m aker
supplied umbrel las, the fisherpeoplc brought salt from the coast and the Tiyyas
brought coconut and toddy. It is significant that service castes, those m ost
intim ately associated with tharavadus, were the ones who played a m ajor role
in the rituals. Perhaps, we can make a distinction betw een those for w hom
participation was an obligation - the service castes who actually played a part
in the ritual - and those for whom it w as a m atter o f personal devotion. And,
religiosity need not have stem m ed from, nor did it em phasise in a particular
way, the devotees' position in a caste hierarchy. W hat was being em phasised
was possibly the fact o f a com m unity o f worship sustaining the shrine which
was the centre of the com munity of subsistence along with the Nayar tharavadus.
The four m ajor Nayar tharavadus o f the area donated rice to the shrine and the
devotees received quantities o f rice as offerings from the shrine. The processions
took a definite route em bracing the presum ed sphere o f religious authority o f
the Nayar families, ft was quite com m on for shrines to be supported by
donations o f produce from w orshippers, particularly in festivals coinciding
with the harvest in April. At the main shrine in Taliparam ba, th e puttari (new
rice) festival was held after each harvest and w orshippers o f all castes, as well
as tenants o f the shrine, brought offerings o f grain and vegetables.33 It is sig
nificant that prestations go both up and down the caste hierarchy and what
seem s to be em phasised is more a secular notion o f contribution to a collective
pool o f scarce resources, i.e. grain.
Every shrine festival was thus a reiteration o f the com m unity o f worship as
well as o f subsistence marked in the giving and receiving o f paddy. Jusl as the
roles perform ed by each o f the castes was em phasised, so was the duly o f the
N ayar tharavadusand the temple to provide fo rth e com m unity o f worshippers.
It would be sim plistic to argue that such festivals sim ply reiterated and
reproduced casic hierarchy or caste identity. In the first chapter, we spoke of
two concentric circles o f dependence on tharavadus, an inner one o f greater
dependence, including the service castes and labourers, and an outer and more
flexible one o f cultivators. Here too, service castes formed the inner ring of
worship and their caste identity was em phasised by their association at
u Faw cell, Nayars o f Malabar. 255-64

11 Vishnu Bharalceyan. Adim akal rngane udamakalaxt, 79
particular stages of the ritual. The w asherm en, ritual dancers, oraclcs and
potters were com pletely dependent on the tharavadu shrine com plex since they
held land from the shrine and perform ed services primarily for it and the
controlling families. It would be possible to argue, even in the case o f the
service castes, that their primary loyalty, as such, would have been towards
the dom inant tharavadus rather than towards their caste* people over a wider
region.34 As for the other castes, it was the more intangible aspect o f worship
which drew them to the festivals, and they were on the peripheries of the ritual
rather than central to them. Besides, it is possible lo argue that rituals ui the
festivals were both opaque as well as o f little interest to m ost o f the putative
beneficiarics. This poses further problem s for any analysis that reads o ff social
hierarchy from enactm ents o f ritual hierarchy. '
T he com m unity around the shrines was prem ised on the interdependence of
those living and w orshipping there as weli as the fact that in times o f dearth,
the stocks o f the tharavadu and the shrine helped tide them over the crisis.
Shrine festivals such as the one at Pishari kavu em phasised the obligation o f the
tharavadus to provide grain to their dependents, However, we cannot stop at a
purely functional and m aterialist level o f explanation. There were also the
intangible elem ents o f devotion, respect, loyalty and fear which kept (he
com m unity together when (he tharavadu was on the decline and, at tim es, even
when the shrine had ceased to exist. In 1939, the temples belonging to the
Koothali family were escheated along with their lands and other properties
after the death o f the last m em ber o f the family. W ithin a year, there were
petitions from the local inhabitants lo the C ollector asking for the temple
festivals to be renewed.35
Shrine festivals - community of equals?
W hile the festival at Pishari kavu may have em phasised dependence and ob
ligations, it was only one o f the diverse religious practices that persons were
involved in. People moved within various spheres o f worship, the experience
o f each inform ing theTrparticjpation in others. The pilgrim age to the shrine at
K otttyur provides an illustration o f anotherkind o f religious practice at shrines.
H ere the central them e was the tem porary dissolution o f differences betw een
the participants and the transgression o f the lim its im posed on interaction
between high and low castes.
u M iller argues ibis for all castes however. As we have seen in the first chapter, cultivators could
have held land under several landlords. It would be difficult to argue that loyalty towards any
one particular landlord or household would prevail. Miller, Vil lage structure in north Kerala
43.
u Revenue R.Dis.7034/39 dated 23 January 1941 (KRA)
Shrines and the community o f worship, 1900-1910 51
Situated in ihc W ynaad foothills, ihe KoUiyur shrine was kept closed
throughout the year except for a b rief period betw een the fifteenth o f May and
the eleventh o f June, The shrine was managed by a few N ayar tharavadus,
though the pilgrim s who travelled there w ere o f all castes. Between the twenty-
first and the tw enty-fourth o f M ay, Tiyyas, a large m inority am ong w hom were
toddy tappers, would bring traditional offerings o f tender coconuts and pots o f
toddy. Pilgrims came from different regions in groups based on neighbourhoods,
work com m unities and villages, led by men callcd thandans. On the way to the
shrine it was custom ary to insult anyone they cam e across' and break and
cause dam age lo property beside the pilgrim age route.36 The pilgrim s found
their way into reports by the local police and m agistrates who invariably
described them as rural illiterates from Chirakkal, Kottayam and Kurumbranad.
Policing was, therefore, restricted to the fringes o f the crowds. Only the
pilgrim s were allow ed in the vicinity o f the shrine, and the crow ds doing the
last lap o f the trek from M anaihana to K ottiyur w ere free o f any surveillance.
They follow ed an order o f precedence initially; the N ayars would arrive first,
followed by the Tiyyas and so on. O nce the Nayars, Tiyyas and oth er castes
reached the shrine, they abused one another, sang bawdy songs and occasionally
cam e lo blows. W orship was tem pered with gaiety as the pots o f toddy were
diverted for secular consum ption.3?
Before the festival began, a T iyya w ould perform w orship at the shrine, only
aficr w hich were Nayars and N am budiris allow ed to worship. The chief
representative o f the Nambudiris paid a certain am ount o f money as dakshina
(offering) to the T iyya priest and received charge o f the tem ple from him. On
ihe last day o f the festival, a w asherm an, in the guise o f the mountain god
M uthappan, arrived near K ottiyur and was received by a Nambudiri priest
who offered him sandalw ood paste 38 Seem ingly, the caste hierarchy was
stood on its head as upper castes could worship only after receiving perm ission
from a Tiyya. Sim ilarly, a w asherm an, exalted on account o f being possessed
by a deity (significantly, a non-brahm inical deity), was tem porarily superior to
a Brahmin. The specific context blurred questions o f hierarchy and allow ed for
Ihe adoption o f roles which did not replicate everyday norms o f behaviour. The
Nambudiri brahm in offered dakshina lo a Tiyya, reversing the kind o f trans
action usually seen as obtaining between higher and 'lo w er' in which
grosser m aterial elem ents go u p 1 from those o f low er stattls and m ore refined
symbolic elem ents go dow n' from those o f higher status.3^ T he Brahmin paid
Public DRIS85/P.08 dated 17 October 1908 (KRA).

Fawcetl, Nayars o f Malabar, 268; R epon o f the second class M agistrate, Kuihuparamba, 27
June 1908 and Superintendent o fP o lice.T ellich eu y , 14June 1908 .Public DR 158S/P 08 dated
17 October 1908 (KRA).
" Miller. 'A n analysis o f ihe Hindu caste system '. 344-3.
'* The puja. occasioning ihe transfer o f superior substances downward from superiors is seen
as a m etaphor for social relations in Ludden, Peasant history in south India, 65; Dirks. The
[
money to the Tiyya fo r the intangible, sym bolic benefit o f his blessing, ju st as
the washerm an was anointed with sandalw ood paste, so that the brahm in could
share in a lower* castes tem porary divinity. A ll the other actions were
seem ingly contained within the parenthetical cerem onies in w hich the Tiyya
handed o ver the tem ple to the Nam budtri and the w asherm an was received as
a g o d by another N am budiri at the beginning and end o f the festival.
However, in both these instances, a reversal o f roles was im plied and they
m arked a continuity w ith the rest o f the activities during the festival.
A sim ilar festival w as held in the m onth o f A pril at the K odungallur tem ple
in the neighbouring state o f Cochin. N ayars and low er castes from north
M alabar m ade a pilgrim age to the tem ple and, once there, drank alcohol,
sacrificed cocks and goats and sang lew d songs both about the goddess o f the
temple as w ell as hapless passersby. T he culm ination o f the revelries was
marked by the raiding o f the sanctum sanctorum by w asherm en, otherw ise
denied entry in the temple, who then belaboured the idol o f the goddess with
sticks.40 N o overt distinctions o f caste w ere m aintained during the pilgrim age
to Kottiyur, but even within this ephem eral sense o f com m unity created by
religion, secular concerns could, at tim es, be prom inent. In 1908, for the first
tim e, the spirit o f revelry and latent violence found an outlet agai nst an ex lemal
authority. On the tw enty-second o f May, when over 5,000 pilgrim s had
gathered at M anathana, they moved in a body to the office o f the forester, a
Christian nam ed Lobo. They accused him o f desecrating the shrine by being in
the vicinity and also insisted that he was aiding pri vale ti m bcr m erchants to cut
down the forest. M eanw hile, som e m em bers o f the crow d broke into the office
and set fire to som e o f the lists after m ockingly calling out nam es as from a
ro ll.41 Under cover o f being pilgrim s, the participants, or som e o f them,
infringed both caste and legal norm s transform ing a seem ingly ritual.
repetitive event by investing it with unexpected conflict and contest. Profane
and sacred, high and low, and superior and subordinate identities were
subsum ed within the space o f these shrine festivals. A fragile sense o f
com m unity was created, tem pered by ihc tensions betw een ihc different caste
hollow crown, 47-8. In this they draw upon the work o f Mnrriott and Indcn, in urgue that
transactions*, i.e. interactions betw een c u te s are characterised by the exchange o f sub
stances* from the 'sup erior' to the 'in ferio r'. See M cK im M arriott and R.B. lnden, Towards
an ethnosociotogy o f south Asian caste system s, in K. David ed., The new wind. cAang/ng
identities in south Asia (H ague, 1977). For a critique see S. Barnett, A. Ostor and L. F ruzictli,
Hierarchy purified: notes on Dumont and his critics, Journal o f Asian Studies, 3 5 ,4 (1976),
633-7.
* T he degree o f licence on such occasions w as presum ably extravagant, as contem porary
observers like Fawcett, in 1901, m aintained a prim silence about goings on. Fawcett, Nayars
o f Malabar, 268. A reform ers pam phlet o f Ihe tw enties (?), describes scenes o f seduction,
bloody sacri fice and drunkenness with great enthusiasm . T. V Das, Kodungallur bharani (The
Kondungallur festival) (Calicut, nd).
41 Public DR I585/P.08 dated 17 October 1908 (KRA). Only trnc file o f the incident survives
at the Kozhikode Regional Archives and it is not clear what the lists contained.
groups which could surface in squabbles and fights during the festivals. W hat
was important here w as the fact that it was not so m uch a caste identity which
was being asserted on these occasions but the possibility o f concerted behaviour
regardless o f distinctions.
T here was no presum ed physical com m unity o f w orship around these
shrines, nor was there any clear ritual dem arcation o f territory. Both at K ottiyur
and K odungallur,.the im agined terrain o f w orshippers theoretically em braced
oil o f M alabar. In the crow ds that surged to these festivals anonym ity was the
key feature and their joint participation as pilgrim s was the unifying factor. At
festivals associated with particular shrines in the countryside, there was less
anonym ity and the prem ise was o f different castes w orking together. However,
hierarchies persisted: between the N ayar uralars o f the temple and the pil
grim s, betw een the heads o f pilgrim age groups from different regions and the
pilgrim s under them and betw een the pilgrim groups them selves. T he variety
o f affiliations and resentm ents engendered by neighbourhood, locality and, not
least, o f caste, may have continued into the space o f the ritual: hence, the riot
o f 1908. Thus, there w as less a forgetting, o r suspension, o f differences in the
space nf the pilgrim age and m ore a pragm atic attem pt to work out relations in
spite o f discord. Thus, as has recently been argued, it is com m unity rather than
T urners communitas - a lim inal space o f equality - which can be seen as the
hallm ark o f pilgrim age.*2 W ithin the pilgrim age social interactions can take
place afresh within a new setting; both worship and licence binding togetherthe
participants.
S h rin e festivals - the m o ra l co m m un ity?
T here was another rung o f shrines m anaged exclusively by Tiyya families,

service castes, fisherpeople and untouchable castes like the Pulayas. Nayar
landlords o f the im m ediate locality were deem ed to be members o f the religious
com m unity, aiul though ilicy never worshipped at these shrines, they had an
im portant role to play in annual festivals. It was at shrines like these that the
teyyattam, or the divine dance, was perform ed. T he teyyattam was a perfor
m ance which incorporated the telling o f the story o f a lower or upper caste
victim o f perceived injustice and thecircum stances o f theirdcification. Shrines
grew up around these deified victim s and they w ere never worshipped in
11 V.Turner,T7ir rirHfl//>ro.tj: j/rur/H feandan/i-jlrur/w retH arm ondsw orth.M iddkseJi, 1974).
119-54 and Dramas, fields and metaphors: symbolic action in human society (Ilhaca. NY.
1974). 166-231. M. Sallnow, ' Communitas reconsidered: the sociology of Andean pilgrim
ages, Man (ns) 1 6 ,2 (1 9 8 1 ). 163-82. See also P.S. Sangren, History and magical pott er in
a Chinese cimimnnity (California, 1987)
person, but incorporated either within local cults, existing hhagavathi shrines,
or the worship o f ancestors in N ayar tharavadus. Perform ances w ere always
localised geographically and if the plot o f land where a teyyattam was per
form ed was sold, it w as up to the new purchaser to continue holding the
cerem ony.43 This level o f shrines served as physical m arkers o f an imagined
area o f com m unity as well as rem inders o f the ever-present relations of pow er
Perform ances o f the teyyattam w ere held at shrines m anaged by Nayars,
Tiyyas or castes low er to them. The incorporation o f local heroes, the ancestors
o f the N ayar families, and the bhaf>avathi, in the sphere of worship defined a
cosm ology particular to every llu n iv ad u -sh rin e coniptex. The distinctive form
o f w orship at these shrines also em phasised the conviviality o f the religious
com munity. T oddy and m eal were an essential part o f the cerem onies and very
often the perform er him self was stoked up with alcohol. The essential spiritual
ideal in all the cerem onies was not so much the transcendence o f the world as
enjoym ent within it.
Before we m ove lo a consideration o f the two kinds o f teyyattam festivals
and particular perform ances, w e m ust look at the perform ers them selves,
M alayan tribals, many o f whom practised shifting cultivation on the foothills
o f the w estern hills, and V annans (washerm en) w ere the tw o main groups who
perform ed at the shrines.44 Both these groups occupied a special place in the
social structure. M alayans were not tied to any particular tharavadu, and even
though they were som etim es dependent on landlords for m oney and seeds, they
enjoyed a relative freedom from the direct authority which other labouring
castes were subjected to. Vannans perform ed the role o f im plem enting social
sanctions on the com m unity. Every N ayar family had to have the clothes of
their m enstruating women washed by the w asherw om an (V annathi). and it w as
only after she had collected and delivered the fresh clothes that the tharavadu
was deem ed to be free o f pollution. A tharavadu, o r a caste assem bly which
w ished to im pose sanctions on a fam ily for errant behaviour, would w ithhold
the services o f the w asherw om an to th eir house. T his was called the
vannathimattu and it was very effective in regulating and, at tim es controlling
the behaviourof groups in the village, as no one would have anything to do with
a house under the cloud o f pollution. Both the groups perform ing the teyyattam
occupied a position o f relative pow er w ithin the social structure, the Vannans
in th eir role as whips o f th e com m unity, and the M alayans on account o f their
being at the fringes o f the authority exercised by dom inant tharavadus.
A w eek before any perform ance, the priest (komaram ) o f the particular shrine
visited every house within the presum ed area o f influence o f the religious
41 Joan M encher. Possession, dance and religion in north M alabar, K erala, In d ia', Collected
papers o f the V tt congress o f anthropology and ethnographic sciences, M oscow (1964), 340.
44 Thurston and R angachan, Castes and tribes o f southern India-, Vannan: VII, 3 18-20; Malayan:
IV, 436-9.
Shrines <utd the ronmumiiy o f worship, 1900-1910 55
com munity. The procession was received at each house with drum m ing and
showers o f rite (probably an enactm ent o f the thunder w hich augured heavy
rains and a good crop). If an cpidem ic was raging, (he leyyattam was perform ed
to placate the goddess and the priest appeared as her representative to every
lharavadu summoning them to prayer.45 W helhcrin prosperity ordearth,health
or sickness, the interdependence o f lharavadu, shrines and w orshippers was
em phasised. Individual perform ances of the leyyattam could be held at any
time o f ihe year at a shrine o r in the com pound of a Nayar, Nambudiri o rT iy y a
house. G rand perform ances coinciding with shrine festivals tended to be
n m ic n in itcd in Ihe period between I )ccenbcr ami M arch when there was a lull
in agricultural activity prior lo the harvest in A pril.46 Some o f the larger fes
tivals were sim ilar to (he temple festivals at which the contributory and
particular role o f each caste w.ts em phasised. These festivals could be o f two
kinds, those hosted once a year by powerful N ayar lharavadus and the others
hosted once in a decade orevery twenty-five years. The latter w ere usually held
in areas where the Tiyyas were a num erically o r econom ically pow erful caste,
hut where, over time, the shrine had come under the sway o f the locally
powerful N ayar tharavadus 47
Local Nayar lharavadus were Janus faced in their religious attitudes. On the
one hand, they contributed towards the cost o f the tem ple festivals at which
only the Nambudiris and they had the right to attend. On the other, they
subsidised the festivals at shrines belonging lo the low er casles and played a
part in the rituals. At the yearly perform ance o f a leyyattam held at Kottayam,
the material needed for the cerem onies was supplied by ihe service castes
around the shrine, and the tenant fami lies. Tiyyas provided coconu is and loddy;
the Vaniyans (oilpressers) oil for the lamps; Chaliyans (weavers) wove fine
cloth for the goddess; and the blacksm ith sharpened the swords. Before the
festival began, the N ayar family priest, two Nayars from ihe Vaniyan sub-
caste, the Tiyya priests o f the shrine and the head o f the Nayar tharavadu
offered prayers. During ihe festival six M alayans, four M unnuttan tribals and
three Vannans (distinguished perform ers bearing the title peruvannan) per
formed the leyyattam.48 T he Vannans cam e from three differeni desams: an
indication o f ihe fact that the com munity o f wprship was not restricted within
a single village, and ihe shrine could have a wide network o f adherents. Here
* C,M .S. Chanthera, Kaliyattam, 41.

,l Census o f India, 1961, VII, vn h ( i i ) - Report on fairs and festivals tn Kerala. O f a total o f 304
festivals held annually at temples and shrines in north Malabar, 75 p ercen t were held between
December and April. The levyaimm was performed al 49 per cent o f these festivals. Crowds
of a lakh in number attended the grand festivals held every twel ve years at Ihe M uchilot shrines
in Karivellur and Eramam.
" K.K.N. Kmup.Aryunand Dravidtan elements in Malabarfolktore: a !ase siudyofKamavilham
kazhakam (Trivandrum , 1979), 2-3.
Miller, 'An analysis o f the Hindu caste system ', 123-4.
again, there w as an em phasis on the specific roles played by castes in the rituals
o f the shrine. W hat isjsignificant is the fact that the N ayar received offerings
from the Tiyya priest w ho was low er in the caste hierarchy. At a tem ple, the
N ayar w ould have accepted offerings only from a Nambudiri p rie st In both
instances how ever, itjwas in the specific context o f the ritual that the secular
status and authority o f the N ayar w as subordinated to the ritual authority o f the
Nambudiri o r Tiyya priest. Status was not unequivocal and was in the same
state o f flux that the pantheon o f deities was.
T he perform ance o f the teyyattam discussed here was situated within the
context o f a festival in w hich its enactm ent w as an adjunct to the reassertion of
com m unity and interdependence. W hat about individual perform ances o f the
teyyattam held at local shrines? T he cosm ology o f worship had the nature of
a palim psest, w ith earlier im prints blurred, but still visible. T he predom inant
characteristic was that o f com m unity: a com m unity o f past beliefs, o f gods and
hum ans, o f ancestors and the present generation and during the space o f the
perform ance, o f upper and low er castes. W e can broadly distinguish between
four categories o f gods in the teyyattam. T he first category was predom inantly
fem ale; the powerful, bloodthirsty aspects o f shakti were personified in the
bhagavathi and her m anifestation as R aktacham undi and Kurathi. The second
category included a small num ber b f m ale divinities who w ere aspects o f Siva
- Pottan, Gulikan and Bhairavan. Here too. a considerable degree o f mixture
was evident with ghosts, spirits and heroes perform ed as m anifestations o f
Siva. A third w as the m inuscule category o f the m anifestations o f Vishnu,
though Vishnumurti or Vishnu in his incarnation as Narasimha (half man and
h alf lion), had acquired general acceptance as a village deity. The fourth
category o f local heroes and heroines was absorbed into the earlier categories
and they w ere always perform ed as aspects of one of the main deities. Earlier
practices continued within the space o f the teyyattam, as for exam ple both tree
and snake worship. Shrines were usually situated in groves o f trees and the
performances o f the teyyattam were done beneath banyan o r peepul trees. Serpent
worship, which continued among N ayar families well into the twentieth
century, was evidenced in the worship o f serpent teyyanu.49
During a perform ance o f the teyyattam , the perform er (kolam) was pm
sessed by the spirit o f the local hero or heroine who had been deified as a form
o f the bhagavathi or Siva. W hile the kolam was wailing to be possessed by the
deity, the thottam was sung relating the circum stances o f the life and death o f
the deified victims. T he word thottam is derived from the verb thonnuka
meaning to create.50 At tim es, the perform er him self was called the thottam, no
distinction being made between the creator and his creation. D uring the space
" Raghavan Payyanadu, Teyyavum ihollampallum (The Teyyatn and its literature) (Kottayam.
1919), 39.44-5.
w It. Gunderl, Maltiyalum nifihtmtlu (Mtiltinilnm ilii'tionury) (Koltayam. 1962 edn), 174-5
Shrines and Ike community o f worship, 1900-1910 57
o f the perform ance, the hero o r heroine w as brought alive in the body o f the
kolam, w ho was at the sam e lim e possessed by the deity. T h e kolam therefore,
was at the sam e tim e hum an as w ell as divine, the-creator as w ell as th e creation,
low er caste as w ell as being god. W hen he w as in a state, o f possession, he
castigated the upper caste m em bers o f the audience fo r acts o f com m ission and
om ission tow ards their servants or labourers. In a sense the perform ance was
a lengthy rebuke; the retelling o f the story o f the unjust killing o f a low er caste
w as a criticism o f the pow er exercised by upper castes-in general. D uring the
period o f the perform ance, N am budiri and N ayar landlords w ould seek the
advice o f the perform er as it w as believed that his prophecieS as well as his
curses cam e true.51
An im portant strand in the leyyattam is that o f a notion o f a moral com
m unity - o f a recognition o f mutunl spaces and the resentm ent o f the arbitrary
exercise o f pow er. T he dom inant tharavadus, th eir labourers or dependent
castes, and the am orphous com m unity o f w orshippers w ere expected not to
transgress certain lim its. It is significant that thoitams usually began with the
perform er saying, 'I do not know the nam e o f the village [where the incident
happened] that I could inform o r enlighten you. 1 do not know the nam e o f the
person.52T his stanza, taken from the thottam o f V ishnum urti (an incarnation
o f V ishnu) into w hich is w oven the story o f aT iy y a youth m urdered by a N ayar
Landlord, is suggestive. It is as if there is an incipient understanding o f the fact
that regardless o f the person or place, a Tiyya o r Pulaya would have experienced
(he oppression o f a landlord. M oreover, by not specifying persons or places, the
story carried by the w andering perform er began to assum e the character o f a
type, allow ing for a filling in o f detail in different localities, A collective
m em ory o f incidents was created, scattered in tim e and place but flattened into
the m om ent o f the perform ance.
A study o f the more im portant teyyams would give us an idea of the com
ponents o f this moral convmuriity.53 K athivanur V iran w as bom in Cannanore
and, during his youth, engaged him self in the study o f m artial arts to becom e
an expert archer. W hen asked to work to feed him self and his parents, he
" Mcncliur, 'P ossession, dance ami iclig iu ir, 14*1 The reverent altitude of Ihc upper cailcs anti
the feeling o f (tower Invested in the Malayan surely outlasted the space o f the performance,
T here is n proverb in M alayalam which says of those show ing false hum ility that they are like
performing M alayans. Forprovcrhsderivcd from the/cY.VtffwmsCcChanthera, Kt$liyallam,29Q-
1
J! M.V V Nambudiri, Unara kerutaihile thottam pattukat (Tht ihonnms o f north #frafa)(Tnchur.
1981). 271
11 M ost o f the ihollam were com m itted to writing on palm leaf m anuscripts and jealously
guarded by perform ers. Recently, collections have been m ade by am ateur anthropologists, the
more im portant o f them being N am budiri, Ullara keralathile ihollam paitukat and Chirakkal
T .B . N ayar, Kerala bhashaganangat(Folk songs o f Kerala) (2 volum es, T riehur, 1979). There
rem ains the serious problem o f dating these ihottams which has yet to be done. Som e of them
go back as far as the seventeenth century, though new teyyams were being created as late as
the third decade o f this century Chanthcra. Katiyallam, 285
refused to take part in the transplantation o f rice which he saw as w omens

work, or carry burdens which he saw as dem eaning. His father threw him out
of the house saying that m anliness w as not enough; if the com m unity w as to be
fed men had to do w o m en 's w ork as well. An agricultural com m unity living
from hand to m outh could not indulge som eone w ho believed in living for i
pleasure. People had an obligation to the com m unity which necessarily
involved an obligation also to the Nayar tharavadu on w hose 'lands they
worked. K athivanur Viran left for Coorg (the destination o f every migrant from
north M alabar), and decided to marry and settle down there after refusing the
option o f being a priest at a shrine. The only other course was to opt for a
religious lilc out o f the secular world n f pm dui'iinn ami reproduction. While
living as a householder in Coorg, he died defending his adopted village against
marauding robbers, H aving thus redeem ed him self by his becom ing part o f the
community through m arriage, filial responsibility and heroism , the Viran was
deified.14
A nother leyyam is that o f Palantayi Kannan, a young T iyya boy who fell in
love with the daughter o f the N ayar who had given him shelter. Kannan was
hanished from the village and m igrated to Coorg, but feeling hom esick he
returned, only to be killed by the Nayar, K uruvadan Kurup. Im m ediately Ihc
N ayar tharavadu was visited by pcstilcnce and the Nnyar had to deify Kannan
as an aspcct o f Vishnu to atone for his sins A ' The story o f Kannan reveals thui
he practised several deceits on people while he was in exile. In addition, he had
infringed on caste norm s by falling in love with a woman o f higher caste. Thus,
w hile he was a victim, he was also a rule breaker and could be redeemed only
by his death. However, the excessive nature o f his punishm ent necessitated
retribution. T he N ayar could not exercise his pow er arbitrarily, and had to
observe definite lim its.56 Stuart Blackburn has pointed out the geographical
spread of such perform ances: the bhomiya in Rajasthan, the khambha in Gujarati
the paddana in south w est Karnataka; and the vilpattu in southern Tamil Nadu,
all belong to a tradition o f deification o f low er caste martyrs. Both the
perform ances as well as the texts o f these forms turn on the death o f the local
hero orheroine; the death being violent, prem ature and unjustified. T he victims
are deified, partly representing a trium ph over death, and partly creating an
access to the pow er seen to b e possessed by the violently killed.57
An analysis o f one o f the thottams will help highl ight s om e o f the key themes
w ithin the teyyattam. W e shall-takeajp the narrative o f V ishnum urti, or Vishnu
in the incarnation o f half man and h alf lion. It is the form in which he kills the
34 N ayar, Kerala bhashaganangal, 446-70; Payyanadu, Teyyavum ihottampauum, 9 1-2,
15 Nam budiri, Utiara keralaihile thottampamkai, 270-333; Cham bers. Kaliyailam, 103-05.
54 For a more detailed discussion see Dilip Menon, The moral com m unity o f the teyyattam:
popular culture in late colonial M alabar', forthcoming Studies in History, IX, 2 (1993),
S.H. Blackburn, Death and deification; folk cults in Hinduism . History o f Religions, 24 3
(1985), 255-74.
demon king Hiranyakashipu, both to protect the world as well as to defend his
devoice, and H iranyakashipus son, Prahlad. Into this story is w oven the
circum stances of the death of Palanlayi Kannan, a T iyya youth, killed by the
Noyar K uruvadan Kurup.58 The sparse, unadorned narrative o f the account of
Kannan provides a contrast to the ornate telling o f the conflict between V ishnu,
Hiranyakashipu and Prahlad, in which several philosophical ideas such as
karma and the transm igration o f souls appear. K annans story was known more
in unrecorded tradition and collective memory than ensconced in texts; the
very sparseness o f details provided in the perform ance presum es a knowing
amlicnce. T he thotiam begins The bnive Palanlayi Kannan o f the Tiyya caste/
Icrfiitm cil m any d erails on several people/O nce, having annoyed Kuruvadan
Kurup/ He left his family and village and w ent north.59
We are told nothing beyond the fact that he was brave, perhaps foolishly so,
for having annoyed an upper caste overlord. W e are also told that he w as a
trickster, something which may not have endeared him to many in his village.
When he returned home after his exile, he stopped lo bathe in the village pond
and was killed by the Kurup. But even as the Kurup flung the blood-stained
sword into ihe water, he knew in his heart that disaster would strike. His cattle
are killed in an epidem ic and the astrologers (ell him that a pow erful god is on
(lie lo ose'; i|uiek retribution was needed for ihe m urder. If the Kurup tried lo
escape doing penance, the gods would wreak havoc. An anguished and
repentant Kurup cries, Alas! Alas! O lord o f Payyanur, save m e!/ D o not m e
my family and village to the ground.60
The consequences o f the K urup's act are spelled out in detail; his trans
gressions as an individual bring h ann not only to him self and his family but to
ihe entire village. A revengeful act has to be followed by restitution. If in
rebelling against ihe mores o f the presum ed com m unity, low er castes are
punished more severely than they deserve, they are deified, and thus an
exam ple made o f the arbitrariness o f those who possess authority. W e do not
seem to have an acceptance o f the skewed relations o f pow er here, legitim ised
by an overarching ideology o f the proper place and duties o f persons w ithin a
hierarchical society. It may be possible lo speculate, as Juergensm eyerdoes in
the context o f the religion o f the untouchables in Punjab, that the living
presence o f good and evil spirits not only vitfetes Hindu notions o f d h a r m a but
replaces it.61
n Nambudiri, Uttara keralathiU thoiiam paiiukat, 270-333

Ibid., 283-4.
Ibid.. 284.
*' M. Juergensm cycr, Religion as social vision: Ihe movement against untouchability in twen
tieth century Punjab (Berkeley. CA, 1982), 100. He provides a critique o f Dumontian
conceptions o f lower casie religion, and maintains that object.i and events in the social
firmament seem to be charged with degrees o f moral force raiher than degrees o f ritual purity
o r cleanliness.
The sections o f the Vishnumurti thottam w hich deal w ith the conflict
between Prahlad and Hiranyakashipu, paralleling the clash betw een Kannan
and Kurup, are told in great detail. All sections take place in the foreground:
Prahlads gentle piety, H iranyakashipus lowering rage and V ishnu's terrify
ing roars as he m anifests him self in his half-m an, half-lion incarnation.
W hereas the telling o f K annan's story presum es a know ing audience, who
w ould place a bare outline within a context, these sections are proselytising in
tone. T hey dilate on life .and death, the necessity for authority, the virtues of
forbearance and the notion o f the wprld as a vale o f suffering from which one
is delivered by religiosity o r death. There is a plea for the w orship o f Vishnu
who is present w ithin all the creations on this earth a m onotheism unadulter
ated by the worshi p o f bhas>avathis or dei fled human s.62 Further on in the thottam,
H iranyakashipu expatiates on Ihe notion o f transm igration o f souls, to console
his m other on the death o f her oth er son at the hands o f V ishnu. T h e body is but
a vehicle for the soul.63t K annans thottam dem ands revenge for his death,
w hereas this section seem s to imply that it is only K annans shell w hich has
ceased to exist; his essence lives on. The Kurup, in a sense, has only delivered
K annan's soul from bondage. It is as if a struggle is taking place w ithin the text
between two opposed conceptions o f death. O ne sees it as a release for the soul;
the other evaluates the circum stances o f the death and then considers it just, o r
unjust.64
T o posil loo sharp a distinction between the ideas in the story o f Kannan and
that o f H iranyakashipu might suggest.that these sections functioned autono
mously within the narrative. Then it could be argued that since the teyyattam
was situated within a com m unity o f upper and lower castes, different sections
appealed to different understandings. H ow ever, this would negate ihe inter
m ediary role o f the V annan or M alayan, who bring theirow n understanding as
well as constructive m isunderstandings inio the perform ance. M oreover, while
they may be 'divine' in the context o f the ritual, as professional perform ers they
are open to the influences o f Sanskritic epics and ideas purveyed by the
dom inant literary and upper caste perform ers.65 The process o f dissem ination,
furtherm ore, subjects ideas to creative distortions. Vishnu is absorbed into the
pre-existing tradition o f animal worship, hence the popularity o f the incarnation
in w hich he is h alf lion. M oreover, there are other transform ations: one verse
^ Nam hudiri. Uiuira keralaihile thottam patiukal, 280-1
*' Ihtd., 287.
M As George Hart points out, while devotional south Indian Hinduism may pay lip service lo the
doctrine o f reincarnation, popular manifestations never make very much o f Dial theory'.
George L. Hart III. Theory o f reincarnation am ong the T am ili' in W.D. O 'H oherty cd.. Karma
and rebirth in classical Indian tradition (Berkeley, C A , 1980). 123.
Narayana Rao refers to this as Ihe process o f secondary epic form ations', i.e. (lie accretion
o f San skrit ic ideas onto 'fo lk ' narratives. V. Narayana Rao, lipics and ideologies: six Tclugu
folk epics in S.H. Blackburn and A.K, R am anujam cds./lnoîi-r/iurm ony new essays on the
folklore o f India (Berkeley, CA, 1986). 149-60.
mentions Vishnu as a devotee o f S iva and another depicts him astride a

leopard and holding its tail like the popular image o f a bhagavathi.66
Conclusion
T haravadus and cultivators, upper castes and low er castes were bound together
in a shared religious culture which was understood and appropriated differently.
This was evident in the enactm ent o f religious festivals w hich reflected varying
conceptions o f the relations betw een castes. Alcohol and blood sacrifice were
part o f both upper and low er caste culture and the deities w orshipped spanned
cosm ologies. T h e T iyya, Palantayi Kannan was as much a p art o f the N ayar ,
pantheon as V ishnu was o f the low er caste pantheon. O ver a period o f tim e the
boundaries betw een beliefs and deities becam e blurred and in north M alabar
a com posite culture arose, shared by upper and low er castes. T he cosm ology
was defined as much by the low er castes, as in the absorption o f local heroes
and heroines, as by the upper castes, witnessed in the absorption o f their
ancestors in a general pantheon o f worship.
The first tw o decades o f the tw entieth century, saw attem pts by low er and
upper caste reform ers lo move aw ay from shrines towards w orship at tem ples.
At one level, the assum ption o f subsistence which incorporated tharavadus,
shrines and w orshippers underlay a physical sense o f com m unity. T his would
be attenuated only by the inability, or unw illingness, o f tharavadus to dispense
their obligations. At another level, the com m unity o f w orship around the
shrines possessed am bivalent characteristics. Some festivals em phasised
casteness and the place o f castes w ithin a hierarchy. O thers afforded a vision
o f a sphere in w hich all castes mingled despite their differences. The next
chapter looks at the attem pts o f reform ers to move aw ay from aspects o f shrine
com m unity which em phasised caste subordination and to recreate a sense o f a
com m unity of equals around tem ples. T his was a limited conception in that this
equality was lo bo only between members o f one caste category - the Tiyyas,
H owever, it sought to com bine several aspects o f the rural com m unity -
com m on worship, mutual help and interdependence. T he com m unity o f
worship was sought to be extended by flattening all variation and thus bringing
about an equality between castes in the sphere o f worship.
** Nam budiri. Uttara kerafaihile ihotuim paitukui, 2 7 1, 277,

3 Shrines, temples and politics, 1900-1930
Tharavadus, shrines and cultivators were bound togetherin acom plex com m u
nity o f worship. There was an implicit recognition o f the disparity betw een its
constituents while, al the same time, there were attem pts to transcend these
differences. T he first two decades of the twentieth century w itnessed efforts by
an em ergent, urban Tiyya elite to draw away worshippers from the shared
culture o f the shrines. Shrines were typified as the sites o f blood sacrifices and
rituals involving the use o f alcohol, as distinct from the higher religious
practices al the new Tiyya temples. More significant, in its consequences for
the trajectory of politics, was a re-evaluation of the com plex nature o f shrine
festivals to em phasise only those aspects which reproduced caste inequality.
The new T iyya temples were portrayed as the foci o f a com m unity o f equals,
as opposed to the shrines which were represented as buttressing the dom inance
o f the upper caste tharavadus. This movement among the Tiyyas sought to
create an inward looking com m unity which attem pted not so much to move
upwards within a putative social hierarchy, but to opt out o f the extant
hierarchy altogether. T here w ere no appeals to the statuses parcelled out by
Censuses, nor was this a knee-jerk reaction o f creating a caste constituency
to take advantage o f Ihe inclusion o f caste groups in municipal and local
adm inistration from the late nineteenth cen tury .1
T he motives behind Ihe building o f the new temples as well as the responses
to the call for com m unity stem m ed from varying cau'scs. In the face o f the
com m ercial pow er o f the M appilas and the control they exercised over land in
the towns, the nascent Tiyya elite needed to create cohesion within its own
' F or caste movement* read in g lo Ccm uscs see ihe seminal essay by B S . Cohn, The Census,
social structure and objectification in south A sia in An anthropologist among the historians
and other essays (Delhi. 1987), 224-54. See also L.I. Rudolph and S.H. Rudolph. The
modernity o f tradition: political development in India (Chicago, IL. 1967), 118-19 and for a
recent restatem ent. K.W. Jones. Religious identity and the Indian census' in N.G. B arriered.,
Thr Census in British India (Delhi. 1981), 75. For an effective critique see L.M. Carroll,
Colonial perceptions o f Indian society and ihe em ergence o f casle(s) associations'. Journal
o f Asian Studies 3 7 .2 (1978), 349, For tin ts of caste associations with municipal adm inistra
tion see D. A. W ashbrook, The development o f caste organisations in south India, 1880-1925
in Baker and W ashbrook, South India: political institutions and political change, 184-7.
62
Shrines, temples and politics, 1900-1930 63
ranks as well as forge alliances. They were able lo draw upon Lhe migrants to
the towns by setting themselves up as alternative sources o f credit and
employment. The advocacy o f tem perance and the jettisoning o f the use of
alcohol in religious rituals had resonances for those Tiyyas in the interior who
had begun lo resent their roles as suppliers o f toddy to shrine festivals.
M oreover, in an indirect way. the actions o f the state helped to strengthen the
em ergent sense o f Tiyya com m unity. A harsh excise policy made the T iyyas'
traditional occupation o f toddy tapping increasingly unprofitable, driving
impoverished tappers to the towns. Further, with the incorporation of locally
powerful lharavadus in lhe excise adm inistration, and the role they played in
policing infringem ents, relations with their dependents were undermined.
M eanwhile, apolitical conjuncture helped toproject the idea o f a community
o f equals around tem ples to a much w ider forum. In the afterm ath of (he
M appila rebellion o f 1921, Congress politics in M alabar developed an intro-
spec(ivc, Hindu idiom. Faced with the dilem m a o f creating a unity between
unequal castes, the Congress elevated the Tiyya ideal o f building a community
o f equals around temples to the level o f building Hindu unity (hrough admission
tnlo temples forall castes. G andhi's definition o f the inequality betw een castes,
as partly arising from differences in cleanliness and hygiene, added another
dim ension to the search lor equality. It provided a new generation o f reform ers
within N ayar tharavadus with a programme which allowed them (o try and
rebuild a sense o f rural com m unity by working with their low er caste depen
dents. M oreover, (hey could again present them selves in the role o f arbiters
between castes in the face o f Tiyya reluctance to include other castes within
their conception o f com m unity. T he campaign to enter Vaikkam temple in
1923 allow ed a confluence o f the disparate themes o f temperance, cleanliness
and castc inequality, they converged in the idea of a Hindu com munity o f clean
castes trooping through the portals o f a tem ple towards unity. The political
rhetoric o f a com m unity o f equals which underlay the efforts o f Tiyya elites as
well as the Congress, em ployed a predom inantly religious idiom. N either
confronted the issue o f the secular com ponent o f inequality between the
constituents o f their proposed com m unities.
T h e g ro w th o f a T iyya elite, 1900-20
In the afterm ath o f the MCTI Act, 1900, many landlords had begun to resort to
overleases, putting the costs o f evicting the incum bent tenant on the overlessee
(imelkanakkaran). A large num ber o f these overlessees were drawn from the
class o f newly rich and influential Tiyyas, either professionals o r em igrants
64 Casie, nationalism and com m unism in south India
investing in land in their ancestral country.2 A typical exam ple was tlie Tiyya
lawyer, C. Krishnan, who supplem ented his fluctuating professional earnings
by collecting the rent on lands which his father had bought on overleases.3This
new elite was also bom out o f the colonial and m issionary presence in north
M alabar. T he Basel Evangelical M ission, established in Sw itzerland in 1815,
began its activities in north M alabar a quarter o f a century later, establishing
a network o f elem entary and high schools by the end o f the nineteenth century.**
The Tiyyas w ere am ong the firs^ to jo in these institutions and a significant
m inority had subsequently worked their w ay into the colonial adm inistration
as tehsildars, lawyers, pleaders, sub-judges and up to the ranks o f deputy
collectors. Though there w ere two colleges in M alabar at the tim e (Zam orins
College, C alicut (established, 1879] and Brennen College, T ellicherry [es
tablished, 1891]), Tiyyas were denied adm ission till as late as 19 18. A few went
to M adras for a university education and Tiyyas constituted slightly m ore than
a tenth o f the m igrants from M alabar betw een 1906-20.5
A rung below these entrepreneurs in social status but matching them in
term s o f w ealth were those Tiyyas who, from the days o f the East India
Com pany, had served as produce brokers, suppliers o f provisions to the
cantonm ents, and m onopolists o f toddy and arrack distribution. In the early
nineteenlh century, the Excise D epartm ent had not yet com e into existence and
the rights to sell and tap loddy were auctioned by the Revenue D epartm ent o f
the governm ent o f M adras. Speculators and contractors were given a free hand
in adm inistering this ram shackle system and sections am ong the Tiyyas, who
monopolised the loddy lapping profession, created informal em pires criss
crossing the countryside. A few Tiyya fam ilies cam e to dom inate the toddy and
arrack business by buying up the rights for a whole taluk and, in the mid
nineteenth century, M urkkoth Ramunni was the head of a com pany controlling
all the shops in M alabar 6 The fortunes o f three generations o f the M urkkoth
family in T ellicherry provide an illustration o f T iyya mobility. M urkkoth
Ram unnys father worked as a butler at the house o f a senior em ployee o f the
East India Com pany anil Ramunny rose from toddy shopow ncr to the foremost
loddy magnate o f his lim e. I lis son M urkkoth Kunturan began his life as a
1 MTCR, 1927-28, J, S t.
1 K. Achulhan, C. Krishnan (Kotlayam, 1971), 7 0 -1
* E J . Edona. The economic conditions o f the Protestant Christians o f Malabar with special
reference lo the Basel Mission Church (Calicut, 1940).
* K.K.N. Kurup. 'Inglish vidyabhyasavum samuhyapurogatiyum malabariie tiyyarli (English
education and social progress among the Tiyyas o f Malabar) in Adhunika Keralam: charitrn
gaveshana prabtindhangaHModem Kerttlu. essays in historical resettrctyljrivtuninim, I9H2).
31-2; Susan Lewandowski, Migration and ethnicity in urban India Keriilamigrunts in the city
o f Madras. 1870-1940 (Delhi. 1980), 59-60.
* MSS o f M urkkoth Kumaran's autobiography, 5-6.
school leacher but became a journalist, novelist and, ironically, a cam paigner
for tcm pcrance.7
The Basel M ission was responsible for setting up the first w eaving and tile
factories in M alabar, largely to provide em ploym ent for its converts. There
seem s to have been a direct link between the ability o f the M ission to provide
em ploym ent and the numbers o f its converts. T he setting up o f a tile factory at
Chom bala in 1890 led to 153 conversions. B etw eelr 1944 and 1921, the lean
w ar years, when the mission was classified as alien and the running o f its
factories was stalled, over 900 m em bers o f the congregation departed. A few
enterprising Tiyya converts m aintained their links with their fam ilies while
working their way through the m ission factories and becam e factory ow ners in
their own right. One such convert was C hurikkat Sam uel, who began w ork in
a weaving establishm ent o f the Basel M ission, rose to becom e forem an and,
w ith help from the M ission, set up his own w eaving factory.9 T here was
considerable cooperation betw een T iyya entrepreneurs and the m ission since
the factories set up by the Tiyyas tended to m anufacture cloth for local
consum ption w hile the M ission factories w ere geared to an export m arket, in
1908, the T iers o f Cannanore' organised an A gricultural and Industrial
exhibition w hich was intended to be both a celebration o f their achievem ent as
well as an inspiration to other com m unities,10
Profits from the boom in cash crop prices w ere diverted into investm ent in
factories, particularly w eaving establishm ents. In the w ar years, there was a
rise in dem and forcloth, particularly from the arm ed forces, w hich the factories
o f the alien* m ission could not meet. A rash o f w eaving factories sprang up in
north M alabar. These factories em ployed betw een five and ten w eavers and
it is difficult to estim ate their num bers as the Factories Act o f 1911 did not
extend to such ram shackle establishm ents. Sam uel A aron, the proprietor o f
Aaron m ills estim ated that betw een 100 and ISO factories w ere founded in
this period, mainly by Tiyya entrepreneurs.11T hese factories provided a source
o f em ploym ent in the agricultural o ff season for those living near the port
towns. Increasingly, Tellicherry and C annanore attracted petty traders, casual
labourers and w eavers from the hinterland. In 1909, C. K rishnan founded the
C alicut Bank, catering prim arily for other T iyya professionals and m erchants.
U nlike the o ther established banks, m oney was lent prim arily on the security
1 Karayl Bappu, one o f Murkkolli Ramunny's associates in Ihe toddy trade had tw o sons in the
colonial adm inistration, one n tehslldar and the other a sub-registrar. MSS o f M urkkoth
K um arans autobiography, 12 - 13; Interview with M urkkoth K unhappa (son o f M urkkoth
Kumaran). C alicut, M arch 1989.
1 Edona, Economic conditions o f the Protestant Christians. 52-3.
' C. Samuel Aaron, Jeevithasmaranakal (Memoirs) (Cannanore, 1974), 18,28.
Revenue Dept. C .0 .1518 dated 24 June 1920 (TNA).
" Aaron, Jeevithasmurumtknl, 45-8. The spiralling prices o r cotton IwiM had afTecIdd the
handtuom weavers severely and these factories' look over the manufacture o f cheap clolh.
Revenue DR643I/I6 dated 27 April 1919 (KRA).
o f prom issory notes and pledged ornam ents O ver the years, its activity w;is
extended to financing the sm all tea shops and stalls set up in the to w n s.12
T he em ergence o f alternative sources o f income and patronage had repcr-
cussions in the interior as well. Som e Tiyyas began moving away from wholly
agricultural occupations to casual work in the towns, during the o ff season, to
supplem ent their income. This was not such a sharp break because most
individuals continued to cling on to their small homesteads with palm and jack
trees. Their involvem ent in the earlier circuits o f worship at shrines was
undim inished and they w ere in many cases ultim ately dependent on the
dom inant tharavadus for paddy in tim es o f crisis. However, tensions were on
the increase. Some am ong them sought to move away from the networks o f
deferential association with a tharavadu. and these resentm ents began intruding
into ritual* spaces like the mock fights between N ayars and T iyyas at M avila
kavu in K ottayam . T he festival had to be suspended for a few years after Tiyya
participants bloodied the noses of N ayars in what the latter thought would be
another ritu al en co u nter.13 By 1920, observers had begun to speak o f a
'com m unal split' between Nayars and Tiyyas, particularly in Chirakkal taluk.14
Relations between N ayar social reform ers and the Tiyya elites were far more
am bivalent. Nayars contributed to theT iyya journal Mithavadi, founded in 1913
by C. Krishnan, dilating on the present condition o f the Tiyyas and the road
to ad van cem en t'. These articles typically advised Tiyyas to becom e more like
the H indu Nayars by giving up the worship o f low gods, reading the Puranas
regularly and going on pilgrim ages to V aranasi.15
T iy ya tem p les a n d th e se a rc h fo r co m m u n ity
The establishm ent o f separate tem ples by castes within the M adras Presidency
has been studied only within the narrow fram ew ork o f m unicipal and local
politics. The fashioning o f caste unity is seen as nothing m ore than the attem pt
to create a political lo bb y.16 H ow ever, the Tiyyas were considered to be on a
par with other non B rahm ins' like the Nayars, and therefore could not
scram ble for caste concessions from the state.17 A study o f their efforts to
establish separate tem pleswill not only tem per an- understanding o f caste
politics as nothing m ore than political opportunism , but also allow us to see
11 A chuthan, C , Krishnan, 72-3.

11 Kunhappa, Smaranakal ntairam, 5-6. 26.
14 W ritten evidence o f K.V. Krishnan N air.H ig h Court va*i/,T e]licheny, MTCR, 1927-28, II.
396; Kunhappa, Smaranakal malram, 26.
'* Mithavadi, Septem ber. 1913.
See W ashbrook, The emergence o f provincial politics, 282.
11 Public (Political) Dept. G.O.1997 (Confidential) dated 7 December 1936 (IO L ).
Shrinex, temples aiul politics. 1900-1930 67
luiw it represented a strategy tow ards equality. Tem ple building activities were
given a coliesiveness by the social m essage of the Sri N arayana m ovement in
T rav ancore led by the E zhava, N arayana G uru, The m ovem ent w as
institutionalised with the form ation of the Sri N arayana Dharma Paripalana
Yogam (society for the propagation o f the religion o f Sri N arayana) in 1903.18
First, it argued against differences in society based on caste. N arayana Guru
m ade ad irect connection betw een the Mow social and religious practices o f the
Ezhavas and their low social status. They could attain equality with others by
becom ing like the upper castes - an idea which found expression in the realm
o f worship in Ihe setting up o f Ezhava tem ples devoted to gods regarded as
belonging to the Brahm inical pantheon. The entrance to an equal society lay
through com mon worship, Secondly, the SND P Yogam sought to create self
esteem within the Ezhava com m unity by building their econom ic strength and
propagating a vigorous self-help eth ic.19
T he S N D P 's m essage o f equality and econom ic self reliance found a
resonance in the activities o f T iyya elites along the coast in north M alabar. In
July 1906, Kottieth Rumunni, a law yer at the T ellicherry courts and K.
Chantan, a retired deputy C ollector founded the Sri G nanodaya Y ogam (the
society for the aw akening o f knowledge), T he Yogam, w hich was com prised
mainly o f ihe T iyya professional classes and lesser civil servants, stressed that
they should organise alongside the SND P under the them es o f religion,
business, education, and social reform . In 1908, the Yogam proposed the
building o f tem ples for the Tiyyas o f north M alabar to w hich they alone would
have access. The same year N arayana Guru him self laid the foundation o f the
Jagannatha temple at Tellicherry. By 1916, two more tem ples had been built;
the Srikanlesw ara at Calicut and the Sundaresw ara at Cannanore. From the
very beginning the new tem ples represented a departure from the idea o f
com m unity envisaged by the rural shrines. All o f them were financed wholly
by donations from prosperous Tiyyas and the nam es o f the prom inent donors
were inscribed on tablets put up on the w alls.20 W hat these tem ples needed was
to gain general acceptance, an d adherents w ho could sustain the tem ple w ith
som ething m ore tangible than worship. T here were two im m ediate constraints
to contend with. First, the new com m unity 'could only be a lim ited one. N ayars
The Ezhavas in Travancore were regarded as belonging to the sam e casic category as the
Tiyyas. Narayana Guru htm sclf tried to foster cooperation between the two caste groups.
'* See Robin Jeffrey, The social origins o f a caste association, 1875-1905: the founding dTthe
SNDP Y ogam ', South A lia, 4 (1974), 59-78; M .S.A. Rao, Social movements and social
transformation: a study o f two backward classes movements in Malabar (D elhi, 1979). F or a
com prehensive analysis o f ihe sources o f N arayana G u ru 's philosophy see V.T. Samuel,
"One caste, one religion and doe God for m an": a study o f Sree N arayana Guru (18S4-I928)
of Kerala, India (unpublished PhD dissertation, Hartford Sem inary Foundation, 1973),
W hen subscriptions for the Sundaresw ara tem ple were being raised, Aaron Senior (who
though a Christian convert, m aintained his links with the T iyya com m unity) donated a 'large
sum ' lo Narayana Guru. A aron, Jeevithajmaranakal, 56.
would not worship at w hat were seen as Tiyya establishm ents, and untouchable
castes like C heram as and Pulayas w ere prevented from doing so by the
managers o f the temple. Secondly, in the countryside and the hinterland o f the
towns, a significant num ber o f N ayars, Tiyyas and Pulayas continued to be
involved in a more universal, vital and vibrant culture around shrines.
In 1918, a Tiyya conference was held in Calicut. It called upon all Tiyyas
to break away froni w orshipping at tem ples and shrines, to w hich they supplied
offerings, but, w hich denied entrance to them. A resolution stated that there
was an overw helm ing need to eschew all ideas o f the lowness o f Tiyyas Lnd
the superiority o f the upper castes*.21 Sundaresw ara and Jagannatha temples
were represented as being of, for, and by the Tiyyas and the self esteem o f the
com m unity was to be built around these. An attem pt was m ade to dem arcate
the sphere o f influence o f the new tem ples, in very m uch the sam e way that the
processions o f rural shrine festivals had done. T he latter charted routes which
passed through one or a few desams , taking in subsidiary shrines as well as a
realm o f worshippers. M oreover, they defined the space in w hich a dominant
tharavadu exercised its sw ay. T he establishm ent o f the Jagannatha and the
Sundaresw ara temples was an attem pt to construct ju st such a com m unity o f
members. But, if these temples had to vie with other shrines for w orshippers,
they needed to pull them selves out o f purely local circuits and aspire to become
centres o f pilgrim age, like Kottiyur. By presenting itself as a rival pilgrim age
centre, the Jagannatha tem ple could try to draw upon w ider loyalties as well as
try and create a sense o f T iyya com m unity. K ottiyur, the shrine to which Tiyyas
and N ayars m ade annual pilgrim ages, was represented as a tem ple m anaged by
and for N ayars; Jagannatha, on the other hand, was for and o f the T iyyas.22 But
there was a problem . Kottiyur, like any other centre o f pilgrim age was not and
could not be a centre o f daily loyalty. It drew upon a num ber o f pilgrim s o f all
castes, from different regions and asserted itself only annually as a focus of
worship. '
The G nanodaya Y ogim exhorted Tiyyas to m ake a pilgrim age to the
Jagannatha tem ple rather than the one at Kottiyur. T his m ovem ent was
represented as the eschew ing, in rituals, o f toddy and blood sacrifices, for a
purer form o f worship. It was an espousal o f the teaching o f Sri N arayana Guru
in that low ' practices were to be jettisoned to cast o ff a low status. It w as also
an expression o f the econom ic w ell-being o f the w orshippers. A pam phlet
contrasted the 'pure w ay in w hich rites w ere perform ed at Jagannatha temple
as a result o f the influence o f N arayana Guru; W ithout any mercy w e killed
11 Milhavadl, Novem ber 1918.

" Oral evidence o f K.V. KrUhnan N air, vakil, High Court, Taliparam ba and oral evidence o f M.
Anandan, m em ber o f the Bar, T etlicheny, MTCR 1927-28, II, 3 8 2 ,39 6.
Shrines, temples and politics. 1900-1930 69
cocks for worshipping G od/W iih the smell o f blood, our tem ples becam c like
m arkets.23
Thus, purists with sensitive nostrils, those who wished to display their
wealth in their form o f w orship, and those desiring lo m ake Jagannatha a Tiyya
bastion, each for Iheir different reasons began moving to Tellicherry. There
was a steadily increasing trickle from the countryside for other reasons. The
shrine at Kottiyur, m anaged by N ayar-tharavadus, becam e the focus of
resentm ent o f large num bers o f Tiyyas, who began lo see their relation to the
shrine purely as suppliers o f toddy and cocks to festivals. In 1921, Tiyyas in
Chirakkal refused to lake the traditional pots o f toddy decorated w ith flowers
and red silk to the temple festival. T hey described the festival *as an occasion
for the upper castes to get free liquor'. W hen the teyyattam was perform ed, it
had been custom ary for the V annan washerm an lo help carry the heavy, tall
head-dress o f the goddess. That year, the Nayars them selves did it.24
Toddy cam e to signify not only the T iyyas' subordination to the N ayars, but
also the low ness o f the Tiyya through association with w hat was increasingly
characterised as an im pure profession. This was a rem arkable shift as toddy
possessed a ritual virtue for m ost T iyyas in the countryside. If a man was too
ill to bathe after death pollution, the custom was to make him touch a pot of
toddy to cleanse him .25 M oreover, alcohol had always played an im portant
part in religion; in a sense, toddy sanctified the ritual. K ottiyur and Kodungallur
marked periods o f heavy drinking and, in the case o f the teyyattam, the degree
o f devotion o f the perform er was m easured by the extent o f his intoxication.
D rinking during religious cerem onies affirm ed local com m unity; at Kottiyur,
inebriation was the prem ise o f the equal interaction betw een upper and lower
castes. M oreover, consum ption o f alcohol in ritual conditions even to the point
o f saturation was accepted as m oderate. In a secular context too, after a d ay's
w ork in the fields it had been custom ary to repair to the toddy shop. T he toddy
d raw er's w ork gave him great leisure and as the supplier o f alcohol he enjoyed
great popularity w ith N ayars as well as Tiyyas and Cherum as.26 T h e new re--
forming zeal did not allow for nuances; it saw toddy only as the m arker o f
lowness and exploitation.
In the attem pt lo draw w orshippers to the new tem ples, the T iyya elite had
consciously redefined the shrine culture by identifying it with its anim istic and
purely local aspects. H ow ever, not all w ere in agreem ent about the alternative
proposed. Some believed that a religious system centred on tem ples was a
P. Govindan, Adidravidarude ambalapravesonom ( The entry o f the Adl-Dravidas into

temples) (Calicut, I9 IS ), 7 He pointed out how the temple h a d puja, kirtanams (communal
singing), naivedyam (offering o f clarified butler), deeparadhana (w orship o f the idol with
lamps) and other wholesome forms of worship.
Mithavadi, May 1921.
,J A iyappan, Iravas and culture change, 110.
16 Ibid . 107
70 Caste, nationalism anti com m unism in south India
replication o f the religion o f Brahm ins. T here was no consensus on this

question and the Mithavadi itself sought lo portray the diversity within opin
ions and attitudes. It published articles on the eating habits o f the Brahm ins and
the suggestions o f correspondents that the low er castcs had a lot to learn from
the Brahm ins. There w ere frequent letters soliciting more inform ation on
brahminical rites o f passage.27 In K urum branad so m t Tiyyas discarded what
they now called their anim istic religion' and set up hhajanasamajcuns (prayer
societies) w here the praises o f Sarasw ati, Vishnu and other brahm inical
deities were sung.28 T he com plex pantheon o f shrine worship was in the
processor reinterprete ion, and :t sharp division em erged bel ween brahm inical
and iton-U rahininicar deities, at least within the di.stoiirse of reform.
Ostensibly, the building o f tem ples and thcestablish m entof prayer societies
had one com m on aim. H istorians have tended to subsum e such attem pts within
the category o f sanskritisation. Their main aim, according to the most recent
analyst, was to obtain access to the high gods for low er castes 29 However,
it is not emulation w hich we arc dealing with here; an idea presum ing a filtering
dow nw ard o f the ideas and practices o f a social elite which acts as the primary
elem ent o f change in an otherw ise static system. In the context of shrine
worship and the cosm ology o f the teyyattani, categories o f worship were
misciblc. Siva was as much part o f a lo w ercaste pantheon as any local heroine
was o f an upper caste' pantheon. D ifferent castes in north M alabar had always
had access' to all gods, ancestors and spirits. W hen Siva or V ishnu, in their
forms as Sundaresw ara and J agannatha, were installed at T iyya temples, it was
less a m ove up a religious hierarchy as a move sideways. Local deities had
always possessed this m anifold aspect - the local hero Palantayi Kannan was
also Vishnumurti and vicc versa.
W hile moving aw ay from the religious framework o f the shrine festivals,
som e Tiyyas also distanced them selves from secular obligations placed on
them. At Palayad, near T ellicheny, T iyya tenants refused to perform the
traditional role o f couriers bearing the new s o f the N ayar lan d lo rd 's death,30
The com m unity o f worship and sustenance, around the N ayar tharavadu and
shrines, presum ed the involvem ent o f its constituents in the crucial rites o f
passage. Tiyya tenants were usually called upon lo cut dow n a mango tree for
the funeral pyre w henever there was a death in the family o f a N ayar landlord.
Increasingly, around Tellj.cherry and Cannanore, Tiyyas refused to perform
these traditional caste obligations.31 It was a conflict which arose both from the
11 Mithavadi, May 1915.

Mithavadi, February 1915.
G. Lem ercinier, Religion and ideology in Kerala, trans. Y. Rendel (Delhi, 1984), 248. For
earlieranalyseson the same model see M.S. A. Rao. Social change in Matabar{Bambay, 19S7)
and Social movements and social transformation.
* Mithavadi, M ay 1921.
' Oral evidence o f E.G. N air, High Court vakil, T ellicheny, MTCR , 1927-28. II, 163
Shrines, tuii/ilcs und //(<.v, l9(Xi-IVM ) 71
possibility of moving out o f a relation o r deference and obligation, as well as

the existence of an alternative sphere o f involvement. The Jagannatha and
Sundarcswarn temples at least recognised a formal equality between their
worshippers -as members o f one caste. M oreover, the move to the new temples
reflected the attitude o f a younger generation working as petty traders and
casual labour in the towns, who no longer felt wholly dependent on the land,
iin d therefore the dominant tharavadus, for a living. Joseph M uliyil, a second
generation Tiyya convert and pleader in Tellicherry, spoke with a resentful
contem pt o f the attitudes among the younger generation. Even the sons of
pt-dlurs [.sir [ etc., he observed, abhorred the idea of manual labour Tor fear of
Iicing thrown out ol die vague, yet charm ed circle o f the middle c la ss'.'*
However, this movement away from caste obligations was not uniform. In
P uihurand K alavallur </t\MHi.v, there were two groups among-the Tiyyas, and
die 'conservatives' were supported by, and continued to work with, the N ayar
landlords.33
T iyya tem ples an d M a p p ila sh rin es
Prosperous M appilas had begun to acquire land near existing temples and
shrines by investing in overlcases in the towns. N ayar tharavadus, with lands
on the coast, and faced with com petition from both Tiyyas and M uslims,
preferred to retire from the fray and let the rival contenders battle it out among
them selves.34 M. Anandan, a Tiyya pleader at Tellicherry w as given a lease to
concert wetlands to garden to prevenl the encroachm ent o f M appila landlords
who were annexing plots adjoining theirs. By 1915, there was acute, rivalry
between Tiyya and M appila traders. There were com plaints that Tiyya merchants
and professionals like C. Krishnan had begun to poach into the com m ercial
preserves o f the M appilas'. Kottieth Ramunni, a prom inent Tiyya law yer in
Tellicherry, was asked to form a conciliation board. He felt that a spirit o f m ere
com mercial jealousy was being aggravated because the Chamber o f Commerce
was unwilling to open its doors to all m erchants.35
M appilas had begun to establish srambfc (w ayside shrines) and existing
srambis were enlarged into mosques w here prayers w ere held on Fridays.
About 1914, there was a m ovement am ong sections o f the M appilas o f north
M alabar to create a sense o f com m unity in very m uch the sam e way that Tiyya
Evidence o f Joseph Muliyil, Calicut, Report o f the Unemployment Commission, 1927,
343-4,
11 Oral evidence of E.G. Nair, High Court vakil, Tellicherry. MTCR, 1927-28, II, 163.
w Oral evidence o f A.K. Sankara Varma raja, Valiya raja o f Kndathunad. MTCR, 1927-28, It,
3 18, oral evidence o f M. Anandan, Member o r the Bar, Tellicherry, MTCR. 1927-28, It. 377.
OR Magisterial D 298/M. 15 dated 13 June 1915 (KRA),
72 Casie, nationalism and com m unism in souih India
elites were attem pting to do. Just after the outbreak o f the war, there seem s to
have been a degree o f em pathy for the fate o f Turkey among kazis and Muslim
notables. Pam phlets were distributed in Chirakkal taluk em phasising that the
British governm ent in declaring w ar against Turkey 'w ere in no sense fighting
against the M uham m adan religion. It is possible that the distribution o f the
pam phlets helped create the situation the adm inistration was trying to avoid.36
M eetings conducted by kazis and maulvis tried to define the differences be
tween the Hindu and M appila com m unities, and called upon all M appilas in
north M alabar to reject'th e m atrilineal system o f inheritance. Those who
continued to follow m atriliny were to be condem ned as kafirs'. In a memorial
to the G overnor o f M adras, the Moplah residents o f C annanore state cat
egorically that the marumafekathayam law o f inheritance is opposed to the
spirit and teachings o f Islam .37 T he m ushroom ing o f srambis, coupled with
the calls for com m unity, portended trouble. A generation earlier, the C ollector
o f M alabar had w ritten confidently that processions involving religious
antagonism are here few and far between' largely bccuusc routes did not
overlap and shrines tended to be concentrated in the interior.38 Processional
conflicts would em erge but w ithout the sharpness they would acquire in the
thirties. At this juncture the efforts o f the G nanodaya Yogam and the M appila
publicists did not m anage to create more than an ill-defined sense o f com m u
nity am ong their respective constituencies.
In February 19 15, a shrine in Tellicherry, managed by Nayar uralars, with
a T iyya priest and a m ixture o f worshippers decided to take out a festival
procession. It m ade no attem pt to mask its other than religious concerns.
Traditionally, the procession had been nothing more than a parade with lamps
follow ing a tim e-honoured route. On this occasion, drum m ers accom panied
the procession, there were several T iyya volunteers in uniform and the route
traversed the m ajor mosques in T ellicherry town, and the new Pilakod mosque
in particular. The Inspector o f Police was not far wrong when he observed that
the procession seem ed to w ant to establish a precedent. Kottieth Ramunni,
the founder o f the Gnanodaya Yogam, was consulted for his opinion on the
matter, both as a law yer and as a prominent T iyya, and he made good use o f this
opportunity. In a report, he slated that Hindu religious processions look place
only tw ice a year in north M alabar - one was the a rat procession taken from
the Jagannatha tem ple at T ellicherry and the other from the now defunct
regim ental temple at Canjianore.39
* DR Public 185/P-16 dated i t January 1916 (KRA).

DR Public 497/Pub. 15 dated 9 March 1915 (KRA).
" W illiam Logan had w ritten that all that was needed was lo 'leave the thing to the good sense
o f the processionariej...'. flw enue ft.Dis. Magisterial R7/MS2 (KRA),
Petition from Imdadut Islam Association. Tellicherry. 28 February 1915; Report o f the
Inspector o f Police. T cM cheny. 22 M arch 1915; Report o r K Ramunni, President, Sri
Gnanodaya Yogam , Tcllicherry, DR Magisterial D 298/M 15 dated /.? June 1915 (KRA)
Sl'.rines, temples and politics, 1900-1930 73
It was quite clear that there was a tussle over urban space; the T iyya
procession deliberately charted a route passing in front o f new M appila
mosques. It was a flexing o f territorial m uscle, w hich did not engender real
conflict despite the provocative presence o f T iyya volunteers in uniform . The
reactions o f both the authorities and Kottieth Ramunni are interesting in that
each wished to define the issue as one o f law and order, but for different reasons
altogether. The District M agistrate saw it essentially as a m atter for negotiating
with the leaders o f the com m unity, granting the G nanodaya Yogam an
importance unwarranted by its actual standing am ong Tiyyas. Kottieth Ramunni
was concerned to show lhat the Jagannatha temple represented the horizon of
T iyya religious belief and that religious processions from the other shrines/
tem ples were ju st trying to stir up trouble. It w ould kill two birds with one stone.
T he Jagannatha temple would not have to vie with the local shrines for a
congregation and the Sri G nanodaya Yogam could be recognised as the m outh
piece o f the local Tiyya com m unity.
The conflict between ihe Tiyyas and the M appilas, in and around the lowns
o fT elhcherry and C annanore, was not translated into com m unal terms at this
point, i.e. Hindu t'.v Muslim. T here were two m ajor reasons for this. First, the
T iyya elites had very consciously defined them selves as a com m unity apart,
centred on their own circuits o f worship, rather than as H indus. Secondly,
their adherents loo were beginning to dissociate them selves from the broadly
Hindu religious networks in ihe rural hinterland which they saw as entrenching
iheir caste inferiority. Though the Tiyyas attem pted to constitute them selves as
a religious com m unity, they did not draw upon a broader religious identity.
M oreover, this was largely a contest betw een prosperous M appila and T iyya
elites in the small towns o f Tellicherry and Cannanore, W hile Nayar tharavadus
in the interior were conccrned by the threat to their authority as T iyya tenants
m oved lo an alternative circuit o f worship, they had more pragm atic concerns
as well They had sym biotic relations with the more prom inent M appila
merchants on (he coast, who helped them market their lucrative pepper crop.40
Thus, both N ayarand M appila elites had too many other loyalties and concerns
on iheir hands In actually wimi to promote or provide any focus for conflicl
between H indus and M uslim s. In south M alabar where there had been a
longer history of conflict between M appilas and N ayars (both as H indusand
M uslim s and us landlords and tenants), such processions ofien assum ed a
violent character. On 2 March 1915, ihe Palliyarakkal tem ple near Calicut was
burnt dow n by M appilas taking a festival procession to Konthanary mosque
one-and-a-half m iles east o f C a lic u t41
" I.in ill Si'lJ Cunfnimenl Oepi. G.O.I745 U. ilwl Mi dated 1 7 April 1928 {KS),
" Repim i>f Inwn second cluss Culicul. 4 M arch l4JIS, /> Magisterial 544/M IS
ilnlal 2ft M an ft I 'l l 1' (KKA),
T h e Im p act o f excise a d m in istra tio n
There were other pressures at work which indirectly influenced the efforts to
build a com m unity of Tiyyas around the new temples. T he stepping up o f
attem pts by the slate to lax the native liquor industry severely affected the
traditional occupation o f toddy lapping, of u significant minority am ong the
T iyyas.42 From ihe late nineteenth ccnlury, Fort St George had begun to (ax the
native liquor industry in an effort to raise m ore revenue. The informal
adm inistration provided by ihe speculators and i onir.it/lors bejjan In be hm nihl
under the control ofati excise bureaucracy 4 ' Fioin the very beginning, M alabar
consistently recorded the highest num ber o f offenders against excise laws in
the M adras Presidency.44 Attem pts to curb infringem ents, by making land*
owners and village officials responsible for excise crim e on their properties, or
in the villages under their control, w ere never entirely successful. The ubiqui
tous palm tree could have been lapped by anyone for private pleasure or profit.
As excise officials observed, every man c a n ... have his own beer tap in his own
back garden.45
A brief description o f the toddy tapping business and its adm inistration will
show how it naturally engendered sym biotic networks o f illegality which
would confound the efforts o f any governm ent to evolve a fool-proof m an
agement. The governm ent auctioned loddy shops which were bought by Nayar.
Tiyya or M appila traders who received a supply o f toddy from contractors.
These coniractors in turn, got theirsupplies either from trees under thcircontrol
o r from the coconut gardens o f Nayar and Tiyya tenants and landowners.
Toddy lapping was done solely by Tiyyas who sold loddy directly to the
contractors, or to the shops, if it had been tapped illegally. The governm ent got
its revenue from the tax on palm trees and from the rental o f arrack and toddy
shops. H ow ever, there were many loopholes, the most im portant being the
abundance o f palm s which meant that people could tap it for their own use
leaving som eone else to pay the tax 46 Toddy drawn for the governm ent d is
tilleries at Nellikuppam was untaxed and there was always ihe likelihood thai
contractors would channel som e away for public consum ption. This was
prevented to som e exlent by m aking the contractor responsible for the tree lax.
11 In 1911, alm ost a fifth o f working'Tiyya m ales were enlercd in Ihe Census as loddy drawers.
Census o f India. 1911. XII, Madras. part I, table XVI.
** The pressure on the slate to raise more money and the difficulty of constantly increasing
assessm ent on the land, made the taxation o f the native liquor industry an ; attractive
alternative. Revenue from excise increased from Rs. 60 lakhs in 1882-83 to Rs. 5.4 crores in
1920. See W ashbrook, The emergence o f provincial politics, 50-2.
** Report on iheAdminislraiionofAbkan Revenue ofthe Madras Presidency (henceforth RARMP),
1899-1900.44, Appendix E-109,
* RARMP. 1920-21, 15.
* RARMP. 1916-17, 10.
Shrines, temples anil politics, 1900-1930 75
However, they had a vested interest in the illicit tapping o f trees because they
could then get toddy at cheaper rates w hich could be distilled and sold for a
profit. Tappers could also set up distilling units with supplies from illicit
lapping, and this could be done with the connivance o f the ow ner o f a coconut
garden who wanted lo make some money on the side. Reciprocal relations of
law breaking existed between N ayar or T iyya landowners and tenants and
Tiyya tappers. Loyalties spanned castes and econom ic groups, and were
cem ented over drink in loddy shops and unauthorised slills dotting the
OMinlryside. ti is significant that am ong the offenders' brought to trial, a large
ntim lui weic lim n ihc 'upper classes on whose account the low er classes
L'sually sm uggle' 47 Networks, now defined by the state as illegal, w ere too
profitable to be given up.
T he adm inistration had to finally face the fact that it could not control illicit
lapping and distillation both of w hich were enm eshed in local relations. By
1900, any attem pt al local control was given up and a pragm atic and ultim ately
harsh policy o f taxation was initiated. Taxes on trees were increased every year
by a third lo a half, and every increase was faithfully follow ed by an increase
in what had com e to be called abkari crim e.48 Between 1917 and 1927, taxes
on loddy rose by 50 percent, on country spirits by 93 pcrcent, and the vend fees
foi au ack and loddy went up by 172percent. In 1918, shop renters were alm ost
driven to tem pcrance by the taxation policy o f the governm ent. They w ent on
strike and boycotted auctions saying that they desired to abandon use of
ferm ented tiquor' 49 T he severe taxation policy o f the governm ent affected
relations in the countryside to a considerable extent. Landlords and village
officials were made responsible for rooting out excise crim e, which m eant a
ve si i ng o f further powers o f coercion in the hands o f Nay ar lharavad us, already
a part o f ihe revenue adm inistration. Conflicts between N ayar officials and
Tiyya tappers impinged on notions o f interdependence w hich had been
em phasised in the context o f shrine festivals. Toddy tappers w ere driven to
extrem es by excessive extractions - by the landlord, toddy shop ow ner,
contractors and seem ingly every excise official who encountered them on the
roads. T he menokki, excise official, becam e an object o f universal hatred and
N ayanar's satirical short story W ho killed the menokkiV [1893] reflects the
general altitude. A menokki w ent m issing; the obvious assum ption m ade by the
police was that he had been killed by a tapper. A fter the tapper had been
considerably harried it was discovered that the menokki, after a heavy m eal, had
" RARMP. 1902-03, 17.

11 RARMP, 1907-08,1; RARMP, 1914-15,1. In 1900, the newly appointed Abkari com m issioner
Tor M alabar observed pithily that ihc only proposals |l] have lo make are lhat w e should undo
what has been done. Revenue R.Dis. S dated 9 March 1900 (KRA).
** RARMP . 1918, 17; RARMP. 1927, 13; Mithavadi, Septem ber 1918.
lain down to rest under a tree, been struck by lightning and presently died.50 A s
toddy began to be taxed beyond profitabi lity, shops decreased, tappers retreated
and illicit tapping becam e the order o f the day.
The taxation policy closed dow n shops and areas w here Nayars, Tiyyas and
Cherum as had shared their drunkenness. T iyya tappers who were subject to the
daily oppression o f excise officials and the long-term dem ands o f the state
becam e increasingly unw illing to carry on an expensive occupation. In S ep
tem ber 1918, K ottieih K rishnan, K. C hantan and a few others associated with
the new Tiyya tem ples, founded the Kerala Labour Union for toddy tappers
w ho had decided to give up their profession. T he Jagannatha temple was to be
the centre o f rehabilitation activities, and the U nion explored the possibility p f
setting up a business for dealing in jaggery made from sw eet toddy.51 The
hardship o f the tappers, the possibility o f shifting w ithin the profession o f
tapping to producing som ething free o f governm ental exaction o r social
opprobrium , and the desire o f the T iyya leaders to w in adherents to their
tem ples all cam e together.
T apper and liquor baron alike were hit hard and the Tiyyas found their
m onopoly o f the toddy industry slipping away from their grasp. As vend fees
for toddy and the prices o f both toddy and arrack rose, attendance fell at toddy
shop auctions, and increasingly so in the decade o f the twenties. Shops
rem ained unsold o r were sold for very low rentals. Non-cooperation activities
and the picketing o f toddy shops b y Congress and K hilafat volunteers played
their part. The excise departm ent noted with bem usem ent the influence o f even
Buddhism on a few tappers who had given up their profession.52 Illicit
m anufacture m ade up the shortfall in supply caused by the reduction in the
num ber o f shops but the toddy trade had changed dram atically by 1930. The
excise policy directly exacerbated the rivalry between T iyya and M appila as
the latter inexorably assum ed control over the toddy trade. Prospering Tiyya
elites w ere not w illing to invest in a trade w hich was becom ing increasingly
unprofitable and, m oreover, w as tinged with the stigm a o f low ness.53 T his left
the way open for M appila financiers who had been increasingly discom fited by
T iyya encroachm ent in the spheres o f com m erce and credit. M appila cartels
began investing in the toddy trade and the earlier pattern o f a large num ber of
Petition o f tappers lo the K erala Labour Union, Mithavadi, Septem ber 191B. V.K. Nnyannr,
'Menokkiye konnathu aaranu 7 in KcsariNayanarude krithikal (The collected works o f Kesari
Nayanar) (Calicut, 1987), 6-13.
11 Mithavadi, Septem ber 1918.
RARMP, 1920-21, 15: RARMP, 1921-22, 9; RARMP, 1923-24, 9.
The exam ple o f the Murkkolh family provides a striking exam ple o f the change in attitudes
over a generation. Murkkolh Ramunny was the foremost toddy m agnate in M alabar at the end
of the nineteenth century .controlling toddy shops in Chirakkal, Kottayam , Kurumbranad and
Calicut. His son Murkkolh Kum aran, one-tim e editor o f ihe Mithavadi, was at ihe forefront
o f the cam paign lo disassociate the Tiyyas front the loddy trade. MSS o f M urkkolh Kumaran's
autobiography, 5-6.
Shrines, temples and politics. 1900-1930 77
small shops was replaced by a com paratively sm all num ber o f big shops
controlled by M appila financiers from the coast. By 1936 auction sales had
become a farce with no com petitive bidding, since local cartels controlled all
the shops.54
For one section o f reform ers, tem perance was bom out o f the attack on the
religious euliure o f the shrines; they em phasised the low status o f T iyya tappers
at shrine festivals and looked askance at unbridled tippling. The pressures on
the toddy business, and the em ergence o f a new kind o f drinking further fuelled
their cam paign. Prospective im bibers were being pushed tow ards toddy shops
by the governm ent policy o f raising taxes on trees, licensing requirem ents for
tapping and policing sources o f inform al supply.55 The diatribes against liquor
stem m ed loo, from the changed nature o f drinking. T he burgeoning o f toddy
shops and a shift tow ards secular, individual, drinking as opposed to religious,
com m unal drinking stoked the reform ers wrath. D rinking out o f a com m unal
context, unchecked by ones peers, allow ed for the em ergence o f a notion o f
alcoholism as apart from sanctioned drunkenness. T he equation o f the drinking
o f alcohol with alcoholism and therefore, m oral turpitude, marked the tem per
ance cam paign. There were other influences. In the first decade o f this century
the government o f M adras, in a short-lived cam paign lo promote abstemiousness,
had introduced the subject o f tem perance in school syllabi. T he consum ption
o f alcohol cam e to be enm eshed in issues o f morals, religion, hygiene and
physiology.56
It has recently been argued (hat much o f the puritanism o f the nineteenth and
tw entieth century caste m ovem ents stem m ed m ore from w estern inspiration
than from an indigenous revulsion.57 W hile the influence o f m issionaries on
morals in M alabar was m inim al, many o f those educated in English castigated
the consum ption o f alcohol. C uriously, they tended to see the consum ption of
alcohol as a w estern fashion underm ining the traditional social fabric. An
educated Nayar, self confessedly fed on the strong food of western science and
civilization saw the new age ushering in 'the sorry spectacle o f the son
drinking with the father, Ilia elder with the younger brother, the daughter with
the m other, lltc w ile will) llie husband' and so on.5H M urkkoth Kumaran, Tiyya
54 RARMP, 1935-36, 15.

For a sim ilar argum ent in the context o r Gujarat see D. Hardiman, *From custom to crim e: the
politics o f drinking in colonial south G ujarat1, G uhaed., Subaltern studies, IV (Delhi, 1985),
193-4.
* HARMP. 1915-16,5.
Lucy M. Carroll, The tem perance movem ent in India: politics and social reform , M odem
Asian Studies 10, 3 (1976). 440-1, 446. Carroll convincingly argues that m issionaries,
purveying Victorian ideas of tcm pcrancc, had a significant influence on the Kayastha reform
movement in llie United Provinces, See also. Caste, social change and the social scientist; a
note on the ahislorical approach lo Indian social history,' Journal o f Asian Studies 3 5 ,1 (1975),
63-84.
'* Panikkar, Malabar and its folk, 266.
78 Casle, nationalism and com m unism in south India
litterateur and social reform er, wrote a satirical novelette titled Ambu N ayar,
in which the m oral degeneration o f the eponym ous hero begins when he w ins
a lottery. W ith m oney in his grasp, this traditional, rural gentlem an undergoes
a process o f w esternisation and depravation. He joins a d u b , drinks alcohol,
gam bles and even falls in love with a young girl with whom he plans to
elope!59 A m idst this mixture o f motivations: the attack on low casteness; a
desire for social m obility and econom ic well-being; the attem pts at self
definition o f a new elite; the pressures on the profession o f toddy lapping itself;
it is difficull, iiml unwise, lo privilege any one explanation. Tem perance was
to be given a w ider political platform by the Congress, particularly with Bcpan
C handra Pals polem ic against the British governm ent fo rrealisin g rev en u e by
keeping the Indian masses in a state o f inebriation.60 Even as regards the in*
fluence o f nationalism and the Congress there are far too many threads to be
unravelled. In the case o f K.P. K esava Menon, founder o f the nationalist
new spaper, Mathrubhumi (1923), his attitude towards alcohol w as influenced
as much by G andhi as his early activities with the H ome Rule League with its
Victorian stand on tem perance.61
C o ngress, th e M a p p ila reh ellio n an d H in d u id e n tity
The Gnanodaya Yogam had tried to construct a lim ited com m unity based on
an identity o f caste. Tiyyas who prayed together at the Jagannatha and
Sundaresw ara would stay together There had been no attem pt lo gam er the
adherence o f the Pulayas, Panans, Nayadis and other untouchable castes. A
separate com m unity o f equal Tiyyas aspired to enter society as equals.62 In
M alabar, the Congress w ould link the m ovem ent away from the shrines with
the idea o f equality in the theme o f tem ple entry - H indus would enter the
portals o f the tem ples as equals. Here again, the idea o f a religious com m unity
o f equals was m aintained; it was both an expansion o f (he original idea as well
as a lim itation in that it did not conceive o f a w ider secular unity. Part o f the
reason for this narrow definition lay in the conjuncture o f the M appila rebellion
o f 1921 w hich forced the. Congress to retreat into a Hindu idiom o f politics.
54 M. Kumaran, Ambu Nayar (Calicul, 1965 edn).
K Bcpan Chandra, The rise and growth o f economic nationalism (Delhi, 1966). 556-61.
*' The League was set up in M alabar by M anjeri Rama Iyer, a close associate o f Annie Besant,
and its early activities consisted o f tem perance cam paigns and prayer m eetings for low er
castes. Interview with C.T. Kultikrishnan, Secretary. Theosophical Society, C alicut. M arch
1987.
A sim ilar idea can be found in th e thought o f the Ad Dharm m ovement am ong the
untouchables o f Punjab. M angoo Ram, the founder, saw the untouchables as constituting a
qaurn - a distin ct religious com m unity w hich had existed from tim e im m em orial,
luergensm eyer, Religion as social vision. 46-50.
Shrines, tem ples ttiulpolitics. 191X1-1930 79
From 1920, ihc political activity o f local Congressm en began involving

greater numbers. Al the Political Conference held in M anjeri, for the first time
u resolution was passed which called for the protection o f the interests of
tenants. The tenancy agitation was led largely by Klayars who cam e from
prom inent landholding families in and around C a lic u t63 In 1921, this fragile
rapprochem ent o f interests began to splinter as the triad o f tenancy. Congress
and Khilafat began pulling political activity in different directions. T here had
been a history o f outbreaks am ong the M appila peasantry in south M alabar all
through Ihc nincli'cntli rcntury. Agrarian oppression had forged ti Mappila
identity centred on nuiulvis, mosques and m artyr shrines.M Demands for
security of tenure, and the holding o f m eetings throughout south M alabar by
scnanl associations, created a degree o f political involvement among Hindu
and M appila cultivators, W hile Khilafat allowed for a tem porary alliance
between the local C ongress and M appilasentim ent.it could not paper over the
divisions between im poverished M appila agricultural labourers and Hindu
landowners.
The district authorities and police w orsened m atters by their insensitive
handling of M appila leaders which culminated in a raid on M am bram mosque
in August 1921. Leaders Iike All M usaliarand.suhsequently, Variyamkunnath
Kunhamad Haji assum ed nominal control over a largely decenired Mappila
iiroundswell in Tirurangadi and M alappuram. They attem pted to set up an
Islamic stale in the taluks o f Em ad and W alluvanad. Even though proclam a
tions were issued calling upon M appilas not to attack Hindus, the rebellion
assumed a more random , localised and com munal character with the arrest of
the lead ers/'5 There were rum ours o f forced conversions of Hindus and a
slcady slream o f Hindu refugees flowed into Calicut andT richur.T heC ongress
busied itself with preparing refugee cam ps anddisow ning the M appilarebels.66
In the five months before Variyam kunnath Haji surrendered and m artial law
was lifted in February 1922, the image o f the M appila had undergone a radical
transformation. Stories o f fanaticism , violence and conversions established
themselves in the m inds o f a badly frightened Hindu population. As an early
Congressm an wrote in his autobiography, the ghost o f Ernad was to haunt all
attem pts in ihe twenties to widen the rangeo f political activity in M alabar.67
*' See Rudhakrishnan. Peasant struggles, land reforms and social change, M alabar. 1836-1982
iNcw Delhi, 1989), 75-9; P ,K. Karunakara Menon, History o f the freedom movement in
Kerala (Trivandrum, 1972), II, 66-82.
Conrad Wood, The firsi Moplah rebellion against British rule in M alabar', Modern Asian
Studies 10. 4 (1970), 543-56; Dale, Islamic society on the South Asian frontier, ch. 5 Dale
londs towards a teleology which sees the Mappila Rebellion o f 1921 as the apocalyptic finale
of a process, which began in 1498, o f the creation o f a beleagured Mappila identity.
" Dale, Islamic society on the south Asian frontier. 20 9 -17,
** See K. Madhavan Nayar. Malabar kalapam ( The ferment in Malabar) (Calicut, 1987 edn) for
a contemporary account by a Congressman.
M. Sankaran. Ente jtvitha kasha, 226.
For the next decade, there was a retreat from sccular political activity and
an increasingly introspective Hindu style began to develop in M alabar. In
northern India there was a resurgence o f shuddhi activity by the A rya Samaj
which tried to reclaim converts to Hinduism and purify it o f untouchability.
T his new effort was, in part, directly inspired by the M appila rebellion and led
to the reappearance o f com m unalism as ulamas and M uslim sects responded
to ihe challenge o f a m ilitant Hinduism .68 On the whole, in M alabar there was
more an attem pt to create a Hindi; identity rather than to assert an existing
one. T he A rya Samaj began its activities in Palghat from 1922 and Pandit Rishi
Ram cam e down from Punjab to reclaim lapsed Hindus. Rishi Ram created a
furore in Palghat by talcing som e Ezhavas and A rya Samaj converts from low er
castes into the Brahm in settlem ent in Kalpathy. T he Brahm ins cast aside iheir
otherw orldliness and beat up several processionists. T his led lo the formation
o f Uie M alabar branch o f the Rantar Tablig-e-Islam which asked the Ezhava
brothers' to em brace Islam as the A rya Samaj had been unable to help them.69
T em p le e n try fo r H in d u s - th e V aik k a m satyagraha
The Indian National Congress had always recognised the problem of un

touchability, the extrem e m anifestation o f caste hierarchy, out o f the com er o f
its eye. It w as only in 1920 that untouchability cam e to be defined in u particular
sense as a reproach to H induism .70 Religious heads were requested to help in
reform ing Hinduism so that it could be purged o f this egregious accretion. The
redefinition o f untouchability as a religious problem inform ed Congress
activity in M alabar, as well as its attem pts to tackle the differences and
inequality betw een castes. The possibility o f unifying the diverse caste
movements under the um brella o f the Congress seemed possible only if
Hinduism could be purified by the abolition o f untouchability and everyone
could enter it as equals. O stensibly there w as a constituency here, since the
T iyya temples had excluded untouchables and lower castes from their am bit.
In a pam phlet called Svataniryayuddham [Freedom struggle], a N ayar C on
gressm an rebuked the Tiyyas for not behaving as equals with Pulayas, Panans
and Nayadis and not allowing them into Jagannatha or Sundaresw ara 71 In the
retreat from secular political activity after the M appila rebellion, the role of
arbiter between castes presented the M alabar Congressm en w ith a programme.
Gail M inaull. The Khilafatmovement; religious symbolism an dpalilicat mobilisation in India
(New York, I9B2), 193-201.
Achulhan, C. Krishnan. 150. Revenue R Dis. 9525/25 dated 21 April 1926 (KRA).
E. Zellioit, 'C ongress and ihe untouchables, 1915 50 in R. Sisson and S. W olpert eds ,
Congress and Indian nationalism: the pre-independence phase (Berkeley, CA, 198B), IKS
" C.K. Nam biar. Svatanlrynyudilhom (The war o f liberation) (T cllieh m y , 1924).
Shrines, temples and politics, 1900-1930 SI
M eanw hile in T ruvancore, the Ezhavas continued their agitation for

acccptance in society. In 1919, a meeting o f nearly 5,000 Ezhavas called for
adm ission into al) tem ples m anaged by the slate. 72 T.K. M adhavan, a close
associate o f N arayana Guru carried this objective lo the national realm. He
introduced a resolution at the K akinada session o f the C ongress in 1923, w hich
stated that tem ple entry was the birthright o f all Hindus. The assum ption
seemed to be that if all castes w ere allow ed to en ter tem ples which restricted
entry to upper castes, then H induism could be purged o f inequality. T he way
to caste equality seem ingly lay through the portals o f a temple. A fter the
disaster o f the K hilafat alliance, the N ayar leaders o f the Congress needed a
program m e which could at the sam e tim e involve large num bers o f people as
well as subsum e caste m ovem ents into a m ore general Hindu identity. In 1924,
K. Kelappan N ayar convened an anti-untouchability com m ittee w ithin the
K.P.C.C. and loured T ravancore with a party o f Congressm en from M alabar.
It was decided that the C ongress would fight for the rights o f Ezhavas and low er
castes to use the roads around V aikkam tem ple. O n 30 M arch 1924, K.P.
Kcsava Menon and T.K . M adhavan, accom panied by N ayar, Pulaya and
Ezhava volunteers, attem pted to w alk on the roads near the temple and were
arrested. T he next day, three more Congress leaders including K, K elappan
(who by now had eschewed his caste surnam e) from M alabar were appre
hended by Ihe police In the m eanw hile. G andhi had been following events with
great interest and had sent goodw ill telegram s to the organisers. However,
there was a shift in his attitude w ith the arrest o f all the N ayar Congress leaders.
G eorge Joseph ( 1887-1938), a Syrian C hristian and one-tim e editor o f Young
India, assum ed charge o f the satyagraha. G andhi im m ediately wrote to Joseph,
specifying that the V aikkam satyagraha was a Hindu affair and he should let
the Hindus do the w ork. G andhi clarified that the Congress resolution at
N agpur had called upon only the Hindu members* to rem ove the curse o f
untouchability.73
Gandhi defined the V aikkam satyagraha as a 'socio-religious movement. It
(has) no imm ediate or ulterior political motive behind it ... It w as directed
purely Jigiiinst an age long; intolerable sucenlolal p rejud ice.'7-*Considering Ihe
particular colouring given lo the satyagraha, it was not surprising that caste
organisations o f the higher castes, like the N air Service Society, the Kshatriya
M ahasabha, the Kerala Hindu Sabha and the Y ogakshem a Sabha o f (he
N ambudiris expressed Iheir w holehearted support. T he SND P w as the lone
avama organisation to back the struggle, and rum ours were rife that N arayana
Guru had advocated more m uscular m ethods ttfgain entry to the roads and that
11 Karunakara Mcnon. History o f the freedom movement in Kerala, II, 116.

" Gandhi lo George Joseph, 6 April 1924, Collected works o f Mahatma Gandhi (henceforth
CWMG) (Ahm edabad, 1972), XX1I1, 391
14 CWMG. XXIII. 441-2.
t
he had distanced him self from the activities of (he SN D P 75 In April 1924, a
jatha o f Akalis arrived from A m ritsar to set up free food kitchens for the
volunteers, am idst rumours that they were representatives o f Sikh 'fan atics
w ho had created trouble in the Pu njab wi ih the G urud wara reform m ovement .76
Gandhi imm ediately called for the closure o f the free kitchens and argued that
help from outside was not necessary. He claim ed, m oreover, that the people o f
Travancore did not need charity. It was obvious that G andhi viewed the Akali
presence as the potential source o f a conflagrati on. In an article in Young India,
in language unw arranted by local circum stances, he stated that the proposed
Sikh free kitchen I can only regard as a m enace to the frightened Hindus of
V uikom .77 G and hi's intercession, circum scribing involvem ent and rem oving
the political edge o f the m ovement, m eant that tem ple entry petered out into an
issue w hich was finally decided in the L egislative Council. A resolution to
Mlow Ezhavas to use roads near the tem ples was defeated by one vote. The
satyagraha continued fitfully till N ovem ber 1925, w hen the Travancore
governm ent made diversionary lanes and m anaged to further defuse the
situation.78 <
W hat w ere the consequences o f the V aikkam satyagraha for M alabar? For
one it bolstered the spirits o f a dem oralised Congress which was able to recoup
itself after the shock o f the M appila Rebellion o f 1921. Equally, it gently
moved them towards the cul-de-sac o f Hindu polities and o f seeing the problem
o f caste and untouchability as a purely religious issue; temple entry and caste
equality m eshed into a unit. Nevertheless, it was a program m e with w hich the
Congress in M alabar could attem pt to bring all the castes into one consolidated
movement. A pam phlet by a N ayar Congressm an described the Vaikkam
satyagraha as the achievem ent o f 'E zhava volunteers with the civilised classes
as their le a d e r s '79 M oreover, it gave the N ayars am m unition to gain entry for
them selves into temples where Nam budiris denied them entry. As the pam
phleteer w ent on to observe, to continue to feign respect for these crafty sacred * f
thread w earers was foolish so long as they kept G od for them selves'.80 Both
Tiyya elites and tenants stayed aloof from such m ovem ents and saw themselves
Karunskara Menon. History o f the freedom movement in Kerala. II, 118, 125; R. Jeffrey.
Travancore: status, class and the growth o f radical politics, 1860-1940. the tem ple enlry
m ovem ent', in R. Jeffrey, ed,. People, princes and paramount power: society and politics in
the Indian princely stales (Delhi. 1978), 156.
* Karunakara Menon, History o f the freedom movement in Kerala , II, 121. The agitation in
Nabha, the stream of jathas lo Jaito, the involvem ent o f ihe Congress, the arrest o f Nehru and
Ihe opening o f fire by ihe state authorities on a peaceful jatha in February 1924 were still fresh
in the public memory See Khushwant Singh, A history o f the Sikhs 1839-1964, II (Princeton,
NJ. 1966). ch. 13.
" 'V aikom satyag raha', Young India. I May 1924, CWAfC, XX III, 516.
Jeffrey. 'T rav an co re', 153-7.
N Nambiar, Svatantrxayuddam,
* Ibid.
Shrines, temples wut pttlitfcs, 1900-19JO 83
,is an independent coninm nity ow ing allegiance lo no religion'. Tiyya tappers

and lahourers continued lo stay aw ay from shrine festivals where ihey were
cxpcctcd to play a subordinate role, and in 1930 they conspicuously avoided
ilie Kularipadikkal festival.81 W hile the N ayar Congressm en found it difficult
to win the allegiance o f Tiyyas, they w ere to be m ore successful in iheir efforts
am ong the castcs dependent on iheir tharavadus, especially the Pulayas and
Cherumas.
C leanliness an d caste eq u ality

I
G andhis definition of the issue o f untouchability as one o f differential
cleanliness laid em phasis on the fact that upper caste Hindus had to inculcate
habits o f purity am ong their less fortunate brethren. This provided Nayars from
dom inant tharavadus in the interior with their own program m e. G andhi's
advocacy o f a sim ple and pure lifestyle seemed to have influenced many
Nayars from dom inant households. A.C. Kannan N ayar, the head o f the
Kchtkanam household inH osdrug, cam e under the sway o f G andhism in 1920
.li ter reading a pam phlet on G andhi. He began w earing khadi six years later on
ft April 1926, but it was only in 1927 that he actually began cam paigning on
behalf o f the Congress, after being a m em ber o f the Swaraj party for a short
while in 1925.82 An identification with G andhi did not necessarily mean an
affinity with the Congress, and often involved only the aspiration to non
violence, tem perance and a sim ple life, quite at variance with the lifestyles o f
Nayar country gentry,83 This allowed them to attem pt to build bridges between
thetr tharavadus and dependent cultivators and labourers; relations which had
been underm ined to a certain extent by the m ovement aw ay from the shrines.
In the process, relations between castes w ere redefined conceiving cleanliness
as that which distinguished high* from low . T he opposition between clean
and unclean em erged as a m ajor theme in the program m e o f N ayar C ongress
men in M alabar, and this was to continue well inio the next decade.
Ini tially, reform was attem pted am ong those castes dependent on tharavadus
as labourers or as ritual functionaries. A.C. Kannan Nayar, Congressm an and
landlord, enthusiastically recorded in his diary how he had organised the
woodworkers and washerm en dependent on his tharavadu and tried to incul-
Maihrubhumi. 30 D ecember 1930 ,2 0 May 1932.

Diaries o f A.C. Kannan Nayar. 20 December 1925,6 April 1926,24 October 1927 (NM M L).
' ' A pamphlet written in 1Q20 depicted the transform ation wrought on a typical martial, hard-
drinking, hot-tempered N ayar with the introduction o f a charkha into his home. He gave up
Im favourite pastim e o f hunting, threw his gun into the household pond and devoted him self
to spinning meditatively on the charkha. C. Padmavathi Amma, Chakramahima ( The saga o f
thr charkha) (Calicut. 1920).
cate habits o f clean) iness and temperance in them.84 A younger generation within
the N ayar tharavadus draw n to the Congress organised their literally captive
audience-of C henim a and Pulaya labourers into tem perance leagues.85 These
Adi Dravida sanghs also called for the eschew ing o f animal sacrifice in
religious ritual. In many cases, the adoption o f purer lifestyles and religious
practices by Pulayas and Cherum as had little to do with any crusade for social
m obility, and stem m ed more from the threat o f the use of force by their
superiors. It was a choice between purity or punishm ent. However, there were
other influences at w ork as well, for nothing is as worthy o f im itation as success
and the Tiyyas w ere the success story o f north M alabar. A pam phlet published
in 1917, by a literate Cherum a, bem oaned the fact that more and more o f his
caste people w ere show ing a tendency to adopt ballads and songs o f their higher
caste neighbours, the T iyyas.86 Tiyyas continued to assert their new -found
sense o f com m unity and status not only in the exclusion o f Pulayas and
Cherum as from their tem ples, but also in an increasing tendency to impose
sanctions on castes low er to them. These castes were caught between the
pincers o f T iyya disapproval and N ayar enthusiasm for organising them. In
villages along the coast, there-were frequent attacks and, in 1929, there were
several incidents o f Pulayas being beaten up by Tiyyas for venturing on to
public roads.87
In the w ake o f the V aikkam saiyagraha, Nayar Congressm en presented a
transcendent alternative o f adm ission into Hinduism in their new found role as
arbiters o f conflict. There were several facets to this activity, since equality had
to be w rought on several fronts. It was a curious situation that G andhi and the
Congress had created. U ntouchability had com e to be characterised at the
N agpur session as a reproach to H induism ' and by 1921 sanitation work was
defined as honourable w ork. If the unclean work that the sw eepers did made
them untouchable, then Congress w orkers would redeem that occupation by
doing it as well thus expiating their sins as Hindus for having ostracised the
untouchables.38 T he work w as redeemed, but not the individual who had to be
cleansed before being adm itted into the Hindu fold.
C leanliness was to keep surfacing in this period as a major theme mi
Congress activity - caste inequality was being defined initially as a m atter o f
differential hygiene. Allied with this was the idea that if persons were to be
Diaries o f A.C. Kannan Nayar, 23 June 1929 and 7 July 1929 (NMML).
Cheruma and Pulaya labourers were j o closely bound up with the households for w hith they
worked that the Com m issioner for Labour had been worried about extending the work o f h n
department toM alabar. He firmly believedthat 'efforts todoanything loraisc |j / c | the Cherumas
would cause trouble'. Law (General} Dept. G.O.3543 dated 13 December 1924 (KS).
Cherum an Chathan, Pulapattu (Songs o f the Pulayas) (Calicut 1917)
11 Mathrubhumi, 10 and 12 D ecember 1929
However, this was a curious redefinition as Zelliott points out. Gandhi s approach was to
m ake M a n g i |sw cep er| work acceptable rather than remove the bhangi from sanitation work-
Z elliott, 'C ongress and the untouchables', 186-8.
identified with the work they did, then a change o f nam e would necessarily
remove the stigma o f their occupation. T his was an idea taken up by several
caste groups in this period: Tiyyas calling them selves vaidyars (ayurvedic
doctors), Kamm alars (artisans) calling them selves Vishvakarm as and even
Nayars dropping their caste nam es as Kelappan did during the Vaikkam
satyagraha.m Some Vaniyars (oil pressers) in north M alabar had begun lo call
themselves Nayars and, inC hirakkal, one was c v ictedfor this reason.*1For some
it was not the ca stin g -o ff a name, but the adoption o f the physical appearance
o f a superior caste by which they dem onstrated their self-esteem . Cherum a
labourers who were recognisable by their shaved heads, or long, uncut hair
began to sport kudumis', tying their hair up in a knot on the side o f their head,
like the Nayars did.91 A meeting organised in 1929, by the north M alabar
Congress com m ittee, for the Adi D ravidas o f Pazhayangadi show ed the
com ing together o f three concerns - cleanliness, nom enclature and Congress
activity. One of the major resolutions was the adoption of the name o f Adi
K eraliyar for the untouchables. It provided both a change o f name for removing
the stigm a o f caste and endowed them with a historical validity as the first
settlers in Kerala! However, the Congress insisted on holding a m irror up to the
Adi K eraliyars' and stressed that the main reason fo rth eir low status was 'their
lack of cleanliness,92
W hat ha,d hitherto been implicit and unquestioned about caste was brought
into the open. G andhi and the Congress had defined the problem of caste
inequality in terms o f an opposition between cleanliness and the lack o f it,
locating the whole issue not in term s o f econom ic or social realities but a
physical state. T his introduction, at a historical moment, o f the idea of
cleanliness, as the central concept underlying inequality, allow s us to under
stand in a more proeessual way the changing construction o f the differences
between castes. Dumont hypostatises the opposition betw een pure and
im pure as underlying the hierarchy o f castes. It is possible to speculate that
such notions guined wide currency and w ere dissem inated in the process o f the
political redefinition o f the basis o f caste inequality by the C ongress. Though
uncleanliness as associated with the hluingi's profession had ritual connota
tions as well, since they removed hum an excrem ent, in Congress activity
cleanliness becam e a secular m etaphor for casteness Khadi, conceived ini
tially as a symbol of Indian self-reliance now cam e to assume a pivotal role in
this context as the great leveller. Caste difference had been stressed earlier in
the way people dressed. The advocacy o f khadi implied that if everyone dressed
" Miihuvndi, February 1915; P. Govindan. Keraliya karmmala samajti vijnapanam (An ad
rerlitem fnl fo r the artisans ofK rrula) (Cahcui, 1922).
Oral evidence irT Niirayjtiun Nair vakil. High Court.TellichcrTy, MTCR, 1927-28, 11,265
Inncs, Malnhtir Gazetteer, 143.
Maihrubhumi. 24 December 1929.
86 C aste, nationalism and com m unism in soulh India
alike then difference could be elim inated. The w earing of clean, white,
starched khadi em phasised cleanliness as welt as the aspiration to sameness. A
concern with clcanlincss can be found in the early activities o f m issionaries as
well as the efforts o f the H ome Rule League with its insistence on temperance
and hygiene am ong the w orking classes M issionary activity among the
Pulayas in Travancore and the Shanars in T in n e v d ty had stressed cleanliness
in clothing and appearance am ong new converts. In the north, the attitude o f the
Congress tow ards cleanliness could have been conditioned by the proselytising
Hinduism o f the Shuddhi sabhas o f the late nineteenth century and the Arya
Sumaj,9-1 At this juncture, the assoc iatio tto f cleanliness with caslencss and the
adoption o f hygiene as a political program m e was represented as a radical
intervention by the Congress,
O nce cleanliness had been introduced into the public arena as a concept it
assum ed the sam e force as an idea that socialism was to have in the next
decade.A t a meeting of the Adi K eraliyar in Kallfasseri (this time without the
helping hand o f the C ongress) a resolution asserted that 'cleanliness is the only
thing that distinguishes the upper castes from the Harijans* (em phasis m ine).94
Once the ostensible principle underlying differences was clarified, caste
inequality was hoist on its own petard Large sections of low er castes rem ained
aloof from such activity bccausc o f the obvious dangers from conservaiivcs,
both am ong their equals and their superiors. In Kasergodc, Congress activists
from one o f the dom inant tharavadus invited a w asherm an clad in spotless
- khadi lo drink w ater from the sam e wetl as they. The washerman was ostracised
by his own com m unity and had to pay a heavy fine for readm ittance to his
caste,95
O nce the low er castes had been rendered clean abstem ious, bathed and
given to daily prayer - then how were they lo be adm itted to society as equal??
M any o f the early N ayar C ongressm en organised interdining with the castes
dependent on their tharavadus 96 H ow ever, these were localised activities and
could not be reproduced on a larger scale becausc o f the involvement of
individuals in several circuits - that o f Iheir casle, relations with their landlord,
and their locality. O ne w ay o f uniting these isolated activities could have been
to utilise religious fairs and feti vals to gain entry for low er castes to temples and
" 1 Sec R. Jeffrey, The decline o f Nayar dominance: society ami politics in Travancore. 1847-
1908 (New York, 1976); R. Hardgrave The Nadars ofTamtlnad: the political culture o f a
community in change(Berkeley, C A , 1969); K.W. Jones. Arya Dharma: Hindu consciousness
in nineteenth century Punjab (California, 1976), 202-5,212-15 Tor the Shuddhi sabha activi
ties o f transform ation o f outcastes into clean caste Hindus. For Congress and Home Rule
League activity in M alabar see Kesava M enon, Kazhinja kalam [Times past) (Calicut, 1962).
w Mathrubhumi, 29 May 1934.
,5 File on the oral history o f Kasergode taluk (A.K. Gopalan Centre Trivandrum)
w A.C. Kannan Nayar Diaries'. Sankaran. Ente jiviiha katha,
Shrines, lemplex and politics. IWX)-I9J0 87
shrines.97 However, there were several obstacles to be overcome. There were

temples which prohibited entry to Nayars, and private family temples which
did not allow even low er sub-castes o f Nayars a right to worship. Among the
Nayars there were groups like the Sam udayika Bahishkarana Sangham [Com
munity boycott organisation) w hich attem pted to work within the com munity
to abolish animal sacrifice and the drinking o f alcohol.98 The perception of
clean* and unclean extended also to differences within the upper castes and
dm not mark an absolute divide between high and low. The association o f
alcohol and blood sacrifice with unclennliness had assumed a potency over the
I last decade o f cask: activity. Therefore, the Nayar Congressmen had to set their
own house in order, o r light for their own adm ittance to temples before they
could take on the role o f leaders.
Shrine festivals drew upon a lim ited com m unity of worshippers within a
w ell-defined geographical area. M oreover, the Nayar Congressmen w ere keen
to dissociate them selves from the consum ption o f alcohol and blood sacrifices
which accom panied w orship at m ost shrines. In this, they were one with the
T iyya elites who advocated a withdraw al from the shrines, as well as those
Tiyyas who w ere actually escaping from the entrenchm ent o f their caste
inferiority at shrine festivals. The rhetoric o f cleanliness had to be synthesised
with the larger issue of caste equality. Tiyya elites had partly solved the
problem by standing as a separate, therefore equal com m unity, by constructing
their own temples. This meant that the Nayar Congressmen working with the
notion of difference inherent in caste, and the id e | o f unity implicit in their
nationalist message, were seemingly at an impasse\ But all these strands, the
movement away from shrines, the move towards cleanliness and its association
with castcness, the possibility raised by the Vaikkam satyagraha o f temple entry
for all castes and, above all, the narrowing o f Congress horizons into a Hindu
introspection were rearranging them selves into a pattern. This pattern was that
o f a throng of clean, equal H indus marching through the portals o f a temple
towards a nationalist unity This was the new ideal, and the temple at G uruvayur
was the Bastille to be .stormed. Kclappan wrote to Nehru towards the end o f
1931, 'G uruvayur temple is the last refuge o f all caste arrogance and prejudice.
O nce untouchability is dislodged from tltere it will have no quarter outside.99
41 See G. Pandey. The tucrnJancy o f the Congress in Uttar Pradesh. I026-.U: a siurfv in
imperfect mobilisation (Delhi, I97H), chs 2 and 3 for sim ilar activity in UP and the utilisation
o f the Kumbh Meta, for exam ple, for Congress propaganda.
N.E, Balaram , Keralathile kammvunistu prasthanam <The communist movement in Kerala t
(Trivandrum, 1973), 1 .50.
K. K elappantoJ Nehru. 23 O ctober 1931 All India Congress Com m ittee (henceforth AICC)
Pile G/86. 1931 (NM M I.I.
C onclusion
T hroughout this period there had been a search for new er forms o f com munity.
Tiyya elites in the towns had attem pted to create a separate and equal identity
around urbah temples, paralleling the com m unities o f worship and sustenance
around shrines in the countryside. U nlike their caste cousins across the border,
the Nadars o f Ramnad, the Tiyyas had not been overly concerned about entry
into tem ples w hich denied them e n try .'00 Som e o f the Tiyyas and lower castes
remained within the shrine com m unities. O thers did so while repudiating the
reiteration of their perceived caste roles as festivals. A num ber m oved out of
this circuit altogether, motivated by equal mixtures o f a desire for equality,
econom ic advantage and the adoption o f a different lifestyle and form o f
worship. T he Congress enterprise in M alabar sought to rem ove caste differ
ence, a hindrance in the attem pt to create a unified Hindu identity. In practice,
however, it developed as a lim ited im perative. Through ideas o f cleanliness,
hygiene, purity and abstinence, individuals were to be incorporated within a
normative identity which equated an unclean physical stale with the social
condition o f inequality. After the ephem eral unity o f KJiilafat and the Congress,
both at the national as well as the regional level, it signified a retreat from
attem pts to build a com munity transcending religious difference. This would
culm inate in the attem pt to gain entry into the temple at Guruvayur, and the
limited, religious idiom o f politics severely curtailed the enactm ent o f civil
disobedience in Malabar.
|0 As Hardgrave points out, the failure o f the Nadars lo gain access lo Kamudt temple, ai a result
o f a Madras High Court interdiction in 1897, meant that they moved from 's jc re d ' lo
'secular' forms of achieving mobility Hardgrave, The Nadars nfTamilnad. 108-29
4 Civil disobedience and temple entry, 1930-1933
At the beginning o f 1930, the Indian N ational C ongress was at the crossroads.
It faccd the prospect o f widening political differences betw een H indus and
M uslim s, and the tw in, contradictory pressures o f one strong group rooting for
com plcic independence anti another reluctant to deprive itself o f office by
continuing a policy of non-cooperation. T he Round T able Conference, early in
the year, had not arrived at any concrete, viable resolution o f Ind ia's political
future. A m idstall the uncertainty and the prospect o f organisational dissension,
G andhi appeared lo be the one figure who could hold the centre together,
M oreover, the launching o f a controlled program m e o f civil disobedience
seem ed lo present the possibility o f restoring order within the ranks. At the
same tim e it provided the Congress with a counter it could use to bargain with
the colonial governm ent.
The tim ing o f civil disobedience was determ ined by national im peratives,
but local Congress units show ed rem arkable flexibility in their response. For
a span o f three years from 1930, local political activity in M alabar seem ed to
mesh w ith the national campaign. The staples o f nationalist activity - the
manufacture o f salt, the picketing o f liquor shops and the propagation of k h a d i
- were replicated, albeit with m inor variations. O stensibly, these were the
m otifs through w hich nationalist agitation could be most readily 'localised,
sincc cach was a reaction, lo a greater or lesser degree, lo colonial intrusion.1
However, in com parison with other provinces like G ujarat, Bengal, Ul* and
closer home, the A ndhra region, civil disobedience activities in M alabar seem
muted. T here w ere no cam paigns against paym ent of rent or revenue; no
agitations am ong tenants or cultivators-, nor indeed any trade union or w orker
m ilitancy.2 M oreover, there appeared to be no Congress organisation, apart
from a few people who spoke in the name o f the Congress. Q uestions like the
relation between Congress strength and local m ilitancy; radicalism on the
1 See D.A. Low, Introduction1 in D.A. Low ct!.. and the Raj: facets o f the Indian
struggle. 1917-47 (D elhi, 1977). 17-IB.
! For regional studies see essays by B. Stoddan, D. Hardiman, G. Pandey in Low, Congress and
the Rilj and T Sarkar. fiengal, IV2S34 the politics o f protest (Delhi, 1987).
fringes o f C o n g ress con tro l: an d m ethods o f m ass m o b ilisatio n a d o p ted by

C o n g ress w o rk ers a p p e ar in co n g ru o u s in the co n tex t o f M alab ar.3 A partial
ex p lan a tio n for the lack o f a w id e r political inv o lv em en t m ay lie in tw o factors
pecu liar to M alabar. C ivil d iso b ed ien ce elsew h ere has been a n aly sed ag ain st
the b ack d ro p o f rev en u e resettlem en t o p eratio n s and secondly, th e im pact o f
the D ep ressio n .4 In M alab ar, resettlem en t w as com p leted only by 1934 and the
p ep p er and co c o n u t eco n o m y o f north M alab ar did not ex p erien ce the cru n ch
o f the D ep ressio n till th e m id th irties But w as it ju s t a case o f the d o g that did
not h ark ? P ro b ab ly a m ore satisfy in g ex p lan atio n w ould lie in tlw p ro p o sitio n
that n atio n alism d id not sp ecific ally ad d ress the p ro b lem o f caste inequality at
this ju n c tu re .
A T iyya elite in the coastal towns had thrown down the gauntlet in the
previous decade, by presenting the ideal o f a com munity o f equals around their
new temples. T his had, to an extent, disrupted relations between tharavadus
and low er caste cultivators. Partly in response to this, N ayar Congressm en had
resorted to a G andhian program m e o f inculcating cleanliness and hygiene
am ong the untouchable castes dependent on their tharavadus. W hile such
activity held forth the prom ise o f equality for the lower castes, it em phasised,
at the same tim e, their subjection by the tharavadus. During the course o f civil
disobedience activity, N ayar Congressmen built up connections between thetr
tharavadus and reasserted their influence in the villages. In north M alabar,
C ongress politics evolved as an exercise o f caste authority and was perceived
as the enforcem ent of nationalism by decree. Local conflicts predom inated
over national affiliations, as in the case o f liquor picketing, w here the toddy
shops o f Tiyyas were forcibly shut down by powerful tharavadus. The second
phase o f civil disobedience addressed itself directly, and wholly, to the exigent
local issue o f caste. N ayar Congressm en attem pted to steal the thunder from the
T iyya m ovem ent by allying the ideal o f a com m unity o f equals to the problem
o f caste inequality. They envisaged a unity o f all castes around the tem ple at
G uruvayur, and urged for the right o f entry into the temple for low er castes. For
a b rief moment, nationalism was translated into an appealing local idiom.
H owever, in the end, Tiyyas preferred their own tem ples and other low er castes
rem ained suspicious o f what appeared to be another attem pt to em phasise the
authority of the NayarsT- .*
M ore crucial for the local perception o f nationalism was the intervention by
the C ongress high com m and to severely curtail the possibilities opened up by
the cam paign for entry into the temple at Guruvayur. An issue tike temple entry
threatened to divide upper and low er castes into opposed camps, which was
J See Pandey, The Congress in UP, 7-8; Sarkar, Bengal, 1928-34, 3; D. Hardiman, Peasant
nationalists o f Gujarat: Kheda district. 1917-34 (Delhi, 1981).
4 See Pandey, The Congress in UP, 156-70; C.J. Baker, The politics o f south India, 1920-37
(Cam bridge, 1976), 205-12.
Civil disobedience and temple entry, 1930-1933 91
something the national Congress could ill afford. In negotiating with the
colonial governm ent, as in the case of the Poona Pact of 1932, the Congress had
lo present itself as representing all castes. The lo cal1 issue o f Guruvayur was
'n ationalised', i.e. subordinated to the national im perative, thus depriving it o f
political content and restricting its appeal. Nationalism in M alabar w ould be
circum scribcd severely by its failure to address caste inequality.
C o ngress m ganisatUm in M a la b a r
On the eve o f civil disobedience, the main characteristic of Congress organisation

in M alabar was the lack o f it. This was true o f Congress organisation in both
T am ilnuduand A ndhra at the com m encem ent o f civil disobedience. However,
in 1931 and 1932,falling agricultural pricesand cam paigns against government
resettlement operations helped them lo build up a coherent structure,^ Though
formal Congress unitsexisted in M alabar, they were largely the rem nants of the
successful agitation for tenancy rights spearheaded by professional groups in
ihe twenties and the ephem eral political conjuncture o f Khilafat, The Kerala
Pradesh Congress Com m ittee (KPCC) had been formed in 1920, following the
resolution at the N agpur session o f the All India Congress Com m ittee which
had called for the organisation o f linguistic regional units. O n the eve o f civil
disobedience, there were three Congress units in M alabar - the KPCC in
Calicut, the district Congress com m ittee in Palghat and the town com m ittee o f
Cannanore.6
In the eastern villages, N ayar landlords like A.C. Kannan Nayar, attracted
more by Gandhi than the Congress, devoted them selves to questions of
cleanliness, hygiene and other issues w hich would pot have caused a ripple on
the surface o f rural relations. For a younger generation o f Nayars, the term
Congress' indicated more a perception o f affinity am ong themselves and a
need for independent expression than an association |wi th the national campaign
against im perialism .7 An instance o f this was the setting up o f the north
M alabar zilla Congress com mittee. This was an informal association o f younger
Nayars from the dom inant tharavadus rather than a link in a hierarchy of
Congress organisations. It was founded in 1929 in Chirakkal, following
! Baker, Politics o f south India, 253-4,

h Note by W.R, John on the Congress. Madras Govt. Secret Files, Under-secretary's safe
(henceforth USS) no, 718 dated 6 November 1931 (TNA).
' Bolh K.P.R. Gopalan ( I9 I0 -) who would becom e one o f ihe founders o f the Communist party
in Kerala and K.A. K eraleeyan (1907-1991), President o f the All M alabar Peasant Union,
began wearing khadi and associating with the Congress party as an act o f rebellion against the
heads o f their respective households. Interviews at Kalliasseri and Calicut, February-M arch
1987,
incidents o f attacks by Tiyyas on Pulayas who had ventured on to public roads.

A conference rallying Pdlayas and other untouchable castes in the nam e o f
hygiene and abstinence had preceded the formation o f this Congress unit.8
Congress com m ittees like these, in the eastern villages, attem pted to redress the
balance o f pow er which had been disturbed by the setting up o f the new Tiyya
temples. They tried to underm ine the increasing self confidence o f the Tiyya
tappers and cultivators by a reassertion o f the connections between tharavadus
and their dependent castes.'
In the coastal towns, neither the Congress nor any other political party made
much headway. Local elites m anaged to control the taluk boards and municipal
councilson the strength of their regional influence alone, An alliance consisting
o f the pepper barons - the Kalliattu and Koodali tharavadus - and the M appila
merchant and exporter, A. K. Kunhi Moyan Haji, control led the Chirakkal taluk
board till its dissolution in 1930. By 1927, a third o f the m em bers o f the
Chirakkal talukboard were eitherthe relations o f Kalliattu Kammaran Nambiar
or worked for him on his estates. One o f the members was his trusted family
physician.9 Congress affiliation was strongest am ong N ayar lawyers and
professional men in Calicut who had cut their teeth on the successful agitation
fortheM alabarT enancy Act (passed in December 1930).10 W ithin Calicut town,
tn contrast to the villages o f M alabar, castes had begun lo occupy particular
quarters. Each such area w as characterised by its own tem ples, caste
organisations and libraries. The most notable o f these spatial segregations was
Chalappuram in Calicut which w as,th e stronghold o f the new breed of
professional N ayars.11 Congress activity, or rather, its presence, was confined
to Chalappuram in Calicut and m eetings were often held only on Sundays when
the office bearers had time o ff from their legal practices. So far as the M appilas
were concerned, the Congress was seen, and rightly so, as a caste Hindu body
dom inated by the Chalappuram G ang o f law yers.12 E. Moithu Maulavi
(1898-) who had been closely associated with the Khilafat m ovem ent in
Malabar, found, on returning from jail, that his erstw hile M appila associates in
the Congress had begun to busy themselves with reform within (heir commit
nity.11
At this juncture, the Congress in the villages o f M alabar was characterised
by an ill-defined reform ism. In the towns, there was cither no organisation or.
Mathrubhumi, 7, 12 and 20 December 1929.

* Local S e lf Government Dept. G.O.I74S (L and M) dated 17 April 1928 (KS): Local Self
Government Dept. G .0 .2864 (Land M) dated 17 July I9J0(K S)\ Aaron, Jeevithasmaranakal.
95-6.
10 Sec Rodhnkrishnan. Peasant struggles, land reforms and social change. 85-7
" Aiyappan, Iravas and culture change, 33; E. M oithu M aulavi, Maulnviyude kalha (The
Maulavi's story) (Koiiayam , 1981), 33.
AICC Files G - 107/1930 (NM M L).
11 Moilhu M aulavi, Maulaviyude kalha, ] 07.
as in Calicut, one tinged with ihe anxiety that Congress activity would involve
H indu-M uslim conflict as in 1921. In M arch 1930, w hen the KPCC voted to
participate in civil disobedience, K. M adhavan Nayar, the veteran o f non
cooperation, resigned from the Congress. He did not w ant to be a part o f the
com munal violence which he believed would ensue. M adhavan N ayar was
persuaded to withdraw his resignation shortly afterw ards in the interest o f the
national cause. Apart from the fear o f a general conflagration there were real
reasons fostering hesitancy. In 1930, it is difficult to speak o f a Congress
organisation. T here were several individuals, for each o f whom association
with the Congress was one, and certainly not the m ost important, o f many
identities. K.P. Ram an M enon, an office-holder in the KPCC was at the sam e
tim e organising m eetings o f the M alabar Nayar Sam ajam and lobbying on
behalf o f tenants' associations for the speedy introduction o f legislation.*5
M oreover, the KPCC, as an organisation, did not have any funds worth the
name, even though individuals tike Samuel Aaron, who were inform ally allied
with the Congress, were quite wealthy. In a sense, the launching of any political
program m e would depend more on the willingness o f wealthy well wishers to
subsidise it, than on directives from a high com m and. Finally, after Khilafat,
there had been no one issue on which the Congress could organise. Tenancy
agitation had been mainly resolved by the im pending legislation o f the M alabar
T enancy Act. This was in contrast to regions like Gujarat and coastal A ndhra
where Ihe local Congress had managed to build a strong base am ong the
peasantry by taking up the issues of revenue enhancem ents between 1925-
3 0 .16
The w eakness o f Congress organisation was to becom e evident w ithin two
m onths o f the com m encem ent o f civil disobedience, The office bearers o f the
KPCC wrote despondently to headquarters that there were no village or district
organisations any longer.17 On 25 D ecem ber 1930, the Kerala Congress was
declared illegal, burying the last vestiges o f organisation and control. Inves
tigations by the A lC C in 1931 revealed utter chaos. For two years between
O ctober 1929 and July 1931. there had hcen no receipt o f m em bership fees; no
iiccimnts had been luaiitlnineil ami there did not appear to be any evidence ol
correspondence between the provincial com m ittee and subordinate com m it
tees, if any such existed,18 In M alabar, it was a case o f the local Congress not
having its finger on the pulse o f the countryside at all.
14 Maihrubhumi, 1 April 1930.

11 Diaries o/G . Sankaran Nayar . 11 February 1931 (NMML).
14 See essays by Hnrdiman and Sloddart in Low ed . Congress and the Raj, 59, 109-10.
" Report o f K. M adhava M cnon and A, Karunakara Mcnon, AlCC Files CI07/I930 (NMML).
" Audit report, AlCC Files F 60/1931 (NMML).
Caste, nationalism and com m unism in south India
Civil d isobedience - the m a n u fa c tu re o f salt
The salt wtyatraha in Chirakkal taluk involved mainly those from prominent
Nayar tharavadus and served to create a unity o f purpose between them.
Political activity was carried on amidst considerable restraint from the police
who owed their jobs to the influential sat van rah is acting against the law, On
12 April 1930. K. Kelappan led a march o f Congress \o lu n ieers from Calicut
to Payyanur, traversing the villages o f the interior, to m anufacture salt. Prior
In this K M adhavan Nayar. the secretary ol the KPC<\ hail toured north
M alabar and established links with prom inent tharavadus, like that of the
Kalliattu Nambiar, to provide accommodation for the marchers. More important,
the advance party approached Samuel Aaron, proprietor o f the Aaron weaving
mills and popularly known as the Birla o f M alabar. Aaron agreed to provide
the funds necessary for the march, besides providing a field at Kokkanisseri
where salt could be manufactured. Aaron also acted as aônduit for funds from
other men of business in Tellicherry and Cannanore. In 1928, he had been
elected a m em ber of the Chirakkal taluk board supported by an informal lobby
o f businessm en.19
Fortified by the securing of finances, the m archers proceeded from Calicut
to Payyanur through unfam iliar terrain, clad in w hite khadi and singing
nationalist songs. They must have been watched by a bem used rural population
who saw either strangers or the younger members of locally dominant tharavadus
in an unfam iliar role; acknow ledging the crowd with none o f the arrogance o f
their elders. The police kept a respectful distance and in the countryside there
was none o f the violence that characterised their encounters with satyagrahis
in the tow ns.20 The chief reason may have been that the participation o f village
elites in processions elicited pragm atism from constables. M oyyarathSankaran
(1889-1948), w riting o f a procession he had organised from Badagara lo
Payyanur, mentions that the constables on duty cam e up to som e o f the
participants to get their beat registers signed. When K unhiram an N ayar, a
young m em ber o f the Kalliattu household and H ariswaran Tirum um pu o f the
powerful Thazhekkat household were arrested, they refused to sign on the bail
bond. Embarrassed police constables released them im m ediately.21
On 21 April, the m aiitpcqcession, led by Kelappan, reached V alapattanam
and stayed at the house o f T.V. Chatfiukutty N ayanar, the biggest landow ner
"* Aaron, Jeevilhasmaranakal, 90-5, 139-40.

: The official history o f the freedom movement in Kerala estim ates ihe figures o f ihose arrested
and beaten by the police to be 1,730 bet ween January and August 1932. All o f these encounters
. were in the towns. Kaninakara M enon, History o f the freedom movement in Kerala, II. 261.
No figures are available for the first phase o f civil disobedience.
14 Sankaran, Eniejiviiha kalha, 297; Mathrubhumi, 3 May 1930.
Civil ilisohtnlkncc anil temple entry, 1910-1933 95
in the region.22 The marchers reached Payyanur ihrec days lalcr and were
accom m odated in (he house o f Samuel Aaron. Salt pans were set up on
Kokkamsseri field, and the manufactured salt was sold at Rs. 6 per tola.
Naturally enough, only members of the locally powerful Nayar and Nambudiri
families could afford to buy any o f it.2* Salt m anufacture continued for a month
and there were daily meetings at which the war council decided who would
o f f e r them selves fo r arrest on a particular day. Small groups o f volunteers went
into the interior, hut their propaganda was restricted to winning over members
of their own caste They stayed in the houses of local landowners and village
o l l i t i a l s and rarely worked within the villages, By providing accom m odation
fo r the marchers at the houses o f the locally powerful, the Congress had
effectively restricted participation to either Nayars or Nambudiris, as those of
lower caste would be denied entry into homes. In a sense, Congress activity in
Payyanur often assumed the nature of a spectacle or perform ance. Local
notables interacted with each other, manufactured salt and were arrested, while
a curious rural population wondered what the fuss was all about. K.A.
Keraleeyan remarked on how, for the rural populace, the name Congress
conjured up visions o f people who, for reasons best known to themselves,
subjected themselves to heating by the police.24
By mid June, the satyagraha in Payyanur began to fold up. The leadership
o f the KPCC blamed ihe failure o f the sail satyagraha in the interior to the
indifference o f the rich and landed aristocracy, which meant that there was
no one to provide leadership once the first few Congressmen were arrested.25
It is quite evident that the KPCC did not envisage a broadening o f the
m ovem ent at this juncture to include low er castes as well. Besides, salt as such,
never becam e an em otive issue and satyagraha was suspended at Calicut
within a week since the am ount o f salt made was sm all. In P ayyanurtoo, salt-
making activity waned, helped along by the reluctance, or wisdom, o f the
authorities who refused to make an issue o f i t In a com m unique, the Collector
o f M alabar stated that he would not arrest any more satyagrahis since all they
were doing was to boil w ater to which salt had been added,26 Som etim es,
fortuitously, Congress activities managed to break out o f the charm ed circle of
upper caste involvement. W hen a satyagraha procession reached Kuniyan,
they found a settlem ent o f Tiyyas who had m ade a living by processing salt for
the pasi twenty-five years. They had been inadvertently draw n into civil
disobedience activity by the police, who made no distinction between m undane
and idealistic motives. M ost o f the women o f the com m unity, who made the
Mathrubhumi, 22 April 1930.
n Sankaran, Eniejivitha kaiha , 227, 249; Mathrubhumi. 26 April II930; Kerala Congress Bul
letin, 25 June 1930, AlCC Files C 107/1930 (NMM L). !
'* Interview, Calicut. 6 M arch 1987.
AlCC Files G107/1930 (NMML).
!t Ibid., Report o f K. Madhava Mcnon.
96 Casie, nationalism and com m unism in souih India
salt, were in jail and the marchers incorporated a few of the com m unity in their
procession.27 Sometimes concerns o f caste m obility were presented in the new
vocabulary o f the Congress. M embers o f the M ukkuva (fishing) com munity
tried to align them selves with the C ongress by stating that the making o f sail
w ould help in curing fish, w hile khadi nets (f) would reduce their dependence
on merchants for nets and equipm ent.28 T hese were serendipitous gains for the
Kerala Congress and did not presage a lasting affiliation with their policies.
Congress activity reiterated existing bonds and widened netw orks of
association between ciiste elites. Subm itting a report on the activity of the
Congress in M alabar, the president of the KPCC w rote that the volunteers
offering them selves for processions and arrests were typically eighteen to
tw enty years o f age and cam e from those sections o f the landed aristocracy',
described delicately as lacking in finance*. The report made a distinction
between these declining tharavadus and the rich, landed aristocracy which
had stayed aloof from the m ovem ent. O f the seventy-nine volunteers arrested
between 12 M ay and 15 June 1930, seventy-tw o belonged lo the two upper
castes. T he leadership and organisation centred on a few individuals and with
theirarrcsfs, no village organisation [existed] nor any District organisation.29
In many cases, Congress mobilisation followed the genealogical map of
N ayar tharavadus. A.K. Gopalan entered the civil disobedience cam paign by
recruiting other younger mem bers of his tharavadu and approaching the
various branches scattered throughout Chirakkal.30 Not only did political
activity follow familial connections, it also utilised the institutions set up by
tharavadus. M any o f the rural schools had been established by dominant
tharavadus which em ployed their younger mem bers as teachers. A.K. Gopalan
recruited several o f his students for picketing, and schools with radical teachers
becam e recruiting grounds forpolitical activity. Instituting proceedings against
a certain Kunhambu Poduval, the head m aster of V engara Labour School, for
having participated in salt-m aking at Payyanur, the District Labour O fficer
warned that the schoolm aster [is] a potent influence in a village and on his
conduct depends the behaviour of his students.31
Many o f the m odes in which Congress activity was expressed were redolent
o f the pow er exercised by tharavadus over ihe sphere o f their authority On
getting the news o f G andhi's arrest in April 1930, the dom inant Nayar
tharavadu in Payyanur called for the closing o f the local bazaar. When
volunteers were arrested at Calicut, T.V. Chathukutty N ayar ordered a hartal
in Kokkanisseri bazaar and sent a suitcase full o f his clothes to be publicly burnt
n Mathrubhuml, I May 1930.
* Mathrubhumi, 28 May 1930.
r> Report o f K. Madhava Menon and A. Karunakara Menon, AICC Files C 107/1930 (N M M l),
w A.K. Gopalan. In Ihe cause o f Ihe people (Delhi, 1973), 17
11 Dept, o f Labour R. Dis. 304/30 dated 29 October /9 J0 (K R A ). All o f P o th u v ars brothers as
well as ihe younger members of his wifes family participated in sail m aking al Payyanur
in protest.32 Even though the tharavadu-shrine com plex had been eroded in the
previous decade the authority o f the dom inant tharavadus in the eastern
villages had not been dented. Even a mild adherent o f the Congress like Kannan
N ayar could conceive o f inculcating nationalism by decree. He recorded in his
diary that having received new s o f Bhagat Singhs death, he sent w ord' that
hartal was to be observed in the area betw een K otlacheri and Puthiyakptta.33
Noble im peratives o f nationalism could very w ell fie read as the arbitrary
exercise o f the prerogative o f N ayar tharavadus. T he previous decades had seen
a growing estrangem ent between tharavadus and their dependents and adherents.
Nationalism , or its m anifestation in north M alabar, cam e at the end o f a process
both o f greater interference by tharavadus in rural relations, as in the m atter o f
im plem enting excise regulations, and w ithdraw al, as in the case o f the shrine
festivals.
Civil d iso b ed ien ce - c a m p a ig n a g a in st alcohol
In the tw enties, tem perance activities and the propagation o f personal clean
liness as panaceas for caste inequality had involved tharavadus more intim ately
with the lives oLtheir dependents. However, such activity served as much to
create affinities vertically between tharavadus and their labourers as horizontally
between a like-m inded generation o f Nayars. The latter pursued the possibility
o f em erging as arbiters o f the relations between castes in the countryside after
T iyya elites had thrown down the gauntlet in envisaging a new order. W ith the
decline o f enthusiasm for sail m aking, liquor picketing becam e the m ajor
activity carried on under the wide um brella o f the Congress. The campaign
against alcohol united the disparate aims of a motley assortm ent o f individuals.
Those w ho were sym pathetic to the Congress saw the drinking o f alcohol as
contributing directly to, the coffers o f an im perialist governm ent, while
undermining the health aiul morale o f the populace. Yel others were influenced
by '(Jandhiiin values and, for them , tem perunce was part o r (lie intellectual
baggage o f a sim ple, clean and pure life, A younger generation within the Nayar
tharavadus were w ithdraw ing from shared spaces o f worship, at least partially,
by the banning of alcohol and animal sacrifice at shrine festiv als.^ T iyya elites
attem pted to distance them selves from a trade which, though lucrative, they
were beginning to regard as dem eaning. The increasing incursion of M appilas
into the toddy trade added a further dim ension o f conflict betw een the two
com m unities. A large section o f Tiyyas were moving away from the supply of
Mathruhhuni, 7 May and 14 May May 1930.

* Diaries o f A.C, Kannan Navar, 24 March 1931.
u Diaries o f A.C, Kantian Naxar, 6 M arch 19.11
toddy for reasons o f econom y and status. T appers w ho bore the brunt o f the
governm ent's exactions were drawn tow ards tcm perance lo survive. Others
detached them selves from the circuits o f w orship and dependence around
tharavadus and shrines and their perceived roles as suppliers o f toddy.
T he Congress program m e o f liquor shop picketing fell on fertile soil and
exacerbated existing tensions. It strengthened the hands of N ayars w ho were
beginning to resent T iyya resurgence in the coastal tow ns w hich, in turn, had
sparked o ff a sense o f incipient com m unity w ithin their castc fellows in the
hinterland. The K PC C 's program m e involved a w holesale attack on the
production and sale o f toddy, Exhibitions exhorting tcm perance displayed
posters which set up a series o f oppositions. W ealth and poverty were the first
set - the grow ing o f coconut as a cash crop as opposed to destroying the palm
by tapping. D ependence and independence w ere contrasted - the tree could be
used for its edible fruit and its m arketable coconut fibre, rather than the
products being eschewed for enriching the toddy contractor. Finally, there
were the poles o f health and sickness m iserable, poorly dressed' drinkers
and happy, 'w ell-dressed' vendors o f toddy.1S In creating a distinction
between the exploitative vendor and the seem ingly hapless cultivators ('s ix
trees will support a family for a year"), subtly, perhaps unintentionally, the
KPCC was trying to create a rift between Tiyya vendor/contractor and Tiyya
tapper/cultivator, N ayar Congressm en had presented them selves as impartial
arbiters between the Tiyyas and the untouchables in the twenties. W ith the
attack on iiquor. as a part o f civil disobedience, they w ere trying to carve out
a constituency within the Tiyya com m unity itself It was like walking a
tightrope. N ayar Congressm en tried to reconcile their role o f policing excise
infringem ents, as m em bers o f prom inent tharavadus. with their new found role
as saviours o f the Tiyya com m unity from itself.
Liquor picketing assum ed great popularity, com ing as it did on the heels of
excessive taxation and the fact that many o f the shops were being taken over
by M appilas along the coast. A m ajority o f the 350 volunteers in jail by
Septem ber 1930 were liquor shop picketers,36 From the very beginning. Tiyyas
participated in num bers in the picketing o f liquor shops (an offhand estim ate
by K. M adhava Menon put the figure at 45 p erc en t o f the lotal volunteers).37
In the interior, as in M aftanur and Iriuy, w here Tiyyas still retained control over
toddy shops, M appilas participated in picketing Tiyyas shops though they
rem ained suspicious o f the m otives ol the Congress. In M appila m ajority areas
like Irikkur, there were disturbances at m eetings organised by the C ongress.38
T he success o f liquor picketing was determ ined, in the last instance, by the
" Tcm pcrance poster exhibition, AICC Files C - 132 (NM M L).
14 Mathrubhumt, 22 July 1930.
17 M ovem ent in Kerala, 1930. AICC Files G I07/I930 (NM M L).
Gopalan, In the cause o f the people, 26.
Civil tlisobi'tltence and temple entry, 1930-1933 99
attitude and participation o f rural elites. In the interior, the volunteers were
mainly from locally dominant tharavadus. They were used lo the exercise o f
authority and, i n the words o f A. K. Gopalan, 'treated labourers like labourers.39
In Hosdrug taluk, shops at M adikkai, Alayt and Erikkulam were shut down
almost imm ediately because (hey were picketed by younger m em bers of the
powerful Eccikanam tharavadu.40 Liquor picketing in ihe countryside was
highly syslematised and K. M adhavan and K.P.R. G opalan, both belonging lo
powerful tharavadus in their respective regions, recalled how peaceful dem
onstrations during the day were followed by more muscular persuasion at
n i g h t . S o m e tharavadus and shrines rem ained beyond the pale o f Congress
persuasion and the temerity o f Tiyya picketers. Shrines were not dependent on
shops or vendors for the supply o f toddy, and Ihe festival at ihe M uthappan
shrine in Parassinikadavu was celebrated with alcohol in the teeth o f Congress
opposition.4-
Congress activity worked by decree. In Payyanur, the populace wer asked
to stay aw ay, in particular, from one liquor and three toddy shops. By the
beginning o f 1931. picketing, backcd by the full authority and force o f the
N ayar tharavadus. was beginning to produce results. A secret police report
slak'd that all over Chirakkal liquor sellers |w e rc | getting desperate. In the
lowns loo. a sim ilar pattern em erged, possibly as a result o r the growing
m llueuce o f the M appila lobby. Reporting on Congress activity inT ellicherry
il was noted that local toddy sellers were summoned* to the town Congress
com m ittee and ordered lo stop sales.4-! Shops which did not give an under
taking that ihey would not bid in the annual sales in O ctober 1930 were
picketed, Fifly p erc en t o f the shops were sold for low er rentals, and govern*
meni excise revenue declined by 70 per cent.44
On the whole, the results o f the picketing o f liquor shops w ere quite at
variance with the intentions o f the local Congress. Both liquor shop picketers
and earlier, the excise adm inistration, had overlooked the basic facl o f ihe free
availability o f toddy - il could have been had from any palm by cutting an
incision in a spathe. Excessive taxaiion by the governm ent had m ade the toddy
irade uneconom ic and hit the lapper severely. Picketing for reasons o f
nationalism, tem perance o r the exercise o f authority further transform ed the
toddy industry. The business was driven into the interior, and shopkeepers
w Gopalan, In the cause o f the people, 21.

M adhavan. Payaswiniyude teerattu. 53.
Interview with K.P.R. Gopalan, Kalliasseri, 28 February 1987; Interview with K. M adhavan,
Kanhangad. 3 March 1987.
* Mathrubhumi, 24 May 1930,
*' CID report lo ihe District M agistrate. Malabar, 20 April 1931. Madras Govt. Secret USS 718
dated 6 November I9JI (TNA).
" A/CC Files G I07/I930 (NMML). Al Tellicherry. only nine shops could be sold ai the full
price and 120 had to be disposed o f at a third o f the price. Mathrubhumi, 3 August 1930.
converted their hom es to liquor shops with the connivance o f liquor and excise
officials.45 Illicit distillation increased, and tapping on an individual scale,
both for personal consum ption and local sale, rose. By 1937, the Abkari
departm ent faccd the grim reality that 'excise crim e had become linked with
the econom ic life o f certain classes o f people.46 M oreover, distillation in the
interior and constant picketing had phased out the sm all shopkeepers.
Increasingly, financiers entered the market and the large num ber o f indepen
dent small shops cam e to be controlled by a cartel from the coast. From 1935,
bidding at auctions had pecom e a thing o f the past. The M adras governm ent
appears to have becom e suspicious that hooch kings out to secure a monopoly
were behind picketing and the disruption o f the licit liquor trade.47 Finally,
picketing struck the final'blow at the idea of the toddy shop as the lim inal space
where castes drank together. Nayar and T iyya elites had already abstracted
them selves from the shared realm o f shrine worship laced with alcohol.
Increasingly, there were instances o f Nayars being refused a drink at toddy
shops because o f the association o f their caste with Congress picketing.
The previous decade had seen the decline o f the monopoly of the Tiyyas
over the toddy trade, due to excise,pressures and the desire o f certain groups
for a purified com m unity. Civil disobediencb carried this trend even further
and M appila merchants gained control ov^r the loddy trade. H ere again
Congress activity had moved along the faultlines o f the local politics and, to an
extent, resolved the conflict between the M appilas and Tiyyas on the coast, and
Nayars and Tiyyas in Ihe interior, to the latters disadvantage. The cam paign
against alcohol and liquor picketing had resonances within other com m unities.
Congress activity sparked off, albeit belatedly, a m ovement for tem perance
among the Chal iy as (weavers) o f north Malabar. They w ercdraw nto temperance,
curiously enough, because o f the association o f the Congress with khadi. As a
com m unity they were on the dccline, faced with com petition from factories,
m ills and cheap foreign im ports.48 The propagation o f khadi presented a ray of
hope and the com m unity tried to align itself wholly behind the program m e of
the Congress. In Payyanur, the Chaliya Sabha im posed a fine on alcoholics to
coincide with a march by Congress volunteers through the street they inhab
ited. Chaliya settlem ents in Puzhathi, Puthiyatheru, A/.hicode and Chovva
gave up alcohol en masse, and the sale o f toddy in these areas declined
rem arkably. They soon becam e im patient with the slow rate o f progress, and
there w ere com plaints particularly from Puzhathi, that khadi propagation did
not seem to be im proving their business.49 In this case it was not so much
45 L etter lo G andhi from Calicut, Madras Govt Secret US5 7IH doled 6 November /9 J0 (T N A )
RARMP, 1937. 16.
41 RARMP, 1936, 15. See Baker, Politics o f south India, 214-15.
" Evidence of P.V, Gopalsin, M I.C. Calicut. 6 June 192ft. Report o f iltf Unrmptoymenl ( I'tn
mitlee, IV27, 321.
" Mathrubhumi. 6 June 1930 and 21 Septem ber 1930.
Civil disobedience and temple entry. 1930-1933 101
nationalism which had seem ed attractive, but the perceived potential o f the
Congress to secure the econom ic w ell-being o f the w eaving com m unity.
By M arch 1931, picketing lost itself in local byw ays, and what had started
out as a replication o f nationalist activity was transform ed into attem pts to
settle old scores and assert local influence. In the early stages local elites had
used their authority to shut dow n shops; now picketing becam e a free for all.
The president-of the Chirakkal taluk-C ongress com m ittee w as forced to
advertise in the Mathrubhumi asking m otley groups and individuals to try and
register them selves with the KPCC before picketing using the nam e o f the
Congress.30 T ree ow ners w ere asked by local C ongress bodies to refuse lo
allow their trees to be tapped for toddy, spathes were cut o ff from trees and
shops were set on fire.51 Liquor picketing lost its way in the conflicts between
castes for status; the desire o f groups lo gain m onopoly o f the toddy business;
and occasionally, the violence o f the indigent.
C ivil d iso bedience - khadi p ro p a g a tio n
Khadi propagation provided an issue which held the prom ise o f garnering
w ider loyalties. W hite, clean and carrying intim ations o f equality, it had united
the efforts o f Congress-m inded Nayars and untouchables in the tw enties. At the
fourteenth annual m eetin g o fth e Nam budiri Y ogakshem aS abhain May 1930,
both Nambudiris and Ezhavas gathered wearing khadi.52 For N ayar youths, the
w earing o f khadi caps became in itself a symbol of defiancc, because it
involved a departure from the traditional N ayar way o f wearing the hair long
and tied on the top o f the head. W hen the Mathrubhumi was launched in 1923,
it carried the slogan, 'khadi - c u r e for poverty, friend o f independence, sign of
self respect,53
Khadi fulfilled the needs both o f indigenous industry as well as the stricken
weavers. Factories in M alabar had been hit by a crisis o f overproduction due
lo (he indiscrim inate introduction o f im proved looms in factories which hoped
lo com pete wilh cheaper Japanese imports. In 1930. nearly all the factories
were bogged down by arrears of unsold stock.*1* Previously, factories had
produced sheets, tow els, shirts and the like for export, w hile the w eavers
supplied articles o f daily w ear.55 Increasingly, w eavers were squeezed out by
cheap imports, and the ow ners o f factories used this conjuncture to capture the
u> Malhruhhumi. 3 1 March 1931
" RARMI'. 1931-32, 18
Molhruhhumi. 17 May 1930.
*' Mathrubhumi, 17 M arch 1923
1 t t i m t v . 1930,17.
" Statistical oppi'tulix id the M alabar Gazetteer. 1933. xxi
m2 Caste. nationalism and com m unism in m h k Ii India
m arket for clothing, and utilise the growing pool of unem ployed and skilled
labour.
Picketing o f foreign cloth was concentrated in the tow ns o f Calicut,
T ellicherry and Cannanorc. Sim ultaneously, the Swadeshi League, with the
president o f the KPCC at its head, established contacts with cloth merchants
along the west coast.*6 Samuel Aaron, the ow ner of a spinning and weaving
mill, saw the Swadeshi League more as a conduit for Indian made cloth rather
than as an organ o f Congress propaganda, He inaugurated a s w a d c s h i shop in
Cannanore which sold cloth made in his mills at Pappinisseri, M oreover, links
were established with all the Swadeshi Leagues ami b randies, som e of which,
like (he one at Kiintiiitir. were then tlivcilcd lo acting as retail outlets ol the
Aaron M ills .'7 In Tellicherry, the West Coast Colton and Silk Mills began to
manufacture k h a d i cloth, em ploying over a hundred women ano" children of
w eaving families. It was decided that coiton would be sent lo the homes o f poor
and unem ployed w eavers (o be made into thread.5,4 Under cover of swadcshi
and k liiu ii. alliances were forged between mills, m erchants, factories and their
erstw hile opposition. This was pari o f the bargain struck between the Congress
and Indian textile mills during the period o f civil disobedience, by which ihe
the sale o f mill products was permitted by plckeler^.',,
Factories, em ploying four to five weavers each, increasingly registered
them selves as sw ru U v h i mills. Hy 19.11, there were forty-six of them in north
M alabar alone w hereas there had been only twenly-five the previous year.6*
Though w eavers found em ploym ent, they were subject lo ihesc gimcrack
establishm ents w hich were devoted to making a quick profit and abided hy no
regulations regarding safety or w elfare.61 There was occasional resentment;
A aro n 's mills were broken into and some o f the buildings burned on a few
occasio n s/- Attem pts to form w orkers' unions foundered on the sand% o f the
caution o f the Congress. Early u n io n ise s like U. G opala Menon saw unions as
akin to Ihe caste associations of earlier decades I believe what were at one
lime workers* organizations over the course of time became the castes o f
today'. G opala M enon once sternly adm onished a meeting o f workers, telling
them not to aspire to become janmix. W ithout a trace o f irony, he added that
'W orkers must not forget that the ow ner o f properly who does no w o rk ... is one
Kerala Congress Bullcllin. f f Junc, 1930. AICC h ie s G I07/I9J0 (NMM L).

" AICC Files P35/I932 (NMM L)'; Mathrubhumi. IS June 1930; Suarajva, 4 December 1930,
extracted in Madras Govt. Secret USS 71ft dated ft November 1931 (TNA)
5* AICC Files 83/1931 (NM M L).
Sec Pandey. The Congress in UP, 56.
w AICC Files 83/1931 (NMML),
* In 1931. there were only four fac Lories registered under the Factories Act of 19) I Slimtlirnl
appendix lo the Malabar Gazetteer, xxi.
1,1 Sankaran. Enle jivilha katha, 273
Civil ilisobrtlirm r ami temple entry, 1930-1933 103
w h o su ffers more th an ihe poor worker.' 63 C lolh m erchants i n the towns, though
initially apprehensive about the shenanigans o f the Congress, were soon
converted to the cause o f khadi by increased sales. In Calicut, all the Hindu and
Muslim m erchants sealed their bales o f foreign cloth and a num ber o f piece
goods m erchants signed a pledge to stop al I imports til I Di wal i in O ctober 19 3 1.
Calicut market was bright with Congress flags hanging from the shops o f cloth
m erchants 64 Cloth m erchants w ere to remain staunch allies o f the Congress;
'Shyam ji Sundardass becam e President o f KPCC in 1935. O f the eighty-eight
delegates from M alabar to the Bom bay session o f the All India Congress
Com m ittee in I ">14. more than a quarter were merchants or agents.65
Kluidi pio|M|MiH>ii had link' cl le d m the eastern villages except for some
support from w eavers who could find no em ploym ent in the factories. The
success o f the cam paign against foreign cloth was again dependent on the
influence o f tharavadus who were inclined towards the Congress. So much of
nationalist activity seem ed to be continuations o f their earlier exercises o f
authority that it was viewed with great mistrust. In M adikkai, Kannan Nayar
organised a dramatic blaze o f foreign cloth in the com pound o f the school
m anaged by him self The. cloth was supplied by local C hitrapur Saraswat
brahmins who were the sole dealers in foreign cloth in the area.66 Travelling
through the villages in the interior o f north Malabar, in the wake o f civil
disobedience. A .K G opalan found that khadi was an object of ridicule* and
cheap foreign cloth and a daily lot o f loddy were preferred to Congress ideals.67
Civil d isobedience - C o n g ress an d th e M ap p itas
It has been observed that Congress organisation in the twenties and thirties
reached out to limited sections o f Indian society and that loo w ith a Hindu
hias.68 In ihe case o f the K PC C s tim idity in its dealings with the M appila
com m unity, ai one level it reflected ihe nationwide concern to prevent a
repetition o f Ihe agnation o f Khilafat. However, in this too there were local
peculiarities. A report from ihe KPCC stated that the salt law had been broken
all over M alabar except in the erstw hile rebel areas. Only one M appila. and
" Malhruhhimii, Ift September 1932.

Note by Collector. M alabar, 2 1 April 19 3 1. Madras Curl. Secret USS 718dated6 November
IV3I (TNA); AICC Files C I5 2 /I3 I (NMM L).
" AICC Files 5/1934 (NMM L)
Interview with K. M adhavan. K anhangad. 3 March 1987.
*T G opalan, In the cause o f the people. 20, 25
" Pandey has shown in ihe case o f UP lhal the Congress was concerned to minimise propaganda
and activity in areas with a high proportion o r Muslims lo avoid inflaming 'com m unal'
MUions- The Congreii in UP. 22-34. 149
104 C iute, nationalism and com m unism in south India
that too from Palghat, was w ith K elappans march all the way from Calicut to
Payyanur. The second march, which left from Paighat, was joined by Moithu
M aulavi, M oham m ad A bdur Rahman and N.P. Abu but they left for Payyanur
by train so as not lo incite trouble on the way! T he procession on foot from
Payyanur, heading for the G uruvayur satyagraha on 21 O ctober 1931, stopped
short o f the rebel area. The m archers took a train from Feroke to Tirur
because o f a rum our that the M appilas would prevent them from moving into
E m ad.69
North M alabar had been untouched by the M appila rebellion and the
responses o f M appilaôuths and C ongressm en alike were far more positive.
The Young M ens M uslim Association had attem pted to mitigate the legacy o f
1921 and remove the bogey o f the *mad M appila. The salt m archers were
greeted throughout their journey - at A lavil, A zhikode and V alapattanam - by
crow ds led by the YM M A shouting 'Hindu-Muslim maitri ki jai' (long live
friendship between Hindus and M uslim s).70 Y oung M appilas took part in
picketing the shops o f M appila merchants inC alicut, Cannanore andTellicherTy,
to the considerable relief o f Hindu Congressm en and governm ent officials
alike.71 T h is younger ge leration forged links with one another through Con
gress activity and m eetings organised by M appila youths dealt more with
questions o f com m unity reform . M eetings o f the YM M A considered ways of
reducing litigation within the com m unity and the theological rifts betw een the
various sects.72
Attitudes within the KPCC dir1not encourage an unequivocal attachm ent to
the Congress on the part o f the M appilas. At the Badagara conference in May
1931, one o f the hotly contested issues was on the nature o f the upsurge a
decade earlier. L.S. Prabhu, one of the C ongress old guard, strongly argued that
the events o f 1921 had been o f a purely com m unal nature, while M oithu
Maulavi tried to press for redefining the M appila rebellion as a peasant revolt.
By Septem ber 1931, the KPCC had thawed sufficiently to pass a resolution for
the release o f the M appilas arrested for their involvem ent in the rebellion.73
H owever, mutual suspicion persisted betw een the com m unities, and the
G uruvayur stily ttg rtih ti in 1932 would mark the retreat of (lie Congress into
sccliunal, Hindu conccm s. The leadership o f the KPCC was largely Hindu and
predominantly Nayar. Besides, com ing as they did from the landed fam ilies o f
south M alabar, and having had their fingers burnt in 1921, they saw the
AlCC Files G 107/1930 (NMM1.K Moithu M aulavi. Maulariyude katha, 155-7; Mndhnvan.
Payaiwinlyude leeraltu, 55.
M Mathrubhumi. 22 April 1930.
D. M. M alabar to Chief Secretary, Governm ent o f M adras, 22 April 19 3 1 Madras Govt Secret
USS 7IK dated ft November I9JI (TNA).
M oithu M aulavi, Mnutaviyude kaihu, 168.
11 Madhavan, Ptiwswinlxudf Irrritliu, 52; FurtnigMy Report (Ui'nciTorth hH) for the
half of Septem ber 1911 (IOL>
Civil disobedience and lemple emr\, 1930-1933 105
M appilas mainly as a threat to law, order and property. It w ould be a new

generation o f Hindu Congressm en and those com ing from north M alabar who
would work tow ards a rapprochement with the Mappilas.
C ivil d iso bed ien ce - issues o f casie a n d co m m u n ity
Local horizons and local issues tempered nationalist aspirations and national
issues were not so much localised as transform ed. Concerns o f caste m obility
and com m unity reform continued apace. Nationalists with revised m em ories
tend to portray their involvem ent with m atters o f their com m unity as an
aberration, or at best, a m inor detour from the high road o f nationalism .74 If w e
are not to see com m unity activity as being phoenix-like -d e stro y e d by the heat
o f nationalism and being reborn once the fire has died dow n - then w e'm ust
recognise the concurrent tem porality o f com m unity and nationalist efforts.
Even as sections am ong the N ayars were participating in civil disobedience,
the north M alabar N ayar Sam ajam was debating the abolition o f m atriiiny and
the rem oval o f differences between the sub-castes o f Nayars. W hile considering
the declining fortunes o f several N ayar tharavadus, a tentative proposal,
w ondered w hether ihe adoption o f tem perance and khadi w ould help alleviate
their poverty.75 Participation in Congress as well as com m unity reform activity
did not appear as a contradiction. T he Sam udayika Bahishkarana Sangh
(Com m unity Boycott Association) was set up by K.P. G opalan, a Tiyya
Congressm an, to encourage inlcrdining betw een T iyyas and castes low er to
them and to boycott those who held to caste prejudices.76 A m ong the
organisations o f untouchables there was declining enthusiasm for tem perance
leagues and other mild pastim es o f earlier N ayar reform ers. Even as picketing
and khadi propagation were going on around them, they began lo agitate for the
grant o f w astelands for cultivation and free access to public places, aligning
them selves on occasion with m averick Congress workers.77
In M alabar, the w orking o f natioiinlisin strengthened a sense o f identity
am ong N ayar elites. Large num bers o f Nayars, and not only those from
powerful tharavadus. had been involved in Congress m arches and activity.
T his had altered the self-perception o f a com m unity beleaguered by T lyya and
* For representative statem ents sec Vishnu Uharaieeyan, AdimakuI engane uilnmugalayi, 25;
Moithu M aulavi, Maulaviyude kalha, |0 7 , fora return1to community activity in a nationalist
trough and Gopalan, In the cause o f the people, for a giving up o r com m unity activity for
nationalism . Gopalan. however, presents his political career as a linear progression towards
com munism.
*' MnihruMiumi. 10 February l()31
r' Muihrubhumi, 11 December 19111
Mulhrubhunu. Ill Decem ber 1930 ami 21 M jy 19.11
C aste. nationalism and com m unism in MKilh India
Mappila prosperity as well as a sensation of their own declining fortunes O f

the 450 arrested for civil disobedience by Decem ber 19.10. over 40 per cent
were Nayars. The numbers may have been even higher as some volunteers
dropped their surnam es which makes it difficult to distinguish their ca.Mcs from
the lists of nam es in the new spapers.71* M any of the N ayar organisations saw
their com m unity as the prospective leaders of the Hindus. In May 1932, ihe All
Kerala Nayar Samajam stated that All those w ho have been resident in Kerala
for over a generation, speak M alayalant and observe Onam and Thiruvathira
(festivals) should be allowed to become N ay ars.'79 Its president, Rama Varina
Tam pan, saw a dissolution o f casle, religion and com m unity in Ihe all
em bracing category of Nayarliood. lie stated, in no uncertain term s, that the
whole world should becom e N ayar because the word N ayar was the epitome
o f hum anity i ts e lf . T his was a significant shift as during the agitation o f Nayar
professionals and lawyers in south M alabar during the tw enties, the larger
category evoked had been only that o f the kimakkaror tenants.H,,ln June 1932,
the north M alabar N ayar Sam ajam came up with a sim ilar call to all N ayars and
indeed to all M alayalis. It was proposed that on account o f their progressive
views, the N ayars should lead the other depressed com m unities in the creation
o f a new a g e '.81
The next phase of civil disobedience would be absorbed into the ,uii\tt^rtiha
at G uruvayur tem ple; in a sense the logical culm ination o f the attempt to enter
Vaikkam a dccadc ago. What began as a movement led by the N ayars for the
entry of lower castes into G uruvayur ultimately becam e a N ayar cam paign for
their own casic. The cause o f the untouchables and low er castes was subsum ed
in the narrow concerns o f the N ayar leaders and, later, the w ider im peratives
o f ihe Congress high com m and. In a sense, the message o f nationalism and that
o f the leaders o f the N ayar associations seemed sim ilar. In May 1932, Rama
V arm aTam pan had stated with righteous chauvinism lhat it is only fit that the
sm aller com m unities should dissolve and bccome part o f a larger com m u
n ity '.82 If he had in mind only the more limited com m unity o f Nayars, the
G uruvayur satyagraha would attem pt to create a larger Hindu com m unity.
T h e G u ru v a y u r satyagraha - th e first p h ase
The signing o f the G andhi-Irw in Pact on 4 March 1931 was follow ed by a

cessation o f Congress activity. In the lull that ensued, many o f the activists
* Mathrubhumi, IB December 1930.
" Mathrubhumi, 11 May 1932
" Ibid, See Radhakrishnan, Peasant stm/mlrs. laud rtf o r m and social chaURt, 75-89
" Mathrubhumi, I June (932
** Mathrubhumi, 11 May 1932.
( ' i l if i_\ i>hrtlniit c m i t l temple finn. 1930-1933 107
gitinetl breathing sp .ice to ihink about the direction future activity should take.
It had becom e clear that Congress efforts had failed to win the support o f any
group, let a lone their allegiance. Though several fragm ented and temporary
alliances had been forged with Tiyyas over toddy shop picketing, Chultyas
over the propagation o f khadi, between Congress and mill ow ners - the
Congress had not managed to create a unity above particular interests.
The individuals constituting the Kerala Congress cam e to recognise the fact
that V aikkam had set into motion a process which had neither lost its edge nor
been subsum ed by nationalist politics. In the previous decade, N ayar Con-
I'jvssinrii Iciil atlcinpti'il lo present them selves its honesl brokers between a
resurgent Tiyya com m unity and untouchables. 1lowever, Pulayas and Cherumas
had been granted entry into Srikanteswara temple in 1930 and the Sundareswara
temple was planning to open its doors soon.8-1 The T iyya leaders had widened
their political am bit and neatly hijacked Congress strategy, having presented
-them selves as alternative rallying points. Tem ple entry was made into a
Presidency-wide issue and in March 1930, a massive meeting o f Nadars,
Billavas and Tiyyas was held calling for entry into temples for all-castes. This
becam e a constant slogan at m eetings o f the SNDP in M alabar.84
Tiyyas worshipping at Jagannatha and Sundaresw ara continued to see
them selves as a com m unity apart, rather than as Hindus. Efforts to establish
links with the SNDP by the Hindu M ahasabha w ere spectacularly unsuccess
ful . Madan Mohan M alaviya was jeered at in an SNDP meeting and in response
to his call of *Ramachandra kijai", the entire audience responded with a cry o f
'Ravanti ki ju i .8S All this did not augur well for ihe Congress, since many o f
iheir num ber had m oved away from caste activity, and w ere out o f touch with
llic militant mood am ong the untouchable and T iyya lobbies. An article by
Kelappan, on the ncecssity o f temple entry, gives an indication both o f the
distance o f the Congress leaders from the tem per o f the times as well as the
continuance o f their earlier paternalism towards untouchable castes in the
interior. He stressed that, It is because they are unclean and do not worship
G od that temple entry is a necessity for them. Will they understand us if we
speak of an all pervasive, ubiquitous G od.86 It was to b e less a question of
understanding than o f disinterest when the G uruvayur satyagraha got under
way,
Kelappan, K. M adhavanar, L.S. Prabhu and others had been incarcerated in
Vellore ja il, follow ing their infringement o f salt laws. They had thought
seriously about the question o f how low er castes could be incorporated with the
" Maihrubhumi, 25 January and I June 1930.
Mathrubhumi, 20 M arch and 4 June 1930.
Mathrubhumi, I June 1930. The Mathrubhumi continued to indulge In w ishful thinking when
it maintained that ninety nine out o f a hundred T iyyas are believers in Puranic Hinduism and
devotees o f Narayana G uru',
Mathrubhumi. 15 O ctober 1931.
Caste, nationalism and com m unism in south India
Congress and arrived at the decision that fighting fo r temple entry at C uni vay ur
would achieve this objective while at the same tim e tackling the question of
caste inequality,87 T his was seen as being both a revitalisation o f Hinduism as
well as the purging o f inequality from the religion. Kelappan encapsulated the
programme o f the Congress in the second phase o f civil disobedience when he
thundered in a public speech, A twentieth century version o f H induism is an
imm ediate necessity'.88
Between Ihe third and the fifth o f May 1931, the fifth all-K erala political
conference met at Badagara and passed a resolution for tem ple entry to be
inaugurated as the Congress programme. The reaction o f the putative benefi
ciaries was not overly enthusiastic. A T iyya conference stated, much to the
dissatisfaction o f the Mathrubhumi (edited by N ayarC ongressm en), that if the
Congress satisfied other dem ands o f the Tiyyas they might consider joining the
Congress.89
The G uruvayur temple was situated in Ponnani taluk in south M alabar and
drew upon w orshippers largely from that region. By m ooting for entry into the
temple at Guruvayur, the Congress was trying to create a focal point for all
Hindus in M alabar. In a sense, it was sim ilar to the conception o f Jagannatha
and Sundareswara, but while these were the focus o f a limited Tiyya com m unity,
Guruvayur envisaged a wider com m unity o f equal Hindus. The temple could
be approached from all sides but entry was restricted to uppcrcastcs alone after
a certain point on each side. This was more a m atter o f custom than anything
else, since Tiyyas cam e to pluck coconuts from the garden around the temple
and tank. During the Ekadasi festival, m em bers o f all castes used to enter the
temple and the fiction w!is m aintained that nothing o f the sort happened.90
The Congress represented the G uruvayur satyagraha as a fight for entry into
icmplfes for all castes. Thbre were other conflicts beneath the surface which
were to em erge and transform the character o f the cam paign. One aspect o f this
conflict was exem plified hy the fact that Nayars were prohibited from
approaching the sanctum sanctorum or ringing the temple bells hung in front
o f it. The right to ring the bells was no trivial matter. M annath Padm anahhan.
the founder o f the N ayar Service Society in T rav .u u o iv , h.itl Ioiij* em phasised
that this was a Fundamental privilege denied to the N ayars by the Nainbudiris
in the attem pt to stress the form er's status as sudras 91 The them e o f Brahmin
overlordship had been a minor, but significant issue in the attem pts at forming
Nayar organisations at the beginning o f the century. At a meeting o f the
Swam i Anunduteertha.' Short nole on temple cnlry in K e ra la ', quoted by A M .A . A y n m k u ih icl.

Swami Anandateerlha unlnuchohilttv, Gandhian solution on trial (D elhi, 1987), 31.
Mathrubhumi. 16 August 1931,
" Mathrubhumi, 12 May 1931.
K N ole by J.A. T horne o f the Revenue Department. Madras Govt. Secret USS HIJ dated 6
February 1933 (TNA).
Vishnu Bharaleeyan, Adimakal engune udamakalavi, 25
Kcraliya N ayar Sam ajam in 1914, one of the resolutions stressed the need to
have priests from their own castem en, as N am budiris would only perpetuate
the slavery o f the N ay ars'.92 An article in the Maiayala Manorama had staled
the issue more forcefully: Social laws are tied up with religious laws. If we
have lo com plete the iransform ation o f society, the reform ation o f religion is
necessary. W e need to set up ourow n temples to escape Brahmin overlordship 93
The upper echelons o f Nayars, and that too in sT)uth M alabar, had more
intimate connections with Nambudiris because o fth e establishm ent o f relations
between younger N am budiris and w om en o f the N ayar tharavadus. T his had
come to be questioned both by a younger generation o f Nam budiris who were
prevented, by custom , from marrying within their own com m unity, and Nayars
who were arguing for n forms within their own com m unity.94 Anti-Brahm in
feeling was prevalent, in a stronger form, tow ards the Tamil Brahm ins, known
by the derogatory term pattar, a high concentration o f whom w ere to be found
in Palghat. Ritually, they occupied a higher status than the Nayars and served
as priests and ritual officiants in tem ples where the Nayars w ere prohibited
from ringing the bells or approaching the inner shrine. Very often, Nayar
tharavadus with declining fortunes, unable to attract relations with Nambudiri
men, entered into a sym biotic sw apping o f status for wealth with pattars, W hile
it was undeniable that a relation established with a Tamil Brahmin was a
conduit to wealth, pattars cam e to be reviled by sections o f N ayars for their
seem ing eagerness lo batten off declining N ayar tharavadus.95 This elem ent of
conflict was to assum e a m ajor role in the G uruvayur satyagraha.
Extensive plans w ere laid before the satyagraha was to com mence. Kelappan
and other Congressm en loured north M alabar for a w eek in early O ctober 1931
to arouse enthusiasm . A.K. G opalan and Keraleeyan organised a meeting at ,
Kandoth, near Payyanur, to press for the right o f Tiyyas and untouchables to _
venture on to the public road. A procession - Jatha - led by Keraleeyan was
attacked by conservatives and the M alabar D istrict B oard imm ediately
announced that the road was to be declared open to members o f all castes.96
T his provided m uch-needed pnhliciiy, bin when Ihe first balch o f volunteers set
oul under T. Subramaninm Tinim um pu in O clobcr 1931, from Cannanorc for
n Milhuvadi, May 1914

*' Milhavadi. June 1914.
* Sec A runim a. 'C olonialism and the transform ation o f m striliny, ch. 4.
** In a south M alabar village studied by Aiyappan in 1940, Ihe N ayar aristocracy' had been
reduced la com parative poverty on account o f reckless borrowing from palwr usurers over
ihe previous decadc. A iyappan, Iravas and culture change, 26. See Sankaran, Entejivitha
katha, 17 18 for an insight into relations belween declining N ayar fam ilies and Tamil
Brahmins in Kurumbranad.
* Hindu, 21 O ctober 1931; Gopalan, In tht cause o f the people, 29 The jatha of A k a listo th e
Vaikkam satyagraha had left a deep im pact on the political scene and the Punjabi word
becumc a part o f Ihe political vocabulary o f Malayolis.
110 Caste, nationalism and com m unism in south Indi.i
P ayyanurlhere were only 'a few A di-D ravidas' in Ihe group 97 On I N ovember
1931, the temple m anagem ent put up barriers as the Congress workers
approached in three batches. T he volunteers, o f v/hotr a majority w ere Nayars,
had woken up early in the m orning, had a bath, applied sandalw ood paste on
their foreheads, covered their torsos in towels and then proceeded for
satyagraha." The satyagrahis were playing according to the rules here,
though they were political activists they were approaching the temple as
devotees. Besides, they were serving as exem plars o f the pure ritual of worship
at tem ples as opposed in the inform al, ami occasionally bacchanalian worship
at shrines. I f H i n d u i s m had to be cleansed of inequality, it could be only through
the entry o f clean castes; clean in both body and spirit. As Kelappan had staled
earlier, it was precisely because the Pulayas and Cherum as w ere unclean' that
temple entry [ w as| a necessity for them 9I> The G uruvayur temple becam e the
focus of attention in Ponnani taluk, Every evening, the satyagrahis would sil
outside the temple and organise prayer meetings and readings from the Hindu
scriptures.100 Devotees who cam e to pray at the temple used lo attend these
meetings instead and offerings were given lo the saiyagrahis. Outside the closed
world o f the tem ple, a proselytising, open, all em bracing Hinduism was being
created. Though there were atlcm pis to relate the satyagraha lo ihe national
struggle, the content was distinctly in keeping wiih ihe Hindu identity that was
in ihe process o f formation.
In January 1932, the end o f the political truce declared by th eG an d h i-lrw in
Pact in January 1932 led to the dissolution o f C ongress com m ittees all over
Malabar. The KPCC, the south M alabar district Congress com m ittee and the
taluk com m ittees o f Em ad and K urum branad were declared illegal.101 There
was no central organisation to provide any direction and the activities of the
Congress became nothing more than an aggregate o f the activities o f individual
volunteers at G uruvayur. A major com pulsion towards fragmentation cam e
from the directives o f the C ongress high com mand itself. W hen L.S. Prabhu.
a veteran Congressm an, w as appointed D ictator lo oversee Congress activities
in M alabar, Gandhi wrote to him advocating caution regarding temple entry,
defining it as an act o f repentance on the part o f the high caste H indus'. He
particularly em phasised lhat ihe political status o f the anti-untouchability
program m e 'm ay b e " sa id ,to be unim portant.102 As at Vaikkam, ii was
im portant for Gandhi that (he Hindu coinm uniiy should not be split inlo hostile
camps. Having forgone ihe attempt ai a broader definition of Ihe G uruvayur
" Hindu. 2 1 Oclobci 1931
M adhavan, Payasniniyude teeraitu. 55
" M athruhhumi, 15 Ocloher 1931
111 Hindu, 2 Novem ber 1931; Bharalccyan. A dim akal tn â n e udamakalavi. 55
Fort Si George notifications 149.152.168,203. U P un dJ 2W /I932 (IOL); Public (Genetul)
Dept. G O. (Ms) H dated 5 January 1932 <KS).
'** Mathrubhumi, 10 January 1932.
Civil tlistibvtliem'c anti tem plt entry, IVM I-IVS.i III
satyagraha as a movctncni involving all com m unities, il was becom ing quite
clear by February 1932, three months after its inauguration, that lim ited, local
objectives were surfacing. The District M agistrate wrote with a sigh o f relief
ihat the m ovem ent | w,is| now directed against the management o f the temple
and in no way against the British Government*,
The high point of the m ovement was reached in late December when a few
untouchables bathed in the western pond of the temple. Scandalised savarna
Hmdus petitioned the G overnor saying (hat the movement was Ihe work o f
Tiyyas, Ililuyus, ('herum as and N.tyadis: the illiterate, uncivilized, and
unscrupulous. ,lw Peaceful satyagraha was soon abandoned, and A.K-Gopalan
attem pted to enter the temple and reach the sanctum. He was beaten up severely
by Nayar retainers in Ihe tem ple.105 Krishna P illai's statem ent, ai this juncture,
o f Nayar m achism o as against the effeteness o f the N am budiris, and those
Nayars dependent on them, becam e a symbol of the satyagraha. Let the bold
Nayar ring the bell und let ihe cringing Nayar living on crumbs beat on his
b a c k .'11)6 Pillai too entered the tem ple and rang the tem ple bells in defiance o f
the sanctions against Nayars doing so Bell ringing soon becam e a regular
feature and every m orning Nayars would enter through the eastern gate
reserved for Brahm ins and ring the tem ple bells. O nce inside they dem anded
to be fed alongside the p a tta r s .^ Kelappan had lo issue frequent statem ents
ihat political activity was not directed against any particular com munity.
M annath Padm anabhan. the representative o f the N ayars from Travancore did
not help matters by referring, in public speeches, to the pattars from Pandinad'
(a derogatory reference to M adras) who did not know their place and asking
Nayars w hat they proposed to do about il.108 W hal had started out as a cam
paign on behalf o f the lower castes and untouchables, in the name o f national
ism, had resolved itself into a conflict between the Nayars against the Nambudiris
and Tam il Brahm ins. Tem ple entry could have been knitted into a w ider social
programme but now it becam e an end to be pursued in exclusion to all else.
Even as the satyagraha gathered momentum, it becam e clear that Tiyyas
intended lo stay away from attem pts to draw them into Hindu lemples. At a
meeting o f the south M alabar Tiyya Sangham held in Novem ber, there was
strong opposition to the G uruvayur cam paign. Resolutions were adopted
asking the Tiyyas to keep their self respect and purify their own practices.
A nother meeting proposed that the com m unity as a whole should 'blacklist' all
District M agistrate, M alabar lo C hief Secretary. Madras, 15 February 1932. Madras Govt.
Secret USS XI3 dated 6 February 1933 (TNA).
' MW.. Memorial for Savarna Hindus o f Kerala. 30 December 1931.
(iopalan. in ihe cause a f the people, 45.
" T V K m hnan. Keralas first Communist (Communist Party publication. 1971), 21.
h Mathrubhumi, 9 and 10 April 1932.
Mathrubhumi, | January 1932; Mathrubhumi. 2 June 1932.
112 Custer, nationalism and com m unism in south India
letnples.109 Interestingly enough, Tiyya reform ers and Congressmen were

beginning to speak the language o f purity. The meeting o f the T iyya Sangham
stressed the need to adopt higher worship at their own tem ples and to eschew
animal sacrifice and low practices. Nevertheless, the need to distance themselves
from Hinduism was an oft-reiterated them e. At a meeting in May 1932, C.
Krishnan announced em phatically that as long as we remain within Hinduism,
we give Brahmins the right to catcgori.se us. 110
There were other ram ification^ as the notions o f purity o f ritual, cleanliness,
casteness and the sense o f a Hindu com munity o f equals fostered by the initial
enthusiasm o f the satyagraha found expression. In Cochin, the Legislative
Assembly passed a resolution banning indecent activities at the Kodungallur
shrine. In April 1932, several people were arrested for singing obscene songs
at the temple festival which had been a byword for bacchanalian activity in the
previous d ecades.111 I f the Jagannatha and Sundaresw ara tem ples had m an
aged to dent the flow o f Rabelaisian pilgrim s to K ottiyur in the previous
decade, the ripples o f nationalism circum scribed Kodungallur. Puritanism,
though, never m anaged to com plete its triumphal march. The failure o f the new
Tiyya temples to adm it untouchables, and the hesitancy o f the Congress in
investing temple entry with any overtly political content, m eant that circuits of
worship in the countryside continued as usual. T he initial burst o r enthusiasm
for reform on the part o f the Nayar Congressmen h.ul been diverted towards
G uruvayur. In IZdakkad, the annual festival com plete with coek sacrifice and
alcohol went ahead in 1932 despite protests from young C ongressm en,112 Only
the previous year, under great pressure, the managers had decided to eschew
low rituals. Untouchables in Kuruva, near Cannanore, continued to organise
teyyattams at their shrines com plete with toddy and the letting o f blo o d .113
Though the entry o f low er castes into tem ples was introduced into the
political idiom o f Malabar, it could not attain the status o f a general programme
o f action. In M alabar, the right o f managing and superintending temples had
not been taken over by the colonial adm inistration, and dom inant families
continued to control tem ples as private domains. In this context, the opening
o f tem ples to general entry quickly becam e a question o f intransigence or
benevolence on the part o f the managers of individual tem ples; an issue in
which neither the law i nor state could be appealed to. In D ecem ber 1931,
T iruvangad temple near T ellicherry considered throwing open its doors. By
M arch 1932, with the R ow ing sectarian nature o f the G uruvayur satyagraha,
"" Mathrubhumi, 4 and 6 Nbvem ber 1931.

,in R ep o rt on Ihe south M nlibar Tiyya m eeting. Mathrubhumi, 20 May 1932.
111 Mathrubhumi, 12 April 1932.
u ; The petition to the tem ple authorities stated with som e dislike that those who wished to
impede the traditional perform ance of the festival had been in jail several tim es' Obviously.
Congress activity did not possess the same aura for everyone1Mathrubhumi, 28 April 1932.
Mathrubhumi, 11 October 1935 and A January 1936.
Civil disobedience and temple entry. 1930-1933 113
the Sundaresw ara temple announced the im m inent adm ission o f untouchables
into its precincts.114 It was not until the agitation at G uruvayur had been
checked that the m atter o f temple entry ascended to the L egislative Council.
The Zam orin o f Calicut, who had been vested with the pow er o f superior and
superintending trustee o f the G uruvayur tem ple, rem ained adam ant in his
refusal lo throw open (he tem ple lo all c a ste s.115 In June 1932, the High Court
o f M adras decided that though certain castes were' allow ed on festival days to
use the roads around the temple, *no general right o f way could be inferred
therefrom . In rationalising his procedural decision, Justice Ramesam observed
that rights created by custom , especially religious custom , have to be re
spected. even if not reasonable from a wider point o f v/ew.116
T h e G u ru v a y u r satyagraha - th e seco n d p h ase
A com bination o f Congress caution in aw arding a political status to the temple

entry cam paign; the particular interests o f the leaders o f the satyagraha-, and
the operation of the law had restricted the influence o f the cam paign to an
increasingly small circle, W orse was yet to com e. Just as in 1923, V aikkam had
been 'nationalised' and its political im plications annulled, in 1932, G uruvayur
bccunie the victim o f national politics. The situation em erged into a blaze of
national publicity and Kelappan had his finest m om ent as the man who could
have w rested temple entry for the untouchables. In ihe end, G uruvayur becam e
an incident which threatened the national affiliation o f untouchables with the
Congress. T he grand imperatives o f the Poona Pact between A m bedkar and
G andhi necessitated its relation to the sidelines.
At the Round Table Conference, G andhi had spoken o f resisting the
introduction o f a separate electorate for untouchables with his life. His closest
aides, particularly Vallabhai Patel, had w arned that this w ould be an ill-advised
m ove as it could spark o ff im itative fusts. In A ugust 1932, the Com munal
Award grunted separate constituencies to the untouchables and G andhi wrote
to the British Prim e M inister about his decision to start a fast from 20
Septem ber 1932, unless this decision w as revoked. T he conception o f the fast
involved a moral edge as w ell, as G andhi hoped to sting(ing) th e conscience
o f caste H indus into right action. 117 M eanw hile in the face o f the Z am orins
"* Mathrubhumi, 26 D ecember 1931 nd 22 M arch 1932.

,u See High court decision in Zamorin o f Calicut v, Mallissert Krishna n Nambudiripad quoted
In M oore, Malabar law and custom. 273-4.
"* Emphasis added. Criminal Revision Case 2 91 o f 1932. H.C. Madras 14 June 1932 (KRA),
1,7 Judith M . Brown, Gandhi and civil disobedience: the Mahatma in Indian politics, 1928-34
(Cam bridge. 1977), 313-15.
1 1-J Caste, nationalism and com m unism in smith Imli t
intransigence in refusing lo allow entry to untouchables, Kclappan decided to

em bark on a fasl lo im press ihe need for temple entry for all castes. It w asa brief
moment when ihe possibility arose o f the G uruvayur satyagraha acquiring an
appeal transcending Nayar-N am budiri conflict and the disinterest o f the lower
castes. The date K elappan chose -21 S ep te m b er-w a s inopportune, for Gandhi
had em barked on his fast a day earlier, In a letter both condescending and stern,
and echoing P atel's sentim ents, Gandhi w rote, I believe that your fasl is in
im itation o f my fasl and does not arise from an inner inspiration. If this is true,
then as I am com m ander-in-chief regarding m atters like fasls you must j*ivr
up your l a s t , 1,K
On the national front, G andhi's last put upon A m bedkar the moral burden
o f capitulating on his dem and for separate electorates for untouchablcs.
A m bedkar gave in, but drove a hard bargain in the Poona Pacl w hich was signed
on 24 Septem ber 1932. T he idea o f separate electorates for untouchables was
given up in return for a guarantee o f more seats in the provincial legislatures.119
A day later, at a Hindu leaders conference in Bombay presided over by M adan
M ohan M alaviya. a resolution drafted by Gandhi was passed stating that every
effort would be m ade to rem ove social disabilities by legitim ate and peaceful
m eans. 120 On 26 Septem ber, two days after the Pact had been signed, the
Cabinet accepted the proposals and Gandhi broke off his fast. Now that the
dangers o f dissension at a national level had been sorted oul, K elappans
continuing fast seem ed an aberration presenting the possibility o f the further
expression o f discontent.
T heZ am orin o f Calicut w rote toG andhi, im ploring in the latterso w n idiom
that temple entry w ould w ound orthodox conscience and .such wounding
w ould am ount to coercion, 121 Kclappan refused to accept this as sufficient
grounds for giving up the fast and stated with righteous passion that the
question o f w ounding the hearts and self respect o f thousands o f depressed
brethren is m ore real and im portant lhan the alleged wounding o f the orthodox
co n scien cc'.t22 He insisted that the giving up o f the fast would mean a setback
for the movem ent. G andhi continued lo put pressure on him to withdraw his
decision em ploying the curious argum ent that the im m ediate prospective
result m ust not affect the decision on pure e th ic s '.123 In the face o f this per-
"* Mathrubhumi, 27 Septem ber 1932.

A m bedkar received a further guarantee o f 18 per cem o f the general seals for British India
in the federal assembly. See Brown, Gandhi and civil disobedience, 319-21.
m See CWMG, LI. 139,
m Ibid., 150-1.
151 Ibid. Gandhi also appealed lo Ihe procedural point that Kclappan had not given sufficient
notice o f his decision lo fasl, prom pting a terse rejoinder that ten m onths w as am ple lime-
T d eg ram to Kclappan, 29 Septem ber 1932.
,,J Telegram to Kclappan, I October 1932, CWMG. LI. 162.
( nil ttisiil/t ihi'iii f tuitl entry. l9MtiVS3^ 115
I
.istcricu Kelappan wcnl off his Iasi on 2 O ctober. Eleven days afler he had
begun il, and without having gained his ob jed iv c.
T he G u ruv ayu r xulyuaraiw had been successfully 'nalionalised' and made
lo conform lo the necessities o f national politics. In M alabar, G andhi's
intervention hobbled a significant m ovement towards a politics which could
haveem braced low er castes and untouchables. In regions like Andhra. G andhi's
espousal o f the causc o f the untouchablcs had m ade little difference to local
C o n g r e s s politics, since the dom inant landholders would have none o f this
iinwaitU-d radicalism 11,1 In IV ccm ber l*)32. G andhi made il t|itilc clear tliai
Ki ta p p ;m \ last had Ihrealencd lo put a spanner in the w orks ju st as ihe
com prom ise o f the Poona Pact was being arrived a t.125 In the course o f time,
ihe local specificity and im peratives o f G uruvayur becam e blurred, as it slow ly
assumed the form o f an adjunct o f a national program m e. This was evident by
the end o f 1932, when G andhi w rote to the Viceroy on the introduction o f the
R e m o v a l o f the D epressed Classes Religious Disabilities Bill in Ihe M adras
Legislative Council, He represented the bill as a response to the m ovement
that set in as a direct result o /[th e ] Y eravada Pact (em phasis m ine).126 By
January 1933, G andhi had com e to see G uruvayur as nothing m ore than an
offshoot o f the w ithdraw al o f the C abinet decision*,127
W hat o f temple entry itself? It conlinued to be seen within the paradigm o f
the purification o f H induism ' and the conversion even o f the m ost orthodox
effectively lim iting the political potential as well as Ihe participation o f anyone
other than the upper castes.128 The untouchables were to be the adm iring
audience in this show o f self sacrifice and high ideals arranged for them.
Gandhi em phasised that G uruvayur was a test case and it was to be treated as
such; the cry o f general entry into all tem ples was not to be raised, 129 T he
political aspect o f uniouchability had been settled' by (he Poona Pact; only the
religious aspect rem ained. T his necessarily m eant that those who w ere not
Hindus could not interfere with w hat was now defined as a deeply religious
m ovem ent. 130 By 1933, the issue o f temple entry was excised from the
ideology o f Congress politics and G andhi was em phatic that those who
em phasised a connection were w holly m istaken.131
m .Sloddart, The politics o f coastal A ndhra' in D.A. Low, ed Congress and the Raj, 124.
ia "M r. Kelappan's fast over Ihe opening o f G uruvayur temple was actually going on whilst the
P a d w as em erging and I asked him lo suspend it ...*, Statement on untouchabilily XIII, 30
December 1932. CWMG, LII, 307.
Telegram lo Ihe P.S. o f Viceroy, 30 D ecember 1932. CWMG, LII, 309.
Letter to Parm ananda K, Kapadia, 8 January 1933. CWMG, LI, 399.
,!I L etter to Kelappan, 15 O ctober 1932; Statem ent on Untouchabilily III, 7 N ovem ber 1932;
Interview with P.N. Rajbhoj, 11 N ovem ber 1932, CWMG. L I, 2 4 2 ,3 6 8 ,4 0 4 ; Statem ent on
Untouchabilily IX, 26 N ovem ber 1932, CWMG. LII, 72.
m L etter to U Gopala M enon, 15 N ovem ber 1932. CWMG. U I . 438.
1" Letter lo K. K elappan, 23 Novem ber 1932; Interview with API, 2 January 1933. CWMG, LII.
44, 344.
Letter to M .V, iaram csw aran C hettiar, 25 February 1933, CWMG, LOT. 412.
116 Casie, nationalism and com m unism in south India
A fter the suspension o f K elappans fast, G andhi had proposed a postpone

ment o f any fast for three m onths in which lim e a referendum could be
organised on Ihe issue o f temple entry in G uruvayur. But it was made very clear
that the fast would have to be put o ff if the referendum show ed that the majori ty
w ereslill against allow ing untouchables into the tem ple. W hen the referendum
was finally held in Decem ber 1932,77 p erc en t o f the voters w ere in favour o f
allow ing tem ple e n t r y . 1 3 2 N0w that the teeth o f the agitation had been drawn,
the issue o f tem ple entry, as in the( case o f V aikkam a decade ago, retreated into
the debating cham bers o f the L egislative Council. In 1932, the Removal of the
D epressed C lasses Religious D isabilities Bill w as introduced in the M adras
Legislative Council. It proposed that if fifty voters were lo write to the trustees
o f the tem ple to put the m otion o f universal entry to a vote, and if a majority
voted in favour o f tem ple entry, then that decision would be binding on the
authorities concerned. G andhi sent a telegram to the Viceroy o f India saying
that the bill proposes no innovation in Hindu b e lie f ; it was merely trying to
restore status quo ante the advent o f the B ritish.133 As an anti-im perialist stance
this was exem plary; it saw caste inequality as buttressed by the British,
However, it dangerously hid the fact that caste was inbuilt in Hinduism ; a point
that ihe Tiyya m ovement had constantly stressed. G andhi staled that the law
as il stands makes im possible the operation o f the Hindu mind on certain re
ligious custom s and usages and the measures are designed lo release ihe Hindu
mind from those fetters* (em phasis mine). T his assum ed not only that there wan
one unified, Hindu opinion but that this w as opposed to the idea o f caste. The
Governm ent o f M adras dithered on procedural grounds. It stated that trustees
o f tem ples should carry out the intentions o f the founder. If the circle of
beneficiaries, i.e. entrants inlo tem ples, was w idened it would be a breach of
trust. It would create rights against positive religious injunctions' and gen
erally reduce Hindu tem ples into secular institutions.134 Moreover, if legis
lation was really needed it could aw ait the vote o f the reform ed legislaluic
under the terms o f the new consiitution o f 1935.
Even as laic as 1938, Gnndhi was insistent that the whole o f ihe movement
is line o f (he conversion o f iltc Smmlani heart. You cannot loice llic p a c e '.11
G andhis policy o f making haste slow ly eventually produced results. In August
1939, the M adras Hindu Tem ple Entry D isabilities Removal Act was passed. 36
Letter lo P.N. Rajbhoj. 8 December 1932, CWMG, L ll, 147. O f the 27,465 individuals can
v a u e d for their opinion, 15,568 voted to allow entry into tem ples for all castes, while only
2,583 voted against. Mathrubhumi, 27 D ecem ber 1932.
IJ> Home Political FSO/t.33 Poll, and K.W. dated 29 November 1933 (NA1). See also Home
Political 5/46/32 (NAt),
IJi Note on Tem ple Entry Bill. Home Political 50/2/33 (NA1).
,,J M.K. Gandhi lo M .C. Rajah, 5 October 1938. M.C. Rajah Papers (NMML).
1)4 T he Act restricted itself to tem ples with an annual incom e o f over Rs. 5000 and if 50 Hindu
voters were to request entry, then notw ishtranding any law, custom or usage to the contrary,
And, a decade later, the M adras Tem ple Entry A uthorisation (Am endm ent) Act
enabled ail classes o f H indus to have right o f entry even into temples
constructed for the benefit o f particular sections o f the Hindu com m unity.137
C onclusion
Il has recently been argued that the period 1930-34 witnessed a vigorous
propagation o f the ideology o f nationalism ' in M alabar.138 However, this is
true only if we concentrate on the form o f Congress activity, without analysing
i ts content and, more important, its consequences. Civil disobedience in Malabar
had moved along the local faultlines o f pow er, resolving itself, in a large part,
into the activities o f younger m em bers o f dom inant tharavadus. The enactm ent
o f nationalism by decree and the assertion o f authority by tharavadus m eant an
erosion o f rural com m unity. Congress activity served not so much to create
w ider unities as lo exacerbate existing conflicts betw een Tiyyas and Nayars in
the interior and Tiyyas and M appilas on the coast. T he rhcioric o f a com munity
o f equal Hindus around the tem ple at Guru vayur cam e at an opportune juncture.
The entry o f untouchables into temples and, therefore, into a H induism
cleansed o f inequality, could presumably be followed by the entry o f equal
H indus imo the realm of the nation. This intim ation o f equality was dashed at
one level in the petty conflicts for status between N ayars against Brahm ins. At
another level the possibility o f forcing entry for all castes into G uruvayur was
subordinated to the national im peratives of the Poona Pact. T he theme o f this
phase o f political activity had been that tem ple entry would resolve the problem
o f caste inequality.
From the mid thirties there would be an attem pt to create wider, secular
identities w ith a strong sen se o f opposition lo th e imperatives and programmes
o f the nationalist Congress. The assum ption behind political activity would be
that Ihe removal o f eco n o m ic ineq u ality w ould obliterate c aste. A transient
I lindii identity would be icplaced by the search lor the secular unity or workers
and peasants. K rishna Pillai. one o f the founders o f the Com m unist party of
Kerala was lo wrile in 1934, T iyya, N ayar.pafrar, M appila and C h ristia n -o n e
must forget these differences and assert that "I am an agricultural worker, 1 am
a mill w orker and m y success is the success o f each w orker belonging to my
trustee! could throw open the tem p le'. Home Political 24/11/38 (NA1); Home Political50/
1/38 (NAI),
1,1 ARMP, 1949. 7.
m K . G o p a tan k u lly . 'M o b ilis a tio n a g ain st the state and not a g ain st th e lan d lo rd s: th e c iv il
disobedience movement in M alabar. The Indian Economic and Social History Review, 26,
4 (1 9 8 9 ), 459-80.
class", 139 This vision too would be confounded by Ihe realities o f multiple
divisions within rural,society which would not allow for more than a conjuncture!
unity.
1 Krishna Pil lai. 'Malhalhinalla chorinanu puruihenJathu' {One mustfight notfo r religion but
fo r food), Mathrubhumi. 1 April 1934,
5 The transformation o f rural politics, 19341940
The com mencem ent o f civil disobedience had been determ ined by national
imperatives. Its suspension too, in 1933, was called for by the Congress high
command. In July 1933. in spite o f G andhi's ostensible reluctance to impose
a national programme, he ordered Congress organisations to disband and
advocated social uplift through the 'constructive program m e' o f khadi and
sanitation.1 Coming as it did on the heels o f the abandoning o f confrontation,
G andhis oscillation between dithering and dictating aroused anger in the
provinces. The pressure on local politics to conform to national com m ands
spawned a desire in the provinces to com bat the irresponsible and arrogant
dictatorship enthroned in the Congress by G andhi.- In M alabar equally
forthright opinions were expressed. Krishna Pillai, one o f the founders o f the
Kerala Congress Socialist Party, wrote in July 1934 that the ability o f Gandhi
to lead India on the path o f mass organisation is now at an end. Gandhi is scared
to lead mass activity along the right path.-1 The search for an alternative
national programme look two divergent roads, Congressm en weary of conflict
proposed a return to electoral politics, and the Swarajya Party was revived in
1934. A younger radical group drafted the constitution for a socialist party
which was to act as the basis for coordinating the activities o f all socialists in
the Congress with a view to radicalise it .4 In May 1934, the Congress Socialist
Party was established.
Both at the national and provincial level. Congress socialist political
activity seemed to function as the conscience o f the Congress. Particularly in
Bihar and Andhra, socialists were involved in expanding the frontiers of
Congress influence by organising the peasantry. Congress socialism has been
studied from diverse perspectives. These assess the ideals o f the socialists
ranging from opportunism to radical nationalism and their m otives extending
1 Sec Grown, Gandhi and civil disobedience, 330.342-5.
: Swami Govindanand lo Sam bam tm i, Novem ber 1933, quoted by B.R. Tom linson, The Indian
National Congress and the Raj, 1929-42: the penultimate phase (London, 1976), 37..
* Mathrubhumi, \ I July 1934
* See Z.M. Mnsani, Radical nationalism in India. 1930-42: Ihe role o f Ihe atl-India Congress
Socialist Party' (unpublished DPhil dissertation. University o f Oxford, 1976), 50-1.
119
from individual grievance lo iranscendeni ideology: ultra-nationalisi opposi

tio n '; ginger group within the Congress; a bundle o f disgruntled elem ents';
ihe epithets vary.3 in the context o f M alabar, it will be argued that Congress
Socialism represented a local reaction against nationalism , in view o f the
subordination o f local politics to the exigencies o f the national party. First
Vaikkam, then G uruvayur, had been relegated lo the backwaters o f Hindu
religious reform , and the Congress had refused to politicise the issue o f casic.
C ongressm en in M alabar continued lo follow the national constructive
program m e which tried to am eliorate rather than transform caste subordina
tion. The Harijan Seva Sangh, w hich united the activities o f the Congress in
M alabar, had as its creed that, The habit o f personal cleanliness is the chief
pride o f the caste Hindus and the chief ingredient of resulting unlouchability'.6
From 1935, the socialisls in M alabar worked within the confines of the
locality, and their highly successful rural mobilisation made little attem pt to
ally itself with w ider concerns o f province and nation or, indeed, o f the
Congress. Socialist leaders, in their attem pt to gain control over the C ongress
organisation may have adopted the stance o f being (he radical conscience o f
nationalism . A statem ent o f intent by the nascent socialist group read, O ur
im m ediate program m e is to encourage the Congress 10 use its lim itless
influence 10 organise industrial and agricultural labour, to encourage the
political struggle o f the citizens o f the native stales; and lo unite the struggles
o f the oppressed with the Indian national struggle*.7 However, peasant unions
ploughed local furrows and addressed imm ediate concerns o f subordination
and excesses o f authority. W ider political unities - a com m unity o f Tiyyas. or
a com m unity o f equal H indus - gave way to the inw ardness o f the resolution
o f inequality w ithin the villages. Elsew here, as in Bihar, rural radicalism and
nationalism continued to m aintain close links. It has been argued that Swami
Sahajanand and the Kisan Sabha prevented the escalation o f rural conflicts
derived partly from their acceptance o f the primacy o f the national struggle.8
The onset of the D epression lent an urgent edge to the search for a new idiom
o f politics w hich would tackle, head on, the problem o f caste inequality.
Buoyant prices had kepi afloat a class o f independent small cultivators and Ihe
profils from cash crops had subsidised Ihe im ports o f rice into the region. A
crash in prices com bined with the decline o f international dem and precipitated
5 M asani. Radical nationalism in India', 84-5; Tom linson. The Indian National C on^rea, 51,
Pandey, The Congress in UP, 72. In Kerala, they have been recently credited with Iransform-
ing' the Congress into a body engaged in militant anti-im perialist and anti-feudal agitations'
K, Gopalankulty. 'T he task o f transform ing the Congress; Malabar, 1934-40'. Studies in
History 5 , 2, n.s. (1989), 177.
* Annual report o f ihe HSS for Ihe years l933-34and 1934-35 j4/CC f-'iles G-14/1934-5 (NMML).
Mathrubhumi, 11 July 1934.
* See S J . Hcnningham, Peasant movements in colonial India: north Othar. 1917-1942 (Canberra.
Australia, 1982), 149.
The transformation o f rural politics, 1934-1940 121
a crisis o f food at one level, and underm ined the position o f the sm all cultivator
at another. T here was an enforced shift towards subsistence cultivation,
underscoring the dependence o f cultivators on dom inant tharavadus for land,
credit and grain. M eanw hile, the authority o f the tharavadus was subverted by
legislation which ensured security o f tenure for tenants and, more crucially,
allow ed for the partition o f tharavadu property. T he partition o f tharavadus, in
a period o f econom ic depression, cast adrift their branches in the countryside,
leaving many am ong them with prestige but out o f pocket. Initial socialist
activity consisted o f efforts by a new generation o f the rural elite to renegotiate
rural com muni ty by curtail ing the excesses o r authority exercised by tharavadus.
T he resentm ent o f the dependent and the fissures w ithin the elite cam e together
in the moves tow ards the formation of peasant unions.
The activities of unions were initially circum scribed by the cautious attitude
o f a reform ing elite w hich sought to go thus far and no further. There were
attem pts to build com m unity by collective activity in jathas , formation o f
volunteer unions and tupping into the culture o f the reading rooms in the
villages. H ow ever, the experience o f collective activity and expression led lo
u significant erosion o f erstw hile rural authority on ihe one hand and deference
on Ihe other. T he decade was lo end in pitched battles betw een peasant unions
and the police who had underpinned the authority o f the pow erful tharavadus.
The m oderate overtures o f Gandhian reform ers were superseded by an assertion
o f rights.
T h e im p a ct o f th e D epression
The boom in the prices o f cash crops in ihe tw enties was m atched by the
enthusiastic response o f cultivators. The resurvey o f M alabar in 1936 revealed
the extent o f expansion o f cultivation in the previous decade. Between 1900
and 1930, alm ost iwo lakh acrcs of land had been brought under pepper and
uK um it with a sudden spun in the hue tw enties when the prices o f pepper and
coconut had peaked. Between 1920 and 1929 there was a fall in the production
of pepper in the D utch East Indies, wiih a shortfall of supply by 15,000 tons in
1927-28. M alabar filled the gap in supply and prices touched their zenith in
1928.^ C ultivation o f pepper soared from 1926, and in ihe north east of
Chirakkal and Kottayam, rich forest land was leased out by dominant tharavadus,
like the K alliattu and Koodali. In the interior, entrepreneurial cultivators
opened up hitherto unsurvcycd land along the foothills and plunged into the
Revenue K.Dis 3431/36 dated 2 April 1936 (KR A); Thom as and Sastry, Commodity prices in
south India, 48
forests.10T he intrusion on areas hitherto cultivated by tribal groups was offset

by informal alliances o f credit and dependence on dom inant tharavadus. In
Kurum branad, and along the coast, many cultivators incurred debts in order to
acquire land and bccom e small landowners. T hey were confident o f paying o tf
loans, with the proceeds from the soaring profits o f coconut and pepper.11
Then cam e the unexpected crash in the prices o f these crops which had
created fortunes overnight. In 1928, 1,000 coconuts had sold for Rs. 49-2-10
and a bharam o f pepper for Rs. 534-6-0. By January 1931, prices fell to Rs. 27
per 1,000 coconuts and Rs, 146-0-0 for a bharam o f pepper. As Raker has
observed, the weakening o f international dem and was Celt earliest in the market
for prim ary 'tem perate' products grown in both industrial countries and
elsew here. T ropical- products like pepper felt the slum p only by the middle of
the decade. T his was aggravated in M alabar by the optim istic expansion o f
cultivation till alm ost 1933,12 T he peak prices o f 1928 had led to manic
cultivation o f pepper and even old gardens had been renovated. Thus, the crash
in prices coincided w ith the unloading o f a mammoth crop on the m arket.13 As
heavy crops o f pepper built up in M alabar, and exports declined, sales cam e to
depend on the lim ited Indian market and the abnorm al dem and from Italy,
which was the only European country to continue buying from M alabar. It was
not until 1936 that foreign dem and finally ceased. T he collapse o f speculative
buying o f M alabar pepper in London; the invasion o f Abyssinia by Italy which
led to a cessation o f dem and from that quarter; and the import, by the
speculators, o f low er-priced pepper from Singapore and the East Indies to
Bom bay in 1935-36 m eant that the m arket was in the doldrum s. Pepper
cultivators used to sw ings in prices continued to expand cultivation till 1933,
little realising that this was a more severe and long-term cîsis.,, The random
cultivation o f pepper on hom esteads and along the foothills in the north and
north east o f Chirakka! and Kottayam had been unable to face the more
system atic and econom ic cultivation on plantations in the East Indies. Sim i
larly, individual coconut gardens o f small farmers could not stand up to the
com petition from Ceylon whose coconut plantations were able to place the
com m odity on the m arket at a low er p rice.15 Ceylon, which used to export
I Letter from A.R. M acEwcn. Special sculem eni officer, 25 M arch 1927. Revenue Dept G O
1609dated 19 August /9 2 7 tK S ).. . _
" Revenue DR 617/35 dated 4 April 1935 <KRA).
II Revenue Dept. G O 493 dated4 March / 9 j / ( K S ) (1 bharam = 20 mounds e 82.28 lbs). See
C J . Baker, 4 n Indian rural economy 1880-1955- the Tamtlnad countryside (Delhi 1984)
117-18.
u Pepper crops in 1931 were a quarter above the average production and prices fell from Rs. 80
p e re w t to Rs. 30 p erew t. RDIMP, 1931,21.
14 Revenue Dept. G O. 493 dated 4 March 1931 (KS): RDIMP, 1936. 38: OR 3215/32 dated 3
March 1933 (KRA). Director o f Industries and Com m erce to Secretary. Developm ent. 2 July
1941. Revenue Dept. G.O. 2259 dated 6 August 1943 (KS).
,s Thomas and Sastry, Commodity prices in south India, 18
The transformation o f rural politics. 1934-1940 12.1
coconuts lo Holland, Spain, Denmark and Italy began dum ping coconuts on
M alabar from 1932 as European dem and fell by alm ost 80 per c e n t.16
Forests had been part o f the expanding econom y and in the post-w ar years
the tim ber industry down river at Baliapatam and Calicut had received a boost.
The lim ited deforestation undertaken by the expansion o f pepper in the
foothills was coupled with tharavadus granting kuttikanam (rights o f cutting
trees) tocontractors and private individuals. Forests were n o longerrem unerative
assets with the falling prices o f pepper and the decline in the dem and for
u m b e r 17 Large tracts were still on lease lo entrepreneurial cultivators who
hung on grim ly to their plots. Pepper was given up in preference to (he
cultivation o f hill rice lo m itigate their dependence on the tharavadus for grain
at a tim e o f scarcity C ultivators still needed green m anure which had to be
foraged from the private forests owned by individual families. Since the
owners o f the forest could not realise rent from the pathetic am ount o f grain
produced, they resorted tocurtailing custom ary rights |)f collecting m anure and
firewood and making these conditional on paym ent o f levies. T raditional rights
o f pasturage and use o f forests were to be eroded throughout this decade as
lharavadus tried to realise money as well as assert thejr rights o f ow nership in
the face of fugitive cultivation. The incorporation o f village elites into excise
adm inistration and the involvement o f the lharavadus with the enforcing o f
Congress activity during the period o f civil disobedience had introduced
strains in rural relations. Now with attem pts to appropriate as private w hat had
been custom arily shared, the tharavadus w ere further abstracting them selves
from traditional networks of obligation.
A nother sphere o f the erosion o f the rural com m unity was in the inability of
tharavadus to provide credit at a tim e when all other sources o f credit seemed
to be drying up. The survey report o f Chirakkal taluk in 1931, prior to
resettlem ent, had staled baldly that money was scarce and it was im possible
to raise loans.lt! With the crash in the prices o f pepper, the m erchants on the
coast were less forthcom ing with advances. Banks had been w illing to lend
money on the security o f pepper crops but with the produce now o f doubtful
value, they too were reluctant. Previously, cultivators had access to credit from
a variety o f sources including self-help lotteries organised am ongst them
selves,19 Now, they were becom ing dependent on the tharavadus for cash
advances and lands in order to grow subsistence. The latter, far from being in
" Miuhruhhumi, 11 January 1936. Exports lo Kerala as a w hale, previously only 9.25 p ercen t
o f Ceylon's trade hail risen, by 1935, lo 34-39 per ccni. Revenue Dept. G O. 2654 (Mi) dated
2-f September 1938 {KS).
Evidence o f V.K. M enon. MPBEC, IV, 5 3 0 -1: RDIM P, 1930-31,21 ;l b i d 1932-33,21 Ibid
1934-35. 30; Ibid.. 1935-36. 36; Ibid.. 1937-38, 51
Revenue Dept. C.O 493 dated4 March 1931 (KRA).
',l M oore. Afa/aAor taw and custom. 230; Oral evidence o f V.K. Menon, MPBEC 1930-31 IV
533
a position to lend, were them selves in need o f money. W ith the onset o f the
D epression, dom inant tharavadus increasingly began to exact feudal levies'
from their tenants over and above the rent. These levies involved an extra
share o f the crop during the harvest, gifts and tokens o f dependence in
recognition o f a landow ner's authority. M oreover, rents were once again being
collected in kind as the tharavadus attem pted to build up their grain stockpile.
Previously levies could have been extracted only from those im m ediately
dependent on a tharavadu service castes and the agricultural labourers. As
more groups began to rely on the tharavadu as a safety net for land, credit,
m anure, rights o f pasturage and in the last instance, grain, there w as an attem pt
to extract extra levies from w ider sections o f the agrarian population.
M any recent works have seen the Depression as a w atershed in the
reconstitution o f rural relations o f pow er, a period in w hich the dom inance o f
rural m agnates w as underm ined.21 As B aker puts it, the bedrock o f the south
Indian rural m agnates authority was the control exercised o ver the liquidity o f
the local econom y; credit was one o f the most im portant bonds o f social
control. W ith the onset o f the D epression, the ability o f the m agnate to provide
credit to his clients is underm ined, and so, therefore is his standing as a patron.
O ne o f the m ajor w eaknesses in this approach is that it does not even consider
realm s o f interaction between superior and inferior other than that o f credit. A
m agnate who is out o f pocket is out o f power. N etw orks o f reciprocity,
obligation, deference, w orship and labour bound the landlord and labourer. It
is significant that in M alabar not only did the rural elite try to w ork out new
ways o f negotiating power, but a w hole new class o f dependents sought to
refashion erstw hile m odes o f behaviour and notions o f obligation. Rural
society w as not to m apart but reconstituted; allow ing for a g reater bargaining
between its constituents in w hich initially, the socialists, and then, the com
m unists played a m ediating role. T his chapter will look at the process by which
the dom inant as well as the declining sections am ong the rural elite adapted.
T he final chapter m oves tow ards the denouem ent with the tharavadus bolstered
by the state and calling the shots.
Tile collapse o f many o f the sm all factories set up in the tw enties by
prospering tharavadus and tenants riding the pepper boom, and dw indling
credit facilities in the towns for petty trade rem oved the foothold that many of
*" The M alabar Tenancy Com mittee o f 1940 had taken special note o r the burgeoning o f feudal
levies in the preceding y e a n . MTCR. 1940, 1 ,32,
31 C J . Baker, Debt and the Depression in M adras', in C.J, Dewey and A.G. H opkins eds., The
imperial impact: studies in the economic history o f Africa and India (London, 1978), 238;
Baker, Politics o f south India and An Indian rural economy: Bose, Agrarian Bengal. For an
important earlier Matement, in the context o f Burma, about the decisive impact on agrarian
society o f Ihc breakdown o f credit during the Depression see M. Adas. The Hurma della
economic development and social change on an Asian frontier, 1852-1941 (M adison, W l.
1974).
the poorer cultivators had gained in the tow ns.22 Sundaresw ara and Jagannatha
temples had m anaged to build a fragile unity between town and countryside as
Tiyya elites knitted th e provision o f credit and em ploym ent with building a
com m unity o f worship. If rural com m unities w ere com ing to be based m ore on
sustenance, the new born, fragile, temple com m unity in the tow ns was becom
ing centred on the more intangible association o f worship. In the sum m er o f
1936, fractures becam e evident in the nascent com m unity around the Tiyya
tem ples, as rival groups volleyed for legitim acy as the representatives o f the
Tiyyas. The older generation o flead ers o f theG nanodaya Y ogam continued to
be obsessed by the local and com m unity concerns o f the previous decade. A
younger generation o f professional Tiyyas was forced to establish wider
connections with other groups rather than stand as a com m unity apart. First,
there was the slum p in the price o f coconuts, the crop which had underw ritten
the success o f the T iyya tenants in the first tw o decades o f this century.
Secondly, the M appila m ercantile com m unity continued to prosper; their
m onopoly o v erth e rice trade, and the fact that the mills at Bom bay and Karachi
continued to take coconut oil from M alabar, allowed them to ride the D e
pression.2-?Their relative prosperity manifested itself partly in the mushrooming
of sratnbis in C annanore and Tellicherry.
T he inability, o r reluctance o f caste organisations in T ravancore and
M alabar to m ake the transition from cultural politics to an engagem ent with the
slate precipitated a crisis o f sorts. C. Krishnan, one o f the older generation
which had resisted classification as Hindus, and had em phasised that the
Tiyyas w ere a com m unity apart, now converted to Buddhism. Sahodaran
Ayyappan, the Pulaya leader from Travancore, w ho had briefly flirted with
socialism , followed suit. Tiyyas and Ezhavas were wooed by Christians,
M uslims, Sikhs and the m averick ideologue E.V. Ram aswam y N aicker who
advocated the form ation o f a Self-R espect movem ent. Some Ezhava leaders
advocated Christianity: C.V. Kunjuraman negotiated with the Anglican Bishop
o f K ottayam. Others like C.K. Kuttan 'converted' to H induism .24 In the
sum m er o f I93f>, Trnvuncore was besieged by jtithns o f Sikhs from Amriisiir,
one o f them led by M aster T ara Singh him self, and mautvis w ho said that
circum cision could be dispensed with if speedy conversion was desired. By
June, the Shirom ani G urdw ara Prubandhak C om m ittee was considering the
setting up o f gurdwaras all over Travancore and M alabar.25
Papers retailnn tn the Industrial Conference, Only, September, 1908, 22, Evidence of G.F.
Baker, H enke's Tile W orks, Feroke, Indian Industrial Commission. 1916-18, 111, 358-60;
RDIMP, 1926-27, 21, Ibid. 1927-28. 24; Ibid., 1931-32. 17; Ihiit, 1935-6, 37
11 While foreign trade at Tellicherry port fell from a value o f Rs. 116.82 lakhs in 1927-28 to
24.07 lakhs in 1934-35. trade along the coast rem ained steady There was a fall from 52.29
lakhs In 417 1 laklis in llic same period RSTMP, 1927-2B and 1914 35,
1 C. K I'ullapilly. The Ishuvas o f Kerala and ihcir historic struggle for acceptance in the Hindu
so c iety ', Journal o f Asian and African Studies, II (1976). 24-46.
' Hindu. 20 M arch, 21 April, 12-14 May, 8 June 1936.
T he crisis was resolved in a sim ilar way in both M alabar and Travancore.
As T iyya elites began losing out in local conflict ihe com m unity turned to the
province and the prom ise o f electoral representation held out by the G overn
ment o f India Act, 1935. In 1936, the M alabar Tiyya A ssociation, representing
the younger generation allied with the C ongress and appeals were m ade to all
Tiyyas lo register as voters.2* In Travancore, the Ezhavu m iddle classes joined
the Travancore Stale Congress in opposition to the M aharaja till 1938.-7 In north
M alabar an am algam o f econom ic pressures, the aspiration to a w ider politics,
and the failure o f the attem pt lo stand as a com m unity apart forced a section
among: ihe Tiyyas lo adopt militant Hindu stances. In M arch I9.1(i, l \ Madhavan,
a Tiyya lawyer and M em ber o f the Legislative C ouncil, spoke about the growth
in the num ber o f srumbis w hich w ere infringing on the ancient rights of
H indus' 28 The nature o f the conflicts between T iyya and M appila religious
processions becam e overtly com m unal in thisdecade. In 1934,theG nanodaya
Yogam had m anaged a tem porary truce with M appila leaders but by 1936 it was
clear that a younger generation o f T iyyas [were] bent on disregarding [the]
pact o f 1934'. Local authorities were forced to ban processions o f any kind in
1936 to prevent escalation o f conflict.29 Among the M appilas too, there was
a transition lo a politics engaging with the state from their earlier stance of
cultural regeneration through organisations such as the Young M ens Muslim
Association (1926) and the Muslim M ajlis (1930). K.M. Seethi Saheb, an
erstw hile m em ber o f the Cochin Legislative A ssem bly, m oved lo Tellicherry
and established Ihe new spaper Chandrika in 1934. This was to becom e the
m outhpiece o f the M uslim League set up by the M appila m erchant Abdul Sattar
' Sait who was elected to the Central Legislative A ssem bly in 1934 on the
M uslim League ticket.30
T h e im p a c t o f legislation on th a ra v a d u s
M eanw hile, the conjuncture o f two pieces o f legislation, one dealing with
tenancy and the other w ith reform o f the N ayar tharavadus, had contradictory
Hindu. 6, 8, 9 June 1986.

Jeffrey, T ravancore', Jeffrey's overly simple analysis is constructed in term s o f a leteological
m ovem ent away from the politics o f caste and religion towards the secular politics of
Congress.
u Mathrubhumi, 7 M arch 1936.
RAPMP. 1 9 3 4 ,14; Revenue DR 5691/36 dated 12 May 1936 (KRA). Home Depl.(C) G O 393
dated 1 May 1936 (KS); Revenue DR 2776/dated 16 March 1936 (KRA); Revenue DR 3584
dated 16 March 1936 (KRA); Home Dept. G O. 34 (Confdl.) dated 30 April 1936 (KS).
M R.E, M iller, The Mappila Muslims o f Kerala: a study in Islamic trends (M adras, 1976),
The Inmsfiirimilitm o f rural politics, 1934-1940 127
effccls. The first legally strengthened the position o f the tenants at a tim e when
they were becoming econom ically dependent on landowners for land, credit
and grain. The second weakened the unity of the tharavadus, undermining their
auihority in the countryside, ju st as econom ic forces had indirectly enhanced
the possibility o f an exercise o f their authority.
The tenancy movement in south M alabar had retreated from Ihe public
arena, after the attem pt to knit tenancy and K hilafat agitation in 1921 had
produced a m onster the conservative Frankensteins felt they could not control,
I tel w ith l l)"M to I H O , tin- tenants lobby spearheaded hy the indefatigable (i.
Sankar.m Nayar, the Secretary o f the M alahar T enants Association, worked its
way through the bureaucratic maze at Fort St G eorge. G. Sankaran N ayars
diaries reveal how much the passing of the A ct had to do with lobbying behind
the scenes and ensuring that Files passed through pro-legislation bureaucrats.
The entry for 20 O ctober 1930 slates that the Tenancy file was routed through
K R. Menon who recom m ended unconditional assent to the bill. Sir Frank
Noyce, the Revenue M ember, intended it to have gone lo a British official who
would have blocked the file. Sankaran N ayar noted with evident satisfaction,
There we have been able lo outw it him [N oycel.31
The lobbying o f the tenants associations o f south M alabar bore fruit with the
passing o f the M alabar Tenancy Act which cam e into force on I Decem ber
1930. The Tenancy Act o f 1930 ensured fixity o f tenure to the cultivator on
wetlands, freedom from eviction for kanam tenants, and reduced the fee
payable at the time o f renewal o f ihe kanam tenure. It waji a piece o f legislation
skewed largely in the interests o f south M alabar, ncglecting the coconut
cultivators on garden lands (the kuzhikanakkaran), the pepper cultivators and
those practising fugitive cultivation in the north. Thti tenant cultivator on
garden lands was not given fixity o f tenure, but only the right lo renewal o f the
lease. In an era o f depressed prices, even this would have to be negotiated as
landholders were keen to divert land towards less risky endeavours. The
interests o f the tenants lobby in south M alabar and the governm ent's o ver
weening desire to prevent a repetition o f the uprising o f 1921 dovetailed neatly
in the Act. However, the MTA, 1930 created a niche for tenancy legislation at
a time when rights over land w ere beginning lo be contested in north Malabar.
In the latter half o f the decade, the extension o f the provisions o f the Act to
various groups and regions, was to form a m ajor theme o f rural agitation.
Wh i le ten an ts benefi ted from the passing o f the Act, the position o f the breed
ol small landowners w hich had arisen in the previous decade was severely
affected. W ith the granting o f freedom from eviction, few er tenants were
inclined to jo in t registration for the purposes o f the paym ent o f revenue, and
Maries o f G Sankaran Nayar (NMML).

128 Caste, nationalism and com m unism lit south India
were content to let the landlords foot the revenue bill.32 The C ollector was
flooded with petitions from landholders for jo in t registration, none o f which
could be affected because the contracts had ended, and the tenants now had
fixity o f tenure under the Act. Q uite a few o f the small landowners had derived
incom e from am ounts received on renewal o f tenures and the granting o f
overleases. T he MTA, 1930, by reducing the one and curtailing the other, left
them dependent solely on uncertain rents and the usufruct from lands directly
in their possession. By 1934, the adm inistration had begun to worry that the
janmis [were] losing a good tleal o f their influence and control o f their
tenants' .33 Even as the extraction o f rent proved difficult from now ensconced
tenants, landowners still had to bear revenue obligations. Notw ithstanding the
fall in the prices o f cash crops, the resettlem ent o f M alabar, between 1930-33,
contem plated the enhancem ent o f revenue by 18.75 per cent in the cases of
garden and wetlands. Revenue rem ission was considered only in 1934 and that
too for only so long as the prices o f pepper and paddy were still falling.34 In
1937, the A gricultural Debt R elief A ct o f the Congress m inistry wiped out the
arrears o f rent payable in areas under the MTA, 1930.35 This, coupled w ith the
depression in prices m eant that Ihe sm aller landlords derived no profit from
produce w hile prospects o f rent from their tenants gradually receded.
In ihe previous decade those who had m anaged to acquire land had leased
out a m ajor portion to tenant cultivators and w ere now at the lotters mercy for
the paym ent o f rent and revenue. Many of the small landlords who had risen
on the boom in prices fell back to earth. A detailed econom ic survey of
K unim branad taluk in 1935 found that m any interm ediate landholders were
groaning under the w eight o f debts w hich they had incurred in order lo buy
land. W ith the slum p in prices and the consequent inability to repay loans, land
changed hands rapidly.36 M any moved from being tenant to landowner and
back again in the course o f a decade. A few tried to m aintain their status as
landholders even in the face o f non-paym ent o f rent by increasingly recalcitrant
tenants. T he settlem ent officer rem arked in sheer exasperation that it was mere
n In 1920, the M alabar Land Registration Ac) laid down Ihui tenants were not legally liable fur
land revenue unless they were jointly registered wilh the landlord. The latter were not keen
to create a record o f righls for the tenant and very few jo int registrations had actually taken
place. Revenue Dept. G.O. 488 dated 25 Februaaary 1935 (IOL); Revenue Dept. G.O. 630
dated 8 March 1938 ( IOL). ;
11 Note o f T.B. Russell, Collector to Secretary to Com m issioners (Land revenue and settlem ent J,
25 January 1933, Revenue R.Dis. 6351/32 dated June 9 1934 (KRA): Note o f Collector, 30
January 1942, Revenue DR 1369-41 dated II March 1942 (KRA).
W Revenue R.Dis. 1620/33 dated 31 March 1933 (KRA); Madras Revenue Dept. G O. 272 dated
9 February 1934 (KS); Revenue ft. Dis. 3431/36 dated 2 April 1936 (KRA).
11 B.V. Narayanaswam y Naidu and P. Vaidyanathan, The Madras agricultural debt relief at I:
a study (Annam alai, 1939), 10-11.
* Indebtedness o f cultivation enquiry by Special Officer, Chorode, Kurumbranad, Revenue DR
619/35 dated 4 April 1935 (KRA).
pride o f possession lhat [made] them hold on to their old liabilities when they
are getting little or nothing from ihe land.37 In those troubled tim es the dignity
o f being a landow ner w as an intangible, but real consolation for those whose
fortunes had risen and fallen so dram atically. Even as these parvenus were being
levelled by econom ic forces, m any o f the larger tharavadus were taking back
the land for the purchase o f w hich they had advanced loans. A m ajor part o f the
transactions w ere cases o f the purchase o f <3ebt<5rs land by creditors. In north
M alabar the average value o f the sale docum ent was Rs. 153, show ing both the
dccline in the value o f the land as w ell as how small the plots o f the new
landowners o f the previous decade had been.38 T he sm aller landowners w ere
in m ore o f a fix - the w ant o f funds to file suits to recover rents, the decline in
incom e from usufruct, th eir inability to get back the hom e farm lands leased out
at the end o f the last decade and, ultim ately, their dependence on the dom inant
tharavadu o f the region.
W hile sm aller landowners were in dire straits, the dom inant Nayar tharavadus
becam e the focus o f succour in their roles o f landow ners, creditors and
granaries in the countryside. At the sam e tim e, they were being riven by
internal conflicts. W hat had begun in the late nineteenth century as a movement
for m arriage reform am ong the N ayars, supported by a vocal, largely urban
professional elite, had ram ified by the early twentieth century into a m ovem ent
draw ing upon N ayars o f nil classes for reform o f the tharavadus.39 Even when
Ihe M arriage C om m ission had been appointed in 1890, it was clear that the
question o f m arriage would naturally raise issues o f individual property and the
vesting o f inheritance in a fam ily unit other than the m atrilineal tharavadu.40
By the early tw entieth century, these tw o them es o f marriage and property
cam e together. T hat a nuclear fam ily o f man, wife and children was more
natural w as an em ergent them e, and R.M. P alats M arriage Bill of 1931 tried
to guarantee the right o f succession to the property o f the deceased husband
and father.41 In 1931, the M atriliny Bill, w hich w ould becom e law in 1933,
stated that the m atrilineal tharavadu w as no longer the focus o f N ayar lives,
and that the social stream [was] flow ing along more natural c h a n n e ls '42 It
called for recognition o f m arriage, the right o f free d iv o rc e ', the 'enforcem ent
o f m onogam y and, crucially, the rights o f individuals to claim their share o f
the tharavadu property by allow ing for partitioning o f the tharavadu. Between
1890 and 1933, notions o f m arriage, fam ily and property underw ent a rapid
>' R tv fn u t R.Dis. 3431/36 dated 2 April 1936 (KRA).

" Report on the administration o f the Registration Department o f the Madras Presidency
(.ARDMP ). 1930-33,4, 7.
" See A runim a, C olonialism and ihe transform ation o f m atriliny'. ch. 6,
Report o f the Malabar Marriage Commission. ItiVO (Mndra*. 1891), 1,3.
41 Law (General) Dept. G.O.89 dated 28 February 1931 (KS),
41 M arum nkkalhayam Dill o f V.P. Narayanan N am biar (Bill no. 13 of 1931) in the Madras
Legislative Council, Law (Legislative) Dept. G O 892 dated 21 August 1931 (KS).
transform ation. The A ct o f 1933 put the legislative seal on a process o f

partitioning o f the m atrilineal tharavadu, in response to m oral, econom ic and
internal pressures.
In north M alabar, the process o f expansion o f cultivation was tied up w ilh
the establishm ent o f branches o f the tharavadu as pioneering outposts. T he
crash in the prices o f pepper m eant that m any o f the younger m em bers could
call for partition but w ithout the resources to sustain a branch. T he parent
tharavadu in m ost cases controlled the wetlands as well as the granary, making
the establishm ent o f a branch, in m ost cases, an em pty gesture o f independence.
Many o f these brunches lucked lliecloin to iiegodnlr with tmiiily. wily teiiiiuls
and encroaching cultivators and were forced lo resort to diplom acy ratherthan
force. Links had to be forged not only to play o ff one faction o r com peting
tenant against another, but also to am ass ballast for w ithstanding the pressure
o f the parent tharavadu. At a tim e when dom inant tharavadus w ere w ithholding
custom ary rights and instituting new levies, allies w ere not hard to com e by.
S ocialist organisation in this period w ould rely to a large ex tent on the relations
forged between younger m em bers o f dom inant tharavadus and cultivators. In
the previous decade, younger m em bers had already begun to reach out to their
dependent labourers organising them under a broadly G andhian philosophy of
cleanliness and tem perance. N ow there was a new vocabulary and ideology,
new pressures arising w ithin the tharavadu and from a depressed econom y, and
a political idiom that w ould be less quietist and m ore m ilitant.
Prim arily, it was a question o f w ho could lay a claim to individual plots o f
land. C onflict was not restricted to the parent tharavadus and th eir branches
alone. At the im m ediate level, it was m ore a question o f w hether it w as the
cultivator or the landow ning tharavadus who could more forcefully assert their
respective claim s to the land. Very often, these m atters w ere settled in the
procedure m ost fam iliar to the dom inant tharavadus; recalcitrant occupants
w ere m m dered and the land taken over.43 previously, tharavadus had p re
sented a united front in such strong-arm m ethods, now they w ere literally
houses divided against them selves. Politic tenants were able to play o ff one
faction o r branch o f a tharavadu against another and internal conflicts betw een
*nephew s, uncles and overseers w ere translated into local conflicts and vice
versa. In the course o f the D epression and under the influence o f legislation, the
com m unity o f tharavadu and cultivators had com e to be stripped down to its
bare essentials - control over land, forest and granaries. Control o ver resources
was to be the prem ise on w hich the com m unity rested, not a shared participation
in festivals o r worship nor the perception o f sharing in dearth and prosperity.
N ow there vyas dearth and those w ho could dispense their obligations were
divided against them selves, each trying to create their ow n sphere o f influence.
U nity w ithin the dom inant tharavadus and a buoyant econom y had m arked both
RAPMP. 1936,
The transformation u f rural politics, 1934-1940 131
the strength o f the com m unity and the independence o f the constituents o f the
rural com m unity. Divided tharavadus and a depressed econom y w ould signal
a weakened sense of com m unity and the dependence o f the cultivator, but in
an era of uncertain power exercised by those who had been dominant.
T h e fo rm a tio n of p e a sa n t u nio n s
In tin* |ict iml I M !<). pciiwint unions were organised in the eastern villages o f
north M alabar by the activists o f the Kerala C ongress Socialist Party (KCSP).
w hich had been founded in O ctober 1934. Political activity was not restricted
io the criticism o f the inequalities in the agrarian structure or calls for the
reform o f the pattern o f landholding. It attem pted a w holesale change in the
attitudes o f people; a transform ation o f rural structures o f deference and
authority. Rural political activity was largely initiated by a socialist leadership
drawn from prom inent N ayar tharavadus in north M alabar. Q uite often, they
cam e from the branches bereft o f resources by the enactm ent o f the partition
bill. M oreover, many o f these branches had an as yet undefined sphere o f
influence, and both the exercise o f authority as well as the gathering o f support
had io be negotiated. They attem pted to build an alternative order w hich could
reem phasise a sense o f com m unity, but w hich w ould be shorn o f ihe accretion
of em phases of traditional authority.
The younger members o f dom inant tharavadus w ere to play aprom inent part
in this attem pt at renegotiation.44 They were the products o f the new intellec
tual clim ate w hich attem pted to transcend the inequality o f caste, but p ara
doxically, they were ab le to work am ong and organ isec u Iti valors and Iabourers,
precisely because they com m anded respect as m em bers o f the rural elite. H ere
one must disagree with Je ffrey 's unsubstantiated proposition that the partition
o f the m atrilineal households created a generation o f deracinated Nayars 45 In
the afterm ath o f D epression and the partition o f the dom inant tharavadus, the
A,K. G opalan (1904-77), who eventually becanfe a com m unist M P and leader o f the
opposition in Parliament after ihe first general elections in 1-951, was a m em ber o f the
Ayillyalh tharavadu in Chiraklcal. which had originally beeil a N ayar ruling fam ily.
Gopalan. In the cause o f the people, I ; K.A, Keraleeyan (19 J0-), P resident o f the All M alabar
Peasant Union in the late thirties and early forties belonged lo a tharavadu related to Ayillyalh
hy m arriage. Interview, Calicut, M arch 1987. K.P.R. G opalan (I906 -), played a prom inent
pun in the Protest Day Celebrations in 1940, and was sentenced lo dealh. He was reprieved
after the personal intervention o f Gandhi. The post o f adhikari in K alliasseri was traditionally
held by the karanavan o f his household, Interview, K alliasseri, February-M arch 1987.
41 R. Jeffrey. M atriliny, Marxism and the birth o f the Com m unist Party in Kerala, I9 3 0 -I9 4 0 ,
Journal ofAsian Studies. 38, 1 (1978), 77-98. He further states that an ideological v oid' was
created by the decline o f m alnliny. However, it is not made clear how m atriliny functioned
at the level o f ideology, if it did at all in any coherent sense.
younger m em bers w ere Hying to bolster their vestigial status by acting in

conjunction with their erstw hile dependents. Individuals like A.K. Gopalan
and Keraleeyan could play the role o f arbitrators betw een cultivators and
labourers and their ma'sters. Com ing as they did from the sam e social class (and
in m ost cases, caste) as the dom inant landholders, they were able to intercede
for their constituency on equal term s. But, they were regarded w ith initial
suspicion by the potential beneficiaries as belonging to a stratum which had
exercised dominance over them.46 An exam ple o f this is the case o f Subramaniam
Thirum um pu, who cam e from th i pow erful Nambudiri family o f Thazhekkat.
H e had been active in social reform in north M alabar prior to civil disobedi
ence. Even after his entry into the organisation o f peasant unions, there
continued to be a m ixture o f aw e and resentm ent tow ards him am ong his
colleagues as well as his erstwhile dependents.47 There was the inevitableconflict
betw een leading and yet aspiring to rem ain primus inter pares , w hich led lo
piquant situations. W hen organisers were sent to villages, the KCSP leadership
em phasised that they must, as a m atter o f strategy, ask for ricc gruel to drink.
T his was intended to em phasise that though the peasant organisers were o f
higher caste they were not concerned w ith laws o f caste pollution. Such
strategies occasionally m isfired, causing doubts about the caste o f the leaders
and therefore the degree o f respect to be accorded them. C ultivators usually
gave their equals toddy, reserving gruel for charity to the lowest castes.
Early political activity was lo be coloured by the caution o f a reform ed rural
elite which w ished to go thus far and no further. They were w illing to cam paign
against feudal exactions and caste oppression which they now depicted as
arising out o f the relation betw een landlords and cultivators. However,
there was a significant departure from the earlier restrictive vocabulary.
1nslead o f the limi led i magi n ings o f caste or a H indu national ism an appeal was
made to the all-encom passing and vague category o f cultivators. A character
istic statem ent was m ade in 1934 by K rishna Pillai, one o f the founders o f the
KCSP: land all over India m ust be deem ed to belong to cultivators by a
proclam ation.48 Though there was the occasional attem pt to specify rural
culcgorics, this rem ained at Ihe level o f theorising by the leadership. Ai a
meeting in Ponnani, E.M .S. N am budiripad stated that agricultural labourers
were to be organised separately bccause they earned a w age. N eedless to say
such distinctions were not adhered lo in the process of actual o rg anisation .^
T he lack o f specificity m eant, in effect, a reaching out to landlord, tenant and
agricultural labourer.
W ith the K CSPs decision to w ork within the Congress to radicalise it by
Madhavan, Pnyaswiniyude leerailu, 94, 96.
* Interviews w ith K.A. Keraleeyan, Calicul and T .C . Narayanan Nam biar. Naralh, February
M arch 1987.
MaihrubHumi, 1 February 1934.
** Mathrubhumi, 26 May 1937.
'organising agricultural labour', political activity in M alabar acquired another

dim ension. In D ecem ber 1934, a sub-com m iltee was formed within the KPCC
com prised o f K rishna Piltai, Chandrolh K unhiram an N ayar and K.P. Gopalan.
It was lo conduct agitations for reduction o f revenue and rural indebtedness and
resolutions were passed to this effect.50 The announcem ent o f this program m e
precipitated a split in the Congress. K. K clappan^K , M adhava M enon, M.P.
G ovinda Menon and K. Raman M enon broke aw ay an d form ed the Congress
Right which remained faithful to Harijan welfare and the propagation ofkhadi.
They belonged lo an older generation o f C ongressm en (both Raman Menon
and M adhava M enon were bom in 1896, w hile K elappan was b om in 1889) and
were, with the exception o f K elappan, professionals and lawyers from south
M alabar. At a meeting in Septem ber 1935, a set o f m ore radical proposals was
put before the KPCC including the abolition o f land revenue, exem pting sm all
cultivators from income tax and vesting proprietary right over land in the
actual cultivator.51 N evertheless, there was to be a broad divergence between
resolutions adopted in the heated atm osphere o f the K PCC m eetings and actual
practice in the countryside.
Vishnu Bharaleeyan, Keraleeyan and eleven others in the desam o f Kolacheri
made the first attem pts to form a peasant union in 1935. Bharateeyan was a
Nam bisan (a caste o f temple officials below the Nam budiris in the putative
hierarchy of castes) and cam e from one o f the prom inent tharavadus o f
Kolacheri w hich had fallen on hard tim es. Bharateeyan, in keeping with his
background, was a man o f religious dem eanour, much given to peppering his
speeches on class exploitation with references from the Bhagavad Gita and the
Puranas. T his is significant in that becom ing a socialist/com m unist did not
necessarily mean an abandoning o f a previous identity or intellectual bag
gage.52 Initial attempts at organisation were met with polite, respectful avoidance
of confrontation, despite the fact that the dom inant Nam budiri landow ner in the
region, who held over 95 per cent o f the lands, gave none of his tenants any
proof o f their tenure. It was a lucky break w hich allow ed the KCSP to intervene.
The Nnmbudiri wrested the crop of his overseer without paying him any
com pensation. Bharateeyan interceded on his behalf and instituted a civil suit
which prom pted the payment of the requisite com pensation. News of this
spread to other villages anil the KCSP was able to establish a union in
K olacheri.53 Early attem pts at organisation depended on the possibility o f
being able lo take advantage o f fissures in the structures o f authority, as for
exam ple, bad blood betw een overseers and landlords. Very often, overseers
acted as the, link between activists and agricultural labourers.54
PrwceilinBS o f KPCC intcling. 29 D c tc m b tr 193-1 A ICC Files I IS/I9J4-36 (NMM L)
' M eeting o f KPCC, 29 Septem ber 1935, AICC Files P-I5/I934-36 (NMML),
M Interview w ilh K eraleeyan, C alicu t, M arch 1987,
u V ishnu B h arateey an . Adittuikai engane udiimakalayi* 82-7,
Interview w ilh K .P .R G o p a lan . K a llia w ri* M arch 1987.
134 Caste, nationalism and com m unism in souih India
Political activity in the countryside reflected a continuation o f the endeavours

for caste equality o f the previous decades. The first all-M alabar peasant
m eeting was held at Parassinikadavu on 1 N ovem ber 1936 and processions
(j a th a s ) o f peasant unions cam e in from Cannanore and its neighbouring
villages, Bharateeyan encapsulated unconsciously the progression o f the
themes o f political activity in M alabar over the past three decades w hen he
stated in his opening speech, There are only two castes, two religions and two
classes - the haves and the have n o ts'.55 Tw o m ajor resolutions were adopted
at this meeting. One was ilic need to abolish custom*, anti specch usages which
em phasised the status o f lower caste lalKnirers.5* T his marked a m ajor shift
from the objectives o f caste associations and the activities o f Gandhian
Congressm en which had stressed self-help and self-betterm ent over the need
to question inequality T he other resolution dealt with the need to com bat the
accretion o f feudal levies w hich tharavadus had begun to extract from their
labourers and dependents, A study o f the dem ands made by peasant unions
betw een 1937 and 1939 dem onstrates the nature o f political activity in the
initial stage - thus far and no further. A peasant union was formed in Alavil in
July 1937. At its first m eeting it was resolved that the fo u rp a u a levy for every
s e e r o f paddy collected by the landlord, the raja o f Chirakkal, should be
opposed.57 A procession o f labourers led by A.V. Kunhambu, whose family
held extensive lands in adjacent Karivellur, went to meet the raja. Kunhambu
refused to discuss the m atter with the overseer o f the raja s estates and insisted
that the direct relationship betw een the palace and the peasants was being
interfered w ith.58 It is significant that traditional relations o f authority were not
being questioned, only their corruption was. However, it is equally important
that now the unions determ ined what was fair and were resolved to stick by it.
They dem anded that the system o f underm easuring their paym ents o f rent at the
rale o f eleven seers as nine and three-quarter je e rs, should be stopped. The raja
offered a com prom ise o f ten seers but this was rejected and the union insisted
on the correct m easurem ent o f grain.59
At a meeting presided o ver by Keraleeyan, again directed at the raja of
C hirakkal, 'feudal levies added on to the rent were opposed. So was the new
practice o f requiring a y ears rent in advance from prospective cultivators on
w etlands.60 A p ro cessio n o f 2,000 peasants approached the Kurum athur
N am budiripad and dem anded the abolition o f akrama pirivukal (irregular
exactions) and the com m issions w hich were to be paid to overseers who
collected the rent. O ne ,of the m ajor dem ands concerned the granting of
si Vishnu Bharateeyan. Adimakal engane udamokalayi, 86.
Ibid., 89.
* Mathrubhumi. 29 July 1937.
* Kurup, Kunhambuvinte kaika {The life o f A.V. Kunhambu), Kotuyam. 1982.
* Mathrubhumi. 29 July 1937.
Prabhatham, 10 O ctober 1938.
Tilt transformation of rural politics, 1934-1940 135
perm ission lo collect firewood from the forests o f the N am budiripad. He was
inform ed that the annual renl would be paid only after the union had mei and
considered the issue.61 A nother procession of 4,000 peasants marched to the
Kalliattu Thazhathevcettil iharavadu in Kalliattu amsam and dem anded the
appointment o f unbiased overseers, the correct m easurem ent o f grain rents and
the abolition of unpaid labour.62 O ther dem ands raised at various meetings
related lo the prevention o f the buying and selling o f labourers along with
leased lands and the term ination o f the practice o f dem anding seeds as part of
the rent In N ovem ber 7,000 peasants went in a procession to
Karakkulidathil N ayanar and dem anded an end lo iradc in serf lab o u r/'3
The dem ands were diverse in scope and included in their am bit the bonded
labourer, the free agricultural labourer, the tenant cultivator, the cultivator on
wetlands as well as the small landowner. T here were several com m on threads;
the most important being the distinction m ade between akrama and krama
pirivukal. An inchoate sense o f a moral economy em erges from this opposition
between regular and irregular exactions. There were no threats o f rents being
withheld, at worst ihere was a delay in payment. At this stage, political activity
is com parable with the struggle in Bihar over bakasht lands led by ihe Kisan
Snhhn and the lefl Henmngham characterises it as an attem pt lo work within
ihe zainiiidtiri system, either to reestablish rights w hich had previously existed,
or else to take advantage o f rights under the law w hich had existed over the
years ,64 E.M.S. Nam budiripad w as at pains to clear any m isunderstanding and
wrote to the G overnor o f M adras that no-rent cam paigns w ere not part o f the
programme o f peasant unions,65 N or were there any dem ands for the redistri
bution o f land. Despite the lim ited nature o f union activity, rumours were rife
that an Ernad type uprising', i.e. along the lines o f the M appila rebellion, was
being contem plated. Unions stated that cultivators and agricultural labourers
would pay a legitim ate rent and no more; none o f the accretions o f demand
following the crisis o f ihe D epression would be countenanced. This was
particularly evident in the underm easuring o f grain rents as in the collection of
nuri (a handful o f grain set aside for the landlord every tim e a certain num ber
o f m easures was reached) or vasi (one and three-quarter measures for every
measure). T he m ost blatant o f these feudal levies was the collection o f the
chillara purappadu, literally, m iscellaneous levies at the tim e o f festivals.66
T he revoking o f customary rights by dominant lhara vadus, like the collection
o f firewood and m anure from forests, becam e a m ajor focus o f opposition.
" Prabhatham, 31 October 1938,

Ibid.
u Prabhatham, 14 Novem ber 1938.
Henningham . Peasant movements in colonial India. 167.
1,1 Governor's report, 10 M arch 1942. Pubticand Judicial Files H7-C-3 (IOL): Narayanan Nair.
Aranullandugalilude (Through ha lf a century), Kollayam, 1973, 179.
** MTCR, 1940. 1 . 52.
C ustom ary rights like fugitive cultivation on w asteland were steadily trans
formed into leases, and rents were collected in cash. Several jathas to the
tharavadus o f the extrem e north and north east o r Chirakkal took up ihe issue
o f the collection o f green leaves for use as manure. O ne jatha managed lo
successfully w rest rights to collect green leaves from the forests o f the
Thazhekkat tharavadu.67 W ith the crash in the prices o f cash crops, many
cultivators began lo encroach upon the forests to grow hill rice and onto
uncultivated w asteland for oth er subsistence crops like horsegram and
blackgram. Cultivation on inferior land was arduous and required ploughing
and cross ploughing up to fifty tim es to pulverise the soil. Green leaves were
scattered, ploughed in and left to decay.68 T he dem ands o f the peasant unions
for w asteland were intim ately linked w ith thequestion o f sustaining custom ary
rights to use o f forests and reflected the spread o f cultivation to more inferior
land. T he bigger landowners retaliated by prohibiting punam cultivation on
their w astelands and hills. If they did give land on leases they dem anded the
settlem ent o f rent in advance o f the crop. Custom ary loans given to cultivators
waned as there w as increasing uncertainly that these, let alone the rents, would
be paid.69
Landholders desirous o f profits preferred to lease forests to planters or even
to cut down trees than allow the cultivation o f unrem uneralive crops. In 1939,
the C ollector o f M alabar lamented the fact that any long-range policy o f forest
conservation was utterly out o f the question. Either trees were being cut down
indiscrim inately to 'defray current expenses or random cultivation w as being
allowed which m eant that forests w ere being encroached upon in an unsystematic
and destructive fashion.70 T he activities o f peasant unions too contributed to
deforestation in a minor way. In N ovem ber 1938, a meeting o f 2.000 men
approached a landlord to claim the custom ary right o f collection o f firewood.
W hen they were refused, several trees were cu t down in protest.11T his steady
intrusion on the forests had two consequences. First, it brought the new breed
o f cultivators into com petition with the tribal groups practising slash-and-burn
cultivation o f hill rice. Secondly, it brought to light the existence o f bonded
la b o u r-b o th tribal and untouchahlc caste - in what had been rem ote fast nesses
penetrated only by the overseers o f dom inant tharavadus like Kulliuttu and
V engayil. In 1939, a delegation o f the All India Students Federation visiting
north east Chirakkal had to inform the tribal inhabitants that it was the British
and not the V engayil N ayanar w ho ruled the country.72 Here again, the
67 Kurup, Kunhambuvintt katha, 134-5.

RDAMP, 1927.75; Revenue DR 8153/34 dated 24 January >934 (KRA).
" FR for the first half o f February 1939, U P and J/5/199 (IOL).
Reply o f the Collector lo Ihe enquiry o f the M alabar tenancy com m ission, R.Dis. 7962/39
dated 3 October 1939 (KRA).
" Sessions Case 22/1938, Home Dept. G 0.3903 (Confdl.) dated 18 July I9J9 (KS)
11 Prabhatham, 9 January 1939.
dem ands o f the peasant unions were objecting to what was akrama w hen they
called for the abolition o f bonded labour. T he com petition developing betw een
the tribal groups and cultivators desperate for land w as not entirely to the
form ers disadvantage. In the peasant unions they acquired an ally against their
exploitation as unpaid labour by the tharavadus. In K alliattu, tribal groups like
the M avilar, K uruchiyar and V ettuvar form ed uneasy alliances with peasant
unions w ho were m otivated as much by profit a s by-altruism. H aving incorpo
rated potential opposition they were then able to tw ist the arm s o f the ow ners
o f the forests into leasing land for punam cultivation and even fix the rent in
some cases. At Eleri, the landlord was forced to lease land at the rent fixed by
the union o f six bushels per acre.73
The undermining of deference
Rural political activity could not rem ain long within Ihe confines o f akrama
and krama envisaged by the KCSP organisers. Increasingly, it began to
underm ine relations o f social deference. Unions burgeoned all over north
M alabar; som e o f them acted as informal protection squads and intervened in
cases o f eviction or dem ands o f feudal levies. Y et others tried to create their
own sphere of influence and functioned, in many ways, as erstw hile caste
councils had done. T he form ation o f unions had as m uch to do with tics of
region, kinship and caste as the presence o f any particular class interest. The
Chittariparam ba peasant union in Chirakkal consisted o f sm all landowners,
lenants, tenant cultivators and agricultural labourers who had in com m on the
fact that they were from ihe same desam .74 Besides, the propensity for union
activity to escalate into violence often m eant that the interests o f their
constituents could frequently be at odds.
In A ugust 1938, a peasant's conference was held at Blathur, in Kalliattu
amsam, attended by 7,000 members o f peasant unions. Bharateeyan w rote of
lie conference that Ihe atm osphere was so healed lliut no resolutions could be
passed unanim ously, A meeting was held near the dom inant tharavadu o f the
area with ten representatives each from neighbouring villages. T he landlord
was told that he could no longer attack the w ives and daughters o f his labourers
with im punity. He would be called by his nam e, A nantan N am biyar, in future
and no honorifics would be suffixed in addressing him. M oreover, peasants
would not m ove out o f the way when he passed them on the road and neither
11 M adhavan, Payaswiniyude teeratiu, 99; Prabhatham, 14 N ovem ber 1938.

Evidence o f K. Kunhtraman, representative, C hlllanparam ba Karshaka Sangham . MTCR.
1940, 1!, 250.
would they stand up w hen he w ent by.75 It was a radical changc from earlier
relations in the countryside; people who had stepped o ff the road w hen upper
caste landlords used the road were now bearding them in their houses. In
Panniyur, peasant union m em bers forced the landlord, Iswaran N am budiripad.
to give receipts for loans and the interest paid on them as well as forgo feudal
levies.76 As a poem published by the Chirakkal taluk peasant union punned,
For long the landlord has taken vasi [feudal levy)/Reducing peasants to
poverty/N ow by form ing unions/W e shall show our vasi [obstinacy] 77
Changes w ere steadily becoming evident in attitudes, behaviour and even
attire. L ow er castes and untouchables began wearing w aislcloths whicli reached
below the knee and headcloths were not taken o ff in the presence o f superiors.
Reporting for the Prabhatham on the changes in the countryside, P. Narayanan
N ayar wrote that follow ing the form ation of the peasant unions more peasants
in the countryside had begun wearing shirts and sporting m oustaches. These
were privileges that had hitherto been reserved for the N ayars.78 M oreover,
w ords w ere undergoing ideological redefinition. The word janmi had previ
ously referred to larger ow ners o f land.79 It was endow ed w ith a pejorative
inflection by association with large landowners and absentee landlords and, by
extension, w ith the system o f feudalism . As Krishna Piliai asserted in one of
his speeches, 'janmisampradayam [the rule o f janmix i.e. feudalism ] is re
sponsible for the oppression o f cultivators. In no civilised country does it exist
any lo n g e r.'80
T he experience o f going in jathas was vitally im portant in engendering a
sense o f rebellion against existing norms. In conception, the jathas were
sim ilar to the religious processions to K ottiyur and Kodungollur. Landow ners,
tenants, cultivators and agricultural labourers m arched together and the sheer
num bers, ranging from 4,000 to 7,000, ensured anonym ity as w ell as a sense
o f com m unity. Both these factors influenced the fact that m any o f the jathas
adopted confrontational stances against tharavadus and landow ners till then
regarded as ineffably superior. These processions w ere sim ilar to the pilgrim ages
to K ottiyur in another respect: their potential for disorder. A t K unim athur, the
dom inant Nam budiri landow ner was kept aw ake all night by the banging o f
coconut shells by the m em bers o f a m am m oth jatha, until he acceded to their
dem ands.81 Jathas cam e to represent the strength o f the people as against
Vishnu Bharateeyan, Adimakal tngane udamakalayi, 127-8,
14 Prabhatham, 28 N ovem ber 1938.
Krishikanute paltu (Songs o f the cultivators) (Chirakkal taluk karshaka sangham , 1938).
* Prabhatham,*) January 1939. See also E.K. N ayanar, My struggles: an autobiography
1982), 10.
G undejt, Malayalam English nighandu, 395.
" Mathrubhumi, 8 M arch 1936. .
*' Nayanar, M y struggles, 10; Interview with K.P.R. Gopalan. K alliajsen, M arch 1987. In
another case, 15.000 m embers o f a jatha kept the K alliattu janmi aw ake all night shouting
protests against his atrocities. Prabhatham, 14 N ovem ber 1938.
Tlw transformation o f rural politics, 1934-1940 139
4
authority by the end o f the decade and very often they entered into pitched
battles with the police. Initially jntha.i had been em blem atic o f the concerns of
the KCSP leadership, derived as it was from the dom inant tharavadus and
deeply desirous o f order. They had been led by KCSP organisers like Keraleeyan.
A.K. G opalan or Chandroth Kunhiraman N ayar who cam e from prominent
N ayar tharavadus in Chirakkal. W hen the processions reached their destina
tion, it had been customary for the mem bers o f the unions to wait outside while
the leaders w ent and negotiated with their ow n kind. This had as much to do
with llie reluctancc o f both KCSP organisers and besieged landlords to
entertain radical dem ands raised by the rude and illiterate as with the operation
o f caste rules. Household buildings were constructed in such a fashion as to
allow each caste entry only till a particular point, as for exam ple, Pulaya
labourers being allowed only till the gale house or pad'tppura. T o allow
members of the jatha, a m otley assortm ent o f castes, to enter the com pound o f
a household, let alone the inner room s, was unthinkable. Though in the initial
Mages, the potential o f processions was curtailed by the predilections o f
leadership and caste, the experience o f collective strength built up by the jatJias
allowed peasant activity to m ove out o f the confines o f KCSP control.
Many peasant unions began to resort to the methods which had been adopted
hy caste councils in an earlier period to punish errant members and bring the
recalcitrant to heel. Now, significantly, the w eapon w as turned against those
w ho had w ielded it earlier. T hose landlords who refused to do aw ay with feudal
levies were subjected to vannathimattu, or the denial o f the services o f the
w asherw om an.82 At Patichal, the organisers o f the peasant union approached
teachers o f the local board school and tried to enlist them in their position as
local notables and makers o f opinion. O ne o f the teachers refused to have
anything to do with the union. W hen the teachers m other died, the union
forbade the services o f w asherwom en, leaving the house under the shroud o f
pollution.83 The use o f these ritual punishm ents is im portant since they worked
w ithin notions o f com m unity. The threat o f pollution m attered because it meant
the possibility o f ostracism ; those punished would be cast out. B ut there was
an im portant difference. T hat the erstw hile dependents and service castes o f the
tharavadus w ere now w orking against them shows the extent o f the decline of
the com m unity centred on the tharavadu. T he effects o f the Depression as w ell
as partitions had left m ost tharavadus w ith very few resources to com mand
allegiance. In Kayyur, the trustees o f the local shrine kept the ornam ents o f the
deities under their control and appropriated the donations m ade during daily
prayers and festivals. Peasant unions objected to this practice and m any o f the
ritual perform ers, Vannans and M alayans, dependent on the shrine jo in ed the
" Prabhatham, 28 N ovem ber and 26 D ecem ber 1938; RAPMP, 1938,15.
CC5/39, Court o f the Joint Magistrate, Tellicherry (Tellicburry C ourt Record Room)
(hcnceforth TCRR)
unions, with the grow ing inability o f the tharavadus to sustain w orship ir those
responsible for it.84
U nions had m anaged lo create enclaves o f pow er in desains and in the
process enforced a degree o f discipline am ong their m em bers as well. At lritty,
a resolution that dem anded that peasants be allow ed to ask for reduction o f rent
independently o f the union was prom ptly quelled.85 M ore often, unions d i
rectly under the control o f the KCSP organisers were the ones loath to enter into
overt confrontational situations. In K odaliprom , when the village revenue
officer collected a com m ission exceeding the rent by 25 p ercen t, Bharateeyan
drafted a letter o f com plaint to the tahsildar o f C hirakkal taluk. The revenue
officer was suspended and the need for social ostracism o r m ore direct conflict
was avoided.86 H ow ever, the experience o f collective strength gained in jathas
and the im position o f sbcial strictures on superiors m eant that the activities o f
unions could not be contained by the predilections o f the KCSP. U nions on
their own initiative woijked largely within the notion o f a moral econom y while
redefining its rules. W hen P. K am m aran and his brother refused to join the
peasant union at Urathur, his fam ily was blacklisted and the entire village
refused 10 speak to them or to allow them entry into hom es. In another instance,
a N am budin landlord o f Kankole was forced to bring in labourers and bullocks
from 'another desam since the local union forbade anyone w ithin the village
from working for him .87 Furtherm ore, individuals could now appeal to unions
outside their ow n desam to arbitrate conflicts. In M anipuzha, the N am budiri
landow ner had sixty-tw o acres o f w asteland w hich had been assessed as
unoccupied dry' and w as therefore not subject to paym ent o f revenue. W ith
the increase in dem and for cultivable land, the landlord was keen to evict his
tenant, C handurand give it all out on lease. Chandu was equally keen to acquire
at least part o f the land on im proving tenure and approached his paternal uncle
who was the president o f the peasant union in nearby Alakkad.88 He in turn
approached A.V. Kunhambu, w hose A khila Bharat Y uvak Sangham (All India
youth organisation) had gained a foothold in northern Chirakkal. V olunteers of
the ABYS w ent and occupied the Held o f M unipu/ha Namhmliri The police
had to be culled in to cvicl the squatters.1^
T he experience o f collective action and independent enterprise soon freed
union activity from the constraints im posed by the KCSP leaders. U nions
m ushroomed all o ver north M alabar, organised around specific issues, and at
M K.K.N. Kurup, The Kayyuc. riot: a terrorist episode in the national movement in Kerala
(Calicut, 1978), 40.
CC 93/38, Court o f the Joint Magistrate, TettichenyCTCRR);Home D ep t.C .0 .3903 (Confdl.)
dated 18 July 1939 (KS).
Vishnu Bharateeyan, Adimakal engane udamakolayi, 23.
* CC 524/39, II class M agistrate, Taiiparam ba, Home Dept. G O 3903 ( Confdl.) dated 18 July
1939 (KS); CCI06/38. Court o f the Joint Magistrate, Tellicherry (TCRR).
Session* case 22/1938. Home Dept G.0.3903 (Confdl.) datrd 18 July 1939 (KS).
Kurup, Kunhambuvinte katha, 132.
times they acted as a local countcr force against a tharavadu's authority. Most
o f them ow ed nothing more than a formal allegiance to the KCSP leadership
who now needed an issue w hich would gam er the support o f w ider groups as
well as allow (hem to exert a degree o f control over diverse initiatives. Union
activity did not reflect solely the rise o f class based peasant m ovem ents' as
Karat argues.90 Unions were divided by caste and region, and very often
affiliation with a union was purely tem porary, in order to sort out individual
grievances.
The attempt at moderation - amendment of the Tenancy Act
W ith the grow ing tendency o f peasant initiatives to m ove beyond the control *
o f the KCSP, there was considerable alarm am ong the leadership. The Akhila '
Bharat Yuvak Snngham, the brainchild o f A. V. Kunham bu, provided particular
cause for anxiety as it had managed to gain an ascendancy in the desams o f
Peralam, K odakkat, Kutiamalh and Peelicodc w here large tracts o f wasteland
and forest were available. K eralceyan, a relative o f Kunhambu was sent lo
gauge the strength of the ABYS in Karivellur and other regions. Finally,
Krishna Pillai him self approached Kunhambu in 1939 and, as a senior activist,
advised him that the ABYS should not em erge as an alternative to the
com m unist party. Kunhambu agreed to dissolve his units and transferred the
organisations sole possession - a table - to the office o f the socialist party.91
However, not all groups were going to respond in a sim ilar fashion. As yet,
the KCSP had only m anaged lo ride the w ave o f the agitation for wastelands.
Challenges to rural authority had gone on apace, and rem ained outside the
am bit of socialist leadership. Jeffrey characterises the agitation as one appealing
to the middle peasant' on the grounds thai reducing revenue, ending feudal
exactions and the like were 'clearly middle peasant dem ands'. He tends to
ignore Ihe underm ining o f deference in the countryside ns well ns Ihe struggle
lo r w asteland which clearly had a long prior history.',2T hc attack on deference
appealed to peasants all along the scale, ranging from labourer to the landowner
reduced to tenant by the Depression. Demands for w asteland cam e as much
from the poor peasant* as the m iddle peasant. M oreover, at this stage, tenant
cultivators and small landow ners were still not in the realm o f controlled
political activity. T he issue o f extending thti provisions o f the M TA , 1930
" See P Karat, 'T lie peasant m ovem ent in Malabar, 1934-40", Social Scientist, 50 (1976), 30-
44 and O rganised struggles of the M alabar peasantry, 1934-40, Social Scientist, 56 (1977),
3-17.
*' Kurup. Kunhambuvmtr katha, 122, 134-5.
" R. Jeffrey, Peasant m ovem ents and the Com munist Party in Kerala, 1937-60 in D.B, Miller
ed., Peasants and politics: grass roots reaction lo change in India (London, 1979), 139.
seemed to provide a possible focus. Tenant cultivators on garden lands

(kuzhikanakkar) had not been provided with security o f tenure under the Act.
At this juncture, w ith the crash in the prices o f cash crops, their position was
even m ore tenuous. Kuzhikanakkar had begun to w ithhold rent in parts o f north
M alabar, and the tenants associations w hich had been set up prior to the
passing o f the A ct w ere now beginning to com e to life.93
The KCSP began to organise rallies dem anding the extension o f the
provisions o f the M TA lo north M alabar and ihe am endm ent o f certain clauses.
They did not m ake any fundam ental critique o f the Act and rem ained firmly
within ihe niche crcutcd by the government for future legislation. In Bihar,
khan sabhas and the provincial Congress com m ittees m obilised peasants
around the proposed T enancy bill in 1938* As in M alabar, the dem ands o f the
peasant leaders concerned those who already held land on tenures: cutting rent
dem and by half and the stopping o f evictions for non-paym ent o f rent.94 Fair
rent was to be fixed at h alf the net produce and this provision was to be extended
to garden lands as well. T he system o f paying renewal fees at the end o f the
period o f tenure was to be ended as was the requirem ent that cultivators on
wetlands pay a years rent in advance. The expansion o f cultivation to the
margins was reflected in the dem and for the extension o f the provisions o f the
A ct to punam and pepper cultivators,95 In order to publicise the proposed
am endm ents, the M alabar Tenancy Bill am endm ent day was observed on 6
N ovem ber 1938 and peasant unions allied with (he K CSP in north M alabar held
m eetings specifically addressing this issue.96
A ctivity concerned with the M TA clim axed on 18 D ecem ber when two
jathas from the peasant unions o f north and south M alabar m arched to Calicut
to present their charter to the Collector. The C ollector could not m eet the jatha
due to unavoidable circum stances.97 Concurrently, the second all M alabar
peasants conference w as held at Chevayur. H ere A.K. C opalan countered the
'allegations' directed against peasant unions and portrayed them as working
w ithin the confines o f legality. This was important both to gam er the support
o f the tenantry who w ere alarm ed by the initiatives o f the landless, and to
convince the C ongress governm ent that the KCSP had the m ovem ent in its
control. T h e tension created by the attem pts o f the KCSP leadership to swamp
the initiatives o f the unions was reflected in a strongly w orded resolution. This
threatened non-paym ent of-rent and the im position o f social boycott in the
countryside i f the governm ent did not consider altering the M TA.98 Keeping
F R for the first h alf o f N ovem ber 1938, U P and J/5/I9S (IO L); Oral evidence o f T, Chalhu,
schoolmaster, Badagara. MTCR, 1927-28, II, 352-3.
v Tom linson, The Indian National Congrets and the Raj. 97-9.
K. Keraleeyaa, Required changes in ihe M alabar Tenancy Act', Prabhatham, 24 October 1938.
* Prabhaiham, 14 N ovem ber 1938,
Prabhatham, 31 O ctober 1938.
Prabhatham, 26 D ecem ber 1938.
in mind the increasing unrest in north M alabar, T. Prakasam , the Revenue

M inister, loured the area and later announced the setting up o f a M alabar
Tenancy Com m ittee. F or the first tim e, a third o f the respondents to the
enquiries o f a T enancy C om m ission w ere peasant a s so c ia tio n s ." A.V.
Kunhambu w rote later that gathering inform ation for the com m ission had
provided many KCSP organisers and peasant unions with a better insight into
agrarian problem s and helped them to understand better w hat had been mere
slogans like death to feudalism . 100 As the concerns o f the tenants, shifting
cultivators, and those reclaim ing w asteland cam c together around the specific
issue o f am endm ent o f the M TA, union m em bership received a boost. In 1939,
under the broad um brella o f the All M alabar Peasant Union (AM PU ), there
were 180 unions in north M alabar alone w ith a m em bership approaching
2 0 ,0 0 0 .''
The search for an alternative culture
T he G uruvayur satyagraha in 1932-33 had com e to a halt in the cul-de-sac o f

im agining a w ider Hindu unity, and at the sam e tim e resolved itself into a
m atter concerning Nayars alone. In the search for a secular culture w hich
would help transcend particular identities o f caste and religion, the socialists
tried to exploit a factor unique to M alabar - a literate populace. Literacy was
lo be the prem ise o f the new socialist culture based on reading room s, and in
this the KCSP tapped into a rich vein. A ritual form like the leyyattam provides
us w ith an insight into the realisation by the low er castes o f know ledge as
power. The texts o f the leyyattam, com posed by M alayans and V annans, spoke
o f the injustices com m itted against low er castes by arrogant Nayars. D uring the
perform ance, the dancer, possessed by the spirit o f the dead, spoke his m ind to
the N ayar o r Nam budiri chastising him for errors o f om ission and com m ission.
It was not only the fact o f being possessed, but the know ledge o f the perform er
w hich allow ed the reversal o f custom ary roles. Legends associated w ith the
leyyattam speak o f M alayans who m anaged to h a r r y into brahm in fam ilies, or
learn the arts o f the upper castes by virtue o f their know ledge w hich allow ed
the disguise* o f their low status.102
The low er caste m ovem ents o f the early decades had em phasised the link
between pow er and know ledge. Literacy as providing a disguise for status
MTCft, 1940, 1,2. O f ihe 459 replies received, 145 were from peasant associations. Eighty-
three o f these were from Chirakkal and Kottayam.
' Kurup, Kunhambuvinte lullha, 227.
"" Balaram, Keralathile kammyunislu praslhanam. I, - . 834
* A well-known M aU yalam proverb has it that Saraswati, the goddess o f learning, resided on
ihe tongue o f the Malayan. C hanthera, KaUyoltam, 3 3 ,3 6 , 115.
and as a strategy against the oppression o f the upper castes was an inherent idea.
T he K eraliya K arm m ala Sam ajam (K erala A rtisans A ssociation), had stated as
early as 1911, to establish the foundations o f the w orld ... tw o things are
necessary -e d u c a tio n and w e a lth '.103 M eetings o f the A raya M ahajnna Sabha
(Fisherm ens Congress) had asserted in 1920 that their salvation 'depended on
education and education alone. It is significant that untouchable m ovem ents
even elsew here in India saw the basic polarity in society as being between
know ledge and ignorance' rather than a D um ontian opposition o f purity and
pollution. T he A d D harm m ovem ent in Punjab had as one o f its slogans
'Education leads us to where the truth resides. 104 Education w as seen as the
panacea fo r poverty and inequality and that w hich guaranteed the security of
future generations. C onservatives w ere beginning to fear that with the younger
generation o f cobblers, carpenters and others increasingly going in for
elem entary education instead o f learning their hereditary trade, special classes
o f people w ould becom e utterly extinct.*05 In 1938, one o f the pam phlets
published by the Chirakkal taluk peasant union spoke o f debts and pauperisation
am ong agricultural labourers. H ow ever, their ultim ate sorrow lay in the fact
that, Though w e struggle/A re w e able to dress our children even in rags/A nd
put a slate and pencil in their h ands.106
T he desire for education was fuelled by the increasing opportunities
provided by a hierarchy o f elem entary, secondary and high schools. These
displaced, to som e extent, the inform al education im parted in the villages and
the village schools . 101 By 1931, there w ere 1,004 elem entary schools for boys
and 317 for girls, whjch made M alabar the district with the highest school-
going population in the Presidency.108 In 1922, the local cheri schools o f the
low er castes were am algam ated with the schools m anaged by the D istrict
Board. Free and com pulsory education w as introduced by the Tellicherry,
Chirakkal, K ottayam and K urum branad taluk boards. As a result, the num ber
Of untouchables in schools not specifically m eant for them increased
considerably. T his trend w as strengthened by a decision o f the governm ent of
M adras that a school w as to be treated as inaccessible and liable to loss o f
recognition if no pupil belonging to Ihe 'depressed clnsscs' was found on its
1,0 P. G ovindan, Keraliya karmmala samaja vijnapanam {An advertisement fo r the artisans o f
Kerala) (C ilicut, 1912), II.
Hindu, 29 June 1920. See Juergensm eyer. Religion as social vision, 119-20.
Evidence of V.V. Parameswara A yyar, Patghat, Report o f the unemployment commission,
1927,231.
,n Prabhatham, 19 December 1938.
151 A iyappan, Iravas and culture change, 127.
In 1933, there were 18,000 pupils attending secondary school; the largest num ber in the
Presidency. By 1936, the percentage o f school-gocrs to the population was 17.2 for m ales arid
9,6 for fem ales. Report on the working o f the Local Boards in the Madras Presidency, 193 s .
annexuccs D and E; Report on Public Instruction in the Madras PresidencyQicncetonh MPtR).
1937. 3-4.
190!
L ite ra te P e rc e n ta g e in p o p u la tio n
M A LES FEM A LES M A LES FEM A LES
C h irn k k a l 28347 4463 18.3 2 .7

K o lta y a m 23605 4644 - 2 3 .0 4 .3
K u m m b ra n a d 33852 5267 20 0 3 .2
1931
L ite ra te P e rc e n ta g e in p o p u la tio n
M ALES FEM A LES M ALES FEM A LES
C h ira k k a l 55882 16447 2 9 .4 7 ,9

K o ltay am 43387 15196 3 4 .8 10.9
K u m m b ra n a d 50780 9987 2 5 .2 4 .8
(Statistics From K.N. Krishnnswami and T.G. Rutherford, Statistical appendix for
Malabar district, 1933 x x x v ii).
ro lls.109 Betw een 1901 and 1931, the rise in the num bers o f literate was
phenom enal.
The growing num ber o f schools and the rise in literacy found expression in
the num ber o f reading room s lhat w ere established both in the countryside and
in the towns. Each caste, in its attem pts to organise associations, built reading
room s alongside their ow n tem ples to allow their caste fellow s access to both
know ledge and god. T here w ere tw enty-eight registered reading room s with
2,802 m em bers in 1924; the num ber had risen by 1932 to fifty with 6,635
m em bers.1,0 These ranged from buildings m ade o f brick to sheds m ade o f mud
with straw roofs, stocking the daily new spapers and som etim es with a library
as well. T he nam es o f the reading room s reflected three siicecssivc historical
currents. Those set up by castc associations had nam es which indicated their
purpose - the G nanaprakashini (Light o f K now ledge) and the Vidyabhivardini
(Prom oter o f Know ledge) at K adirur w ere am ong the oldest. Then there were
those set up by early C ongressm en who nam ed them after national figures tike
M otilal N ehni (Taliparam ba) and Sri H arsha (K alliasseri). O thers reflected a
national aspiration like the one established by Bharateeyan at N aniyur, which
was called Bharatiya M andiram (Tem ple to India). In later years, the com mu-
"" MI'IR, 1922*23, 5-6, 31; Law (Education) G O J 446 dated 14 July 1935 (KS).
" B MPIR. 1924, 93; MPIR, 1932. 178. A fter 1932. no more statistics for reading room s ore
recorded in the reports
nists nam ed reading rooms after 'm artyrs, i.e. those w ho had died in encoun
ters w ith the police. O ne such reading room (now a library as well) was the
Abu-Chathukutty, nam ed after two beedi w orkers who were shot in demon*
strations in 1940.
A ctivists o f the KCSP tapped this source and the reading room s were
stocked first with new spapers like the Mathrubhumi, and later the Prabhatham
as w ell.111 Early Congress w orkers had treated the distribution and sale o f the
Mathrubhumi as an essential part o f nationalist activity. This was continued as
port o f the com pulsory m anual labour program m e for Congress w orkers in
1935-36 in which they were required to sell at least I rupee worth o f books or
pam phlets o f national im portance.112 T he Prabhatham w as launched in 1936
with E.M .S. N am budiripad as the editor b ut was closed dow n w ithin six
months. T his was on account o f the high security dem anded by the M adras
G overnm ent, in order to curtail the Prabhatham's report on peasant and w orker
radicalism. It resum ed publication in 1938, was conceived o f as a new spaper
which w ould inform as w ell as act as a centrepiece o f discussion. In 1933, the
Mathrubhumi introduced a section called w orkers w orld, but the Prabhatham
tried to cater mainly for w orkers and peasants. It was a new world populated
only by the w orking m asses and the exploiting classes. T here was a page
devoted to news about agricultural labourers in the interior and the mill
w orkers and municipal em ployees in the towns. T he form ation o f unions,
resolutions adopted at meetings, reports o f conditions in factories, the exist
ence o f bonded labour in the foothills and the progress o f strikes received
extensive coverage. A nother regular feature was devoted to the peasantry and
spoke about the avalanche o f unions in th e years follow ing the form ation o f the
Congress m inistry in 1937, the processions against oppressive landlords and
detailed criticism o f the M alabar T enancy A ct o f 1930.
O ne o f the novelties in the organisation o f the reading room s was the
com m unal drinking o f tea, as one person read the new spapers and the others
listened. Using literacy figures to determ ine the influence o f a new spaper can
be m isleading, if only because new spapers were nearly always read com m u
nally. T ea and coffee lubricated discussions on the veracity o f the news and of
political questions, and a new culture em erged around the reading room s. It was
prem ised on sobriety .and know ledge rather than the drunken com panionship
transcending consciousness which characterised the toddy shops. T he im
portance o f tea and coffee lay in the fact that they were recently introduced
beverages and did not fit into any taboos regarding w hat could be shared
betw een castes. T ea shops and reading room s all over M alabar provided a
*" There is only one surviving volume o f the Prabhatham, with a few issues from 1938 and
1939. and it is held in the library o f ihe Slate Council o f the'C om m unist Party o f India, in
Trivandrum .
AICC Files P-15/1934-36 (NMML).
com mon place for people to meet a n d 10 d r i n k together regardless o f caste. This
was significant in the context o f the decline o f charily in the afterm ath o f the
Depression. O ne o f the repercussions was the dem ise o f w ayside endow m ents
like the vazhiambalam a n d the tannirpandal where the poorer w ayfarer could
get rice gruel and w a te r 113
Through the reading rooms, new spapers and tea shops a w hole new world
was imagined, and discussions built up,a collective memory o f organisation,
strikes and cam paigns against landlords as well as victories o f reduced working
hours, more wages and less rcnl. Each o f Ihe earlier attem pts to construct a
niunnoiiily <>f equals IijhI pmmolctl singular and limited identities and pur
veyed lltese through their newspapers. The Mithavadi had spoken about both
the problem s as well as the achievem ents o f the Tiyyas and the world had been
refracted through the lens o f caste prospects. Though the Mathrubhumi tried to
w iden its sw eep, it w as essentially a Congress new spaper and, by the end o f the
decade, it had com e to be seen as an organ o f the right wing in the KPCC. T o
an extent, the Prabhatham continued with this particularist tradition, by
speaking for w orkers' and peasants alone, but there w as a significant
departure. For the first tim e, there was a new spaper w hich catered for the newly
literate and sem i-literate and drew upon traditions o f collective activity.
M oreover, an instrum ental edge was given to these efforts as literacy w as
linked with political aw areness.*14
W hat did socialism mean both to the socialist leaders as well as the w orkers
and peasants who frequented ihe reading room s? K.P. G opalan observed with
characteristic candour: we had socialist aim s w ithout know ing anything about
Socialism*. 115 Articles published i n ihe Mathrubhumi on Capitalism and Labour
w ere rem arkable more for their polem ical fervour than for an exposition o f
socialist ideas. Ignorance is the fundam ent o f capitalism . A nger is its arm our,
cruelty its w eapon. T he synonym s o f capitalism are treachery, oppression,
deception, selfishness and contem pt. 116 W ords underw ent redefinition;
muthalali, which had m eant ow ner o f property, now cam e to m ean capitalist
with all its negative connotations. W hen one bears in mind that both peasants
and factory w orkers addressed theirem ployers as muthalali, the am biguity now
introduced m eant that deference would begin to ca n y an edge o f m ockery or
defiance. In an article entitled 'S trikes, the anonym ous w riter stated, 'Som e
exploitative individuals who desire only profits are running the businesses.
Since these individuals are the ow ners o f capital they are called capitalists
Ayyappan, Iravas and culture change, 34, 115.

" In ihe conic*! o f early unionisation in Bengal in the tw enties, Chakrabarty m akes a sim ilar
observation. Labour union tracts and manuals for unionisation em phasised the importance
o f study circles to discuss political matters. D. Chakrabany, Rethinking working class his *
lory: Bengal. 1890-1940 ( Delhi, 1989), 129-30.
,l! Quoted in N.E. Balaram. Keralathile kammyunistu prasthanam, 1 ,50.
"* Mathrubhumi, 9 Septem ber 1933.
(muladhanam + muthalali).' From 1932, articles on Lenin and M arxism had

begun to appear in the Maihrubhumi, translated either from English or Hindi.
T he few articles on the S oviet U nion referred to it as a U topia where w orkers
owned the industries and agriculture was organised for the needs and welfare
o f society.117 T he socialism delineated in new spaper articles was im precise
and in this precisely lay its appeal. T he division into rich and poor, capitalist
and labourer; m eant that an appeal could be m ade transcending caste and
religion.
It was only in 1939, w hen the socialists migrated to the Com m unist Party
that there was a concerted attem pt to create a cadre conversant in the theory of
M arxism. A ctivists like A.K. G opalan still were more com fortable organising
unions than trying to understand the m ysteries o f dialectics. In his autobiog
raphy, he attributed his conversion to M arxism to a desire to rid him self of
false pride, self conceit and desire for pow er, which he believed to be the traits
o f his class.1 E.M .S. N am budiripad and K. D am odaran were the only party
theoreticians w ho attem pted to clarify the principles o f M arxism for a general
public. In 1938, Nambudiripad published Keralammalayalikaludemaihrubhumi
(Kerala, the motherland o f the Malayalis), the first M arxist history o f Kerala
from the earliest tim es. Throughout the forties, he attem pted to explain the
perplexing shifts in the party line to the cadre through articles in the party
journals. Yet it was D am odaran w ho em erged as the consum m ate populariser
o f M arxism, initially through his plays Raktapanam (Draught o f blood) and
Pattabakki ( Rent arrears) o f 1939, and subsequently, through a series of
pam phlets on the essentials o f M arxist thought.
A special edition o f the Prabhatham in 1939 had sought to convey the
excitem ent and the explosive potential o f M arxism to its readers; the authorities,
how ever, would have none o f it. In this proscribed edition, articles w ritten by
the party leaders spoke o f how caste divisions, poverty, illiteracy and starvation
could be ended and inequality transcended. D amodaran stated that with the aid
o f this science (DialecticjU M aterialism ) we can forecast the future o f m an and
society and thus control It. Society w ould be reordered and every individual
would get the opportunity to live, enjoy and progress. 119 It was this vision
that Diimtxlariin sought lo convcy in his plays us well, I Ic em ployed the simple
but effective strategy o f putting paraphrases o f M arx into the m ouths o f his
protagonists at clim actic points. At the end o f Raktapanam, the hero Sanku is
shot dead by the police follow ing the brutal suppression o f a strike. Sanku
addresses the grieving labourers thus: All the present-day laws and the
Maihrubhumi, 9 D ecem ber 1933.

"* Gopalan, In the cause o f the people, 84.
Extracts from proscribed edition o f Prabhalham special num ber 1939. K Damodaran.
Science o f M arxism . Public (General) Dept. C.0 1 3 5 1 (Confdl.) dated 17 August 1939
(KS).
Governm ent we know are lo perpetuate the injustices o f the exploiting class;
but we shall not flinch. If you are to lose, we lose only the rusty chains o f
slavery. If we succeed we get a whole w orld.'*20
Pattabakki was the most influential play o f its time, perform ed in all the
villages o f M alabar as part o f party conferences o r by peasant unions. It
criticised the heartlessness o f the landlords; the links betw een the propertied
and the State; and more effectively the apathy o f the poor who w ere deprived
o f faith. The play is buili as a dow nw ard spiral o f misery and poverty w hich is
halted by the discovery o f an ideology o f hope by the protagonist. T he play
begins with a four-year-old crying piteously, M other, I am hungry . From here
things (ake a turn for the worse. The m other is denied food by shopkeepers
unw illing to advance any m ore loans; an overseer arrives to collect the arrears
o f rent, makes a pass at the adolescent daughter, is repulsed, and goes away
sw earing revenge; the family is evicted from their house; the eldest son,
Kiltunni, a factory worker, resorts to petty theft w hich lands him in ja il; the
child dies o f hunger; the m other dies o f tuberculosis; and the daughter turns to
prostitution. W hile in prison, Kittunni meets a M uslim socialist who instructs
him in ihe principles o f political organisation. 'In order lo fight against the
tyranny o f capitalists and landlords, trade unions and peasant unions m ust be
organised e v ery w h ere... Every nook and cranny in a village m ust becom e the
centre o f opposition to the landlord and capitalist.* T here is no option for Ihe
poor but lo appropriate the apparatus o f the State through a struggle. Kittunni
is released from ja il, has a traum atic and tearful reunion with his sister, and
realises that poverty was at the root o f his resort to theft and that o f his sister
to prostitution. T ogether they resolve that we m ust dem and restitution from
society. W e must destroy and rebuild the social system .,|21
Behind all this m elodram a is a sim ple fact; il was the first tim e that the
wretched and the poor had entered the stage o f M alayalam literature. In
Travancore, novels provocatively titled Thottiyude makan (Scavenger's son) 1
by Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai and Odayilninmt ( From the gutter) by P. Kesava
I )cv w ere being published, m arking ihe beginning o f a m ovement lowurds whut
cam e lo be called Progressive Literature. It was part o f a w holc-scale attack on
both the structures and the values o f traditional society, the story o f which
rem ains to be told.122
The reading rooms em erged as central to both formal attem pts at organisation
110 Translated excerpts from Ihe proscribed play Raktapanam. Public (General) Dept. C.O.
2232 (Confdl.) dated 14 December W 9 ( K S ). 1 have been unable to trace a com plete edition
o f the play.
,!l K. Dam odaran. Pattabakki.
,,J For brief accounts of ihe Progressive W riters movement see P.K. Gopalakrishnan, Purogamana
sahitva prasthunam: nizhalum velicchavum (Theprogressive literature movement: light and
shadow) (Trichur, I9B7): E. Ssrdarkutty, Purogamana sahuya nirupanam (A criticism o f
Progressive Literature) (Trivandrum. 1985)
by the left wing within the C ongress as well as local initiatives. In 1934, when
the Beedi W orkers U nion was form ed in Cannanorc, one o f its first resolutions
concerned the setting up of a reading room .123 At the first anniversary o f the
Thozhilali Yu vajana (W orking youths) reading roor.i in 1935, the setting up o f
such institutions in villages was hailed as a vital step in the fight against
injustice and oppression .124 By the end o f the thirties, peasant unions were
formed out o f what began as groups of peasants reading together. W hen the All
India Students Federation sent a procession to Chirakkal, they discovered that
inform al peasant unions had set up reading rooms in the forest regions o f the
north eust, where copies o f the Inibluitluvn occupied pride o f p lace.12-' The
socialists recognised the extent o f popular involvement with the paper and
made it the organ o f political m obilisation. By 1938, full-tim e activists o f the
KCSP functioned as new spaper agents in tw enty-three m ajor towns and
villages all over M alabar.126 The reading rooms becam e such a vital part o f the
new culture that, in June 1937, a M alabar V ayanashala (M alabar reading
room s) conference was held in Calicut lo coordinate the activities o f disparate
organisations and people. A com m ittee was set up with K. D am odaran as
convenor and M. Sankaran, K.P,R. G opalan and M.K. Kelu as members. This
represented more an aspiration by the KCSP to establish some degree o f control
o v era popular movement, than the setting u p o f a formal coordinating b o d y .127
Thus, literacy becam e an essential p an o f the KCSP program m e. In 1938.
directives were issued lo all town and prim ary C ongress com m ittees regarding
the public services they were expected to m aintain. These included the setting
up o f reading rooms, night schools, study classes and the maintenance of
blackboards outside the office for advertising the daily news. A library was to
be organised by every com m ittee and kept open daily between 5 pm and 8 pm
so that labourers could read after work. Besides new spapers, there were to be
political books and pam phlets w hich could be made the focus o f study classes
for the politically conscious.128 A detailed syllabus which included several
papers on revolutions - the French, Chinese and Russian - was outlined for
volunteer classes. The M appila rebellion was incorporated as an indigenous
version o f peasant revolt and given the neutral and more strategic title o f the
M alabar R ebellion.129 Just as the Prabhaiham portrayed a world o f oppression
and the reaction o f w orkers and peasants, the syllabi o f the volunteer classes
constructed a history purely in instrum ental terms o f revolts against injustice
The reading room s becam e central to socialist organisation in the villages,
ia Mathrubhumi, 3 O ctober 1934.

1J4 Mathrubhumi, 24 O ciobcr 1935.
m Prabhaiham. 9 O ctober 1938 a n d 9 Jan u a ry 1939
136 Prabhaiham , 14 N ovem ber 1938.
1,1 Mathrubhumi, 12 June 1937.
"* AlCC Files P I3 (pan I and ID/1938 (NM M L),
Ibid.
managing lo creale space for cam araderie and intellectual discussion. How
ever, the K C S P never m anaged lo exercise more ihan a formal degree of control
over these establishm ents. And. as with the jathas, collective experience, in
this case o f reading and discussing together, bred militancy. This becam e
evident in the confrontations with the police in 1940.
T o w a rd s c o n fro n ta tio n - P ro te st D ay, 1940
The erosion o f rural authority by the unions, along with the possibility of
lenancy legislation proved to be the last straw for powerful tharavadus. They
bristled at the general decline in respect. Peasant union m em bers were
arrested on charges o f crim inal intim idation, dacoity and unlawful assembly.
Punitive police stations were set up in the north o f Chirakkal, the worst-
affectcd region. The close link betw een the police and the dom inant tharavadus
was clear in the locations chosen lo set up the bastions o f order. The police
station at Peringome in Payyanur w as situated in part o f the house o f Vengayil
N ayanurand in Ellarenhi, Ihe K arakkatidathil N ayanar made available one o f
his houses. As D avid Arnold has rightly pointed out, rather than the State
having to use police cocrcion because elites w ere unable to maintain control,
the police in the M adras Presidency becam e an arm o f the local elite.130
The Congress m inistry, under the conservative prem ier Rajagopalachari,
was. equally alarm ed by ihe agitation and anxious to contain w hat it.saw as the
challenge from the socialists. It adopted a tough line on 'po litical' offenders
and left wing agitation.131 As early as O ctober 1937, E.M.S. N am budiripad
had written lo the president o f the Congress W orking C om m ittee that it was
reprehensible that the representatives o f the Congress had begun to speak the
language o f Law and O rder" o f the old regim e*.132 T he socialist sleight of
hand which represented them as the radical wing o f the Congress offered a
partial solution to the repression by the ministry at M adras. Thus, when there
were com plaints from the village authorities o f peasant unions subjecting
landlords to social ostracism , Keraleeyan inform ed them that such activities
were approved o f by the m inistry.133
If the socialists were to continue lo m aintain an im portant role in rural
politics, som ething more was needed than a m ere rhetoric o f equality o r pleas
o f acting as the conscience o f the Congress. Relations between landlords and
Kurup, Kunhambuvmie kalha, 154; Arnold, Police power and colonial rule, 108-10.
Ul A.R.H. C opley. The political career o f C. Rajagopalachari, 1937-54: a moralist fn politics
(M adras, 1978). 49.
E.M.S. Nam budiripad lo President, CW C. 22 October 1937, AICC Files PL-18 (NMML).
1 Prabhatham, J D ecem ber 1938.
152 Caslc, nationalism and com m unism in south India
cultivators had at m ost tim es been inform ed by violence, and it had becom e
more so with the intervention o f unions and arm ed police. W ith the growing
backlash from landlords, the socialists had to show that they were capable of
resisting the authority o f the elites and the state. They needed to provide an
alternative force themselves. At a meeting o f peasants in K ottayam in i935,
Nam budiripad had stated that the habit o f the peasant is to avoid confrontation
in the face o f injustice and oppression. 134 This was no longer true but an
organisation was urgently needed. In 1938, Chandroth Kunhiram an N ayar, a
one-tim e m em ber o f the police foVce, was put in charge o f organising volunteer
squads to train them on m ilitary lines. By 1939, all the villages in north
M alabar, particularly in K ottayam had volunteer organisations.
Officers Volunteers
Hosdrug 26 240
Chirakkal 33 473
Kottayam 34 426
Total 93 1139
At the end o f 1939 another thousand volunteers had joined up The

volunteer organisations intervened in disputes over land, prevented evictions
and, by 1939, began to attack local courts w here m em bers o f peasant unions
were being tried.136 O nce a counter force to the police was built up. thi?
socialists followed a deliberate strategy o f attacking the police at every rally
they addressed and exposing the links between the big landow ners and the
police. They were caught in a bind o f keeping up with the radicalism o f the
unions at the same tim e as trying not to seem oppositional to the Congress
Attacks on the credibility o f the police were often justified as a means o f
winning people over to the Congress. As an article in the Prabhatham slated,
that the people think o f carrying on opposition lo the police is because a
Congress governm ent is in pow er. 137 O nce the fear o f the police had been
subverted, peasant unions began going further in their attem pts to change the
rural order. By the beginning o f 1940, alternative judicial .structures were set
up and union leaders launched enquiries into the m isdem eanours o f landlords.1
From 1939, the socialists adopted a m ore radical stand in rural politics,
having by then gained control over the Congress organisation. Earlier, the
Congress R ight had m anaged to debar those suspected o f being socialists from
congesting elections by ijccusing them o f not being habitual khadi w earers.
Mathrubhumi, 13 October] I93S.

131 Public and Judicial Files II7-C-81, 1937 (IOL); AICC Files, p a n 111939 (NMM L),
1,6 Fortnightly Report for thejsecond h alf o f February 1939, V P anti J/5/199 (IOL).
Prabhatham, 28 Novem ber 1938.
' Home Political 7/9/41 (NAT).
Th transformation o f rural politics, 1934-1940 153
They utilised lo the utm osl, G andhis suggestions ai the Bom bay session o f the
A1CC in 1934, that the 'khadi clause and the spinning franchise be used lo
distinguish th e true C ongressm an.139 M eanwhile, com plaints flowed into the
AICC from M uslim s and Tiyyas against the com m unal and casteist nature of
the KPCC w hich, they alleged, had been taken over by the old Chalappuram
G ang. 140 In 1938, the deadlock betw een.the Right and the socialists was
resolved. T he socialists sw ept the K PCC elections in alliance with a liberal
section am ong the M appilas led by M uham m ad A bdur Rahman and M oithu
M aulavi; the R ight derisively dubbed them the M ecca-M oscow ax is. 141
Pragm atic elem ents within the Right, like Samuel A aron, played an im portant
part in assuring the success o f the M appila-socialist alliance. W orried by the
possibility o f the M uslim League presenting a point o f unity for the M appila
m ercantile com m unity, Aaron, along with several Hindu seths o f Calicut
financed political conferences held by ihe socialists lo woo Ihe M appilas.142
However, a significant proportion o f the M appila elite rem ained suspicious of
both the Congress as well as the socialists. A routine decision to hoist the
Congress flag on m unicipal buildings in Cannanore led to a m inute o f dissent
at a M unicipal Council meeting. It stated in unequivocal terms that the
'C ongress flag is at best the flag o f a party. It has not .secured the allegiance o f
Ihe M ussalm ans ... and other m inorities. 143
In May 1939, the socialists annulled the khadi clause and in June, a new
constitution was drafted with a crucial proviso that ihe working com m ittee
could enquire into election com plaints. Using this power, eight out o f nine
primary com m ittees with non-socialist m ajorities were dissolved by the end o f
the year. In som e areas, elections were set aside even though no com plaints had
been m ade. I44 T ow ards the end o f 1938, Abdur Rahman issued a circular lo all
laluk and district C ongress com m ittees. It asked ihe primary m em bers lo make
allegations against the adm inistration of the M alabar D istrict Board, then
controlled by the Right, and conduct secret enquiries* about the President, K.
Kelappan. Particular caution w as recom m ended so that no m ore unnecessary
notoriety' w ould be created by the news o f Ihe enquiry becom ing p u blic.145 In
victory, the socialists did as they had been done by. T he Right follow ed the path
AICC Fites P -I2/I937 (NMM L).

Vetter from ihe Secretary, Knndolti Congress Com m ittee lo N ehru, 23 O ctober 1937; Letter
from V.P, Balakrishnan, T iyya to the President, AICC, I October 1934. AICC Files P -l 2/
/W 9 (N M M L ).
< AICC Files P 12, part 1/1939 (N M M IJ; AICC Files P-38/1939 40 (NM M L).
Moithu M aulavi, Maulaviyude katha. 198*9.
* Local S elf Government Dept. G 0.2985 dated -4 August J938 (KS).
,u H.M.S. Nam budiripad to General Secretary AICC, 23 May 1939. AICC Files G-31/1939
(NM M L): E.M .S. Nam budiripad to General Secretary AICC, July 1939 AICC Files P I2.
part 1/1939 (NM M L); Proceedings of enquiry into Congress election disputes, Palghat, 4
Novem ber 1939 AICC Files P 12. part 1/1939 (NMM L).
'* AICC Files P 12. part 11/1939 (NMML),
154 C asie, nationalism and com m unism in south India
o f righleous indignation; Kelappan fulm inated privately that the Congress had
been prostituted for socialist p ro p ag an d a'.1,46
Even as the socialists gained control over the KPCC, their leaders secretly
form ed the Com m unist Party o f Kerala (KCP) in May 1939. Units of the
Congress Socialist Parly all over India had been infiltrated by mem bers who
had converted to com m unism . By Septem ber 1939. provincial branches o f the
C SP in Punjab, Bengal and Bihnr had covertly renounced the policy o f the all
India leadership.IJ7 H ow ever, it made political sense to coniinue within the
Congress organisation and, in the KPCC elections o f 1940, tw o-thirds o f those
elected belonged to the unclassified lefl.*,,1( M eanw hile, the incicasitin ratli
cali.sm o f the peasant unions threatened lo leave the converted com munist
leadership behind. They were faced with the dilem m a o f stepping up their
activity in the countryside, while trying lo work within theCongress organisation.
The coordination o f anti-w ar propaganda provided a means o f reconciling
rhetoric with local needs. A resolution of the Kottyam taluk Congress committee
criticised G andhian control' over the Congress w hich obstructed... the desire
o f ordinary Congressm en to generate a mass m ovement against Britains war
e ffo rts '.149 M ost of the speeches, ostensibly directed against helping an
im perialist power in w aging its battle, w ere actually redolent with im m ediate,
local concerns. The most important was the continued repression by the police.
An 'am i-w ar' speech m ade by E P. G opalan in W alluvunad excoriated police
persecution and, am idst much applause, he slated: 'A fter attaining indepen
dence would we not level these police stations to the ground and cultivate
cucum bers and pum pkins in their p la c e .'150
The authorities perceived these activities as the consequence of the socio-
com m unist nature of the KPCC. Rajagopalacharis vehem ent dislike o f the
com m unists continued, He wrote to Lord Erskine that they ought to be
prosecuted im m ediately, adding that in the previous civil disobedience we did
not hit hard e n o u g h '.151 By the end o f June 1940, the leadership o f the Kerala
Com m unist Party (K C P) - N am budiripad, Krishna Pillai, A.K. G opalan - were
in ja il.152 T he police storm ed a meeting o f the KPCC on 7 August 1940 and
arrested thirty-three socialist members including the Secretary, M anjunatha
Rao and tw o prom inent members o f the working com m ittee, K.P.R. G opalan
and T.C, Narayanan N am biyar.li;JT hey were replaced by another com m ittee
'* K. Kelappan lo A C Kannan Nayar, 5 A pnl 1939 Dairies o f A C Kantian Na\ar.
141 Tom linson, The Indian National Congress, 145-6.
* Home Political Files 4/4/40 (NAI).
N andkeolyar Report, part I. A ICC Files P I i/1942-6 (NMM L).
Speech o r E.P. Gopalan. 4 June 1940, Public (General) Dept. G .0 ,1509 (Confdl.) dated I
August 1940 (KS).
C opley, The political career o f C, Rajagopalachari, 69-70.
I,! FR for the first and second half o f June 1940, L/P and J/S/200 (IOL)
* Public (General) Depi, G O. 2/35 doted 29 October 1940 (KS): FR Tor the first half of
Augusi 1940, UP andJ/5/200 (IOL),
The iransforntaiion o f rural politics. 1934-1940 155
o f socialists almost im m ediately. T he Congress right wing look advantage of

the confusion and set up a rival com m ittee in Palghat, far away from the ferment
in the north M alabar countryside. On 18 August, the left attem pted to resolve
ihe deadlock by meeting at Cannanore and passing a resolution declaring the
G andhist com m ittee illegal.154 In protest against the arrests, the Left KPCC
called for dem onstrations on 18 A ugust to celebrate Civil Liberties Day. The
working com m ittee then resolved to observe 15 Septem ber as Protest D ay
against the recent statem ents o f the Viceroy and Secretary o f State which
impressed the repressive policy of the government There was a call to all the
mem bers ol the lelt to hold m eetings in north Malabar. 'I'he choice of the date
was not arbitrary as there was a meeting o f the AICC in Bombay and the
secretary and other office holders o f the KPCC w ere expected to attend*155
This allowed them to disavow alt responsibility for the form that dem onstra
tions could assum e. At the same time, the blame could be laid squarely on
individual initiatives, w hile the KPCC as a body could rem ain above reproach.
On 15 Septem ber, m eetings were held all over north M alabar. T he m ost
vehement dem onstrations were at Calicut, Tellicherry, Pappinisseri, M attanur
and Cannanore. In Calicut, seventeen people were arTesied as they attem pted
lo take a march up to the hcach and the police dispersed a stone-throw ing
crowd. At Badagara and Payyanur too, large crow ds assembled but ihcy were
contained by the massed police force.156 In Tellicherry. on the coast, the police
had to resort to firing to disperse a stone-throw ing crow d o f over a thousand,
and two becdi w orkers were killed. Further north and in the interior, where
peasant unions were strong, crow ds proved more difficult to contain. At
M aitanur, rtfies and am m unition were sn atch ed from the police. In the most
significant engagem ent between crow ds and ihe police, a sub-inspector w as
killed at M orazha. In connection w ilh Protest D ay1, a total o f 108 arrests were
made all over north M alabar.157 A d ay after the events, a belated cautionary
note arrived from the AICC; Kripalani wrote that in celebrating d ay s It is
always best to refer to the AICC office. 158
Nevertheless, a closer analysis o f ihe events al M orazha and M attanur
dem onstrates that cal Is for the observance o f protest day and protest against the
war were o f less consequence than the presence o f local rivalries and tensions.
The subversion o f rural authority had been initialed by political processions
which led lo the jettisoning o f deference and the formation o f unions. This
u Mathrubhumi. 11 and 20 August 1940.

Nandkeolyar report, pan J, AICC Files P -ll/1942-6 (NMM L).
Report o f the D M .. M alabar to C hief Secretary, M adras, 17 Septem ber 1940. Home Political
Files 5 /18/40 NAl).
Home Political F5/18/40 (NAI); AICC Files 58/1940 (NMML).
Report o f D.M ., M alabar lo C hief Secretary, M adras, 17 Septem ber 1940 Home Political 5/
18/40 ( NAI).
process reached its climax in 1940, w ith pitched battles betw een the police and
the volunteer squads w ho rep resen ted the peasants. In a sense, the authorities
too were more apprehensive about local conflicts than the nationalist im plica
tions o f Protest Day. To prevent any trouble at Pappinisseri, w here Ihe workers
at Aaron M ills w ere known to be m ilitant, section 144 o f the IPC was imposed
to prevent the assem bling o f m ore than four people. Soon it was extended to
Kalliasseri and Baliapatam from where the m ajority o f the workers were
recruited. A sa result thedem onslrators m oved to M orazha where, to escape the
ban, the meeting was held in A ncham peettka bazaar. It was a strategic choice:
a narrow road with rows o f shops on either side and a wide space in the middle
where Congress and com m unist flags were flown. A crowd o f 700 to 1,000 had
gathered, and sixty volunteers in green shirts w ere lined up under the command
o fT .R . NUmbiyar. M ost o f the volunteers had been w orkers at the Aaron M ills
till their dism issal during a strike in 1939.
T he sub-inspector o f Police, K uttikrishna M enon, was known for his
proclivity tow ards violence. During the strike at Aaron M ills in April 1939,
Menon had been responsible for bodily rem oving prostrate pickcters and on
one occasion had charged at and dispersed a crowd o f w orkers with only four
constables to assist h im .159 At M orazha, when he ordered the crow ds to
disperse, Vishnu Bharateeyan lay on the ground in front o f the police and
refused to move. M eanw hile, T.R. Nambiyar, the captain o f the volunteer
squad, blew his w histle and the sixty volunteers faced the police. W hen Menon
attem pted to m ove Bharateeyan. there was a cry o f all people should join
together and resist the police. A lathi charge w as ordered and in the mSIe that
follow ed M enon was struck on the head with an iron ladle and killed.160
At Mattanur, as in M orazha, the crowd departed from the Congress reading
room holding aloft the tricolour and a red flag. T hey assem bled on the local
com m on and when the police attacked, their lathis were snatched from their
hands. T here were shouts o f Kill the police and one m em ber o f the crowd,
Kupyatl Govindan, was overheard telling a policem an, You sent my elder
brother to jail. You ought to be killed.' The police were attacked with slicks.
iiiuhrcllasniMlsioiicshtUlhere w iT eiH uasiw llH 'soiu illu i sitle l ;.ij>ln member*,
o f Ihe crowd were arrested and forty-six accused o f rioting.1,11 The change o f
mood was evident. Force was being m et with force and a disciplined volunteer
force acted as the backbone o f the random ly expressed anger o f m archers and
bystanders. T he other significant elem ent was that confrontation was more
Report of D.M., M alabar to C hief Secretary. M adras. 17 Septem ber 1940. Home Political
Files 5 /W 4 0 (N A I). The District M agislrate described K utt ikrishna Menon as a determ ined
man o f fiery tem per'.
Court of Sessions, north M alabar division, Saturday. 16 August t )4l Sessions Cose no. 6
ami 11 o f 1942 (TCHR); Home Political Files 1NI4I (NAI).
,M Court o f Sessions, north Malabar division. Tuesday. 16 SeptemberlV4l Sessions case no
3 o f 1941 (TCRR).
organised. The socialists had attem pted to build an alternative culture o f

political discussions and cam araderie in reading rooms which dotted die
interior These however, had com e to serve as a Focal point in rural violence -
a point From which the expressions o f resentm ent could diverge on to the
streets.
In 1940, the M adras Governm ent suddenly w oke up to the fact that
som ething was rotten in the district of M alabar. The Intelligence Bureau
expressed concern at the events o f Septem ber 1940und.R ichard Tottenham
observed thalit w asam ost surprising development ascom ing from M alabar.162
N otw ithstanding die fact that north M alabar had been in a state o f ferm ent for
the last two years, M alabar had always been a neglected outpost o f the
Presidency and only the M appila Rebellion o f 1921 had w akened the authorities
to the troubles brew ing on the agrarian front. T he event had been so over
w helm ing in its im pact that the Bureau rem ained caught up in old concerns. It
expressed great relief that all the events o f S eptem ber 1940 were well away
from the scene o f the M appila Rebellion in 1921. 163
Conclusion
The confrontations at M orazha and M attanur show ed the dram atic transform a
tion within rural attitudes o r deference. Peasant unions had m anaged to
underm ine erstw hile structures o f authority in a manner beyond the vision of
G andhian reform ers. Caste subservience could no longer be expected; it had to
be enforced, and could very often be challenged. T he significant difference
w ith the politics o f the first h alf o f the decade was the localised nature o f rural
politics. No longer were w ider com m unities of caste, religion or nation being
appealed to. Caste deference and caste subordination were tackled at the level
o f the relations betw een the tharavadu and its cultivators and dependents.
Initially, the KCSP activists had envisaged a lim ited renegotiation o f rural
relations, in the process o f which only the excesses o f tharavadus could be
tjiu-Mioiuul. However, llic experience o f collective activity in jtithtix and the
formation o f volunteer squads increased both the independence as well as the
militancy o f the unions. T here were soon a bew ildering array o f peasant
organisations. Some o f them provided m uscle for resisting the actions o f
landowners and acted as a force on behalf o f the poorer tenants and agricultural
labourers. O thers acted as extensions o f erstw hile caste councils and tried to
extend their own spheres o f authority by the imposition o f custom ary sanc
tions. The flurry o f union activity in this period has been characterised as
,w 11lime Political 7M 4I (NAI).
'** Ibid
158 Casie. nationalism and com m unism in south India
'm ilitant anti-im perialist and anti-feudal agnations'. This confuses, at one
level, KCSP rhetoric with actual rural political activity. M oreover, it tends to
subsum e the differences between unions them selves.164 An im portant point to
bear in mind is that constructions o f the allegiances o f m iddle and p oo r
peasants are not possible, since categories tended to be quite blurred.165 As we
saw in the first chapter, a single person could be landlord, tenant and cultivator
in different contexts, which m akes rigid divisions along the lines o f class
difficult.
In the next decade, the character o f peasant union militancy would be
transform ed. Conflicts over the arbitrary excrcisc o f authority by thuravadus
would escalate into m ore m ilitant and organised struggle for resources o f
cultivation - w astelands, com m ons and forests. Socialist attem pts to renego
tiate rural com m unity had spawned political activity pulling in different
directions. Attem pts lo conceive o f rural com m unity in the next decade were
temporarily successful. A crisis of food necessitated the expansion o f cultivation
to w astelands, binding landowners and cultivators in a transient unity. This
harmony was thw arted by the radicalism of unions, as well as the willingness
o f the State to intercede on the side o f those with landed property, with violence
if necessary.
'** See K. Gopalankutty. The task o f transforming the C ongress'.

For an effective critique o f aurm pts lo subsume ihe flexibility of agrarian categories in hard
distinctions between rich, middle and poor peasants see Eric Stokes, 'T he return of the
peasant to south Asian history' in The peasant and the Raj: studies in agrarian society and
peasant rebellion in colonial India (Cambridge, 1978), 26V 89.
6 Community and conflict, 1940-1948
The outbreak o f the Second W orld W ar in 1939 precipitated a crisis am ong the
socialists, and those am ong them who advocated a cam paign against the w ar
moved towards the Com m unist Party. G andhi had agreed lo launch a limited,
controlled programme of individual civil disobedience in 1940but this initiative
petered out by the m iddle o f the next year. By 1942, both the Com m unist Party
as well as the C ongress had shifted their stances. T he Q uit India R esolution o f
1942 cal led for a mass struggle by ihe Congress on non-violent lines. Com m unist
strategy how ever, was conditioned by wider, inlem ational concerns particu
larly ihe G erm an attack on (he Soviet Union in 1941. For the com m unists this
changcd the character o f the im perialist war, making it a struggle against
Fascism, in w hich Britain had to be supported in the w ar e ffo rt At the sam e
time, the Com m unist Party, ihough ostensibly standing against the national
mainstream, was able lo extend its sw ay in the countryside.
In 1942, the C om m unist Party announced a policy o f support to th e British
governm ent in its fight against Fascism and prom oted the idea o f political
harmony tow ards this end. Betw een 1942 and 1945, the party line was
transformed in M alabar intoacreativeendeavour to regenerate rural com munity,
albeit a conjunctural one. In a context o f food shortage, and the need to ex p an d
cultivation, the com m unists in M alabar negotiated with landowners for w aste
land, providing them with pragm atically com pliant cultivators. Sim ultaneously,
there was an attem pt lo revive the religious culture o f the shrines. T he shrines
had suffered both from the efforts o f caste moVements as w ell as the Congress.
In the afterm ath o f the D epression, tharavadus lacked the w herew ithal to
provide patronage lo religious institutions. Now that the structures o f authority
and deference arctund the shrines had been dism antled lo a certain extent, it
appeared to be possible to reconceive them as a locus o f com m unity. H ow ever,
the fragile unity built up betw een 1942 and 1945 collapsed as a result o f
increasing rural militancy, and Ihe intervention o f the governm ent, now keen
on crushing com m unism . From 1946, north M alabar becam e a turbulent zone,
but there were lim its to m ilitancy. T he power o f landow ning tharavadus was
not questioned, only their excesses were - profiteering in grain and an
159
160 C asie, nationalism and com m unism in south India
intransigent control over w astelands and forests. C onflict rearched a climax in

1948 but w as effectively quelled by police action.
In a sense the limits o f rural radicalism had been reached. O ver two decades,
the pow er enjoyed by landowning tharavadus had com e to be questioned and
arbitrary acts were challenged, if nccessary with force. T here was room for Ihe
negotiation o f rural relations, in a m anner different from that at the turn o f the
century, when conflict had often been expressed within ritual. However, the
authority o f the tharavadus continued, both in their control over resources as
well as the w illingness o f the state lo in te r c e d e s their behalf.
Economic pressures of the forties
In this decade, attem pts to renegotiate rural relations were constrained by two
m ajor factors. O ne was the increasing shortage o f foodgrains, which re
em phasised the control exercised by the dom inant tharavadus over foodstocks
and w etlands. T he other was related to the buttressing o f the rights o f the larger
landowners over w astelands and forests, bom o f the governm ents desire to
contain rural conflict. Thus, at a tim e when subsistence cultivation was forced
to expand lo the poorer margins, landowners were vested with the pow er lo set
limits.
T he decade began om inously, with food shortages and sem i-fam ine con
ditions aggravated by Ihe Second W orld War. During the D epression, the crash
in the prices o f coconut and pepper had upset ihe delicate balance o f an
econom y in which im ports o f rice had been sustained by the profits o f ca,sh
crops. T here was an attem pt lo return to the cultivation o f paddy and, by 1940,
land available for wet cultivation was becom ing scarce. Cropping began lo cat
into the upper slopes above paddy flats.1 Even so, M alabar produced only 45
per cent o f its rice requirem ents and was dependent on Burma for-the major
portion o f its dem and. Prices in the local m arkets faithfully registered the
fluctuations in production in Burma, as well as the price o f transportation from
Rangoon.2 W ith the onset o f the w ar and the pressure pul on Burmese pons
from Japan, supplies o f rice Itci'ainc unreliable. Imports o f rice lo Calicut
declined rapidly, and by February 1941 they had fallen lo 13,000 tons from the
annual average of 32,000 tons over Ihe past two years.-1 In 1941, a shortfall in
the production o f paddy in M alabar meant that there was ju sl enough to meet
the food requirem ents o f the district for eight more months. W ith the antici
pation o f dearth in the m arket, stocks were w ithheld and speculation in grain
' Rrvenue Dept (SU) G .O .I9II dated 17 June >943 (KS).
1 Development Dept. G.O. I 13ft dated 23 June 1941 (KS).
1 Collcctor.M alubarloSecrclary.DcvclopinciH. IftFehruaiy 1941 Revenue Dept.(Mt)G.O 1911
data! 17 June 1943 (KS).
Community and conflict, 1940-1948 161
was rife Paddy was diverted to T richur and C oim batore w here prices were
higher.4
In May 1941, a cyclone hit M alabar; the rivers overflow ed with startling
suddenness, and over 1,000 acres o f paddy land w ere silted up in Chirakkal.
Following thecyclonc, there were typhoid epidem ics in B adagara.T ellicherry,
and Cannanore. The incidence o f deaths w as marked betw een July and
Septem ber 1941, the m onths o f heavy monsoons- and want; m ost o f the
casualties were caused by fever and nutritional disorder. T he D istrict Health
O fficer stated in no uncertain terms that the diseases [are) attributable to
exposure and sem i-fam ine conditions.5 In C alicut, the political conflict b e
tw een the Congress Right, which controlled the M unicipal Board, and the
socialists gave rise to bizarre situations. An epidem ic o f cholera broke out
am ong the beggars o f the M unicipality. A nxious not to be castigated for their
ineptitude in m aintaining standards o f hygiene and sanitation, the Congress
officials arranged for the beggars to be put on to trains and transported out o f
Calicut, N eedless to say, the beggars left a train o f disease in their wake,6 For
the distant governm ent ai M adras, the illusion o f green palm s and sparkling
rivers prevailed over the reality Even as the District M edical O fficer was
writing urgi-ntly that poverty and starvation' had pushed people to the verge
of death, the Finance departm ent had decided it was not going to cough up any
finances for aid. T he A ssistant Secretary observed that between A ugust and
May, the M alayalis eat well and during the period M alabar is one o f the best,
if not the best, area in India as tourists have declared'. He w ent on to state
em phatically that it is not possible for anyone to die o f starvation in M alabar
because o f the gifts of nature and the charitable disposition o f the p eo p le'.7
In 1942, the governm ent finally intervened, allow ing trade in rice and paddy
only under perm its issued by the Com m issioner o f Civil Supplies. By December
1942, all m ovement o f grain by sea was brought under control. In February
1943 perm its for consignm ent by rail were introduced and by May all controls
were consolidated.8 Since a few m erchants in the port tow ns of M alabar
controlled the rice trade, such m easures did not help to curtail speculation, and
this was evident in (he activities o f the rice cartel at Calicut. Rice could have
4 Note of Director o f Agriculture and Collector, M illibar to Secretary, Developm ent, 22

February 19 4 1. Development Dept. G 0,1138 dated 23 June 1941 ( KS): C ollector to Secretary,
Developm ent, 3 D ecember 1940, Development Dept. G.0.356 dated 25 February 1941 (KS).
1 Note on epidem ics by Isaac Joseph, DHO, 12 O ctober 1941, Revenue Depl. G O, 1875 dated
14 June 1943 ( KS).
* K J . Sivaswamy and V.R. Nayanar el n i . Food control and nutrition surveys - Malabar and
south Kanara (M adras, 1946). 8-10.
1 Report of DM O, M alabar lo the Surgeon General. M adras, 29 August 19 4 1, Note by A ssistant
Secretary, Finance Departm ent (Expenditure) Revenue Dept, G .O I875 dated 14 June 1943
(KS).
1 ARMP, 1942, 5 0 -1; Sivaswamy and Nayanar, Food control and nutrition surveys, 27.
been im ported into M alabar from elsew here in the Presidency - the Circars.
Chingleput or Tanjore - but the cartel of M appila and Cutchi Mcmon m er
chants preferred to import rice from Burma. For one, transportation costs w ere
far cheaper; m oreover they had an advantage over the other m erchants, mainly
G ujaratis, w ho form ed the Rice Im porter's Syndicate, The latter had agents
only in Rangoon and with the outbreak of w ar with Japan, exports from Burma
began to be restricted to the other ports,9 Rice was am assed at the port towns
o f Calicut, T ellicherry and Cannanore and in the hands o f M appila importers.
Jusl us (lie government had been unsuccessful in continuing the import trade
in ricc, it was equally at a loss in its attem pt to intercede in the distribution o f
rice. By May 1944, the food situation becam e acute and rationing was
inform ally introduced, providing a pound o f rice per adult in the tow ns and a
quota o f six ounces per adult in the countryside.10 The quota for the towns was
gradually reduced and the rest diverted to the villages. A ustralian w heat had to
be im ported to co v cr up the disparity and it was used as a supplem ent to rice .11
D istrict w ide rationing was finally introduced in O ctober 1944.
Both before the introduction o f rationing in O ctober 1944, and after,
dom inant tharavadus in the interior were able to withhold large stocks under the
flexible category o f the needs o f dom estic consum ption'. T he G rain Purchase
O fficer was authorised to determ ine the quantity that could be retained for a
landholder's fam ily. Sincc dom inant households, in conception, consisted not
only o f imm ediate m em bers o f the family but a w ider am bit o f dependents as
well, there was not a little scope for corruption.12 A dram atic exam ple o f this
cam e up in 1946 when the Raja o f C hirakkal applied to rem ove 10,000 seers
from his granaries for the use o f the *Palace. tem ples,/ju/as and fea sts'. 13 Apart
from piling up stocks o f grain, large tharavadus had begun lo cash in on the high
m arket prices for rice. Land w as reclaim ed from tenants and, till 1944, there
was a dram atic increase in the num ber o f redem ption suits instituted by
landowners on the plea that they needed the lands for their own cultivation.14
T hat this was directly connected to a desire to produce rice for the market
becam e clear in O ctober 1944 when eviction suits declined dram atically after
* D irector o f Agriculture lo Secretary, Developm ent. 15 March 1941 Development Dept.
G.O.IJ38 dated 23 June 1941 <KS).
10 T his had been preceded b y a chaotic stage o f attem pted control o f food prices between May
1942 and M ay 1943 and a period o f partial control between May 1943 and May 1944.
Sivaswamy and Nayanar, Food control and nutrition surveys, 26
" G overnors report, I M ay 1944 and FR for the second half o r M ay 1944. U P and J /l 5/204
(IOL).
11 Development Dept. G.0.3380 dated 5 August 1944 (KS)
u Judgem ent, Sessions Case no. 14 and 18 o f 1947 (TCRR).
14 The M TA, 1930 had provided that a landlord could evict a tenant for reasons of bona fide
cultivation for the household. In 1942, the High Court at M adras had decreed that courts need
exam ine only w hether the landlord needed to culti vale and not w hether he already had enough
land. This inevitably resulted in a dram atic rise tn the num ber o f suits for eviction. Revenue
Dept. G .O.I8 dated 4 January 1949 (KS).
Community mul conflict, 1940-1948 163
rationing was introduced and excess stocks o r paddy were purchased by the
government at controlled rates.15 In the course o f the Depression the rural
com m unity had been stripped dow n lo its bare essentials; the provision o f
sustenance by dom inant tharavadus in times o f dearth. However, they were not
100 keen to dispense their obligations in a period whenr their social superiority
was being com prehensively questioned. Besides, the existence o f dearth provi
ded an opportunity lo make quick profits. Thus, even as their position as the re
positories o f grain was siraijitlieim il. Ihcy becam e the foci of rural resentm ent.
All through 1944, the problem o f shortage was com pounded by people
holding on to their stocks as a safeguard against rationing, and the Septem ber
harvest took its tim e appearing in the market 16 With the introduction o f
rationing in O ctober 1944, 0.78 pounds of paddy waj; allotted per adult and
w heat made up a sixth o f the total ration, despite local disapproval. Rice was
imported from Punjab to m ake up the shortfall, but increasingly, a rice-eating
people were constrained to eat w heat.17 Rice and rice gWiel which had been the
standard breakfast o f generations o f M alayali labourers was replaced by
cholam and sugarless tea - each vying wilh the other as foods lacking in
nutrition.18 The enforced change in diet was no small m atter and becam e one
o f the planks o f rallying the peasantry by the KCP. W hile the im m ediate
program m e o f the KCP was to ensure a steady supply o f rice, the attack on
wheat was linked to more transcendental com plaints. A pamphlet o f the KCP
tn 1948 insisted that cholam and wheat were being forced on the people to help
American capitalism !19
in this context o f a shortage o f foodgrains and the control exercised over
existing slocks by merchants and large landholders, there seem ed to be only
one possible solution. C ultivators had begun pressing this alternative between
1938-39 in their dem ands for the lease o f wasteland. T he less-fertile areas had
been brought under cultivation to grow subsistence crops like horsegram and
cumbttm. Faced wilh the insistent pressure from peasant unions for making
more land available for cultivation, the M alabar Tenancy Com m ittee w as set
up, and it published its report in 1940. There was an unequivocal recognition
that the existence o f a large body o f landless proletariat [is] becom ing a social
and political m enace in M alabar.20 Nevertheless, the proposals in the Report
were addressed to the problem s and debates o f an earlierdecade. All cultivating
vcrumpattakarans w ere given fixity o f tenure regardless o f whether they held
w etland or not. Kanakkarans and kuzhikanakkarctns w ere granted fixity o f
"A R M P . 1944, | ] ,
16 Ibid., FR for Ibe firsl half o f Septem ber 1944.
Ibid.. G overnor's report 12/44 daled I December 1944 and 3 Novem ber 1944.
" M adhavan, Poyaswiniyude tetrattu, 182-3.
Janangatka tthiraya Congressinte yuddham (The war waged against the people by the
Congress) (KCP. 1948), 11.
* MTCR, 1940. 1 .50.
tenure which was both heritable and alienable. Eviction by a landlord, for
personal cultivation o f the land, was allow ed only if the landlord and his family
held less than five acres per head. Thus, one chapter o f the tenancy struggle
ended, satisfying those who already possessed som e rights over land, but the
next chapter foreboded deep trouble. The com m ittee left landlords with
absolute control over w astelands and forests, even though they departed from
tradition in stating that there |w asj no evidence to show that the janmi was the
absolute ow ner o f the soil. M oreover, no security o f tenure was provided for
the punam and pepper cultivators.21 Throughout this decade, the degree of
ownership vested in landowners was contested fiercely, and the recom m en
dations o f the tenancy com m ission served more to exacerbate tensions than
provide solutions.
O ver the decade, the expansion o f cultivation would be on term s set by the
large landowners in a way it had not been before the Depression. Tharavadus
with forests and w asteland began to reconsider the lease o f their forests for the
doubtful profits o f shifting cultivation. Beginning in the late thirties, Syrian
Christian planters had begun to m ove into M alabar to set up rubber, coffee and
tea plantations. By 1941, there w ere 71,000 people horn in Travancore -
Cochin enum erated in M alabar o f whom 52 per cent w ere in north M alabar.22
M any o f the larger tharavadus, beleaguered by m ilitant peasant unions, began
leasing out their land to these entrepreneurs who were willing to pay large rents
as well as inflated prices for land.23 A.C. Kannan N ayar recorded the sale of
175 acres o f the B elur hills at the rate o f Rs. 19 per acre to Joseph, a pi anter from
Travancore. Joseph presented tw o silk um brellas as nazrana, w hich, in the
afterm ath o f the battle over feudal levies in the previous decade, m ust have
been reassurjng for Kannan Nayar.24 T here was a considerable migration of
labourers from Travancore to work on the new plantations. Local labour
therefore, did not benefit overly from the investm ent o f capital by the Christian
entrepreneurs T he growth o f these new plantations m arked the final assault on
the forests o f M alabar, a process including T ipu s depredations and the East
India C om pany's attem pts to crcatc roads for m ilitary cam paigns in the late
eighteenth and early nineteenth century; the large-scale exploitation o f the
forests for teak till the mid nineteenth century; the thrust o f pepper cultivation;
and the leasing o f forests for private felling at the onset o f the D epression. Now,
11 Ibid., 12.23-8.
P.K.M . Tharakan, fmra-regional differences in agrarian system* and internal migration: a
case study o f the m igration o r fartn en from T ravancore to Malabar*, Centre fo r Development
Studies: Working Paper 194 (Trivandrum , 1984), 2-7. Between 19 4 1- 5 1, the Christian popu
lation o f Ihe district went up by 97.69 per cent white the population rise was 2 1.09 per cent.
u Ibid., 14. The average price per acre o f land rose from Rs. 4 in 1925 to Rs. 35 in 1947,
** Diaries o f A.C. Kannan Nayar, 19 June 1943.
it was the turn o f the virgin forests: 'poisonous virgins, in Pottekkats

evocative phrase, that felled Ihe pioneers with m alaria.25
Tharavadus hit by the Depression had resorted to curtailing customary
rights over the use o f forests, m aking them conditional on the paym ent o f cash
levies. T he entry o f planters further ero d ed th e possibility o f negotiation for the
use o f resources An instance o f this w as in the M attanur-Chavasseri region to
ihe northeast, where agricultural labourers and small cultivators used lo collect
green leaves for manure and firewood from the nearby forests. Three hundred
acres o f the forest had been leased to Christian planters who forbade such
activities on the grounds o f encroachm ent on their property.26 From the mid
forties a further element o f conflict was introduced, with the renewed demand
for pepper in the world market following the devastation o f plantations in
Indonesia, M alaya and Saraw ak during the war. T he world turned again to
M alabar and there was a rush lo cultivate pepper.27 By then, the fertile tracts
o f ihe forests had been leased lo ihe planters. Tharavadus w ishing lo reclaim
their other lands from cultivators to plant pepper found them unwilling to
relinquish it in a period o f continuing shortage o f food. It was a piquant
reversal. In the tw enties, cultivators had neglected subsistence crops for the
more lucralive pepper.
The M adras Preservation of Private Forests Aci o f 1049. which laid down
rules lor punattt cultivation iti foresis, strengthened ihe tharavadus* control
over wastelands and forests. Only land with no Irccs, those which had been
under cultivation for more lhan ten years, and those which had sparse growth
could be cleared and cultivated. Steep slopes were to remain unplanlcd.28The
am endment o f (he MTA in 1950 further eroded the position o f shifting
cultivators by not granting them fixity of tenure.29 Thus, cultivation was con
dem ned to a rew orking o f the same cleared patch w ithout any access to the
richer, virgin soil o f the steep slopes. M oreover, cultivators themselves were
lied lo a particular patch o f forest land and therefore to a landlord. By sealing
off expansion, o r at least making it conditional on the whims o f the dominant
landowners, Ihe governm ent had creatcd the conditions forcontinued agitation.
!> For d thinly disguised fictional account of the experiences o f migrant labourers from
Travancore see S K. Pottckkat. Vishakanyuka ( The poisonous virgin ), Irons. V. Abdulla
(Trichur, 1980). 1
Deshabhimani, 16 Septem ber 1945,
By ihe end o r Ihe decade pepper growers were receiving up to 1,400 per cent o f Ihe pre-war
prices. The peppereji ported from M alabar was undecorticated and there were fears am ong the
growers of a sit mp in dem and once the south east Asian countries resum ed production. See
M iller, An analysts of the Hindu caste system ', fn 1 ,5 .
l" Revenue Dept. G.0.3555 dated 31 December 1951 (KS).
w Revenue Dept. G.0.433 dated 21 February 1951 (KS).
166 Caste, nationalism anil com m unism in south Intli'
The communists and rural politics, 1940-42
In the previous decade, a conjuncturul unity had been achieved between

organisational im peratives and individual initiatives. T he confrontations with
the police in Septem ber 1940 had brought hom e to ihe peasant unions (he
necessity o f having th eiro w n force. By the end o f 1940, there w ere over 2,500
volunteers in north M alabar, trained in fighting with lathis, who added muscle
(o the unions.30 As it becam c d e a r to the unions that they could force issues,
they slowly m oved out o f the am bit o f the K C P. T here was another m ajor factor
allow ing this, The Com m unist Parly was banned in 1940, following tin*
statem ent of policy which spoke o f a 'Proletarian Ia lir lor 'revolutionary use
of ihe w ar crisis.31 Once the KCP was driven underground, the leaders had to
face the m ajor flaw in their organisation; basically, the lack o f it. Through study
classes, the KCP had tried to create a cadre sound in theory, but a few organi sers
could not be a substitute for an organisation w hich could i ncorporate agricultural
labourers and sm all cultivators.
In 1941, a police report, in its own hyperbolic w ay observed that even in
1938, the fram ew ork o f a com m unist governm ent was in being, which now
holds the countryside well under the OGPU - G estapo type o f control' ,32 How
true was this picture? In theory the KCP had an organisational structure
consisting o f four levels o f com m and. T here was a provincial secretariat
'consisting o f individuals w hose duty it was to avoid arrest, and who w ere to be
'in co n stan t touch with the headquarters at Bom bay. Below the secretariat were
the provincial com m ittees, which had subordinate chains o f regional and
district com m ittees, w hich in lum supervised local com m unist cells among
workers and peasants.33 W hile, at the top, the necessity o f avoiding arrest cut
o ff the secretariat from involvem ent in rural everyday affairs, at the bottom the
KCP cells had becom e m ore in the nature o f study classes incorporating the
radical youth o f the larger tharavadus. An underground publication o f 1941
stressed that real agriculturists ought to be enrolled into the KCP through
peasant unions. *lt is a w eakness o f our organisation that only educated young
men jo in o u r party un its 34 It was clear lhat unions were being formed by
initiatives taken in the desams, rather than by the scattered efforts of KCP
activists. W hile party pam phlets urged the setting up o f peasant unions in each
revenue unit or amsam, by early 1941, it had been decided that ihey should
* AICC Files G-28 part 1/1940 (NMM L).

11 See O verslreet and W indm iller. Communism in India, 180-1.
" D.S.P.. M alabar lo I.G., M adras. 3 April 1941 Public (General) Deni G.O 811-12 {Confdl I
dated 24 April 1941 (KS).
*' Home Political Files 7/9/41 (NAI).
u Comm unist news and no tes', leaflet o r Calicut taluk com m ittee of the KCP Home Political
Files 7/9/41 (NAI).
Community and conflict, I940-I94H 167
rather attem pt to gain control over the [existing] peasant unions.35 Local party
units were asked to form ulate the program m e for the region under their control
and try to have it adopted by the respective unions.
The attem pt to use existing organisations rather than build new ones may
have arisen from the rigours o f underground life and the fear o f arrest. In real
terms, this hitchhiking strategy m eant that the KCP could never exercise m ore
than a formal control over the various unions. T he policy adopted tow ards the
unions reveals the conccption behind the proposed reorganisation. Full-tim e
w orkers w ere not considered essential for the local peasant union; the office
was to be kepi open daily and the local peasants were to com e in tw icc a week
and submit their grievances. W hat this m eant, in effect, was that the KCP
organiser, usually from a dom inant tharavadu in the region, w ould be contacted
by the local union w hen it w ished to negotiate the lease o f land for cultivation.
O nce again, these members o f dom inant tharavadus apd their branches began
to em erge as the bridges between prospective cultivators and landowners.
In 1939, the attem pts o f the KCSP organisers to lim it opposition only to
feudal exactions and irregular measures o f rent had not been very successful.
Peasant unions had gone further in challenging both the im position o f social
deference and the use o f the police to curtail political activity. By early 1941,
it was clear that the situation called for negotiation rather than conflict. T he
w orsening food crisis necessitated the opening up o f more land for cultivation.
However, the tcnancy com m ittee o f 1940 had reiterate i the absolute control o f
the larger landowners over w astelands and forests. T t is reflected a stiffening
in the attitude o f the M adras governm ent, further manifested in their w illingness
to send in platoons o f the M alabar Special Police to com bat the com m unist
m enace.36 M oreover, the KCP itself stood in danger o f losing ground if it
could not unite the loose alliance o f small cultivators, agricultural labourers
and small landowners w hich was increasingly being pulled apart by the
m ilitancy o f the landless.
On 12 M arch 19 4 1, a batch o f people belonging to the peasant unions in
Hosdrug went in a procession clad in volunteer uniform , shouting anti-w ar
slogans. Tw o members o f the procession were arrested, and to bring the other
lour into custody, two police constables rem ained behind in Kayyur. O ne o f
them was stabbed on the night o f 26 M arch afc he lay asleep. On 28 M arch, three
processions o f peasant union m em bers forced the other constable to c a n y the
icd flag and shout anti-govem m ent slogans. W hen he tried lo escape Jjy
jum ping into the river, he was stoned to death by the crow d.37 Sixty mem bers
KCP circular no. 14. Home Political Files 7/9/41 (NA1).
By 1942, the M alabar Special Police (M SP) with a large com plem ent o f "Nayar fighting men'
had replaced ihe army garrisons in M alabar. There were seventeen com panies o f the M SP in
M alabar by the end o f 1945. See Arnold, Police power and colonial rule, 124-6.
D M .. South K anaralo C hief Secretary, M adras, 31 M arch 1941, Public (General) G. 0 .8 1 1-
12 C onfdl) dated 24 April 1941 (KS).
168 Caste, nationalism and com m unism in south Indiu
o f the 200 strong crowd were arrested and charged with attem pted murder.
Eventually, four o f them were sentenced to death by Ihe High Court o f Madras.
This decision was significant in that K.P.R. Gopalan had been granted a
reprieve in the case o f the killing o f the police inspector at M orazha on the
grounds o f the difficulty o f determ ining who from the crowd had actually dealt
the blow .38 T he events o f March 1941, in the village of Kayyur, marked a
watershed in agrarian political activity. Primarily, it showed how the local
dread o f the police had been replaced by a spirit of open dcfiance and
confrontation. O f the sixty accused in the Kayyur incident, m ore than half were
agricultural labourers.39 V ishnu B hirateeyan had observed before the tenancy
com m ission o f 1940 that the peasant [stood] a little erect as a result o f the
growth o f collective acti vity.40The other side to this was that party programmes
and the strictures o f pcasant'unions lost their way amidst the settling o f scores
with a police force which had so far held labourers in their thrall 41
From 1941 onw ards there em erged a shift in the balance o f pow er between
the police and the people in the interior o f north M alabar.42 O perations were
put on a w ar footing and the older conflicts o f a few policem en struggling to
contain a irate crowd were replaced by the system atic forays of the M alabar
Special Police to flush o u t com m unist activity. In April 1941, the DSP,
M alabar spoke o f a spring offensive to bring the general run of pcuplc into
right w ays. Punitive stations were set up all over north M alabar and platoons
o f the MSP were perm anently stationed to make the people realise that [he
G overnm ent really rules and not Com m unism .-*3 On 25 April 19 4 1 all peasant
unions in M alabar and south Kanara w ere declared unlawful.44 The lack of an
organisation and the attem pt to hitchhike on existing peasant unions meant that
the K CPcould not control union radicalism. Besides, the unions were in a more
confrontational mood as they realised the potential o f volunteer squads as a
force against the police. However, the state w as now willing to deploy force on
a significant scale in favour o f the tharavadus, making it an unequal contest.
' See Kurup. The Kayyur riot.

' Public (General) Dept. G.O.SI 1-12 (Cnnfdl.l dated 24 April 1941 (KS),
m MTCR, 1940, II, 260.
** Kurup. The Kayyur rial, 79-80.
42 Home Political Files7/9/4l (NAI); Court of Sessions, north M alabar Division, Tuesday 16
Septem ber 1941. Sessions Case no. i/1942 (TCRR).
11 Public (General) Dept. G.O.811-12 (Confdl.) dated 24 April IV4I (KS).
** DSP, M alabar lo I.G-. M adras, 3 April 1941 and DSP, Souih K anurulo I.G.. M adras, 14 April
1 941. Iubljc (General) dept. G.O. no. HI 1-12 f Confdl.) tlateil 24 April IV4I (KS); Fort St
George Gazette, 25 April I'M I, Extraordinary. Home Political h 7/1/41 (NAI)
1
The Peoples War line or 1942 - local transformations
In 1942, as the Indian N ational Congress raised more m ilitant dem ands and
called upon the British to Quit India, the Com m unist Party stood against the
mainstream. T he Congress in M alabar, now controlled by the Right, had
retreated so far into the quietism o r khadi that Q uit India passed without
incident except for the random sabotage o f fish curing.yards, governm ent g irls
schools and the like.45 O stensibly moved by the considerations o f international
politics, the latter supported the British governm ent in its fight against
Fascism.46 In M alabar, local politics evidenced a dynam ic and flexible approach
lo the problem s besetting the region. Calls for harmony betw een classes and
slogans like 'G row more Food were translated into negotiations with rural
elites for letting out w astelands for cultivation. A fragile sense o f rural
com m unity was created betw een cultivators in need o f land and landowners
requiring com pliant labourers. Secondly, the creation o f a broad alliance with
political groups and parties allow ed the KCP to act as the intermediary between
those holding stocks o f grain und those in need o f il.
T he P eople's W ar Jine o f 1942 cam e at an opportune juncture. The
restoration o f the legal status of the Com m unist Party nationally allowed the
KCP lo coordinate the disparate activities o f unions and individuals under the
program m e of cultivating w asteland and growing more food. It could retain the
support o f a section o f landless labourers by prom oting the reclam ation of
w asteland. T his allow ed the KCP to lim ii conflict, thus assuaging the fears of
the large landowning tharavadus. In M alabar, it perm itted the creation o f a
conjunctural com m unity in w hich landowners would dispense their obligations
providing land in return for a com pliant and less m ilitant tenantry, at least for
the m om ent. H ow ever. Ihe KCP did not lose the opportunity to harness local
militancy, which allow ed for an occasional flexing o f m uscle by the volunteer
squads. Im plicit in this was the recognition that landowners w ere not going to
accede to the dem ands o f cultivators once the food crisis had passed. A
particular kind o f vocabulary borrow ed from Ihe directives o f the CPI was
crcalivcly used (> address local concerns. Il was mil so much ihe ostensible
ideology which w as im portant but ils translation into political practice in
innovative and flexible ways. An im portant exam ple o f this was the seem ingly
absurd exercise o f anli-Japanese propaganda in the tow ns and villages of
* There were a few attempt* lo burn village courts, and in one instance, the railway station al
Payyoli, near Badagara. Court o f Sessions, south Malabar Division, Calicut. Sessions Case
no, 21 o f 1944: High Court o f Madras Criminal Appeal 422-3 o f 1944, K.B. Menon Papers
(NMML).
In 1942, Ihe P o liih u reau o flh cC P I declared ihat with Hillers attack on the Soviet Union. Ihe
'im perialist w ar had been trun.'.fornicd inlo a 'people's w ar; "a sacred and final war waged
by the cam p o f Ihe people' India in ihe war o f liberation (CPI Polilhuicau, February 1942),
3-4
170 Caste, nationalism Jnd com m unism in south India
M alabar. Between 24 and 31 May 1942, an anti-Jap w eek' was held >n Calicut
and the Congress was berated for its destructive program m e when the Jap
barbarians are at our very gates' 47
At one level it was a continuance o f the critique o f the Congress, but at the
other, this propagandising was paraphrased into more practical concerns. With
the banning o f peasant unions in May 1941, thecollective strength of agricultural
labourers had been weakened. The volunteer squads were reconstituted us
anti-Jap' com m ittees but, in the countryside at feast, landowners were not
deluded by this thin disguise. In lrikkur, a local landlord, Govindan Nambiar,
warned his labourers that if they did iwX resign their m em bership o f anti-Jap
organisations they would not lie allowed lo leap the crop. At the harvest, 20(1
anti-Jap volunteers arrived to guard the field, w ielding sticks, while fifty o f
them reaped the crop.41*
The problem o f expanding local cultivation was tackled under the Grow
more food program m e o f the CPI. Sincc 1941, there had been a revival o f fines
and evictions with the new pow er granted to landlords after the Tenancy
Com m ittee report o f 1940. Landlords increasingly denied cultivators even the
custom ary rights to collect green leaves for manure. In lrikkur, where the
Kalliuttu tharavadu had large forest tracts, a plea was made in the name of
patriotism to allow cultivation on payment o f rent. When the Kalliattu
Nam biar did not agree, a jaiha o f 1,000 peasants put pressure on him to grant
permission to cultivate as well as postpone the collection o f rent arrears for
another year.49 This was a jaiha with a difference. In 1938, processions had
made dem ands on landlords, now they were placatory. As the party new spaper
explained, the Kalliattu tharavadu was reluctant to give out land because they
feared that cultivators would not pay rent. Therefore, *[we) m ust unite and
remove the doubts from the m inds o f janmis if we are to save our country*,50
This proved to be im peccable strategy. Landow ners w anted an incom e from
their w astelands and the KCP prom ised them accom m odating cultivators who
were only too w illing to m ake som e com prom ise at a tim e o f food shortage.
M oreover, landowners were more forthcoming after the M adras governm ent
decreed that single crop cultivation on dry lands would be exempt from
assessment for the duration o f the war,51 N evertheless, there was one major
step backward. Feudal levies w hich the peasant unions had opposed strongly
in 1938-39 now found their, way back. T he Kalliattu N am biar was paid an extra
levy o f Rs. 1 per acre in an acknow ledgem ent o f deference 52 The pliancy of
the KCP was exploited to the utm ost by tharavadus w hich now found them-
" People's War, 26 July 1942.
People's War. A October 1942.
4* Deshabhimani. 12 February 1943.
" Ibid.
" Revenue Dept. (Ms.) G.O 1911 dated 17 June 1943 (KS)
Deshabhimani, 12 February 1943.
Communit y anti conf lict. 1940-1948 171
selves replaying their erstw hile roles as dispensers o f benevolence. Peasant

unions were granted six acres o f land in K arivellur and over seventy acres in
Kottayam, o f which more than half was sown with paddy.53 The acquiescence
o f the landlords would not outlast the w ar and the KCP was only too conscious
o f this. As an editorial in the Deshabhimani stated, to destroy landlordism is
not the present aim o f the peasant, but to ensure that even one cent o f land does
not remain uncultivated',54
T hroughout this period there was a process o f renegotiation w ith the old
order, now buttressed by the governm ent and the police. T he enem ies o f 1938,
like the Kalliattu tharavadu and large landowners like Samuel Aaron, were
i elwlnlilated along with hgtires like the rural m oneylenders.55 An article in the
Parly journal stated ratherdisingenuously that the opposition towards us from
the ... janm is and the capitalist is dim inishing; indeed som e o f them have
actually begun to desire our grow th.56 K.A. Keraleeyan, who wrote a regular
column for People's War, applauded the actions o f some peasants in Chirakkal
who dutifully paid their dues to a m oneylender in kind at a tim e of grain
shortage. They reputedly did this because the m oneylender had helped them in
a tim e of need.57 W hatever the truth behind these program m atic stories,
underlying them was sound pragm atism . The governm ent had declared a
moratorium on assessm ent for dry cultivation, landlords were w illing to give
out w astelands and cultivators needed loans for seeds, im plem ents and the like.
In villages like Ellarenhi. Kavumbayi and Kaitapram^ over 95 per cent o f the
families were shifting cultivators who needed loans for clearing, planting and
harvesting 58 A tem porary truce with moneylenders and landlords made
em inent political sense.
Apart from bargaining for cultivable land, party w orkers were able to
intercede skilfully between the governm ent and those holding stocks of grain,
in order to resolve the shortage o f foodgrains. The success o f the rationing
policy introduced by the governm ent was blunted by the reality o f the
monopoly o f the rice cartel on the coast and the granaries in the interior. Here
again the party built a conjunctural unity with hoarders and assumed the role
o f assurers if not the providers o f subsistence. From 1941, the KCP had begun
to organise around the issue o f the rise in prices o f 1foodgrains and several
hunger m arches w ere organised to meet lahsildars and Revenue Divisional
officers. In the countryside, the party enquired into prices obtained by cultiva
tors for paddy after the harvest. A fter adding on 6 per cent to allow for profit
to the m erchant, a fair price was proposed. People were encouraged to pay for
Deshabhimani, 28 F eb ru ary 1943.
v Ibid.
Deshabhimani, 13 June 1943.
Puny Sanghadakan, 2 ( 1944). 5.
People 's War. 24 O ctober 1943,
Deshabhimani, 4 M arch 1943,

172 C aslc, nationalism and com m unism in south India
grain at that rate to avoijl any conflict at ration shops. Any urge lo loot rice
shops was to be controlled and [this] mentality was to be converted into a
planned effort and an organised fight.59
T he Peoples W ar thesis o f the CPI had callcd For the broadest unity o f all
political parties and a program m e in the rural areas o f relieving the peasantry.
In M alabar, the KCP transform ed this into a far-reaching policy o f uniting their
activities in the towns and the countryside and o f building bridges with other
political groups. Ostensibly, this was a volteface. The KCSP had consistently
distanced itself from com m unal Hindu and M uslim groups in an effort to
m ove out o f the legacy o f the Congress. Now, in the interests o f national unity
and to com bat food shortage, they formed alliances with the M uslim League,
the Hindu M ahasabha, the SND P Yogam, the N ayar Service Society, even the
YM CA and the D evadhar M alabar R econstruction T rust.60 M oreover, all the
erstwhile b o g ie s- capitalists, feudal elements, the petty bourgeoisie, landowners
- w ere rehabilitated. As the party organ, the Deshabhimani, slated, O ur main
policy today is not the w ithholding o f rent. It is to increase the production of
food grains and solve the food problem .61
The them e o f unity with the M uslim League w as translated very effectively
at the local level. As we have seen, the rice trade had com e lo be controlled by
a cartel o f M appila merchants. Food com m ittees w ere used as a tool for
negotiations, and at least one prom inent M appila m erchant was included on
each com m ittee. T he M uslim League teadcr, K adirikoya Haji bccam c a
prom inent speaker at m eetings organised by the KCP on the food situation.62
Using these contacts with the League as a springboard, the KCP was able to
spread its organisation to places like Kattur and Palattunkara w hich had been
strongholds o f the M appilas.63 If the KCP was using the food com m ittees lo
extend its sphere o f control, the M appila m erchants too began to m anipulate the
com m ittees to underm ine ration regulations. In M attanur, Janab M oosakutly,
the leading rice m erchant, set up a food com m ittee o f his own and cornered a
m ajor share o f ihe rice market. In Cannanore, the M uslim League, the Jam ait
and ten other M uslim organisations met to discuss raiioning procedures and the
organisation o f food distribution through their ow n networks. IJy 1946, Ihe
sccnc o f the battle shifted to the Producer cum C onsum er Coopcruii ves (PCC),
in which the governm ent had vested the entire responsibil ity Tor the procurement
and distribution o f foodgrains in M alabar. T he KCP and the Congress squabbled
** KCP circular no. 37, Home Political Fites 7/9/41 (NAl).

E.M .S. N am budiripad, Deshabhimani ( Patriot) (Calicut, 1943), 56-7.
" Deshabhimani, 28 February 1943.
Deshabhimani, 7 M arch and 4 A pril 1943.
** Deshabhimani, 14 M arch 1943.
for control o f the PCCs, creating resentm ent am ong the M appila rice m erchants
edged out o f the trade.64
Apart from negotiations w ith the cartel, the KCP reached into every hom e
through the food program m e. In Chirakkal taluk, it had eighty squads which
undertook a census o f needs for every home.65 Popular price control com m it
tees w ere set up and jathas approached the. C ollector ftT'open' the governm ent
stores and feed the poor. V olunteer patrols inspected ration shops and reported
any irregularities to the district M unsif 66 Food com m ittees m ediated betw een
the authorities and m erchants and, in Baliapatam , the com m ittee arranged that
each dealer w ould get one bag o r sugar. In retu m only two dealers were allowed
to sell in a day so that prices could be m onitored.67 T he KCP exploited their
association w ith the authorities to the utmost. Much to the annoyance of
officials, negotiations were presented to the public in a m anner that im plied that
the 'K C P had the pow er to force the hand o f the authorities*.68
In the interior, food com m ittees seem to have continued with the m ilitancy
o f ihe late thirties, despite the KCPs attem pt to sm other rural conflict. In
Kathirur, the entire m achinery o f food distribution was taken over by volun
teers. In Taliparam ba, a landlord was forced to release 15,000 seers o f rice
which w ere subsequently sold at prices low er than those prevailing in Ihe
m ark et/9 In the towns, the food com m ittees remained the m eans for negotia
tion with recalcitrant traders and acted as an informnl arm o f the governm ent.
In rural areas how ever, the knitting of food com m ittees with volunteer squads
produced a potent local force for m aintaining distribution. T he party thus
managed to create a tem porary balance by m ediating between rural elites and
the m ilitancy o f the landless. Its appeal lay in its perceived ability to exercise
a degree o f control over the peasant unions on the one hand, and bargain with
the dom inant landow ners on the other. Nevertheless, if the KCP was not to fall
between two stools, it had to try and create a support base w hich was not
dependent on econom ic and political circum stance alone.
An alternative order in the villages, 1942-45
Between 1942 and 1945 the KCP attem pted to build a base for itself in the rural
areas, H itchhikingonthcC ongrcss organisation had becom e difficult. Following
" Deshabhimani, 18 A pril and 30 May 1943. ARM P. 1946, 63; Board of Revenue (Civil Sup
plies) dated 26 A pn i 1949 (Confdl ), Development Dept. G.0.3881 dated 20 July /W 9 (K S ).
People's War, 3 January 1943.
People's War. 2 A ugm t and IK O ctober 1942.
61 Ibid.. 24 Jan u a ry 1943.
FR for the second h alf o f Septem ber 1942, U P and J/5/20I (IOL).
w People's B a r , 2 M ay 1943
the events o f 15 Septem ber 1940, R.K.K. N andkeolyar w as im ported into

M alabar by the Congress high com mand to resuscitate Congress ortho
doxy' ,70 and the subordinate com m ittees, assiduously built up by the socialists
were dissolved.7* At the beginning of 1942, the Kerala Congress was in a.sorry
state, with no funds, several parallel com m ittees and rampant factional fights.7 -
M eanwhile, the KCP attem pted to pul its own house in order and Iried in
exercise som e degree o f control over the mushroom ing groups informally
allied wilh il. Il proved difficult lo ivioiuili* tin- n m l lo ra formal parly orj'aiti
sal ion with the presence ol individual bodies pressing their own claim s. Uy
1944 a terrible fight o f factions had em erged within the loose hierarchy of
units.7-1T he rupture may have been partly a result o f the attem pts by the central
leadership, under E.M S N am budiripad, to exercise control in the nam e of
democratic centralism ', and partly a perception that the leaders, mainly from
u pper castc tharavadus were trying to exclude lower caste members from de*
ciding m atters o f policy. C.H. Kanaran. the prominent organiser of b m /i workers
in Cannanore and Tellicherry, and Raju (?), both Tiyyas, were rem oved from
the central com m ittee. Nam budiripad argued with characteristic sophistry that
the parly should not becom e the display case o f the religions and castcs o f
India.74 In 1945, the uneasy and informal association that the KCP had
m anaged to maintain with the Kerala Congress was formally ended. T he KPCC
decided to exclude com m unists from primary m em bership o f the Congress.75
In the period between 1942 and 1945, the KCP gained a strong foothold in
the villages o f the interior o f north M alabar, particularly those lying along the
foothills. T hese were the areas where large tracts o f forest and w asteland were
available for cultivation. The KCP consolidated its hold over the eastern parts
o f Chirakkal and the north eastern region o f Kottayam, by trying to create an
alternative society o f unions. By the beginning o f 1943, there were 133
baiasanghams (children's unions) in north M alabar with a m em bership o f
3,909. Chirakkal taluk alone had 106 organisations w ilh 3,031 children as
members. A gain in C hirakkal there were over 1,000 m em bers in the w om en's
organisations, Iri kkur accou nting fo r372 and M aday i for 200.76 In M alapattam,
m Public (General) Dept. G :G JJ5I dated 28 November 1940 (KS).

Tl AICC Files 33/1940-41 ; Report o f NandlTeolyar, AICC Files P.22 (part l)/1942 (NMML).
71 AICC Files G-28 part 1/1940; Letter from R.K.K. Nandkeolyar lo General Secretary, AICC,
3 February 1942, AICC Files P-11/1942-6 (NMM L).
CPI Malabar zltla committee. Special conference resolutions, 28 September to 1 October
1945 (KCP, 1945), 22. It is not very clear from the party docum ents that survive from this
period w hat this terrible fight w as all about, references to it being veiled in allusions to the
presence o f factions! C. Unniraja, a m ember o f the central com m ittee in this period, appeared
not to rem em ber the intra-party conflicts. Interview with C. U n n in ja, C alicut, M arch 1989
Party Sanghadakan, 6 (1944), 3-6.
71 Resolution o f KPCC working com m ittee, 21 August 1945, AICC Files P -III/1942-6
(NMM L). Overstreet and W indmiller, Communism in India, 221-2.
14 People's War, 21 February 1943, 8 Septem ber 1944; Deshabhimani, 28 February 1943.
Cnmmunity anti conflict, 1940-1948 175
members of every family belonged to one o r the other organisations o f the

KCP. The success o f the KCP can be gauged by the fact that in Septem ber 1942,
the m embership o f the Al! Kerala Kisan Sangham, which had replaced the All
Malabar Peasant Union, had been only 7,000 m em bers.77
Willi the organisation o f the population o f the desams o f eastern Chirakkal
and Kottayam into separate unions o f men, women and children, the K CPat last
managed to build up a base in the interior. A parallel party organisation was set
up lor M'liltii}' social dispuu s and small lln'l'is in the cm inirystik 7K l llaranlii
<ni(l Itikkw , llit two sirongholds enmc lo be known in local parlance as
Stalingrad and M oscow respectively.7y These references to the Soviet Union
had less lo do with any conscious attempt lo recreale socialist society than with
;in idealised notion o f Utopia One o f the mosi famous com m unist p o cm so f the
forties, Naniyude chinta* (The thoughts of Nani), highlighted more the
concerns of M alabar than any idea o f Soviet society.
I h a v e h e a rd o f a lan d c a lle d S o v iet

I w o u ld lik e to g o th e re so m e d ay ...
O v e r th e re o n e d o e s n o t s u ffe r th e p an g s o f h u n g e r
N o r ih e sh a m e o f o p p re ss io n d a y a fte r d ay
T h ai I w a s n t b o rn th e re . I rue m o st so re ly
In S o v ie t lan d > p u re and h o ly .K,)
Irikkur and Ellarenhi were the centres o f KCP pow er, primarily because
ihcy had a population which was eniircly dependent on shifting cultivation.81
M oreover, Ihe two powerful tharavadus o f Kalliattu and Karukkatitathil held
the m ajority o f the wasteland available forcultivation. Figures o f landholdings
are not available for the forties but in 1901, ihe K arakkatitathil N am biar owned
nearly all the land in Ellarenhi, including 215 acres o f the total o f 232 acres o f
w asteland available for cultivation.82 The Kalliattu and K arakkatitathil
tharavadus between them held 3,105 o f the 4,490 acres o f w asteland (69 per
I
People's War. 28 February 1943,

Deshahhimani. 21 M arch 1943
Report o f DSP, M alabar to IG, M adras, 21 December 1946 andjReport of DM, M alabar lo
C hief Secretary, M adras. 28 December 1946. Public (Generali Dept. G O 300J (Confdl.)
timed 2 December /SWtf (KS), I
' lieshabhinuini. 29 August 1943.
Deshubhimani, 4 March 1945, Over 95 per cent o f the fam ilies n this region were shifting
cultivators in 1945.
* The Karakkaittalhtl tharavadu was related to th e powerful Kalliattu lharavadu by marriage.
In 1901, K. Unnaman N am btar held 33 o f the 36 acres o f wetland and 35 o r the 41 acres o f
garden land in Ellarenhi desam. Settlement Register o f Ellarenhi desam, Kanhileri amsam
(Calicut, 1904). The resettlem ent registers o f 1934 are not available in the Kozhikode
Regional archives.
176 Caste, nationalism anil com m unism in souih India
cent) in Kanhilcri amsam ,83 O f the 1,260 acres o f wasteland in Irikkuram ram ,
the two tharavadus held 806 acres (63 per cent).84 In the Irikkur and Kanhileri
desams, the KCP could focus their agitation against these two landowners who
possessed a near monopoly o f wastelands and forests. In both these desams, the
KCP knitted the m orejm aierial concern o f the fight for wasteland with a
recreation o f the culturejof the reading room. In Karivcllur, the party collecicd
Rs. 20,000 from the population, itself a rem arkable feat, and constructed a
reading room which, in Jhe words o f the D.S.P. o f M alabar, w as the size o r an
average Rom an Catholic church.85
T he reading room s, which soon becam e ihe centre o f village life for the
labourers, w ere a sphere in- w hich the KCP becam e involved with w hat the
conference o f 1945 called the everyday life o f the people. They made another,
and more significant intervention by resuscitating the shrine culture. The
decades o f the tw enties had w itnessed a withdrawal from the shared culture o f
worship o f significant num bers from the upper and low er castes. With the
tem ple entry cam paigns, the attack on the shrines had become more profound.
The theme o f caste m obility had meshed with the rhctoric o f cleanliness
purveyed by the Congress in its attem pt to create a purged and revivified
Hinduism. The KCSP. like the Congress, had distanced itself from the shrines
when in the wake o f the failure o f temple entry, more and more o f the low er
castes were returning to them. In the attem pt to transcend associations of
religion and caslc, it had set itself above involvement with u vital asp cc to f rural
life. However, rural political activity initiated by the KCSP had attacked the
caste privileges o f the dom inant tharavadus and landowners which, to an
extent, dism antled the structures o f social deference seen as intrinsic to
worship at the shrines.
As part o f the general renegotiation o f the rural order, the com m unists
returned to the them e o f the shared religious culture, albeit in an instrumental
way. Folk arts w ere harnessed in the cause o f anti-Japanese and anti-hoarding
propaganda and the otian thullal, poorakkali, kolkkalt, teyyattam, all o f these
found patronage.** In the aflcrm ath o f the Depression, many o f the less
prosperous tharavadus had stopped sponsoring the teyyattam and, other shrine
perform ances. T he leadership o f the KCP, com ing as they did from branches
o f the larger tharavadus, w ere in their elem ent as patrons of the rural arts. Later
in this decade, victim s o f police action w ould be lauded as heroes and martyrs,
11 Settlement registers fo r 1he desams o f Ka vumbay t, Ellarcnhi, K anhilcri, Nilungoll. Cherukkoi,

K anhiten and Kattapuram (Calicut, 1904).
" In Irikkur desam itself, Katliatiu Chathu Nambiyar and Karakkatitothil Unnaman Nambiyar
held 308 o f the 376 (81 per cent) acres o f wasteland. Settlement registers o f the desams of
Paltuvam, Kolat, Nitnvalur, Irikkur, Kuzhinna and Kutlavu {Calicut, 1904).
Report o f DSP, M alabar for the period I4Jnuary 1947. Public (Generat-A) Dept. G.0.3003
(Confdl.) dated 2 December 1948 (KS).
People's War, 26 July 1942, 22 Novem ber 1942, 11 April 1943, 26 December 1943
and many individuals incorporated w ithin the teyyattam tradition o f victim s o f

injustice. Among the persons arrested in the fighting at K arivellur in 1946 was
a teyyattam perform er w ho used to dance com m unism .87 In D ecem ber 1942,
the slogan m ake every tem ple festival into an all night street com er m eeting,
was launched.88 Participation in shrine festivals w as com bined with judicious
propaganda. For the festival at A ndalur shrine, near Tellichenry, the KCP
activists m anaged to get tw enty sacks o f rice a f controlled rales from the
tahsiidar. Com m unist Party m em bers were active in organising the temple
festivals at Jagannatha tem ple and P ayyavur shrine in Chirakkal.89 Here again,
whai began as an intervention in the interests o f the party was transform ed into
som ething far richer.
T he com m unity around the shrine was a new one within w hich the arbi
trariness o f pow er had been m itigated som ew hat. In one sense there w as a
return to the form er idea o f the com m unity o f household, shrine and cultivators.
At a time o f food shortage, the shrines and tem ples w ith their lands and
granaries had becom e oases o f relative plenitude. They continued to collect
rents in grain from those w ho held their w etlands. In a period o f scarcity many
o f ihe dom inant lharavadus found a lifeline in this resuscitation o f the shrine
festival as centres of collective worship. A.C. Kannan N ayar recorded in his
diary the holding o f a teyyattam in his family shrine which brought in a profit1
o f Rs. 4 7 5 . K. M adhavan records another incident more revealing o f the
am biguities o f the relation betw een lharavadus and shrines as well as the
persistence o f the aura o f the dom inant tharavadus in the countryside. In I944,
when a lenani was cvictcd in M adikkat, M adhavan assisted him to harvest the
crop and collect his share. This was in defiance o f local authority as well as the
party line which pressed for harm onious relations with landowners. M adhavan
was arrested and released on bail, paid for w ith borrow ed money. In order to
hire a lawyer and repay the loan, he visited the shrine at Erikkulam , a desam
populated by potters dependent on his tharavadu. In his role as m anager o f the
shrine he dem anded grain from the potters, sold it and used the money lo hire
a law yer!^1
T herefore, the KCP luanaged lo negotiate a conjunctural com m unity of
landowners and cultivators. Since the KCP activists cam e from prominent
lharavadus them selves, they w ere back in the role they had played between
1938-40, i.e. interm ediaries betw een large landowners and cultivators. At a
tim e o f econom ic distress, they m anaged to exercise a degree o f control over
unions and individuals, but this conjuncture would soon pass. W hat continued
" Judgement, Sessions Cose no. 14 anil IN of 194 7 (TCRR)\ Home Political 5/8/46 Poll 1(NAI).
People's War, 27 Dcccmbcr 1942.
" People's War. 7 M arch 1943.
* Diaries of A.C. Kannan Nayar, 28 M arch 1947.
11 M adhavan, Payaswiniyude leeraitu, 164.
178 Custe, nationalism and com m unism in south India
how ever was ihe power of the dom inant tharavadus. The party liiie between
1942-45 had em phasised negotiation rather than conflict with the tharavadus
and by 1946, they were back in control. However, the moderate line had also
allowed several cultivators to gain a foothold lor them selves, creating a large
num ber with interests to protect.
T o w a rd s a m ilitan t sta n ce , 1946-48
From 1946 to 1948, rural politics took an increasingly violent turn, and
exposed the fragility o f the balance achieved in rural relations by Ihe KCP. The
willingness of the provincial governm ent to quell rural militancy with a heavy
hand provoked landowners to break the iruce and reassert their control over
agricultural resources, M oreover, the return o f dem obilised soldiers after the
w ar added an elem ent o f organisation to the activities of unions and cultivators
who were w illing to meet force with force. Nevertheless, com bativcncss
remained w ithin lim its; there were no dem ands for non-paym ent o f rent,
redistribution o f land, o r the overthrow o f landlords as in Bengal orTelcngana.
This was in part the consequence o f the check on rural m ilitancy in the period
1942-45, which had allowed several cultivators lo gain a foothold on plots o f
land. Only profiteering in grain at a tim e o f shortage and the intransigence of
landowners in prohibiting the u se o f resources like w astelands and forests were
opposed. There was again an inchoate recognition o f obligations, offset by the
w illingness to challenge the excesses o f authority.
This recreation o f com m unity was necessarily transient since it was premised
on the possession by tharavadus and shrines o f stocks o f grain, as well as the
tem porary recognition by landowners o f the need lo lease out their wasteland.
Landowners were only too aware o f the inherent dangers o f transferring lands
on lease to cultivators who were backed by a strong organisation. At Blathur
and Urathur, the Kalliattu tharavadu refused to give lands except on very high
rents. At Dharm adam , landlords began sending notices to cultivators to clear
rent arrears and surrender their renewal rights,92 With the introduction of
rationing in M alabar in.Qctober 1944, the supply departm ent sent directives to
all revenue officers that cultivators ~shou!d pay rent to landlords in grain. The
rem aining grain had to be sold to the supply departm en t at a low price and dai ly
requirem ents bought from the m arket where a higher price prevailed.93
With the end o f the war, the m oratorium on the collection o f assessm ent
from dry cultivation ceased. In 1945, an am endm ent was m ade to the M TA o f
" Deshabhinutni. 4 M arch 1945, 11 April 1945.

* Deshabhimani, 15 July 1945.
M Revenue Dept. (Mu) C.0.2007 dated 16 September 1946 (KS),
Community and conflict. 1940-194H 179
1930, giving fixity o f tenure to the cultivator unless the landlord could prove
bona fide need for cultivation to support his fam ily.94 As a result, tenants and
cultivators were in possession o f land, were em powered, at least in law, to
continue there and they w ere unw illing or unable to pay rents in kind. The
temporary truce in the countryside was about to be broken as landlords
attem pted to forcibly collect rent in kind from their tenants at a tim e o f food
scarcity. If the latter refused to accede, they were evicted on dubious protes
tations of personal need from landlords. In the period betw een 1940 and 1946
over 20,000 evictions were ordered under the provisions o f llie M TA, 1930.9S
In 1946, (lie M adias Tenants and Ryots Protection Act had to be passed to
pro v ide security fo r tenants from eviction and sale o f their holdings. Landowners
became increasingly belligerent and in M arch 1946, when a deputation w ent
to solicit ihe Kalliattu landlord to give land for punam cultivation, the police
were called in and sec. 144 o f the 1PC was imposed.96
A brief foray into electoral politics in the 1946 provincial Legislative
Assembly elections proved disastrous. The big guns o f the KCP E.M.S.
Nam budiripad. K.P. Gopalan, A.K. Gopalan, C.H. Kanaran and E. Kannan lost
lo relative unknowns fielded by the Congress.97 The policy o f the com m unists
had been to support the Congress in general constituencies; the League in
Muslim constituencies; and put up their own candidates where they were
strong. It was a piquant situation. Kannan N ayar w rote in his diary on 27
N ovem ber 1945; A few com m unists have gone by in a jatha shouting Vote
for the C ongress!, "V ote for the L eague! Q uite am using!' T he rapprochem ent
with the M uslim League had considerably strengthened its base in M alabar. In
1944, Liaquat Ali Khan and other north Indian M uslim s toured M alabar to
encourage League organisations. In the 1946 elections, they sw ept all the
M uslim seats.98
The Parly would have to return to a m ilitant line; landlords who had been
regarded as friends under the P eoples W ar line becam e enem ies again. In a bid
io invent a revolutionary past for itself, the CPI launched a cam paign for tracing
its ancestry to the revolutionary terrorist m ovem ents w hich had follow ed the
Swadeshi upsurge between 1905-08. P.C. Joshi, the Party Secretary observed
o f the Chittagong Armoury Raid that terrorism was the infant as com m unism
is the mature stage o f their revolutionary life.99 T his them e was taken up in
M alabar and N am budiripad wrote that the seeds o f th : growth o f the Left were
sown in Cannanore jail where the M alayali internees for civi I disobedience had
Revenue <Ms). Dept. G.0.1935 dated 12 August 1947. (KS).

* Deshabhimani, 4 March 1946.
tl must be borne in mind, however, that only 14 per cent o f the adult population were
enfranchised, ihe primary qualifications being properly and income, AICC Files ED-1/1946
KW / and It (NMML); Overstreet and W indmtller, Communism in India, 237,
" Miller, The Mappila Muslims o f Kerala, 161-2.
w Overstreet and Wmdmiller, Communism in India, 233-5.
I
Ai
encountered the incarcerated Bengal terrorists.100 At one stroke this gave the
com m unists both an indigenous genealogy and incorporated them in the tale of
the struggle for independence, w iping out their em barrassm ent about the stance
o f 1942. Now (he KCP could envisage direct confrontation both because o f the
dem ise o f the conjuncture o f the Peoples W ar line and also because it had the
backing o f the little M oscows and Stalingrads in Chirakkal. In May 1946, a
peasants conference was held at Eranjoli and it w as clear from the very first
resolution that the party was w ilting lo go further than it had in 1942. T he aim
o f the present m ovem ent is lo end the feudal \oxd-janmi system and establish
the ow nership o f the cultivator over the land. i01Land to the cultivator was the
new slogan and it was presented asth e panacea for m aterial, social and cultural
progress. For the first tim e the KCP explicitly linked its program m e o f social
reform with the fight for econom ic equality. It prom ised to work 'to remove
unlouchability, caste and other vestiges o f feudalism . 102 O nce again a con
sideration o fca stc was fpzzed by characterising it as a specific phenom enon o f
the traditional order wh;ch would vanish with the dem ise o f the pow er o f the
landlords.
With Ihe KCP ostensibly w illing to espouse a more radical programme, an
edge was added to the situation by the return o f dem obilised soldiers with the
end o f the war. By 1945, M alabar had the highest num ber o f recruits in the
M adras Presidency, having contributed over 60,000 men. Chirakkal alone sent
13 per cent o f the to ta l.103 T he governm ents half-hearted efforts at resettling
them foundered in the face o f the intransigence o f landlords, and these ex
servicem en becam e will! ng converts to the fight for w asteland.104 They trained
the volunteer squads to take advantage o f the natural cover provided by the
forests, to m ake use o f the hilly terrain, establish outposts on vantage points and
above all to use rifles. In the event o f any confrontation with the police, these
squads would be m ore than able to hold their own. T o the north o f the town of
Payyanur, the jurisdiction o f police stations consisted o f a heavily forested and
inaccessible area. T here was only one road to Irikkur which went on to
Srikandajiuram ; the rest was hilly, scrub region. From Irikkur and Illurcnhi,
the KCP had an alm ost im pregnable base from w hich to operate.
Yet again, it was individual initiative w hich forced the issue. Tow ards the
end o f 1946, leaders began to spring up locally, and dem and that the landlord's
" " E.M.S. Nam budiripad, Almakalha [Autobiography) (Trivandrum . 1976), 157. See also his
official history o f the Com m unist Parly o f Kerala, Kammyunhtu party keralalhil (The
Communist Parly in Kerala).
m Alkyaktiansanfham kettipedukkuka (Build upa united peasants (>rgantsation)(Ca\tcul. 1946).
proceedings o f Eranjoli M alabar K u an sam mclan, 14 5 M ay 1946, 1.
IM Ibid., 4. Overstreet and W indm iller, Communism in India, 245.
ARMP. 1945; Public (Resettlement) Dept. C.O.I937 dated 19 August 1945 (KS).
llM In Bengal too. ihe districts o f M ym ensingh, M alda and Dinajpur, w here the lebhaga agitation
developed, were ihe areas where the governm ent had unsuccessfully attempted lo resettle cx-
serviccm en. See D.N, Dhanagnre, Peasant movements in India, 1920-50 (Delhi, 1983), 174,
Community ami conflict, I940-I94H 181
share o f ihe crop should nol be paid. T hey also prevented the collection o f rent.
Throughout the month o f November, there were attacks on consignm ents of
paddy.Ia'* In Decem ber 1946, two confrontations took place between theM SP
and armed villagers w hich show ed the nature o f the transform ation o f rural
politics.
The first was in Karivellur, where the overseer o f ihe raja o f Chirakkal had
made several unsuccessful attem pts lo collect renTfrom tenants. Local com
m unist groups were led by A.V. Kunhambu, the forem ost KCP activist in the
region, who also cam e from a prom inent N ayar tharavadu. These groups
obstructed the removal o f the harvest and its transport out o f the area. Since
Karivellur was accessible only on foot or by using the river, the grain had to be
transported by boat. On 20 Decem ber 1946, the overseer backed by police
strength attem pted to transport grain by river. T hey were opposed by a 300-
strong crow d armed with tappers knives, sticks and clubs w ho approached the
police in an orderly m anner led by C. Kunhambu, an ex-military man. T hey
launched an allack with coir slings and then closed in for hand to hand c o m b a t'
with shouts o f Kill (he police and Kill ihe M S P'. The leaders o f the crowd
w ere heard shouting that Ihe police bullets would only go into the airan d would
not hurt them. In the mfiliSc, a local com m unist leader, Kannan Nayar was shot
d e a d .106 Subsequent enquiries by a m em ber o f the Legislative Assembly
revealed a further element o f organisation and logic behind the actions o f the
crowd. T he raja o f Chirakkal had been trying lo transport 6,000 seers o f rice
from his granaries for sale on the open m arket. T he villagers had attacked only
after the raja turned down their requests to hand over the grain to cooperative
stores, to be sold at the fair price fixed by the governm ent.107 Labourers at
Karivellur had refused to help transport the grain and the overseer had been
forced to hire coolies from nearby A zhikkal,108
Ten days laier another confrontation look place on Kayambayam hill near
lnkkur. Here, as in Karivellur. the removal o f grain from the area for sale in the
open market had been resisted fiercely throughout 1946. In O ctober, the MSP
had received information that som e com m unists' w ere training vohtniccrs in
Irikkur, luii they had Iwcn unable to truce Ihe cam p or round up the participants
because the area was inaccessible. In early D ecem ber, a local leader, M.C.
Rayarappan had been arrested but a crow d surrounded the police station and
released him. Subsequently, a volunteer training cam p at K uzhilur was raided
by the police and seven men arrested. The police station at Irikkur was attacked
Report o f DSP. Malabar lo 1G, M adras, 21 December 1946. Public IGeneral) Dept. C O.
300) (Cnnfdl.) dated 2 December 1948 (KS).
M* Report o f DM. Malabar lo Chief Secrelary, M adras. 21 D ecember 1946. Public (General)
Dept. G.0.3003 dated 2 December 1948 (KS).
II" Ibid. L cilcrt>rP. Venkaieswarulu, MI.A lo PM, M adras, 27 December 1946.
Judgem ent, Sessions Case no 14 and IS o f 1947 (TCRR).
by an armed crow d but w ith no success. On 30 December, the M SP got news

o f a cam p on K ayam bayam hill with about 500 volunteers As the platoon
approached the hill there were two shrill blasts on a w histle and under covering
fire, the volunteers charged dow n the hill. Five men died in the encounter, three
o f whom had served in the arm y during the w a r.'09
T hese incidents reveal the degree to w hich the KCP had m anaged to harness
w hat had been individual initiatives tow ards occupation and cultivation o f
w asteland. T he volunteer squads, now reorganised as a disciplined rural
m ilitia, coordinated w hat had been the random actions o f opposition lo the
police and la n d o w n m T here was another elem ent o) coherence: partly the
result o f the conjuncture o f 1942 when the KCP had endeavoured to renegotiate
the rural order. Both at K arivellur and Irikkur, there had been overt acts of
violence and confrontation only when there had been a transgression of the
obligation to provide subsistence at a tim e o f death. It was the attem pt to sell
grain for profit w hich had acted as the flashpoint. In the concerted attem pts to
bring w asteland under cultivation, provide grain at a limE o f need and, lastly,
to make the dom inant tharavadus aw are o f their obligation to sustain their
dependents, the KCP had created yet another conjunctural sense o f com munity.
In north M alabar, there was none o f the militancy evidenced in the tebhaga
agitations o f 1946 in Bengal. One of the chief slogans of tebhaga had urged
sharecroppers to take grain to their own yards instead o f to the landow ner.110
In M alabar, food shortage had not reached the levels o f Bengal in 1943-44; a
controlled m ovem ent had m anaged to keep the com m unity o f subsistence
alive. Landholders had pragm atically provided wasteland for cultivation in
cases w here they had not provided food. Bengal during the great famine had
w itnessed a breakdow n o f rural relations; the fam ine had assured the survival
o f those w ith resources o f grain; w om en, children, and marginal groups had
perished.111 T he failure o f the rural elites to provide in 1943-44 probably
explains the militancy o f 1946. In T elengana, far mosc radical ventures were
inaugurated, with the C om m unist Party establishing soviets w hich provided
parallel adm inistration in well over 4,000 villages Land was seized and given
to agricultural labourers.112
'* Home Political F 7/3/47 (IO L); Proceedings o f enquiry by Jt. M agistrate, Tellichcrry, 2
January 1947. Public (General) Dept. G.0.3003 dated 2 December 1948 (KS),
M Bose, Agrarian Bengal, 264*97
P.R. Greenough, Indian fam ines and peasant victim s: the case o f Bengal in 1943-44,
M odem Asian Studies, 14, 2 (1980), 205-35; A. Sen, Poverty and famines: an essay on
entitlement and deprivation (O xford. 1981),
1,1 Dhanagarc, Peasant movements in India, 165-9, 194-5. In Travancore, the co ir workers o f
Alleppcy em barked upon a short-lived rebellion in 1946; the com plex outcom e o f post-w ar
econom ic depression, food shortages, state politics, and pri nccly intransigence. In a tenden
tious article, Jeffrey argues that this rebellion was the outcom e o f a directive from Moscow.
R. Jeffrey,Tndias working class revolt: Punnapra-V ayalar and the com m unist conspiracy"
o f 1946', Indian Economic and Social History Review, 18, 2 (1981), 97-122.
( nii uiiunily iitttl conjUi't . I9 4 0 -IV4 H IB3
All through 1947, m ilitani activity continued in north M alabar and even
cultivation had ui be earned on with the help o f the police.113 Many large
landowners had already decam ped from the areas w hich had becom e com m u
nist strongholds and the Karakkalitalhi! N ayanar took up residence twenty
miles away from Ellarenhi for fear o f reprisals.114 T he Congress ministry in
M adras headed by T. Prakasam began w orking in close alliance with the
Special Branch lo intensify the deploym ent o f police forces in the battle
against com m unism '. 115 In 1947, the M adras M aintenance o f Public O rder Acl
was passed em pow ering the governm ent with w ider powers o f preventive
di'k'HtiiMi, retpnsiltoning o f pn>|)crty and censorship, in order lo deal with
subversive a c tiv itic s'.,,^,
The KCP followed a policy o f underm ining the morale o f the police force.
They subjected them to ridicule and questioned theirlegitim acy by propagating
talcs o f atrocities. A tone public m eeting, the M SP was described as the special
army ... against the Congress, trade unions, k isans, and even against tem ple
en try and M a ry a n s '." 7 The Deshabhitnani m s the organ o f propaganda and
since it was read aloud in reading rooms and factories all over M alabar, the
governm ent was not far w rong in characterising it as the m ainspring o f the
com m unist m achine-. Every edition o f the Deshabhitnani carried stories o f
rip e and torture com m itted by the MSP. A typical extract read, T he local
blackm arkelcers are getting [.vie] elated; the landlords - the social pests - are
dancing in ecstasy: the capitalists who indulge in atrocious profiteering are
overjoyed; corrupt, autocratic and im perious officialdom are extrem ely de
lighted , , . '118 The second strategy adopted was to petition the Prakasam
ministry to negotiate a quid pro quo. As a part o f this, if w astelands w ere made
Free for cultivation and landlords collected their rents only in cash, the KCP
would cultivate the land at rates recom m ended by the MTCR, 1940. M oreover,
surplus grain would be handed over to the governm ent.119 T he Prakasam
ministry proved to be intractable in its policy towards wasteland and in 1947,
the M adras Estates Com munal Forest and Private Lands (Prohibition of
A lienation) Acl made void, with retrospective effect, all alienation o f private
1,1 ARMP, 1947.9.
Diaries o f A.C. Kannan Nayar, 17 Decem ber 1,946,
" 'A r n o ld , Police power and colonial rule. 220. T he Prakasam m inistry was seen by landowners
as representing ihe bulwark againsl comm unism. Kannan N ayar observed, I have faith in the
Prakasam m in istry ... they are o f a propertied tem peram ent. Diaries o f A.C. Kannan Nayar.
I M arch 1947.
'"ARM P, 1947.3.
Speech o f E.M .S. Nam budiripad at Madras com m ittee o f CPI, Triplicane beach, 5 January
1947 Public (General) Dept. G O 3003 (Confdl.) dated 2 December 1948 (KS).
" Drshabhimam, 26 February 1947; Report o f Ihe DM. M alabar. D. Dis. 2624 M47 (Confdl.)
dated 5 September 1947 (KRA).
" E.M.S, Nam budiripad to T . Prakasam, 31 D ecember 1946 and 14 January 1947; M em oran
dum to the Secretary o r the Board o f Revenue reproduced in Malabartle kanhika kuihappam
(Agrarian strife in Malabar) (KCP, 1947), 1-2,
lands since 1 N ovem ber 1945.120 Vesting greater pow ers o f ow nership o f
wasteland w ith the larger landowners proved, in the event, to be the surest way
o f exacerbating conflict.
Coupled with its intransigence in not allow ing any concessions in the m atter
o f w asteland, the Prakasam m inistry continued with its policy o f severe
repression through the MSP. By the end o f January 1947, the com m unist
stronghold in Karivetlur had been broken and 176 know n com munists
arrested. It was a hollow victory, for many o f the inhabitants had decam ped and
the older people who were left behind refused to divulge inform ation to the
police. V illage revenue officers participated in attacks on the police and once
an area had been brought under control by force, there was no infrastructure o f
official adm inistration to keep the peace. M alapattam and Kandakkayi, desams
in which com m unist organisation was strong, held out against the M SP since
they were adjacent to forests. Every tim e the desams were raided, the popu
lation fled into the jungles. O nce the police had moved on, fields were attacked
by union activists and standing crops harvested. Ten platoons o f the MSP were
active around the desams o f lrikkur, Kandakkayi, Payyavur and Ellarcnhi, yet
the unions had ih e upper han d .121
In an attem pt at a placatory gesture, the governm ent decided that all
com m unist under-trial prisoners were to be treated as a .special class,122 T his
measure backfired, and com m unist activists used it as part o f their propaganda
to show the rightness o f their cause. In the desams o f the east, the activity o f
the Party becam e bolder and more innovative. Plays w ere staged extolling the
achievem ents o f the peasant'unions, and leaflets distribuicd calling for violent
agitation to cultivate waste(ands. Released com m unist prisoners returned to
their villages and spoke o f the ineffectiveness o f the law and order agencies.
Party cadres were sustained by house-to-house collections o f rice and families
were advised to keep back sufficient paddy for them selves and party activists.
At M angat, in a bold move, the village com m on was taken over by the unions
o f M orazha and K alliasseri and tapioca and chillies planted.123
O n 15 A ugust 1947, India gained independence. Congress branches began
to be established in the interior. A police report o f 1947 noted hopefully the
presence o f ninety-seven Congress m em bers in the com m unist heartland o f
Ellarenhi whereas there had been none in 1946-47.124 In the eastern villages,
support for Congress was lim ited and its policy was restricted to the formation
ARMP, 1947, 3-6.

1,1 Report o f the DSP, W eitem R ingc between 14 January 1947 and 4 February 1947 Public
(General) Depl. G.0.3003 (Confdl.) dated 2 December 1948 (KS).
' Home Depl. (Ms.) G.O.822 dated I March 1947 (KS).
111 Report o f DSP, W estern Range, 16 M arch lo 13 Septem ber 1947. Public (General) Dept.
G.0.3003 (Confdl.) doted 2 December 1948 (KS).
I!l Report o f DSP, W estern Range, Septem ber to D ecember 1947. Public (General) Depl.
G.0.3003 (Confdl.) dated 2 December 1948 (KS).
Cimmuniiy and conflict, I940-I94H I8S
o f Dcsh Raksha Sam ajam s. These were volunteer com m ittees ostensibly
created to patrol the countryside but more often they engaged in pitched street
battles with groups thought lo be com m unists. In K ottayam taluk, a model
Congress village was made at Pullot desam in an attem pt to parallel the red
desams o f Karivellur, Eltarenhi and Irikkur. but its m ajor activity o f spinning
did not appeal to m an y .125 Eventually, Congress organisation in north M alabar
could not subsum e the other affiliations o f ijs members, even tem porarily, as
the KCP had m anaged to do. In Hosdrug taluk, the sam e person acted as the
secretary o f the Congress com m ittee, the S ocialist Party as w elt as the SN D P
Yogam. From different platform s, people w ere organised under tricoloured,
red and yellow flag s!126
W hat scaled the fate o f the Congress was its hesitant approach towards land
reform , even as the situation in north M alabar pointed the direction in which
political strategy lay. T here was a strong lobby within the KPCC led by G.
Sankaran N ayar, the doyen o f tenancy reform in M alabar, w hich argued against
giving land to the cultivator. Sankaran N ayar fell that distributing land am ong
the cultivators would have the disastrous effect o f w iping oul the middle
classes o f the district.127 A tenancy sub com m ittee appointed by the KPCC
stated firm ly that the 'aim o f land reform should n o t... be the mere distribution
o f land am ong the landless and suggested that sm aller holdings should Bt
gradually consolidated into large scale cooperative farm s.128 O nce again, the
Congress show ed itself com pletely oul o f touch with the political m ood o f the
tenants and agricultural labourers and provided no suggestion other than
collectivising the lands o f the small cultivators!
The revolutionary line of 1948
By January 1948, the increasing reluctance o f landowners to give out their

w astelands f o r punam cultivation prom pted the C ollector to take m atters into
his own hands. A temporary trucc was achieved by the signing o f the punam
charier between landowners and tenants, which assured land for cultivation at
low rents.129 In April 1948, the central com m ittee o f the CPI m et at Calcutta
and callcd for a revolution in the countryside. Agrarian m ovem ents uniting the
'> AICC Files G-41/1948 (NMML)

Report o f Sadiq All's lour o f Kerala. AICC Files P 24 (U) and P 24 (Ill)/I947 (NMML).
1,1 Letter from G. Sankaran N ayar, Secretary, M alabar Tenancy Association 10 President,
AICC, 13 June 1947 AICC Filet G-IO (part IV)/I946 (NMML).
I! Report of the tenancy sub-com mittee of ihe KPCC (E. Moithu M aulavi, K. Bhaskara Menon,
A. Ramachandra Nedungadi, K. Raghavan). Development Dept. G O i l l dated22 January
1951 (KS).
* Public (General) Dept. G O 6SO ( Confdt.) dated 12 March 1948 (KS).
C asle, nationalism and com m unism in south India
entire mass o f ihe poor peasants, middle peasants and the agrarian proletarians
were to be launched 130 Landlordism was lo be liquidated w ithout com pensa
tion to landlords, all forms o f feudal and sem i-feudal exactions were to be
ended and the rallying slogan was to be 'land 10 the tiller*. F or the first time,
vague, yet em otive categories of cultivator and tiller* were defined and
distinctions made within the broad mass of the peasantry. A pam phlet inau
gurating the new program m e stated that it was:
against the tradition we huvc followed so far in peasant organisation. That the peasant
inuveihfiit is a united mm cum it nl cvriyimit ttiln-i tli.ui tin-, junmi in the I'omiliysidi-
is a false notion. Peasants do not form a single class; among them there arc the butter
off, the middling and the poor Below them are the labourers even without land,'31
The KCP would throw its w eight behind agricultural labourers, other rural
labourers and poor peasants* who were the backbone o f the m ovem ent'.
N evertheless, am idst all this talk o f class alignm ents in the forthcoming
struggle, there was a streak o f pragmatism . An arrangem ent would have to be
arrived at with caste organisations but as a part o f class organisation and class
struggle !*-"*
The necessity of differentiating w ithin the broad support base of Ihe KCP
precipitated a crisis, A heterogenous front o f forces had been built up behind
the slogan o f land to the cultivator, integrating the desire for land o f the labourer
and small cultivator. K.A. Keralecyan was despatched by the parly to explain
to units all over north M alabar that agricultural labourers, and not the tenant
cultivators, w ere now to be considered the bulwark o f the party. In Hosdrug
taluk there was imm ediate discord, T hose tenant cultivators who had gone to
prison in 1946-48 as part o f the KCP cam paign for land returned to find
them selves out in the cold. An organisation was set up to work against the
agricultural labourers and the KCP unit split three ways, The small landlords
and a section am ong the tenant cultivators joined the Congress while a few o f
the latter enlisted in the new ly formed Socialist P arty.133
The other conflict arose over w hether grain should be grabbed or be paid for
and then redistributed. M any o r the veteran leaders o f the KCP preferred the
latterand believed that Jandlords should be made to give up their grain through
peaceful persuasion. In Kusc'rgode taluk.T. Suhranum iam Thirum utnpureceived
a card from Keralceyan asking him to go ahead with a violent program m e on
"* Calcutta Conference o f the CPI. 19-iH (CPI. 1948), Resolution. 99.
1.1 Vadakke malabarile samaravum athilninnulla pathangalum (The struggle in north Malabar
and its lessons) (KCP. January 1949), 34-5.
1.1 Ibid., 35, 39-40.
1.1 M adhavan, Payaswmiyude leerattu.2\2-\3. 219: Interview with K.A, Keraleeyan, Calicut,
M arch 1987.
CiHttiHimitx anti rtmjlii'l. 1940-1948
(he Tclenguna nuidct' Thirum um pu tem porised, asking the district council o f
the KCP for advice while leading jatluis in M adikkai, Klaytkode, Kodakkat
and Kayyur for purchasing grain at a fair price from lundtords. He received a
message from the council criticising him forcontinuing to have illusions o f the
Nehru governm ent. M oreover, the tenuous control o f the KCP over local
initiative finally gave way and in Karivellur people raided a granary and carried
away the slocks. Thirum um pu dccided to resign from the Com munist Party in
protest against what he saw as illegal acts.134 Chandroth Kunhiraman Nayar,
who had organised and trained the first volunteer squads, resigned from the
KCP a li'w m onths la in 1,s
T he crisis within the leadership had repercussions for the extent o f KCP
control over rural m ilitancy, T he situation fast becam e a confrontation between
t!ie policc and m averick unions. North M alabar was turned into a sem i-war
zone Four com panies o f the M SP were active in the interior, and the police
adm inistration report for 1948 expressed relief that the boredom which had
hitherto been the bane o f the force had been alleviated. 136 Peasant unions
sprang up all over north M alabar asking cultivators to retaliate if they were
asked to give up their wetlands, and offering to fight on their behalf. M any o f
the volunteer squads seemed to have taken up freelance political activity
particularly in the areas less accessible to Ihe police.137 April and M ay 1948
w ere the cruellest m onths and groups o f armed agricultural labourers clashed
with the MSP at Kodom. Thillenkeri, Peralam and Onjiyam. Revolutionary
strategy was planned at m eetings disguised as study classes prompting the
governm ent lo issue memos to all police officers lo raid study classes
w herever they were being held.138
By June 1948, there was a lull in hostilities, but the authorities looked
forward with trepidation lo Septem ber when the harvests were likely to bring
on a fresh spate o f attacks. D epending on how much control the KCP managed
lo retain over their units, political activity was more or less system atic. In the
red desams o f Chirakkal - Irikkur, Ellarenhi and M alapattam - volunteer
cam ps were organised with training in unarmed com bat and m ethods of
snatching rifles. Letters intercepted by the police showed that activists had
been advised to attack the police only uîen they were in small groups. Ex
militiamen organised jathas, looting o f granaries and ration shops, raiding of
Ihe houses o f landlords and even attem pts lo dem olish public bridges to impede
lM Statement o f T.S. Thirum unipu to sub-inspector, Chcruvathur on arrest. 21 May 1948,

Madras Govt. Secret USSno. 71dated29November 1948 {TN A); Maiihavon, Payaswiniyudt
teerattu, 203.
1,1 Diaries of AC. Kantian Nayar. 29 M arch 1949.
'* RAPMP, 1947*48.5-6.
111 Public (General-A) Dept. G 0.729 (Ms.) dated 17 March 1949 {KS).
* Special Branch CID lo Ihe ChierSecretary, M adras, 11 May 1948. Madras Govt. Secret USS
no. 7 / dated 29 November 1948 (TNA).
police m ovem ents.139 In other desams, people took the law into their own
hands. A.C. Kannan N ayar cam e upon a crow d o f old w omen and children
armed w ith sticks w ho had m anaged to get grain from a landlord at K undtaya
and w ere proceeding to get more from a neighbouring o n e.140 T here was
considerable alarm am ong the district authorities w ho saw a replication o f
activities in H yderabad and requested the banning o f the KCP. TTie G overn
ment o f India, however, was not keen to drive the party underground which
would have m ade it m ore difficult to contend w ith .141
W hile the Congress and the M S P worked hand in glove to root out the
com m unists, the KCP m anaged to extend the struggle even further into the
foothills o f Karivellur, EUarenhi and Kodakkat. Cultivators were led into the
forests lo collect m anure and firew ood, rights w hich had been progressively
denied them throughout the forties. In Septem ber 1949, the KCP was banned
and, by O ctober, the entire leadership o f the M alabar com m ittee, the Chirakkal
com m ittee and the firka com m ittees was jailed. Even though the political
programme o f the KCP had ended in disarray, an important principle had been
established. A gricultural labourers and cultivators had shown them selves
willing to fight for negotiation o f resources and against the excesses o f large
landlowners, like the curtailm ent o f custom ary rights and profiteering in grain.
On the other hand, the Indian state like its predecessor, the colonial state, had
show n itself able, and w illing, to suppress rural militancy effectively.
Conclusion
Throughout the forties, the state gave tharavadus greater control over w aste
lands and forests, beginning with the recommendations o f the tenancy com mittee
o f 1940 and culm inating in the Preservation o f Private Forests A ct o f 1949.
M oreover, it w as willing to bolster the pow er o f these dom inant households by
com ing dow n severely on [jural militancy. T hroughout this decade, M alabar
was hrouglit more firmly un^lcr the framework o f law and order im posed from
M adras. M alabar, and particularly its northern regions had been neglected
outposts o f the M adras Presidency till the events o f 1940. In Septem ber 1940,
the Intelligence Bureau had expressed its concern at being caught unawares,
m Ibid., Secret letter DSP lo DM, Malabar, IS August 1948; DM, M alabar to C hief Secretary,
M adras, 26 D ecember 1948, Public (General) Depl. G.0.3003 (Confdl.) dated 2 December
I94S(KS)', Court o f Special Addt. Magistrate, Cannanorc C C/7/48. Public(General-B)Dept.
G.0.1806 dated 9 July 1953{KS).
110 Diaries o f A.C. Kannan Naytir, 16 M arch 194B.
M ost Immediate Top S ecretTelegram no. 2818 dated 29 M arch 1948 from Governm ent of
India, Home Affair* to all provincial governm ents. Madras Govt, Secret USS no. 71 dated
29 November 1948 (TNA).
Community and conflict, 1940-194H t89
observing ihat it was a most surprising developm ent as com ing from M alabar.
By 1948, however, any m ilitant activity was rendered increasingly difficult by
the presence o f an armed constabulary w illing to defend order and property.
Tbe lim its o f rural radicalism had been reached in a period o f econom ic
crisis, allow ing the KCP lo exercise a degree o f control over peasant radicalism.
Between 1942 and 1945, the KCP translaied the national Party doctrine o f class
harmony and cooperation with the state into a program m e o f renegotiating
rural relations. T his w as done at two levels. First, the tharavadus reemerged in
their roles as dispensers o f benevolence, granting w astelands to desperate,
therefore com pliant cultivators. In this period, the pragm atism o f cultivators,
the caution o f the KCP, and the violence em ployed by ihe state ensured that
political activity would go thus far and no further. T he second aspect o f KCP
mediation in rural relations w as the revival o f the shrine culture. Paradoxically,
if viewed only through the eyes o f theory, the com m unists w ere responsible for
restoring the shrines as the site o f rural w orship and com m unity. T he old
structures rem ained but tne relations w hich sustained them were altered. By
1948, it w as clear that rural com m unity could no longer be negotiated as before.
T he w illingness o f the governm ent to deploy force to suppress m ilitancy and
maintain the control exercised by landowners m eant ihat KCP politics would
now have lo look outw ard from the villages o f north M alabar. T he politics o f
M alabar would henccforth consist o f an engagem ent with the state in an effort
lo recreate rural relations. In 1951, the KCP would m ake the transition tow ards
respectability and the politics o f engaging with the state, in a m ove from 'ultra
leftism to, w hat one o f their leading theoreticians called, parliam entary
cretinism .142 In the 1951 general elections, the first with universal suffrage,
the KCP won a resounding victory in north M alabar, securing over 70 per cent
o f the voles in Taliparam ba and M atlanur.
1,1 K. Domodaran, *The tragedy o r Indian com m unism ', in T arlq Ali ed., The Slallnhl legacy
(H arm ondiw orth, M iddlesex, 1984), 353.
Conclusion
From 1900 to 1948, difTerenl conceptions o f com m unity were projected,

created and negotiated, but, inevitably, they were inflected by the antagonism s
w ithin society. Both social reform and political ideologies offered intim ations
of equality to a society where caste inequality was Ih e central issue o f politics.
Each notion o f com m unity failed: either because it could not be inclusive
enough, or it was too all em bracing to allow for the recognition o f disparity. The
efforts o f the .socialists and com m unists were relatively more successful
com pared to other m ovem ents, because they started from ihe prem ise o f social
differences and tried lo m ediate between these. Paradoxically, the threat of
conflict helped to sustain the negotiation o f com m unity betw een its constituent
elem ents. T he actions o f peasant unions rem inded tharavadus forcefully o f
their obligations. However, it w as precisely this factor which underm ined a
tem porary mediation. Peasant unions had a proclivity to pull in different
directions, and to fragm ent into the actions o f diverse individuals. M oreover,
the state increasingly intervened to restore o rd er'. T his meant, initially, that
the volum e o f conflict over rural resources increased and that eventually,
disparities remained.
Each redefinition o f com m unity by political ideologies was presented by its
authors as an advance over the previous ones. The Tiyyas had projected a
com m unity only o f equal Tiyyas; nationalism envisaged a w ider com m unity of
H indus devoid o f differences; socialism and com m unism sidestepped the issue
o f caste altogether, but envisaged a com m unity o f w orkers and peasants. Each
created a metaphor for the inequality prevailing within society. T he Congress
attacked untouchability, arid this was reflected in ils politics both in the
cam paigns for cleanliness as well as the venture to gain tem ple entry for all
castes. Socialist discourse had posited capitalism as lying at the root o f all evils
in society. As K rishna Pillai, co-founder o f the Socialist Party w rote in 1934,
Capitalism will be destroyed and the ruling o f the country will pass into the
hands o f the daridranarayan [the poor]. 1
1 Krishna Pillai. 'Fascisavum kammyunisavum (Fascism and Communism), Mathrubhumi, 18

April 1934.
190
Com luxion 191
Many groups Tell outside the broad categories of w orker and peasant that
political movements attem pted to project. The artisanal groups (Kam m alar)
were a case in point. They had been bypassed by caste m ovements, nationalism
and socialism since they could not be categorised as untouchables, w orkers or
peasants. Right through our period, they remained petitioners o f the M adras
governm ent and were unaffected, on the whole, by the changes in political
colouring and idiom . As late as 1937. artisanal groups in M alabar were
lobbying the governm ent to allow them to attach honorifics like Brahmasri and
Av:u|'! to tlieir mimes - They aspired to a higher secular slnlus through such
strategies. This was true o f ritual perform ers like Ihe Penivannans (washermen
given a ntle by the locally powerful tharavadus) as well, w ho were affected by
the decline o f patronage for shrines. In Nilambur, the senior raja him self
intervened on behalf o f his ritual perform ers, so that their status could be
lowered from backw ard caste to depressed caste, entitling them to more
concessions!3 Castes caught in the backwash o f political m ovem ents had
already begun to turn lo distant M adras for a resolution of inequality. At theend
o f the forties, the com m unists too had com e to realise the necessity o f engaging
with the state, as their political actions were increasingly curbed by the use of
force by the state,
'<It was not only that definitions o f com m unity did not includc certain groups
within their purview. Very often, the consequences o f such projections were
quite at variance with the initial objectives. Tiyya elites had conceived o f a
com m unity o f equal Tiyyas standing apart from Hinduism and, therefore, a
caste society. Their growing strength in the towns had repercussions in sim ilar
attem pts to build bonds both am ong the M appilas on the coast and between
tharavadus in Ihe interior. M eanwhile projections o f nationalist unity had
w orked out in practice as assertions o f authority by tharavadus. and finally, the
conception o f a Hindu identity around the issue o f lemple entry. By 1936, all
these them es had com e together and been transformed into com m unal conflict
in the towns. This was the result o f a younger generation o f Tiyyas allying with
theC ongress, as Hindus, to engagein com m unal clashes against the Mappilas.
Thus, in the end, nationalist politics in M alabar engendered particular identities,
like a sense o f N ayarhood am ongst the many sub-casies o f Nayars and, even
com m unal' affiliations. The process o f creating a w ider national unity was
blunled by local issues.
In contrast to nationalist politics, socialist and com m unist political activity
attem pted to build class-based' unities. Nevertheless, the peasant unions
! Development Dept. C.O. 1800 doled 13 October 1936 (KS); Development Dept. C.O. 1094
dated 15 May 1937 (KS).
1 Mathrubhumi,9 October 1935, 2 January 1936.2 January 1936. In 1952, A .C. Kantian Nayar
presided over a meeting o f M alayanmar (teyyattam perform ers and ritual musicians) and n u d e
them sw ear (hat they would not use the customary words o f deference' while speaking lohim .
Diaries o f A.C, Kannan Nayar, 21 May 1952.
reflected less a consciousness o f class interests, than tem porary associations

towards specific ends. Some o f them were t/fram -based units w hich included
both landless labourers as well as landowners. O thers drew upon caste
affiliations and imposed caste sanctions on those who would not join. Ytii
others were thoroughly utilitarian and were formed for subm itting represen
tations to the M alabar Tenancy Com miltee between 1939 and 1940. A striking
exam ple o f the conjunctural nature o f class identities is offered by the
Chirakkal taluk Harijan League. I thad been founded in 1940 as a peasant
union* in order to acquire wasteland for cultivation, and included only
untouchable castes in its membership. Though allied lo the socialists, and later
the com m unists, it m aintained close links with the C ongress as well. In 1945,
the Congress disavow ed all connections with the Harijan League denouncing
it as a com m unist body. T he League promptly look up ihe cause o f temple
entry, and its new leaders formed a com m ittee headed by the raja o f Chirakkal.4
In another instance in 1945, C.H. Kanaran, the stalw art o f the Com m unist Parly
in Cannanore, spoke vehemently in favour o f caste associations, staling that
casic was a reality in contem porary society.5 Thus, the boundaries o f com
munities, and identities themselves, were constantly fluctuating, conditioned
by necessity, pragm atism and opportunism.
Though notions o f com m unity remained unrealised, and at ihe level of an
aspiration alone, some o f the consequences were concretely m anifested. There
had been som e change in attitudes in the countryside; low er castes no longer
stepped off ihe roads al the sight o f N ayars, and overt marks and dem onstra
tions o f deference and subordination decreased. To an extent, this represented
the lim ited, but significant, achievem ent o f political activity o ver the thirties
and the forties. The pow er o f the tharavadus and more generally, o f Ihe upper
castes, had been checked considerably. However, they still continued to
exercise authority in their control over resources and in the ready access they
had to the law enforcing machinery o f the state. Com mupist activity, particularly
between 1942 and 1945, attem pted a renegotiation o f rural relations after the
fervid political dem ons)rations al lltccm l o f Ihe previous dccadc In (lie coiilcxl
o f food shortages and land hunger, the tharavadus had recm erged in iheir role
as dispensers o f benevolence, granting land and subsistence, and, on occasion,
receiving feudal levies as well. M uch more significant was the restoration of
the shrines at the centre o f a reconstituted rural com m unity. Here it w as not so
much the reproduction o f certain social roles that was stressed, but the elem ent
o f worship alone. In a sim ple view, the origins o f com m unism have been
situated in the context o f tlie collapse of social and religious structures' and
the rise o f a situation in which com m unism provided the answ ers that gods and
1
4 Deshabhtmani, 10 Septem ber 1945
Ibid., 23 Septem ber 1945.
Conclusion 193
ccrem onies did not.6 H ow ever, it w as the ability o f com m unism to shore up
existing relations, and at the sam e tim e, attack the excesses, w hich helped to
ensure its success.
Several argum ents have been advanced to explain the success o f the
com m unists. O ne set deals with their ability to identify them selves with the
chauvinism o f region and caste' and their rootedness in the com m unal fabric
o f society.7 H ow ever, the career o f the party, .as m uch in the period w e have
studied as later, has been characterised by political pragm atism rather than
perm anent affiliations o f any kind. There have been conjunctural and tactical
partnership w ith parties and groups o f all hues, justified by theoretical leger
dem ain. T he 1967 elections are a case in point. Out o f pow er for eight years,
ihe com m unists cam e to pow er through an alliance with the M uslim League,
a few socialist parties and an agrarian party led by a Christian priest. In
subsequent years, relations with the M uslim League were to undergo swings
from revulsion tow ards its com m unal' nature lo attraction towards its potential
as a vote bank. N or has the party m anaged to create class consciousness and
mount this steed past the post to victory. A rgum ents w hich work on the premise
that the party relied on the class identity and solidarity of the peasantry' do not
take into account the vicissitudes of the relation between the com m unists and
agrarian classes.8 T he events o f 1948 w ere a lesson in practical politics: the
party clarified its theoretical position regarding its actual base o f support, i.e.
the agricultural labourer, and gained only the alienation of those agrarian
groups w hich had been loosely aligned with it. On the question of land reform
too, pragm atism has prevailed. The em otive slogan o f land to the tiller has
been translated not to the benefit o f the sm all peasants who actually contribute
physical labour lo the production process. As H erring points out. tiller has
been defined generously to signify the sm all-scale capitalist farm er who bears
'he financial and managerial risks o f cultivation. It is ironical that by following
through land reform to its logical conclusion, i.e. the abolition oflandlordism ,
the party seems to have lost its raison d'etre for the beneficiary groups. The
tenants o f yesterday becam e the landlords o f today; their adherence to the party
is hy no m eans d e a r. T his is unlike Heitgnl where a policy o f controlled
mobilisation and the creation o f an institutional base o f support mxhepanchayals
has ensured a reasonably stable base for the Com m unist Party.9
* Jeffrey. 'Peasant m ovem ents and the Com m unist Parly', 132; and 'M atnliny. M arxism and ihe
birth of the Com m unist Party in Kerala. 1930-1940'.
* Sclig Harrison. India: iltr most dangerous decades (Princeton. NJ, 1965). 137; Fic, f t nan of
India. 17.
* Rndhakrishnan, Peasant struggles, land reforms and social change. 271; R J . H erring and
H.C. Hart. Political conditions o f land reform ' in R.E. Frykenberg ed Land tenure and
peasant insouthAsia (D elhi, 1984); Herring, Land to the tiller. Kannan, Of rural proletarian
struggles. 90.
, A. Kohli. The state andpoverty in India, the politics of reform (Cambridge, 1987), ch. 3; Nossiler.
Communism in Kerala; Land lo the tiller, 153-216.
194 C aste, nationalism and co m m u nism in sotitli India
Some scholars have contended that the com m unists were seen as carrying
on the good work o f nationalism ; in fact they may have been more nationalist
than the C ongress.10 H ow ever, if we look at the two regions o f India where
parliam entary com m unism is well entrenched, i.e West Bengal and Kerala, the
alienation from the Congress o f im portant sections w ithin society was the
predom inant reason for the success of the communists. In M alabar, lower
castes and a group within a fractured clue were estranged from a Congress
unw illing and unable to tackle the question of caste inequality. Communism
represented as much a reaction against nationalism as a satisfactory conclusion
of incom plete husiness. In Bengal, the hhininilok ck'Icilum to com m unism
rcllecleillhcir alarm ami revulsion tow ards ihi conNL'ilueiKJcmrCoiigiesMiisiss
politics which undercut their influen ce.11 Moreover, the fortunes of the Con
gress and com m unism seem lo have an inverse and probably perverse relation
W hether in the lebiwga agitation and Telcngana, or the N axalite and Jharkhand
m ovem ents in independent India, the com m unists seem to have been most
successful in organising on the fringes o f society - tribals and landless
labourers; groups the C ongress was reluctant to m o b ilise.'2 This leads us to a
further irony Even though revolutionary com m unist ac tiv ity -w h eth er M alabar
in 1946-48 or the N axaliie agitations o f 1967-70- has been directed against the
state, it has been indirectly responsible for the extension o f the control o f the
Indian state lo regions w hich it had nol controlled earlier. M alabar, a neglected
outpost o f the M adras Presidency, was firmly brought within the purview o f
Law and O rder following 1948, as were the tribal belts o f A ndhra and Orissa
following the suppression o f the N axalites in I9 7 0 .1-1
The history o f the Com m unist Party has been characterised by occasional
splits between pragm atic parliam entarians and radical seccssionists: the
Com m unist Party o fln d ia (CPI) till 1964; ihe CPI (M arxist) following the split;
the CPI (M arxist-Leninist) in 1969 w hich spearheaded the N axalite schism;
and the m inuscule factions o f the CPI(M L) thereafter. But on the whole
pragm atism and accom m odation have prevailed over strict adherence to
ideology. In M alabar, the achievem ents o f socialism and com m unism at the
conju nctu reof 1948 w ere conservative. They had helped to refashion an earlier
" Damndaran. T h e tragedy o f Indian com m unism '. 346; R Ramakrishnan Nair, How com-
munists came to power in Kerala (Trivandrum , 1965). 58-60. In a recent study Joshi argues
that Ihe com m unists were nol nationalist' enough. S. Joshi. Struggle fo r hegemony in India,
1920-47. ihe colonial stale, the Left anti the national movement (New Delhi. 1992).
" J. G allagher, Congress in decline: Bengal. 1930 to 1939' in Gallagher et at,, eds Locality,
province and nation: essays in Indian politics, 1870-1940 (Cambridge. 1973); M. Franila.
Radical politics in Wesr Bengal tCambridge MA, 1973), 12.
Dhanagare. Peasant movements in India; S. Bannerjee. In the wake o/Naxalbari: a history
oflhe Naxalite movement in India (Calcutta. 1980); E. Duykcr, Tribal guerillas: theSantais
o f West Bengal and the Naxaltte movement (Delhi, 1987): Ajiia. Ormakurippukal (Notes an
a life) (Koliayam . 1982).
Conclusion 195
sense o f negotiated com m unity; one in w hich the tharavadus were at the centre
o f social relations. Tharavadus com m anded agricultural resources, were but-
tressed by the state, provided subsistence in times o f dearth and dispensed
patronage to the shrines But there was a radical outcom e as well. T he two
decades o f political activity initiated by socialism and com m unism had
com prehensively challenged subservience, and caste authority could no longer
be exercised with impunity. As the com m unists moved tow ards an involvem ent
with parliam entary politics, they rem ained deeply rooted in the villages. North
M alahar would he the bastion of parliam entary com m unism in Kerala, and a
reconstituted tradition o f com m unity underpinned their radicalism in matters
of legislation. And. though things fell apart, Ihe centre did hold.
Bibliography
MANUSCRIPT SOURCES
p r iv a t e p a pe r s
(a) New Delhi, Nehrn Memorial Museum end Library

Diaries of G, Sankaran Natr, 1930-31
Diaries of A.C. Kannan Nair, 1920-57
M.C. Rajah Papers
All-India Congress Committee Papers, 1930-47
(b) Manuscript of Murkkoth Kumarans autobiography, dated 7 June 1937 (In author's
possession)
(c) Trivandrum, A.K. Gopalan Centre
File on the oral history of Ka.sergode taluk
GOVERNMENT RECORDS
(a) London, India Office Library and Records

Files o f the Public and Judicial Department (U P and J)
Fortnightly Reports o f Governors, Chief Commissioners anil Chief Secretaries,
1937-4H (U P and J/5/197-2 / 0).
Lttcal Government Fortnightly Reports on the Political Situation, 1929-34 (UP
and J/I2/H.I9.31.42.53.64)
Weekly unit Fortnightly Rc/mrlx from Hriiish High Cunuuimoners and Dcpiitr
High Commissioners, 1947-50 (U P a n d J/5/3I0-3I4)
Files of the Economic and Overseas Department
Files of Ihe Government of Madras
U k o I and Municipal
Home Political
Public Works and Uthour
Revenue Department
(b) New Delhi, National Archives of India
Files of Ihe Home Political Department, Government of India
(c)Trivandrum, Kerala Secretariat, Cellar Records
Files o f the Government o f Madras
196
Bibliography 197
Development Department
Education Department
Home Department
Judicial Department
Law (Education) Department
La v (General) Department
Law (Legislative) Department - ........
Local and Municipal Department
Local Se lf Government Department
Public Department
Public Works Department
Revenue Department
(d) Kozhikode Regional Archives, Calicui
DR Files
Magisterial Department
Public Department
Files o f the Malabar Collectoraie
R. Dis, Files
Public Department
Revenue Department
(e) Madras, Tamil Nadu Archives
Proceedings o f the Government o f Madras
Development Department
Public (General) Department
Public Works and Labour Department
Revenue Department
Madras Government Secret Fdes (Under-Secretary's Safe)
(f) Tellicherry Court Record Room, Tellicherry
Court o f the Joint Magistrate. Tellicherry (CC 106/3N, CC 93/38, CC 5/39)
Court o f Sessions, North Malabar Division (Sessions case no. 3 and 6/11 o f 1941 no.
14 and It f o f 1947)
INTERVIEWS
lli-iwmi Irlmimy imtl Mmvli l')K7

K P.R, Gopalan, Kalliasseri
P. Govinda Pillai, Trivandrum
Chenkodi Kannan, Dharmadam
T.V. Krishnan, Chcrukunnu
C. Kultikrishnan, Calicut
K. Madhavan, Kunhangad
T.C, Narayanan Nambiar, Narath
April 1988
P,T. Bhaskara Panikkur, Trivandrum
Murkkolh Kunhappa
* S, Sarma, Trivandrum
C. Unniraja, Calicut
198 Bibliography
Tapes of interviews made by Dr K.K.N. Kurup. University of Calicut

K.P.R. Gopalan
Kanthalot Kunhambu
N.C. Sekhar
PRINTED SOURCES
NEWSPAPERS
M ulnyuliim
(a) Nehru Memorial Museum anil Library, New Delhi (Microfilm)
Maihrubhumi (1 9 2 3 -4 0 )
Mithavadi (1 9 1 3 -1 9 )
(b) Communist Party of India. State Council. Trivandrum
Deshabhimani (1 9 4 3 -4 6 )
Party Saiighadakan (1 9 4 4 )
Prubhatham (1 9 3 8 -3 9 )
English
(a) Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi (Microfilm)
People's Age 0 9 4 4 )
Peoples War ( 19 4 2 -4 6 )
(b) Centre for South Asian Studies, Cambridge (Microfilm)
Hindu (1 9 2 0 -3 6 )
PARLIAMENTARY PAPt.RS
PP 1828, XXIV (125) - Slavery in India: Correspondence and Abstracts o f Regula

tions and Proceedings.
GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS
Rickards, Bentinck et al. ( 1804). Papers on the Administration o f the Malabar District.
P. Clementson (Calicut. 1916). A Report on Revenue and other matters connected with
Malabar
H.S. Graeme (Calicut, 1898). Report on the Revenue Administration o f Malabar
Major MacLeod (Calicut ,1 9 1 \i~The Jamabundy Report o f the Division o f Coimbatore
and the Province o f Malahar dated 18 June 1801
Sullivan (Calicut, 19 11). Report on the Provinces o f Malabar and Canara, 1841
William Thackeray (Calicut, 1911). A Report on the Revenue Affairs o f Malabar and
Canara dated 7 September 1807
Thomas Warden (Calicut, 1910). Report on the Land Tenures in Malabar, 1815
Censuses o f India 1881-1951
Census o f India 1961
Malabar Gazetteer, 1908
Bibliography 199
Malabar Manual, 1887. 3 v o lu m e s

Malabar Special Commission. Malabar Land Tenurels Report, 1881-82, 2 v o lu m es
(M ad ras, 1882) .
Papers relating to the Industrial Conference, Ootacamimd, September 1908
Report o f the Indian Industrial Commission, 1916-18, vol. Ill, Evidence (L o n d o n . 1919)
Report o f the Indian Police Commission, 190S
Report o f the Madras Provincial Banking Enquiry Committee, 1930 (M ad ras, 1930)
Report o f the Malabar Marriage Commission, 1890-91
Report o f the Malabar Tenancy Committee. 1927,2 v o lu m e s (M ad ras, 192B)
Report o f the Malabar Tm oney Committer. 1940, 2 v o lu m es (M ad ras, 1940)
Rrpon nil I'lditic h n tn u liiu t in the M inims Presidemy, 1917
Report oj tlw Royal Commission on Ijthour in India, vol. VII (L o u d o n , 1931)
Report o f the Special O fficerfor the Investigation o f Land Tenures , on the recommenda
tion o f the Malabar Tenancy Committee. May 1947 (M ad ras, 1950)
Report on the Survev o f Cottage Industries in the Madras PresidencyfD. Narayana Ran).
1929 (M ad ras, 1929)
Statistical Appendix to the Malabar Gazetteer, 1905, vol. II
Statistical Appendix to the Malabar Gazetteer, 1933
ANNUAL IHPORTS
Administration Report o f the Agriculture Department o f the Madras Presidency

Annual Statement o f the Sea-Borne Trade o f the Madras Presidency
Report on the Administration o f the Abkari Department o f the Madras Presidency
Report on the Administration o f the Police Department o f the Madras Presidency
Report on the Administration o f the Registration Department o f the Madras Presidency
Report on the Settlement o f the Lund Revenue in Ihe Madras Presidency
Report on the Working o f the Department o f Industry in the Madras Presidency
Season and Crop Report o f the Madras Presidency
Statistical Atlas fo r Malabar fo r the year 1904-05 (C alicu t, 1907)
Statistical Atlas fo r Malabar fo r the quinquennium ending I9 t3
Statistical Atlases fo r Malabar fo r the decennium ending 1931 and 1941
BOOKS
A ch u th a M cn o n , C ., Kali worship in Kerala ! M a d ra s U n iv ersity , M a lay alam S eries, 8.

M ad ras, 1943
A das, M ., The Burma delta: economic development and social change on an Asian
frontier, 1852-1941. M a d iso n , W I, 1974
A iy ap p an , A ., Iravasandculture change. B u lletin o f th e M a d ras G o v ern m en t, new series,
; V i. M ad ras, 1944
A li, H am id , Custom and law in Anglo-Muslim jurisprudence. C a lc u tta, 1938
A n d alat ed. .Sakhakkalemunnottu. (The collected works ofP. Krishna Pillai)', T riv an d ru m
1978
A p p ad u rai, A ., Worsh ip andconftict undercolonial rule: a South Indian case. C am brid ge,
1981
200 Bibliography
Arnold, D Police power and colonial rule; Madras. 1859-1947. Delhi, 1986
Ayrookuzhiel, A.M.A., The sacred in papular Hinduism. Madras, 1983.
Baker, C.J., The Politics o f south India, 1920-37. Cambridge, 1976
An Indian rural economy. 1880-1955: the TamUnad countryside. Delhi. 1984
Baker, C J . and D. A. Wash brook. South Indio: /mlitical institution.1;and political change,
1880-1940. Delhi, 1975
Balaram, N.E., Keralathile kammyunistu prasthanani {The communist movement in
Kerala), volume I. Triyandrum, 1973.
Banneijee, S., In the wake o f Naxatbari: {a history o f the Ninatile movement in India.
Calcutta, 1980
Barnett, M.R., The politics o f cultural nationalism in south India. Princeton, NJ, 1976
Barrier, N.G. ed., The Census in British India: new perspectives, Delhi, 1981
Bose, S., Agrarian Bengal: economy, social structure and politics. 1919-49. Cambridge,
1986
Brass, P. and M,F. Franda eds Radical politics in south Asia, Cambridge, MA, 1973
Brown, J.M., Gandhi and civil disobedience: the Mahatma in Indian politics, 1928-34.
Cambridge, 1977
Buchanan, Francis M.D., A journey from Madras through the countries o f Mysore,
Canara and Malabar, volume II. London, 1807.
Chakrabarty, D., Rethinking working class history: Bengal. 1890-1940. Delhi, 1989
Chandra, B., The rise and growth o f economic nationalism. Delhi. 1966
Chanlhera, C.M.S., Kaliyattam. Koltayam, 1978
Chathan, C., Pu Io /h u iii (Songs o f the Pulayas). Cal icut, 1917
Cohn, B.S.. An anthropologist among the historians and other essays. Delhi, 1987
Copley. A.R.H., The political career o f C. Rafagnpalachtiri, 1937-54: a moralist in
politics. Madras, 1978
Dale. S.F., Islamic society on the south Asian frontier: the Mupptlas o f Moluhar, 1498-
1922 Oxford, 1980
Damodaran, K., Pattahakki (Rent arrears). Trivandrum, 1987
Das, T.V., Kodungallur hharani (The Kodungallur festival). Calicut, nd
Dhanagare, D.N., Peasant movements in India, 1920-50. Delhi, 1983
Dirks, N.B., The hollow crown: the ethnohistoryofan Indian kingdom. Cambridge. I9H7
Dumont, L., Homo H ierarchies: the caste system and its implications, trans. Mark
Sainsbury et al. Chicago, IL, 1980
Duyker, E.,Tribid guerillas: the Santiilxof West Heligoland the N anililrmovi'tnnit IVlhi,
1987
Edona, E.J., The economic conditions o f the Protestant Christians o f Malabar with
special reference to the Basel Mission Church. Calicut. 1940
Fawcetl, F., The Nayars o f Matobar. Madras Government Museum Bulletin, III. 1
Madras, 1901
Fie, V.M., Kerala: Ihe Ycnttn o f India. Bombay, 1970
Franda, M Radical politics in West Bengal. Cambridge, MA, 1973
Freitag, S.B., Collective action and community: public arenas and the emergence o f
communalism in north Indio. Berkeley, CA, 1989
Gandhi. M K , The collected works o f Mahatma Gandhi, volumes XXIII, Ll-l.lll
Ahmedabad. 1972
Gopalakrishnan, P.K., Ptirogamana sahitya prasthanum: nizlmluni velicchtivuin (The
Progressive Literature Movement: light and shadow), Triehur, 1987
Bibliography 201
Gough, E.K., Rural society in south east India. Cambridge, 1981

Gough, E,K. and D.M. Schneider, Matrilineal kinship. Berkeley, CA, 1961
Govindan, P., Keraliya karmmala samaja vijnapanam (An advertisementfo r the artisans
o f Kerala). Calicut, 1912
AdidravidartuleambalupravesuitamO'heentryofAdi Dravidus into temples). CaVicu\,
1915
G reenough, P., Prosperin' and misery in modern BengaL. the fam ine o f / 943 1944. New
York, 1982
Guha, R Elementary aspects o f peasant insurgency in colonial India. Delhi, 1983
Gunderl, H.. Malayaiam nighandu (Malayalam dictionary ). Kouayam, 1962
Hardgrave, R.. The Nadars o f Tamitnad; the political culture o f a community in change.
Berkeley, CA, 1969
Hardiman, D Peasant hatianalists o f Gujarat: Kheda district. 1917-34. Delhi. 1981
Harrison, S., India: the most dangerous decades Princeton, NJ, 1965
Henningham, S J., Peasant movements in colonial India: north Bihar, 1917-42, Canberra,
Australia, 1982
Herring, R.J Land to the tiller: the political economy o f agrarian reform in south Asia.
New Haven, CT, 1983
Irschick.E.F., Politics and social conflict in south India: the non-Brahman movement and
Tamil separatism, 1916-29. Berkeley, CA, 1969
Jcffrey.'R,, The decline ofN avar dominance: society and politics in Travancore, 1847-
1908. New York, 1976
Politics, women and well-being: how Kerala became a model. Basingstoke, 1992
Jones, K.W., Arya Dhanna: Hindu consciousness in nineteenth century Punjab.
Berkeley, CA, 1976
Josh, B The communist movement in Punjab, 1926-1947. Delhi, 1979
Jnshi, S., Struggle fo r hegemony in India, 1920-1947: the colonial state, the Left and the
national movement, vol. 1. New Delhi, 1992
Struggle fo r hegemony in India, 1920-1947: the colonial state, the Left and the
national movement, vol. 2. New Delhi. 1993
Juergensmeyer, M.. Religion as social vision; the movement against untouchability in
twentieth century Punjab, Berkeley, CA, 1982
Kannun. K.P.. O f rural proletarian struggles: mobilisation and organisation o f rural
workers in south-west India. Delhi. 1988
Kiinniiikani Menon, KP., History o f the freedom movement in Kerala, volume II
Ttivundnim, 1972
Kauisky, J.H., Moscow and the CPI: a study in Ihe post war evolution o f international
communist strategy. New York, 1956
Kohli, A., The state and poverty in India. the politics o f reform. Cambridge, 1987
Kuniaran, M ,, Ambu Nayar. Calicut. 1965 edn
Kurup, K.K.N , The Kayyur riot a terrorist episode in the nationalist movement in
Kerala Calicut. 1978
Aryan and Dravidian elements in Malabar folklore: a case study o f Ramavitliam
kazhakam, Trivandrum. 1979
Pazfuissi samarangal i l a:ha\si revolts). Trivandrum, 1980
Lemcrcinier, G,, Religion and ideology in Kerala, trans. Y Rendet. Delhi, 1984
Lewitndowski, S , Migration and ethnitilv in urban India. Kerala migrants in the city o f
Madras. 1870-1940 Delhi. 1980
202 Bibliography
Lieten. G.K., The first communist ministry in Kerala, 1957-59. Calcutta, 1982
Low, D.A, ed Congress and the Raj: facets o f the Indian struggle. 1917-47. Delhi. 1977
Ludden, D., Peasant history in south India. New Jersey, 1985
Madhavan Nayar, K.. Malabar kalapam (The ferment in Malabar). Caiicut, 1987 edn
Mayer. A.C., Lond and society in Malabar. Bombay, 1952
Miller, R.E., The Mappila Muslims o f Kerala, a study in Islamic trends. Madras. 1976
Minault. G.. The Khilafat movement: religious symbolism and political mobilisation in
India. New York, 1982
Moffatt, M., An untouchable community in south India. Princeton. NJ, 1979
Moore, L., Malabar law' and custom, second edn Madras. I'MX)
Nmubiitr, C.K.. Siatonti vuvitdi/ham ( th e mu oj libcm lnm ) Tclliclieny, 192-1
Nambudirt, M.V.V.. Uttara Keralathilc thotttunpauukuHThc thottams o f north Kerala).
Trichur, 1981
*Nambudiripad, E.M.S., Deshabhimani {Patriot), Calicut, 1943
Kammyunisiu party keralathil (The Communist Party in Kerala), 3 volumes.
Trivandrum, 1984-88
Narayanan, K.S., Teendah'airi {Against untouchahllity). Calicut. 1927
Narayanaswamy Naidu, B V. and P. Vaidyanathan. The Madras agricultural debt relief
' act: a study. Annamalai, 1939
Nayanar, V.K., Kesari Nayanarude krilhikal (The collected works o f Kesan Nayanar),
Calicut, 1987
Nayar, Chirakkal T. B.. Kerala bhashaganangal (Folk songs o f Kerala), 2 volumes. T richur,
1979
Nightingale, P., Trade and empire in western India. 178-4-1X06. Cambridge, 1970
Nossiter, T.J., Communism m Kerala: a study in political adaptation. London, 1982
Overstreet, G.D. and M. Windmiller, Communism in India Berkeley, CA, 1959'
Padmavalhi Amma, C., Chakramahima (The saga o f the charkha). Calicut. 1920
Pandey, G., The ascendancy o f the Congress in Uttar Pradesh. 1926-34: a stlulv in
imperfect mobilisation. Delhi. 1978
Panikkar, K.N.. Against lord and state- religion and peasant uprisings in Malabar 1836
1921. Delhi, 1989
Panikkar, T.K.G., Malabo rand itsfo lk; a systematic description ofthe social customs and
institutions o f Malabar, second edn. Madras, 1900
Payyanadu, Raghavan, Teyyavum thottuntpattim (The Teyyam anti its literature).
Kotlayam, 1979
Poltekkat, S.K., Visliakanyaka (The poisonous virgin), trims. V Abdulla. Trichur, 1980
Presler, F Religion under bureaucracy: policy and administration fo r Hindu temples in
south India. Cambridge, 1987
Radhakrishnan. P.. Peasiinrstruggjes, land reforms and social change Malabar, 1936-
1982. New Delhi, 1989
Raheja, G.G., The poison in the gift: ritual, prt station and the dominant caste in a north
Indian village. Chicago, II 1988
Ramakrishnan Nair, R., How communists came to power in Kerala. Trivandrum, 1965
Rao, M.S.A., Social change in Malabar. Bombay, 1957
Social movements and social transformation: a study o f two backward classes
movements in Malabar. Delhi. 1979
Rudolph, L.K. and S.H. Rudolph. The modernity o f tradition: political development in
India. Chicago, II, 1967
Bibliography 203
Sangrcn. P.S., History and magical power in a Chinese community. California, 1987
Sardarkutty, E., Purogamana sahitya nirupunam (A criticism o f Progressive Literature).
Trivandrum, 1985
Sarkar, T Bengal. 1928 34: the politics o f protest. Delhi, 1987
Scott, J., The moral economy o f the peasant: rebellion and subsistence in south east Asia.
New Haven, CT. 1976
Sen, A., Poverty and Famines: an essay on entitlement and deprivation. Oxford, 1981
Scngupta. B., Communism in Indian pplitics. New York, 1972
Singh, K.. A history o f the Sikhs, 1839 1964, volume II. Princeton, NJ, 1966
Sivaswiuuy, K.J.. V.R Nayanar etu i. Food control and nutrition su rveys- Malabar and
Minth Ktimtrn Minims. l*M(i
Stem, B cd South Indian temples: an analytical introduction. Delhi, 1978
Stokes, Eric, The peasant and the Raj: studies in agrariaipsociety and peasant rebellion
in colonial India. Cambridge, 1978
Thomas. PJ. and N.S. Sastry, Commodity prices in soutH India. Madras, 1940
Thurston, E., Omens and superstitions o f southern India .^London, 1912
ThufMon. E. and K. Rangachari. Castes and tribes o f southern India, 7 volumes Madras,
1909
Tomilinson, B.R., The Indian National Congress and the Raj, 1929-42: the penultimate
phase. London, 1976
Turner, V., The ritual process: structureandanti-structure, Harmondswonh, Middlesex,
1974
Dramas, fields, and metaphors: symbolic action in human society. Ithaca, NY, 1974
Unm Nair, M.. My Malabar. Bombay. 1952
Varghcsc, T.C.. Agrarian change and economic consequences: land tenures in Kerala,
1850-1960. Calcutta. 1970
Vcluthat. K.. Brahmin settlements in Kerala. Calicut, 1978
Vtsh nu Nambudiri, V.M ., Uttara keralathile thoitampattukal (The thottam songs o f north
Kerala). Kottayam, 1982
Washbrook. D.A., The emergence o f provincial politics: the Madras Presidency, 1870-
1920 Cambridge. 1976
Werbner, R.P., Regional culls. London, 1977
Wood. C , The Moplah rebellion and its genesis. Delhi, 1987
AfTICUES
)
Appadurai, A., Is homo hierarchicus?', American Ethnologist, 13. 4 (1986), 745-61
Appadurai, A. and C.A. Breckenbridge, The south Indian temple authority, honour and
redistribution". Contributions lo Indian Sociology (NS), 10.2 (1976), 187-212
Arnold, D Looting, grain riots and government policy in south India, 1918', Past and
Present, 84 ( 1979), 111-45
Baker, C.J., Debt and the Depression in Madras in C.J. Dewey and A.G, Hopkins eds,
The imperial impact: studies in the economic history o f Africa and India. London
1978
Barnett, S.A., A. Ostor, L. Fruzzetti, Hierarchy purified: notes on Dumont and his
critics, Journal o f Asian Studies, 35, 4 (1976), 633-7
204 Bibliography
B lack b u rn , S .H ., D eath a n d d eificatio n : fo lk c u lts in H in d u is m ', History o f Religions, 24,

, 3 (1985), 255-74
CArroll, L.M., 'Caste, social changc and the social scientist: a note on Ihe ahistorical
approach to Indian social history'. Journal of Asian Studies, 35, I (1975). 63-84
'Colonial perceptions of Indian society and the emergence of caste(s) associations'.
Journal of Asian Studies, 37, 2 (1978), 233-50
The temperance movement in India: politics and social reform, Modem Asian
Studies, 10 .3 {1976), 4 17-47
Chandavarkar, R.S., Worker's politics in pombay between the wars.' Modem Asian
Studies, 15, 3 (1981), 603-47
Chattetjee, P., Caste and subaltern consciousness' in R. Guha ed.. Subaltern studies VI
writings on south Asian history and society. Delhi, 1989, 169-209
Commander, S., 'The Jajmani system in north India: an examination of its logic and status
across two centuries, Modem Asian Studies, 17,2 (1983), 263-311
Damodantn, K., The tragedy of Indian communism' inToriq Ali ed.. The Stalinist legacy
Harmondsworth, Middlesex, 1984
Fuller, C J., 'Misconceiving the grain heap: a critique of the concept of the Indian Jajman i
system* in M. Bloch and J.P. Parry eds. Money and the morality of exchange.
Cambridge, 1989
Gallagher, J., Congress in decline: Bengal, 1930 to 1939 in J. Gallagher, G. Johnson, A.
Seal eds. Locality, province and nation: essays in Indian politics, 1870-1940.
Cambridge, 1973
Gopalankutty, K., The task of transforming Ihe Congress: Malabar. 1914-40, Studies in
History, 5, 2 n.s. (1989), 177-94
Mobilisation against Ihe stale and not against the landlords: the civil disobedience
movement in Malabar. The Indian Economic and Social History Review. 26, 4
(1989), 459-B0
Gough, E.K.. Changing kinship usages in the setting of political and economic change
among Ihe Nayars of Malabar, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 82,
I (1952), 71-88
Cults of the dead among the Nayars, Journal of American Folklore, 71 ( 1958), 446-
78
Grcenough, P.R., 'Indian famines and peasant victims: the famine of Bengal in 1943-44,
Modem Asian Studies, 14,2 (1980). 205-35
Hardimun, D., From custom to crime: ihe politics of drinking in colonial south Gujarat
in It, Guha ed,. Sulmheni studies, IV. Delhi. 1985
Hart III.G.L.. Theory of reincarnation among iheTamils inW D .O ' Flaherty ed Karma
and rebirth in classical Indian tradition. Berkeley, CA. 1980
Herring, R. and H.C. Hart, Political conditions of land reform in R.E. Frykenberg ed.,
Land tenure and peasant in south Asia. Delhi, 1984
Jeffrey, R., The social origins of a caste association, 1875-1905; the founding of the
SNDP Yognm, South Asia, 4 (1974), 59-78
'Matriliny, Marxism and the birth of the Communist Party in Kerala, 1930-1940',
Journal of Asian Studies, 38, I (1978), 77-9B
'Travancorc: status, class and Ihe growth of radical politics, 1860-1940. ihe temple
entry movement' in R. Jeffrey ed.. People, princes and paramount power: society
and politics in the Indian princely stales. Delhi, 1978
'Peasant movement a,id the Communist Party in Kerala, 1937-60 in D.B, Miller ed..
Bibliography 205
Peasants arul politics, grass roots reaction to change in India. L o n d o n , 1979

In d ia 's w o rk in g cla ss rev o lt: P u n n ap ra V ay alar an d the c o m m u n ist c o n s p ira c y " o f
19 4 6 ', Indian Economt - and Social History Review, 18 , 2 ( 19 8 1), 9 7 - 12 2
K arat, P ., O rg a n ise d stru g g les o f th e M a lab ar p e a sa n try , 19 3 4 -4 0 , Social Scientist. 56
(1 9 7 7 ), 3-1 7
T h e p ea sa n t m o v em en t fn M a la b a r 1 9 3 4 -4 0 , Social Scientist, 5 0 (1 9 7 6 ), 3 0-44
im p , K .K .N , In g lish v id y a b h y a sa v u m sa m u h y a p u c a ja tiy u m m a la b a n le liy y a rit
(E n g lish e d u c a tio n an d so cial p ro g re ss a m o n g th e T iyyalS of M a la b a r) in Adhunika
Keralam: Charitra gaveshana prahandhangal (M odem Kerala: essays in his
torical research). T riv a n d ru m , 1982
L u d d en , D ., P ro d u c tiv e p o w e r in ag ricu ltu re: a su rv ey o f w o rk on the local h isto ry o f
B ritish In d ia in M . D esai, S .H . R udo lph an d A . R u d ra e d s. Agrarian power and
agricultural productivity in south Asia. D elh i, 1984
M a rrio tt, M c K im , R B In d en , T o w a rd s a n e th n o so c io lo g y o f so u th A sia n c a s te s y s te m s
in K. D av id e d .. The new wind: changing identities in south Asia. H ag u e, 1977
M e n ch er, J.P ., P o ssessio n , d a n c e a n d re lig io n in N o rth M a lab ar, K erala, India*, Collected
papers o f the seventh congress o f anthropology and ethnographic sciences,
M o sco w . (1 9 6 4 ), 340-5
K erala and M a d ras: a co m p a ra tiv e study o f e c o lo g y an d so c ial stru c tu re '. Ethnology,
5 2 ( 1 9 6 6 ), 135-71
M en o n , K .V .R ., A n c e s to r w o rsh ip am o n g the N a y a r s ', Man, 25 1 9 2 3 0 ,4 2 -3
M iller, E .J , C a ste an d terriiu ry in M a la b a r, American Anthropologist, 56 (1 9 5 4 ), 4 1 0 -
20
V illa g e s tru c tu re in n o rth K erala' in M ,N , S rin iv a s e d ., India'svillages. B o m bay, I9 6 0
N a ra y a n a R a o , V ., E p ic s an d id eo lo g ies: six T e lu g u folk e p ic s in S .H . B lac k b u rn and
A .K . R a m a n u ja m ed s.. Another harmony: new essays on the folklore o f India,
B e rk eley , C A , 1986
P an ik k ar, K .M ., 'S o m e a s p e c ts o f N ay ar life . Journal o f the Royal Anthropological
Institute, 4 8 ( 1 9 1 8 ) , 254-93
R e lig io n and m ag ic a m o n g th e N a y a rs, Man, 6 2 (1 9 1 8 ), 104-10
P an ik k ar, K .N .. L an d c o n tro l, id eo lo g y an d refo rm : a stu d y o f the ch a n g e s in fam ily
o rg a n isa tio n and m a rria g e sy ste m in K e ra la ', Indian Historical Review 4 , 1 (1 9 7 7 ),
3 0-47
P ish aro ti, K .R ., N o te s on a n c e sto r w o rsh ip cu rre n t in K e ra la ' Man, 6 0 (1 9 2 3 ), 9 9 -1 0 2
P ra k a s h .G ., R e p ro d u cin g in eq u ality : sp irit c u lts an d la b o u r re la tio n s in c o lo n ia l eastern
In d ia, M odem Asian Studies, 20, 2 (1 9 8 6 ). 2 0 9 -3 0
P u llap illy , C .K ., 'T h e Ish av as o r K erala an d th e ir h isto ric stru g g le fo r a c c e p ta n c e in the
H in d u so c ie ty . Journal o f Asian and African Studies, 11 (1 9 7 6 ), 2 4 -4 6
R o b ert, B .. E co n o m ic c h a n g e a n d ag raria n reo rg a n isatio n in d ry " so u th In d ia, 1890-
1940: a re in te rp re ta tio n . M odem Asian Studies, 17, 1 (1 9 8 3 ), 5 9 -7 8
S alln o w , M Communitas reco n sid ered : the so c io lo g y o f A n d ean p ilg rim a g e s ', M a n (n s )
1 6 ,2 ( 1 9 8 1 ) , 163-82
S en , A ., S u b a lie m stu dies: cap ital, cla ss an d co m m u n ity ' in R. G u h a e d .. Subaltern
studies V. D elh i, 1 9 8 7 ,2 0 3 -5 5
S h ea Jr, T W B a rrie rs to e c o n o m ic d e v e lo p m e n t in trad itio n al so c ietie s: M a lab ar, a ease
s tu d y '. Journal o f Economic History, 1959-22
'E c o n o m ic study o f a M a lab ar v illa g e '. Economic Weekly, 7 (1 9 5 5 ). 99 7 1 0 0 3 ,1 0 3 0 -
33
206 Bibliography
S tein , B ., 'T h e in te g ra tio n o f th e ag raria n sy stem o f so u th In d ia in R .E . F ry k c n b c rg ed ..

Land control and social structure in Indian history. C a lifo rn ia , 1968
S to k es, E T h e retu rn o f the p easan t to south A ston h is to ry in The peasant and the Raj:
studies in agrarian society anti peasant rebellion in colonial India. C am b rid g e, 1987
T a y lo r, R ev W illiam , F ifth R e p o rt o f P ro g ress m ade in the E x am in a tio n o f the
M a ck en zie M a n u scrip ts, w ith an A bstract A ccount o f th e W o rk s e x a m in e d . The
Madras Journal o f Literature and Science 9 . 23 (1 8 3 9 ), 3 5 3 -4
T h a ra k a n . P .K .M ., Intro-regional d ifferen ces in ag rarian sy stem s an d in tern al m igration
a case stu d y o f the m ig ra tio n o f farm ers fro m T ra v a n c o re to M alabar*. Centre fo r
Development Studies: Working Paper l'1-l T riv a n d ru m . 1984
W nshhrim k, l ) A., ( tm u tty |K i | i I il ' n M a d ias, IHH1I IV tll*. Modern Asian Studies. I, 1
(1 9 7 3 ), 475-531
L aw . sta te an d ag rarian so c iety in c o lo n ia lln d ia 'in G .J o h n s o n ? fa /,e d s P o H 6 r,/)ro /i
and politics. C a m b rid g e , 1981
C a s te ,c la s s an d d o m in a n c e in m o d em T am il N adu: non B rah m an ism . D rav td ian ism
an d T a m il nationalism * in F. F rankel an d M .S. A. R ao e d s, Dominance and state
power in m odem India: decline o f a social order, v o lu m e I, D e lh i, 1989
W o o d , C ., 'T h e first M o p la h re b ellio n ag ain st B ritish ru le in M a la b a r', Modern Asian
Studies 1 0 ,4 ( 1 9 7 0 ) . 54 3 -5 6
Z e llio lt, E .. C o n g ress an d the u n to u c h a b le s. 1915-50 in R . S isso n a n d S . W o lp crt ed s.
Congress and Indian nationalism: the pre-independence phase. B erkeley. C A . 1988
A L TOBtOQR APHIE5 AND BIOGRAPHIES
A aro n , C . S am u el. Jeevithasmaranakal (Memoirs). C a n nunore, 1974

A ch u th an , K .R ., C. Krishnan. K ottayam . 1971
A jila, Onnakurippukal (Notes on a life). K o ttay am , 1982
A y ro o k u zh iel, A .M .A ., Swami Anandateertha: Untotichabilitv, Condition solution on
trial. D elh i, 1987
G o p alan . A .K ., In the cause o f the people. D elh i, 1973
K esav a M enrm , K .P ., Kazhinja kalam ( Timex Past). C a lic u t, 1962
K rish n an , T .V ., Kerala's first communist: the life o f P. Krishna Pillai. D elhi, 1971
K rish nan N air, K alam an d alam , Enlejivitham:arangilumaniyarayilum (M y life: between
the sreenroom and the stage). T riv a n d ru m . 1991
K u n h ap p a, C .H ., Smuranakal matram (Memoirs ). C a licu t, 1981
K u rap , M .N ., Kunhambuvmte katha (The life ofA.V. Kunhambu ). K o ttay am , 1982
tnaiH\avan,K...Payas\viniyudeieeraitu(Onthebanksoftherivc.rPavasmni).Tmaniinim,
1987
M o ith u M a u lav i, E .. Maulaviyude katha ( The Maulavi's j / n n 1). K o ttay am , 1981
N am b u d irip ad , E .M .S ., Atntakatha ( Autobiography ) second edn. T riv a n d ru m , 1976
N ay an a r, E .K ., M y struggles: an autobiography. D elhi, 1982
S an k aran , M ., Ente jivlthakatha (/4n autobiography) C a licu t, 1965
V ish n u B h a ra te e y a n , V .M ., Admakal engane udamakalayi (H o w th e sla v es b ecam e
m aste rs), T riv a n d ru m , 1980
Bibliography 207
COMMUNIST IAHTY PAMPII1.LTS
India in the war of liberation. 1942

Deshabhimani. (Patriot). February, 1943
Keralaitile kammyunistu pravartanam rajyadrohatru) rajyasevanamo'i (Are the activities
of the communists in Kerala Patriotic or treasonous?) August. 1943
Aikyattinulla ladasthangal. (Hindrances to unity). October. 1943
Gramaseva sanghavuin kammyunistukarum. (The Grama Seva Sangh and the commu
nists). 1943
Restitutions of the special conference of the Communist Party of India, Malabar zilla
(.September2K to Oclithcr I. 1945). 1945
Aikya kisan sanghatana keuipadukkuka. (Builda unitedpeasants organisation). July. 1946
Malabarile karshika kuzhappam ladayan kammyunistu parishramangalude charitram.
(The efforts of the communists in preventing agrarum strige). February, 1947
Vadakke Malabarile luirshakasamaram. (Thepeasantsstruggle in north Malabar). May.
1947
Political thesis ofthe Communist Party of India, adopted at the second Congress, Calcutta,
February 28 lo March 6 , 194S
Janangalkethiraya Congressinte yuddham. (The war waged by the Congress against the
people). May, 1948 I
Fascisatinte arangettam. (Fascism on the stage). 1948 ;
Vadakke MalabarilesamaravumatilninnullapaJhiMgalum.(Vtestruggle in NorthMalabar
and its lessons). January. 1949
UNPUBLISHED DISSERTATIONS
Arunima G Colonialism and the transformation of matriliny in Malabar, 1850-1940',

Cambridge, 1992
Masani, Z.M., Radical nationalism in India, 1930-42: the role of the all-India Congress
Socialist Party1, Oxford, 1976
Miller, E J ., An analysis of the Hinducaste system in its interactions with the total social
structure in north Kerala*, Cambridge, 1950
Samuel, V.T., One caste, one religion and one God for man": a study of Sree Narayana
Guru (1854-1928) of Kerala, India*, Hartford Seminary Foundation, 1973
Shea Jr., T.W., The land tenure structure of Malabar and its influence upon capital
formation in agriculture', Pennsylvania, 1959
Swai, B.S.W., The British in Malabar, 1792-1806, Sussex, 1975
Index
A trot) Samuel 6 3.94.13 3 Depression 4, 6, 38, 120, 121-4; and civil

Abdur Rahman. Mohammad 104,133 disobedience 90
A cti, Compensation for Tenants Improve
ment!, 28-30,63; M ilabar Tenancy 127-8, economy 21-2,121-4, 160-5
141-3 education 16-17, 64; literacy 143-5; schools
All Malabar Peasant Union 143 96
ancestor worship .43-6 excise administration 64, 74-8,99-100
Basel Mission 64,65 feudal levies 124, 135. 170

bhagavathi shrines 34,36 food shortages 161-2,182
forests, conservancy 12, 136; encroachment
Caste, and cleanliness 83-7. 110, 120; and on 23-4,121-3, 164-5; for manure 33,136,
Hinduism 116; literacy t44; lower caste 170
religion 47; and nationalism 2; restrictions
19.134, 139; and ritual 4 1.4 9,3 1 .3 5 .6 1 ; Gandhi, M .K., fasts 113-14; Guruvayur
and temple entry 107 satyagraha 114 15; and temple entry HI
Chaliyas 100 2, 110, 115-16; untouchability 83-6;
cherikallu 11-12 Vaikkam satyagraha 81-2
coconut 9. 10,26-8; exports 26-7, 122 Gopalan, A.K. 9 6 .1 0 3 ,1 1 1 ,131/nj 132,142,
Civil disobedience, salt manufacture 94-7; 148.154,179
liqucr picketing 97-101; khadi propagation Gopalan. K.P.R. 131/ n j 150.168
101-3; and Muslims 103-5
Communications 23 Hindu identity 108, 110
Communal Award 113
'communal' conflict 73, 126, 191 janmis 12. 14,37, 138
'communal' identity 80, 82, 104, 126 Jagannathatemple 67,68 71 ,7 2 ,73 .7 6, 107,
community, conjuncture! 4,7,169,177; moral 108, 125
community 57; notion of 2,3-7.190, 191; jathas 82,109. 121, 138-9, 170
of subsistence 31-2,49; of worship 49
Communism, success of 193-4 Karivellur 181
Communist Party of India 139, 166, 183-6 Kayambayam 181-2
Congress, and untouchability 80, 82, 84, 92; Kayyurriot 167-8
and Nayare 92.104,105-6; organisation in K elappan.K .81.94, 104. 107. 109, I I I , 113.
Malabar 9 1-3; right wing 133,152-3,154. 115, 133, 153
155, 161, 174; communal nature 92. 153; Kerala Communist Party 154, 163; and peas
and tenancy 185 ant unions 166-8; internal organisation 166;
Congress Socialism 119-20 anti-Jap propaganda 169-70; 'Grow more
credit 35-6,65-6, 123-4 food 170-1, grain redistribution 171-3;
factional struggle 174; village bases 174.
Damodaran, K. 148,150; plays of 148 9 175-6, 187; popular religion 176-7,
death pollution 12,13,42-3 electoral politics 179; controlled mi litancy
deference 20-1, 137-41, 192 179-82; crilici sm of police 183 ; rural revo-
demobilisation 180
Index 209
Kerala Congress Socialist Party 119,131,132- rationing 162-3, 178

3,150-1, 154; and literacy 150; and police reading rooms 121, 145-6, 147, 149-50, 176
152; control ofKPCC 153-4 rice, imports of 9, 34-5, 160; shortage 160-1
Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee 91, 93,
95. 9B, 101. 102. 103, 104, 133,142.153. Sanskriltsation' 70
154 slavery 12-13, 135, 136
Keraleeyan 109, 131 fits 132. 133, 134, 151, shrines 44-7, 139
186 shrine festivals 5,47-60; Kodungallur52,112;
khadi 85-6 Koltiyur 50-3, 68. 69, 112; Pisharikavu
Khilafat 2. 79. 127 47-50; riois nnd 52
KrishnaPillai,P. 111.11 7 .119,132.133,138, Socialism 147-8
141, 154, 180 Sri Gnanodaya Yogam 67. 68,72, 125, 126
Krishnan. C. 64, 65, 71. 112. 125 Sri Narayana Phnrma Paripalana Yogam 67,
Kumaran, M. 64. 77 81, 107
Kunhambu, A.V. 134, 140, 141, 143 Srikanteswara temple 67, 107
Subramanian Thirumumpu, T. 109, 132,186-
Landholding, structure of 36-8 7
Sundaresw aratem ple67.68.7l,107,108,125
Malabar Tenancy Commilfce Report. 1940
163-4 tea 146-7
Mappilax 18,47,125; Congress and I04;con- lebhaga 182
Irol of rice trade 162, 172-3; liberals 153; temperance 77-8, 97, 100
Muslim identity and 72, 126; rivalry with temples, as landlords 43-4; Tiyya temples 66-
Tiyyas 7 1-3, 76-7, 97, 100; shrines 7 1-2; 71
trade 23. 24. 26. 34-5 temple entry 78. 87-8, 107. 108, 110, 112.
Mauanur 155, 156 115-16; and Nayars l08-9;Guruvayur!06-
migration and emigration 15 17, 143. Vaikkam 63. 80-3
Mora/ha 155-6 tenancy legislation 127-8
tryyattam 5. 53-60, 143
Nambudiripad, E.M.S 132. 135. 146, 148. tharavadus, control over forests 13. 164-5,
151, 152, 154, 179 176; and agricultural production 10-14;
Narayana Guru 67, 68 partition of 6, 121. 129-31; revenue
Nayars, comm unity reform 105-6, anti- administration 16-17; patronal relations
Brahmin feelings 109,111; and Tiyyas 66, 17-18, 31-2, 177, 192; work relations 20-
98, 100: and civil disobedience 95, 96. 21; and shrines 41, 45-7, 55, 177; and
101; divisions within 44 temples 42-4; and subsistence 49-50; and
newspapers, Deshabhitnani 183; Mathrubhumi political activity 96-7, 99, 103, 130-2
146, 147; Prabhaiham 146, 147, 148 Tiyyas. prominent lharavadus 18; religious
rituals 4B, 51-2. 55, 56; growth of an elite
paddy 9. 10, 30-5 63-6; religious reform 66-71, 71-3; and
Paltabakki 149 untouchables 80. 84, 112; and civil dis
peasant unions 7, 121. 167-8, 191-2; early obedience 95-6,98: and temple entry H I-
activities 133-5; attack on deference 137- 12; and electoral politics 126
41; Teilancy Acl 141-3; Struggle for toddy 74-5, and work relations 21; temple
wasteland 141, 163, 170, 171, 188, grow ritual 44. 48. 49, 51, 54, 68, 69. 99; atti
ing militancy 151-7, 179-82; revolution tudes to 69, 7 7 ,8 7 ,9 8 , 100
ary line 185-8 tribals, and cultivation 11-12,122; and forests
pepper 9, 10.23-6. 165; expons 25, 121-2 12, 136-7; religion of 46
People's War line 169-73
police 16. 94 151. 167, 168. 187 Vannan 54, 55
pilgrimages 5,41, 50-3, 68, 112, 138 vannalhimallu 54. 139
Poona Pact 6, 113. 114 Vishnu Bharateeyan, V.M. 133,134,137,156,
processional conflicts 72-3 168
Protest Day riots 155-7 volunteer organisations 152, 166
Quit India movement 169 weaving factories 65, 101-2

wetland conversion 28-9. 34
Raniunni. Kotlielli 67, 71, 72 workers union 102-3
These monographs are published by the Syndics o f Cam bridge University Press
in association with the Cam bridge University Centre for South Asian Studies.
The following books have been published in this series:
1 S. Gopal: British Policy in India. 1858-1905

2 J.A.B. Palmer. The Mutiny Outbreak at Meerut in 1857
3 A. Das Gupta: Malabar in Asian Trade, 1740-1800
4 G. Obcsyesekere; Land Tenure in Village Ceylon
5 H.L. Erdman: The Swatantra Party and Indian Conservatism
6 S.N. M ukheijee: S ir William Jones: A Study in Eighteenth-Century British
Attitudes to India
7 Abdul Majed Khan: The Transition o f Bengal. 1756-1775: A Study of Saiyid
Muhammad Reza Khan
8 Radhe Shyam Rungta; The Rise o f Business Corporations in India. 1851-
1900
9 Pamela Nightingale: Trade and Empire in Western India, 1784-1806
10 A m iya K um ar Bagchi: Private Investment in India, 1900-1939
11 Judith M. Brown: Gandhi's Rise to Power: Indian Politics, 1915-1922
12 M ary C. Carras: The Dynamics o f Indian Political Factions
13 P. Hardy: The Muslims o f British India
14 G ordon Johnson: Provincial Politics and Indian Nationalism
15 M arguerite S. Robinson: Political Structure in a Changing Sinhalese Vil
lage
16 Francis Robinson: Separation among Indian Muslims: The Politics o f the
United Provinces^-Muslims, .1860-1923
17 C hristopher John Baker. The Politics o f South India, 1920-1936
18 D avid W ashbrook: The Emergence o f Provincial Politics: The Madras
Presidency, 1870-1920'
19 D eepak N ayyan India's Exports and Export Policies in the 1960s
20 M ark Holmstrom: South Indian Factory Workers: Their Life and Their
World
21 S. Ambirajan: Classical Political Economy and British Policy in India
22 M M. Islam: Bengal Agriculture 1920 1946: A Quantitative Study

B I n c Slokcs: I hr Peasant and the Raj: Studies in Agrarian Society and
Peasant Rebellion in Colonial India
24 Michael Roberts Caste Conflict and Elite Formation: The Rise o f Karava
Elite in Srt Lanka, 1500-1931
25 J.I'.J. Toyc. Public Expenditure and Indian Development Policy, 1960-70
26 Rashid Amjad: Private Industrial Development in Pakistan, 1960-70
11 Arjun Appadurai: Worship and Conflict under Colonial Rule: A South
Indian Case
),S (.'.A. Hayly: Rulers, Townsmen and Bazaars: North Indian Society in the
Age o f British Expansion. 1770-1870
19 Ian Slone: Canal Irrigation in British India: Perspecti ve.v on Technological
Change in a Peasant Society
10 Rosalind O 'H anlon: Caste, Conflict and Ideology: Mahatma Jotirao Phute
and Low Caste Protest in Nineteenth-Century Western India
I Aycsha Jala!: The Sole Spokesman: Jiniuth, The Muslim League and the
Demandfo r Pakistan
>2 N.R.F. Charlesworth: Peasant and Imperial Rule: Agriculture and Agrar
ian Society in the Bombay Presidency, 1850-1935
3 Claude Markoviis: Indian Business and Nationalist Politics 1931-39. The
Indigenous Capitalist Class and the Rise o f the Congress Party
<4 Mick Moore: The State and Peasant Politics in Sri Lanka
5 Gregory C. Kozlowski: Muslim Endowments and Society in British India
6 Sugala Bose: Agrarian Bengal: Economy, Social Structure and Politics,
1919-1947
7 Atul Kohl i: The State and Poverty in India: The Politics of Reform
8 Franklin A. Presler: Religion Under Bureaucrac\': Policy and Administra
tion for Hindu Temples in South India
9 Nicholas B. Dirks: The Hollow Crown: Ethnohisnry o f an hulian Kingdom
0 Robert Wade: Village Republics: Economic Con litions for Collective Ac
tion in South India
1 Laurence W. Prcsion: The Devs o f Cincvad: A Lineage and State in
Maharashtra
2 Farzana Shai kh: Community and Consensus in Islam: Muslims Representa
tion in Colonial India 1860-1947
3 Susan Bayly: Saints, Goddesses and Kings: Muslims and Christians in
South Indian Society, 1700-1900
4 Gyan Prakash: Bonded Histories; Genealogies o f Labour Servitude in
Colonial India
,5 Sanjay Subrahmanyam: The Political Economy o f Commerce: Southern
India 1500-1650
C am bn Igc Souih Asian Studies
46 Ayesha Jalal: The State of Martial Rule; The Origins of Pakistan V Political
Economy o f Defence
47 Bruce Graham: Hindu Nationalism and Indian Politics: The Origins and
Development of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh
48 Dilesh Jayanntha: Electoral allegiance in Sri Lanka
49 Stephen P Blake: Shahjahanabad: The Sovereign City in Mughal India
1639-1739
50 Sarah F.D.Ansan: Sufi Saints and State Power: The Pirs o f Sind, 1843-1947
51 Rajnarayan Chandavarkar The Origins o f Industrial Capitalism in India:
Business Stategies and the Working Classes in Bombay, 1900-1940
52 Tapati Guha-Thakuria: The Making o f a New 'Indian' Art: Artists, Aesthet
ics and Nationalism in Bengal c. 1850-1920
53 John R. M clane: Land and Local Kingship in Eighteenth-century Bengal
54 Ross M allick: Development Policy o f a Communist Government: West
Bengal since 1977
*1

Caste Nationalism and Communism in South

Загружено:

Сведения о документе

Авторское право

Доступные форматы

Поделиться этим документом

Поделиться или встроить документ

Параметры публикации

Этот документ был вам полезен?

Это неприемлемый материал?

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

Caste Nationalism and Communism in South

Загружено:

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

Cambridge South Asian Studies

C.A. Bayly,.G,P, Hawthorn, Gordon Johnson, S.J. Tam biah

A list o f the books in the series w ill b e fo u n d at the en d o f the volume

First Indian Edition 1994

This edition of Dilip M Menon: Caste, Nationalism and Communism

Published by Manas Saikia for Foundation Books and printed by

1 The agrarian economy and households, 1900-1930

2 Shrines and [he community of worship, 1900-1910

3 Shrines, temples and politics, 1900-1930

4 Civil disobedience and temple entry, 1930-1933

5 The transformation of rural politics, 1934-1940

6 Community and conflict, 1940-1948

The INLAKS Foundation granted me the initial scholarship to come to

AICC All India Congress Committee

RDAMP Report o f the Operations o f the Department o f

adhikari village headman

Map of Malabar District administrative divisions

Ideologies, like poetry, lose a lot in translation: nuances evanesce, meanings

creating a space for the redistribution of ritual resources.8 Such an analysts is

issue of caslc inequality and to renegotiate rural community in the aftermath

In 1927, Malabar was'being described by observers as a land of gardens

1 C A Inncs, Maiabar Gazvtietr (Madras, f951 First cdn 1908), 249.

Nayar tharavadus and the organisation of production

J Malabar LandTenures Report, 1881-82 (Madras, 1882)(henceforthMLTR), I,xv. SeeK.K.N.

12 Caste, nationalism and communism in south India

paironal relations through gifts and donations on the occasion of festivals,

11 Prabhail.am, 14 November 1938

The authority of the tharavadu

Migration and the independence afforded by the cultivation of cash crops

local authority. In 1899, members of the Legislative Council pointed out in

11 Pamkkar, Malabar and us folk, 266

K>Revenue Dept. G.O 477 dated 22 December 1904 (IOL), 17.

Settlement Register fo r Kariveltur amsam, Chirakkal taluk (Calicut, 1904)

Logan, Malabar Manual, II, Appendix XIII, clxviii-xix, cxcviii.

Tiyyas as yaxhamanan, Vaniyars (oil pressers) and Vannans (washermen) as

community consisiing of landowners and cultivators. Many of the younger

The economy or pepper and coconut

"Kannan, Rural proletarian struggles, 48-9.

''Hrvenue Dept. C.O. 477 dated 22 December 1904 (IOL), 11.

24 Casle. nationalism and comm unism in .south India

-R evenue R.Dh.I2A/IVM )dated 5 March /WO(KRA) 26

between 1930 to 1935.80 By the mid thirties a combination of cultivation on

The Compensation for Tenants Improvements Act, 1900

of the MCTI Act of 1900 was overplantation on plots, as tenants tried to

The cultivation or paddy

""/VC. Mayer, Land and society in Malabar (Bombay, 1952), 72-3.

w Aiyappan, im v tu and culture change^ 34, 115-

Revenue DR8IS3/34 dated 24 January 1934 (KRA).

major rice-producing area, a similar picture emerges of a potentially disastrous

Public DR.D.Dis.5223/19 dated 22 September 1918 (KRA).

could be absentee landhold, cultivating landow ner, tenant, interm ediary as

The tharavadus were involved in a network o f relationships with a w elter of

In north Malabar, a fragilecom m unity o f subsistence was sustained by the fact

im m ediate physical sense o f com m unity it involved a definable body of

* Revenue DR D I9 I/R I5 dated 16 February I9 I6 (K R A ).

There was thus, a constellation o f tharavadus possessing religious and secular

receiving a certain sum from the tenants for this service.

Shrines and shared worship

MLTR. 1881-82, IU.

11 Achutha Menon, Kali worship in Kerala, 82.

Shrine festivals - interdependence and obliga tion

G.J. Milter, An analysis o f the Hindu caste system ', 164,

s a sense of communiiy.-51 A Mussad (Nam budiri) perform ed worship in the

11T h i s a c c o u n t is token from a description o f t h e fcslival in 1901. Fawcctt, hiayars o/MttUtbtir.