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Chapter VI CONCLUSION The British conquest and the consequent dissemination of colonial culture and ideology had led to an inevitable introspection about the strength and the weakness of indigenous culture and institutions. The response, indeed, was varied but the need to reform social and religious life was a commonly shared conviction. The social base of these quest which has generally, but not altogether appropriately been called the renaissance, was the newly emerging middle class and the traditional as well as western educated intellectuals. The socio- cultural regeneration in the nineteenth century India was occasioned by the colonial presence, but not created by it.1 The spirit of reform embraced almost the whole of India beginning with the efforts of Raja Ram Mohan Roy in Bengal leading to the formation of the Brahma Samaj in 1828. Apart from the Brahma Samaj, the Paramahamsa Mandali and the Prarthana Samaj in Maharashtra and the Arya Samaj in Punjab and North India were some of the prominent movements among Hindus. There were several regional and caste movements like Kayastha Sabha in Uttar Pradesh , the Sarin Sabha in Punjab, Sree Narayana Paripalana Sabha in Kerala and the Satya Sodhak Samaj in Maharashtra.2 Despite being regional in scope and content and confined to a particular religion, their general perspectives were remarkably similar. They were regional and religious manifestations of a common consciousness. 1 2

Bipan Chandra, India’s Struggle for Independence, Calcutta, 1992, p.82. ibid., p.83.

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Although religious reformation was a major concern of these movements, none of them was exclusively religious in character. Strongly humanist in inspiration, the idea of other worldiness and salvation were not a part of their agenda, instead their attention was focused on wordly existence. Given the inter connection between religious beliefs and social practices, religious reformation was a necessary pre- requisite for social reform. ‘The Hindu meets his religion at every turn. In eating, in drinking, moving, sitting, standing, he is to adhere to sacred rules, to depart from which is sin and impiety’.3 Religion was the dominant ideology of the times and it was not possible to undertake any social action without coming to grips with it. Renaissance in Kerala was an attempt to fill the gap between the material realities generated out of this colonial context and the persisting feudal social practices. The renaissance in Kerala was a complex process. It was led by different sections of the people motivated by anti-feudal and anti-colonial struggles. But by the mid decades of 18th century, though at a limited level, new class relations began to emerge and constituted a new paradigm for cultural resistance 4 which on the one hand fought against the ritualistic dispositions of caste and against the cultural ideology of the colonial masters on the other. Even though stated in simple terms, this was a complex negotiation between traditional and the modern which resulted in the formation of the ‘national modern’. Renaissance, in general acted as the domain of these negotiations.

3

Bipan Chandra, India’s Struggle …, p.83. E.M.S. Namboodiripad held the view that the changes occurred in the life pattern of Kerala society had its roots in the pre-British period itself. He points out that evidences of this can be found in the writings of Kunchan Nambiar. E.M.S. Namboodiripad, Keralam Malayalikalute Mathrubhumi, Trivandrum, p. 276. 4

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The experience of Kerala shows how collective action can be translated into organisation of different social groups and articulation of their demands towards the fulfillment of their respective economic, social and political interests. This process of public action has been developed in a gradual and progressive way, and can be explained by different kinds of causes, like socio-cultural, political and economic ones, some of which date back to the 19th century. So the particular features of Kerala society, such as its high degree of social fragmentation along caste, class and religious lines, have marked the historical process of social transformation. The most striking point of Kerala society is its caste system. Caste, which is a Portuguese word in origin, is a social structure whose origins lie of three and a half millennia ago. Besides, the most striking specification of the caste system is not its age. The most striking point is the structure itself. Caste system is a social structure where virtually little social mobility exists. The castes are closed to outer castes so much that every one of them has its own language version which others do not understand, considering they speak mostly the same language. The Caste system is a unique structure, but it is not the only social structure which divides the society between priests, noble, soldiers and craftsmen. Before the enlightenment and industrialization ages, it was common for the whole world societies to have such social divisions. What makes the caste system unique is its system of inter-class relations. Anthropologists and social historians have considered caste to be the most unique feature of Indian social organisation expressed in two parallel concept of Varna and jati.5 The four fold concept of Varna was the ancient most social

5

Sekhar Bandyopadhyay, From Plassey to Partition A history of Modern India, Delhi, 2004, p.342.

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formation dating back to about 1000BC, when the “Aryan” society was divided into Brahmins or Priests, Kshatriyas or warriors, Vaishyas or farmers, traders and producers of wealth and the Sudras who served these three higher groups. Untouchability as a fully developed institution appeared sometime between the third and sixth centuries AD, when the untouchables came to constitute a fifth category, known variously by terms like Panchamas, Ati- sudras or Chandalas.6 However, this Varna division had little relevance to subsequent social realities, providing nothing more than “a fundamental template” 7 within which social ranks were conceptualized across regions. For actual social organisation, more important were the numerous jatis that were vaguely referred to as castes. Jatis as occupational groups, which number more than three thousand in modern India

8

were emerging side by side with the Varna’s, and often they were again

further subdivided on the basis of professional specialisation. We may identify jatis or castes as occupational groups, whose membership was determined by birth, and whose exclusiveness was maintained by stringent rules of endogamy and commensality restrictions. Each and every caste was ascribed a ritual rank, which located its members in an elaborate hierarchy that encompassed the entire society. In this cultural environment, social rank was determined by purity – pollution scale: the Brahmin, being embodiment of purity, was located at the top of the scale and the untouchables being impure were at the bottom, and while in the middle there were various groups with varying grades of purity/ impurity. In this situation, factors like nature of occupation and the distance from the centre of 6

V.Jha, ‘Candala and the Orgin of Untouchability’ in The Indian Historical Review, 13 (1-2), 1986, pp.1-36. 7 G.G.Raheja, Caste System in P.N.Stearns, (ed.,), Encyclopedia of Social History, New York, 1994, p.95. 8 H.Sanyal, Social Mobility in Bengal, Calcutta, 1981, p.17.

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power etc determined the ritual rank – in other words there was close correlation between power, wealth and rank. This was a social orrganisation, which Gail Omvedt has described as the “caste- feudal society”, marked by “Caste/ class confusion”9. However, it was not exactly a class system in disguise. It was not a dichotomous system, but a system of gradation, with “a great deal of ambiguity in the middle region”,

10

where various castes competed with each other for

superiority of status. Colonial rule disengaged caste system from its pre- colonial political contexts, but gave it a new lease of life by redefining and revitalising it within its new structures of knowledge, institutions and policies. 11 First of all, during its non interventional phase, it created opportunities, which were “in theory caste- free”.12 Land became a marketable commodity; equality before law became an established principal of judicial administration; educational institutions and public employment were thrown open to talent, irrespective of caste and creed. Yet the very principal of non- intervention helped maintain the pre- existing social order and reinforced the position of privileged groups. Only the higher castes with previous literature traditions and surplus resources, could go for English education and new professions, and could take advantage of the new judicial system 13 The rigid caste structure that characterizes .Kerala society favoured the development of caste movements during the second half of the 19th century which represented the beginning of the struggle against the system of oppression

9

Gail Omvedt, Dalits and the Democratic Revolution: Dr. Ambedkar and the Dalit Movement in Colonial India, New Delhi, 1994, pp.42-44. 10 Andre Beteille, Society and Politics in India: Essays in Comparative Persepective, London, 1991, p.43. 11 Nicholas B Dirks, Castes of Mind Representations, Winter, 1992, pp.56-78. 12 M.N.Srinvas, Social Change in Modern India, Berkeley, 1966, p.90. 13 M.Galanter, Competing Equalities: Law and backward clases in India, Berkeley and Los Angels, 1984.

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and domination from which most of the population suffered. This earlier pattern of social mobilisation established the basis for the later emergence of workers’ associations fighting for their rights. This was boosted by the nature of capitalist penetration in Kerala which caused the rapid proletarisation of workers and also by the existence of the communist party which decidedly influenced the organisation of farmers and workers. All these processes have led to the transformation of the social consciousness which has meant both a progressive weakening of traditional caste ties in social relationships and the adoption of new organisation patterns by different social groups in order to articulate their claims directed to the state. The colonial impact was the first step in the weakening of the traditional social system based on caste structure that characterized Hindu society. The 19th century is the environment where the ideas of nationalism, independence, radicalism, liberalism and etc. were first began to grow on Indian soil. So it is very important to study this period in order to see the caste system against the test of time and against its strongest opponent the modernism and westernization. Two important intellectual criteria which informed the reform movements were rationalism and religious universalism. Social relevance was judged by a rationalist critique. A rational and secular outlook was very much evident in posing an alternative to prevent social practices. The increasing loss of the stability of the old system was also challenged from inside the caste structure. It was the emergence of caste movements which led to the mobilisation of low castes which started in the religious field and later spread their claims to greater access to social status and political power. Social, historical and cultural factors encouraged the emergence not only of caste

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movements among different Hindu communities - like the low caste Ezhavas or high-middle caste Nairs - but also the mobilisation of non-Hindu communities like Christians and Muslims. There are some common features to all caste movements that emerged in Kerala during the second half of the 19th century and the first quarter of the 20th century. Generally, there pervades a lingering nostalgic aura around renaissance in most of the prevailing explanations. These explanations attempt to summarise the project of modernization of Kerala as primarily located in the domain of social reforms put forward by anti casteist movements. It is true that, such an explanation has something to do with the lived historical experiences of Kerala society. Precisely speaking, three strands are being incorporated in the above said explanatory model. First one exclusively concentrates on the role played by the mainstream reform movements like Sri Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP), Yogakshema Sabha, Nair Service Society (NSS) etc14. The historical experience of Sadhujana Paripalana Sangham, which had to face extinction in the first half of the 20th century and that of Prathyaksha Raksha Daiva Sabha (PRDS) which even after its organizational continuance got marginalised and exerts little influence in the present day Kerala life, receives scant attention in this strand. The second one gives emphasis on the institutional changes brought out by the colonial administration and the provincial Governments and the employment of the rule of the law.15 It failed to address the issues of reframing and embolden of caste hierarchies that colonial rule effected through the enactment of land laws, etc. The social reforms have been conceived generally as a byproduct of the new awareness inspired by western education. The final strand deals with the changes 14 15

P.K. Gopalakrishnan, Keralathinte Samskarika Charithram , Trivandrum,1994, pp. 511 - 561. A. Sreedhara Menon, Kerala Charithram, Kottayam, 1988, pp. 323-41.

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in the mode of production. Concentrating on the structural changes in the production system, this tries to locate the social change in the domain of material production16. It is generally known that, because of the interconnectedness of the colonial rule and feudal hierarchy in Kerala as well as in India, the modernisation process was entirely different from that of the west. In Europe, modernisation came into being as an amalgam of varied factors like capitalist expansion, technological advancement, industrialism and democratic revolution. None of the above acted as a source behind the modernisation in India. Even though scholars have pointed out the possibility of the emergence of an alternative modernity in India as well as in some other developing countries17, the historical experience of modernisation was primarily related to colonial administrative and institutional measures. The distinctiveness of the Kerala Renaissance has generally been attributed to its strong footing in the subaltern sections of the society. Unlike the pioneering reformist endeavours of Bengal, which were primarily upper caste attempts to break away from the customs of caste hierarchy and bring the light of the western enlightenment in Kerala, reform movements largely originated from the lower caste. From the very beginning there was an attempt to dethrone the caste system instead of some ‘humanitarian’ attempts to rectify it. 18 The major reformist movements in Kerala came into existence deriving inspiration from the SNDP yogam, a lower caste movement which spearheaded the anti-casteist struggles of the downtrodden. This subaltern dimension further strengthened in

16

K.N. Ganesh, Keralathinte Innalekal, Trivandrum, Dept. of Publication, Kerala Government, 1991, pp. 385 - 90. 17 John Hobson, The Eastern Origins of Western Civilization, Cambridge, 2004, pp. 190-218. 18 P. Govindapillai, Kerala Navodhanam Oru Marxist Veekshanam, Trivandrum, 2003, pp. 151-53

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the second phase when the agrarian movements led by the left forces came into being and fought against landlordism that had provided the economic foundation for the caste system. All this underlines the fact that the renaissance experience of Kerala could not easily be equated with that of Bengal and other regions. The manifestation of this distinctiveness can be found at a more subtle level in theoretical explanations propogated by Narayana Guru, the preceptor of Kerala Renaissance. In his famous work ‘Jathinirnayam’ where he denounces the caste system emphasizing on the oneness of mankind, he employes a language which is radically different and emphatically free from the metaphysical baggage of idealist arguments. There he says that like the state of being a cow makes all cows a single species, the humanism of human beings make them the members of a single entity.19 What make these explanations essentially different from the prevailing idealist arguments is their emphasis upon the materiality of the body in order to negate casteist and other forms of hierarchical social stratification. 20 The major discourse of the day stressed on the metaphysical oneness promulgated by Advaita philosophy which had been upheld by the leaders of Pan-Indian renaissance like Swami Vivekananda and Dayananda Saraswathi. For them the oneness of mankind is caused by the oneness of the absolute, which manifests itself in the external/material world in various forms21. Narayana Guru breaks away from the abstract notion of oneness of the absolute and harbours on the materiality of the body as the founding principle of anti casteism.

19

“ Manushyanam Manushyathawam Jathir Gothwam Gavam Yadha” Sri Narayana Guru. Jathinirnayam, verse 1. 20 Udayakumar, : ‘Swathvam Sareeram Anthakaranam : Sree Narayana Guruvinte Krithikalepatti Chila Nireekshanangal’, K.N. Shaji (ed.), Narayana Guru, Jeevitham, Krithikal, Darsanam , Thrissur, 2002, pp. 381-398. 21 Swami Vivekananda, Vivekananda Sahithya Sangraham, Thrissur,1988, p. 137.

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A conversation between Gandiji and Sree Narayana Guru is significant here. Gandiji, in an obvious reference to chaturvarna and the inherent differences between man and man, observed that all leaves of the same tree are not identical in shape and texture. To this Narayana Guru pointed out that the difference is only superficial, but not in essence: the juice of all leaves of a particular tree would be the same in content. It was he who gave the call – ‘One Religion, One Caste And One God for mankind’ which one of his disciples , Sahodaran Ayyappan, changed into ‘no religion, no caste and no God for mankind’. Another important aspect of the renaissance was its reformulation of the essence of religion. Generally all religions have a two-dimensional life. First is that of absolute principles with some abstract overtones of universalism. The ethical and humanitarian bearings of religion have generally been derived from this abstract universalism. On the other hand, every religion has its own historical and institutional life which is primarily ritualistic and priestly. It will be an historical assumption if we conceive the existence of a religion purely in terms of absolute values. The actual life of any religion is a negotiation between the abstract values which will function as the kernel of religious doctrine and the institutionalized and ritualistic practices in which the power relations of the society make inroads. Renaissance, in the domain of religious interventions, was an attempt to assert the supremacy of the absolute values over the ritualistic practices. These absolute values like compassion, love, fraternity and non duality, because of their imminent universalism, bear the potential to challenge the hierarchical social ordering appended with the institutional religion. Definitely there is much more in this reformulation than that of a simple reform. It was an attempt to locate universal humanism as the founding principle

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of religion and religiosity. This may be the reason why Gramsci, taking into account the revolutionary dimensions of the interventions made by Gandhi described his attempts as ‘naive theorization of passive revolution with religious overtones’22. In general, renaissance aimed at the humanization of religion, even though the conception of the ‘human’ was a highly problematic one. This may sufficiently explain why the notion of the oneness of man reverberates in the mottos/slogans of almost all of the reform movements23. As an extension of this reformulation of religion, a new sense of community emerged and that was upheld by the renaissance movements. It was against the suppressive conception of caste that they upheld a somewhat abstract notion of community. This was a strategic double bind which aimed on the one hand to unite the members of the lower castes and on the other to maintain a critique of casteism24. Here we have to keep a guard against confusing the present day communitarianism with the concept of community projected by the renaissance movements. Narayana Guru once explained that the term ‘Ezhava’ should be conceived against the casteist assumptions and should be understood in relation with its geographical dimensions. He also made it clear that one can use the term ‘Malayali’ instead of ‘Ezhava’ because the latter only indicates one who came from an ‘Ezham’. Despite the faulty suggestions of migration from the ‘Ezham’, etc., what is important here is the new sense of community upheld by the reform movements. Conspicuously it was an attempt to appropriate the humanist ideology they were trying to comprehend at that historical juncture. 22

Antonio Gramsci, Selections from Pris Notebooks, Madras, 1996, p. 107, 229. “Oru Jathi, Oru Matham, Oru Daivam Manushyanu’ (One caste, One religion, One God for the man), “Namboothiriye Manushyanakkuka” (Let’s make Namboodhiris human), “Pulayanum Manushyananu (A pulayan is also a human being). In all these dictums an emphasis has been given to man/human. 24 Udayakumar, op. cit. 23

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The campaign for the improvement of the condition and status of women was not a purely humanitarian measure. No reform could be really effective without changes in the domestic conditions, the social space in which the intial socialization of the individual took place. A crucial role in this process was played by women. Therefore, there could be no reformed men and reformed homes without reformed women. Neverthless, it was realized that no country could ever make significant progress in civilization whose females were sunk in ignorance. If the reform movements had totally rejected tradition, Indian society would have easily undergone a process of westernization. But the reformers were aiming at modernization rather than westernization. A blind initiation of western cultural norms was never an integral part of reform. The presence of law and governance, in accordance with law, can transform a collective body into a political society. But the existence of a civil society emerges only when the citizens’ right to life, liberty and property is guaranteed by law.25 To put it another way, legal recognition and protection of the natural rights of individuals can transform a political society into a civil society. A civil society exists for the sake of securing the rights of men and women within it. A civil society signifies a collective body that cherishes individual rights and legally protects the freedom of its members. It symbolizes a condition that is necessary for the struggle for a democratic state. Thus the presence of civil society heralds the emergence of the modern democratic state.26

25

Gurpeet Mahajan, ‘Civil Society and its Avatars’, in Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.XXXIV, No.20, 1999, p.1189; Tom Bottomore, (ed.,), A Dictionary of Marxist Thought, Delhi, 1987, pp.7274. 26 Dr. Thulaseedharan Asarey, Colonialism…, p.62.

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The emerging civil society in Kerala produced a middle class 27 capable of identifying itself and respond to the political challenges. The enlargement and diversification of civil society is intimately linked to the introduction to new education and the growth of professions, i.e., lawyers, doctors, teachers, journalists, judges and officers. The new- born middle class was provided with a political weapon in the ideology of nationalism. Their exposure to the national and international situations persuaded them not to tolerate what was going on in Kerala. They envisaged a Kerala with an egalitarian milieu and this forced them to react against the political situation in Kerala. Economic and political expediency also demanded that they should recast their old notions of legitimacy. This political awakening, promised by the vision of a new nation, of a new form of congruence between culture and power, and a new way of relating the self with the other, dawned upon the people.28 The mobilization of masses on the plank of nationalism takes place not merely on the basis of certain primordial affinity in culture, but on the basis of the commonality of emergence of a socio- political community. The demand of nationalism here is for equal spread of power over culture, as part of the transition into a nation. This nationalist process of politicization in modernity takes hold of culture in its totality, trying to empower all its members with equal rights and responsibilities. This political process manifested itself through constitutional experiments, submission of memorials and political journalism. To initiate and undertake these reforms which today appear to be modest, weak and limited was not an easy proposition. It brought about unprecedented mental agony and untold domestic and social tensions. Breaking the bonds of 27

Sumit Sarkar, ‘Popular’ Movement and ‘Middle Class’ Leadership in Late Colonial India: Perspectives and Problems of ‘History from Below’, Calcutta, 1983, p.2. 28 G.Aloysius, Nationalism without Nation in India, Delhi, 1997, p.83.

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tradition created emotional and sentimental crises for men and women caught between two worlds. Faced with the challenge of the intrusion of colonial culture and ideology, an attempt to reinvigorate traditional institutions and to realize the potential of traditional culture developed during the 19th century. The initial expression of the struggle against colonial domination manifested itself in realm of culture as a result of the fact that the principles on which the colonial state functioned were not more retrogressive than those of the pre- colonial state. All intrusions into the cultural realm were more intensely felt. Therefore, a defense of indigenous culture developed almost simultaneously with the colonial conquest. This concern embraced the entire cultural existence, the way of life and all signifying practices like language, religion, art and philosophy. Two features characterised this concern; the creation of an alternate cultural- ideological system and the regeneration of traditional institutions. The cultivation of vernacular languages, the creation of an alternate system of education, the efforts to regenerate Indian art and literature, the emphasis on Indian dress and food, the defense of religion and the attempts of revitalize the Indian system of medicine etc were some of the expressions of this concern. In this specific historical sense, they were not necessarily retrogressive, for underlying these efforts was the concern with the revival of the cultural personality, distorted, if not destroyed, by colonial domination. More so because it formed an integral element in the formation of national consciousness. Some of these tendencies, however, were not able to transcend the limits of historical necessity and led to a sectarian and obscurantist outlook.

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It is true that there was an element of revolutionary inversion in all these attempts. Nevertheless, all these would become futile and even counterproductive in the absence of a vibrant mood of anti-casteism. Hence, it was this counterproductive potential that gained an upper hand in Kerala society in the second half of the 20th century. Building upon the Brahmanic ideology inherent in the mainstream reform movements, forms of sectarian communitarianism emerged and in many ways destabilized the secular fabric of Kerala society. Simultaneously, the renaissance movements itself began to be appropriated by communal forces. As a result of this, from 1980s onwards Kerala society has exhibited apparent signs of increased ritualism. A crude form of religiosity, which has severed its relations with spiritual humanism and is primarily communal enjoys an unchallenged authority in present day Kerala society. The return of feudal forms of worship, the emergence of god men who had become more powerful than the state machinery, etc. exemplifies this deplorable situation. It should be admitted that despite the continued presence of the ideological baggages of Brahmanism, renaissance in Kerala had done a great deal of work in paving the way for structural transformations. It is necessary to realize the internal contradictions that governed and circumscribed the course of renaissance. Eighteenth and nineteenth century scenario offered a platform for the emergence of new ideas like humanism, rationality and free thinking. These ideas were absorbed by the thinkers and the social reformers like Sree Narayana Guru, Chattambi Swamikal, Brahmananda Shivayogi, Mannathu Padmanabhan, V.T. Bhattatiripad, Sahodaran Ayyappan, Vakkam Maulavi etc. Using the indigenous ideology, these thinkers and social reformers put these ideas into practice. They challenged the existing socio- economic order and were advocating principles of

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liberty and equality. These opened up and redefined new pathways of freedom which later was responsible for a serious practice of democratic movements. The cultural – ideological struggle, represented by these socio- religious movements, was an integral part of the evolving national consciousness. This was so because it was instrumental in bringing about the initial intellectual and cultural break which made a new vision of the future possible. Second, it was a part of the resistance against colonial and ideological hegemony. Out of this dual struggle evolved the modern cultural situation. Social reforms by late second half of 20th century have declined to emerge in the form of caste associations which began to seek the respective efficacy through vote bank politics. The emergence of Socialist Revolutionary party an outfit of SNDP and Nair Democratic Party an outfit of NSS began to bargain political mileage through their respective participation in power and pressure politics. Contemporary political configuration in Kerala invite for a meaningful research leading to how caste associations succeeded in establishing their supremacy in evaluating the real issue in Kerala political scenario.