History Of Breast Tax in Travancore Kingdom Implement by Brahmins to Nadar(Channars), Ezhavas & Revolution against Breast Tax.
the 19th century, the King of Travancore introduced the payment of breast tax and it was to be paid by the lower caste women within the community. The breast tax, also known as “Mulakkaram”, became popular in Travancore kingdom. It was an Indian practice put in place to keep the old caste system.
According to traditional demands, the lower caste women were expected to expose their breasts. At that time, the existing caste system was extremely oppressive and these women were not allowed to wear upper clothes. A refusal to do so meant that they would be charged to pay for their defiance.
The amount of tax to be paid was determined based on the breast size of each woman.
The larger the breasts, the higher the tax.
Once the lower caste women attained puberty, the tax would start. It is believed that this practice was put in place to suppress them, particularly people from Ezhava and Nadar. The high caste men were the ones who collected this tax.
To ensure compliance, the Travancore officials would go from house to house to collect the breast levy from any lower caste woman that had passed the age of puberty.
Two primary reasons were largely attributed to the imposition of payment of the breast tax: to insult the lower caste people and burden them with debts that kept them in poverty. Sadly, while the lower caste struggled, the upper class Brahmins and Nairs continued to enjoy prosperity and decency.
Standing bare-chested was as a sign of respect to the supposedly superior upper caste system. The use of upper clothes was also considered to be a sign of prosperity, hence only the upper class was entitled to this privilege.
Indeed, the humiliating and cruel breast tax debased the lower caste women because it denied them the right to live respectfully amongst others. The women had to subject themselves to an embarrassing breast-size measurement which was an attack on their dignity and privacy.
A Women Revolution Against Breast Tax.
Today, however, this sacrifice, responsible for giving power to women in the community to challenge dominant social systems, seems to have lost itself to communal embarrassment. The land which witnessed the event now stands shared between several owners, bereft of any representation of Nangeli and her courage. Moreover, in the many texts which articulate the caste struggles of men and women in Kerala or the liberation movement undertaken by women, Nangeli’s story is missing. Her courage, however, has found a place in the autobiographies of local leaders like C. Kesavan and K.R. Gowri Amma. Prejudiced as it may be, history must be constantly rewritten and revised so as to take us away from what Gayatri Spivak terms as ‘sanctioned amnesia and ignorance.’
Nangeli’s story, amongst many others which speak of the silent strength of true heroes, is suppressed due to the overwhelming narrative of the patriarchal and Brahmanical history of our country. Manu S Pillai further states, “When Nangeli stood up, squeezed to the extremes of poverty by a regressive tax system, it was a statement made in great anguish about the injustice of the social order itself. Her call was not to celebrate modesty and honour; it was a siren call against caste and the rotting feudalism that victimised those in its underbelly who could not challenge it. She was a heroine of all who were poor and weak, not the archetype of middle-class womanly honour she has today become. But they could not admit that Nangeli’s sacrifice was an ultimatum to the order, so they remodelled her as a virtuous goddess, one who sought to cover her breasts rather than one who issued a challenge to power.”
These beliefs have been questioned, as lower class women “were not allowed to wear upper garments in public” at all until 1859, after the Channar Revolt.
1813–1829 grants and withdrawals
The Nadar women successfully campaigned to be allowed to cover their breasts. In 1813, Colonel John Munro, British dewan in the Travancore court, issued an order granting permission to women converted to Christianity to wear upper cloth. The order was withdrawn when pindakars, members of the Raja’s council, complained about this, arguing that this right would obliterate caste-differences, and lead to widespread ‘pollution’ in the state. Nadar women were forbidden to wear the Nair sharf, and instead were allowed to wear the kuppayam, a type of jacket worn by Syrian Christians, Shonagas, and Mappilas. The women were not satisfied, continuing to fight for the right to wear upper cloth “like any other woman in the higher castes,” and preferring breast-clothing in the Nair-style. This led to increasing violence in the 1820s against Nadar women, and also the burning of schools and churches. In 1828 the Travancore government again forbade Nadar-women the Nair-style breast-clothes, but permitted the wearing of the jacket. In 1829, the Travancore queen issued yet another proclamation, which denied the right of Nadar women to wear upper cloths.
1859 proclamation
In 1858, new violence broke out in several places in Travancore. On 26 July 1859, under pressure from Charles Trevelyan, the Madras Governor, the king of Travancore issued a proclamation proclaiming the right for all Nadar women to cover their breasts, either by wearing jackets, like the Christian Nadars, or tie coarse-cloth around their upper-body, like the Mukkavattigal(fisher-women). Yet they were still not allowed to cover their breasts in the style of the higher-class Nair women. This solution was not satisfactory to the missionaries, who regarded all men and women to be equal. Nadar women continued to ignore the restrictions, developing an upper-wear style that resembled the style of the higher class Hindu women, but offended some Hindus as a provocation by the missionaries.
Further emancipation
After the revolt, pamphlets appeared putting forth the claims of Kshathriya status of the Nadars. Members of the caste claimed the right to wear the sacred thread and to ride palanquins to wedding ceremonies. By 1891 at least 24,000 Nadars had given their caste to the census enumerator as being kshatriya.
