My review of J Devika's book "Engendering Individuals..." was published in "Conributions to Indian Sociology"(CIS), 42,1, 2008. However, to my utter surprise a major part of my reading of her book was found omitted, though its Review Editor, Veena Naregal, never informed me about it before publication. When I send a mail to her about it, she tendered apologies about it, which according to her, affected the balance of my review. Now I feel that my reading of "En-gendering Individuals..." should appear in my blog untainted by the prejudices of Review Editor/Copy Editors.
J Devika, Engendering Individuals: The Language of Reforming in Early Twentieth Century Keralam. Hyderabad: Orient Longman. 2007. pp. 346 + XI. Rs. 650 (HB)
The book under review narrates a familiar but little explored story of the making of gendered individuals under colonialism. The focus of the study is the reform movements among the Nambudiri Brahmin community in Keralam. Devika makes her argument categorical that individualisation and gendering are not separate phenomena but aspects of the same phenomenon. She says the use of the term ‘engendering’ serves dual purposes: engendering in the first sense as “the coming into being of the Individual” and in the second sense, with prefix, meaning “covering or surrounding (the Individuals) with gender, placing gender upon or into (the Individual)” (p.9). The author makes use of her command over sources; rare literary sources and traditional archival materials from the mid-nineteenth century to mid-twentieth century and brings to the reader the delight of reading a book rich in concepts and sources.
Devika argues with her impeccable sway over sources how instincts, intuitions and emotions were attributed basically to women of the period and demonstrates how gender was posed as an alternative to the existing jati based social ordering in twentieth century Keralam. She carries on the discussion with revisiting community reform movements in the twentieth century, particularly the reforming of Nambudiri community in Keralam. As was the case with many caste groups, Nambudiri reform movement/community formation aimed at shaping of a modern Nambudiri community through collating various scattered caste groups that were hierarchically linked, to form the pre-modern Malayala Brahmin community into an entirely modern, internally homogenous collectivity consisting of individuals and actualised through their positive action (p.116), a process in which, Tamil, Tulu or Desastha Brahmins or popularly known as ‘foreign’ Brahmins were excluded. A presumed ‘sense of lacking’ was central to the initiatives of Nambudiri reform movements as well as a ‘sense of being left out’ in the ongoing/onward march of modernity. The feeling of lacking in the contemporary period and the urge for reform was mediated by tracing a glorious past for the community. Sooner, the reformer-men found women of the Nambudiri community or Antarjanams as a ‘burden’ on the Nambudiri male reformer and thereby a hindrance to reclaim their position in the glorious past. Therefore, reforming of the community also became an attempt to ‘civilize’ and to discipline Antarjanam. However, with the formation of associations of Antarjanams or Antarjanasamajams, the ‘unpacking of the burden’ of the reformer-men drew scathing attacks from Antarjanam-reformers. The Nambudiri reform which sought to establish a new modern patriarchy and modern patrifocal family among the Nambudiri Brahmins was the main target of women reformers because these reform activities were efforts at re-forming gendered individual identities rather than attempts to bring in a liberating experience to modern individuals.
This process of reforming among Antarjanams was simultaneous with attempts at constituting a separate identity for women in modern Keralam. A familiar way of making use of women entering public spaces was through making use of ‘soft’ capacities of women in jobs like teaching. A small chapter in the book, ‘Unnamable Discontent’, is dedicated to discussing the writings of Lalitambika Antarjanam, which engaged with the modern ideals of gender and individuality. The chapter on aesthetic female bodies discusses how decorating of female bodies quintessentially became a project of modernity in Keralam. Though she has not concentrated on the advertisements, it can be argued from a reading of advertisements appearing in Malayalam newspapers of the early twentieth century how veils/shawls and upper clothes or clothes worn by women such as kavani, putaka etc became an agenda of the cloth merchants too.
Many arguments that have been advanced on the Nambudiri community formation and Nambudiri reform movements in Keralam are similar to other community reform movements in Keralam. For instance, tracing a glorious past for the community or converging of various caste groups or ‘the feeling of lacking’ driving to embrace/appropriate modernity was common to Nairs, Ezhavas, Syrian Christians, Pulayas and Parayas. Recent works have shown the Dalit assertions of modernity in own idioms, rejecting earlier theories of Sanskritisation. All these assertions and attempts were engagements with modernity or for asserting rights with the dominant groups and the state. However the peculiar ways in which gendering/individualisation operated among particular communities, viz, Dalits or Nairs requires a deeper enquiry. Moreover, in many cases, the making of communities through collating of various groups was not easy, since there were significant degrees of gradation or hierarchy among the caste groups. A closer reading of the mechanisms worked among castes, which erased the hierarchies and gradations among the identical caste groups would certainly reveal the power of modern ideals circulating in the society.
One particular aspect about the reform movements and struggles in twentieth century Keralam was that it was not anti-Brahmin per se, the native Brahmin becoming the aggrieved party in some cases. For instance, the signatories to the Malayali Memorial, one of the modern forms of litigation submitted to the Maharaja of Travancore in the late nineteenth century, demanding an end to ‘foreign’ Brahmin (particularly Tamil Brahmin) domination in administration and demanding due consideration of the ‘sons’ of the soil in administration, included the “Nambudiris, Nairs, and Tiyers, Syrian Christians, Native Christians and East Indians, Landlords, Merchants and Officials”, constituting the ‘Malayalis’ of the region. Though, the litigants cleverly avoided social groups like Muslims, ex-slave castes and numerous other lower castes, the litigation was against the perceived foreign Brahmin domination in administration. This peculiar native v/s foreign Brahmins also hint at the making of a regional communal identity in the modern period.
Writing under the canopy of rich theoretical insights and sources, seems to miss one crucial relation that of gender and caste. Though the ordering of the society on the basis of gender assumed significance in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, as she convincingly argues, it was never been a reordering on the basis of gender only. An earlier book of the author cites the criticism of and Narikkatiri Devaki Antarjanam, a reformer -women and PK Kalyani, a leading satyagrahi during Vaikam satyagraha on perpetuating caste practices and untouchability among women. Modern conjugality on caste/community lines are evident from a marriage proposal appeared in Malayala Manorama of 24 April 1912: “A Travancore Malayali holding a comfortable official position in the Federated Malaya States wishes to marry a Malayali woman of his own caste. Knowledge of English, homemaking and music is desirable. Photographs may be exchanged if both parties agree for the same. Replies may be sent to R. Pillai, c/o Malayala Manorama, Kottayam”. In the public realm of mass politics and agitations too, discrimination on the basis of caste continued. The nationalist leader in Malabar KP Kesava Menon, while sharing his experience of organising inter-caste dining in the second Kerala Congress meeting held on 6 May 1923 at Palakkad recalls that the idea was not hospitable to everyone and in order to pacify some traditionalists, the organisers had to go for some kind of penance.
The historiographic significance of the study lies in its effort to secure a domain of historiography for the region, liberating it from the hassles of nationalist historiography. The study offers a powerful critique of ‘Kerala Model Development’ and reinforces us to look at reforms and reform initiatives with a broader outlook. As a concluding remark, the cover picture of Kerala Matavu (Mother Kerala) came as a new revelation to many who raised the question whether there was a deified mother for the Malayalis. However, there is no reference about her in the book, may be because it is not the objective of the book. However, one wonders how Kerala Matavu would be read/related with the all--pervasive Bharat Mata or with a much assertive and aggressive Tamilttai made popular by her ‘sons’. Reading these ‘relations’ in a society having a predominant matrilineal form of inheritance makes it all the more interesting and would offer more insights on imagining a regional identity within the nation.
END NOTES
1. Sanal Mohan, ‘Religion, Social Space and Identity: The Prathyaksha Raksha Daiva Sabha and the Making of Cultural Boundaries in Twentieth Century Kerala’, South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, XXVIII, 1, 2005.
2. There was initial resistance from Tiyas of Malabar to join hands with Ezhavas in Travancore and Cochin to form an Ezhava community in Keralam. In their Gazetteer of Malabar Inns and Evans say that there were customs restricting the marriages between people of same castes living in north and south Malabar and caste subdivisions bearing the same name had a different social status in different places. See, C A Innes and F B Evans, Malabar Gazetteer, Asian Educational Services, 1908. p. 94
3. Among the 10038 signatories, the names and designations of 250 are available to us and interestingly all of them were men.
4. Dispatch Number 239 of 1891, Travancore and Cochin Residency Files, Madras Residency, National Archives of India, New Delhi.
5. J Devika, Her-Self: Gender and Early Writings of Malayalee Women, Kolkata, 2005. pp. 152 and 84-85. Devaki Antarjanam ridiculed that the protest against untouchability was limited to the conference halls and that it had not yet set foot in the kitchen. Kalyani noted the aversion of savarna women in participating in the satyagraha along with avarna women.
6. K.P. Kesava Menon, Kazhinja Kalam, Kozhikode, 1969. p.1
J Devika, Engendering Individuals: The Language of Reforming in Early Twentieth Century Keralam. Hyderabad: Orient Longman. 2007. pp. 346 + XI. Rs. 650 (HB)
The book under review narrates a familiar but little explored story of the making of gendered individuals under colonialism. The focus of the study is the reform movements among the Nambudiri Brahmin community in Keralam. Devika makes her argument categorical that individualisation and gendering are not separate phenomena but aspects of the same phenomenon. She says the use of the term ‘engendering’ serves dual purposes: engendering in the first sense as “the coming into being of the Individual” and in the second sense, with prefix, meaning “covering or surrounding (the Individuals) with gender, placing gender upon or into (the Individual)” (p.9). The author makes use of her command over sources; rare literary sources and traditional archival materials from the mid-nineteenth century to mid-twentieth century and brings to the reader the delight of reading a book rich in concepts and sources.
Devika argues with her impeccable sway over sources how instincts, intuitions and emotions were attributed basically to women of the period and demonstrates how gender was posed as an alternative to the existing jati based social ordering in twentieth century Keralam. She carries on the discussion with revisiting community reform movements in the twentieth century, particularly the reforming of Nambudiri community in Keralam. As was the case with many caste groups, Nambudiri reform movement/community formation aimed at shaping of a modern Nambudiri community through collating various scattered caste groups that were hierarchically linked, to form the pre-modern Malayala Brahmin community into an entirely modern, internally homogenous collectivity consisting of individuals and actualised through their positive action (p.116), a process in which, Tamil, Tulu or Desastha Brahmins or popularly known as ‘foreign’ Brahmins were excluded. A presumed ‘sense of lacking’ was central to the initiatives of Nambudiri reform movements as well as a ‘sense of being left out’ in the ongoing/onward march of modernity. The feeling of lacking in the contemporary period and the urge for reform was mediated by tracing a glorious past for the community. Sooner, the reformer-men found women of the Nambudiri community or Antarjanams as a ‘burden’ on the Nambudiri male reformer and thereby a hindrance to reclaim their position in the glorious past. Therefore, reforming of the community also became an attempt to ‘civilize’ and to discipline Antarjanam. However, with the formation of associations of Antarjanams or Antarjanasamajams, the ‘unpacking of the burden’ of the reformer-men drew scathing attacks from Antarjanam-reformers. The Nambudiri reform which sought to establish a new modern patriarchy and modern patrifocal family among the Nambudiri Brahmins was the main target of women reformers because these reform activities were efforts at re-forming gendered individual identities rather than attempts to bring in a liberating experience to modern individuals.
This process of reforming among Antarjanams was simultaneous with attempts at constituting a separate identity for women in modern Keralam. A familiar way of making use of women entering public spaces was through making use of ‘soft’ capacities of women in jobs like teaching. A small chapter in the book, ‘Unnamable Discontent’, is dedicated to discussing the writings of Lalitambika Antarjanam, which engaged with the modern ideals of gender and individuality. The chapter on aesthetic female bodies discusses how decorating of female bodies quintessentially became a project of modernity in Keralam. Though she has not concentrated on the advertisements, it can be argued from a reading of advertisements appearing in Malayalam newspapers of the early twentieth century how veils/shawls and upper clothes or clothes worn by women such as kavani, putaka etc became an agenda of the cloth merchants too.
Many arguments that have been advanced on the Nambudiri community formation and Nambudiri reform movements in Keralam are similar to other community reform movements in Keralam. For instance, tracing a glorious past for the community or converging of various caste groups or ‘the feeling of lacking’ driving to embrace/appropriate modernity was common to Nairs, Ezhavas, Syrian Christians, Pulayas and Parayas. Recent works have shown the Dalit assertions of modernity in own idioms, rejecting earlier theories of Sanskritisation. All these assertions and attempts were engagements with modernity or for asserting rights with the dominant groups and the state. However the peculiar ways in which gendering/individualisation operated among particular communities, viz, Dalits or Nairs requires a deeper enquiry. Moreover, in many cases, the making of communities through collating of various groups was not easy, since there were significant degrees of gradation or hierarchy among the caste groups. A closer reading of the mechanisms worked among castes, which erased the hierarchies and gradations among the identical caste groups would certainly reveal the power of modern ideals circulating in the society.
One particular aspect about the reform movements and struggles in twentieth century Keralam was that it was not anti-Brahmin per se, the native Brahmin becoming the aggrieved party in some cases. For instance, the signatories to the Malayali Memorial, one of the modern forms of litigation submitted to the Maharaja of Travancore in the late nineteenth century, demanding an end to ‘foreign’ Brahmin (particularly Tamil Brahmin) domination in administration and demanding due consideration of the ‘sons’ of the soil in administration, included the “Nambudiris, Nairs, and Tiyers, Syrian Christians, Native Christians and East Indians, Landlords, Merchants and Officials”, constituting the ‘Malayalis’ of the region. Though, the litigants cleverly avoided social groups like Muslims, ex-slave castes and numerous other lower castes, the litigation was against the perceived foreign Brahmin domination in administration. This peculiar native v/s foreign Brahmins also hint at the making of a regional communal identity in the modern period.
Writing under the canopy of rich theoretical insights and sources, seems to miss one crucial relation that of gender and caste. Though the ordering of the society on the basis of gender assumed significance in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, as she convincingly argues, it was never been a reordering on the basis of gender only. An earlier book of the author cites the criticism of and Narikkatiri Devaki Antarjanam, a reformer -women and PK Kalyani, a leading satyagrahi during Vaikam satyagraha on perpetuating caste practices and untouchability among women. Modern conjugality on caste/community lines are evident from a marriage proposal appeared in Malayala Manorama of 24 April 1912: “A Travancore Malayali holding a comfortable official position in the Federated Malaya States wishes to marry a Malayali woman of his own caste. Knowledge of English, homemaking and music is desirable. Photographs may be exchanged if both parties agree for the same. Replies may be sent to R. Pillai, c/o Malayala Manorama, Kottayam”. In the public realm of mass politics and agitations too, discrimination on the basis of caste continued. The nationalist leader in Malabar KP Kesava Menon, while sharing his experience of organising inter-caste dining in the second Kerala Congress meeting held on 6 May 1923 at Palakkad recalls that the idea was not hospitable to everyone and in order to pacify some traditionalists, the organisers had to go for some kind of penance.
The historiographic significance of the study lies in its effort to secure a domain of historiography for the region, liberating it from the hassles of nationalist historiography. The study offers a powerful critique of ‘Kerala Model Development’ and reinforces us to look at reforms and reform initiatives with a broader outlook. As a concluding remark, the cover picture of Kerala Matavu (Mother Kerala) came as a new revelation to many who raised the question whether there was a deified mother for the Malayalis. However, there is no reference about her in the book, may be because it is not the objective of the book. However, one wonders how Kerala Matavu would be read/related with the all--pervasive Bharat Mata or with a much assertive and aggressive Tamilttai made popular by her ‘sons’. Reading these ‘relations’ in a society having a predominant matrilineal form of inheritance makes it all the more interesting and would offer more insights on imagining a regional identity within the nation.
END NOTES
1. Sanal Mohan, ‘Religion, Social Space and Identity: The Prathyaksha Raksha Daiva Sabha and the Making of Cultural Boundaries in Twentieth Century Kerala’, South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, XXVIII, 1, 2005.
2. There was initial resistance from Tiyas of Malabar to join hands with Ezhavas in Travancore and Cochin to form an Ezhava community in Keralam. In their Gazetteer of Malabar Inns and Evans say that there were customs restricting the marriages between people of same castes living in north and south Malabar and caste subdivisions bearing the same name had a different social status in different places. See, C A Innes and F B Evans, Malabar Gazetteer, Asian Educational Services, 1908. p. 94
3. Among the 10038 signatories, the names and designations of 250 are available to us and interestingly all of them were men.
4. Dispatch Number 239 of 1891, Travancore and Cochin Residency Files, Madras Residency, National Archives of India, New Delhi.
5. J Devika, Her-Self: Gender and Early Writings of Malayalee Women, Kolkata, 2005. pp. 152 and 84-85. Devaki Antarjanam ridiculed that the protest against untouchability was limited to the conference halls and that it had not yet set foot in the kitchen. Kalyani noted the aversion of savarna women in participating in the satyagraha along with avarna women.
6. K.P. Kesava Menon, Kazhinja Kalam, Kozhikode, 1969. p.1
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