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Women and Marriage in Marumakkathayam Moothedath Mayadevi Department of History, Zamorins Guruvayurappan College, Calicut, Kerala, INDIAAvailable online at: www.isca.in Received 29th July 2015, revised 17th September 2015, accepted 7th October 2015 Abstract  Malabar was known throughout the world for its exotic system of marriage and family relations. Matriliny of Malabar was known by the name of marumakkathayam. This was a system in which women were central to all family relations and property rights vested on women. Women and her children were the inheritors of the property. Nair households were known as tarawad and Nair marriages as sambandham. This was a unique system of marriage in which the male partner was devoid of any responsibility in a marital relationship. Usually nair women received husbands from upper castes, like the namboothiris- the Brahmin caste of Kerala. This article attempts to analyze the status of nair women and their so called “celebrated” freedom they enjoyed in their tarawads. There was a notion regarding nair women that, they unlike their counterparts in other castes, were free to take decisions on various issues including their marriage. In a patriarchal Indian society this was inconceivable. But this notion seems to be dwindling in the light of certain other sources. Status of women in the family and their rights were under the strict control of the eldest male member of the family, the karnavan. More studies are to be made in this respect to reveal the condition of nair women. Keywords: Matriliny, Malabar, women, Nairs.Introduction Family and marriage always played significant roles in determining the life and status of women throughout the world. Kinship rules, marriage laws and descent patterns are important criterion in the creation of women’s life. When female sex is the distinguishing criterion, the descent principle is called matrilineal. In this the individual’s relationship is to his mother and through her to other kinsmen, both male and female, but continuing only through females. Bachofen argued that human society began in a state of primitive promiscuity in which there was really no social organization and no regulation of behavior or sex. Matriliny, the second stage of cultural evolution was associated with the invention of agriculture by women. Matrilineal descent reflected the cult of a female deity and depended directly on the religious mentality of women. Matrilineal system existed in Kerala even during the 19th and 20th centuries. One of the major matrilineal castes that had existed in Kerala was the Nayars. Nayars of Kerala have certainly been almost universally regarded as exotic and extraordinary by those who have visited them due to existence of a peculiar system of inheritance, i.e., the Marumakkattayam. Nayars had a peculiar system of marriage within the format of marumakkathayam and was structured by the then existing land relations. In this study the marriage system of Nayars has been subjected to a re-analysis to find out ‘women’ in Nayar marriage – her status, her roles, her sexual freedom, and her responsibilities. Women’s roles, status, images and symbols are important while dealing with the matrilineal system of Kerala, because women were central to this system. This pre requires an overview of the existing knowledge regarding nayar marriage. Marumakkathayam cut across the boundaries of different disciplines like History, Sociology, Anthropology, Gender studies, Agrarian studies, Legal studies etc. Scholars belonging to these disciplines have analyzed Marumakkathayam and the Nair system of marriage. Europeans travelers and administrators were the first to study about this exotic system. Friar Jordanus of 14th century was the first European traveler to mention the existence of a peculiar system of inheritance in Kerala. Later on Francis Buchanan, Durate Barbosa, William Logan etc. looked into this system and expressed their curiosity. Among the historians K.P.Padmanabha Menon in ‘History of Kerala’ was the first to deal with the system and he tried to trace its origin. Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai in ‘Studies in Kerala History’ argued that during the Chera-Chola war the members of the military squad could not form permanent marriage unions or attend the management of households and thus it was entrusted upon womenHistorians never indulged into the condition of women involved. Anthropologists like Kathleen Gough, Dumont, C.J.Fuller and others always searched for parallels in Kerala that would fit into the theoretical framework of matriliny. Even while discussing the marriage they concentrated on the concepts of ‘group marriage’, primary marriage, secondary marriage and so on, but failed to recognize women. 
International Research Journal of Social Sciences____________________________________________________ISSN 2319–3565Vol. 4(10), 32-36, October (2015)     Int. Res. J. Social Sci.International Science Congress Association    
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A major addition to marumakkathayam studies can from a group of scholars like Saradamoni, Praveena Kodoth, J.Devika and others. Saradamoni argued that the central feature of matriliny is that it confers on women permanent right to maintenance by and residence in their natal home. This gives them a degree of autonomy which is not possible in the patrilineal system. These scholars dealt with the various gender issues and were the first to reckon that women were central to this whole process. They analyzed tarawad, its management and concluded that women enjoyed freedom in this system. This paper has one objective to systematically analyze the actual ‘condition’ of women in the Nair system of marriage and to determine that whether they really enjoyed the so called ‘freedom’ of Nair women. The geographical area of the study has been confined to British Malabar. Marumakkattayam is a conglomeration of various concepts and rituals. Hence a multidisciplinary approach is inevitable. Official records, diaries, private papers, literary works, field study, personal interviews, case study are all used in the course of this study. To analyze the objective a field work is done in the districts of Kozhikode, and Palakkad. Twenty Nair tarawads in these regions are visited during this study and from these a case of five Nair tarawads are chosen for detailed examination. Marumakkathayam-Matrilineal System of Kerala Matriliny of Kerala was known by the name Marumakkattayam. The term came from marumakkal – nephews and nieces. The word has been coined due to the unusual relationship between uncle and his nephews and nieces. This peculiar system is built upon women. It gave protection to women compared to their counterparts in patrilineal families. Women were the stock of the land title and it was through her that the tarawad name was transmitted from one generation to another. She had a birth right over tarawad property and this lasted throughout her life. TheNair women and their children lived in the tarawad – matrilineal household – itself. A big tarawad was composed of several numbers of residences and vast landed property. Some tarawads enjoyed quasi judicial privileges which kept the cultivating population in its thrallThe property of the tarawad was held in common and partition was not allowed. The head and manager of the tarawad was the senior male member or karnavan. The literal meaning of the term is one who is accountable and responsible. He was an agent who represented the tarawad but, not its owner. British interpretation of marumakkathayam law vested in him exclusive right and duty to manage the tarawad propertyThe Colonial patriarchal system was confused to see that women were the property owners and they searched for a male figure with whom they could make all the settlements. Regarding the management of Tarawad Praveena Kodoth says that the general presumption in favor of management by the senior male was all too often turned into an exclusion of women from managerial roles or used to exhaust women’s claims .  Nair-Marriage The study of family and marriage largely focused on the institution of marriage. One such marriage that found worldwide attention was that found among the Nairs of Kerala. There were two types of marriage for a Nair girl – talikettukalyanam and sambandham. Talikettukalyanam was performed before attaining puberty and when she attained maturity she entered into a sambandham union. The marriage system of Malabar was definitely related to the then existing land relations. To conceive the significance of Nair marriage, first of all we should have a picture of the system of marriage that had existed in the Nambuthiri community. Nambuthiris were the Janmis and Nairs were the KanamdarsJanmi was the holder of Janmam right and was a dignity with a fixed share of the produce of land. In Kerala Nambuthiris were the predominant group of JanmisKanamdar was the holder of Kanam tenure and it was the right to supervise all inhabitants of the particular land. Kanamdar was lower in status to Janmi.). Nambuthiris in Kerala followed primogeniture, i.e. only the eldest son was permitted to marry Nambuthiri women and younger sons had liaisons with women of other castes. This system facilitated the Nambuthiris to claim sexual access to Nair women. Through this Nambuthiris controlled the sexuality on Nair women. On the other hand they wanted their women to maintain chastity, in order to preserve the purity of caste. The women except the Nambuthiris were available for sexual relations by men higher than them in their caste, Nambuthirimen were the prominent benefactors in this regard. A Nair girl had to undergo two types of marriages-Talikettukalyanam and sambandham. A.K.B. pillai argues that the military occupation was the reason for this bifurcation. Talikettukalyanam was a pre-puberty marriage and sambandham was a union that she could make after attaining maturity with a man of her own caste or higher than her. Talikettukalyanam  When a female child grew up and was to attain puberty it was the concern of the mother to conduct her talikettukalyanam. The Nairs of one village or two adjacent villages formed a neighborhood group of six to ten lineages. Each lineage was linked by hereditary ties of ceremonial co-operation with two or three lineages in the neighbourhood10These linked lineages were called enangan. Every ten or twelve years each lineage held a grand ceremony of talikettukalyanam during which immature girls of one generation was ritually married by men drawn from their enangan lineages. It was an elaborate ceremony for four days. The enangan tied a tali around the neck of the girl. After this each couple was secluded in private for three days and here sexual relation might take place (regional variation existed) .A ‘girl’ who belonged to 
International Research Journal of Social Sciences____________________________________________________ISSN 2319–3565Vol. 4(10), 32-36, October (2015)     Int. Res. J. Social Sci.International Science Congress Association    
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an age group of 5-10 or even less than that was expected to have sexual relation. This was a highly ridiculous ceremony. On the fourth day the enangan left the house and had no further obligations to the girl. Talikettukalyanam was essential for a girl. It marked various changes in the social position of a girl; she was given the status of a women. After the tali-rite she should observe all the rituals of a Nayar woman and was to be addressed only as amma, in public.It was an occasion to display the pomp and glory of the tarawad. It was an expensive ceremony that lasted for four days. Tarawads had to sell or mortgage property to meet the expenses of the ceremony and arawads plunged into huge debts11. Sambandham Bound up with the system of marumakkattayam was the institution known as 'sambandham', the loose form of marriage which entails no responsibility or legal obligation on the part, of ‘husband’ towards his ‘wife and children’12. Whoever studied about Nairs criticized the sambandham relations as it created no perpetual relationships between man and woman. Durate Barbosa wrote that, ‘these men are not married their nephews are their heirs’13. After attaining maturity a girl received ‘visiting husbands’ from her own sub-caste or caste higher than her. But she could never have any relation with a man of a caste lower than her’s. Sambandham ceremony was very simple- a pudava was given to the woman as gift by the bridegroom. Neither party to a sambandham union thereby a member of the other’s family and the offspring of the union belong to their mother’s tarawad and have no sort of claim to the share of father’s property. If a Nambuthiri Janmi begins a sambandham with a Nair woman, it was not possible for his to take her to his illam. Hence women and her children remained in their own tarawads, where they had right on tarawad property. Due to this reason some of the scholars have considered marumakkattayam system as a matrilocal system (matrilocal means the couple lived with the bride’s matrilineal kinsmen). One of the major concerns of the scholars who dealt with Nair marriage was that of polyandry. During sixteenth and seventeenth centuries it was a practice among nair women to have three or four husbands at the same time. It is said that woman could have visiting husbands as well as regular husbands. However if a woman became pregnant one or men of appropriate caste should acknowledge the paternity of the offspring unless a child could never enter his/her caste or lineage at all . Another significant aspect of sambandham was that it was easily dissoluble, no formality was needed.  One of the main points projected by the scholars was that in the case of sambandham relations women had the right to decide their partner. But in practice it can be seen that it was the decision of the karanavan. ‘Women’ could give her opinion but it was not the girl who was getting married but her mother. If the karnavan desired to have a relation with a Nambuthiri,women were forced to enter into a sambandham union regardless of his age, physique, etc. Here there was no option for a woman other than being obedient to the karanavan. In the same manner if karnavan had some misunderstanding with a woman’s husband, she was forced to end the relation. Here also woman’s choice never turned up. Foreign travelers had continuously argued that Nair women had sexual promiscuity. This argument cannot be accepted as such because plural unions were customary, but relations were forbidden with members of the same lineage on pain of death. Even more relations with men of any lower caste were not entertained. If a woman was found guilty her tarawad was excommunicated until the woman was expelled from the tarawad. Marriage and Women: Insights from Case Study Women and their experiences are never found expression in historical works or literary texts. This necessitates the use of ethnographic research methods in revealing the issues related with women. The field study was conducted in the districts of Kozhikode, and Palakkad. In this study several women and men belonging to different socio-economic status were interviewed. This interaction was highly fruitful as it gave an insight into the real conditions in which the Nair women lived. Several tarawads were visited for this analysis and from these five tarawads are selected and an in-depth study is made. Many of the respondents were of the opinion that they had no freedom in their tarawads. During interaction they recollect what they have been told by their mothers, aunts and grandmothers.At first the case of Parol tarawad of Kozhikode can be seen. It is one of the upper class tarawad of Kozhikode region. This was a large tarawad with numerous members and was divided into several thavazhi. Women of the tarawad were ready to share their memory regarding their grandmothers. They referred to the instance of a woman, Parol Janaki Amma, who got married in 1945 at the age of seventeen. According to the informants she was the most beautiful women in her tarawad, but she was forced to marry against her will. She had four sisters and a brother, her eldest sister died during her second delivery. Unfortunately the karanavan of the tarawad wanted Janaki Amma to be married to her deceased sister’s husband. She was not at all interested in this relation but succumbed, before the pressure of the karanavan Kottayil is another tarawad in Kozhikode, within the corporation region. This was a lower class nayar tarawad, with very limited landed property and other resources and was divided into two thavazhi. As per the respondent, Kottayil Ammalukuty, a member of this tarawad was married at the age of 16, in 1941-42 (respondent has forgotten the exact year). The bridegroom was almost twenty two years elder than the bride. Ammalukutty Amma and her mother was against this marriage, 
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but the karanavan and the girl’s brother were adamant, because the bridegroom was a Namboothiri of a well to do illom. Palakkad is usually considered as a place where marumakkathayam was seen in its pristine purity. Moothedath is an upper class Nayar tarawad in Palakkad. The tarawad had large number of women, divided into six thavazhi and with vast resources as landed property. Though the women were educated even during the early twentieth century, the administration was done by males – karanavan. Respondents enthusiastically shared their memories about thalikettukalyanam that was conducted in the tarawad. One of the informant pointed out the instance of Moothedath Karthyayani Amma. She was married at the age of thirteen,in 1923, to Kurupath Ponukutty Nair, who had three wives at the time of marriage. Hence the family members resisted this marriage and asked the karnavan to change the decision but he was not at all ready and the marriage took place. Karthyayani Amma’s father was an educated person and was a government servant, he too was against this marriage, but he had no role in his daughter’s marriage. Kumarankandath was a famous and wealthy tarawad of Palakkad. It was divided into five thavazhi. Informants of this tarawad remember a marriage which they came to know from their grandparents. This was the marriage of Kumarankandath Kalikutty Amma, married at the age of 16 in 1897, to Chatarathu Veetil Unni Menon. All the family members were against this alliance because the horoscopes of bride and bridegroom were not matching. Kallikutty Amma’s father, a famous advocate, resisted this marriage in vain as the girl’s marriage was the concern and privilege of the karanavan.Unfortunately as the horoscope said she died during her first delivery. Polpulli was a middle class tarawad in Palakkad; with four thavazhi and numerous people. Informants from this tarawadmemorized the instance of Polpulli Yasodha who was married, at the age of fourteen in 1913, to Padmanabha Menon. In this case also the horoscope was not matching, tarawad members were against this relation; but the karanavan was firm in his decision and the marriage took place. Information from the case studies is astonishing as it provides unexpected insights into the issue. They remember the stories and events as told by their family members. Women of Nair tarawads were under the control of the male folk, hence the widely popularized concept that the sexuality of Nair women were out of the control of the male members has to be discredited. This is quite clear from the experiences of the informants. A marriage was always a prestigious issue for a tarawad so it was arranged as per the interest of the karanavan. Hence the interest of the bride or her mother was never considered and it was a monotonous decision of the karanavan. The field study has made it clear that the celebrated freedom of Nair women does not exist. Conclusion Status of women and the nature of marriage are closely related. Usually it is the pattern of marriage that determines the nature of family and the role of women in it. Women were central to marumakkattayam and the system entrusted several responsibilities on her. Women were responsible for rearing their children as the partner had no such legal obligation. There was no room for the recognition of the relationship of husband and wife and of father and child.   Women of marumakkathayam families differed from their counterparts in patrilineal families because even after her marriage right and claim to property of tarawd was not altered. Moreover her children irrespective of their sex belonged to her own tarawad. In a matrilineal system women’s sexuality is not under the oppressive control of either her matrikin or her husband and his group. Among Nairs because of the concern with boundary maintenance – an essential feature of the caste there were definite mechanism to ensure that women chose their males only from among accepted levels of caste. As a general presumption it seems to be true that women in matrilineal societies are not under any intensive and oppressive control. On the other hand that woman, the owners of tarawad property, was strictly under the control of the eldest male member of the tarawad. The concept of freedom was largely limited by the boundaries created by males. Even the sexuality of Nair women were under the hegemonic control of Nambuthiri men. The hegemonic ideology of that period was that of the patriarchal Nambuthiris. In such an ideological framework women would not be given indefinite freedom or rights. References 1.David M., Schneider and Kathleen Gough (ed), Matrilineal Kinship, (California, University of California Press, Preface, VII (1961)2.Elamkulam C. and Kunjan Pillai P.N., Studies in Kerala History, Trivandrum, 113 (1970)3.K. Saradamoni, Matriliny Transformed, New Delhi, Sage Publication, 14 (1999)4.Arunima G., There comes Papa – Colonialism and Transformation of Matriliny in Kerala, Malabar C.1850-1940, Hyderabad, Orient Longman, 11 (2002)5.Balakrishnan P.V., Matrilineal system in Malabar, Canannore Styavani Prakashnan, 46 (1981)6.Praveen Kodoth, Framing Custom, Directing Practices: Authority, property and Matriliny under colonial Law in 19th century Malabar, CDS Working paper, 338, 37 (2002)7.Praveena Kodoth, Courting Legitimacy, or Delegitimising Custom? Sexuality Sambandham and Marriage Reform in late 19th century Malabar, Modern Asian Studies, 35.2, Cambridge University Press, 351 (2001)
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8.Sheeba K.M., Writing Women’s History: Interrogating Female Sexuality Controls in Keralam, in K.X.Joseph (ed), Envisionings, UGC ASC, University of Calicut, I.II, 69 (2012)9.A.K.B. Pillai, The Culture of Social Stratification/Sexism in the Nayars, U.S.A, Copley publishing house, 14 (1987)10.Kathleen Gough, The Nayars and the Definition of Marriage, in Patricia Uberoi (ed) Family, Kinship and Marriage in India, New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 241 (1993)11.Mannath Padmanabhan, Ente Jeevitha Smaranakkal(mal), in Kidaghur Gopalakrishna pillai (ed), Mannathinte Samboora Krithikal, Kottayam, Vidyarthimithram press, 38 (1978)12.C.A. Innes, Malabar Gazetteer, Vol. I, State Editor, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala Gazetter, (Reprint), 113 (1997)13.Durate Barbosa, The Book Of Durate Barbosa: An account of the countries Bordering on the Indian Ocean and the Inhabitants,vol.2, London, Hakluyut Society, (reprint), 40 (1921)
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