THE HINDOOS OF MALABAR.
When Parasu Rama, the demigod, departed this transitory life, he left,
as we said before, the kingdom of Malabar as a heritage to the priestly
caste. For many years a hierarchy of Brahmans governed the land.[88] At
length, finding themselves unable to defend the country, they established
Nair chiefs in each Nad (province), and Desha (village),[89] called
from their places of jurisdiction Nadwallee and Deshwallee. The main
distinction between them seems to have been, that whereas the latter
could not command more than a hundred fighting men, the Nadwallee never
went to battle with a smaller number than that under his banner; some few
led as many as twenty thousand vassals to the field. Both were bound to
conduct the affairs of their feofs, to preserve the peace of the country,
and to assemble and head their respective forces at the summons of the
Rajah. There does not appear to have been any limitation to the power
of settling disputes vested in these feudal superiors, nor were they
prohibited from taking fines and costs of suit;[90] parties appearing
before them had, however, a right of appeal to the Rajah. These dignities
were hereditary; still they may be considered political offices,—for, in
case of demise, the heir did not succeed without a formal investiture by
the ruler, and a relief, or fine of entry, taken in token of allegiance.
Like the feudal landowners of England, both the Nadwallee and the
Deshwallee were dependent upon the prince to whom they swore the oath
of fidelity. Neither of these dignitaries was necessarily owner of
all the landed property within his province or village boundaries: in
fact he seldom was so, although there was no objection to his becoming
proprietor by purchase or other means. They were not entitled to a share
of the produce of the lands in their jurisdiction, nor could they claim
the seignoral privileges, which the heads of villages on the eastern
coast, and many other parts of India, enjoy. Under the Deshwallee of
each village were several Turravattakara,[91] or chief burgesses. They
possessed a certain hereditary dignity, but no controlling authority. In
them, however, we may trace the germ of a municipal corporation, as their
position entitled them to the honour of being applied to on occasions
of marriages, deaths, religious ceremonies, and differences amongst the
vassals. When their mediation failed the cause went before the Deshwallee.
The anarchy introduced by this complicated variety of feudalism soon
compelled the hierarchy to call in the aid of the Bejanuggur, or, as
it is commonly termed, the Anagundy government, and the latter, at the
solicitation of the Brahmans, appointed a Peroomal, or Viceroy, whose
administration was limited to the term of twelve years, to rule the
fair lands of Malabar. These governors, who are also known by the name
of Cherun,[92] were first appointed in the 3511th year of the Kali
Yug,[93] about A.D. 410. Seventeen of them, curious to say, followed each
other in regular succession. The last, however, Cherooman Peroomal,[94]
so ingratiated himself with his temporary subjects, that he reigned
thirty-six years, and, at the head of a numerous army, defeated the home
government, which attempted to dispossess him of his power, in a pitched
battle fought near the village of Annamalay.[95] Afterwards, becoming a
convert to Islam, he made a pilgrimage to Mecca. Before leaving India,
he divided the province among the seventeen chiefs[96] to whose valour
he was indebted for his success in war. These were the ancestors of the
present race of Rajahs.
Malabar was soon torn with intestine feuds, arising from the power and
ambition of its host of rulers, and the Samiry, Samoory, or Calicut
Rajah, soon became _de facto_—if not _de jure_—the lord paramount. He was
a native of Poontoora, in the Coimbatore province, and derived his name,
Mana Vikram, from Manicham and Vikram—the two brothers present on the
occasion when Cherooman conferred dominion upon the head of the house.
His superiority was acknowledged until Hyder’s time, by all the chiefs
from the north point of Malabar to the south extremity of Travancore.
After that Hyder had become regent of Mysore, he made use of the
following pretext for invading Malabar. The Palghaut Rajah, a descendant
from the Pandian sovereigns of Madura, terrified by the power of the
Samiry, had, in early times, sought the alliance of the Mysore state,
then governed by its Hindoo princes, and constituted himself a client
of the same by paying a certain annual sum for a subsidiary force to
be stationed in his territory. The ambitious Moslem, under colour of
avenging his ally and protecting him against the oppressions of the
Samiry and other princes, forthwith attacked them on their own ground.
* * * * *
The manner in which the Calicut house is and has been, from the days of
hoar antiquity, broken and divided, appears curious in the extreme. It
may be supposed that the Brahmans, jealous of the overgrown power of
one individual, in the person of the Samiry, endeavoured to temper its
force by assigning to the other members of the family certain official
dignities, together with concomitant privileges. It is also possible
that this partition might have taken place at the solicitation of the
princes, who naturally would wish to secure for themselves a settled and
independent subsistence. They were appointed to act as a council to the
reigning sovereign; they could check his authority as well as aid him in
his wisdom; and, finally, they were his principal officers, each having
separate and particular duties to perform. By this arrangement, in case
of the ruler’s demise, his heir would succeed to the throne without
any of the harassing disturbances and sanguinary contentions so common
amongst Asiatic nations.
Where rank and property descend from father to son, there is little
difficulty in settling the succession. But when families remain united
for years under the Murroo-muka-tayum, or inheritance by the nephew
or sister’s son—the strange law which prevails among the Rajahs and
Nairs of Malabar—it becomes by no means an easy matter to ascertain who
is the senior in point of birth. The crafty Brahmans provided against
this difficulty by establishing a system of intermediate dignities,
which acted as a register, and by requiring a long interval of time,
during which each individual’s rights might be frequently discussed and
deliberately settled, to elapse between promotion from the inferior to
the superior grades.
The head of the Calicut house, who may be supposed to occupy the position
of the first Samiry’s mother, is called the Vullia Tumbooratee,[97] or
principal queen. She resides in the Kovilugum, or palace of Umbadee.
Priority of birth gives a claim to this dignity, and the eldest of all
the princesses is entitled to it, no matter what be her relationship to
the reigning sovereign. The Umbadee is the only indispensable palace;
but, for the sake of convenience, an unlimited number of private
dwellings have been established for the junior princesses. Thus we find
the “new palace,” the “eastern palace” (relatively to the Umbadee), the
“western palace,” and many others.[98] The queen and princesses are
compelled to occupy the residences allotted to their several ranks; they
are also prohibited from holding any commerce with men of their own
family, as their paramours must either be of the Kshatriya[99] (military)
caste, or Numboory Brahmans, and may not be changed without the consent
of the Samiry and that of the whole body of near relations.
The princes are taken according to their seniority out of the
above-mentioned Umbadees, and the eldest of all, when a death occurs,
becomes the Samiry. There are five palaces of state allotted to the
different princes—namely, the Samotree Kovilugum, or palace of the First
Rajah; the Yeirumpiree Kovilugum, or palace of the Yellia Rajah—the heir
apparent to the Samiry-ship; and three others, which are respectively
termed the “Governments of the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Portions.” After
that a prince has been once established in any of these dignities,
his order of rank may be considered finally settled: he cannot be
superseded, but must, if he lives, rise step by step—each time with
formal investiture—till he attains the highest dignity. Whenever a
superior palace becomes vacant, he is duly installed in it, and succeeds
to the revenue arising from the landed property belonging to it. But he
cannot remove any of the furniture, or the gold and silver utensils, from
the inferior residence which he formerly occupied, as these articles
are considered public goods, and, as such, are marked with distinctive
stamps. Under all circumstances, however, the prince retains the right of
private property.
The principles of the arrangement which we have attempted to describe,
not only exist in the Calicut house but pervade all the families of the
different Rajahs in Malabar.
In the intercourse between the princes there is much ceremony, and, as
might be expected, little affection. No one is allowed to sit down in
the presence of a superior; all must stand before the Samiry, and do
obeisance to him with folded hands.
According to a census taken in 1846, the different castes were enumerated
as follows in round numbers:—
1. Numboory Brahmans 5,500
2. Puttur, or foreign Brahmans 15,200
3. Nairs 370,000
4. Tiyars 340,000
5. Moplahs 315,000
6. Fishermen 15,300
7. Chermur, or serfs 160,000
8. Christians and other strangers 9,000
---------
Total 1,230,000[100]
* * * * *
Even in India, the land of ethnologic marvels, there are few races so
strange and remarkable in their customs as the people of Malabar. The
soil or the climate seems to have exercised some peculiar effect upon
its inhabitants: Hindoos as well as Moslems abound in peculiarities
unknown to their tenets and practices in other parts of the world. The
correctness of our observation will appear in the following sketches of
the different castes.
The priesthood of Malabar is at present divided into two great classes;
the Numboory, Numoodree or Malabar Brahmans, and the Puttur, or families
of the pontifical stock that do not originally belong to the country.
The Numboory is the scion of an ancient and celebrated tree. The well
known polemic Sankaracharya belonged to this race; he was born in the
village of Kaludee, in the 3501st, or, according to others, the 3100th
year of the Kali Yug. His fame rests principally upon his celebrated
work, the sixty-four _anacharun_, or Exceptions to Established Rules,
composed for the purpose of regulating and refining the customs of his
fellow religionists.[101] No copy of the institutes which have produced
permanent effects upon the people exists in Malabar. There is a history
of the saint’s life called Sankaracharya Chureedun, containing about
seven hundred stanzas, written by a disciple.
The Numboory family is governed by several regulations peculiar to it:
only the eldest of any number of brothers takes a woman of his own caste
to wife. All the juniors must remain single except when the senior fails
in having issue. This life of celibacy became so irksome to the Brahmans
that they induced the Nair caste to permit unrestrained intercourse
between their females and themselves, it being well understood that
the priesthood was conferring an especial honour upon their disciples.
Probably in order to please the compliant Shudras the more, the Numboory
in many parts of the country changed their regular mode of succession
for the inheritance by nephews practised amongst the Nairs. As might be
supposed, the birth of female children is considered an enormous evil
by these Brahmans; their daughters frequently live and die unmarried,
and even when a suitable match has been found for them, their nuptials
are seldom celebrated till late in life, owing to the extraordinary
expense of the ceremony. Throughout India the marriage of a girl is
seldom delayed after her twelfth year; in Malabar, few Numboory women
are married before they reach the age of twenty-five or thirty. They
are most strictly watched, and all _faux pas_ are punished by a sort of
excommunication pronounced by the hereditary Brahman, with the consent of
the Rajah. The relations of the female delinquent are also heavily fined,
and such mulcts in ancient times formed one of the items of the ruler’s
revenue.
There is nothing striking in the appearance of the Numboory. He is,
generally speaking, a short, spare man, of a dark olive-coloured
complexion, sharp features, and delicate limbs. His toilette is not
elaborate; a piece of white cotton cloth fastened round the waist, and a
similar article thrown loosely over the shoulders, together with the cord
of the twice-born, compose the _tout ensemble_. These Brahmans are solemn
in their manners and deportment, seldom appear in public, and when they
do, they exact and receive great respect from their inferiors in caste. A
Nair meeting a Numboory must salute him by joining the palms of the hands
together, and then separating them three successive times.[102]
The Nairs[103] are a superior class of Shudra, or servile Hindoos, who
formerly composed the militia,[104] or landwehr, of Malabar. Before the
land-tax was introduced they held estates rent free; the only prestation
required from them was personal service; to attend the rajah, or chief,
on all official and religious occasions, and to march to battle under
his banner. When absent from their homes, they were entitled to a daily
subsistence, called Kole. Their arms were sword and shield, spear and
matchlock, with a long knife or dagger suspended behind the back by
a hook attached to a leathern waistband. Being now deprived of their
favourite pastimes—fighting and plundering—they have become cultivators
of the soil, and disdain not to bend over the plough, an occupation
formerly confined to their slaves. And yet to the present day they retain
much of their old military character, and with it the licentiousness
which in Eastern countries belongs to the profession of arms. In fact,
“war, wine, and women” appear to be the three ingredients of their
_summum bonum_, and forced abstinence from the first, only increases the
ardour of their affection for the last two. Although quite opposed to the
spirit of Hindoo law, intoxication and debauchery never degrade a Nair
from his caste.
Wedlock can hardly be said to exist among the Nairs. They perform,
however, a ceremony called _kulleanum_, which in other castes implies
marriage, probably a relic of the nuptial rite. The Nair woman has a
Talee, or necklace, bound round her throat by some fellow-caste man,
generally a friend of the family; a procession then ambulates the town,
and by virtue thereof the lady takes the title of Ummah, or matron.
But the gentleman is not entitled to the privileges of a husband, nor
has he any authority over the said matron’s person or property. She is
at liberty to make choice of the individual with whom she intends to
live—her Bhurtao, as her protector is called, she becoming his Bharya.
The connection is termed Goonadoshum, words which literally signify
“good and bad,” and imply an agreement between the parties to take each
other for better and worse; it cannot be dissolved without the simple
process of one party “giving warning” to the other. In former times, the
lady used always to reside in her mother’s house, but this uncomfortable
practice is now rapidly disappearing.
Another peculiar custom which prevails among the Nairs, is the
murroo-muka-tayum,[105] hereditary succession by sisters’ sons; or in
case of their failing, by the male nearest in consanguinity from the
father’s grandmother. The ancient ordinances of Malabar forbade a Nair
to leave his property by will to his offspring, and it was considered
unbecoming to treat a son with the affection shown to a nephew. Of late
years some heads of families have made a provision for their own children
during life time, but it has been necessary to procure the assent of the
rightful heirs to bequests thus irregularly made. When property is left
to sons, the division follows the general Hindoo law, with two essential
points of difference. In the first place, children inherit the estate of
the mother only; and, secondly, a daughter is, in certain cases, entitled
to preference to a son. Thus, a female can, a male cannot, mortgage or
sell land inherited from his maternal progenitor: after his death it must
revert to those who were co-heirs with him; and though a man is entitled
to the same share as his sister, his right to it continues only as long
as they live in the same house.
The origin of this extraordinary law is lost in the obscurity of
antiquity. The Brahmans, according to some, were its inventors; others
suppose that they merely encouraged and partially adopted it. Its
effects, politically speaking, were beneficial to the community at
large. The domestic ties, always inconvenient to a strictly military
population, were thereby conveniently weakened, and the wealth,
dignity, and unbroken unity of interests were preserved for generations
unimpaired in great and powerful families, which, had the property been
divided among the several branches, according to the general practice
of Hinduism, would soon have lost their weight and influence. As it was
unnecessary that a woman should be removed from her home, or introduced
into a strange family, the eldest nephew on the sister’s side, when he
became the senior male member of the household, succeeded, as a matter of
course, to the rights, property, and dignity of Karnovun.[106]
We suspect that the priesthood—those crafty politicians whose meshes
of mingled deceit and superstition have ever held the Hindoo mind “in
durance vile”—were the originators of the murroo-muka-tayum and the
goonadoshum. Both inventions, like many of the laws of Lycurgus, appear
the result of well-digested plans for carrying out the one proposed
object. They are audacious encroachments upon the rights of human nature;
and we cannot account for their existence by any supposition except that
the law-givers were determined to rear a race of warriors—no matter by
what means. As a corroboration of our theory, we may instance the fact
that these strange and now objectless ordinances are gradually giving way
to the tide of truer feeling. Already the succession of nephews has been
partially broken through, and in the present day the control of the heads
of families is nothing compared with what it was.
There is a tradition among the Nairs, that anciently, the Samiry Rajah
was, by the law of the land, compelled to commit suicide by cutting
his throat in public at the expiration of a twelve-years’ reign. When
that ceremony became obsolete, another and an equally peculiar one
was substituted in its stead. A jubilee was proclaimed throughout the
kingdom, and thousands flocked from all directions to the feasts and
festivals prepared for them at Calicut. On an appointed day, the Rajah,
after performing certain religious rites, repaired to the shore, and sat
down upon a cushion, unarmed, bare-headed, and almost undressed, whilst
any four men of the fighting caste, who had a mind to win a crown, were
allowed to present themselves as candidates for the honour of regicide.
They were bathed in the sea, and dressed in pure garments, which, as well
as their persons, were profusely sprinkled over with perfumes and water
coloured yellow by means of turmeric. A Brahman then putting a long
sword and small round shield into each man’s hand, told him to “go in and
win” if he could. Almost incredible though it may appear, some cases are
quoted in which a lucky desperado succeeded in cutting his way through
the thirty or forty thousand armed guards who stood around the Rajah, and
in striking off the sovereign’s head. This strange practice has of late
years been abolished.
The Nairs are rather a fair and comely race, with neat features, clean
limbs, and decidedly a high caste look. They shave the head all over,
excepting one long thin lock of hair, which is knotted at the end, and
allowed to lie flat upon the crown. Neither cap nor turban is generally
worn. Their dress consists of the usual white cotton cloth fastened round
the loins: when _en grande tenue_, a similar piece hangs round their
necks, or is spread over the shoulders. We have alluded to the appearance
of their females in our account of Calicut, and may here observe that
we were rather fortunate in having accidentally seen them. The Nair
is as jealous as he is amorous and vindictive: many travellers have
passed through the country without being able to catch one glimpse of
their women, and the knife would be unhesitatingly used if a foreigner
attempted to satisfy his curiosity by anything like forcible measures.
* * * * *
The Tian[107] of Malabar is to the Nair what the villein was to the
feoffee of feudal England. These two families somewhat resemble each
other in appearance, but the former is darker in complexion, and less
“castey” in form and feature than the latter. It is the custom for
modest women of the Tiyar family to expose the whole of the person
above the waist, whereas females of loose character are compelled by
custom to cover the bosom. As this class of Hindoo, generally speaking,
provides the European residents with nurses and other menials, many of
our countrymen have tried to make them adopt a somewhat less natural
costume. The proposal, however, has generally been met pretty much in the
same spirit which would be displayed were the converse suggested to an
Englishwoman.
In writings the Tiyar are styled Eelavun. They are supposed to be a
colony of strangers from an island of that name near Ceylon. An anomaly
in the Hindoo system they certainly are: learned natives know not
whether to rank them among the Shudras or not; some have designated
them by the term Uddee Shudra, meaning an inferior branch of the fourth
great division. Their principal employments are drawing toddy, dressing
the heads of cocoa and other trees, cultivating rice lands, and acting
as labourers, horse-keepers, and grass-cutters; they are free from all
prejudices that would remove them from Europeans, and do not object
to duties which only the lowest outcastes in India will condescend to
perform. Some few have risen to respectability and even opulence by
trade. They will not touch the flesh of the cow, and yet they have no
objection to other forbidden food. They drink to excess, and are fond
of quarrelling over their cups. Unlike the Nairs, they are deficient in
spirit; they are distinguished from the natives of Malabar generally by
marrying and giving in marriage. Moreover, property with them descends
regularly from father to son.
Throughout the province a sort of vassalage seems to have been
established universally among the Tiyar, occasionally among the Nair
tribes.[108] The latter would sometimes place himself in a state of
dependency upon some Rajah, or powerful chief, and pay Chungathum,[109]
or protection-money, for the advantage derived from the connexion. The
Tiyar willingly became the Udian[110] of any superior whose patronage
would guarantee him quiet possession of his goods and chattels. This
kind of allegiance by no means amounted to slavery. The Tumbooran
could not dispose of the person or property of his vassal, nor did the
private tie acquit an individual of any public duty to the Rajah or his
representatives upon emergent occasions. The patron was on all occasions
bound to defend, protect, and procure redress for his client—favours
which the latter acknowledged by yearly tribute, and by affording
personal service to his superior in private quarrels. To the present
day the Tian will immediately say who his Tumbooran is: the annual
offerings are still kept up, and though British law entitles all parties
to equality of social rights, it must be an injury of some magnitude
that can induce the inferior to appear against his patron in a court of
justice. Some individuals became vassals of the Pagoda, which, in its
turn, often subjected itself to fee a Rajah for the maintenance of its
rights and the defence of its property.
The reader will remark how peculiarly characteristic of the nation
this state of voluntary dependency is. In European history we find the
allodialist putting himself and his estate in a condition of vassalage,
but he did so because it was better to occupy the property as a fief
incident to certain services than to lose it altogether, or even to
be subjected to pillage and forced contributions. But the Asiatic is
not comfortable without the shade of a patron over his head; even if
necessity originally compelled him to sacrifice half his freedom, habit
and inclination perpetuate the practice long after all object for its
continuance has ceased to exist.
* * * * *
The Chermur,[111] or serfs of Malabar, amongst the Hindoos, were entirely
prædial or rustic. The system of slavery is said to have been introduced
by Parasu Rama, as a provision for agriculture when he gave the country
to the Brahmans. We may account for it more naturally by assigning
its origin and referring its subsequent prevalence to the operation
of the ancient Indian laws. The rules of caste were so numerous and
arbitrary that constant deviations from them would take place in a large
community; and for certain offences freeborn individuals became Chandalas
(outcastes), and were liable to disenfranchisement.
Servitude in Malabar offered few of the revolting, degrading, and
horrible features which characterized it in the ancient, mediæval, and
modern annals of the Western World. The proprietor never had the power of
life or death over a slave without the sanction of the feudal chief, or
more generally of the sovereign; he could inflict corporeal punishment
upon him, but old established custom limited the extent as effectually
as law would. Moreover, in this part of the globe serfs were born and
bred in subserviency, they had no cherished memories of rights and
comforts once enjoyed,—no spirit of independence conscious of a title
to higher privileges and indignant at unjust seclusion from them. In
their case slavery did not begin with the horrors of violent separation
from country and home, the cruelties of a ship-imprisonment, forcible
introduction to new habits and customs, food and dress, languages and
connections. They were not degraded to the level of beasts, nor were they
subjected to treatment of the worst description by strange masters, who
neither understood their natures, nor sympathized with their feelings.
A proprietor in Malabar could always sell[112] his serfs with or
without the soil, but to remove them far from their homes would have
been considered a cruel and unwarrantable measure sufficient to cause
and almost justify desertion. Only in some castes the wives of slaves
might be sold to another master, and, generally speaking, parents were
not separated from their children.[113] They might, however, be let out
in simple rent, or mortgaged under certain deeds. The proprietors were
bound to feed their slaves throughout the year. The allowance on work
days was double the proportion issued at other times, but it was never
less than two pounds of rice to a male, and about three quarters of that
quantity to a female. In Malabar there have been instances of a Chermun’s
holding land in lease, and being responsible to government for paying its
taxes. In Canara it was by no means uncommon for slaves to have slips of
rice-fields, and small pieces of land given to them by their masters for
growing fruit and vegetables. When a slave possessing any property died,
his owner was not entitled to it, except in the cases when no lawful
heir could be found. In some places on the coast,[114] and near large
towns, the serfs were permitted, when not labouring for their proprietor,
to employ themselves in carrying grass, firewood, and other articles
to market. On great occasions they expected presents of clothes, oil,
grain, and small sums of money whenever the owner was wealthy enough to
distribute such _largesse_. And at harvest time they were entitled to a
certain portion of the produce, as a compensation for watching the crop.
There are several castes of serfs who do not intermarry or eat with
each other. The Poliur is considered the most industrious, docile,
and trustworthy. Proprietors complained loudly of the pilfering
propensities displayed by the others. With the exception of the Parayen
and Kunnakun tribes, they abstain from slaying the cow, and using beef
as an article of food. All are considered impure, though not equally so.
For instance, slaves of the Polyan, Waloovan, and Parayen races must
stand at a distance of seventy-two paces from the Brahman and Nair: the
Kunnakuns may approach within sixty-four, and other servile castes within
forty-eight paces of the priestly and military orders.