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Kerala Society

Kerala has a composite culture and the basic elements needed for the flowering of such a culture were present in an appreciable degree as early as the Sangam Age. Perhaps the most vital factor generating a sense of social equality was the absence of social discriminations based on caste, creed or sex. Social freedom and equality were the hall-mark of the Sangam society. All occupations were deemed dignified. No one regarded as an inferior by virtue of his occupation. Shifting from one occupation to another was not uncommon. The evil of untouchability which later became a curse on Kerala's social life was unheard of in the Chera kingdom. Women enjoyed a position of dignity and honour. Widow marriage was permitted. Female morality was very high. Women took part freely in all amusements of social life.
People wore cotton fabrics, silk and wool. Ornaments of various kinds were in vogue. Rice was the staple food of the people ot the Sangam Age. They also ate fish and meat. The Sangam works contain references to such vessels as Kalam, Kudam, Karumkalam, Vellikalam, Kal-lukudam, Pana, Talam, etc. Liquir was used widely. Even the Brahmins consumed meat and liquor and strange to say, there was no social stigma attached to them. Music, recitation of poems and performance of dance were the common forms of entertainments. Such musical instruments as the flute, drum, pipe and veena were very common. While the poor lived in huts, the affluent built houses made of brick and mortar. People, on the whole, believed in astrology and omens.

Despite the composite nature of the people of Kerala, they are noted for fairness of complexion, regularity of fetures, dean habits and simple life. The interplay of diverse social forces moulded social life in Kerala and imparted to it a distinctiveness peculiar to itself.

Feudalism and Janmi system
Medieval Kerala was under a feudal system akin to that in Europe, with several forms of in feudation and sub-infeudation. The anarchic condition which prevailed in Kerala favoured the rise of the system. The Chola-Ch-era war of the eleventh century A.D. created a bizarre socio-economic situation in which the Brahmins who were at the top of the social ladder, were charged with the responsibilities of temple properties as trustees. They arrogated to themselves not only the enormous temple properties but also their income. Thus extensive properties came to be accumulated in their hands. Further exigencies of the war, compelled ordinary tenants to hand over their properties to the Brahmins to be held by them under cover of two types of land systems Brah-maswams and Devaswams, normally left unmolested by invading soldiers. In these situations janmi system originated in Kerala. 'The janmi system ushered in a state of economy which was exploitative of those at the bottom but which provided those at the top with tremendous economic, political and social power."
The feudal system ushered in a network of relations. The lowest unit of the feudal set up was the desam under desavazhi. A cluster of such desams ' constitute a nadu governed by a na-duvazhi. The feudal chieftains from the lowest to the highest employed either slaves or Kudiyans (tenants) to look after cultivation. These chieftains also were required to supply the fighting element, whenever there was need. There were in vogue certain feudal institutions such as ankam, poithu and Kudipaka.
Under the feudal system the Jam-mis enjoyed a lot of powers and privileges. A Janmi could evict a tenant at will and had the power of life and death on him. Under feudal obligations, the tenants had to make several payments such as marriage tax, taxes on houses, looms, oil mills etc. Likewise for constructing tiled houses, riding in palanquins, using umbrella prescribed fees had to be paid. The using of fine clothes and ornaments was permitted only at the cost of paying some prescribed taxes. Finally at festivals, some prescribed taxes. Finally at festivals and festive occasions the tenents were called upon to make presents to their chieftains.

Decline of Feudalism
With the establishment of British rule, the feudal chieftains were compelled to surrender all their political rights. Social and economic rights, however, continued to be enjoyed by them. Nevertheless the British did not hesitate to take steps to eradicate certain evils like slave trade and a good deal of obnoxious taxes. But these reforms trouched only the fringes of the system. Evictions of tenants from land continued and they had no proprietary rights, no fair rent and no compensation for improvements effected on land. With the dawn of independence, further progressive measures were taken to end the ]anmi system in Kerala. The most revolutionary legislations in the direction are the Kerala Agrarian Relations Act of 1960, the Kerala Land Reforms Act of 1963 and the Kerala Land Reforms Act of 1969. The Socio-economic scenario of Kerala changed, giving it the vitality and reassurance of a just society.

Devadasi System
The Devadasi system, though originated in some other parts of South India, was implanted in Kerala in the nineth century A.D. The Devadasis were dancing girls attached to the temples. Through their musical and dance performances they raised money for the temples. This had its relevance during the time of the Bhakti movement. Only respectable ladies from aristocratic families were given the assignment. But gradually the basic character of the system underwent a change from the thirteenth century, when the Devadasis sank to the level of prostitutes. Still the institution continued in South Travancore till the beginning of the present century. As the institution lost its early glamour and deteriorated to a rotten system, it was abolished in Travan-core in 1930.

Marutnakkathayam System of Inheritance
Marumakkathayam or the matrilin-eal system was a peculiar system of inheritance in vogue in the Kerala social organisation. It implied inheritance through the sisters' children.
The matrilineal family existed among the prominent non-Aryan communities in Kerala, like the Nayars until it was abolished by law in recent times. Even today relics of this institution still remain. According to the matrilineal law of succession, the children of the head of Tharavad (family) did not inherit any of their father's property, it went instead to the father's nephews and nieces. Since individual share in the family property was not permitted, the members were deprived of any individual share in the property. Succession went through the female. Although the system does not square up with the canons of modern jurisprudence, the weighty reason that was adduced in support of the superior claim of women over men to family property was that the Nairs were a warrior class and had to spend most of their time in the battle field with possible loss of life. Death was more certain in the case of the special brigade called Chavettupata (suicide squad) which vowed either victory or death in battle. Sometime this would result in the obliteration of all able bodied men in a family. In such an eventuality, succession through the female line alone could ensure smooth inheritance.
One important implication of this system was the emergence of the joint family. Polygamy and Polyandry were natural under Marumakkathayam. The Marumakkathayam family was a joint family. It was considered the tarawad comprising all the descendants of a common ancestress in the female line. They lived together under the same roof and shared the common mess. The family property was enjoyed by all, and partition was effected with unanimous consent. Since according to law, all family properties belonged to female member, their management was entrusted with the eldest male member of the family called Karanavar. At the same time he had no right to alienate family property, except with the approval of all the junior members. A Karanavar could be removed for mismanagement of family property by recourse to law. The Marumakkathayam system was also productive of certain strange matrimonial practices such as Sambandham. It was a system of marital relations maintained with. Nair women by Nam-boothiris, over and above their caste wives. Not only poligamy but polyandry also prevailed on a large scale under the Marumakkathayam system.
The most important communities which followed the Marumakkathayam system were the Kshtriyas, Nairs and Ambalavasis. The Brahmins were generally patrilineal, or Makkathayis, as also the Kammalas. The Ezhavas, the pulayas and several hill tribes believed in a mixed system. The Christians and the Muslims are Makkathayis. The Mappilas of Malabar are adherents of the Marumakkathayam system and the Arakkal royal house and the keyis of Tellicherry too.
Marumakkathayam was fraught with various evils inherent in the system. Perhaps the most glaring was the invidious distinction between the younger members and others. Western education exposed the criminal neglect of them in a tharavad.
Thus the younger generation raised the standard of revolt and compelled the hands of the government to scrap the system in favour of Makkathayam. The Nair Act of 1925 in Travancore provided for partition and prohibition of polygamy. In this same manner the Cochin Nair Act of 1937-38 made the wives and children of a husband the legal heirs to his property. Malabar followed in the footsteps of Travancore and Cochin in enacting similar legislations to abolish Marumakkathayam system. The most significant of them were the Madras Marumakkathayam Act of 1933, subsequently amended by the Act of 1958 and the Mopla"Marumakkathayam Act of 1933. With the enforcement of the Hindu Succession Act in 1956, Hindu women and children got the right to equal property of the father. Monogamy also got enforced through this act. Thus matrilineal system ended, to give place to .the patrilineal system