Ayyankali Memorial.

One cannot hide the role of Ambedkar, Ayyankali and Abraham Lincoln. Ayyankali disappeared from public memory for quite some time. It took about 40 years to evaluate his service to the society. Speaking on March 1980 at the Kumaran Asan Memorial Lecture, Comrade EMS Namboodirippadu spoke about the historical agricultural labour strike of 1907 led by Ayyankali thus:
"...in 1907-8 Ayyankali organised the agricultural workers' strike. He brought together the unorganised and splintered people and made them conscious of organisational power." (Asan & Malayala Literature, pp 54.)
Ayyankali was the first labour leader of Kerala, nay India. Those who ignored even Ambedkar's role in India's history, waking up after decades to include him among the yugapurush of the century, are willing to rewrite history now!
With the efforts of KK Balakrishnan, PK Chathan Master, KP Madhavan etc., a trust named 'Sri Ayyankali Trust' was born. A life size bronze statue of Ayyankali, sculpted with love and affection by Ezra David (who also made Krishna Menon Statue in Delhi),travelled all the way from Madras through the length of Kerala in a victory procession. Newspapers vied with one another to highlight the event. The open hearted Keralites lined the road sides and paid homage to the 'victor over fate'
"...where the chariot of history etched indelible marks of monarchy and upper caste oppression.." and was unveiled in the traffic island at Vellayambalam junction by the Prime Minister of India on 10^th November 1980. (Kerala Kaumudi, 11 Nov '80)
Vellayambalam Junction is in an elite Nair upper middle class area. It is at the meeting point of roads from the Kaudiyar Palace and Padmanabha Swamy Temple. The Maharaja has to pass Ayyankali Statue on the way to and back from the temple for his regular prayers.
Kerala Kaumudi Paper, run by Sree Narayanaguru devotee K Kartikeyan wrote about the unveiling "a statue of the unforgettable revolutionary of Kerala."
When the prime minister Mrs Indira Gandhi spoke that... " He is the outcome of his people's enthusiasm for equality. This great son of India was the one who sacrificed his life for the well being of his society. His qualities were to too great to be contained in Kerala only. His ideas and ideals are still valid. That is the reason why I offered to unveil this statue. I am against setting up of statues in principle. So I have declined invitations to unveil statues.
"Untouchability is a deep blemish in the sould of India. It is only untouchability that has kept India backward so far. And it was in Kerala that untouchability was most acute. At the same time it was Kerala that gained fame by its Temple entry proclamation. Equality and Freedom are indivisible. Without equality there can not be genuine freedom. Our leaders fought against the evil of untouchability. It was through leaders like Mahatma Gandhi that the toughest battle against untouchability were fought. The struggle for freedom must start from within the society. That was what Ayyankali did. It was due to incessant struggles of Gandhi, Ambedkar and Ayyankali that the landless poor (harijans) were liberated." (Kerala Kaumudi, 11 Nov '80)
EK Nayanar, the chief minister of Kerala spoke thus on the occasion called Ayyankali, "The first leader of people led liberation and revolution.
"If singing praises of Ayyankali and unveiling of his statue is to have any meaning, allotment of land for the tenants and pension for agricultural labour is a must. Ayyankali was not only a leader of his own community but also an unshakeable guide and commander of the working classes. Ayyankali and Sree Narayan Guru, by their anti caste domination struggles were important factors that led Kerala people to their progressive outlook today.
"Only Kerala has been delivered of mass murder of the poor and burning of their villages in the country. That is because of the social reconstruction through revolutionary changes. Rajaram Mohan Roy, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Dayananda Saraswati, Vivekanand etc were Ayyankali's contemporaries. Unlettered Ayyankali was a totally different kind of player in the same league. Perhaps he was the greatest leader of that particular period.
"This 'mahapurush' organised his people for gaining social justice and human rights into a body named 'Sadhu Jana Paripalana Sangham' in 1907. Sensibly led by Ayyankali, the organisation gained whatever social changes it could for all to see.
"It was his organisational genius that left its indelible stamp on the agrarian movements of Kerala which subsequently fell into the hands of Communist Parties." (Kerala Kaumudi, 11 Nov '80)
Kallada Sasi, a poet who fluttered out of the water logged rice fields of Kerala, wrote in golden letters...
"From this Kurukshetra of multicoloured rose Ayyankali the Heralding Conch."

CHERUMERS-III. In Travancore.

The condition of the cherumers in Travancore was slightly better than slaves'. A Cherumer was considered one of the immovable property of land lord. He could, sell, buy, rent and give a Cherumer as gift to friends. A Cherumer could be pawned too. In 1871 the price of a Cherumer was between Six to Nine Rupees. Cheruman could be part of the dowry. Of course, they gifted them as offerings to places of worship. Of course there was a 'simple' condition as annexure to the agreements of transfer..."You can sell or kill him/her." In 1871 the latter part (...kill him/her) was deleted.
The eldest son of a Cherumer was part of the wealth of the landlord. He could be bought back by the mother for Rupees 4.5. The going rate for agro labour was Rupees 3 for males, Rupees 2 for females, for a juvenile 250 grams of paddy grain.(Travancore Tribes and Castes, Vol II.)
Cherumers had many sub groups like Pulaya, Cheru Makkal, Cherumer, Valluvar etc. Among Pulayas there were Eastern and Western Pulayas. The Western Pulayas did not eat meat, so they considered themselves higher than the Eastern group. No marriages took place between them nor ate together. A 64 feet 'theenda-ppadu' between the Easterners and Westerners was in force. The Easterner could come only 40 feet short of the sea shore. This divide ended with the Temple Entry Proclamation of 12 November 1936. (Travancore Tribes and Castes, Vol III.)

CHERUMERs-II.

Pulayas are a section of Cherumers. Likewise are the Kanakkans. But the latter have a little more freedeom compared to Pulayas. Kanakkans were not in the Major league of untouchables. They could go closer than 16 feet towards a Nair. Otherwise they were in the same condition as the rest. Like Nazranees and Mohammedans they shaved the head. But Cherumers and Pulayas kept sidelocks or forelocks of hair.
All the three afore-mentioned people were trustworthy and faithful to their masters. At the demise of a member of the master's family, they gather together to beat their breasts, wail and weep loudly in expression of their condolence. This demonstration continues on till their sorrow is alleviated. Over the years, the wailing and weeping became an unavoidable ritual. Since the land lord showed his displeasure towards those cherumers who did not join the demonstration of condolence, they competed with one another to show who was more heartbroken. When the deceased was a cruel and sadistic brute, they had to use the very pungent small red onions to bring out tears. Professional condolence weepers and wailers are still available in Pondicherry and other parts of central Tamil Nadu. [Malabar and its Folks-1900.]
"Cherumers are of two types. 'Iraya Cherumer' and Pulayas. Iraya Cherumer was allowed to go upto the Irayam or verandah of the Theeya home. Pulayas stayed far away. They did not wrap a cloth around their waist. Sometimes they strung together green leaves and wrapped it around. The women also dressed likewise. In 1887 this custom has changed, atleast in Malabar. But in small principalities the old custom held. In the interior villages the rights of Cherumers and Pulayas were denied as before." wrote Logan.

CHERUMERs-I.Malabar Situation.

The Cherumer people of North Kerala are a significantly large section of North Kerala with branches and sub branches. They were known as 'cherumakkal' (cheru=small, makkal=children). They made their homes next to fields and nearby to be close to their places of work. (..It is possible that 'cheru' is actually came from 'chay-roo' meaning clay... of the waterlogged fields <paani kheti> they work in.)
They lived in mushroom(umbrella) shaped huts. The structure was of tree branches or bamboo. The protective covering from the elements was of woven coconut fronds, grass or hay. Their settlement resembled large umbrella shaped mushrooms lined up at the edge of fields. Some of them were in the middle of the field too.
The 'huts' had one room that doubled as kitchen and sitting room. At night the room became a sleeping room. The utensils were earthen. Baskets woven from dried ananas leaves were used for storage of food grains.
Their heads were a bit longish and covered with curly hair. They resembled the african blacks with their negroid features. But they are not completely negroid in features like the Paniyar of Vayanad, Kadar of Parambikkulam etc. Big eyes were a speciality of these Cherumers. Both men and women were bare bodied and wore a loin cloth that reached just upto their shin.
These low caste people were considered one of the many agro implements like the bull, plough, sickle etc. The major domo of the land lord sends for the Cherumers at dawn. They proceed to the fields to work there till dusk. At the end of the day they were given a small measure of unhusked rice as wages. That was to be their dinner.
The rice is put in a large mud pot and parboiled. The water is poured out and the grains are roasted. The stem of coconut frond cut into the shape of a long spoon (thuduppoo)is used to stir the grains lest they get burnt. The grains, already grown in size due to parboiling, split the dried outer husk and peep out. The grains are husked and winnowed. The rice is boiled and taken with some vegetables and chillies from plants grown on the sides of fields. When they lay down their heads to sleep, it is past midnight.
Next morning they set out at dawn mostly on empty stomach. If something from the night is left over, that portion becomes breakfast.
Whatever their state, hungry, sick or miserable, they worked for their master without break. They had no weekly holidays nor any other break in routine to recouperate.
They did not have any particular leaders. But they had groups resembling panchayat, a 'samiti', consisting of elders. The head elder was called 'karuppan'. The 'samiti' had quasi judicial powers to intercede in quarrels, fights, riots between groups. The 'samiti' had the powers from demanding apologies demitted with the submission of betel leaves to deposition of fines of the guilty.
The daily wage of about 700 grams of paddy may not suffice for the whole family. To make up the shortcoming, roots, fish, bananas and trapped birds and animals were consumed. Toddy was a favourite of the Cherumers. They used fish, though they never consumed dead animals. Their fish preparations were rather rudimentary.
They did not have any particular customs except to be involved in agriculture. They were an obedient and faithful class of people. Cheating or deception was not in their vocabulary. They had also the capability to love with an open heart.
They gathered at the gates of their employer on special days, especially on 'Onam' festival day. They placed at the feet of their 'lord' of the land Banana Bunch, Elephant Yam, Yam and other products of the land. The 'lord' in return presented rice or unhusked rice along with gray cloth. This thick rough cloth was used for the whole year till the next 'Onam'.
The Cherumers' attire was unattractive. With reddish brown complexion, short stature, matted hair and fairly emaciated physique was their trade mark. They covered their nakedness somehow with a soiled piece of cloth. It was only occasionally that they washed this small piece of cloth. During monsoon they sat around a bonfire to escape the cold.
The Cherumers had special type of ornaments. The men wore iron rings in their ears and some wore brass rings in their fingers. Women wore nose studs. Their breasts were covered with stone, beads and shell necklaces, and, their fingers and toes had rings. Large heavy ear rings* stretched the ears upto their shoulders. Most of the ornaments were either of brass or iron.
Men shaved with sharpened piece of iron or broken piece of a sickle. Some kept long hair tied at the back in a 'kudummi'.
Women did all the domestic chores. When free, they help their men folk in the fields.
The Cherumers followed the matrilineal system whereby the daughters inherited the ancestral property. There was neither polygamy nor polyandry, and, divorces were unknown.
They worshipped a special God. It was either a ghost or a Yakshi. The idols they prayed to were jet black. The priests were chosen from among them and were well respected. The priests sacrificed a rooster to appease the God. It is believed that pouring of rooster blood on the stone in front of the idol also makes the Gods satisfied.
They worship their dead forefathers, for, they believe that their displeasure would bring evil to the living kin. So to appease the dead, they do black magic with beaten rice, rice flour, coconut water, toddy, rooster etc. The eldest in the family gives lead to the rites.
(*Today, these are made of gold and worn by elderly Christian women in their late 50s and 60s.)

'Pulaya Scare' And After...

'Pulaya Scare', 'Paraya Scare', 'Mannan Scare', etc. were some of the customs/superstitions prevalent in Travancore. The first two were prevalent in Southern part of the state.
Pulaya scare was a 500 year old superstition. January 14 - February 14 were the Pulaya Scare time. i.e., 28 days from the day moon enters Capricorn ( 1^st to 28^th of Lunar month of Makar). The first three days of the month 'Uchharan Utsavam' was celebrated. The Utsav was to celebrate the Menstrual Period of Godess Earth.
Barbosa, a traveller from Portugal has recorded about Pulaya Scare in 1517 AD. In some months each year, Pulayas try to touch as many Nair women as possible. Nairs made efforts to prevent trouble for their women. Still the Pulayas would hide outside Nair houses at sundown. Once they touch a woman, she would shout out the news and go away with the Pulaya who touched her. If she comes back, she would bring 'bhrasht' to rest of the family, it was believed. Even if a Pulaya touched the woman with a stick or threw a stone on her, she went with that Pulaya. The Nair women who were afraid of their life or feared being sold also succumbed voluntarily to Pulaya men.
Dr Chelanattu Achutha Menon records thus: "Once a year the 'low' are given permission of the paths and a kind of freedom in small temples during Pooram festival and 'Velakali' season. They can bathe in the upper caste ponds, enter the temples and offer 'archana'. They can touch any woman they see. The women had to go with the 'low' man who touched her. She was not to return back. The rules applied only for those outside their homes. Those in the homes were not bothered. These days of freedom for the low were announced by drummers in advance to the populace. "Those who donot want to face the consequenses of this display of freedom may stay home," was also announced in advance.
Depending on the majority 'low' community of the area, the appellation 'Pulaya Scare' and 'Paraya Scare' were applied.(*)
"An upper caste woman who wanted to avoid being victimised could safely go any where and any time of the day or night with a male child of more than 3 years; or she could touch a male Palm tree when in temple. Only those who wanted to be touched that went out on their own on 'scare' days. If the touched woman is pregnant, she will stay away from her kin. If the child born is a boy, she will be taken back. If it is a girl, the woman goes with the Pulaya."
"Initially the Pulayas may have been encouraged to take women who had no males to support them.
"Between February 15^th to April 15^th the 'low' had the right to abduct, if possible, Nair women who came to see the army parade. This may have been an arrangement to maintain the number of slave labour. 'Pulaya Scare' started the inter-mixing of Nairs and Pulayas.
"This must have been many generations before (the arrival of the Portuguese)," opines historian Ilamgulam Kunjanpilla.
The 'scares' were ended in Malabar during british rule. But it was banned in Travancore in 1695 AD by Unny Kerala Varma. The proclamation was carved on a rock on the roadside of Thiruvithamkode of Padmanabhapuram taluk. Padmanabhapuram was the second capital of the state.
The record of the order is kept in the archeological museum of Padmanabhapuram. The gist of that order written in Tamil and mix of Tamil and Malayalam comprising of 106 lines is as follows:
"...If 'Pulaya Scare' is practised in my kingdom, the Pulayas, their women and children, including pregnant women will be destroyed. Those women who have been affected may be relieved of their blemish if they have a ritual cleansing bath. And, any one who defaces the rock edict will get the same punishment as the one who kills a black cow on the shores of River Ganga."
Hamurabi couldn't have done better!
((*)Kali worship in Kerala)

ANNEXURE-1.

The present generation of Dalits take for granted a number of rights and freedom. It would be interesting and instructive for them to be told the experience of 'small people' went through in the days of their grand parents and parents.
Long long ago, the 'small people' were considered sub-human. They shared pulling of plough with bullocks. They were thought of as two legged draught animals. They were not allowed any kind of freedom. All the human rights were denied them. The 'high' people used the 'low' people as slave labour. Yet they considered the very sight of a 'low' as evil or bad omen.
There was a fixed distance, 'theenda-ppadu', to be kept between the 'low' and 'high'. Theeya/Ezhava and Pulaya kept 16 feet and 64 feet respectively from a Nair. Any 'low' who went "...closer than the prescribed one 'theenda-ppadu' towards a Nair will be chopped down" was the old Caturvarnya rule. The King 'finished' a Nair who disregarded this rule.
The 'low' were recognised by the black colour of their skin; light complexioned among them being identified by their uncovered upper body. Now cloth was permitted to be used after being blackened with coal dust or ash. Slippers (wooden), umbrella (of palm leaf), clean cloth, expensive jewellery was not permitted for the 'low's. Only a Namboodiri(Kerala Brahmin) used umbrella in rain- definitely unusual for a place where it rains six months in a year.
The 'upper' said 'hoy' as he walked along paths and lanes. The oncoming 'low' replied 'njaavo' to give the former warning and for the latter time to hide behind bushes or thickets.
It was the women who suffered most. They were not allowed to cover their breasts. One of the stories popular in Kerala at that time was about a poor woman who covered her breasts and appeared before the queen only to have them cut off. Even the castes who were eligible for the upper cloth removed it on meeting a person of higher caste.
Taxation had reached such ridiculous 'sophistication' that a breast tax was charged from women, exposing the limitations of South Kerala's economic development; This inspite of brilliant economists of Kerala like John Mathai et al having contributed to laying of India's economic foundation in the First Five Year Plan.
Due to the uncleanliness of the 'low' peoples' attire, their women's virginity was a plaything in the hands of the upper castes. Not that the upper castes were way far ahead in cleanliness.
Even language spoken by the 'low' was perverted to meet the needs of oppression. The use of the word 'Me' or 'I' was never allowed to be used. They spoke to the 'upper' with palms covering the mouth. Denigration reached a particular high by refering to child birth in the family as 'dropping of a monkey'
The 'low' were not allowed anywhere near the temples. Similarly, Post office, court, hospital, public well and other public establishments banned their entry. Even markets were out of bounds for them.
On the judicial front, the 'low' people were given cruel punishments even for petty crimes.
As to feeding of the workers in the aftrnoon, they were fed in banan leaf spread near a garbage pile when the pet dog was fed in a plate in the courtyard.

Remembering Ayyankali.

"Kerala has seen many revolutionaries. They have brought considerable political and social changes. One cannot use today's yardstick to assess their worth. When one understands the socio-politico-economic environment of the era in which these people struggled can their worth be truly evaluvated. Looked at from that angle, one can say without any doubt one can say that Ayyankali was the greatest revolutionaly Kerala has given birth to. He lived in an age when he experienced un-freedom every step of the way. It is not easy for a man with no backing of either education, influence or wealth to rise from the lowest strata of society to become a nightmare for upper caste domination and feudalism," in the words of historical researcher Ilangulam Kunjanpilla.
When Kunjupilla was in the process of preparing an article evaluvating the role of Ayyankali in the history of Kerala, Ayyankali passed on to the beyond.
Congress leader and member of Public Service Commission Mr AP Udayabhanu spoke of him thus:
"I am against all kinds of memorials. But if there is going to be any memorial build, it must be for Ayyankali...I see the figure of a great man today. The streets from one end of the state to another, blocked for the depressed, was opened forcibly by untouchables under the leadership of Ayyankali. An organiser of the oppressed who gave them self confidence and pride...a 'Yugapurush'.
"I worship him as the greatest social reformer. I put him in the forefront of all social reformers because he came from the most backward segment. He needed and did have more courage and steadiness than others...
"When the entry of backward Ezhava (Theeya) into schools ended in Nair-Ezhava riots, the only way out was to have Pulaya Schools. Before this Ezhavas joined the other savarna in beating up Pulayas and other untouchables.
"One can save another only is the other is willing to be rescued. If one does have intense desire to be saved, people will come forward to save. Only those awakened by self respect and desire for freedom could be saved by socieity's protectors.
"Ayyankali who awakened a spirit of freedom and self respect in the Harijans is the first one eligible for the title of Kerala's Reformer."
(Manorajyam Weekly, 14 Feb 1979.)