Marumakkathayam
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Marumakkattayam (marumakan = nephew; dayam= inheritance/gift) is a matrilinear system of inheritance which was followed by castes of Kerala like Royal Families, Nayars, Ambalavasis, some Ezhava Families, some tribal groups and Mappilas in Kerala state, south India. Unlike other Brahmin families, Payanoor Nambootiris, followed Marumakkattayam. It was one of the few traditional systems that gave women some liberty, and the right to property. In the matrilinear system, the family lived together in a Tharavadu, which comprised of a mother, her brothers and younger sisters, and her children. The oldest male member was known as the karanavar and was the head of the household and managed the family estate. Lineage was traced through the mother, and the children "belonged" to the mother's family. All family property was jointly owned. An example is the former princely state of Tiruvitankoor, where the royal lineage passes from the king to his nephew, rather than his son.
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[edit] Marumakkattayam among Nayars
The chief representatives, by lieu of their social standing and past research interest, of the castes practicing Marumakkattayam were the Nayars [1]. Their line of descent was traced from the common female ancestress, and it was not a man's own children, but his sister's sons who were his heirs. The family or tharavadu consisted of women living with their brothers and their children in one house. All family property, other than that acquired through individual exertions, belonged to the family jointly, and except through common consent, was indivisible. Each member was entitled to be maintained out of the profits of it, but not to sell or otherwise dispose of it. The management and control of all family property was vested in the eldest male, who is called the Karanavan. Even property individually acquired, although their own to deal with during their lifetime, could not be disposed of by will. On their death, such property merged into the family property. This state of affairs indicates the possibility that in an earlier “classical” form of marumakkattayam, the institution of marriage was absent and that the union of the sexes might simply have been a state of concubinage into which the woman entered out of her own choice, being at liberty to change her consort when and as often as she pleased.
[edit] Women in Marumakkattayam
The word Marumakkathayam itself is gender-neutral. It is not Matriarchy. To an extent, it is matrilineal, albeit male-centric. In social anthropology, matrilocal residence would best describe the practice. However, Marumakkathayam extends certain concessions to women, who were the carriers of the man’s family name and legacy. Unlike in many other Indian traditions, they were not considered unwanted births, to be married away and never to return. They were conferred a higher social status, they inherited family property and the family home. The sister of the man came first in affection and responsibility before his own "wife". They did not live in the otherwise common fear of the mother-in-law. At their husband’s homes, where they visited occasionally, they were treated as special guests. But, it still meant that their happiness was determined by the men folk, like many other social systems. Families without an elder male member felt a certain sense of insecurity.
[edit] Further descriptions
The following is a summary of the custom as recorded by L. K. A. Iyer in his work- Cochin Tribes and Castes. II, 39: "At ten or twelve years of age of a girl, her mother begged someone of their relations to marry her (the daughter) and they did so by tying a marriage badge (tali). Then the bridegroom would leave her and go away without any consideration of his new relationship (often back to the army and the battle field). She might also remain with him if he wished. If she was not inclined to do so, the mother would then go about seeking someone else to take her daughter to live with him. If the girl happened to be pretty, three of four Nairs would agree to live with her, and the more lovers she had, the more highly she was esteemed. Each man had his appointed time from midday to the next day at the same hour, during which some sign was placed at the door so that the others might not enter. She was at liberty to dismiss whomever she disliked ... The fathers [of the children] were named by the mothers." [2]
Moore, in 1984, called it a society without the institutions of marriage and fatherhood. Apart from the socially and economically dominant Nayars, other castes like Tiyya, a caste of small landholders and coconut climbers, also followed marumakkattayam, as did some of the muslim groups and many of the former "untouchables". Practice of marumakkattayam among tiyyas and "untouchable" castes differed from that by nayars because of differences in social position and land holdings. Relations between men and women in the former “untouchable” castes are described by Devassy in 1966 amd Alexander in 1968 as, unlike Nayars, relatively equal.
In Kerala, Marumakkattayam is often contrasted with Makkattayam (descent through sons), connected with patrilineal, patrilocal castes such as nambutiri brahmins, kollan, Aasaari and the syrian christians. Constructed as ideal types based on the treatment of women, they can be conceived of as the two ends of a continuum, between which, there was much variation in each individual case. [3]
[edit] Modern changes and adaptations
By the beginning of the 20th century, marumakkattayam was increasingly seen as an undesirable remnant of a feudal past, and discontented groups including Nayar men sought to bring reform. In the states of Kochi and Tiruvitankoor, and the British Indian province of Malabar, which later joined together to form Kerala in 1957, laws came into force in 1920, 1925 and 1933 respectively that prohibited polygamy, installed formal marraige and recognised land as formal property that could be inherited. The following regard of the husband as the wife's guardian undid the very concept of marumakkattayam. However, the system continues to hold sway over Keralese culture and social personalities, and the tharavadu remains the focus of the emotional make-up of many Nayars. Even today, in some families, children carry their mother’s last name, and not of their father.
[edit] References
1. Hein online- LQ review 1896
2.LKA Iyer- Cochin tribes and castes II, 39
3.Culture, creation and procreation: Concepts of kinship in south asian practice- Monika Bock & Aparna Rao
