The period
just after Kerala state was formed was a turbulent phase in the history of Nair
community in Kerala. Steps for social re-engineering implemented by different
political parties and governments starting from first Communist Government lead
by EMS Namboothiripad shook the basis of Nair community.
Nairs faced attacks on many fronts; their economy, Hindu
faith, social status and family values were all challenged by forces which
wanted to re-engineer the society.
Of course, Nairs
resisted by reforming themselves and fighting against ill effects of changes
though it is doubtful whether their resistance was based on right understanding
and an ideology. It was mostly an issue based resistance without any
ideological support.
Attacks on Nair economy
Nairs who
were military personnel, landlords and agriculturalists found themselves being
denied of their livelihood. Earlier, mostly Nairs were recruited to Travancore
Nair Brigade and armies of Kochi raja and Zamorin. When Travancore Nair Brigade
was disbanded after independence, Nairs lost monopoly over military jobs. They
had lost monopoly in military in Malabar much earlier, as it was being directly
ruled by the British. Land reforms implemented after Kerala was formed mainly
took away lands where food grain was cultivated which were owned by Nairs.
Plantations mostly owned by Christians were out of the purview of land reforms.
Reservations in government jobs meant 50
per cent of total jobs was unreachable
for Nairs and for the rest they will have to fight along with others. Government
welfare schemes never considered the plight of Nairs and hapless Nairs had none to
support them. Many Nair families witnessed sudden end of their source of income.
No jobs, no land, no help from government.
Several Nairs
started selling their land for a pittance. The false pride of the community
prevented it from doing menial jobs. The situation was shocking. Demography of several Nair majority villages changed.
The economic plight of Nairs of Kuttanad who cultivated
rice is portrayed in the novel ‘Kayar’ by Takazhi Shivasankara Pillai.
While Nairs
started selling land, it was mostly brought by Christian community. Many Nairs
migrated to Indian metros like Chennai, Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi. Though
some of them prospered, the community as a whole did not benefit much. Muslims
started to establish themselves as traders whereas Nairs considered trading as below their status. Ezhava community prospered by their monopoly over country liquor business.
While Muslims and Ezhavas and a significant percentage of Christians enjoyed
reservation in jobs, Nairs had nothing.
It is
amazing that a community even when denied its legitimate income sources failed
to protest or respond. In fact Nairs were benumbed.
Attack on Hindu faith
Communists
while trying to popularize their ideology in Kerala, attacked religion and were
focused on attacking Hindu religion. Income generating major temples were
brought under Devaswom Boards owned by government. Government took away the
income of temples and started using it for purposes they deemed fit. Earlier,
though Nambooothiri Brahmins owned temples, Nairs also had a stake in many
aspects of administration. Land and Gold of temples were taken away. Land
reforms were administrated on temple lands. But government did not dare to do
the same with Church and Mosque lands.
Progressive
parties at their meetings vehemently criticized aspects of faith to wean away
youth from Hindu religious institutions and faith. Communists wanted Hindu
youth to be loyal to their own ideology and no other theology. Though there was
attack on Christian church they were more restrained and Chruch was well organized
to thwart it.
Self
proclaimed progressive leaders wrote literature and transformed art forms to
suit their own ideology in which ‘Savarnas’ were portrayed as exploiters of
lower castes. All efforts were made to create division in Hindu society and pit
Ezhavas and scheduled castes against Nairs. But unlike the anti-Brahmin
movement in Tamil Nadu they did not use the word Nair and used the word Savarna
to denote exploiters. This may be because of the fact that Nairs constituted
around 16 % of state’s population, a sizeable number indeed.
Progressive
thinkers often misquoted texts like Bhagavad Gita and Puranas and Smrithis to prove that they were obscurantist. Temple committees
were infiltrated and religious education at temples were stopped by cunning 'progressive groups.
Up to 1980s
so called progressive movements were able to convince a major section of Hindus
other than Nairs that being religious is obscurantist and to get marked as a
progressive one has to disown Hindu religion. But a national level Hindu
consolidation after 1980 has reversed the situation.
However one
should take note that this vehement progressive attacks on religion was
confined to Hindu religion. Christianity received less attacks and in case of
Islam the attack by progressive groups was almost nil. Progressive are in fact
afraid of Muscle Power.
Attack on Social setup of Nairs
Forces of
social re-engineering often encouraged strife in established Nair Tharawads.
One strategy was to attract brilliant youth from erstwhile Landlord families
and make them slaves of their ideology. The presence of such youth used to give
political parties credibility in particular areas. These youth were influenced
to stand up against elders and question their authority. The elders were thus
disarmed as they often refused to fight their own children and accepted defeat in
the fight with “Progressive Parties’ without resistance.
Love
marriages were another weapon to disintegrate Nair families. Girls were often
enticed and marriages often were used as weapon to lower prestige of families
and destabilize them.
Social
re-engineering forces worked at grass roots and created strife between nairs
and other Hindus at temple festivals, social fairs and intervened and then exploited
the situation. It was all intelligent planned acts but even Nair Service
Society failed to see the planning.
The multifaceted
attacks saw Nairs losing much of their prestige in the social set up of Kerala.
In forty years extending from 1950 to 1990 the loss to Nair community has not
been measured. It is doubtful whether Nair Service Society (NSS) had ever
considered this. NSS had intervened in politics and had ensured places for a
few leaders but community never gained much.
NSS needs to
review the changes in Kerala and its impact on Nairs. We need to form a
strategy and fight within the existing system to protect their interests. This
is the legal right of every caste. We need to make use of it.
