A page from Dalit history in Kerala: The Pulaya Movement in Travancore–Cochin in the pre-Communist phase

Early Struggles in Travancore and Cochin

While changes were taking place in Kerala in the social realm following the reform movement of Sri Narayana Guru (SNDP Yogam), the conditions of the Pulayas continued to remain depressed. The Pulayas faced problems that were fundamentally different from those faced by the upper and intermediary castes. The changes in land ownership or in security of tenure, did not affect them as they were mostly landless. ¹

The changes in the inheritance laws also did not affect them, as they had no property. In Travancore, the Pulayas mostly lived as landless labourers. Their extremely depressed conditions also prevented them from taking advantage of the educational opportunities being offered by the ruling classes in Travancore. The Pulayas also lacked leaders who could articulate the grievances of the community. Despite these apparent weaknesses, the activities of the SNDP Yogam inspired them to launch a struggle for social and economic emancipation.

By the last decades of the nineteenth century, Sri Narayana Guru’s movement and the activities of the SNDP Yogam greatly encouraged the Pulayas and other ‘untouchable’ castes to assert themselves. The Guru’s socio-religious message created a new awareness of self-respect among them. In this situation, the Pulayas realised the importance of building up a distinct communitarian identity to improve their standing in society.

In the last years of the nineteenth century, Ayyankali (1863–1941) emerged as the leader of the Pulayas and the other ‘untouchable’ castes in Travancore. He was born in a Pulaya family in Venganoor, situated close to Trivandrum. Though he lacked formal education, he felt that a mass movement alone could elevate his community from the depth of degradation and misery. Ayyankali launched his fight for the caste’s social uplift by undertaking a struggle for the right of the Pulayas and other ‘untouchable’ communities to walk along public roads. He and his followers forced their way into the roads which, despite a Government circular of 1884, had remained inaccessible to them. ² Such activities provoked the Nairs and other dominant castes to resort to retaliation. In several places, clashes broke out between the Pulayas and the powerful landed classes. ³ By 1900, despite the opposition of the upper castes, the Pulayas in most parts of Travancore had won the right to walk on public roads. ⁴

Ayyankali’s activities in early years of the twentieth century shifted to the sphere of education. He appealed to the Pulayas residing around Venganoor to refuse to do work for the Nair landlords, unless they permitted their children to enter schools. The strike (for which see below) also encouraged the Pulayas in Kundala, Kanyapuram and Pallichel to demand higher wages and permanent occupancy rights from the landlords. ⁵

Ayyankali and his followers also took part in struggles aimed at the elimination of humiliating customs and traditions. He and his followers defied the customary ban on the ‘untouchables’ from entering public markets. These acts antagonised Muslim and Ezhava businessmen, and sometimes led to physical violence. Ayyankali also defied the traditional ban on ‘untouchables’ having a glimpse of the Maharaja during the temple festivals in Trivandrum. He and his followers took their place along their procession route, thereby facing insults and violence from the upper castes. However, these incidents instilled among the Pulayas a new sense of awareness and strengthened their sense of solidarity against caste oppression. ⁶ What came to be frequently referred to as Pulaya riots, assumed serious proportions in the Neyyattinkara Taluk, Vaikom and Cape Comorin. They were quelled by state repression. The ruling group in Travancore could not comprehend the significance of these riots, and failed to make the necessary concessions. ⁷

In 1905, Ayyankali founded the Sadhu Jana Paripalana Sangham (Association for the Welfare of the Poor) (SJPS) with the help of some Nairs. The main objective of this organisation was to bring the ‘untouchables’ together and initiate programmes for their welfare. The Sangham leaders in the hillside or ‘Maidan’ meetings tried to make their followers aware of their rights. The leaders instructed their supporters to observe cleanliness, temperance and self-restraint and to send their children to schools. ⁸

OPEN IN VIEWER

Source: Drawn by Faiz Habib.

In the beginning, the Parayas and Christians of lower caste origin joined the Sangham. But they soon withdrew from it and established separate associations of their own. The Parayas under the leadership of Kundan Kumaran Parayan formed the Brahma Pratyoksha Sadhu Jana Paripalana Sangham. ⁹ They demanded that schools be established for their children and that they too like the Pulayas be provided with lower grade government posts. The lower-caste Christians also started a separate association called the Christian Sadhu Jana Paripalana Sangham, which maintained links with the Church Missionary Society. ¹⁰

Thus by the early 1900s, lower caste movements became active and fairly widespread in Travancore. Though these movements were often polarised along communal lines, they were by and large successful in projecting many demands of the ‘untouchables’ before the government. The activities of the SJPS could not also be easily ignored in Travancore. Koji Kawashima has argued that the Travancore Government began to pay attention to the lower castes, because it wanted to prevent their conversion to Christianity. And yet the state also seemed to be greatly concerned with the preservation of the socio-economic order based on the caste system.

The Dewan of Travancore frequently reminded the lower castes of the need to remain quiet and maintain their existing relations with the upper castes. ¹¹ Yet there were riots involving Pulayas in the Neyattinkara Taluk and several parts of southern Travancore. In 1912, the Pulayas launched two major struggles. In the Nedumanagad Taluk, they demanded entry into the market place, which led to a serious confrontation with the Muslims. In Venganoor, the struggle was over the entry of Pulaya children to government schools and led to riots. ¹²

In 1914, Ayyankali and Vellikkara Choti organised the struggle for the Pulaya children’s entry into schools. Ayyankali’s efforts succeeded in winning the right for Pulaya children to study at a school in Balaramapuram. At the same time, Vellikkara Choti was successful in securing Pulaya children’s entry into a school in Tiruvalla. ¹³ The landowning groups bitterly opposed these activities, and riots occurred on the issue. The first big-scale riot took place in 1915 in the Ooruttambalam village in the Neyattiankara Taluk. The incident was sparked off by Ayyankali’s attempts to secure admission for a Pulaya girl student in a Malayalam village school. The Nairs set fire to the school in order to prevent the entry of the ‘untouchables’. ¹⁴ The unrelenting attitude of the Nair landlords provoked Ayyankali to issue instructions to his followers to refrain from working in the fields of the upper castes. Though the landlords exuded confidence, they realised within a short period of time that a profound change had occurred in the mentality of the Pulayas. The Pulaya agricultural labourers solidly backed Ayyankali and all agricultural operations came to a standstill. Subsequently, the ruling groups in Travancore realised that it would be futile on their part to try to break up the strike. They preferred to utilise the services of a First Class Magistrate to broker a compromise between the two contending groups. The Nairs finally agreed to permit the children of the ‘untouchable’ communities to enter the school. ¹⁵

Ayyankali also launched the ‘Kallumala’ agitation to protect the social dignity of the Pulayas. The agitation took place in central Travancore in 1915–1916. It was primarily organised to protest against the humiliations to which the Pulaya women were subjected to in matters of dress, particularly the insistence that Pulaya women refrain from donning blouses, and wear bead necklaces as caste markers. Ayyankali undertook campaigns to persuade the Pulaya women to throw away these necklaces, and to wear garments to cover their breasts. These campaigns, gave rise to confrontations, as when Gopal Das, a Pulaya leader from central Travancore, exhorted the Pulaya women to discard the bead necklaces. The socially orthodox Nairs physically disrupted the meetings of the Pulayas. The Pulayas sometimes retaliated by attacking the Nairs. Ayyankali was ultimately able to end the hostilities by working out an agreement between the two contending groups. Subsequently, in a mass meeting held at Quilon, hundreds of Pulaya women discarded their bead necklaces in the presence of Ayyankali and a Nair social reformer, Changanasseri Parameswaran Pillai. ¹⁶

The movements launched by the Pulaya leaders in Travancore also inspired the Pulayas of Cochin and Malabar to start agitations against caste inequities. In Cochin, though the Pulayas had been freed from slavery, the custom of untouchability or ‘Tindal’ continued to be practised against them by the upper castes. They were barred from public roads and were often denied entry into the courts of justice and public offices. Despite the promises of government in Cochin to disseminate education among the ‘untouchable’ communities, there was hardly any attempt to improve the literacy rates of the Pulayas. ¹⁷ Pulayas, as freed slaves, began to escape from their old masters to escape maltreatment, sending petitions to the government whenever they could. ¹⁸

Even before the Cochin Palaya Mahajana Sabha was formed, a group of Pulayas organised protests against the government rule prohibiting their entry into Ernakulam, the capital of Cochin. When the Maharaja visited the Ernakulam Maharaja’s College to attend a function organised to celebrate his sixtieth birthday, a group of Pulayas on a platform of boats in the Vembanad backwaters disrupted the function by continuously beating drums and singing songs. ¹⁹ The Maharaja thereupon ordered an investigation and the ban on the entry of the Pulayas into the capital was finally lifted. In the entire agitation, local-level Pulaya leaders like K. P. Kuruppan and Krishnadiayasan played an important role. On 2 October 1913, they were the first to lead a delegation of Pulayas into the city of Ernakulam. ²⁰

A Phase of Collaboration

In the second decade of the century some important political developments took place in Travancore. Dewan P. Rajagopalachari tried to stifle the protests of both the Hindu and Christian Pulayas by entering into negotiations with their leaders. ²¹ He developed a close relationship with the Pulaya leader Ayyankali. In 1912, the Dewan nominated Ayyankali to the ‘popular’ assembly in Travancore. The Government of Travancore also nominated to the assembly men like Sri Karamana and P. K. Govinda Pillai, known for their sympathies towards the lower castes. ²² This policy provided the Pulayas and the other socially despised groups with an opportunity to express their grievances in the assembly. The Dewan seemed to have had a marked preference for the Hindu Pulayas, and apparently wished to prevent them from joining hands with that the Christian Pulayas, believed to be under the influence of the Christian missionaries. ²³ In his address to the Hindu Pulayas, Rajagopalachari stated,

your desire to reform yourselves and improve your status, without going out of the Hindu fold, naturally very much appeals to a Hindu like myself … I can find nothing in Hinduism, as I understand it, to justify the treatment now accorded by it to large communities like yours. ²⁴

On another occasion, the Dewan in his advice to the Hindu Pulayas stated,

…In Ayyankali you have a leader who is well worth following. I have known him for the last four years, both as a member of the Popular Assembly and otherwise. I have had long conversations with him regarding the difficult problems connected with your advancement, and I have come to the conclusion that he is a leader whom his community would do well to follow. ²⁵

The government also announced special concessions, such as the assignment of lands to the lower castes. In fact, these concessions were made with the obvious intention to placate the community leaders and strengthen their connections with the government. Ayyankali undoubtedly took advantage of these policies and also used his connections with the government and some upper-caste leaders to achieve his goals. ²⁶

In the early 1910s, the Ayyankali’s SJPS gained popularity throughout Travancore. The organisation undertook a wide range of programmes to promote the social uplift of the depressed communities. It established hostels for students of the ‘untouchable’ communities. In 1913, it decided to publish a newspaper Sadhu Jana Paripalika from central Travancore. At the same time, cultural programmes like Pattukacheri, Parijakali, Koladi and Kurathikali were organised to promote a greater degree of cultural awareness and self-confidence among the Pulayas. ²⁷

However, after some time, infighting affected the activities of the SJPS. Different splinter groups, broke away from the organisation, though their programmes and policies were almost similar in content.

In these years, depressed class leaders with the support of some reformist Hindus raised issues related to the socio-economic amelioration of these classes. In his first speech before the Sri Mulam Assembly in Travancore in February 1912, Ayyankali complained that the Pulayas were persecuted by the upper-caste jenmis (landlords) and were often driven out of their dwellings. Ayyankali pleaded to the government for the assignment of Puduval land (newly enclosed land) to the Pulayas. ²⁸ Subsequently, 779 petitions were filed by the Pulayas before the Dewan of Travancore for the grant of Puduval lands in Neyattinkara, Vilavankode, Trivandrum and Nedumangad taluks. Within a short time, the government instructed its local-level officers in Neyattinkora Taluk to assign 600 acres of Puduval lands to the Pulayas for habitational purposes.

But it took several years for the government to implement measures for the amelioration of the conditions of the lowest castes. In 1921, the ‘Puduval’ rules were revised and more than 15,000 acres were earmarked for assignment to these castes, ²⁹ and the government also took steps to distribute lands at concessional terms. ³⁰ Such measures at least had two advantages for the state. Firstly, it enabled the state to conciliate the lowest castes by giving them a certain amount of material assistance. Secondly, these measures were used to sustain the loyalty of the lowest castes towards their leaders and the state. The distribution of lands was usually conducted through the recognised leaders of these castes. Initially, land was given to those Pulayas, who were members of the SJPS established by Ayyankali. ³¹

The Travancore Government also experimented with cooperative societies to improve the economic conditions of the lower castes. In 1915, Rajagopalachari introduced the cooperative system to promote self-help among the poorest sections of society. The government provided financial encouragement to village industries and allocated sums for the improvement of sanitation facilities in the rural areas. It also introduced compulsory deposit schemes. In 1915, the Central Cooperative Bank was established to facilitate the financing of cooperative societies. ³² In fact, within a year of the establishment of the bank, many cooperative societies came to be formed. In 1916–17, a cooperative society was registered to enable the ‘untouchables’ to carry cultivation on the ‘Punja lands’ (unirrigated lands), which had been taken on lease from the landlords. At the same time, the Central Cooperative Bank also distributed loans for the purchase of agricultural stock and agricultural items. In 1924, the Travancore Government appointed a Protector of the Depressed Classes to facilitate the amelioration of these classes. Initially, the Registrar of Cooperative Societies was assigned this post, and it was only as late as 1932 that a full-time assistant in sole charge of the work was appointed. ³³

In Cochin, the initiative for the uplift of the lower classes came much later compared to Travancore. In 1919, the Dewan of Cochin, T. Vijay Raghava charya, soon after accepting office, established schools for the backward classes and threw open all schools to them, with the exception of ‘four or five’. ³⁴ The state also introduced free supply of books, slates, clothes and other educational gadgets and also exempted the ‘untouchable communities’ from the payment of school fees. The mid-day meal schemes were also implemented to increase the participation of children belonging to these classes. These policies resulted in an increase in the number of Pulaya students in government schools. Subsequently, many night schools were also introduced to spread literacy among the adult members of the depressed classes. ³⁵

The state of Cochin also paid attention towards meeting some of the economic demands of the Pulayas. In 1919–20, the colony system was introduced and the first colony was established at Chalakudy in central Cochin. In this colony, 40 families of Pulaya labourers were provided accommodation and were given education and training in the manufacture of mats and baskets. Throughout the 1920s, such colonies continued to be established. At the same time, cooperative societies were organised to train the ‘untouchable communities’ in self-reliance and for encouraging the habit of saving. ³⁶ The Dewan’s administration also constructed wells and tanks for the lowest castes and plots of land were also leased to these people. In the early 1920s, P. C. Chathan was nominated to represent the Pulayas in the Sri Chitra Assembly of Cochin and a Protector of the Depressed Classes was appointed in 1927. The appointment of the latter certainly speeded up the progress of the ameliorative programmes intended for the uplift of the lowest castes, contributing especially, to the spread of education among the Pulayas in Cochin. ³⁷

Compared to Travancore, the State of Cochin was late in undertaking welfare measures for the ‘untouchable communities’. Perhaps, unlike Travancore, the threat of conversion to Christianity did not so much exist in Cochin. Moreover, the Cochin Government itself was considerably affected by corruption and nepotism and this possibly made it indifferent to the demands of the depressed classes. Despite this lack of interest on the part of the Cochin Government, the Cochin Pulaya Mahasabha was able to exert pressure on the government to initiate some programmes for the uplift of the depressed classes. ³⁸

The Land Question and the Legislative Debates in Cochin and Travancore and Cochin in the 1920s and 1930s

In the 1920s and 1930s, many debates over depressed class uplift took place in the state assembles of both Travancore and Cochin. In most cases, the Pulaya leaders adopted a conciliatory posture vis-a-vis the governments, while they raised demands on behalf of the Pulayas. Paradi Abraham Isaac, a depressed class representative in the Sri Mulam Assembly of Travancore, complained that the depressed caste tenants and labourers were often victims of unauthorised evictions carried out by the landlords. It was also argued that though the government had allowed the registration of three acres of land for each of the depressed class families, these families faced an uphill task in getting possession over these lands. ³⁹

In the mid-1920s, the Sri Mulam Assembly of Travancore witnessed a debate over the issue of ‘Kanippattu’ lands (lands over which hereditary right of possession was exercised). The depressed class representatives argued that while on paper these lands had been earmarked for assignment purposes, in reality they were cornered by the economically dominant groups. There were also allegations that the well-to-do sections after purchasing these lands made improvements and prevented the depressed classes from gaining access to these lands. Moreover, the upper castes enjoyed an absolute monopoly over the wet lands, and the depressed classes mostly remained tied to these lands as agricultural labourers. The depressed class representatives proposed the establishment of cooperative societies that could provide loans for meeting registration expenses over lands assigned to the Pulayas. ⁴⁰

The Pulaya leaders in the 1920s refrained from indulging in all-out criticism of the Travancore Government’s welfare schemes. Ayyankali appreciated the government’s efforts to provide concessions to the depressed classes in matters related to the registration of Puduval lands. At the same time, he asked that the Pulayas be exempted from affixing court fee stamps, while making applications for the grant of lands. ⁴¹

As to the Travancore Government’s decision to appoint a Special Officer as the Protector of the Depressed Classes, Paradi Abraham Isaac, as the Secretary of the Travancore Ancient Dravidian Races League, requested the government to appoint the Land Revenue Commissioner as the Special Officer, as he was abreast of the economic conditions of the depressed classes. Moreover, there was also a demand that terms such as ‘Cherumar’ and ‘Sambavar’ be incorporated in official correspondences, instead of the prevalent nomenclatures like the ‘Pulaya’ and ‘Paraya’. The depressed class representatives demanded full fee concessions for students of the ‘untouchable communities’ studying in High Schools and government aided institutions. ⁴² There were also demands that scholarships needed to be restored to the Pulaya students, even if they had failed to clear the annual examinations. ⁴³

Towards the end of the 1920s, the depressed class representatives in the Sri Mulam Popular Assembly revived the land issue. Ayyankali stated that though in the Neyyatinkara taluk land had been registered on consessional terms in the names of Pulayas, they continued to be denied actual possession, the lands remaining under the possession of the earlier occupants. The depressed class representatives favoured the abolition of land survey fees. They also demanded legislation that would enable the Pulaya tenants to enjoy the monetary benefits of the investments that had been made for improving the quality of the lands. ⁴⁴ They complained that the absence of legislation regulating inheritance also led to difficulties over the distribution of property. There were suggestions that a bill may be passed introducing the Makkatayam law of succession. ⁴⁵ The Travancore Government was also requested to employ qualified Pulaya and Paraya students in government jobs.

Even in the mid-1920s, the depressed classes in Cochin lagged behind in expressing their grievances before the government. M. K. Raman and George Chakyamuri, two prominent members of the Assembly, however, highlighted some of the difficulties faced by the depressed classes. Raman strongly pleaded for the introduction of compulsory elementary education for the Pulayas and other backward communities. But such demands met with disapproval on the part of the upper caste members, who not only feared loss of social status, but also apprehended a breakdown of the traditional economic relationships. George Chakyamuri dismissed these fears and denied that introduction of compulsory education would lead to the mass conversions of Pulayas to Christianity. ⁴⁶ The upper caste Hindus criticised the government’s policy of assigning lands for improving the socio-economic conditions of the Pulayas. In 1928, Rao Sahib C. Mathai openly declared that assignment of lands could not be a viable step in improving the status of these classes. ⁴⁷

In the early 1930s, in the Cochin Assembly depressed class leaders raised several other socio-economic issues. In the first place, they proposed the introduction of anti-untouchability measures and implementation of special provisions like those of mid-day meals. Secondly, they also raised the demands for house-sites. The Pulaya leaders strongly supported the establishment of colonies or settlements for the ‘untouchable’ communities. ⁴⁸

This growing assertiveness on the part of the depressed classes in both the princely states of Travancore and Cochin naturally antagonised the upper-caste groups. While the depressed classes were able to gain considerable public attention from the deliberations in the popular assemblies, caste discriminations and the practice of untouchability went unchallenged at many levels in real life.

The Maharaja of Cochin differed with the British officials, who seem to have paid more attention to the caste and communitarian movements in Cochin. In 1935, a British official stated that communal dissensions permeated every department and every activity in the state. The British were afraid that these movements after a period of time would be directed against them as well as the native state. However, the Maharaja did not favour the idea of entering into meaningful dialogues with the Thiyya Mahajana Sabha and the Pulaya Mahajana Sabha, which were pleading for equality for their socially despised communities.

The Formation of Pulaya Caste Associations, and the Emergence of the Communist Movement

In the 1920s, various organisations claiming to represent the interests of the Pulayas sprang up in different parts of Travancore. In 1921, a Christian Pulaya leader John Joseph took the lead by organising a secular caste association, the Travancore Cheramar Maha Sabha (TCMS). But this association failed to muster much support beyond the confines of central Travancore. Interestingly, throughout the 1920s and 1930s, the Hindu–Christian divide among the Pulayas was actively encouraged by the authorities in Travancore in order to prevent the formation of a secular association. ⁴⁹ At the same time, the splits within the SJPS in Travancore also prevented a unified struggle of the Pulayas.

Thus, it was not until the formation of the All Travancore Pulaya Maha Sabha (hereafter ATPM) in 1938 that the Pulaya protests gathered momentum throughout Travancore. The Mahasabha owed its origins mostly to the efforts of prominent personalities such as T. P. Kesavan More Sastry and Aiyyankali. The objectives of the ATPM were distinctly more broad-based than those of the SJPS and it primarily laid stress on the socio-economic and political elevation of the Pulayas. ⁵⁰

The rise of the Communists posed a serious challenge to the professed aims and objectives of the ATPM in Travancore. The lower-caste factory labourers, including a small number of Pulaya workers employed in the agro-based industries, ⁵¹ naturally felt attracted to Communist propaganda. They believed that a powerful working class movement alone could redeem them from social and economic oppression. The Communist leaders, owing allegiance to the CPI from 1940 onwards, employed the slogan of class struggle to rally the indigent lower-caste factory and unorganised workers. They held regular night study classes to create class consciousness among them. ⁵² The Communists held that armed revolution alone could bring about a change in the existing state of affairs. ⁵³ At the same time they opposed untouchability in a militant manner and clashed with the police in the Paliyam Satyagraha (1947) organised to assert the untouchables’ right to use certain prohibited roads in Cochin. ⁵⁴

The Communists published articles on exploitation, black marketing, profiteering, starvation and poverty in weeklies like the Probhatam and Kesari. ⁵⁵ CPI volunteers also distributed pamphlets among the workers to make them conscious of their rights. A large number of these pamphlets were printed in Cochin and then smuggled into Travancore. These pamphlets did not always reveal the identity of the author, but in most cases the workers were exhorted to build up a powerful movement against the richer classes and the authoritarian government in Travancore. ⁵⁶