Cheruman
This article is an excerpt from Government Press, Madras |
Cheruman
The Cherumans or Cherumukkal have been defined as a Malayālam caste of agricultural serfs, and as members of an inferior caste in Malabar, who are, as a rule, toilers attached to the soil. In the Madras Census Report, 1891, it is stated that “this caste is called Cheruman in South Malabar and Pulayan [46]in North Malabar. Even in South Malabar where they are called Cheruman, a large sub-division numbering over 30,000 is called Pula Cheruman. The most important of the sub-divisions returned are Kanakkan, Pula Cheruman, Erālan, Kūdān and Rōlan. Kanakkan and Pula Cheruman are found in all the southern tāluks, Kūdān almost wholly in Walluvanād, and Erālan in Pālghat and Walluvanād.” In the Census Report, 1901, Ālan (slave), and Paramban are given as sub-castes of Cheruman. According to one version, the name Cheruma or Cheramakkal signifies sons of the soil; and, according to another, Cheriamakkal means little children, as Parasurāma directed that they should be cared for, and treated as such. The word Pulayan is said to be derived from pula, meaning pollution.
Of the Cherumans, the following account is given in the Gazetteer of Malabar. “They are said to be divided into 39 divisions, the more important of which are the Kanakka Cherumans, the Pula Cherumans or Pulayas, the Era Cherumans or Erālans, the Rōli Cherumans or Rōlans, and the Kūdāns. Whether these sub-divisions should be treated as separate castes or not, it is hardly possible to determine; some of them at least are endogamous groups, and some are still further sub-divided. Thus the Pulayas of Chirakkal are said to be divided into one endogamous and eleven exogamous groups, called Māvadan, Elamanām, Tacchakudiyan, Kundatōn, Cheruvulan, Mulattan, Tālan, Vannatam, Eramālōdiyan, Mullaviriyan, Egudan, and Kundōn. Some at least of these group names obviously denote differences of occupation. The Kundōtti, or woman of the last group, acts as midwife; and in consequence the group is considered to convey pollution by touch to members of the other groups, and they will neither eat nor marry with those belonging to it. Death or birth pollution is removed by a member of the Māvadan class called Maruttan, who sprinkles cowdung mixed with water on the feet, and milk on the head of the person to be purified. At weddings, the Maruttan receives 32 fanams, the prescribed price of a bride, from the bridegroom, and gives it to the bride’s people. The Era Cherumans and Kanakkans, who are found only in the southern tāluks of the district, appear to be divided into exogamous groups called Kūttams, many of which seem to be named after the house-name of the masters whom they serve. The Cherumans are almost solely employed as agricultural labourers and coolies; but they also make mats and baskets.”
It is noted26 by Mr. L. K. Anantha Krishna Iyer that “from traditions current among the Pulayas, it would appear that, once upon a time, they had dominion over several parts of the country. A person called Aikkara Yajaman, whose ancestors were Pulaya kings, is still held in considerable respect by the Pulayas of North Travancore, and acknowledged as their chieftain and lord, while the Aikkaranād in the Kunnethnād tāluk still remains to lend colour to the tale. In Trivandrum, on the banks of the Velli lake, is a hill called Pulayanar Kotta, where it is believed that a Pulaya king once ruled. In other places, they are also said to have held sway. As a Paraya found at Melkota the image of Selvapillai, as a Savara was originally in possession of the sacred stone which became the idol in the temple of Jaganath, so also is the worship of Padmanābha at Trivandrum intimately connected with a Pulayan. Once a Pulaya [48]woman, who was living with her husband in the Ananthan kādu (jungle), suddenly heard the cry of a baby. She rushed to the spot, and saw to her surprise a child lying on the ground, protected by a snake.
She took pity on it, and nursed it like her own child. The appearance of the snake intimated to her the divine origin of the infant. This proved to be true, for the child was an incarnation of Vishnu. As soon as the Rāja of Travancore heard of the wonderful event, he built a shrine on the spot where the baby had been found, and dedicated it to Padmanābha. The Pulayas round Trivandrum assert to this day that, in former times, a Pulaya king ruled, and had his castle not far from the present capital of Travancore. The following story is also current among them. The Pulayas got from the god Siva a boon, with spade and axe, to clear forests, own lands, and cultivate them. When other people took possession of them, they were advised to work under them.”
According to Mr. Logan,27 the Cherumans are of two sections, one of which, the Iraya, are of slightly higher social standing than the Pulayan. “As the names denote, the former are permitted to come as far as the eaves (ira) of their employers’ houses, while the latter name denotes that they convey pollution to all whom they meet or approach.” The name Cheruman is supposed to be derived from cheru, small, the Cheruman being short of stature, or from chera, a dam or low-lying rice field. Mr. Logan, however, was of opinion that there is ample evidence that “the Malabar coast at one time constituted the kingdom or Empire of Chēra, and the nād or county of Chēranād lying on the coast and inland south-east of Calicut remains to the present day [49]to give a local habitation to the ancient name. Moreover, the name of the great Emperor of Malabar, who is known to every child on the coast as Chēramān Perumal, was undoubtedly the title and not the name of the Emperor, and meant the chief (literally, big man) of the Chēra people.”
Of the history of slavery in Malabar an admirable account is given by Mr. Logan, from which the following extracts are taken. “In 1792, the year in which British rule commenced, a proclamation was issued against dealing in slaves. In 1819, the principal Collector wrote a report on the condition of the Cherumar, and received orders that the practice of selling slaves for arrears of revenue be immediately discontinued. In 1821, the Court of Directors expressed considerable dissatisfaction at the lack of precise information which had been vouchsafed to them, and said ‘We are told that part of the cultivators are held as slaves: that they are attached to the soil, and marketable property.’ In 1836, the Government ordered the remission in the Collector’s accounts of Rs. 927–13–0, which was the annual revenue from slaves on the Government lands in Malabar, and the Government was at the same time ‘pleased to accede to the recommendation in favour of emancipating the slaves on the Government lands in Malabar.’ In 1841, Mr. E. B. Thomas, the Judge at Calicut, wrote in strong terms a letter to the Sadr Adālat, in which he pointed out that women in some tāluks (divisions) fetched higher prices, in order to breed slaves; that the average cost of a young male under ten years was about Rs. 3–8–0, of a female somewhat less; that an infant ten months old was sold in a court auction for Rs. 1–10–6 independent of the price of its mother; and that, in a recent suit, the right to twenty-seven slaves [50]was the ‘sole matter of litigation, and was disposed of on its merits.’ In a further letter, Mr. Thomas pointed out that the slaves had increased in numbers from 144,000 at the Census, 1835, to 159,000 at the Census, 1842.
It was apparently these letters which decided the Board of Directors to send out orders to legislate. And the Government of India passed Act V of 1843, of which the provisions were widely published through Malabar. The Collector explained to the Cherumar that it was in their interest, as well as their duty, to remain with their masters, if kindly treated. He proclaimed that ‘the Government will not order a slave who is in the employ of an individual to forsake him and go to the service of another claimant; nor will the Government interfere with the slave’s inclination as to where he wishes to work.’ And again, ‘Any person claiming a slave as janmam, kānam or panayam, the right of such claim or claims will not be investigated into at any one of the public offices or courts.’ In 1852, and again in 1855, the fact that traffic in slaves still continued was brought to the notice of Government, but on full consideration no further measures for the emancipation of the Cherumar were deemed to be necessary.
The Cherumar even yet have not realised what public opinion in England would probably have forced down their throats fifty years ago, and there is reason to think that they are still, even now, with their full consent bought and sold and hired out, although, of course, the transaction must be kept secret for fear of the penalties of the Penal Code, which came into force in 1862, and was the real final blow at slavery in India. The slaves, however, as a caste will never understand what real freedom means, until measures are adopted to give them indefeasible rights in the small orchards occupied by them as house-sites.” It is noted by [51]Mr. Anantha Krishna Iyer that “though slavery has been abolished many years ago, the name valliyal (a person receiving valli, i.e., paddy given to a slave) still survives.” By the Penal Code it is enacted that— Whoever imports, exports, removes, buys, sells, or disposes of any person as a slave, or accepts, receives, or detains against his will any person as a slave, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to a fine. Whoever habitually imports, exports, removes, buys, sells, traffics or deals in slaves, shall be punished with transportation for life, or with imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years, and shall be liable to a fine. Whoever unlawfully compels any person to labour against the will of that person, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or with a fine, or with both. “Very low indeed,” Mr. S. Appadorai Iyer writes,28 “is the social position of these miserable beings. When a Cherumar meets a person of superior caste; he must stand at a distance of thirty feet. If he comes within this prohibited distance, his approach is said to cause pollution, which is removed only by bathing in water. A Cherumar cannot approach a Brāhman village or temple, or tank. If he does so, purification becomes necessary. Even while using the public road, if he sees his lord and master, he has to leave the ordinary way and walk, it may be in the mud, to avoid his displeasure by accidentally polluting him.
To avoid polluting the passer-by, he repeats the unpleasant sound ‘O, oh, O—’. [In some places, e.g., Palghāt, one may often see a Cheruman with a dirty piece of cloth spread [52]on the roadside, and yelling in a shrill voice ‘Ambrāne, Ambarāne, give me some pice, and throw them on the cloth.’] His position is intolerable in the Native States of Cochin and Travancore, where Brāhman influence is in the ascendant; while in the Palghāt tāluk the Cherumars cannot, even to this day, enter the bazaar.” A melancholy picture has been drawn of the Cherumans tramping along the marshes in mud, often wet up to their waists, to avoid polluting their superiors. In 1904, a Cheruman came within polluting distance of a Nāyar, and was struck with a stick. The Cheruman went off and fetched another, whereupon the Nāyar ran away. He was, however, pursued by the Cherumans. In defending himself with a spade, the Nāyar struck the foremost Cheruman on the head, and killed him.29 In another case, a Cheruman, who was the servant of a Māppilla, was fetching grass for his master, when he inadvertently approached some Tiyans, and thereby polluted them. The indignant Tiyans gave not only the Cheruman, but his master also, a sound beating by way of avenging the insult offered to them.
The status of the Pulayas of the Cochin State is thus described by Mr. Anantha Krishna Iyer. “They abstain from eating food prepared by the Velakkathalavans (barbers), Mannans (washermen), Pānāns, Vettuvans, Parayans, Nayādis, Ulladans, Malayans, and Kādars. The Pulayas in the southern parts of the State have to stand at a distance of 90 feet from Brāhmans and 64 feet from Nāyars, and this distance gradually diminishes towards the lower castes. They are polluted by Pula Cherumas, Parayas, Nayādis, and Ulladans. [The Pula Cherumas are said to eat beef, and sell the [53]hides of cattle.] The Kanakka Cherumas of the Chittūr tāluk pollute Era Cherumas and Konga Cherumas by touch, and by approach within a distance of seven or eight feet, and are themselves polluted by Pula Cherumas, Parayas, and Vettuvans, who have to stand at the same distance. Pulayas and Vettuvans bathe when they approach one another, for their status is a point of dispute as to which is superior to the other. When defiled by the touch of a Nayādi, a Cheruman has to bathe in seven tanks, and let a few drops of blood flow from one of his fingers.
A Brāhman who enters the compound of a Pulayan has to change his holy thread, and take panchagavyam (the five products of the cow) so as to be purified from pollution. The Valluva Pulayan of the Trichūr tāluk fasts for three days, if he happens to touch a cow that has been delivered of a calf. He lives on toddy and tender cocoanuts. He has also to fast three days after the delivery of his wife.” In ordinary conversation in Malabar, such expressions as Tiya-pād or Cheruma-pād (that is, the distance at which a Tiyan or Cheruman has to keep) are said to be commonly used.30 By Mr. T. K. Gopal Panikkar the Cherumans are described31 as “a very inferior race, who are regarded merely as agricultural instruments in the hands of the landlords their masters, who supply them with houses on their estates.
Their daily maintenance is supplied to them by their masters themselves. Every morning the master’s agent summons them to his house, and takes them away to work in the fields, in ploughing, drawing water from wells, and in short doing the whole of the cultivation. In the evening a certain quantity of paddy [54](unhusked rice) is distributed to them as wages. Both theory and practice, in the great majority of cases, are that they are fed at the master’s cost the whole year round, whether they work in the fields or not. But it is very seldom that they can have a holiday, regard being had to the nature of agriculture in Malabar.
It is the Cheruma that should plough the land, sow the seed, transplant the seedlings, regulate the flow of water in the fields, uproot the weeds, and see that the crops are not destroyed by animals, or stolen. When the crops ripen, he has to keep watch at night. The sentry house consists of a small oval-shaped portable roof, constructed of palmyra and cocoanut leaves, supported by four posts, across which are tied bamboos, which form the watchman’s bed. Wives sometimes accompany their husbands in their watches. When the harvest season approaches, the Cheruman’s hands are full. He has to cut the crops, carry them to the barn (kalam), separate the corn from the stalk, and winnow it.
The second crop operations immediately follow, and the Cheruma has to go through all these processes again. It is in the summer season that his work is light, when he is set to prepare vegetable gardens, or some odd job is found for him by his master. The old, infirm, and the children look after their master’s cattle. Receiving his daily pittance of paddy, the Cheruman enters his hut, and reserves a portion of it for the purchase of salt, chillies, toddy, tobacco, and dried fish. The other portion is reserved for food. The Cheruman spends the greater part of his wages on toddy.
It is a very common sight in Malabar to see a group of Cherumans, including women and children, sitting in front of a toddy shop, the Cheruman transferring the unfinished portion of the toddy to his wife, and the latter to the children. A Cheruman, [55]however, rarely gets intoxicated, or commits crime. No recess is allowed to the Cherumans, except on national holidays and celebrated temple festivals observed in honour of the goddess Bhagavati or Kāli, when they are quite free to indulge in drink. On these days, their hire is given in advance. With this they get intoxicated, and go to the poora-paramba or temple premises, where the festival is celebrated, in batches of four, each one tying his hands to another’s neck, and reciting every two seconds the peculiar sound:
