We suspect that the priesthood—those crafty politicians whose meshes of mingled deceit and superstition have ever held the Hindoo mind “in durance vile”—were the originators of the murroo-muka-tayum and the goonadoshum. Both inventions, like many of the laws of Lycurgus, appear the result of well-digested plans for carrying out the one proposed object. They are audacious encroachments upon the rights of human nature; and we cannot account for their existence by any supposition except that the law-givers were determined to rear a race of warriors—no matter by what means. As a corroboration of our theory, we may instance the fact that these strange and now objectless ordinances are gradually giving way to the tide of truer feeling. Already the succession of nephews has been partially broken through, and in the present day the control of the heads of families is nothing compared with what it was.
There is a tradition among the Nairs, that anciently, the Samiry Rajah was, by the law of the land, compelled to commit suicide by cutting his throat in public at the expiration of a twelve-years’ reign. When that ceremony became obsolete, another and an equally peculiar one was substituted in its stead. A jubilee was proclaimed throughout the kingdom, and thousands flocked from all directions to the feasts and festivals prepared for them at Calicut. On an appointed day, the Rajah, after performing certain religious rites, repaired to the shore, and sat down upon a cushion, unarmed, bare-headed, and almost undressed, whilst any four men of the fighting caste, who had a mind to win a crown, were allowed to present themselves as candidates for the honour of regicide. They were bathed in the sea, and dressed in pure garments, which, as well as their persons, were profusely sprinkled over with perfumes and water coloured yellow by means of turmeric. A Brahman then putting a long sword and small round shield into each man’s hand, told him to “go in and win” if he could. Almost incredible though it may appear, some cases are quoted in which a lucky desperado succeeded in cutting his way through the thirty or forty thousand armed guards who stood around the Rajah, and in striking off the sovereign’s head. This strange practice has of late years been abolished.
The Nairs are rather a fair and comely race, with neat features, clean limbs, and decidedly a high caste look. They shave the head all over, excepting one long thin lock of hair, which is knotted at the end, and allowed to lie flat upon the crown. Neither cap nor turban is generally worn. Their dress consists of the usual white cotton cloth fastened round the loins: when en grande tenue, a similar piece hangs round their necks, or is spread over the shoulders. We have alluded to the appearance of their females in our account of Calicut, and may here observe that we were rather fortunate in having accidentally seen them. The Nair is as jealous as he is amorous and vindictive: many travellers have passed through the country without being able to catch one glimpse of their women, and the knife would be unhesitatingly used if a foreigner attempted to satisfy his curiosity by anything like forcible measures.
The Tian[107] of Malabar is to the Nair what the villein was to the feoffee of feudal England. These two families somewhat resemble each other in appearance, but the former is darker in complexion, and less “castey” in form and feature than the latter. It is the custom for modest women of the Tiyar family to expose the whole of the person above the waist, whereas females of loose character are compelled by custom to cover the bosom. As this class of Hindoo, generally speaking, provides the European residents with nurses and other menials, many of our countrymen have tried to make them adopt a somewhat less natural costume. The proposal, however, has generally been met pretty much in the same spirit which would be displayed were the converse suggested to an Englishwoman.
In writings the Tiyar are styled Eelavun. They are supposed to be a colony of strangers from an island of that name near Ceylon. An anomaly in the Hindoo system they certainly are: learned natives know not whether to rank them among the Shudras or not; some have designated them by the term Uddee Shudra, meaning an inferior branch of the fourth great division. Their principal employments are drawing toddy, dressing the heads of cocoa and other trees, cultivating rice lands, and acting as labourers, horse-keepers, and grass-cutters; they are free from all prejudices that would remove them from Europeans, and do not object to duties which only the lowest outcastes in India will condescend to perform. Some few have risen to respectability and even opulence by trade. They will not touch the flesh of the cow, and yet they have no objection to other forbidden food. They drink to excess, and are fond of quarrelling over their cups. Unlike the Nairs, they are deficient in spirit; they are distinguished from the natives of Malabar generally by marrying and giving in marriage. Moreover, property with them descends regularly from father to son.
Throughout the province a sort of vassalage seems to have been established universally among the Tiyar, occasionally among the Nair tribes.[108] The latter would sometimes place himself in a state of dependency upon some Rajah, or powerful chief, and pay Chungathum,[109] or protection-money, for the advantage derived from the connexion. The Tiyar willingly became the Udian[110] of any superior whose patronage would guarantee him quiet possession of his goods and chattels. This kind of allegiance by no means amounted to slavery. The Tumbooran could not dispose of the person or property of his vassal, nor did the private tie acquit an individual of any public duty to the Rajah or his representatives upon emergent occasions. The patron was on all occasions bound to defend, protect, and procure redress for his client—favours which the latter acknowledged by yearly tribute, and by affording personal service to his superior in private quarrels. To the present day the Tian will immediately say who his Tumbooran is: the annual offerings are still kept up, and though British law entitles all parties to equality of social rights, it must be an injury of some magnitude that can induce the inferior to appear against his patron in a court of justice. Some individuals became vassals of the Pagoda, which, in its turn, often subjected itself to fee a Rajah for the maintenance of its rights and the defence of its property.
The reader will remark how peculiarly characteristic of the nation this state of voluntary dependency is. In European history we find the allodialist putting himself and his estate in a condition of vassalage, but he did so because it was better to occupy the property as a fief incident to certain services than to lose it altogether, or even to be subjected to pillage and forced contributions. But the Asiatic is not comfortable without the shade of a patron over his head; even if necessity originally compelled him to sacrifice half his freedom, habit and inclination perpetuate the practice long after all object for its continuance has ceased to exist.
The Chermur,[111] or serfs of Malabar, amongst the Hindoos, were entirely prædial or rustic. The system of slavery is said to have been introduced by Parasu Rama, as a provision for agriculture when he gave the country to the Brahmans. We may account for it more naturally by assigning its origin and referring its subsequent prevalence to the operation of the ancient Indian laws. The rules of caste were so numerous and arbitrary that constant deviations from them would take place in a large community; and for certain offences freeborn individuals became Chandalas (outcastes), and were liable to disenfranchisement.