Ishal Paithrkam, Peer-Reviewed, Issue- 32, March 2023
Fashioning ‘Body’: Sartorial Reforms and
Namboothiri Women
Dr. Mayadevi. M
Clothing patterns have been a gendered expression of
individual’s identity throughout history. Societal concerns always
played a major role in the making of sartorial choices. Morality
and modesty were integral to clothing culture; when it comes to
women, patriarchy was very cautious of the moral underpinnings
of dress. Patriarchal notions were explicit in the traditional
clo thing style of wo men in every com munity. However, the
‘middleclass’ conviction was not in favour of continuing the
traditional clothing patterns of women and sought to reform the
same. The reformism again was in tune with the ‘new patriarchy’
and set out to ‘modernize’ women to cater the needs of new found
patriarchy. This paper addresses the sartorial amelioration of
Namboothiri women proposed by the male reformers of the
community and how they conceived women in new attire.
K ey wo rds: Women, middle-class, patriarchy, dress reforms,
antharjana samajam
Introduction
Patriarchy was always concerned about women’s body, which
was felt to be guarded from all ‘evil spirits and gaze.’ Female body,
within patriarchy, was a property of the men or of the household. A
woman had minimal control on her own body as it was under the strict
surveillance of the family and society. Simone de Beauvoir observed
that, ‘man thinks of his body as a direct and normal connection with
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the world, whereas he regards the body of woman as a hindrance, a
prison, weighed down by everything peculiar to it.’ (Beauvoir 15)
Moreover, the body of woman does not constitute a single category,
as it undergoes further division as the body of upper-class woman,
middle class woman, slave woman, prostitute etc. Body of woman
belonging to these different sections were to fulfil varied responsibilities
under patriarchy. (Omolade 350-367)
Woman’s body is internalized by the society as the ‘other’ of
m an’s b od y. Simo ne d e B eauvo ir has discussed ab o ut the
phenomenology of body as lived through different stages of a woman’s
life, how the body is viewed in different stages of women’s life, how
the gendered conviction of the body is explicit in the attitude towards
a boy and a girl etc. Throughout history, women have experienced
their bodies in different ways. The body and its cover, ‘clothes’, get
constructed differently right through a woman’s life by forces of
patriarchy, religion, caste, tradition, capitalism, liberalism and
globalisation. Clothes, both of men and women, represent a culture
and have been upheld as a symbolic entity of the culture. Feminists
speculated that women’s clothes were the result of male conspiracy
to make women subservient by cultivating in them a slave psychology.
(Riegel 390) Clothing was not socially neutral, dress was an immediate
form of communication used to convey information about social,
economic, and legal status; ethnicity; and religious affiliation. (Staples
& Shaw 28) Society was stratified and hierarchical; appearance,
including dress, was an outward and visible sign of a person’s place in
that society.
In Indian condition woman’s womb and her body was to be
rigorously safeguarded as she was the ‘gateway’ for ensuring caste
purity - literally the points of entry into the caste system. (Chakravarthi
34) Hence the main threat to purity of the caste was female sexuality
and this problem was solved by placing extreme restrictions on women
like the pre puberty marriage and ideological controls like those
prescribed by Brahmanical Patriarchy - the Pathivratha dharma and
women’s attire too was determined and dictated by the needs of the
patriarchy. (Das 129-45)
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Ishal Paithrkam, Peer-Reviewed, Issue- 32, March 2023
Dress culture evolves in different economic and social
conditions and will have periodic and regional variations. The earliest
representations of women in India - in paintings and in sculptures etc.
were shown with minimal clothing. Modesty has had different
interpretations over time and in different regions and cultures. It was
not just about covering your face and body and in many respects
India’s hot climate led the way. In most cases it can be seen that the
upper part of the body was not covered as the lower part. However,
changes were brought in the indigenous practices through the contacts
with other cultures. One such force was colonialism and the resultant
induction of Western concepts of modesty and morality. In the changed
social scenario, the traditional architecture, education, casteism,
physical appearance, clothing, hair style, jewellery all were undermined
and deemed to change.
The present study tries to analyse the sartorial amelioration
proposed for women by the twentieth century reformism among the
Namboothiri community of Malabar region. The trajectories of reform
are not always in uniform pattern; moreover, it is not necessary that
all reforms are the outcome of genuine concern for amelioration. The
study attempts to trace how the proposals for reforms have been
internalized by the community.
Dressing in Malabar region was not linked to a sense of
shame. The concept and conceptualization of shame ‘concerning the
female body’ was quite incompatible with the pan Indian notion of
women’s body. The style of wearing clothes within each caste and
sub caste was prescribed by customs. (Rajeevan 87) Men and women
dressed according to the rules of the caste. Nobody tried to transgress
these customs as it was equivalent to the violation of one’s own caste
identity.
The clothing of Malayalees up to twentieth century was not
primarily related to the senses of nakedness of the body. Women’s
body in Kerala was an object or phenomenon of the joint family which
was to be depended upon, feared, nourished and utilized. Devika notes
that only Muslim, Christians and attakarikal covered their upper part
of the body in late 19 th century. The ‘bare breast’ was a mark of the
jati identity for Hindu women belonging to various castes. (Devika
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461-487) Bare breasted was not regarded as nudity, and so no sexuality
was attached to it.
Clothing patterns of antharjanams-Namboothiri women
Namboothiris, the Brahmins of Kerala were the result of
Aryan migration to South India. The temple- centred social system
organized by them helped to sustain their dominance over other castes.
The Namboothiris are different from the Brahmins elsewhere; as they
follow Sankarasmrithi, which prescribes laws concerning the life of
Namboothiri, which includes laws regarding their daily activities, rituals,
worship of gods, purity and marriage. They maintained their aloofness
in their attitude towards women, family organisation and marriage.
Namboothiri illoms were built in typical architectural pattern
of Kerala, ensuring well defined and mutually segregated spaces for
men and women. The construction was so particular that women
could not meet male members of the family except their husband and
father. They were to remain confined to the kitchen, dining hall and
bedroom. Moreover, most of the illoms had separate water tanks for
women, which they could access from the rear side of the illom.
They were not supposed to come to places used by men. Illoms housed
several people in the patrilineal line; kanishtans or the younger
members of the illom were to live in pathayapura malika, the
outhouse, which was separate from the main building. (Schildt 79)
The women of the Namboothiri community were known as
antharjanams; it literally meant women of inner quarters. As
Namboothiris followed patriarchy, the male child was essential for
the continuation of the family and every one longed to have boys.
Disparity between girls and boys was shown in the food given,
costumes used, jewels worn and in education provided. Among the
sixty-four anacharams prescribed for Namboothiris, anacharams
from forty-four to forty-eight were directly related to women.
(Thurston 188) Following the anacharams, whenever an antharjanam
went out of the illom, she covered herself from head to toe with a
puthapu, cloak, and was to carry a marakuda, cadjan umbrella. In
addition to all these when they went out, they must be accompanied
by a maid, dasi, most probably a Nair woman. Puthapu and
marakuda together formed the ghosha of an antharjanam, which
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Ishal Paithrkam, Peer-Reviewed, Issue- 32, March 2023
was a symbol of extreme seclusion inflicted on women. Ghosha
amounted to be a prison for antharjanam, it was made strict by the
patriarchy to ensure that antharjanam never went ‘astray’. The
confinement of antharjanams within the illoms was to make them
immobile, to control their sexuality.
However, within the illom they were not to cover the upper
part of the body and used only a mundu. Antharjanams though
belonging to the wealthiest community of Malabar used only very
limited jewellery. They were not permitted to use gold bangle, but
could use brass and bronze bangles, in fact the number of bangles to
be worn was prescribed by customs. Even though belonging to the
highest caste of Kerala, antharjanams were deprived of ‘freedom’,
education and even mobility. The rules of the caste, dress patterns
and rituals of marriage all show that they were exploited and
suppressed by the patriarchy.
Clothing patterns induced by reform
In the wake of nationwide socio-religious reform activities,
Namboothiri community Malabar set out to address their age-old
outworn customs. The Namboothiri reform movement had a well-
defined reform agenda with magnificent organisational structures and
what made the movement exceptional was its genuine concern for
the amelioration of women’s existence. The apprehension on women’s
enigma was largely out of the realisation that, the reformism can’t be
fruitful unless women folk of the community were uplifted.
Consequently, antharjanams became the ‘objects of reform’ rather
than its agents. In the reform discourses and literature, they became
an entity who were to be ‘rescued’ by the male reformers.
(Namboothiripad 647-654)
The increased sexual stereotyping in dress defended the
wearers from the fears about uncertain sexual identity, gender identity
and changes in society. (Fischer, 2001) Gender specific dresses were
made to ensure the domesticity of women and it was developed as a
symbol of true womanhood. Contrary to the pan-Indian tradition, in
Kerala Brahmin women were to be in a half-naked fashion within the
illoms. At the same time, the whole women folk of Kerala, even in
the early years of twentieth century were bare breasted. By prescribing
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a similar attire, antharjanams were made equivalent to that of the
indigenous women. Hence the traditionally prescribed dress of
antharjanams continues as an unresolved mystery as its intention
could not be determined appropriately.
Namboothiri Yogakshema Sabha, Namboothiri Yuvajana
Sangham and Antharjana Samajam devised their own strategies to
indulge in women’s issues. The reform literature created by the young
reformers of the Namboothiri community was incredible and most of
them had women as central characters. Started by V.T. Bhattathiripad
and later continued by reformers like Muthiringode Bhavathrathan
Namboothirpad, M .P.Bhattathiripad, M .R.Bhattathiripad and
Lalithambika Antharjanam, by adopting new literary forms depicted
the pitiable condition of antharjanams. The reform literature strongly
stood for the transformation of family life, necessity of educating
antharjanams and staunchly criticized patriarchy for exploiting
women. The development of first generation of feminist thoughts in
the Namboothiri community could be seen evidently in these works of
Namboothiri men.
The changing concepts of women’s body within the
community has to be interpreted along the developments on a national
line. The continued attention to bodily adornment was not simply a
rehabilitation of femininity, but was also related to local sartorial styles,
standards of beauty, appropriate expenditures and women’s moral
and sexual rectitude. (Gupta 76-84) The anti-colonial movement with
its increasing women participation was striving to design an attire for
the public appearance of women, which ended up with ‘sari and
blouse’- of course with regional variation. Sari was being symbolized
as the national dress of Indian women and the concept was widely
accepted and popularized through women associations and the anti-
colonial movement. (Sen 56-60) The colonial perceptions displayed
both admiration and denigration of the native women’s appearance;
sari was described as a sensual mode of dress and it was impugned
for its transparency. In Bengal as a part of the dress reform the sari
was also reformed by making women to wear a blouse, a petticoat
under sari along with shoes. These reforms were along the feminine
model provided by the English women. This new image of women
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Ishal Paithrkam, Peer-Reviewed, Issue- 32, March 2023
was propagated through newspapers and journals with advertisements
playing a decisive role. The popularization and spread of a national
ideal of feminine beauty based on ‘tradition’ was made possible initially
by the printing press and later with cinema during the first half of the
20th century. Furthermore, women in processions, strikes and protest
movements became agents of propaganda. The modernist painter from
Travancore, Raja Ravi Varma whose paintings are examples of an
ideological narrative of ‘tradition’ that not only standardized ‘Indian’
womanhood but also established it as a marker of national culture.
(Wilton 190-205) The regional and local traditions of wearing sari
was designed like - Gujarati, Bengali, South Indian, Assamese and so
on. Surpassing all the variations in draping sari, a pan Indian pattern
was developed and propagated during this period and the same was
adopted by the middle-class women.
The reform movement while discussing the issues related to
antharjanams, designed a ‘new concept of womanhood’. However,
this concept advocated an overall transformation of Namboothiri
women, and it envisaged a considerable change in their dress, jewellery,
hair style, education and in their practices. In short, ‘a new modern
antharjanam’ was to be carved out from the traditional Namboothiri
women. The reformers were aware of the fact that sartorial reforms
were an arduous task, as they have to convince women to adopt new
attire. Far more challenging was to end up the system of ghosha,
which was to be strictly followed. The entire reform literature
condemned ghosha and could foster a public opinion against it. Despite
all the efforts, the community had to wait until 1929 for the first
Namboothiri women to make a public appearance without ghosha.
Such a great challenge to the orthodoxy was posed by Parvathi
Manezhi, who was cladded in a ‘sari and blouse’ when she attended
the Edakunni session of the Namboothiri Yoghakshema Sabha. V.T.
Bhattathiripad observed that until then no one had seen an
antharjanam without ghosha in public. (Bhattathiripad 285) But
following the incident, members of Manezhi illom were ostracized -
brasht- and due to the pressure of the family members, they - Parvathi
and her husband - consented to perform prayaschitham, but could
not execute it. Throughout the reform literature of the period sari was
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projected as the ideal and moral attire for women. One of the main
agents of women’s transformation was the Antharjana Samajam, as
it turned out to be a platform for discussions among women outside
the purview of male reformers. The Samajam stood for the
comprehensive emancipation of Namboothiri women, aimed at rescuing
them from the darkness of illoms. They discussed boycotting the
ghosha and suggested changing their physical appearance. Leaders
of the Samajam, Parvathy Nenmenimangalam, Arya Pallam and many
others had already abandoned traditional dress and had accepted sari.
The proposals for refashioning antharjanams came from the
male reformers of the time and one among them was Muthiringode
Bhavathrathan Namboothiripad. He argued that antharjanams
followed a dress pattern decreed by the community several centuries
ago and such an outfit was not used by any of the civilized population.
Namboothiripad was in favour of reforming the dress patterns of
Namboothiri women, as women in every community are very conscious
of their appearance; antharjanams could not be spared. He called
upon the younger generation of the community to support the women
in modifying their costume. (Namboothiripad 647-654)
V.T.Bhattathiripad demanded women to get rid of their half-
naked attire, which was instilling contempt among Namboothiri men.
V.T.Bhattathiripad assumed the role of an ‘advisor’ for antharjanams,
so that they could be transformed to modern middle class Malayali
women. V.T. Bhattathiripad’s advices to women reminds one of the
nineteenth and twentieth century advisory manuals written in Bengal
addressing women, like the one composed by Dhirendranath Pal who
promoted the development of a conjugal nuclear family in which women
assumed the role of homemaker. (Pal) According to V.T. Bhattathiripad
even the old Namboothiri men preferred to be with Nair wives rather
than antharjanams, which was due to the filthy appearance of
antharjanams. The Namboothiri men were embarrassed by the
disgusting presence of antharjanams in pale clothes, wooden earrings
and brass bangles. The body of a Namboothiri women has been
objectified, by making it responsible for the sexual laxity of
Namboothiri men. Women of the other communities pleased the
Namboothiri men with their ‘womanly appearance’; so as a solace
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Ishal Paithrkam, Peer-Reviewed, Issue- 32, March 2023
from the uninviting conditions of illom men approached Nair Tarawads
and Kovilakams. In short even the spirit of reformism didn’t relieve
Namboothiri men from their notion of antharjanams as mere ‘body’
that negated the existence of women’s individuality.
The sartorial reforms for women in nineteenth and twentieth
century was the result of the influence of European middle-class
culture on the Indian educated classes. (Bannerji, 2001) These
experiments could be regarded as the expression of the middle - class
culture imbibed by Namboothiri men. Quite naturally the guiding
principle of the dress reform movement, which sited the body of native
women as its terrain, was very much a Victorian concept of female
modesty.
Antharjanams were requested to adopt sari and blouse,
instead of their customary attire. Sartorial experiments advocated can
be regarded as a project of morality, because the half-naked women
were against the twentieth century moral concepts. The spirit of
reformism and social development achieved by the women of
matrilineal communities made them realize the drudged state of
antharjanams. Hence by dressing them in modern attire, sari and
blouse, the antharjanams could be made ‘moral women’ by the then
standards set forth by patriarchy. When sartorial transformations
were suggested for antharjanams, it was explained on the basis that
reforms would make them ‘more moral’, ie. the reformers felt that
their women were ‘immoral’ to the then existing concept of morality.
Women with uncovered breasts were judged to be against the accepted
notions of ‘modesty’, so women were exhorted to cover up themselves.
Besides the dress reforms antharjanams were asked to
replace their wooden earrings, marakoradu, with golden earrings.
However, this was not quite easy, due to the fact that most of them
had long earlobes, often touching their shoulders, a result of wearing
heavy marakoradu for several years. Hence a surgical makeover
was essential for using small golden studs and led to the emergence
of K ath u m urikka l p rastha n am , cutting earlo b es. D evaki
Nilayamgode has written on the change in the fashion of elongated
earlobes. By 1930s and 1940s the young Namboothiris wanted their
wives to stitch up their earlobes and wear normal earrings. Newly
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married men brought their wives to hospital to have their earlobes
stitched. After marriage Devaki’s husband took her to doctor, and got
her earlobes short and started wearing normal earrings. She wrote,
“we returned to Nilayamgode, very happy”, ie. this small change in
their body was welcomed by them. (Nilayamgode 109) Namboothiri
women who were not permitted to be treated by a doctor for any
ailment, now went through surgery for shortening their ear lobes.
Next in the agenda of reform was the abandoning of the brass
bangles, which antharjanams were to wear as per the conventional
dress code, and the adoption of golden bangles instead. The reformers
wanted antharjanams to refine their habits; for instance, women
were asked to take oil bath every day and they were prompted to use
toilet soaps for cleaning themselves. Similarly, women were exhorted
to carefully maintain hair, by regularly washing and drying it properly
to get rid of the funky smell. All these transformations would amount
to a comprehensive change in the physical appearance of Namboothiri
women. Paradoxically, the extensive changeover of antharjanams
were conceived and decided by men, which would furnish a modern
middle class antharjanam who could be a companionate wife of
educated Namboothiri men.
The no tio ns o f sarto rial ref o rm s f o r a nth a rja n am s
disseminated by male reformers were outrightly rejected by Parvathi
Nenmenimangalam. She regarded that there must be a basic
transformation in the traditional attire of women, but at the same time
the exhortations to use costly dress materials and to adorn the body
with ornaments were to be denounced. (Nenmenimangalam 15) She
ridiculed the attempts of reformers like V.T.Bhattathiripad to carve
out a sensual woman from the antharjanam so that she may appear
pleasing for the husband. She said that there was no need to seduce
men; mind was to be refashioned and not the body. Generally, the
reformism proposed a desexualisation of women, but they were asked
to acquire a new sexual exposition for satisfying the desires of middle-
class men. Such criticisms were few and far between and so the
sartorial reforms remained mostly a male desired reform and not one
advocated by women themselves.
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Ishal Paithrkam, Peer-Reviewed, Issue- 32, March 2023
The ‘reformed womanhood’ though envisaged by men, was
accepted b y the com m unity and the wom en in p articular.
Antharjanams, who enviously admired the Nair women during their
visit to illoms, wholeheartedly stood with the proposed reformism.
Unlike the other objectives of Namboothiri reform movement, the
clothing reforms were easily materialized. Excluding certain occasional
protests by the orthodoxy, majority of the community was in favour of
reforming the attire. Namboothiri women soon began to adopt sari
and blouse or veshtiyum mundum and blouse and it was not out of
the desire to get modernized but the adoption was out of the genuine
passion to become a ‘woman’ of the natural parlance.
Conclusion
Wom en’s ex perience o f her bo d y is culturally and
psychologically different from men. A sense of fear, sin and shame is
attached to or imposed upon women’s conviction of body. Furthermore,
a kind of alienation of ‘body’ from self has been made to stay with
women; which obviously is the creation of the patriarchy. Exigencies
of patriarchy shapes the women’s understanding of her body. When
Indian patriarchy was faced with challenges posed by European
colonialism, as a usual reaction social transformation followed. The
introduction of western culture made Indian men to adopt new patterns
of clothing and removed hair tufts which was socially approved as
demanded by their profession. But the society debated on the proposals
of sartorial change for women. Indian orthodoxy was not ready to
accept the same for women, when propagated by male reformers.
European colonialism led to the development of a new
patriarchy in India, which had imbibed western notions of modesty
and morality. Here again the proposals of dress reform for women
were initiated by middle class men, when they realised the traditional
attire as outdated. The ‘new Indian men’ were desperate to reform
their women by carving out a novel ‘womanhood’ ie. by inculcating
the basic tenets of English education and by redesigning their physical
appearance. Similar reformism can be seen throughout India during
this period and the Namboothiri community also witnessed the ‘clothing’
of Namboothiri women. Ironically, antharjanams despite being the
members of the upper caste and upper-class strata of Kerala society
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were the last to acquire the right to cover their upper part of the body.
Unlike the women of other communities of Kerala, antharjanams
were barely educated and their articulations on themselves was
depended on the male reformers.
The young generation of Namboothiri community wanted to
make their women presentable and modest and this desire coincided
with the sartorial reforms. Woman’s ‘body’, her physique became an
expression of the community’s morality and social conviction.
Moreover, there was change in sense of sexuality attached to female
body and this change prompted them - Unninamboothirimar, young
Namboothiri men - to argue for dressing up their women. The reformed
patriarchy found fault with woman’s attire and designed a novel one
to cater its needs and aspirations. The sartorial reforms in the
Namboothiri community were far more progressive than others as it
resulted in a drastic shift from half nakedness to pan Indian woman.
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Dr. Mayadevi. M
Assistant Professor
Department of History
The Zamorin’s Guruvayurappan, College
Kozhikode
Pin: 673014
India
Ph: +91 9847336847
Email: [email protected]
ORCID: 0009-0009-4204-0581
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