The Antharjanam of the fifth house
(Smartha vicharam)
Painting by Murali T, September 2013. Size:
49 cmx37cm. medium: Acrylic on canvas.
English translation of this description was done by my friend Mr. Ben J. Anthriyos
Our literary history is filled
with the millenium-long experiments and practices aimed at exploiting women. No other social order in the world has been as
much cruel, inhuman and yet millennium-longas the brahminical social order when
it comes to exploiting women, morally degrading them and making them the slaves
of the caste-moral rules.
A close look at the history of
‘smartha vicharam’, a custom in which antharjanams (Kerala brahmin/namboothiri
women) were subjected to moral trial, would reveal to us the fact that the brahmin
clergy which kept the Indian subcontinent in the dark prison of ignorance,
slavery and inequality for more than 1500 years imposed the worst suffering on
their own women. Even as Namboothiri women languished at the clutches of male
dominance in the dark room called “anchampura” (the fifth house) as trial
convicts after having undergone the heinous custom of ‘smartha vicharam’, the
male ones in the Namboothiri caste were allowed liaisons with shudra (nair)
women at their convenience under the rubric of ‘sambandham’ which amounted to
prostitution.
The fact that until a few years
before India became independent in 1947, that is the time between 1850 and 1927,
a small region which was under the control of Zamoothiri/zamorians witnessed
almost 60 ‘smaartha vicharam’ reveals the extent of social presence this cruel
custom had. The ignorance in the public consciousness about these instances of
cultural degradation and their influences in the present condition might end up
in offering a red-carpet welcome to fascism. To be informed about one’s own
history is fundamental in forming a humanitarian culture.
The
stray woman who is accused of having made liaison with ‘other’ men gets the
label of a ‘thing’ (‘saadhanam’) and undergoes the moral trial of ‘smaartha vicharam’.
Having been imprisoned in the dark house called anchampura she gets excommunicated
and thrown to streets once the trial is over by the brahmin clergy. While the
male-centric religious authority of the
brahmin clergy made it compulsory for women at their homes to read poetry to become ‘sheelavathis’
(a metaphor for a chaste woman), it also propagated the ‘vaishika thantras’ for
their men to freely roam around and make liaisons under the rubric of ‘sambandham’.
Unless we criticize this moral hypocrisy our cultural
criticism would never be honest.
My sincere thanks to Mr. Ben J Anthrayose for this English translation of painting description
1 comment:
The stray woman who is accused of having made liaison with ‘other’ men gets the label of a ‘thing’ (‘saadhanam’) and undergoes the moral trial of ‘smaartha vicharam’. Having been imprisoned in the dark house called anchampura she gets excommunicated and thrown to streets once the trial is over by the brahmin clergy. While the male-centric religious authority of the brahmin clergy made it compulsory for women at their homes to read poetry to become ‘sheelavathis’ (a metaphor for a chaste woman), it also propagated the ‘vaishika thantras’ for their men to freely roam around and make liaisons under the rubric of ‘sambandham’. Unless we criticize this moral hypocrisy our cultural criticism would never be honest.
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