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Parinayam - A heavy Malayalam movie

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As some of the senior members of our forum may know, the Malayalam cinema "Parinayam", meaning 'Marriage', depicts the Namboodiri custom of "smARta vichAram" in a more or less realistic (I suppose so, because the last such exercise was in 1905, which was slightly different from all the previous ones.) manner. For the information of members who are unfamiliar with this custom, I may tell that among Namboodiris it was the custom (not practised now) that only the eldest of the brothers married a Namboodiri girl. The rest could have "sambandham" (sexual relationship with women of other castes, mostly from aristocratic nair households and women of royal lineage) but could not marry from their own caste.

The Namboodiri women were called "antharjanam" (lit., people inside) and were not expected to come out of their secluded quarters at any time. Some of the wealthier "mana"s - Namboodiri houses, used to have their own temples within their sprawling manors and the antharjanams could visit those temples in their mana (only) and that too after hiding the upper part of their body with an umbrella made of palmyrah leaf so as to avoid the gaze of men. (The namboodiri women were, reportedly, not allowed to wear upper garments.)

If a doubt arose as to the chastity of a namboodiri woman, there was this procedure called smARta vichAram. Although they call it 'smARta', I am unaware as to which smR^ti sanctions it and explains how it is conducted. The accused woman is kept confined in solitary confinement with an old lady as guard. A council of community elders is constituted and they question the accused and she has to state the truth as to whether she had any illicit relationship. Her statements would have to be proved, for example, she will have to state personal identification marks of the men who had liaison with her, or produce letters etc., to show that there was contact. If the charges were proved (usually it was so) the accused woman was thrown out of the house and excommunicated by what was called "paDi aDachchu piNDam vaykkal" - treating her as having died and not deserving any further obsequies. Such women could be 'captured' i.e., compulsorily taken away by men of the lower castes or even non-hindus.

The Namboodiri men who had liaison with the woman were excommunicated from Namboodiri caste and were assigned to a lower order but I am not sure about it; I read somewhere that 'chaakiar' was one such order . (The blog cited below also gives a different view.) The last "smArta vichAram" in history was a sensational one and slightly different from others. Below are excerpts from the blog:

Maddy's Ramblings: Kuriyedathu Thathriyude SmartaVicharam

"It was finally in 1905 that the shackles were broken by one woman. Call her brave, cunning, callous, whatever, but she was the first to rebel. This is the story of that beautiful Namboothiri Antherjanam who decided to use her body to lash out at society. She was Thathri. Let us now see what happened.

One fine day, a wealthy and aged but promiscuous Namboothiri man, reaches the bedroom of a well known and desirable prostitute. After a very satisfactory session, he finally gets to see her face and recoils in utter shock when he realizes that this was none other than his own young wife. The man flees the place and raises a hue and cry. Soon the prostitute, an Antherjanam known as Kuriyedathu Thathri is secluded according to the norms and a Smartavicharam trial (at the end of the story is a small description of the Smartavicharm) is launched. The Cochin King as required sanctions it. The public interest was huge, for rumor had it that the lady was a very clever and apparently popular person with much ammunition up her sleeve.

This sensational Smaartha Vichaaram involved Savithry (Thaathri) the wife of Chemmanthatta Kuriyedathu Raman Namboodiri, and daughter of Kalpakasseri Ashtamoorthi Namboodiri of Mukundapuram Taluk.

The Smartan who administers Vedic laws is none other than the famed Jathavedan Namboothiri of the Perumannan gramam. Thathri is sitting in a special outhouse (Achanpura or pacholapura) built for the seclusion and imprisonment during the trail. She has no problems at all and seems serene and ready to face the questioning. Unlike other timid prisoners, this is a proud and beautiful lady who had controlled many weak men above her for the last few years. She was not intimidated. Savithri was known for her beauty and she had been married off at the age of 18 to a 60 year old man .

The smarthan (prosecutor) and three Namboothiri scholars questioned Thaathri, who accepted all the charges but stated that the rule of law has to be administered equally. If she had to be pronounced guilty, so should the people who slept with her. They were people of supposedly high moral standing, and with that basis Thathri revealed the names of well-known scholars, musicians, kathakali artists and many other prominent people of that time, not only of the Kochi state but also the entire Malabar belt, who had slept with her. She also presented strong evidence to substantiate her charges including visual and written evidence (letters written by lovers, prominent marks on genital areas etc).

The pillars of the caste system started trembling. The King was in trouble and the public uproar severe. So against norms where only Thathri would have been implicated, the King agreed to administer equal justice. The reader must note here that a normal Smartavicharam involved only the lady and not the men. However based on the Kings ruling, the Smartan questioned the involved men as well and convicted the guilty. It was thus a landmark case. As the names started coming out, the number of nervous men increased. Many ran away, escaped to other nations even, many others conducted poojas so that Thathri would forgot their names & features (for she had to provide proof of physical characteristics of the men too). It is said that the lady was finally made to stop at man # 64. Salacious gossip to the effect that the 65th was probably going to the king himself went around like wildfire. It is said in jest that she could in theory have named not just 65, but 60,000, but the case was finally curtailed,

The verdict was pronounced on the night of July 13, 1905, indicting all the accused and of course Thaathri. They included 30 Namboothiris, 10 Iyers (Pattars or Tamil Brahmanans), 13 Ambalavaasis and 11 Nairs. Thaathri was sent to Chalakudy and settled as an intern in a riverside home, under tight security. The 64 victims left their homes humiliated, some living on bare subsistence allowance and some, begging. Another two ("Ambalavaasis") had died and hence not proceeded against.

The long list of victims of smartha vicharam had a disastrous effect on the cultural scene in Kerala. Celebrated kathakali artists like Kavungal Sankara Panikkar, Kaattalathu Madhavan Nair, Panangavil Govindan Nambiar, Achytha Poduval and many others had to leave their fields & professions. Following this event the Cochin Raja mentioned that future ‘SmarthaVicharanam’s’ required a large deposit in the state treasury for the reason that such public embarrassments (naming of prominent men) do not take place arbitrarily."
 
Dear Shri. sangom, thank you for the writeup. True to all your other posts this one too was good read and an informative one.

I am a little puzzled by the following:

....... only the eldest of the brothers married a Namboodiri girl. The rest could have "sambandham" (sexual relationship with women of other castes, mostly from aristocratic nair households and women of royal lineage) but could not marry from their own caste.

Are these eldest of sons allowed to marry more than one Namboodri woman? If not, there would a large cadre of unmarried Namboodri women, isn't?

Given Namboodri women are the province of only the first male born, are the younger male siblings allowed to marry lower caste women, or, are they to suffer a life of as many sambandhams as they can manage without the 'pleasures' that come only from matrimony ;)?

Cheers!
 
Respectable members,

This is a good movie, if you can handle it. This movie does not provide any answers..it only raises more questions.
Cheers?
This is what usually happens in any forum say தின்னை பேச்சு to popular அரட்டை அரங்கம் or glossy "We the People" Why even in the threads of Tb.com Nothing wrong there as long as it is lively and not acrimonious Jambu:tea:
 
Dear Shri. sangom, thank you for the writeup. True to all your other posts this one too was good read and an informative one.

I am a little puzzled by the following:



Are these eldest of sons allowed to marry more than one Namboodri woman? If not, there would a large cadre of unmarried Namboodri women, isn't?

Given Namboodri women are the province of only the first male born, are the younger male siblings allowed to marry lower caste women, or, are they to suffer a life of as many sambandhams as they can manage without the 'pleasures' that come only from matrimony ;)?

Cheers!

Thank you sir for your compliments.

The eldest son could take more than one wife. But still not a few young girls had to get married to men who were their grandfather's age! As a fall out of this, the Namboodiris had to look after the after-death affairs of not only their parents but also of the "apphan" namboodiris as the Chithappas were called.

The other sons had to content themselves with the pleasures from "sambandham" only. In a book by a Dutch author about Kerala, I remember having read years ago, the observation that if only Namboodiris had conceded to grant Namboodiri status on at least the male children born out of such sambandhams, Kerala would have become by now a predominantly Namboodiri state and all others would have been microscopic minorities!!
 
...The other sons had to content themselves with the pleasures from "sambandham" only.

If there is a heaven, life there must resemble that of the appahan namboodris of Kerala's yesteryears -- all fun, no encumbrances.

Thanks Shri sangom .....
 
Dear Shri sangom, Finally I saw the movie from the link Raghy provided. Your post was very helpful in following the movie given there was no subtitle. My Malayalam extends no more than the spattering of Tamil words in it. While I was able to follow the plot, I think I missed some important dialog, especially the ones of the indignant grownup son. For example, towards the end of the movie he attends a meeting and walks out of it with some of the attendees following him. I didn't understand what was going on.

The scene I loved most is the one where the girl comes out and challenges the Nambudris about Vyasa impregnating the widows.

BTW, I have a silly question, I feel a little hesitant to even ask this question having watched such a powerful movie, where are such movie makers in Tamil? I noticed that none of the nambudris, not even the Smartan, was wearing kutcham in the movie. Is this the actual practice among the Nambudris?

-- Cheers

p.s. Thanks Raghy for the link.
 
Respectable members,

This is a good movie, if you can handle it. This movie does not provide any answers..it only raises more questions.

YouTube - Parinayam - National Award winner of 1994 - Malayalam movie - 1

(Kindly find the parts 2 to 15 on the right side please. Thanks).

Cheers?
hi Raghy sir,
Thank u for the link...its a really a heavy movie...i know malayalam...
especially namboothiri malayalam very well...its more questions
than answers....especially purana about sage vyasa...thank u
so much....

regards
tbs
 
Sri.TBS,

You are welcome.

Sri.Nara,

I had an exposure to many Malayalee friends. I learned few words and built more words. I too figured out the movie from the Tamil words littered generously. I have seen quite a few movies. I picked up Malayalam from many movies too. Some movies, I have seen a few times (aaram Thamburan, Manichtrathazhu, Hitler) (No, the movie 'Hitler' has nothing to do with Nazi Hitler...it is a hilarious movie....). Once I got used to the sound of Malayalam language, it was not that hard to follow. (Still I steer clear of JayaGopi movies...he has long dialogues...Paithrukam is such a movie; but it was worth understanding his dialogues. There are many powerful dialogues in that movie. By the way, it is posted in this forum!).

About the meeting, from what I understand (Malayalee members can explain further)...That indignant son is an official in the youth wing of communist party. The speaker says :- "after continous efforts in rejection of Namboodhiris, we have come to the stage where we are not able to differentiate between mother and sister. There is only one thing to do; We shall seperate that member" (the speaker thinks that the son was responsible for the pregnancy). When the other members protested, the speaker places one question only..Are you keeping the the woan who was found guilty and ejected out by the shastra with you..or something in those lines. The son says, yes, I am protecting that woman. I send the resignation letter by mail (from the communist party) and walks out; his friends follow him...

I loved the same scene too...Thilakan (the enquirer) nicely expressed the baffelement. She also asks about Kunti and Mathri's pregnancies...

Cheers!
 
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