THE DALIT FEMINIST OF 19th CENTURY : NANGELI (STORY OF THE BREAST TAX)

 

STORY OF THE WARRIOR:

CIRCUMSTANCES : 

• As I have discussed earlier, the BREAST TAX( Mulakaram) revolves around discrimination and casteism.                                            
• In Kerala, an area named Travancore. This is an example of the utmost discrimination against the lower classes.
• A tax has to be given by the men's and women's of lower classes.
• In males, the tax was called the "HEAD TAX." In this tax, the males of the lower classes cannot walk bare heads or represent their heads in different/particular forms; if they do so, they have to pay a tax called the HEAD TAX.
• Now comes the tax on Hindu Untouchable women and women of different religions and lower class that cannot cover their breast/chest. If they did, they had to pay a tax known as the BREAST TAX (mulakkaram).
• The upper-class women had the right to cover up their breasts. And size was directly proportional to the amount of tax that had to be paid by the Dalits. The bigger the size, the more the tax to hide them up.

THE HISTORY:  

• As of now, you might be well known about the tax and the circumstances of that time.
• These taxes were only applied to the suppressed classes; NADAR also comes under this caste ( now it is considered OBC ).
• Another caste known as EZHAVA is also a significantly suppressed class of KERALA.
• A story is very famous in that caste and even in KERALA about NANGELI.
• This is a story of the period between 1802-1803. BREAST TAX was imposed then. Nangeli belongs to a lower caste, and the orders were that the females of lower classes cannot cover their breasts whenever they are walking in any public place. 
• Every woman of the lower classes on whom this tax was imposed was very depressed, but they could not do anything about it. But NANGELI cannot bear with it. She didn't accept this tax.
• She was wearing a cloth on her chest in a public place, and then some men of the upper class came to her and told her not to do so, and if she wanted it, she had to pay the tax. But NANGELI refused to pay any tax.
• Then the protest started. Protesters were the upper-class people, and the main argument was that what would be the difference between the lower and upper classes.   
•           RULE - The rule was that whenever the tax officer arrives to collect the tax, the payers have to give the amount of tax in banana leaves.
• When she opposed the tax, the King got into the matter and told the officer to collect the tax. 
• She was harassed by the people who went with the officer and told her that she had to pay the tax; otherwise, she could not cover her breast.   
• IN THE END, she went inside her home, the tax officer thought that she might be bringing the tax and after some time when she arrived, the people standing there were shocked by the scene they were seeing.  

NANGELI RIPPED HER BREASTS OFF WITH A KNIFE AND REPRESENTED THEM IN FRONT OF THE OFFICER ON THE BANANA LEAVES.  

• She said: I don't have any money and cannot afford to walk like this. 
• The officer and the other people ran from there, and our warrior was bled to death at her doorsteps.
• His husband took his life by jumping in the fire, and here we can see a reverse example of the 'SATI PRATHA.'
• Today, people worship her in Travancore; her house is still the same back then.
  
  
  
• The protest took the wild form, and the King had to abolish the BREAST TAX, but he did only for that particular community.   

"Ours is not the struggle of one day, one week, or one year. Ours is not the struggle of one judicial appointment or presidential term. Ours is the struggle of a lifetime, or maybe even many lifetimes, and each one of us in every generation must do our part."

                                                                                            – John Lewis

                                        

SOURCES: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bNK7_raoVE
https://www.humanrightscareers.com/issues/quotes-on-racial-injustice/

            https://knowledgekart.in/blog/mulakaram-woman-empowerment-and-the-rape-culture-in-india/