| Revision as of 20:03, 14 August 2023 view sourceAnomieBOT (talk | contribs)Bots6,565,291 editsm Dating maintenance tags: {{Pn}}← Previous edit | Revision as of 06:43, 5 September 2023 view source Joshua Jonathan (talk | contribs)Autopatrolled, Extended confirmed users, Pending changes reviewers107,213 edits re-inserted text, referencesTag: harv-errorNext edit → | ||
| Line 4: | Line 4: | ||
| {{Use Indian English|date=August 2018}} | {{Use Indian English|date=August 2018}} | ||
| '''''Mulakkaram''''', literally translated as '''breast tax''', was a ] imposed on women belonging to ] communities by the erstwhile ] (in present-day ] state of ]) |
'''''Mulakkaram''''', literally translated as '''breast tax''', was a ] imposed on women belonging to ], ] and other ] communities by the erstwhile ] (in present-day ] state of ]), and was not applicable to upper caste women of Travancore.{{sfnp|Krishna|1937}}{{sfn|Nair|1986|p=45}}<ref group=web name="Pillai_2019"/><ref group=web name="Iqbal_2020"/>{{refn|group=note|name=Headtax}} The term "breast tax" was used to denote the gender of the person and not ] per se.<ref group=web name=""Gautam_2021""><ref group=web name="BBC_20160802"/> | ||
| According to subaltern beliefs<ref group=web name="BBC"/><ref group=web name="Palit2016"/><ref group=web name="Gautam_2021"/> the breast tax was imposed on lower class women if they covered their breasts.<ref group=web name="BBC"/>{{sfn|Allen|2017|p=285}}{{sfn|Allen|2018}}{{sfn|Jain|2021}}{{refn|group=note|name=cover_breasts_tax}} This belief has been questioned,<ref group=web name="Pillai_2017"/><ref group=web name="Pillai_2019"/><ref group=web name="Iqbal_2020"/><ref group=web name="Gautam_2021"/> as lower class women "were not allowed to wear upper garments in public"{{sfn|Kattackal|1990|p=144}} at all until 1859.{{refn|group=note|name=upper-cloth}}{{refn|group=note|name=ChannarRevolt}} | |||
| ==Etymology== | |||
| ⚫ | In ], all persons from lower castes were expected to pay poll tax when they start to work around the age of fourteen.{{sfn|Manilal|2012|p=3-4}}{{refn|group=note|name=Age14}} Poll tax paid by men were called ] ({{Literal translation|head tax}}) or ''meeshakkaram'' ({{Literal translation|moustache tax}}); and the tax paid by women were called ''mulakkaram'' ({{Literal translation|breast tax}}).{{sfn|Nair|1986}}{{pn|date=August 2023}} | ||
| ==Head tax== | |||
| ⚫ | The "breast tax" ({{transl|ml|mulakkaram}} or {{transl|ml|mula-karam}} in Malayalam) was a ] imposed on the ], ] and ] communities by the Kingdom of ] (in present-day ] state of ]).{{sfn|Nair|1986|p=45}}<ref group=web name="Pillai_2019"/><ref group=web name="Iqbal_2020"/>{{refn|group=note|name=Headtax}} In ], all persons from lower castes were expected to pay poll tax when they start to work around the age of fourteen.{{sfn|Manilal|2012|p=3-4}}{{refn|group=note|name=Age14}} Poll tax paid by men were called ] ({{Literal translation|head tax}}) or ''meeshakkaram'' ({{Literal translation|moustache tax}}); and the tax paid by women were called ''mulakkaram'' ({{Literal translation|breast tax}}).{{sfn|Nair|1986}}{{pn|date=August 2023}}{{sfn|Kattackal|1990|p=144}} | ||
| =='Breast-cover tax'== | =='Breast-cover tax'== | ||
| Line 14: | Line 16: | ||
| According to local beliefs,<ref group=web name="BBC"/><ref group=web name="Palit2016"/><ref group=web name="Gautam_2021"/> the "breast tax" was imposed on lower class women if they covered their breasts in public, to disencourage them from doing so.<ref group=web name="BBC"/>{{sfn|Allen|2017|p=285}}{{sfn|Allen|2018}}<ref group=web name="Palit2016"/>{{refn|group=note|name=cover_breasts_tax}} | According to local beliefs,<ref group=web name="BBC"/><ref group=web name="Palit2016"/><ref group=web name="Gautam_2021"/> the "breast tax" was imposed on lower class women if they covered their breasts in public, to disencourage them from doing so.<ref group=web name="BBC"/>{{sfn|Allen|2017|p=285}}{{sfn|Allen|2018}}<ref group=web name="Palit2016"/>{{refn|group=note|name=cover_breasts_tax}} | ||
| These beliefs have been questioned,<ref group=web name="Pillai_2017"/><ref group=web name="Pillai_2019"/><ref group=web name="Iqbal_2020"/><ref group=web name="Gautam_2021"/> as lower class women "were not allowed to wear upper garments in public"{{sfn|Kattackal|1990|p=144}} at all until 1859, after the ].{{refn|group=note|name=ChannarRevolt}} Historian ] treats the concept of "breast tax" to be a ] which "had nothing to do with breasts"<ref name=" |
These beliefs have been questioned,<ref group=web name="Pillai_2017"/><ref group=web name="Pillai_2019"/><ref group=web name="Iqbal_2020"/><ref group=web name="Gautam_2021"/> as lower class women "were not allowed to wear upper garments in public"{{sfn|Kattackal|1990|p=144}} at all until 1859, after the ].{{refn|group=note|name=ChannarRevolt}} Historian ] treats the concept of "breast tax" to be a ] which "had nothing to do with breasts"<ref name="Gautam_2021"/> and notes that covering the breasts was not the norm in Kerala's matrilineal society during Nangeli's life-span. Victorian standards of morality penetrated into the society decades later under British colonial influence, which led to subsequent class-struggles for the right to wear upper-body clothing.<ref group=web name="Pillai_2017"/> He believes Nangeli to have protested against an oppressive tax regime that was imposed upon all lower castes, which got appropriated with the passage of time, in pursuit of a different patriarchal fight for the preservation of female dignity.<ref group=web name="Pillai_2017"/><ref group=web name="Pillai_2019"/> In Jain's account, the "breast tax" is presented as a fine imposed by "Travancore's State's council of "upper" caste Nair's" to maintain caste boundaries.{{sfn|Jain|2021}}{{refn|group=note|name="Kent"}} | ||
| ==Notes== | ==Notes== | ||
| Line 28: | Line 30: | ||
| <!-- Headtax --> | <!-- Headtax --> | ||
| {{refn|group=note|name=Headtax|Headtax: | {{refn|group=note|name=Headtax|Headtax: | ||
| {{harvnb|Krishna|1937}}: "The petty Raja used to give a silver-headed cane to the principal headman, who was then called ‘Perumban or 'caneman'. The head money was popularly known as 'thalakaram' in the case of males and 'mulakaram' in the case of females." | |||
| * {{harvnb|Nair|1986|p=45}}: "The Pooja Raja in Travancore made the Malarayans pay money at the rate of one anna, two pies (8 pies) a head monthly as soon as they were able to work, and a similar sum of presence money besides certain quotas of fruits and vegetables and feudal service The ] was called Thalakaram in the case of males and Mulakaram (breast money) in the case of females. | * {{harvnb|Nair|1986|p=45}}: "The Pooja Raja in Travancore made the Malarayans pay money at the rate of one anna, two pies (8 pies) a head monthly as soon as they were able to work, and a similar sum of presence money besides certain quotas of fruits and vegetables and feudal service The ] was called Thalakaram in the case of males and Mulakaram (breast money) in the case of females. | ||
| * {{harvnb|Pillai|2019}}: "Nangeli too was recast. When Nangeli offered her breasts on a plantain leaf to the rajah's men, she demanded not the right to cover her breasts, for she would not have cared about this 'right' that meant nothing in her day. Indeed, the mulakkaram had little to do with breasts other than the tenuous connection of nomenclature. It was a poll tax charged from low-caste communities, as well as other minorities. Capitation due from men was the talakkaram—head tax—and to distinguish female payees in a household, their tax was the mulakkaram—breast tax. The tax was not based on the size of the breast or its attractiveness, as Nangeli's storytellers will claim, but was one standard rate charged from women as a certainly oppressive but very general tax."<ref group=web name="Pillai_2019"/> | * {{harvnb|Pillai|2019}}: "Nangeli too was recast. When Nangeli offered her breasts on a plantain leaf to the rajah's men, she demanded not the right to cover her breasts, for she would not have cared about this 'right' that meant nothing in her day. Indeed, the mulakkaram had little to do with breasts other than the tenuous connection of nomenclature. It was a poll tax charged from low-caste communities, as well as other minorities. Capitation due from men was the talakkaram—head tax—and to distinguish female payees in a household, their tax was the mulakkaram—breast tax. The tax was not based on the size of the breast or its attractiveness, as Nangeli's storytellers will claim, but was one standard rate charged from women as a certainly oppressive but very general tax."<ref group=web name="Pillai_2019"/> | ||
| Line 60: | Line 64: | ||
| * {{cite book |last =Jain |first =Kajri |date=March 2021 |title=Gods in the Time of Democracy |publisher=]}} | * {{cite book |last =Jain |first =Kajri |date=March 2021 |title=Gods in the Time of Democracy |publisher=]}} | ||
| * {{Citation|last=Jones|first=Kenneth W.|title=Socio-Religious Reform Movements in British India|url=http://www.cambridge.org/nl/academic/subjects/history/south-asian-history/socio-religious-reform-movements-british-india|year=1989|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0-521-24986-4}} | * {{Citation|last=Jones|first=Kenneth W.|title=Socio-Religious Reform Movements in British India|url=http://www.cambridge.org/nl/academic/subjects/history/south-asian-history/socio-religious-reform-movements-british-india|year=1989|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0-521-24986-4}} | ||
| <!-- K --> | |||
| * {{cite book | last =Kattackal | first =Jacob | year =1990 | title =Comparative Religion | publisher =Oriental Institute of Religious Studies | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=O_MnAAAAYAAJ }} | * {{cite book | last =Kattackal | first =Jacob | year =1990 | title =Comparative Religion | publisher =Oriental Institute of Religious Studies | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=O_MnAAAAYAAJ }} | ||
| * {{Citation | last =Kent |first =Eliza F. | year =2004 | title =Converting Women: Gender and Protestant Christianity in Colonial South India | publisher =Oxford University Press}} | * {{Citation | last =Kent |first =Eliza F. | year =2004 | title =Converting Women: Gender and Protestant Christianity in Colonial South India | publisher =Oxford University Press}} | ||
| * {{Citation|last=Kertzer|first=David I.|title=Ritual, Politics, and Power|url=http://www.davidkertzer.com/books/ritual-politics-and-power|year=1988|publisher=Yale University Press}} | * {{Citation|last=Kertzer|first=David I.|title=Ritual, Politics, and Power|url=http://www.davidkertzer.com/books/ritual-politics-and-power|year=1988|publisher=Yale University Press}} | ||
| * {{Cite book | last =Krishna Iyer | first =L.A. | year =1937 | title =Travancore Tribes And Castes Vol. 1 | publisher =Superintendent, Government Pres | location =Thiruvananthapuram | url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.42706/page/n281/mode/2up}} | |||
| <!-- K --> | |||
| * {{Cite journal | last =Manilal | first =K.S. | date =15 November 2012 | title =Sikhism in Kerala: Forgotten Chapter in the Social History of the State | journal =Samagra | issn =0973-3906 | volume =8 | url =https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxjcmlrc2NzYW1hZ3JhfGd4OjE5OTc0YzhhNWRlN2Y2MDM }} | * {{Cite journal | last =Manilal | first =K.S. | date =15 November 2012 | title =Sikhism in Kerala: Forgotten Chapter in the Social History of the State | journal =Samagra | issn =0973-3906 | volume =8 | url =https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxjcmlrc2NzYW1hZ3JhfGd4OjE5OTc0YzhhNWRlN2Y2MDM }} | ||
| * {{cite book | last1 =Nair | first1 =Adoor K. K. Ramachandran | year =1986 | title =Slavery in Kerala | publisher =Mittal Publications | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=03R1JWXcVYIC | language =en }} | * {{cite book | last1 =Nair | first1 =Adoor K. K. Ramachandran | year =1986 | title =Slavery in Kerala | publisher =Mittal Publications | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=03R1JWXcVYIC | language =en }} | ||
| Line 80: | Line 87: | ||
| <!-- "BBC" --> | <!-- "BBC" --> | ||
| <ref group=web name="BBC">{{Cite news|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-36891356|title=The woman who cut off her breasts to protest a tax|date=2016-07-28|access-date=2019-11-13|language=en-GB}}</ref> | <ref group=web name="BBC">{{Cite news|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-36891356|title=The woman who cut off her breasts to protest a tax|date=2016-07-28|access-date=2019-11-13|language=en-GB}}</ref> | ||
| <!-- --> | |||
| <ref group=web name="BBC_20160802">{{cite web | title=BBC makes news of a forgotten woman army from Murali's paintings | website=English Archives | date=2016-08-02 | url=https://englisharchives.mathrubhumi.com/news/offbeat/english-news-1.1249481 | access-date=2022-04-10}}</ref> | |||
| <!-- G --> | <!-- G --> | ||
| <!-- "Gautam_2021" --> | <!-- "Gautam_2021" --> | ||
Revision as of 06:43, 5 September 2023
Tax imposed on women by the Kingdom of Tranvancore
Mulakkaram, literally translated as breast tax, was a poll tax imposed on women belonging to Nadar, Ezhava and other lower caste communities by the erstwhile Kingdom of Tranvancore (in present-day Kerala state of India), and was not applicable to upper caste women of Travancore. The term "breast tax" was used to denote the gender of the person and not breasts per se.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).
}}
- Krishna (1937). sfnp error: no target: CITEREFKrishna1937 (help)
- Nair 1986, p. 45.
Cite error: There are <ref group=web> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=web}} template (see the help page).
Cite error: There are <ref group=note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=note}} template (see the help page).