https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Channar_revoltChannar revolt - Revision history2026-07-30T23:09:52ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Channar_revolt&diff=111541&oldid=prev>Lislecowls at 04:57, 29 June 20212021-06-29T04:57:06Z<p></p>
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{{Reformation in Kerala}} <br />
The '''Channar Lahala''' or '''Channar revolt''', also called '''Maru Marakkal Samaram''',{{sfn|Ponnumuthan|1996|p=109}} refers to the fight from 1813 to 1859 of [[Nadar climber]] women in the present day [[Kanyakumari district]] of the [[Travancore]] kingdom of India for the right to wear upper-body clothes to cover their breasts. <br />
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==Background== <br />
In 19th century Travancore, baring of one's chest to higher status people was considered a sign of respect by both males and females.{{sfn|Cohn|1996|p=140}}{{sfn|Billington Harper|2000|p=13}} Thus, those of the lower status [[caste system in India|castes]], such as the [[Nadar climber]]s and [[Ezhava]]s, had to bare their chest in the presence of members of the higher-ranked [[Nair]] caste, who in turn had to do so in the presence of the still higher ranked [[Nambudiri Brahmin]]s. The Brahmins, being at the pinnacle of the Hindu ritual ranking system known as [[varna (Hinduism)|varna]], bared their chest only in the presence of a deity<ref>{{cite book|title=Converting Women: Gender and Protestant Christianity in Colonial South India|last1=Kent|first1=Eliza|publisher=Oxford university|pages=216}}</ref>{{sfn|Ponnumuthan|1996|p=109}} Lower-caste women who wore clothes that covered their breasts had to pay a punitive [[Breast Tax|breast tax]] to the state.<ref name=":0">{{Cite 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=2019-11-15|language=en-GB}}</ref> <br />
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Higher-class women covered both breasts and shoulders with a piece of material known as the upper-cloth unless in the presence of people of a still higher-ranked community,{{sfn|Ponnumuthan|1996|p=109}} whereas Nadar climber women were not allowed to cover their bosoms, as most of the non-Brahmin women{{Citation needed|date=May 2020|reason=Exact page needed}}, to punctuate their low status. Uneasy with their social status, a large number of Nadar climbers embraced Christianity,{{sfn|Hardgrave|1969|p=55–70}} and started to wear "long cloths," strengthened by their new belief system, which offered equal rights to all men (and women). When many more Nadars turned to Christianity, many Nadar women started to wear the Nair breast cloth.{{sfn|Cohn|1996|p=140}} <br />
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==1813–1829 grants and withdrawals== <br />
The Nadar women successfully campaigned to be allowed to cover their breasts. In 1813, Colonel John Munro, British ''dewan'' in the Travancore court, issued an order granting permission to women converted to Christianity to wear upper cloth. The order was withdrawn when ''pindakars'', members of the Raja's council, complained about this, arguing that this right would obliterate caste-differences, and lead to widespread pollution in the state. Nadar women were forbidden to wear the Nair sharf, and instead were allowed to wear the ''kuppayam'', a type of jacket worn by Shonagas and [[Mappilas]] which was similar to the [[Chattayum Mundum]] worn by [[Saint Thomas Christians|Syrian Christians]].{{sfn|Cohn|1996|p=140}}{{sfn|Ponnumuthan|1996|p=109}} The women were not satisfied, continuing to fight for the right to wear upper cloth "like any other woman in the higher castes,"{{sfn|Ponnumuthan|1996|p=109}} and preferring breast-clothing in the Nair-style. This led to increasing violence in the 1820s against Nadar women, and also the burning of schools and churches. In 1828 the Travancore government again forbade Nadar-women the Nair-style breast-clothes, but permitted the wearing of the jacket.{{sfn|Cohn|1996|p=141}} In 1829, the Travancore queen issued yet another proclamation, which denied the right of Nadar women to wear upper cloths.{{sfn|Ponnumuthan|1996|p=109}} <br />
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==1859 proclamation== <br />
In 1858, new violence broke out in several places in Travancore. On 26 July 1859, under pressure from [[Sir Charles Trevelyan, 1st Baronet|Charles Trevelyan]], the [[Madras Presidency|Madras]] Governor, the king of Travancore issued a proclamation proclaiming the right for all Nadar women to cover their breasts, either by wearing jackets, like the Christian Nadars, or tie coarse-cloth around their upper-body, like the ''Mukkavattigal'' (fisher-women).{{sfn|Cohn|1996|p=141}}{{sfn|Ross|2008|p=78}}{{sfn|Jones|1989|p=159}} Yet they were still not allowed to cover their breasts in the style of the higher-class Nair women.{{sfn|Cohn|1996|p=141-142}} This solution was not satisfactory to the missionaries, who regarded all men and women to be equal. Nadar women continued to ignore the restrictions, developing an upper-wear style that resembled the style of the higher class Hindu women, but offended some Hindus as a provocation by the missionaries.{{sfn|Cohn|1996|p=142}} The code was still discriminatory until 1915–1916, and the challenge was supported by [[Ayyankali]].{{cn|date=May 2020}}<br />
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==Further emancipation== <br />
After the revolt, pamphlets appeared putting forth the claims of [[Kshatriya]] status of the Nadars. Members of the caste claimed the right to wear the sacred thread and to ride palanquins to wedding ceremonies. By 1891 at least 24,000 Nadars had given their caste to the census enumerator as being ''kshatriya''.{{sfn|Bendix|Brand|1973|p=534}} <br />
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== Controversy == <br />
The [[Central Board of Secondary Education|CBSE]] in December 2016 issued a circular to all 19,000 affiliated schools under it asking that a section 'Caste Conflict and Dress Change' – a chapter that included the Channar revolt – be omitted from the curriculum with effect from 2017.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.thenewsminute.com/article/cbse-says-nadar-women-s-historic-struggle-cover-their-breasts-objectionable-54555|title=CBSE says Nadar women's historic struggle to cover their breasts 'objectionable'|date=2016-12-20|newspaper=The News Minute|access-date=2016-12-21}}</ref><br />
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==See also== <br />
* [[Sivakasi riots of 1899]] <br />
* [[Nangeli]] <br />
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== References == <br />
{{reflist|30em}} <br />
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==Sources== <br />
{{refbegin}} <br />
* {{Citation | last =Kent | first =Eliza.F. | year =2004 | title =Gender and Protestant Christianity in Colonial South India | publisher =Oxford University Press | doi =10.1093/0195165071.001.0001 | isbn= 9780195165074 | url =https://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/0195165071.001.0001/acprof-9780195165074}} <br />
* {{Citation | last1 =Bendix | last2 =Brand | first1=Reinhard | first2 =Coenraad | year =1973 | title=State and Society: A Reader in Comparative Political Sociology | publisher =University of California Press | isbn =9780520024908 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P5gzTp13AXQC}} <br />
* {{Citation | last =Billington Harper | first =Susan | year =2000 | title =In the Shadow of the Mahatma | publisher =Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing | isbn =0-8028-3874-X |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gvUqv6-pH4UC}} <br />
* {{Citation | last =Cohn | first =Bernard S. | year =1996 | title =Colonialism and Its Forms of Knowledge | publisher =Princeton University Press | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=7Q-nDwAAQBAJ|isbn= 9780691000435}} <br />
* {{Citation | last =Hardgrave | first =Robert | year =1969 | title =The Nadars of Tamilnad: The Political Culture of a Community in Change | publisher =University of California Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KZ9mqiLgkdEC}} <br />
* {{Citation | last =Jones | first =Kenneth W. | year =1989 | title =Socio-Religious Reform Movements in British India | publisher =Cambridge University Press | isbn =0-521-24986-4 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=8HV4nHv8urgC}} <br />
* {{Citation | last =Kertzer | first =David I. | year =1988 | title =Ritual, Politics, and Power | publisher =Yale University Press | isbn =0300043627 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=osntCYbeXRYC}} <br />
* {{Citation | last =Ponnumuthan | first =Selvister | year =1996 | title =The Spirituality of Basic Ecclesial Communities in the Socio-religious Context of Trivandrum/Kerala, India | publisher =Universita Gregoriana | isbn =9788876527210 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zcedqS4jOusC}} <br />
* {{Citation | last =Ross | first =Robert | year =2008 | title =Clothing: A Global History | publisher =Polity}} <br />
{{refend}} <br />
<br />
[[Category:Kingdom of Travancore]] <br />
[[Category:Rebellions in Asia]] <br />
[[Category:19th century in India]] <br />
[[Category:19th-century rebellions]] <br />
[[Category:Social history of Kerala]] <br />
[[Category:Women's rights in Asia]] <br />
[[Category:Clothing controversies]]</div>>Lislecowls