Saraswati Vijayam

The following extracts are from the Malayalam novel Saraswativijayam (1892) by Pother Kunhambu (1857 - 1919). Kunhambu came from the caste of Tiyyas, then practising the lowly occuapation of toddy tapping. He received an English education at the Cannanore Government High School, started work as a postmaster in Malappuram and then became a copy clerk in the Magistrate's court in Taliparamba. After passing the vakil examination, he moved to Cannanore and finally became a lawyer known for his probity. He established the Edward Press in Cannanore and brought out a series of books reflecting his anguished engagement with Hinduism, leading to his pamphlet of 1908 - Tiyyar - in which he advocated conversion as a means of escape from the degradation of caste inequality. Kunhambu was much taken up with the idea of colonial modernity which seemed to allow for education, mobility and equality for lower castes. Saraswativijayam begins with the attempted killing of a Pulayan for daring to sing in the vicinity of a proud Nambudiri landlord.

Although believed to be dead, the Pulayan survives, and the rest of the novel follows the two protagonists - the master and the slave - as each of them seeks out his particular salvation. The Brahmin goes to Kashi and cleanses himself of pride and ignorance, the Pulayan, through the space opened up by colonial education and Christianity, becomes a judge. At the end of the novel, the Pulayan presides over the trial of the Nambudiri and also marries his granddaughter Saraswati. The novel has the epigraph: Education is the greatest of all wealth.

The following extracts are from the first two chapters of the novel.

(The protagonist Kuberan Nambudiripad is travelling in a regal procession with his family and retinue when a voice is heard singing a song of great sweetness. He sends his overseer to enquire).

HIS master had only ordered him to find out who the singer was and come back with the information. Unable to bear the fact that a Pulayan, and that too a slave of the Nambudiri, was singing, Ramankutty Nambiar forgot himself. Shouting, "Who do you think you are, to sing like this?" he kicked him angrily on his back. The Pulayan keeled over and fell unconscious on the ground with the force of the blow. On seeing this, Nambiar felt not even a tinge of compassion. His anger unabated, and thinking gleefully, "The Pulayan has got himself into a fine mess", he ran back towards the Nambudiri.

(The Nambudiri rewards Ramankutty with a length of cloth for his deed, and has the following conversation with his grand-daughter Saraswati).

Child: Grandfather, why did you give him a mundu?

Nambudiri: That, my child, was because it was he who killed the Cheruman (the caste names Pulayan and Cheruman are interchangeable) who was singing as we were going that way. That was why I gave him a mundu.

Child: Ayyo, but why? He was singing a very nice song. When uncle refused to sing the other day, did you not hit him? Why did Ramankutty kick the Cheruman for singing then? Do not give him any more rice and you should take back the mundu as well, grandpa.

Nambudiri: Daughter, you do not understand anything. Cherumans must not even learn to read and write. If he educates himself and starts singing like this, there will be a drought in the country.

Child: But last evening it rained heavily.

(Eventually the Nambudiri gives up in exasperation in the face of his grand-daughter's naive, but uncomfortable, logic. The Pulayan's family is summoned before the Nambudiri prior to their eviction and the Nambudiri castigates the mother of the Pulayan).

Nambudiri: Who taught him how to sing? Does he know how to read and write as well?

Cherumi: The White man taught him how to read and write. They run a school for the Cherumans. My son told me that they are taught by the missionaries.

Nambudiri: Why did you not let me know of this earlier? The likes of you are not meant to learn to read and write. If you do, then not only you but the entire village will be reduced to destitution. Don't you see how the rains have decreased? What do you expect when you go against the religion of the sages? Alas! Alas! What do these mlechcha White men think they are doing? They seem bent on setting the country on fire. I wonder whether there will be another incarnation to do what the son of Dasharatha did (a reference to the slaying of Shambhuka)? This is the effect of kali ...

(A corpse is discovered on the banks of the river by a few Mappila Muslims inimical to the Nambudiri and rumours run rife. Fortunately, the Nambudiri's younger brother is carrying on a liaison with the daughter of the Nair adhikari (village officer) investigating the affair. The Nambudiri suggests that he shall bless the liaison, provided the report is altered. Then a conversation follows between the Nambudiri, his Tamil Brahmin overseer and the adhikari, Kothu Nambiar).

Adhikari: Your holiness must not become despondent. I shall fix it so that no blame falls on you. That Mappila boy has signed on the yaaddaasht (report). That is the only problem. Of course there is a solution; we shall discard the earlier yaaddaasht. I shall immediately prepare another one.

Nambudiri: Kothu, you should act according to your interests. As you know, the protection of Brahmins comes before the protection of self.

Kothu Nambiar: Yes, my lord, that is true beyond a doubt.

Overseer: If you lose a government job, all you lose is a bit of profit. However, if you refuse to save a Brahmin, then you suffer on earth and in the afterlife.

Nambudiri: Oh, you do not have to tell Kothu all of this. You have not read the Manusmriti, have you Kothu? We are all suffering because the king is a mlechcha. He does not know the difference between a Brahmin and a Chandala. No matter what the caste of the culprit, the punishment is the same. Oh for the good old times. Even today, Travancore is better in these respects.

(The Nambudiri then proceeds to quote copiously from the Manusmriti regarding differential punishment for the various castes and the exalted status of the Brahmin. This is followed by an extended authorial comment on the meretricious nature of Sanskrit quotations which hide the naked fact of the desire for power. He comments on the darkness within the soul of Brahmins who commit sins, secure in the belief that the chanting of the Gayatri mantra absolves them of both guilt and responsibility).

Translation and notes by Dilip Menon

Dilip Menon teaches History in the University of Hyderabad. The series is co-ordinated by Meenakshi Mukherjee.

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