Re-Reading Smarthavicharam

Download as pdf or txt
Download as pdf or txt
You are on page 1of 2

International Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences

Vol-6, Issue-5; Sep-Oct, 2021

Journal Home Page Available: https://ijels.com/


Journal DOI: 10.22161/ijels

Peer-Reviewed Journal

Re-Reading Smarthavicharam
Vandhana Nair N

PhD Scholar, Srinivas University, Mangalore, India

Received: 03 Aug 2021; Received in revised form: 03 Sep 2021; Accepted: 10 Sep 2021; Available online: 16 Sep 2021
©2021 The Author(s). Published by Infogain Publication. This is an open access article under the CC BY license
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Abstract— Smarthavicharam is a ritually sanctioned procedure of ostracizing an accused women from her
Namboodiri community for sexual offences based on sankarasmrithi. With this article I would like to put
forth the argument that the world hasn't moved much forward from the old smarthavicharam since the
recent cases like the then celebrities swapna and saritha are the best examples. The cases won't be
different in the future too.
Keywords— smarthavicharam, ritual, ostricize, namboodiri women, sexual offences, antherjanam,
thathrikutty, trial and retrial, aphans, sambandham.

Smarthavicharam is a ritually sanctioned procedure of women by the Namboodiri community. The text is based
ostracizing an accused Namboodiri woman from her on the historical trial of Thathrikutty who was accused of
community for sexual offence based on Sankarasmrithi. sexual relations with sixty five men. The verdict of the
During CE 1200 –CE 1900, the Namboodiri’s held sway in trial had to be delayed and a re-trial was ordered as per the
Kerala society’s caste hierarchy. In order to retain the provisions of modern day jurisprudence. The king who
possession of their huge land holdings and to ensure it was ordered the trial was also implicated in it by later
not subdivided, the patriarchal Namboodiri caste permitted discourses, thanks to a coterie of dissidents. The trial
only the eldest son in the family to marry from among the records and documents are available in Cochin Archives
Namboodiris and he was permitted multiple marriages in and the regional newspapers of the time.
order to accommodate Namboodiri women who were not On the other handthe feminist perspective looks at
permitted to marry outside the caste(Bhaskaranunni 59). Thathrikutty as the then ‘feminist’, who went on to claim
This led to psychological, sexual and social dissatisfaction her identity against the patriarchy, her attempt at
within the community as young women and younger prostitution was looked at as her retaliation against the
brothers in the community were denied their rights for system and thereby as the feminist phase in history,
normal lives. While the younger brothers(aphans) could however the proposed dissertation intend to re-read
have sexual relations (sambandham)with lower caste Nair Smarthavicharam notas part of the feminist phase as
women, Namboodiri women had no such opportunity. The believed by literature discourses but as part of the female
reactions to these led to an increasing number of deviants phase that Showalter speaks of, wherein both male and
from the norms which were termed/considered as sexual female have their own preferences which does not make
offences. one superior to the other. There comes an autonomous turn
Agnisakshi by Lalithambika Antherjanam deals with the to things.
theme of Thathrikutty’s smarthavicharam.The proposed The imperative for this proposal was drawn by
paper intend to explore this concept from two different the fact that the period between CE 1890-CE 1924
perspectives –first, a historical perspective of how things witnessed the most cases on Smarthavicharam along with
turned out, and second interrogating it using contemporary the Namboodiri women willingly wanting to be ostracized.
‘female phase’ foregrounded by Showalter. Agnisakshi The importance of the topic lies in where the another face
portrays Thathrikutty as reacting against the oppression of of smarthavicharam acts in Kerala. The practices done

IJELS-2021, 6(5), (ISSN: 2456-7620)


https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijels.65.4 21
Vandhana Nair N Re-Reading Smarthavicharam

with "saritha" and "swapna" Is not different. Here it's


evident that the victims of male vulgurnesses also faces the
same isolation.

REFERENCES
[1] Antherjanam, Lalithambika. Agnisakshi. Kottayam: D C
Books, 1976. Print.
[2] Bhaskaranunni,P. Smarthavicharam. Kottayam: NBS,
2000. Print.
[3] Showalter, Elaine.A Literature of Their Own.1977.
[4] Chakyar, AMN. Avasanathe Smartha Vicharam. Trans. KK
Sankaran Namboodiri.

IJELS-2021, 6(5), (ISSN: 2456-7620)


https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijels.65.4 22

You might also like