Shifting the ground of fatherhood: matriliny, men and marriage in early twentieth century Malabar

Abstract

Central to the project of comprehensive reform of matriliny in early twentieth century Malabar was the affirmation of the conjugal bond as the principal property/material relation between men and women and parents (fathers) and children. In contrast to forms of property relations facilitated by matriliny, this constituted a demand for centering property relations arising from marriage. This paper attempts to capture the processes of reform that established, i.e., gave legal and social frame and detail to husbands and fathers among the matrilineal Hindus in early twentieth century Malabar. It is argued that the father as a distinct masculine identity was premised on the reconstitution of norms of female sexuality and male conjugal responsibility, within a framework of closely wrought patriarchal marriage. Female sexuality, including women's mobility, was re-wrought so that women could 'properly' be wives, in a relationship with men, that would be marked by the exchange of dependence (the underside being obedience) and protection Redefinition of sexuality was crucial to the production of women's 'moral' commitment to the conjugal family, going far beyond sexual restraint to being a disciplining social force. However, this was also part of a larger project of defining normative masculinity — making 'men' out to matrilineal wastrels. Men as husbands and fathers were imagined as everything the karanavan (the much maligned oldest male member and executor of property in a matrilineal family interpreted by the civil courts as its head) was not. If the karanavan was arraigned as distant dictatorial and negligent of the interests of the taravad, the father was sketched as accessible, naturally inclined and enterprising in the interests of his wife and children