Breast Tax

The Breast Tax (Mulakkaram or mula-karam in Malayalam) was a tax imposed on the untouchable (outcaste) women in Travancore (in present-day Kerala state of India), until 1924. The untouchable (avarna) women were expected to pay the government a tax on their breasts, as soon as they started developing breasts.[1][2] The outcaste men had to pay a similar tax, called tala-karam, on their heads.[3] Those belonging to a varna (savarna), from Brahmins to the Shudras, were exempted from the taxes.[4]

The outcaste women were not allowed to wear clothes covering their upper body in the public.[3] The law resulted from Travancore's tradition, in which the breast was bared as a symbol of respect to higher-status people. For example, the Nairs bared their breasts to the upper-caste Nambudiri Brahmins, while the Brahmins bared their breasts only to the images of the deities. The people of the even lower castes, such as Nadars (or Shanars), were not allowed cover their breasts at all. With the spread of Christianity in the 19th century, the Christian converts among the Nadar women started covering their upper body, and gradually, even the Hindu Nadar women adopted this practice.[5][6] After a series of protests (see Channar revolt), the Nadar women were granted the right to cover their breasts in 1859.[7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ K.S. Manilal (15 November 2012). "Sikhism in Kerala: Forgotten Chapter in the Social History of the State". SAMAGRA. Centre for Research in Indigenous Knowledge Science and Culture (CRIKSC). 8: 3–4. ISSN 0973-3906. One such infamous law that was in force in Travancore until as late as the first quarter of the 20th century was known as Mulakkaram, i.e., the law of breast tax. According to this law the avarna women, were to pay tax to the Government for their breasts from the very time of their girlhood, when they start developing breasts
  2. ↑ R. N. Yesudas (1980). The History of the London Missionary Society in Travancore, 1806-1908. Kerala Historical Society. p. 19. The lower classes were to pay tax for the hair they grew, and for the breasts of ladies called breast-tax.
  3. 1 2 Jacob Kattackal (1990). Comparative Religion. Oriental Institute of Religious Studies. p. 144. In South India, until the 19th century, the 'low caste' men had to pay the 'head tax, and the 'low caste women' had to pay a 'breast tax' ('tala-karam and mula- karain) to the government treasury. The still more shameful truth is that these women were not allowed to wear upper garments in public.
  4. ↑ Vijayalayam Jayakumar (1999). Sree Narayana Guru, a Critical Study. D.K. Printworld. p. 15. ISBN 978-81-246-0120-4. Brāhmins to Śūdras were completely exempted from the taxes. At the same time there was a series of taxes ranging from tax on head to tax on breast for the avarnas.
  5. ↑ Robert L. Hardgrave (1969). The Nadars of Tamilnad. University of California Press. pp. 59–62. OCLC 12064.
  6. ↑ Robert L. Hardgrave, Jr. (1968). "The Breast-Cloth Controversy: Caste Consciousness and Social Change in Southern Travancore". The Indian Economic & Social History Review. 5 (2): 176.
  7. ↑ DR. A. VANAJA (February 2015). "ROLE OF MISSIONARIES IN UPPER CLOTH RIOT IN KANYAKUMARI DISTRICT". Paripex - Indian Journal Of Research. 4 (2).
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