WOMEN, DOWRY AND PROPERTY IN TAMIL FOLK SONGS

Author(s): VIJAYA RAMASWAMY

Source: Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, Vol. 53 (1992), pp. 181-186
Published by: Indian History Congress
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 14

WOMEN, DOWRY AND PROPERTY IN

TAMIL FOLK SONGS

VUAYA RAMASWAMY*

0.1 I would like to begin this paper with an apocryphal story narrated by
Ramanujam. Once upon a time, a passer-by saw an old woman searching tor
something under the powerful street lamp. When asked what she was search
for, she said : "My house keys". She told him that she had lost the ke
somewhere in the house but since it was dark inside she was searching
them outside where it was comparatively well lit!

0.2 One is tempted to apply this parable to the present context and claim that
tradition, especially those oral traditions which are particular to women, c
provide the best grass-roots perception of women within a patriarchal (or
that matter, matriarchal) system. An analysis of other sources ignoring this v
source would be like the old woman's search for the keys.

0.3 This paper will concentrate on attitudes towards both dowry and female prop
as reflected in women's folk songs. As Jan Vansina pointouts, folk so
constitute 'soft' evidence in contrast to inscriptions or classical literary sour
which are relatively 'hard' evidence (Vansina : 1961). One of the implication
of this is that the evidence cannot be fixed chronologically. Yet it is possible
locate folk tradition chronologically through an analysis of stylistic differences

* AM- 14053. Fellow, Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Shimla. Himachal Pradesh.

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 Proceedings , I HC : 53rd Session. 1992-93

well as corelating the events narrated in them with actual historical events.
Despite certajn inherent problems both anthropologists and historians are
increasingly making use of such resources to build up a structure of the history
of such neglected social, categories as craftsmen, peasants (inclusive of both
genders) and women. In the light of this preliminary discussion, this paper will
study folk perceptions, especially that of women on the crucial issues of dowry
and property.

1.1 Folk songs mark a major departure from other kinds of 'hard' evidence in that
the cradle songs extol not merely the male child but also the female child. Some
of these folk songs relates, to a time frame when society was patriarchal but
not patrilineal. Women seem to have enjoyed a share in the family property.
In fact, it was partly in order to keep the landed property within the family that
the practice of cross-cousin marriages was initially devised in south India.

In one cradle song, the woman sings :

"since your birth, my darling Ç kannammá)
The stigma has been swept away.
The infertility of the barren woman
has vanished since that day."

However, at some point of time, the system seems to have become patrilineal
while cross-cousin marriages continue even today as the remnant of an old
tradition.

1.2 Tamil folk songs provide us with some fascinating new insights into the dowry
system. A folk song from Madurai presents the traditional viewpoint of 'dowry'
as groom price and also refers to the predictable treatment of women in a
patriarchal society. In this song the young bride is Goddess Meenakshi, the
presiding deity of the city of Madurai, and Shiva is Chokkanathar the groom.
It is noteworthy that the imagery is from a farming life. Azhagar in this song
refers to Vishnu who in the legend of Madurai is Meenakshi's brother.

Heeding her tears, Azhagar gave as dowry

all he could in this world.
He gave sister Meenakshi Maana Madurai (an area of the
district)
And all the lakes and wells he gave her.
All the arable lands of Madurai
Harvesting the chamba rice Chokkan (Shiva)
stood in the hot sun.
Making a reed basket Meenakshi (note : basketry was woman's
work)
carrying the food and water jar
swaying in her graceful walk,
Went to give her husband food.

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 Vijaya Ramaswaniy : Women, Dowry and Property in Tamil Folk Sony *

Angered at her being late,

Chokkan scattered the rice
Shouting that there were pebbles in the food
Chokkan got furious.

Both in its reference to the dowry system and its description of a patriarchal
set-up, this song depicts a conventional situation. But surprisingly, the majority
of Tamil folk songs refer to parisamm i.e. bride price rather than groom price.

1.3 It must be pointed out here that the reference to bride price in the folk songs
may in fact point to an indigenous tradition. In this context it must be stated
that Sangam literature (roughly from 3rd century B.C. to A.D. 4th century)
indicates that pre-Brahmanical Tamil society was not wholly patriarchal. It is
striking that there is not even one reference to groom price or dowry in the
Sangam texts while there is a plethora of evidence regarding the giving of bride
price. An Ainkurunuru poem mentions that a hero from the maritime tract
(Neydal) gave land to the bride's relatives before the marriage (Nataraja :
1 969:25). There are lengthy references to bride price in both the Aham and the
Puram. A youth from Kurinji tinai attracted by a maiden from the Neydal tract,
laments that it is very difficult for him to obtain his beloved even though he is
willing to give "plenty of costly jewels and other presents". It can be argued that
it is this facet of Dravidian culture which is carried over into Tamil folk tradition.

1 .4 In the following folk song, a woman makes fun of her beau who has no money
to pay her dowry :

If you cannot pay my parisam , my love,

Why do you desire a pretty bird like me?
Why do you come to court me incessantly
pray, cease to impose your society on me.

However, the mere fact of the payment of bride price does not take away the
inherent problems of the overarching patriarchal structure which is male
dominated. Yet, another songs from the Tirunelveli district shows that the
groom's party has paid three hundred panams (since this figure appears again
and again it must have been a conventionally fixed amount) for the girl, probably
in the hope of gaining control over her property. But discovering that her father,
a Mittadar (small time zamindar) was too poor to leave her a substantial
property, the husband and the in-law ill-treat her.

Father in law : Having paid three hundred

and married the Mittadar's girl,
My son cries for the past three days
They have not given him a ring.

Daughter in law : You need not have paid parisam for me

you need not have held festivities in my honour
I am the daughter of a poor father
accept me as such, my father in law.

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 Proceedings, IHC : 53rd Session , 1992-93

Despite the fact that the bride price or parisam system functioned within the
limits of a patriarchal society, the wide prevalence of bride price in contrast to
dowry is a significant pointer to the possibility that the dowry system was a late
entry into the Dravidian culture.

1 .5 The major issue of women's property rights is also dealt with in the folk songs.
The importance of Oppari or mourning songs (also called pilakkanam) in Tamil
society is linked to the question of women's position in the domestic economy
and the property question. This is one of the longest surviving traditions in Tamil
culture, and one entirely created and preserved by women. But chronologically
Oppari seems to belong to a period when society was not merely patriarchal
but also patrilineal. The woman does not seem to have enjoyed property rights
which would provide her with an economic cushion under conditions of
widowhood. The practice of giving bride-land or manjakkani gifted by the father
on the occasion of the daughter's marriage, seems to have fallen into disuse.
Under these circumstances, the death of the husband rendered her destitute.
Nor could she have any expectations from her husband's property or from her
in laws. There are no lamentation songs by men mourning the death of their
wives. Oppari is essentially the product of a patriarchal society in which women
lament their personal and material loss. Of course, these lamentations also
extend to the death of one's parents (again underpinning the loss of material
security in one's parental home) or one's own children. An interesting aspect
of these songs is that at no stage is there any complaint against one's father
or brother although they are a part of the male patriarchal dominance. The
Oppari songs by women relate to both relationships and indicate that they were
looked upon as potential sources of women's refuge and hence excluded from
the charge of oppression.

1.6 A woman who had enjoyed all her husband's properties, finds that on his death
her brothers-in-law have grabbed everything and she is left destitute :

It used to rain pearls

The fresh waters used to gush through the fields.
The fields watered thus
would rustle with chamba grain
of all this wealth of fields and grain
I was the mistress.
Then my Lord ( Swami ) was taken from me
A short while ago
And now, for a fistful of rice
I am famine stricken.
(Vanamamalai : 1991 : 479-480)

After her husband's death, all his properties are auctioned by those claiming to
be her creditors :

Like the desert sand (mirage?)

Wealth flowed

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 Vijaya Ramaswamy : Women . Dowry and Property in Tamil Folk Songs

our eighteen (acres?) pannai (lands)

our ancestral possessions
our workshop (pattarai) with its step ladder
All is lost
Our punjai (dry lands)
are auctioned
out canals and wells auctioned
(Vanamamalai : 1991 : 536-7)

The punjai lands pertain to Tirunelveli district and this folk song is from Sivagiri
taluq. Punjai are dry lands made cultivable through irrigation.

1.7 In another song from Salem district it is the dead man's brothers who deprived
the widow of her properties :

Corn used to grow in abundance

the makuta chamba grain piled in heaps
But now at the hands of the machchinar (brothers in law)
I have to beg for my monthly keep
Such a wicked sinner am I !

These songs do not indicate that women had no property rights but only th
in a patriarchy they had no means of asserting these rights. However, evidenc
from folk traditions (as also of course classical literature) indicates that a wido
who had a son possessed a stronger claim to her husband's property.

Beneath the waters

I had hidden many pearls
But there is no son to take the pearls
No son to tonsure his head for you
In knee deep waters
I had burried our wealth
But there is no son to claim the wealth
No son to perform your last rites.

The allusion seems to be to landed properties which were very fertile rather
than to any buried wealth or actual pearls. Tonsure of the head is done by the
son who performs the last rites of his father. The above folk songs is also from
Sivagiri, Tirunelveli district.

1.8 Another folk song from Madurai is even more explicit regarding the property
question :

If a son had been born in my womb

The son would have got his rightful share
We would have had justice
in the courts of Madurai.
But I bore no son
So there was no son's share

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 Proceedings, IHC : 53rd Session, 1992-93

I could not go for appeal

to the courts of Madurai.

1.9 In conclusion, it can be said that the evidence of these folk songs would prove
extremely valuable if they could be substantiated and cross checked using
other reference points such as the itakshara of Vijnanesvara or the Parasara
Madhaviyam (both prescriptive texts) as well as other evidence and inscriptions.

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