“The Misssing Male: The Female Figures of Ravi Varma and the Concepts of

Family, Marriage, and Fatherhood in 19th Century Kerala”

The 19th Century Kerala Cultural Scene

This essay studies the female figures (portraits and genre paintings) of Raja Ravi Varma against the
cultural context of the male sexuality of his day and the changing attitudes towards the feminine. At that
time there existed various socially acceptable forms of polyandry, polygamy, concubinage, serial
monogamy, and the institution of visiting husbands. All these things challenged the dignity and honour of
women. His paintings present a new concept of womanhood – the wife-mother in place of the mistress
or paramour. This may be the result of some important social changes that took place at that time. They
were:

1. The legalization of marriage

2. Disintegration of matriliny
3. The economic decline of the joint family (the Taravad)
4. Formation of the nuclear family
5. The economic independence of a professional middle class
6. The replacement of land economy by money economy

To consider the situation of woman and the nature of man-woman relationship in the social and cultural
environment of the 19th century Kerala is to understand the unique matrilineal system among the non-
Brahmin communities of Kerala.In the Kerala tradition there were two forms of marriage practiced by the
non-Brahmin castes of Kshatriyas, Ambalavasis and Nairs.

1. ‘Talikettu kalyanam’
The girls of non-Brahmin castes should undergo this ritual before the age of puberty. In this
socially celebrated ceremony every girl child of a family before the age of twelve was ritually
married. A “bridegroom” from traditionally fixed families in accordance with the social and
economic status of the girl’s family would tie a special pendant- tali- round the neck of the girl
child. But this ritual did not entitle the couple to any marital partnership. Instead this ritually
legitimized the girl to enter into marital relationship with a man of the same sub-caste or of an
upper caste. A woman who has not undergone this ritual stands the risk of her child being
considered illegitimate.
2. ‘Sambandham’
This refers to the actual marital alliance in which a woman of the matrilineal castes contracts with
a man of the upper or same caste. Originally, Sambandham was a matter of a free association
between a Nambudiri man and a Kshatriya or Nair woman already married in her own caste. Later
these unions gave rise to a marriage system based on polyandry. Among the Nambudiri Brahmins
only the eldest male was allowed to marry within caste and the others were left to look for marriage
partners from the non-Brahmin castes of Kshatriyas and Nairs. These women were not free to visit
or stay with their Nambudiri husbands. They would be visited periodically at appointed times. The
 children of these Nair women were not recognized officially as the children of their Brahmin
fathers. They could not inherit the name or property of the Nambudiri. The relation with a
Nambudiri Brahmin was considered as a prestige to the Taravad and Karanavan. A Taravad
comprised several smaller units called Tavazhi, each including a mother and her children together
with the maternal uncle. But the eldest maternal uncle, called the Karanavan, was the head of the
whole Taravad, holding unquestioned authority over its administration.

These two unsteady marital relationships gradually led to both polygynous and polyandrous
situations. O. Chandu Menon’s novel Indulekha (1889) best represents the socio-cultural situations of
the time.

It is no wonder that much of the elitist poetry of the time (“Nambudiri literature”) was
characterized by a celebration of lust. A well known example is a work known as Puraprabandham. In
this the Nambudiri poet narrates in the first person his own sexual experiences among a number of women.
But at that time it was read as great poetry. Another work named Keralamahatmyam cites the words of
Parasurama allowing chastity only to the Brahmins and Dwijas. There was no chastity rule for non-
Brahmin women.

II

The second section of the essay examines the paintings (female figures) of Ravi Varma against the
background of the nature and extent of male sexuality. The writer finds a contrast between Ravi Varma’s
portraits of Malayali women and the figures of Malayali women in his genre paintings of contemporary
domestic scenes. His portraits of young Malayali girls in paintings like An Amma Thampuran of
Mavelikara, A Young Girl, An Amma Thampuran, Mrs. Ramanatha Rao etc. depict different aspects of
the condition of repressed womanhood of his day. These images of women represent their real life
situation against the background of gender discrimination that subjects them to male dominance for life.
For them life was intensely local because of the pattern of residence, lack of mobility and of
communication with the world outside. The society had severe controlling attitudes and closed belief
systems. This suppressed the subjectivity and individuality of the womenfolk. They were denied any kind
of “interactive functions”. Another aspect of femininity that has a psychic inscription is its traditional
association with body and nature expressed in the concept of ritual pollution. These schemes of things
treated women as sources of pollution, and related them with the life-negating and the evil. This put them
in a state of seclusion and degradation. The writer points out that the female figures in Ravi Varma’s
portraits are expressive of this degradation, which he captures on their careworn, lack-lustre faces and
uneasy postures with remarkable awareness. These paintings are a comment on the real life condition of
womanhood of his day. A related aspect of this can be seen in the painting An Amma Thampuran. It
depicts the image of a grand old woman who is ‘respectable and pitiable’ at the same time; respectable
because she is the matriarch of the Taravad. But in reality her authority is abstract and in principle. Like
everybody else she is subjected to the authority of the Karanavan.

In contrast to these portraits, the women in genre paintings like There Comes Papa or Veena
Player display a different extroversion. The woman’s non-engagement with the outside world has some
connections with the existing concept of “feminine modesty” and norms of feminine beauty. Patriarchal
society always equated feminine modesty with ‘morality’. This can be seen in most of the epithets
characterizing feminine beauty that the erotic literature of the day celebrates. For example, furtive (secret)
glances, downcast looks, modest gestures, blushing and so on. The female figures of Ravi Varma’s
genre paintings have to be seen against this social background. These figures, while looking away from
themselves into the outer world (unlike the women in the portraits), are informed by a meaningfulness in
relating to their social location. This is related to the individual’s need for self-expression (civic
consciousness) through social interaction. The female figures of these genre paintings display a concept
of womanhood that was different from the actual condition of women and their closed life within the
crowded joint families. They also project a middle class vision of the romantic spouse waiting for or
receiving her beloved in the context of an idealized domestic context.

These images of femininity display the local conditions of Kerala on the one hand and the Indian
conditions on the other. The figures in two versions of Malabar Beauty are no more of Malabar than of
Indian identity. The lady in the painting A Nair Lady at Toilet (Lady with a Mirror) can be any ‘Indian’
lady. But in the Kerala context, she is not just any ‘Kerala’ lady, but specifically ‘Nair’. Though not
designated by caste, the figures in both versions of Malabar Beauty also are explicitly Nair as understood
in the context of Kerala. This has significant cultural connotations in the context of male sexuality in the
19th century Kerala. It was traditionally the Nair women who were courted by men of upper castes as
mistresses. This free association between man and woman gave rise to a socially acceptable polyandry.
There was a whole genre of erotic poetry exclusively written by Nambudiris called Ambopadesam which
is in the form of instructions given to an initiate into the art of courtesanship. The paintings of Ravi
Varma lift the female figures out of the local conditions of Kerala and give them dignity and connect it to
the larger Indian context. The physical features, costume, hair-do and ornaments of his various female
figures and the male figures reveal this. The dressing style and costume were different from what was in
practice in the society of that time.

In the 19th century Kerala, irrespective of caste and social status, any upper cloth to cover the
breasts was practically unknown among women as a manner of dressing. Even the Nair women of social
and economic status were required to be uncovered above the waist in the presence of Brahmin or other
respectable gentlemen. Women covering their breasts in the presents of them were considered as
‘immodest’ (immoral!). Nobody those days even thought against this custom that was observed as
‘universally honoured’. Gradually there emerged clashes by the underprivileged with the dominant castes
for securing the right of using the upper cloth. The better known strike was “the breast-cloth revolt of
1858”, that led to the legal granting of the right in the next year.

In the novel Indulekha we can note that the novelist is careful not to risk his heroine – English
educated and westernized in manners – being considered “overdressed” or “immodest”. Her use of a thin
white upper cloth over her bare breasts is not in violation of the ‘universally honoured’ code of conduct
for the Malayali women! Like Chandu Menon, Ravi Varma too could not risk his Nair beauties being
considered immodest.

Aswin K Dev