The fictional story of Nangeli depicts an Ezhava woman to have lived in the early 19th century in Cherthala in the erstwhile princely state of Travancore in India, and supposedly cut off her breasts in an effort to protest against a tax on breast. [1] [2] [3]
Viewed as a village tale, it is not mentioned in any of the historical records. [4] It gained much attention since the publication of a 2016 BBC article on this subject. [5] [4] [6]
According to the legend, Nangeli and her husband Chirukandan belonged to the Ezhava caste and were toddy tappers, and in the early years of the 19th century, the pravathiyar (village officer) of Travancore came to Nangeli's home to survey her breasts and collect the breast tax. [7] Nangeli revolted against the harassment; chopping off her breasts and presenting them to him in a plantain leaf. [8] [9] [7] She died soon from loss of blood [7] and her husband Chirukandan, seeing her mutilated body was overcome by grief and jumped into her funeral pyre. [4] The couple was childless. [7]
After her death, the breast tax system was supposedly annulled in Travancore, soon afterwards and the place she lived had come to be known as Mulachiparambu (meaning land of the breasted woman) is located in Cherthala, Kerala. [4] [10] [11] [12]
The tale is not recognized in any of India's historical accounts. [4]
Historian Manu S. Pillai says both men and women had poll tax called talakkaram and mulakkaram , respectively. Contrary to its name, "breast tax" is a misnomer and had nothing to do with breasts. [13] "Mulakkaram" was a term to distinguish female taxpayers from males, and "the tax was not based on the size of the breast or its attractiveness, as Nangeli's storytellers will claim, but was one standard rate charged from women". Covering breasts was not a fashion in Kerala at that time. Victorian standards of morality penetrated into the society decades later via the British colonialists, which led to subsequent class-struggles for the right of the lower caste to wear upper cloth. [7] He believes Nangeli might have protested against an oppressive tax regime that was imposed upon all lower castes, "when Nangeli stood up, squeezed to the extremes of poverty by a regressive tax system, it was a statement made in great anguish about the injustice of the social order itself". [7] [14]
Nangeli was featured as a character in the 2022 period film Pathonpatham Noottandu , directed by Vinayan. [15] [16]
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The Ezhavas, also known as Thiyya or Tiyyar in the Malabar region, are a community with origins in the region of India presently known as Kerala, where in the 2010s they constituted about 23% of the population and were reported to be the largest Hindu community. The Malabar Ezhava group has claimed a higher rank in the Hindu caste system than the other Ezhava groups but was considered to be of a similar rank by colonial and subsequent administrations.
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Pillai, meaning Prince, is a title of nobility which can either refer to a ruling chief, members of the nobility, or junior princes of the royal family and was mostly used by the upper-caste Nair feudal lords who were historically ranked as or immediately below the king. The oldest lineages of Pillais include not only Kshatriyas but also brahmins who took up the sword. From the early modern period, the title also came to be bestowed upon Savarna subjects by the Kings for services military or political, most of whom were of Nair origin. The Nair Pillai caste is unrelated to other Pillais. It is important not to confuse them with the Vellala Pillai, Chetti Pillai, etc. Some of them also use 'Pillai' surname in some parts of Kerala, they have distinct identities and no relation with Kerala title "Pillai".
Mulakkaram, literally translated as breast tax, was a poll tax imposed on women belonging to Nadar, Ezhava and other lower caste communities by the erstwhile Kingdom of Tranvancore, and was not applicable to upper caste women of Travancore. The term "breast tax" was used to denote the gender of the person and not breasts per se.
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She is no heroine of the written history. Some say she is just a legend of the times. Some say she is part of folklore. Some say, 'Show us the proof.'[...] There are some who argue that Nangeli is a fabrication because no 'records' exist of her.
However, the story has gained much traction over the last couple of years after BBC article covered it in 2016.