The Formation
The cultural life of modern Kerala came into being
through a long historical process of the synthesis of
various cultural forms and of the conflicts of opposing
social forces.. The plough-agricultural village system
that emerged out of the disruption of the primitive
tribal social system, the formation of feudal society,
the reorganization of the feudal system as a
regionalized community of culture, the emergence of
democratic forces fighting against the feudal-colonial
domination, the appearance of organised working
class that took up the task of carrying forward the
struggle for democracy __ these are the different
phases with which the conflicting social forces in the
process of Kerala history have been connected and
through which the cultural life of modern Kerala took
shape.
Like all other feudal societies in India the feudal
system in Kerala also emerged and flourished under
the Hindu Brahman religion. The process of formation
of Kerala culture as a regionalized community of
culture also was parallel to those that evolved
politically and linguistically in almost all other parts of
India
The elements responsible for the peculiarities of the
Kerala culture took shape under the feudal set up in
Kerala. But the structure of feudalism in Kerala had
been different from that of north India as well as of
south. The land relations, the political set up, the
caste system, man-woman relationships, modes of
succession, the forms of worship and rituals, the
language, the art and literature and the dress - in all
these Kerala feudal society had its own peculiar
forms. The conditions out of which these peculiar
features originated can be traced only through a
scientific and historical elucidation of the factors at
work in the formation of social life in Kerala.
Among the Nairs and among most of the caste
Hindus except Namboodiris this system was prevalent
till recently. As mentioned above according to a
theory this system was a re-introduction
by Namboodiris in the medieval period
among Nairs and other castes supplanting their
original patriarchal system. But whatever may be the
interpretation this theory of re-introduction or superimposition cannot stand the widely accepted scientific
formulation regarding the evolution of family and
society.
Emergence of a Linguistic-Cultural Identity
The consolidation of the plough agricultural village
system in Kerala ended up in smashing the basic
structure of the old tribal mode of existence though
retaining its live relics in social life. Thus a temple
centered class society based on the division of labour
of varna and caste came into being.
It is quite natural in this division of labour of the new
mode of production that theNamboodiris were the
most privileged section, being the core of the village
system. They who kept themselves totally away from
the manual labour gradually could engage themselves
completely in the realm of intellectual revelry.
But the family system of the Namboodiris was such
as we have seen, that had been checking their
proportionate increase in number. Within a few
centuries the population of non-Brahmans might have
considerably increased.
The cultural self identity of a major section of
the Nair caste though it was different from that of the
modern mass societies, might be a regulating force in
the power relations of caste system, it being a
political system than a mere form of the division of
labour. It was a force that consolidated itself in the
later stages of the feudal Kerala as a morale booster
to resist the alien interferences in culture and in
politics.
in the Kerala feudal society the kings were not a
centre of power exercised from above; the priestly
class were not mere ideologues of the ruling section;
and the peasant slaves were considered as if they
were the natural extension of the land. Thus the
feudal society in Kerala, where the economic life and
civil society, the private and public existence of
individuals had been identified into one structure and
where the undemocratic stratification of the society
attained a general consensus as if it simply manifests
a natural truth, had been similar to the same
elsewhere in the world in basic aspects. But
empirically it had a different existence.
Under this feudal system, in its new phase which sets
in with the growth of Nair taras and the interference
of the foreign traders since Arabs, the tendencies of
Kerala becoming a different linguistic-cultural region
are getting manifested. The number of people who
could subsist totally relieved of manual labour
increased in this phase due to the growth in
production. These quantitative changes might have
led to a change in quality consisting the emergence of
Malayalam language and culture which began to find
itself throwing the shackles of alien linguistic and
cultural domination. At this background, a literary
culture peculiar to Malayalam also emerges setting
itself free from that of Sanskrit and Tamil and by the
sixteenth century which marks the colonial
penetration, this process attains completion.
The Renaissance
It was under the British colonial rule that a basic
change took place in the life of Kerala. It was a
period of break from the continuity of the past. The
colonial rule shattered the old stubborn structure of
economy. Though the production for local
consumption had been gradually giving way to the
production for market, it was only during the British
rule that Kerala has been integrated to the world
market.
This change deeply affected the feudal structure and
subsequently the social and cultural life.
Kerala was a society in which tribal, slave and feudal
forms co-existed under colonial domination. The
caste, sub-caste system, untouchability, joint-family,
serpent worship, devil worship, witch craft, evil-eye,
all these relics from the co-existing phases of history
turned Kerala a living museum
During the last years of 1930s tremendous changes
occurred both in the political and cultural spheres of
Kerala. In that period anti-imperialist, anti-feudal,
national, democratic movement strengthened in an
unprecedented fashion all over Kerala. Modern value
concepts which was confined to the upper strata of
the society in the early phase, now began to spread
to the lower layers of society. In addition to the
middle class, various other sections consciously
entered into the mainstream of public life.
Consequently political and cultural spheres became
more popular based and it acquired democratic
character.
With the commencement of the state of Kerala in
1956 on linguistic basis, the cultural and political
unity of Kerala which had been obstructed by the
colonial and feudal forces, became now a reality.
Thus the cultural renaissance was developed in
different stages through the anti-imperialist and antifeudal struggles and it culminated in the formation of
modern Kerala.