48 SOCIAL SCIENTIST
the 1930's need to be considered in the context of the process of the emergence of new value systems1 linked with the Sri Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) movement (movement for the propagation of the philosophy of Sri Narayana Guru Swamy) among the Ezhava caste in Kerala who formed the major section of the coir working class. According to the 1921 Industrial Census, 65 per cent of workers in the weaving sector were Ezhavas.
Within the traditional Hindu caste hierarchy, the Ezhavas were placed below the Nairs and Namboodiri Brahmins. They were forced to maintain a distance of 32 feet from the Namboodiris. The Pulayas and Cherumas were ranked below the Ezhavas. When a Namboodiri passed by, the Ezhava had to double up, shiver and close his/her mouth with palm. An Ezliava dwelling could only be called a hut and his food as cowdung. They were not allowed to use footwear or an umbrella. Ezhava women were not allowed to cover their breasts (there was a struggle against this in Cochin). They had separate water tanks and were not allowed to milk cows. The Ezhavas were mainly landless, small tenants, agricultural workers, toddy tappers. Living in huts far from the fields, they did free service for the upper castes. They worshipped deities such as Bhagawati and Ghamundi2 offering them liquor and animals. Spirits and Goddesses connected with diseases like smallpox were also propitiated by them. They used the services of their own priests. The Ezhavas were prohibited from reading Vedic and other sacred Hindu scriptures; nor were they allowed to observe the 16 samskaras (life cycle ceremonies) of the Namboodiris. They had their own barbers and washermen. They did not eat food cooked by the Pulayas and Gherumas and observed 'distance pollution9 from the Pulayas. Violation of caste norms was supposed to bring calamities such as drought, famine, epidemics etc.
Sri Narayana Guru (1855-1928), founder of the SNDP movement, developed his ideas from the Vedas and Vcdanta, traditionally denied to Ezhavas. He received these ideas from Taikkattu Aiyyavu whom he met while wandering in the forests in search of 'truth5. The Swamy also learnt Ayurvedic medicine, Yoga, astrology and Sanskrit. In 1883, he built a temple near Trivandrum and consecrated a Siva Linga against the Brahamanical canon authorising only Brahmins to do such a thing. The Swamy argued that it was an Ezhava Siva Linga. However, he had another conception of what a temple was: it was not only a place of worship but also a centre of education with workshops giving training in various crafts as well as a welfare centre for the poorer sections. Human begings should rise above mere image worship, he maintained. He asked his followers not to worship spirits.
His teachings which affected women were the simplification of domestic rituals of marriage, tirandukuli (first menstruation), pulikudi (pregnancy rite) and talikettu kalyanam {tali-tying). The Swamy's basic philosophy was carried in his statement—one caste^ one religion, one God.