The "breast tax" (or in

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...

) was a

head tax A poll tax, also known as head tax or capitation, is a tax levied as a fixed sum on every liable individual (typically every adult), without reference to income or resources. Head taxes were important sources of revenue for many governments fr ...

imposed on women belonging to

Nadar Gaspard-Félix Tournachon (5 April 1820 – 20 March 1910), known by the pseudonym Nadar, was a French photographer, caricaturist, journalist, novelist, balloon (aircraft), balloonist, and proponent of Aircraft#Heavier-than-air – aerodynes, h ...

Ezhava The Ezhavas () 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. They are also known as ''Ilhava'' ...

and other

lower caste The Other Backward Class is a collective term used by the Government of India to classify castes which are educationally or socially backward. It is one of several official classifications of the population of India, along with General castes, S ...

communities by the Kingdom of Tranvancore (in present-day

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

state of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

). The term "breast tax" had nothing to do with breasts, instead, the term refers to a gender-specific tax levied from women. According to subaltern beliefs the breast tax was imposed on lower class women if they covered their breasts. This belief has been questioned, as lower class women "were not allowed to wear upper garments in public" at all until 1859.

Head tax

The "breast tax" ( or in Malayalam) was a

imposed on the

Nadars Nadar (also referred to as ''Nadan'', ''Shanar'' and ''Shanan'') is a Tamil caste of India. Nadars are predominant in the districts of Kanyakumari, Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli and Virudhunagar. The Nadar commu ...

, Ezhavars and

communities by the Kingdom of Kingdom of Tranvancore (in present-day

state of

). They were expected to pay the tax when they became laborers, about the age of fourteen. The lower caste men had to pay a similar tax, called tala-karam, "moustache tax," independent from their wealth or income.

'Breast-cover tax'

The "breast tax" caught wider attention in 2016, when

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

reporter Divya Arya reported on a series of paintings by artist Murali T on the legend of

Nangeli The story of Nangeli depicts a 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. Viewed ...

. The village legend of Nangeli is about a woman who lived in the early 19th century in

Cherthala Cherthala, , (formerly Shertalai, Shertallai or Shertallay) is a Municipal town and a Taluk located at National highway 66 in the district of Alappuzha, in the state of Kerala, India. Cherthala is the satellite town and industrial hub of Ala ...

in the state of Travancore, and supposedly cut off her breasts in an effort to protest against the caste-based "breast tax." According to the legend, she cut off her breasts and presented them to the tax collector in a

plantain leaf Cooking bananas are banana cultivars in the genus ''Musa'' whose fruits are generally used in cooking. They may be eaten ripe or unripe and are generally starchy. Many cooking bananas are referred to as plantains (/ˈplæntɪn/, /plænˈteɪn/ ...

, then died of blood loss. According to local beliefs, the "breast tax" was imposed on lower class women if they covered their breasts in public, to disencourage them from doing so. These beliefs have been questioned, as lower class women "were not allowed to wear upper garments in public" at all until 1859, after the

Channar revolt The Channar Lahala or Channar revolt, also called Maru Marakkal Samaram, refers to the fight from 1813 to 1859 of Nadar climber women in Travancore kingdom of India for the right to wear upper-body clothes covering their breasts. Background ...

. Historian Manu Pillai treats the concept of "breast tax" to be a

misnomer A misnomer is a name that is incorrectly or unsuitably applied. Misnomers often arise because something was named long before its correct nature was known, or because an earlier form of something has been replaced by a later form to which the name ...

which "had nothing to do with breasts" and notes that covering the breasts was not the norm in Kerala's matrilineal society during Nangeli's life-span. Victorian standards of morality penetrated into the society decades later under British colonial influence, which led to subsequent class-struggles for the right to wear upper-body clothing. He believes Nangeli to have protested against an oppressive tax regime that was imposed upon all lower castes, which got appropriated with the passage of time, in pursuit of a different patriarchal fight for the preservation of female dignity. In Jain's account, the "breast tax" is presented as a fine imposed by "Travancore's State's council of "upper" caste Nair's" to maintain caste boundaries.

Notes

References

Sources

Printed sources

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Web sources

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The breast tax that wasn't
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The Legend of Nangeli
Open {{Cite web , author =unknown , title=A struggle for decent dress, website=The New Indian Express , url=https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/kerala/2009/jul/27/a-struggle-for-decent-dress-71376.html, access-date=2019-11-15 {{Cite web , website =NewsClick, author =ICF-team , date =2019-03-19 , title =Re-writing History, Saffronising Education: Remembering Nangeli Lest Government Makes Us Forget , language =en , url =https://www.newsclick.in/saffronisation-education-ncert-syllabus-drops-chapters, access-date=2019-11-13 {{Cite web, url=https://thewire.in/education/cbse-removed-history-womens-caste-struggle, title=The CBSE Just Removed an Entire History of Women's Caste Struggle, website=The Wire, access-date=2019-11-13 Manu Pillai (February 18, 2017)
The woman who cut off her breasts
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