The Breast Tax: A Reminder of Women’s Struggle for Freedom
Words by Shereen Shaji
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The Breast Tax: A Reminder of Women’s Struggle for Freedom by Shereen Shaji
The scenery outside bore no resemblance to her reality. The serene and lush green backdrop of her village, starkly contrasted with the black smoke of rage and fear inside her heart. As she waited in her home, she could hear angry, hurried footsteps approaching from a distance, her heart beating faster with each stride. She had made a firm decision in her mind to reject this torture once and for all. A storm of violent knuckles rapped her front door, and she was ready. Nangeli came out the door, bold and brave, and in one swift motion, she cut her breasts off with a large knife and offered it to the men outside her home in a lush plantain leaf.
This is the famous story of Nangeli, a brave lower-caste woman from Cherthala, Kerala, who was fed up with the discrimination she faced and was determined to fight back in any way possible. Legend has it that during her time, Nangeli was a poor woman who was asked to pay a breast tax. Frustrated by the idea that the proportions of her breasts would determine the amount she had to pay, she cut off her breasts and handed them to the officials. She died on the spot from the bleeding. Her husband was devastated by her death and the cause that led her to it, so he performed Sati by jumping into her funeral pyre, becoming the first recorded example of this practice by a male. The place where Nangeli fell has since been known as "Mulachiparambu," or "the breast woman's plot." Although Nangeli may not have been valued by the authorities of her time, her courageous act inspired other women to stand up for themselves and pursue their rights without apology.
Breast Tax, also known as ‘mulakkaram’ was a head tax imposed on women who belonged to the Nadar, Ezhava, and other lower caste communities by the Kingdom of Travancore. The atrocious tax system was imposed on Dalit women by the King of Travancore if they covered the upper part of their body. Once the little girls reached the threshold of age 14, they were forced to pay the state a certain amount of tax, which if they didn’t adhere to, would be met with gruesome punishments. Several movies documenting their experience depict women of that time being beaten in public with hot iron rods and other cruel forms of punishment if they dared to protest.