ALAPPUZHA: Paintings of T.Murali, on show at the Lalithakala Akademi arts gallery here, provide a unique opportunity to peep into certain episodes of uncommon resistance to authoritarianism and caste supremacy that had haunted various sections of people in the past. Many of the incidents of repression have not been documented as part of history, but they continue to raise stirring questions among art lovers and social scientists. The paintings open up a window to the horrors and inequities of a bygone era.
Nangeli’s sacrifice, one of the exhibits, presents a poignant tale of a woman who cut off her breast to express her indignation towards an inhuman system that existed a century ago. Nangeli, said to be a native of Cherthala, reacted in the way probably as she had run out of options. As a woman belonging to lower caste in the casteist social set-up of the erstwhile princely state of Travancore, she was not permitted to cover her breast and was bound to pay ‘breast tax’ if she desired to do so. Nangeli is believed to have died and her husband sacrificed himself by running into her funeral pyre.
The disastrous impact of Chathurvarnya, the caste-based system, is the theme of ‘Tower of chathruvarnya’. ‘Manalar’ depicts the story of a group of women who were meant to educate the upper class women on sexual intricacies, as part of a patriarchal system. About 30 exhibits are on show, presenting various facets of repression and the urge to resist the reprehensible practices.
“History has not done justice to the democratic side of life,” says Mr. Murali, reasoning out his focus on the theme. “History has been mostly an exercise of glorification of the royal class. Women including those belonging to upper classes faced repression of the worst kind. Documenting them in a proper perspective is the responsibility of the contemporary society. There is a need to sensitise new generation on the inequality that existed in the bygone era. A transformation of human thinking could only be achieved through honest searches into the dark ages”, he says.
