IDUKKI: When Rakesh (name changed) fell in love with a fellow girl student belonging to another caste while doing a postgraduate diploma course at an institution in Kochi five years ago, he expected all hell to break loose. He was shocked when his villagers and parents accepted their ‘marriage’.
Until a few years ago, ‘ooru vilak’ (ostracisation) was the punishment given to youngsters like Rakesh looking to marry from outside their community. This had given rise to the Anchunadu – comprising the five villages of Marayur, Karayur, Keezhanthoor, Kanthalloor and Kottagudi in Tamil Nadu – infamous for honour suicides.
The winds of change, however, are sweeping Anchunadu with the ‘oorukoottam’ (village council) deciding to permit inter-caste marriages.
Gunasekharan, a senior member of the Anchunadu Vellalars community in Keezhanthoor, said the decision was taken in the wake of the declining male-female sex ratio in their village and the changing social fabric.
“It was customary for locals, comprising mostly Vellalars, to marry within their community, and this has resulted in a decline in the sex ratio. Many traditionalist youngsters remained unmarried as there was shortage of girls in the community,” he said.
“Besides, interactions between men and women have increased and pre-marital relationships have become common as girls and boys started moving out for education and jobs,” he said.Gunasekharan said the current norms of marriage were more than a century old and times have changed. “When following a norm or a custom, change in society should not be ignored,” he said. My nephew, who married a Christian, is staying in the village and is leading a peaceful life with the community’s support, Gunasekharan added. The change in the century-old custom has been welcomed by heads of all villages and youngsters as ‘historic’.
However, in Muthuvan tribal settlements that lie close to Kanthalloor, ostracisation still prevails and residents are allowed to marry only within their community. “Muthuvans have been resistant to change, particularly in the remote settlements near Kanthalloor. But they will also be eventually forced to change their customs like the Anchunadu Vellalars,” said Suvakumar, a resident.
NO MORE ‘OORU VILAK’
‘Ooru vilak’ (ostracisation) was the punishment given to youngsters looking to marry from outside their community.Anchunadu – comprising the five villages of Marayur, Karayur, Keezhanthoor, Kanthalloor and Kottagudi in Tamil Nadu – was infamous for honour suicides.