Indulekha
Page 2
It will be seen that my story commences with a conversation between Madhavan, the hero of the novel, and his relations (all members of a Nair Tarwad) about a quarrel that Madhavan had with his karanavan or chief of his house, concerning the education of a juvenile member of the Tarwad. The events are supposed to have taken place in our own times in some part of South Malabar. The scene of the principal events in the story may not inappropriately be fixed at some place not far away from Native Cochin.
The following is a list of the chief characters in the novel:
1. Panchu Menon, the Karanavan or chief of the Chambhazhiyot Puvalli house.
2. Panchu Menon’s younger brother Sankara Menon.
3.’ Panchu Menon’s direct sister’s daughter Parvathi Amma.
4. Parvathi Amma’s son Madhavan, B.A., B.L.
5. Panchu Menon’s grand-mother’s sister’s granddaughter Kummini Amma.
6. Kummini Amma’s son Chather Menon.
7. Do. do. Gopalan.
8. Do. daughter Kalliani Kutty.
9. Do. son Shinnan (a boy 9 or 10 years old.)
10. Panchu Menon’s wife Kunhi Kutty Amma.
11. Do. daughter Lakshmi Kutty Amma.
12. Panchu Menon’s son Govindan Kutty Menon.
13. Lakshmi Kutty Amma’s daughter and Panchu Menon’s granddaughter Indulekha.
14. Kesavan Nambudiri, the second husband of Lakshmi Kutty Amma who was first married to Kilimanur Rajah (since deceased) the father of Indulekha.
15. Madhavan’s father Govinda Panikkar.
Chapter 1 opens, as stated above, with a. conversation between Chather Menon and Madhavan. Chather Menon, though ignorant of English, is a very intelligent and a prudent young man, and, although Madhavan was advocating the cause of Chather Menon’s own direct brother, did not approve of what Madhavan said to his Karanavan. The cause of the quarrel was this:
Madhavan wished that his Karanavan, Panchu Menon, should educate the little boy Shinnan, but Panchu Menon, who was a narrow-minded old man of 70 years of age, did not agree with Madhavan’s views and refused to pay for the boy’s schooling, whereupon harsh words passed between the old Karanavan and the young graduate. The Karanavan was exceedingly wrath with what he considered Madhavan’s impertinence. Madhavan, too, was exasperated at Panchu Menon’s conduct, for that honest, brave young man detested his Karanavan’s partiality for his direct Anandaravans. Panchu Menon would have spent any amount of money in educating Shinnan if the boy had been a direct Anandaravan of his like Madhavan, but the boy (though in truth he had as good a right to be educated at Tarwad expense as Madhavan or any other member of the Tarwad) happened to be a distant relation of Panchu Menon, and, as not unfrequently is the case in Malabar Tarwads, the old, ignorant, self-willed Karanavans educate only their direct nephews and bring up their distant Anandaravers as agriculturists or as servant boys in the Tarwad house. The high-spirited and honest young Madhavan considered such conduct on the part of his Karanavan extremely reprehensible and shameful, and consequently spoke to his Karanavan on the subject strongly, with no great reverence for the high position of the latter in the Tarwad. The chapter concludes with a further conversation on the same subject between Madhavan and his junior uncle Sankara Menon and his mother Parvathi Amma. This chapter also contains a detailed description of Madhavan both as to his physical appearance and intellectual attainments. Madhavan is a graduate both in Arts and Law. He is extremely handsome in appearance and extraordinarily intelligent, and a good Sanskrit scholar. He excelled in sports and English games, such as cricket and lawn tennis.
The second chapter (Indulekha) is devoted to the heroine. The chapter opens with a few observations on female beauty in general considered relatively, and then goes on describing Indulekha’s personal charms, her intelligence, her education, her manners, her dress, &c., and finally shows how Madhavan and lndulekha became engaged.
It must be remarked here that my story commences with the events that happened a few months after they had plighted their troth, but in this second chapter I have given some incidents of Madhavan’s courtship which took place before the commencement of our story. As stated at the outset, my object is to write a novel after the English fashion, and it is evident that no ordinary Malayalee lady can fill the role of the heroine of such a story. My lndulekha is not, therefore, an ordinary Malayalee lady. She knows English, Sanskrit, Music, &c., and is at once a very beautiful and a very accomplished young lady of about seventeen years of age when our story opens. Some of my readers may object that it would be impossible to find a young Nair lady of Indulekha’s intellectual attainments in Malabar. To this objection my answer is that those who make it are not acquainted with the educated women now existing in Malabar. I myself know two or three respectable Nair ladies, now living, who in intellectual culture (save and except in the knowledge of English), strength of character and general knowledge, can well hold comparison with lndulekha. As for beauty, personal charms, refined manners, simplicity of taste, conversational powers, wit and humour, I can show hundreds of young ladies in respectable Nair Tarwads who would undoubtedly come up to the standard of my lndulekha. The only thing which my readers might reasonably take exception to is lndulekha’s knowledge of English; but as one of my objects in writing this book is to illustrate how a young Malayalee woman, possessing, in addition to her natural personal charms and intellectual culture, a knowledge of the English language would conduct herself in matters of supreme interest to her, such as the choosing of a partner in life, I have thought it necessary that my Indulekha should be conversant with the richest language of the world.
It will be seen that I have related the circumstances under which lndulekha happened to acquire a knowledge of the English language and various other accomplishments found in her, and I shall leave it to my readers to decide whether there is any improbability suggesting itself in the narrative in connection with her education.
As regards the story of Madhavan’s love and courtship itself contained in this chapter, there is, in my humble opinion, nothing in the conversation or the manners of the lovers which can be construed as strange in a pair of the educated class of Nairs. There are many Nair ladies in Malabar who would talk like Indulekha to their lovers, and as for the way the engagement was brought about, I think there is nothing strange or uncommon in the incident. I know of several cases of educated and accomplished Nair ladies of respectable Tarwads having married for love in utter defiance of the wishes of their Karanavans or parents. Love is the same whether in England or India. In Malabar it is true that women are more or less subject to the tyranny of their Karanavans or parents in matters relating to matrimony; yet in my opinion there are no women in India who enjoy, as a class, greater freedom in the selection of their husbands than the Nair women of Malabar. Even before the Western civilization began to spread its influence in Malabar, there were many Nair women who were learned in Sanskrit, who could compose Sanskrit verses and were good musicians. Twenty years hence there may be found hundreds of Indulekhas in Malabar who would be able to choose their own husbands for pure and sweet love. My narrative of the love and courtship of Madhavan is intended to show to the young ladies of Malabar how happy they can be if they have the freedom to choose their partners, and how supremely enjoyable a thing it would be for a young educated lady, at a time when she attains a marriageable age, to observe, to study, to admire and to love a well educated, handsome young man of unblemished moral character like Madhavan, who becomes first her companion and friend, gets gradually closer and closer in friendship, and finally falls in love with her, adoring her as the source of all his happiness in this world, as the person without whom he does not care to live, and for whose happiness he would sacrifice everything in his power. Alliances arising out of such pure, sweet, reciprocal love only deserve to be called marriages, and it is my earnest desire that this should be the way in which the Nair ladies, who already enjoy much greater freedom in respect of matrimony than other Hindu women, should ta
ke their husbands.
The chapter concludes with an observation that though Panchu Menon knew enough to suspect lndulekha’s inclination to marry Madhavan, he did not at the time actually wish to prevent such a marriage. It will be observed that the quarrel between Panchu Menon arid Madhavan took place a few months after their engagement. It was after the quarrel that Panchu Menon resolved to break off the match.
Of course it will be impossible to give even a concise summary of the story contained in the twenty chapters (498 pages of closely printed matter) within the limits of an ordinary letter.
The events which follow Panchu Menon’s resolution to break off the intended marriage of Indulekha with Madhavan are such as may ordinarily happen in a Nair Tarwad in Malabar under the state of circumstances given, and call for no particular explanation. They are intended to delineate the characters of various kinds of people in Malabar. How far I have succeeded in this is a question which my readers will of course decide. I have brought in various characters, Nairs of high and low social status, Nambudiries of different positions, Pattar Brahmins, &c., and have not even omitted to touch on what might, in my opinion, be the relations between high European officials and their native friends if they understood each other thoroughly. In order to introduce all these subjects, I have had to extend the scene of the story sometimes beyond Malabar.
It will be seen that Panchu Menon suspected that not only Indulekha but her mother (who is his own daughter) was also anxious that Madhavan should marry Indulekha, and secretly helped Indulekha and Madhavan in the furtherance of their object. The old man becomes almost mad with rage on knowing this, and takes an oath by his family goddess that he would never allow Madhavan to marry Indulekha, but the narrow-minded Karanavan soon finds himself unable to persuade his granddaughter Indulekha to give up Madhavan. He makes various attempts to break off the match. He makes Indulekha associate with a very rich and influential Nambudiripad (who represents the rich, licentious, profligate, unsteady Nambudiripad so often found in Malabar) in the hope that the rich man would be able to win Indulekha’s heart. The Nambudiripad fails "shamefully in his attempt, but Panchu Menon, in order to please the Nambudiripad, gives a niece of his (an ignorant helpless girl) in marriage to the licentious, unprincipled man, who, while he was making love to Indulekha was doing the same thing towards some other ladies also in Panchu Menon’s house, including Indulekha’s own mother. After the marriage with Panchu Menon’s niece, the Nambudiripad, in order to spite Indulekha, circulates a false rumor that Indulekha has become his concubine. A cunning and mischievous Kariasthan or steward of the Nambudiripad succeeds in making various people believe this false report. Madhavan, while returning from Madras (where he had been residing ever since he left his Tarwad house after the quarrel with his uncle) to marry Indulekha, openly disregarding the old man’s opposition, is informed on his way that his Indulekha has become the wife or concubine of the Nambudiripad. Various reasons, all false but apparently plausible, unfortunately compel Madhavan to believe in the story and, having believed it, he of course feels so miserable and so aggrieved that he leaves the country as an exile, without making further enquiries, or even visiting his home in Malabar. Madhavan goes to Northern India. Various incidents that happened during Madhavan’s sojourn there are related. Indulekha, true to her lover, finally succeeds in her endeavors to find the whereabouts of Madhavan. Madhavan learns the real state of things, and at once returns to Malabar and marries Indulekha, The old Karanavan Panchu Menon (who, though narrow-minded, was not altogether a bad-hearted man, and was excessively fond of his granddaughter, Indulekha, yielding to the pressure of circumstances, and retracting his oath by a penance prescribed by the avaricious Brahmin priests for their own good, and the story concludes.
Chapter 18 was written at the special request of some of my Malayalee friends. One half of it is devoted to a consideration .of atheism, or the modern religion, as it prevails among the educated Malayalees, and the other half to a discussion as to the merits and demerits of the National Congress. This is brought in as a conversation between Madhavan, his father and a cousin of Madhavan, who is also a graduate, but anti-Congress and atheistic. Madhavan is a moderate Congressman and not an atheist. Madhavan’s father is a bigoted Hindu, and the conversation of course shows how each of the three thought of religion, and how Govinda Kutti despised the Congress, while Madhavan was a moderate supporter of it, though he finds various faults in the present constitution and activities of the Congress which he would advise the Congress to remove.
I am afraid I have already transgressed the limits of an ordinary letter, and would beg to conclude with a hope that, whatever may be the merits of the book I have written, you will readily recognize that in writing it I was actuated solely by a desire to improve the status and position of my country women generally.
I beg to remain,
Sir,
Your most obedient Servant,
O. CHANDU MENON
Parapanangadi,
19th December 1889.
Chapter I
"What is the matter, Madhavan?" said Chather Menon. "Why did you speak so rashly? But, man, this is not proper. The Karanavan must do as he likes, and we must obey him. Your tongue ran away with you."
"Not a bit of it" replied Madhavan. "Such partiality ought never to be shown, but if he will not do his duty, why, he need not. I will take Shinnan myself and have him educated."
"No, my dear, " interposed Kummini amma. "Shinnan and I have never been separated. You may take Chather or Gopalan and have them educated. Anyhow the head of the house is displeased with you. I know he used to be on bad terms with us, but he always thought a great deal about you."
"That’s all very well, " retorted Madhavan, "but it would be a fine thing, wouldn’t it, if I took Chather, the eldest of the sons, and Gopalan and put them to school now?"
While these individuals were standing talking, a servant ran up and said that Madhavan’s uncle, Sankara Menon, wanted him. Madhavan immediately started for his uncle’s apartment. We may take this opportunity of understanding Madhavan’s position before we proceed further with the story.
I have already given earlier some particulars of Madhavan’s age, of his relationship to Panchu Menon, and of the examinations he had passed; and I will now tell my readers something of his character and person.
Madhavan was a young man gifted with great abilities and a remarkably handsome appearance. The fame which he had acquired by an uninterrupted series of triumphs in the schools from the time he began to learn English until he graduated in arts, clearly and fully proclaimed the rare talents with which he was endowed. He had never failed in an examination, be it what it might. He passed the First in Arts in the first class; in the B.A. examination his optional language was Sanskrit; his critical knowledge of Sanskrit literature was profound; and in the B. L. examination he passed first in the first class. Besides these, his pre-eminence in various school examinations had obtained for him many prizes and scholarships founded for the encouragement of learning, and all his tutors firmly declared that none of their pupils ever surpassed Madhavan in mental power and aptitude. With regard to his external appearance, all who knew Madhavan were of opinion that nature had indeed provided in his form and features a fitting habitation for an intelligence so exceptional. In analysing a man’s mental qualities it is not, as a rule, necessary to dilate on the comeliness of his person, but it is sufficient to consider his intellectual powers and capacity, his manliness and modesty. In the present case, however, lest my readers should consider that the details of my story are incomplete without some description of Madhavan’s bodily grace and symmetry, I think it is incumbent on me to devote a few words to this subject. His complexion was like refined gold, and as he had daily attended to his physical development by taking gymnastic exercises, his appearance, in all the glory of youth, was most attractive and elegant. His well-proportioned limbs looked as if they had been fashioned in gold. His flowing locks, when loosened from th
e knot in which they were usually tied according to the Malayalee custom, hung down to his knees. In a word, his handsome face, his straightforward expression, and independent bearing combined with the symmetry of his form in giving him a splendid presence. All Europeans who made Madhavan’s acquaintance were fascinated by him at first sight, and thenceforward remained his friends.
Madhavan took just pride in the favourable opinion universally entertained regarding his good looks and achievements. I do not know whether it was from fear lest he should destroy that opinion, or whether it was owing to his inherent good sense, but it is certain that he never indulged to the slightest extent in those vices and follies to which many an ordinary youth, from the time he is about eighteen years of age until he is married and settled for life, is unfortunately addicted. Hence it was that Madhavan entered on full manhood with his personal attractions, strength and vigour unimpaired.
It follows from what has already been recorded that Madhavan had a sound knowledge in English. He was at the same time an adept at lawn tennis, cricket and other athletic games, and had moreover, since the days when he was a boy, been inured to the toils of field sports. His taste for these was probably inherited from his father, Govinda Paniker, who was an ardent votary of the chase, but in Madhavan it amounted almost to an infatuation. He took with him on his expeditions two or three excellent guns of different kinds and two or three pistols and revolvers, and, until his inclination for amusements took a completely different turn, his chief enjoyment lay in the pursuit of game.
Now to resume our story. Madhavan went and stood before his uncle, who immediately addressed him and said: "Madhavan, what is this I hear? What is this impertinence you have offered to the aged head of the family? Is this the fruit of the English education which he bestowed on you at ever so great an expense?" "We are most unlucky," replied Madhavan, "if you too, uncle, take this view of the matter. In discussing such affairs I must speak out my mind and cannot be silent through fear. I never asked for a single fraction of any money that my granduncle had acquired by his personal exertions. All I said was that the money which our ancestors had acquired for our use and benefit, and of which he keeps the entire control, ought to be expended for our reasonable necessities. Kummini Amma and her family are nothing but menials in this house. Why should my grand uncle have kept them out in the cold so harshly? Two of the sons have not been taught English, and Kalliani Kutty has not been taught any of the things which befit her station. This is all tyranny on my grand-uncle’s part, but is he at liberty to oppress us like this? Even now he has no idea about that small boy Shinnan, except to bring him up like a bull calf, but I will never consent to this. I will take him away myself and have him educated."